http://socialsense.blogspot.com/2008/12/political-asylum-in-japan.html
One of my more enjoyable experiences while serving on active duty was the time I spent in Japan. Altogether, I served at various bases in Japan and Okinawa for a total of seven years. From an intrapersonal standpoint, I found the Japanese people warm, gracious, and always exceedingly polite. But I must also say that the Japanese people are unique in the entire world. As I began to study their history and culture, as I began to study their language, I found that they are really a closed society. My oldest friend George, who continues to live in Japan . . . who raised a family there, can probably attest to the fact that no matter how long a foreign born person lives in Japan, no matter how well one adjusts to their culture, and no matter how well one can speak the language, they are never accepted as “Japanese.” Tolerated, yes . . . accepted as an equal, never. This fact doesn’t suggest that Japanese people are racists . . . it merely illustrates that they are Japanese.
I recall one incident, years ago, in which an inebriated Marine erroneously stumbled into the wrong house in the middle of the night. This is understandable even if he wasn’t drunk because Japanese residences often look identical. In any case, the woman who lived there was quite frightened, and she ended up stabbing the Marine with a kitchen knife killing him immediately. As it turned out, this woman was a second-generation Korean who lived her entire life in Japan; for all intent and purposes, she was Japanese—as we might have regarded her as another American. The next morning, however, the news headlines read, “Korean stabs American Marine.” I cannot say whether the headline reflected Japan’s innate bias towards everyone not Japanese, or whether it was simply a matter of embarrassment because a Japanese woman could possibly be guilty of such a crime.
With the foregoing as a backdrop, I found a recent Article in the Japan Times (online) that informs us about the sharp increase in political asylum immigrants in Japan. As I began to read the article, I fully expected to read something about people from Korea, China, Vietnam, or the Philippine Islands. But according to journalist Setsuko Kamiya, the number of people requesting political asylum has nearly doubled in the past year, and many of these people are from Africa, Sri Lanka, and Myanmar (formerly known as Burma). According to this article:
“The Justice Ministry's Immigration Bureau said it won't provide official figures for applicants or approvals until next year but confirmed the trend identified by JAR. The increase in applicants from Africa has been attributed to the Tokyo International Conference on African Development in Yokohama in May and the Group of Eight summit in Hokkaido in July, said Eri Ishikawa, secretary general of JAR. ‘Through those two events, Japan's commitment to Africa was reported by the media in those countries, and people may have gained a good impression of Japan as a country that gives humanitarian aid, leading many to consider Japan as a place they can escape to,’ Ishikawa said.
This is yet another example of nations attempting to do the right thing, but Japanese officials, in failing to consider the unintended consequences of opening immigration floodgates, now find themselves in an uncomfortable position. The article continues:
“The Foreign Ministry in principle provides financial support to asylum seekers in dire need, including those having no job, money, or a place to live. According to an official at the Foreign Ministry's Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs Division who handles such support, an adult is provided ¥1,500 [roughly $16.00] and a child ¥750 [roughly $8.00] a day for living expenses. If housing is needed a family receives a maximum of ¥60,000 [roughly $645.00] a month for rent. A single person can get ¥40,000 [roughly $430.00]. In principle, the financial support is given for four months.
Through its affiliated Refugee Assistance Headquarters, the ministry provided support to 235 asylum seekers just in November. Last year, 95 people a month received support, said the government official, who declined to be named. ‘The number of people we support has been rising constantly this year,’ she said. This year, based on past needs, the budget was set at ¥78 million [roughly $839,000], but this has almost been exhausted because of the rapid rise, she admitted."
The numbers of people seeking political asylum are actually modest, as least when compared to the large numbers of immigrants we deal with here on a daily basis, but it is significant for Japan. Traditionally, the Japanese do not encourage “immigration.” In fact, I am amazed they are doing it at all. Learning to live in Japan isn’t easy, true even for those who really do enjoy the culture and who have the knack for learning a difficult language.
I again recall one of the major news issues of the day in 1982. In 1976, the Japanese granted political asylum to a Vietnamese family. In the space of six years, the family’s daughter had mastered the Japanese language well enough to complete her secondary schooling and gain admission to the prestigious Sophia University in Tokyo. This was a major event because no one quite expected a foreigner to speak Japanese as well as . . . well, the Japanese themselves. And, once again, no matter how long these Africans, Sri Lankans, and Burmese live in Japan, no matter how well they learn the language and customs, no matter how well they succeed financially, they will always be outsiders. In Japanese, the word is “Gaikokujin (外国人),” which means a person from a foreign land. It can also mean “long nose barbarian,” so it is not a word many people use today . . . but they surely did when I lived there. Maybe they were trying to tell me something.
Posted by Mustang at 06:00
Comments (16) | Trackback (0)
Social Sense
Ugh. The rest of the post got cut off! he best was the part after I took the client home
Was it too long? Can you recover it?
rocket | 12.17.08 - 5:39 am | #
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Hi Mustang
Nice post about the Japanese. As you know I work very closely with them and have been to Japan. As far as never feeling Japanese well, I have lived in France since 1977 but have never acquired nationality and I can say that many immigrants and sons/daughters of immigrants who have acquired French nationality are never accepted as French either especially if they originate from any country in Africa be it north or south. (see Paris riots 2005)
America is unique as everyone comes or family has come from elsewhere and so nationality is not associated subtly with the underlining question of bloodline as it is in older countries with extremely old cultures.
One of the interesting insular aspects of Japanese life is how they consider their rice. (It seems as if American rice farmers are always fighting to get American rice into Japan.) Serve rice to a Japanese and the first question is
Is it Japanese rice?
Basically meaning that no other rice measures up to Japanese rice.
Many of the Japanese that I work with in Paris are on three year expat stints and are happy to return to Japan as they tell me often because they miss Japanese food. Although available in different specialty stores in Paris it is expensive.
As per the matter of Japanese politeness, it can often be overwhelming (the whole business card thing which I have to tell them functions differently in Europe than Japan)for someone living in Paris where things have a hard time getting done and the notion of time is completely different from that perception of time and respect for promptness by Asians. Lest I speak about the grouchiness of the French. For the Japanese living in France this gray zone of time perception can be particularly destabilizing.
I don't think we can fully understand the relation among classes in Japan or age differences unless we speak the Japanese language but many aspects are apparent for the non Japanese.
As my Japanese language studies are reduced to one word a week now because I am extremely busy, I am getting no closer to speaking "decent" Japanese than I was 6 months ago.
I can tell a funny story about a Japanese client I had many years ago in Paris. We went into a private club in the Opera area of Paris a part of it on the Rue St Anne which is a small Japanese area with lots of restaurants and some clubs reserved for Japanese. Women serving the men and intimate conversation with the women working there etc and lots of salarymen and Karokee. You get the gist. Well I being the only westerner found no problem drinking with my client and several of his friends but at one moment he informed me that I would have to leave because now was discussion time between Japanese men. Of course I understood and it had absolutely no effect on future relations which often ended up in drunken stupors. Me scraping the client off the ground and then taking him home. One time after a drinking binge I took him (he was married)home
rocket | 12.17.08 - 5:32 am | #
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Mustang, I envy your time there. I find hem to be a fascinating people as I do with most Asians.
Chuck | Homepage | 12.16.08 - 11:15 pm | #
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I remember an old advertisement for some condos in Florida that said they were just like France only better. Why were they better? Because they were just like living in Paris without having to put up with the French.
Shoprat | Homepage | 12.16.08 - 7:38 pm | #
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Ducky,
Have you been to France? Where and for how long? Defending the French is more than difficult. Think the Milice and who actually rounded up French and other nationality Jews..in France.
Who, indeed, did collaborate with the Nazis?
How riven with communists were elements of the French government and military?
Comparing the French - as a nation/nationality - with Texans?
Who pays taxes in France? Who attempts to avoid it?
Would you trust a French promise?
Tad | 12.16.08 - 7:26 pm | #
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Anyone that has been to France knows that most of the French hate most of the other French.
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Sort of like New Englanders and the far less refined Texans?
Ducky's here | 12.16.08 - 5:33 pm | #
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Their socialism and morals are so awful as to be beyond belief. We have scandals. They conduct themselves scandalously as a matter of routine.
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Well the socialism is no problem. Conservatives aren't an adequate judge of morals and the rest is great.
I don't see the downside.
Ducky's here | 12.16.08 - 5:31 pm | #
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Oh, "Ducky's here".
Where?
Why not in France?
Tad | 12.16.08 - 5:02 pm | #
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Ducky's Away,
NOTE: What does "Ducky's Away" mean?
I've been to France more times than most Englishmen, most Germans, most Belgians, most Italians, most Spaniards, and most Luxembourgundians...all countries that border France...oh, yes, do not forget the Swiss.
I would hate to be French. Anyone that has been to France knows that most of the French hate most of the other French. Parisians think they are the cats' ass, and they're right. The folks in the provinces hate the Parisians and the government and those from other provinces. Really odd country. It IS quite beautiful and the food is mostly very good. Their socialism and morals are so awful as to be beyond belief. We have scandals. They conduct themselves scandalously as a matter of routinue.
One man's opinion.
Tad | 12.16.08 - 4:46 pm | #
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You're from away, eh Jungle Mom?
Ducky's here | 12.16.08 - 4:36 pm | #
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A friend who did business in Japan and was interested in the country told me that there is a culture there that a Westerner will never be shown.
I don't know about Japanese, but I sure wouldn't mind being French.
Ducky's here | 12.16.08 - 4:35 pm | #
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Sir,
They called you a Long-Nosed Barbarian because, ah,
you're a Long-Nosed Barbarian?
Bye the Bye: As you know, the Japanese are very class oriented amongst themselves also.
Meanwhile, their own actions in Korea, Manchuria, China, Philippines, Burma, Singapore, the Dutch East Indies...all in WW II...were more than awful.
I served with a Marine Sergeant in the very early 60s who'd been a kid on Guam when the Japanese seized it. The stories related were not too good, to say the least.
BTW, don't most Japanese history books play down WW II?
Just asking.
Further, just why are we (USA) doing very much of the heavy lifting in the defense of Japan?
Tad | 12.16.08 - 11:59 am | #
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excellent observation. I would still call it racist. Maybe not in the sense that we use racial,being not a good thing, but it is in terms of we and they.....stay well....
tapline | Homepage | 12.16.08 - 10:48 am | #
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You NEVER feel FRENCH when you live there, either.
of course, most Americans don't WANT to feel FRENCH!!!
Z | Homepage | 12.16.08 - 10:27 am | #
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This is much like New Englanders. I met a man in Maine and asked if he was from that town. He said ,"Yes." but his wife said,"NO.".
The man began to laugh and said,"Well, my grandfather moved here before I was born, but they still don't consider me a local."
Jungle mom | Homepage | 12.16.08 - 7:13 am | #
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//As I began to study their history and culture, as I began to study their language, I found that they are really a closed society.//
Not surprising considering the Japanese people lived in almost complete isolation during the Edo period, which lasted over 250 years. That's a long time for a nation to be cut off from the world, especially at a time when European exploration and trade was beginning to flourish. That same spirit and attitude is hard to eliminate, despite the fact that many years have past.
Another example of this is Italy. As many already know, between the last remnants of the Roman Empire and the 19th century, the Italian peninsula was divided into several states controlled by wealthy ruling families. How similar is that mentality today, with the Italian mafia.
Old habits and customs die hard.
LASunsett | Homepage | 12.16.08 - 6:37 am | #
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Wednesday, December 17, 2008
EarthRights International Special Commentary:POLITICAL ASYLUM IN JAPAN
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon Urges Corporate Interests in Burma to Use Their Influence with Military Junta to Push for Democratic Refo
http://www.earthrights.org/content/view/593/114/
EarthRights International Special Commentary:
Written by Paul Donowitz and Matthew Smith
Monday, 15 December 2008
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon Urges Corporate Interests in Burma to Use Their Influence with Military Junta to Push for Democratic Reforms and Improvement in Human Rights
When asked what advice he would give to private businesses invested in Burma’s (Myanmar’s) energy sector, the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon firmly stated that "they should try to use their cooperation or their relationship to impress upon the Myanmar authorities so that they can commit to their democratization process, and also humanitarian and promotion of human rights..." ERI is heartened that the Secretary General recognizes that corporations choosing to operate in Burma must play a positive role. However, ERI continues to document the negative environmental and social impacts of foreign investments in the country’s oil and gas sector, and questions the current commitment of corporations in this sector to influence positive change in the country.
Read more > >
ERI is particularly concerned about South Korea’s Daewoo International, the operator of a natural gas project set to carry gas from the Bay of Bengal to China through politically and environmentally sensitive regions in Burma. Abuses connected to this project - known as Shwe, meaning “gold” in Burmese - have begun and were documented in a recent Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) complaint filed with the Government of South Korea by ERI and the Shwe Gas Movement (SGM). If the project moves ahead, ERI believes that widespread abuses in the project area are unavoidable, including forced labor, forced relocation, and other abuses perpetrated by the Burmese military on behalf of Daewoo and other companies involved in the project.
Moreover, Daewoo International was recently at the center of a maritime border dispute in the Bay of Bengal between Burma and Bangladesh, exploring for natural gas in disputed waters under the cover of Burmese warships. The company participated in activities intended by the Burmese authorities to exacerbate longstanding differences between the two countries; an act inconsistent with Ban Ki-moon’s call to influence positive change.
Like Daewoo, the US oil company Chevron and the French oil company Total are also failing Ban Ki-moon’s call to use their power and influence to facilitate positive changes in Burma. The companies continue to operate a natural gas pipeline that has been associated with longstanding, widespread human rights abuses in the country’s Tenasserim region. Called Yadana, meaning “treasure” in Burmese, the project officially began in the mid-1990s and since its inception has led directly to human rights abuses by the military – abuses continue today. The project has also financed repression as the project is the single largest source of revenue for the military regime (an estimated US$ 969 million to the junta last year alone, according to ERI).
Since 1996, ERI has researched and published five advocacy reports detailing the suffering of local people and the human rights abuses committed on behalf of the companies’ interests; most recently in the ERI report The Human Cost of Energy: Chevron’s Continuing Role in Financing Oppression and Profiting from Human Rights Abuses in Military-Ruled Burma (Myanmar) (April 2008). The report details how human rights impacts directly connected to the project continue to date, such as forced labor, rape, and killings committed by pipeline security battalions. The companies are aware of these abuses, yet they continue unabated – Chevron, for its part, faces significant legal liability in US Courts for these abuses. The companies continue to deny any wrongdoing, and argue they are benefiting the people of Burma.
Chevron and Total should heed the Secretary General’s call and use their influence to effect positive change in Burma. The companies should stop relying on the Burmese military for pipeline security, publish all payments made to the Burmese regime, and use their financial resources to implement a sustainable socio-economic program in their project area.
Major construction on Daewoo International’s project has not yet begun in earnest – the company should recognize that the best way to heed the Secretary General’s call is to postpone the Shwe Project until local people can be included in development decisions, and until the project can proceed without negative human rights impacts. In the mean time, the company should publish all payments made to the Burmese regime.
Read the full transcript of Ban Ki Moon's interview here.
RELATED NEWS:
- Read Matthew Smith's op-ed about Daewoo's involvement in aggravating tensions between Burma and Bangladesh over maritime boundaries.
- Bloomberg News - "Daewoo-Led Group May Conclude Myanmar Gas Agreement with CNPC"
Japan quietly seeks global leadership niches
http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20081217/ts_csm/o3japan_1
By Amelia Newcomb Amelia Newcomb – Wed Dec 17, 3:00 am ETTokyo – In the 1980s, the buzz here was about "Japan bashing" – the biting criticism of a country that was eviscerating America's postwar industrial dominance. This is still the world's second-biggest economy. But more recently, Japanese have spoken in bemused terms about "Japan passing" – shorthand for a country feeling overshadowed by a rising China and India.
Japan's meteoric economic rise never led to a parallel surge in diplomatic clout. But today, as a pacesetter in everything from green cars to pop culture, it seeks to carve out a bigger role in world affairs as a "soft power."
The country has had remarkable success in shifting the one-dimensional perception of Japan Inc. to a multifaceted image that many in the industrialized world are now hastening to emulate in key areas like energy innovation. Still, Japan's new emergence is closely tied to its ability to reform its domestic political structure and speak more surely on the international diplomatic stage – something far from certain at this juncture.
"Japan used to be [just] an economic superpower," says Michael Auslin, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington. "Now it talks about being a social superpower. Japanese say, 'We're First World, but what kind of power are we?' "
Japan's promotion of a changed image was underscored earlier this year by the ascension – a cutesy gesture, perhaps – of a cartoon character, Doraemon, as the country's roving cultural ambassador.
The animated cat's job, said then-Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura at the March announcement, was to "deepen people's understanding of Japan so they will become our friends." For his part, Doraemon – who is as familiar to young people in Asia as Snoopy was to generations of young Americans – promised to share globally "what kind of future [Japanese] want to build."
To Kenjiro Monji, it's one small piece of a diplomacy that is crucial to that future – influencing the public as well as opinion leaders by presenting ideas and policies more effectively. Japan's director general of public diplomacy, he points to polls by the BBC this year that gave Japan the No. 2 slot in terms of positive image among global respondents.
"The image of Japan is very good, and not just in cultural areas. It is seen as contributing to stability as well," he says.
Still, Mr. Monji says Japan could do far more to capitalize on its deft touch with practical and whimsical technology alike as well as popular culture. He is enthusiastic about the startup of an English language TV broadcast – a BBC-like program by Japan International Broadcasting – that aims to reach most corners of the globe by March 2009.
Plans are also in the works to open more than 100 language centers around the world to spread the study of Japanese, an effort funded by the Japan Foundation. Cultural grant aid is another target.
But Japan's cultural dynamism stands in sharp contrast to its domestic political and dip- lomatic profile – one that hampers Japan's ability to wield clout in more traditional spheres of influence.
That's something Ichiro Asahina, an idealistic and animated 30-something official with Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry, hopes to change.
After a stint at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, Mr. Asahina concluded that Japan's bureaucracy, long the destination for the best and brightest, was failing to help blaze a path out of Japan's domestic economic and political troubles.
He and like-minded colleagues started brainstorming how best to nudge change within Kasumigaseki, Japan's ministerial hub. In 2005, Project K, as the group dubbed itself, ratcheted things up – publishing a book that pitched mission statements, a national strategy office, and other reforms to help ministries become more dynamic and open to frank discussion. They developed an acronym – PEATH, for peace, environment, art, technology, and human resources – to describe where the group, which now claims some 50 members, thought Japan could be most influential.
Their activism proved a magnet for criticism – and plaudits. "Things are moving toward change," Asahina asserts, noting that their tome sold a surprising 10,000 copies. "Many Japanese young people want a stronger role for Japan in the world – we think Japan can do a lot for the world's prosperity."
For this generation, unlike their parents and grandparents, validation does not have to come from the West. They exude an assurance born of Japan's broad cultural reach, its environmental leadership (this is, they note, home of the Kyoto Protocol on climate change and the trendsetting Toyota Prius), and its industrial competitiveness. Their country's World War II history, while an issue, does not encumber them; many observers see them as pragmatic.
"They're practical on security issues," says Steven Vogel, professor of political science at the University of California at Berkeley, noting that young people tend to take for granted the existence of the Self-Defense Forces and are less opposed to a military role overseas than their parents. "[It's] not a shift to the right, but stems from the disappearance of [ideological] splits. They are unraveling old constraints."
The debate over what kind of global leader Japan wants to be is far from settled. But it's clear that its under-the-radar influence – relative to the attention China gets – is strong, and growing in some areas.
Japan is building, of course, on a strong base. It remains a key US security partner in Asia. A study this year by the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations ranked Japan ahead of China and South Korea in cultural, economic, diplomatic, and political influence in Asia.
Japan has fallen from its 1990s perch of top donor of overseas development assistance, but still ranks 5th worldwide. Its manufacturing prowess and energy efficiency are second to none; Toyota now vies with GM's as the world's No. 1 car producer. Millions of people around the world are huge fans of Japanese comics and animation.
In the coming year, a global financial crisis, threats to world shipping lanes, and a growing US focus on Afghanistan will test how Japan chooses to exercise its influence in the world.
Already, in the financial crisis, Japan has expanded its global footprint with the Nomura Group's $2 billion purchase of Lehman Brothers' Asian, European, and Middle Eastern operations, and with Mitsubishi Financial's $9 billion investment in Morgan Stanley, the struggling New York investment firm. The government has also pledged $100 billion to the IMF to aid developing countries, the only country so far to do so. In the first such meeting outside a multilateral forum, Japanese leaders this week hosted Chinese and South Korean counterparts in Fukuoka to discuss how to buffer the Asian region.
Of course, Japan's slow response to its own bubble in the 1990s has offered a cautionary tale to the US and Europe on how to manage the credit crisis.
Japan just passed a law recommitting itself to Afghanistan-linked support operations, despite opposition. It provided 600 noncombat troops in southern Iraq, withdrawing them in 2006. Working with the UN Development Program, the country just invested $92 million to help 21 African countries deal with climate change – part of its $10 billion Cool Earth Partnership. And the rise in piracy off Somalia has prompted discussion of a bill to allow Japan, constitutionally limited to a defensive military, to send destroyers to escort oil tankers and commercial ships.
A world vastly different from the one that shaped Japan's postwar policy is driving a change in outlook, says Kenneth Pyle, an expert at the University of Washington. But it's unfolding gradually: Just as it took 15 years from the arrival of American gunboats in 19th-century Japan until a modern government formed, Japan is now deciding how best to respond to a world where cold wars and a weak China are the stuff of history books.
"Right now, there a kind of interlude, an interregnum where the international system is not clear," he says. "They are assessing, and it's going to take some time."
To some observers, Japan is in need of a leadership that interacts and communicates as easily as its pop culture. "In a globalizing world, Japan needs to be understood," says Sakie Fukushima, a managing director of Korn/Ferry International. "It needs to express opinions more effectively and be part of the world."
But the current prime minister, Taro Aso, has not won his countrymen's confidence. The nation faces political stasis, a rising income gap in a proudly middle-class society, a burgeoning elderly class, and a dropping birthrate. Last month, Japan officially tipped into recession, bringing gloomy reminders of the troubled 1990s.
Mr. Aso now confronts a divided parliament and a devastating 22 percent approval rating – boding ill for his Liberal Democratic Party in national elections, that must be held by next September.
For Aso and Japan, much depends on choices of a rising generation. Critics see some worrying trends: Interest in some foreign countries has waned; for the third consecutive year, the number of Japanese studying in the US has declined, while India, China, and Korea have seen double-digit increases.
Asahina, the government official, is aware of the hurdles even reform-minded officials face. "Most young bureaucrats share [Project K's] feeling," he says. "But to have a feeling and to take action are different. Most people are waiting and seeing."
He argues that Japan can take advantage of its membership in both Western and Asian spheres, with its "ambiguous" position an asset in bridging differences between other countries. "Japan has the potential to be persuasive in the world," Asahina adds. "We have to speak out strongly and differentiate ourselves. We can remodel."
Burma: Lawyer’s Testimony Highlights Distorted Justice
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2008/12/16/burma-lawyer-s-testimony-highlights-distorted-justice
ASEAN Should Monitor Jailed Activists
December 16, 2008
The government locks up peaceful activists, sends them to remote prisons, and then intimidates or imprisons the lawyers who try to represent them. This abuse of the legal system shows the sorry state of the rule of law in Burma.
Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch
Related Materials: Burma: Free Activists Sentenced by Unfair Courts
Letter to ASEAN Secretary General Ong Keng Yong
Crackdown(New York, December 16, 2008) - Burma's military government has used the country's legal mechanisms to intimidate political prisoners and to deny them access to justice, Human Rights Watch said today, citing new testimony from a defense lawyer who has just fled the country. In a crackdown that started in October 2008, Burma's courts have sentenced over 200 political and labor activists, internet bloggers, journalists, and Buddhist monks and nuns to lengthy jail terms.
With the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Charter having entered into force on December 15, Human Rights Watch urged ASEAN to dispatch an eminent independent legal team to monitor the trials and conditions of activists held in isolated prisons.
"The government locks up peaceful activists, sends them to remote prisons, and then intimidates or imprisons the lawyers who try to represent them," said Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "This abuse of the legal system shows the sorry state of the rule of law in Burma."
Saw Kyaw Kyaw Min, a 28-year-old lawyer from Rangoon, fled to Thailand several days ago after weeks in hiding. In late October 2008, a Rangoon court sentenced him to six months in prison under Section 228 of the Burmese Penal Code for contempt of court. He failed to intervene, on the judge's order, after his clients turned their backs on the judge to protest the way they were being questioned.
Saw Kyaw Kyaw Min had been defending 11 clients, all members of the National League for Democracy (NLD). Three other lawyers - Nyi Nyi Htwe, U Aung Thein, and U Khin Maung Shein - were arrested and sentenced to terms of four to six months in prison on the same charges. Saw Kyaw Kyaw Min learned of the charges in advance and went underground.
He described to Human Rights Watch the secretive workings of the Burmese legal system and the way in which political prisoners are denied access to fair trials. He said political activists awaiting sentencing in prison can meet with their defense lawyers only at police custody centers with police and intelligence officers present. Trials are often shrouded in secrecy, with lawyers not informed when their clients are to appear in court. Lawyers representing political prisoners face arbitrary delays when requesting assistance from authorities or documents such as case files, he said.
Human Rights Watch has already documented problems with the current unfair trials, including lack of legal representation for political prisoners. Among the hundreds sentenced in recent months, in late November a Rangoon court sentenced prominent comedian and social activist Zargana to 59 years in jail for disbursing relief aid and talking to the international media about his frustrations in assisting victims of Burma's devastating Cyclone Nargis.
Many political prisoners have recently been transferred to isolated regional prisons where medical assistance is poor or nonexistent and food is scarce. During the past few weeks, authorities sent Zargana to Mytkyina Prison, in the far-north Kachin State; the '88 Generation Students leader, Min Ko Naing, was transferred to the northeast Kentung jail of Shan State; and internet blogger Nay Phone Latt, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for posting anti-government material on his website, was sent to the far-south prison at Kawthaung, across from Ranong in Thailand.
The newly-in-force ASEAN Charter sets out principles such as adhering to the rule of law and protecting and promoting human rights to which all members states, including Burma, should adhere. But compliance provisions are weak. ASEAN faces a considerable challenge in addressing Burma's lack of respect for human rights in the lead-up to multiparty elections in 2010.
Human Rights Watch urges Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan of ASEAN to dispatch an independent legal assessment team to monitor the treatment of political prisoners in Burma's courts and prisons. Human Rights Watch said ASEAN should also address Burma's lack of respect for the rule of law when it holds its rescheduled ASEAN summit meeting in early 2009.
"This is a test for ASEAN," said Pearson. "If ASEAN lets Burma get away with this farce of justice, the ASEAN Charter really is worthless."
Saw Kyaw Kyaw Min's account to Human Rights Watch
Saw Kyaw Kyaw Min was admitted to the Burmese Bar earlier in 2008. Since 2007, he has played a lead role in trying to represent activists charged under a raft of spurious laws, and he has been arrested several times for his political activities.
On October 23, he and another lawyer were defending 11 clients, members of the NLD, in Hlaingtharya Court, Rangoon on a range of charges related to peaceful political activities in 2007. Some of the defendants turned their back on the judge, U Thaung Nyunt of the Rangoon Northern District Court, to protest the unfair way defendants were being questioned by the prosecution. The judge instructed the lawyers to stop the defendants' behavior. According to Saw Kyaw Kyaw Min: "We both said to the judge, ‘We don't want to forbid our clients from doing anything, because we are defense lawyers and we act according to our clients' instructions.' The judge stopped the proceedings and set another court hearing date."
The next day, court officials informed Saw Kyaw Kyaw Min that his contempt-of-court hearing was set for October 30. Days later, at the courthouse, he saw and overheard a police officer and an assistant judge conspiring to arrest him. He fled and went into hiding.
Thailand left out as Asean signs trade deals
http://www.bangkokpost.com/breakingnews/135440/thailand-left-out-as-asean-signs-trade-deals
Published: 17/12/2008 at 12:42 AM Singapore - Six southeast Asian nations signed trade agreements on Tuesday paving the way for a single market in the region, pressing on with the pacts despite the postponement of a key summit.
The economic ministers of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Singapore and Malaysia signed three separate deals covering trade in goods, investment and services.
Besides the six nations attending Tuesday's signing ceremony, Thailand and three other Asean members - Vietnam, the Philippines and Burma - were due to sign at a later date, officials said.
The six decided to press on with the signing rather than wait for a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) that was delayed by recent unrest in Thailand.
"As these agreements are integral to Asean's economic integration, the Asean economic ministers agreed to meet in Singapore to sign and have them enter into force as soon as possible," said Malaysian Trade Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.
The three agreements were originally to be signed at the 10-member Asean's annual summit in Thailand this month, officials said.
Anti-government protests in Thailand, which currently chairs Asean, forced that country's former government to move the summit from Bangkok to the northern city of Chiang Mai, and then to postpone it until March.
After Thailand's opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva was elected Monday as the country's new prime minister, the foreign ministry said the summit will be held from Feb 24-26.
"The economic ministers felt that we should proceed" to sign the trade deals without delay before February, Singapore's Minister for Trade and Industry, Lim Hng Kiang, told reporters on Tuesday.
"We felt we should have a meeting, sign and press on because if you postpone everything till end February we lose two months."
The documents signed Tuesday have taken on added importance during a global economic crisis, Lim said.
Asean has made itself more attractive to foreign investment but, with the world in a credit crunch, the level of foreign investment will fall over the next two years, he said.
"And if Asean cannot portray itself as a more attractive venue I think then we lose out."
Indonesia's Trade Minister Mari Pangestu also stressed the need for Asean to forge closer economic ties in light of the global financial crisis.
"I think from the Asean perspective, it was important for us to ensure that we don't experience any delays in the progress that we have achieved in terms of the Asean economic community," she told AFP after the signing ceremony.
Asked if the crisis would affect Asean's integration goals, she said: "One would hope not because I think we have all the interest to make sure that this continues to work."
She added: "If the global situation becomes more uncertain, then making regional cooperation and integration work will make you stronger."
The agreements signed Tuesday liberalise trade in services and grant benefits to investors.
The third covers trade in goods. Tariffs on most goods had already been cut to between zero and five percent as part of Asean's plan to establish a single market and manufacturing base by 2015. (AFP)
Burmese Defense Lawyer Flees to Thailand, Blasts Regime
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=14795
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By SAW YAN NAING Monday, December 15, 2008
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A young Burmese lawyer sentenced to six months imprisonment for questioning court proceedings against his dissident clients has fled to Thailand after a hazardous journey from Rangoon.
Saw Kyaw Kyaw Min, 29, was one of four defense lawyers convicted of contempt of court after complaining of unfair treatment by the Rangoon court. The other three—Aung Thein, Khin Maung Shein and Nyi Nyi Htwe—are being detained by Burmese authorities.
Saw Kyaw Kyaw Min, who escaped to Thailand some two weeks ago, gave a press conference in the Thai-Burmese border town of Mae Sot on Monday, accusing the Burmese courts of allowing themselves to become tools of the Burmese regime. He had been engaged to represent more than 20 political activists.
In a telephone interview on Monday with The Irrawaddy, Saw Kyaw Kyaw Min said:
“There are no fair trials in Burma. Defense lawyers are denied the right to defend their clients. The Burmese authority is using the courts to pressure political activists by pronouncing long terms of imprisonment.”
By imprisoning young political activists, the Burmese authorities were trying to silence an entire political generation in the run up to the 2010 general election, Saw Kyaw Kyaw Min said.
Among those defended by Saw Kyaw Kyaw Min was the prominent human rights activist Myint Aye, founder of a rights advocacy group known as the Human Rights Defenders and Promoters.
Myint Aye was sentenced to life imprisonment for his alleged involvement in a bomb attack on an office of the junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Association in Rangoon’s Shwepyithar Township on July 1.
According to the state-run newspaper New Light of Myanmar, Myint Aye funded the bombing, which it said had been carried out by two members of the opposition National League for Democracy, Zaw Zaw Aung and Yan Shwe. Exiled Burmese dissidents based in Mae Sot had also helped fund the attack, the newspaper alleged.
Saw Kyaw Kyaw Min said Myint Aye was innocent and he accused the Burmese authorities of illegally sentencing him.
About 215 political activists, including members of the 88 Generation Students group, Buddhist monks, cyclone relief workers, journalists and bloggers, were given prison sentences of up to 68 years in a series of trials in November. More than 100 were transferred to prisons in remote areas around Burma, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma).
According to rights groups, more than 2,100 political prisoners are estimated to be still behind bars in Burma.
Copyright © 2008 Irrawaddy Publishing Group | www.irrawaddy.org
Thailand's new PM likely to be more 'pro-Active' on Burma: Activist
http://www.mizzima.com/news/regional/1445-thailands-new-pm-likely-to-be-more-pro-active-on-burma-activist.html
by Mungpi
Monday, 15 December 2008 20:49
New Delhi (Mizzima) - Thailand's opposition leader, Abhisit Vejjajiva, has been elected as the country's new Prime Minister after winning a special vote in Parliament on Monday.
Abhisit, on Monday, won 235 votes, edging out Pracha Promnok who received 198 votes, to become Thailand's 27th Prime Minister.
The 44-year old Abhisit, who was born in Britain, will also become the fifth Prime Minister of Thailand within a period of less than two-and-a-half years.
The election came after Thailand's constitutional court in early December forced former Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat to resign. Somchai and his Peoples Power Party, along with two other parties, were charged for election fraud related to polls convened over a year previously.
While electing Abhisit as the new Prime Minister seems to provide at least a momentary end to the political deadlock that has dragged on in Thailand for months, supporters of the ousted government, known as the red-shirts, on Monday reacted furiously – rampaging through barricades and preventing MPs from leaving Parliament.
While the election of Abhisit as the new Prime Minister signals an end to the immediate political crisis, Burmese pro-democracy activists based in Thailand said Abhisit's new government is more likely to take a pro-active role regarding Burma's politics.
According to Nyo Ohn Myint, in-charge of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the exiled National League for Democracy-Liberated Area (NLD-LA), with his fair knowledge and understanding of political situation in Burma, Abhisit is likely to be more pro-active than other earlier Thai governments.
Abhisit, during a conference on 'Safeguarding Democracy – Role of Opposition,' held in Bangkok on Saturday, acknowledged that Thailand's former Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, had used Thailand's foreign policy to make personal deals with Burma's military junta.
Nyo Ohn Myint, who was also a participant in the conference, said Abhisit, during an informal discussion, had promised to be more 'pro-active' towards Burma's political crisis if elected as the new head of state.
"I also made a point to him that, as a neighbor, Burma's political problems impact on Thailand," Nyo Ohn Myint added.
Nyo Ohn Myint said that while it is still too early to predict what will be Thailand's foreign policy under the newly elected Premier, it would look more positive if the leaders do not have any personal business connections with Burma's military rulers.
Thaksin, Thailand's former Prime Minister, now in exile, during his tenure conducted lucrative business deals with Burma's military junta. Critics said Thaksin used Thailand's foreign policy to deal with Burma's military junta for personal gain.
"I believe that if the new elected leaders of Thailand do not have personal business ties with Burma's military rulers, Thailand could take a better position on Burma," Nyo Ohn Myint speculated.
Thailand, with its ongoing political crisis, is unlikely to have Burma as a major focus of its any new foreign policy, but Nyo Ohn Myint said the Thai government is likely to more sympathetic towards Burmese refugees and migrants.
Thailand currently hosts over two million Burmese migrant workers, who are employed in varied fields of work, including the sex industry. Additionally, there are some 140,000 Burmese refugees eking out a survival in nine camps along the Thai-Burmese border.
Different View: Singapore's law and order
http://burmadd.blogspot.com/2008/12/different-view-singapores-law-and-order.html
BDD
Singaporean government authorities arrested opposition leader John Tan, joint secretary of Singapore Democrat Party because of wearing T-Shirt has picture of Kangaroo head and human body. He is now serving 14 days in jail for violation the law.
In fact, Singaporean government's suppression against the opposition, political and social activists in a different way. John said that he has faced more than three dozens of cases against him and he was supposed to serve his T-Shirt jail term today in Singapore.
He is posting his facing jail term T-Shirt with a former Burmese political prisoner and NLD LA Foreign Affairs Committee secretary Moe Zaw Oo, who faced 10 years in jail. John might face 14 years in Burma if he were a Burmese political activist, who knows?
'Momentous' day for ASEAN as charter comes into force
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jaCndX1mbdxcrjpbN7_ygho93ELQ
JAKARTA (AFP) — The Association of Southeast Asian Nations took a major step towards becoming an EU-style community Monday with the passing into force of a new charter setting benchmarks for democracy.
The charter sets out rules of membership, transforms ASEAN into a legal entity and envisages a single free trade area by 2015 for the region of 500 million people.
It came into force with a meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers at the bloc's Jakarta secretariat, 30 days after Thailand became the last member to deposit its ratifying documents.
"This is a momentous development when ASEAN is consolidating, integrating and transforming itself into a community," Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said.
"It is achieved while ASEAN seeks a more vigorous role in Asian and global affairs at a time when the international system is experiencing a seismic shift," he added, referring to climate change and economic upheaval.
"Southeast Asia is no longer the bitterly divided, war-torn region it was in the 1960s and 1970s."
ASEAN consists of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
The charter was supposed to have been activated at a summit in Thailand this month but that meeting was postponed by a domestic political crisis which has underscored the fragility of democracy and human rights across the region.
Thai Information Minister Mun Patanotai presided over the presentation ceremony as representative of the bloc's current chair, as the country lacks a foreign minister to do the job.
Thai lawmakers on Monday elected opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva as the country's third prime minister in four months after half a year of crippling protests.
"Democracy -- it's a yo-yo in the system, it's a yo-yo in the region," ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan told reporters.
"Some countries used to be ahead of others, now they are behind. They're all in the process of transforming themselves to become more open, more participatory, more democratic...
"In spite of the political setback in Thailand, which is now the ASEAN chair country, I believe ASEAN will not and cannot be slowed down."
He said that despite some calls for a new round of protectionism in the face of the global economic meltdown, the bloc agreed that closer economic integration was the best way out of the crisis.
"We also realise that the best way out of this -- and the best protection, best buffer, best shield -- would be to continue ... to bring down our tariffs and non-tariff barriers," he said.
The charter will give ASEAN, often dismissed as a talking shop, greater clout in international negotiations but critics argue that some member states will continue to get away with gross human rights abuses.
The bloc's proposed new rights body has no teeth and the charter has no provision to sanction members like Myanmar , where the junta has kept democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest for most of the past 18 years.
The country's secretive junta is under European Union and United States sanctions over its human rights record.
No date has been set for the creation of the planned rights body but a first draft of its terms of reference will be handed over to a meeting of foreign ministers in Thailand in July, officials said.
U.N. to commemorate former Secretary General U Thant -MIZZIMA
http://www.mizzima.com/news/world/1444-un-to-commemorate-former-secretary-general-u-thant.html
by Salai Pi Pi
Monday, 15 December 2008 20:46
New Delhi (Mizzima) - The United Nation's Postal Administration (UNPA) will early next year release three postal stamps in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of former U.N. Secretary General, and Burmese national, U Thant.
In February, 2009, the UNPA will issue three commemorative postal stamps in denominations of US$ 0.94, CHF 1.30 and EUR 1.15 in conjunction with the theme, "100th anniversary U Thant".
Burma's U Thant, who was unanimously appointed to the position by the General Assembly, served as the third Secretary General of the United Nations from 1961 to 1971.
U Thant was the first Asian to hold the post in the world body, followed only by current Secretary Genearl Ban Ki-moon of South Korea.
U Thant was born at Pantanaw of the Irrawaddy Division in Burma, on January 22nd, 1909, and passed away on November 25th, 1974, with lung cancer.
During his tenure as the Secretary General, U Thant had done many successful mediation efforts in preventing the possibly war in Yemen in 1962 and Bahrain in 1968 that could have provoked a wider regional conflict.
Despite of his popularity, Burma's military dictator General Newin, who took power in a bloodless coup in 1962, refused to honor him with a state funeral, after his body was flown in from New York.
Newin's act immediately provoked the Rangoon university students, who then took the body of U Thant to the university campus in order to organize a grand funeral. But Newin sent troops to the campus and begun opening fire on students.
The event, which started off as a demand to hold a state funeral for U Thant, was later known as the "U Thant uprising' in modern Burma's history, as students and civilians following the bloody crackdown marched the streets of Rangoon in protest against Newin and his Burma Socialist Program Party (BSPP).
The United Nations is the only organization in the world which is neither a country nor a territory that is permitted to issue postage stamps, according to the UNPA.
The UNPA is also the only postal authority to issue stamps in three different currencies, namely U.S. dollars, Swiss francs and the Euro.
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