BURMA RELATED NEWS - DECEMBER 01, 2010-UTK

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BURMA RELATED NEWS - DECEMBER 01, 2010
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AlertNet - Myanmar cyclone survivors risk malnutrition
Asian Correspondent - Aung San Suu Kyi calls for national reconciliation on National Day of Burma
VOA News - Aung San Suu Kyi Summons Courage of Burmese People
EarthTimes - Suu Kyi urges people to be courageous on National Day
AP - Myanmar junta chief praises 'successful' elections
CNN News - World AIDS Day comes amid progress, concern
Independent - In Burma only one in five people with HIV are treated
Japan Today - Suu Kyi calls for Japan's continued support for democracy in Myanmar
New Kerala - Funds for cyclone-hit Myanmar: UN
Bangkok Post - Timber firm plans lawsuit over licence renewal row
The Nation - 108 Shops for Burma
UN News Centre - Humanitarian agencies seek funds for cyclone emergency in Myanmar – UN
Canada.com - NDP seeks to honour Myanmar’s pro-democracy leader
The Irrawaddy - AIDS Day Highlights Plight of Burma's Sufferers
The Irrawaddy - A Visit with Suu Kyi in Her NLD Office
Mizzima News - NLD urges junta to seek national reconciliation
Mizzima News - Whole movement for better governance needed: Suu Kyi
Mizzima News - NLD to release report on junta electoral fraud
DVB News - Children ‘most at threat’ from HIV/AIDS
DVB News - Thai army ‘obstructing refugees’
DVB News - ‘She gives them strength in their struggle’
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Myanmar cyclone survivors risk malnutrition
Source: AlertNet
Date: 01 Dec 2010

BANGKOK (AlertNet) - Some 200,000 people in cyclone-hit western Myanmar need food aid and tens of thousands of children are at risk of malnutrition following the natural disaster that left 100,000 people homeless, the United Nations said.

Cyclone Giri struck Myanmar's Rakhine state on Oct 22, wiping out at least 20,000 houses and 150 schools in the townships of Kyaukpyu, Myebon, Minbya and Pauktaw, the world body said.

More than 30 people died in the storm which also destroyed 40,000 acres of agricultural land and more than 50 percent of all crops.

A survey by the United Nations' children agency UNICEF and Myanmar's ministry of health has found that 18,000 children under the age of five were likely to develop acute malnutrition or wasting if the situation did not improve.

"Acute malnutrition usually occurs as a consequence of food scarcity and/or diseases. In case of the areas affected by Cyclone Giri, the main concern until now is food security," a UNICEF official in Myanmar told AlertNet.

"Wasting ... could occur in the next few weeks or months for the children identified at risk unless addressed."

In Rakhine state, almost 40 percent of the population suffers from chronic malnutrition compared to the countrywide average of around one third, government figures from 2003 show.

The impact of the cyclone is expected to compound already poor nutritional levels in the area, the United Nations said in a statement.

In addition, the area is now entering a peak season for malaria transmission, aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres warned in early November. Lack of shelter, food, water and adequate medical care could increase this threat, it said.

HALF OF CROPS DESTROYED

The timing of the cyclone couldn't have been worse in the Southeast Asian country.

In many of the cyclone-hit areas, rice can only be grown once a year so there won't be another harvest for the next 12 months. In addition, salt water has contaminated ponds and wells just as the monsoon season is ending.

"Many of the households in the township levels were farming small amounts of land for income as well as food while many others were working on those farms," Sanaka Samarasinha, deputy resident representative of the U.N.'s development agency UNDP, told AlertNet.

"Many of these people were already in debt when the cyclone hit -- they tend to sell their crops and labour in advance ... and they are expected to pay their debts at harvest time."

According to UNDP, around 95,000 households who depend in some way on farming and fishing are unlikely to have enough food to eat for the near future.

""Unless we get some of these people back on their livelihoods to ensure that they have some alternatives -- another source of income beyond crops -- they're going to be depending on food assistance for a very long time until the next harvest," Samarasinha said.

Funding continues to be a concern for aid agencies in Myanmar. Of the $53 million needed for emergency relief and early recovery, only $18 million have been mobilised, the U.N. said.

Foreign donors have long been reluctant to fund activities in Myanmar, wary of being seen as supporting the military regime and mindful of allegations that aid was being obstructed or siphoned off in the early days of the response to Cyclone Nargis in May 2008.

Samarasinha said the government has not prevented anyone from distributing aid in Rakhine. Unlike the aftermath of Nargis, there were already a number of organisations on the ground "that are quite capable of responding quite efficiently and effectively to this crisis," he said.

"And because it is a fairly limited area, it is very manageable, but all of that really depends on whether there's adequate funding. Without adequate funding you can have the most efficient effective organisations on the ground but nothing will get done," he added.

For more humanitarian news and analysis, please visit www.alertnet.org
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Asian Correspondent - Aung San Suu Kyi calls for national reconciliation on National Day of Burma
Dec. 01 2010 - 11:06 pm
Zin Linn

Annually, Burma marks its National Day on the 10th waning day of the moon in Tazaungmone or the 8th month of Burmese calendar, 1st December on this year’s Western calendar. It is a day of abrupt change in political meaning, which celebrates a boycott by university students of the nation protesting the British colonial regime’s the 1920-Act of Rangoon University.

People of Burma believe the 1920-boycott as the country’s foremost step towards independence. The 1920 Rangoon University Act gave access to higher education only for students from the wealthiest families. However, students from poor families had no chance to study University education. Thus, the University Student’s called for boycott in due course to review the act.

Burma’s universities have produced many national figures; the most outstanding student leader was Aung San, father of Democracy Icon Aung San Suu Kyi. In the 1988 revolution, student leaders were also the initiators of the nation-wide uprising. National Day in Burma has become an important strong linkage between political and educational liberty.

On Wednesday (1st December, 2010), Burma’s key figure of democracy, Aung San Suu Kyi urged political leaders and their parties, social workers and their civil networks, citizens and civil-servants including military personnel to be courageous, unyielding and united in joining political activities as the country needs their contributions. In an interview with the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), Aung San Suu Kyi said the first step toward national reconciliation is to "change the people's mindsets."

Suu Kyi, General-Secretary of the NLD, also said that she is ready to work in partnership with anyone or any group that is trying to endorse national reconciliation, in a speech on 1st December on the 90th anniversary of National Day at the headquarters of the National League for Democracy (NLD).

According to her, the NLD has been alive as a political party, not for the party's survival but to work for the people.

“I have worked to accomplish national reconciliation, and I will keep struggling to endorse national reconciliation,” she said.

“The current education system in Burma has many weak points,” Burma’s Nobel peace laureate said in her National Day talk. “If the citizens are weak in education, there will be many negative consequences. We have to reduce those weaknesses in the education system.”

On the same day, Burma’s Junta chief Senior General Than Shwe made the assessment regarding the country's first elections in two decades in a speech marking National Day, which honors the 1920 student boycott against British colonialism.

According to the junta’s mouthpiece newspaper New Light of Myanmar, Than Shwe said the triumphant achievement of "free-and-fair elections" left just two steps to complete in the junta's self-styled 'roadmap to democracy'; the remaining two steps are to hand over state power to the public through Parliament and to construct an advanced developed democratic nation with a Head of State elected by Parliament.

The junta’s challengers and political analysts have been criticizing the 7-November polls as launching under unfair setting and that the voting-stations were handled by the military and its followers giving favor to the junta-backed party.

For that reason, numerous nations condemned the voting as a charade due to unfair election laws that barred many opposition parties and candidates to take part in the polls.

In the meantime, the NLD is in the hunt for a judicial resolution to restore the party as a legal political party after losing its status in last May after it refused to reregister for the recent election. The party boycotted the voting to complain the biased law that forced to drop Aung San Suu Kyi as a member if the NLD wanted to contest in the polls.

The NLD on this occasion of the 90th Anniversary National Day released an announcement urging the military regime to release all political prisoners without delay so as to commence a process of national reconciliation.
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VOA News - Aung San Suu Kyi Summons Courage of Burmese People
01 December 2010

Burmese democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is urging her fellow citizens show courage in the wake of elections that critics say were rigged against the opposition.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner told a group of about 200 supporters in Rangoon Wednesday they need "to be united, to persevere and be courageous." The speech marked the 90th anniversary of National Day, which celebrates protests by Rangoon University students which launched the Burmese independence movement in 1920.

In an interview with the independent Democratic Voice of Burma, Aung San Suu Kyi said the first step toward national reconciliation is to "change the people's mindsets."

She defended herself against criticism over her wish to hold talks with the ruling military junta. She said it would be "senseless" to give up on something that is "righteous to do, just because it is hard to do."

Aung San Suu Kyi was released from detention days after the November 7th national elections, Burma's first in two decades. A party backed by the military won a large majority of seats in both houses of parliament.

Many nations denounced the election as a farce because of election laws that kept many opposition parties and candidates from participating in the balloting.

Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy boycotted the election after refusing to purge her from its membership rolls.
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EarthTimes - Suu Kyi urges people to be courageous on National Day
Posted : Wed, 01 Dec 2010 09:15:36 GMT

Yangon - Myanmar's pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi urged people to be courageous on the 90th anniversary of National Day Wednesday.

The December 1 holiday celebrates protests by Rangoon University students in 1920 which started the independence movement.

"We need to be united, to persevere and be courageous," opposition leader Suu Kyi told about 200 supporters who gathered at the National League for Democracy (NLD) party compound in Yangon.

To mark the day, military strongman and leader of the current ruling junta, Senior General Than Shwe, emphasized "sustained efforts to achieve greater development of the nation," the state-run New Light of Myanmar reported Wednesday.

Than Shwe praised the recent "free and fair elections" and urged Burmese people to "keep working with a strong sense of nationalistic spirit."

The November 7 polls where the first in Myanmar in 20 years, but most foreign observers said they were neither free or fair.

Suu Kyi, whose NLD was banned when they boycotted the polls, on Wednesday said national affairs are the concern of all people and not just "one party's agenda."

The Nobel Peace Prize laureate was released from house arrest about a week after the election.

Meanwhile, the NLD is seeking a judicial order to reinstate it as a legal political party after losing its status in May when it refused to register for the general election.

The party boycotted the election to protest a law that would have required it to drop Suu Kyi as a member if the NLD were to be put on the ballot.
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Myanmar junta chief praises 'successful' elections
Wed Dec 1, 7:27 am ET

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) – Myanmar's ruling strongman said Wednesday that the country's recent elections — condemned by the international community as rigged — were free and fair and a step toward handing power to the people.

Junta chief Senior Gen. Than Shwe made the assessment about the country's first elections in two decades in a speech marking National Day, which celebrates a 1920 student strike against British colonialism.

According to the state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper, Than Shwe said the successful completion of "free and fair elections" left just two steps to complete in the junta's self-styled 'roadmap to democracy:' convening Parliament and building a modern developed democratic nation with a Head of State elected by Parliament.

Government opponents and outside observers were critical of the Nov. 7 polls, saying they were held under unfair conditions and that the results were manipulated to allow the military-backed party to win.

The U.N. special envoy to Myanmar said Sunday that he told the military government that it must address concerns about the polls. Vijay Nambiar, speaking after a two-day visit, said concerns about the elections have to be addressed "as transparently as possible."

"This is important for laying the foundation of a credible transition" to democratic rule, he said.

Than Shwe in his speech said that plans were now under way "to hand over state power to the public."

Although final official results have yet to be announced, a tabulation based on reports in state media shows the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party garnered nearly 80 percent of the seats in the two-house Union Parliament.

The election results assure that the military, which has ruled Myanmar since 1962, will continue to wield decisive power.

The disbanded party of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi also marked National Day, with the 65-year old Nobel Peace laureate, recently released from 7 1/2 years of detention, calling for unity, courage and perseverance to achieve peace, security and prosperity. She called on the junta to release all political prisoners.
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World AIDS Day comes amid progress, concern
By the CNN WIre Staff
December 1, 2010 9:48 a.m. EST

(CNN) -- As the global community commemorates World AIDS Day on Wednesday, international health organizations report both promising and sobering trends.

While the United Nations says new HIV infections have declined by almost 20 percent worldwide over the past decade, the estimated number of children living with HIV or AIDS in 11 Asian countries has increased by 46 percent between 2001 and 2009, the World Health Organization's South-East Asia office said Wednesday.

"In 2001, an estimated 89,000 children were living with HIV/AIDS," said Vismita Gupta-Smith, public information and advocacy officer for WHO's regional office in New Delhi, India.

"In 2009, there are an estimated 130,000 children living with HIV infection," including recent HIV infection, advanced HIV infection and AIDS.

The 11 countries in the region are Bangladesh, Bhutan, North Korea, India, Indonesia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Timor-Liste.

But a report by a United Nations program released last month shows some encouraging news, including drops in AIDS-related deaths and new HIV cases.

Data from the 2010 global report by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) shows that an estimated 2.6 million people became newly infected with HIV, compared with the estimated 3.1 million people infected in 1999.

Also in 2009, approximately 1.8 million people died from AIDS-related illnesses, compared with the roughly 2.1 million in 2004, according to UNAIDS.

Among young people in 15 of the most severely affected countries, the rate of new HIV infections has fallen by more than 25 percent, led by young people adopting safer sexual practices, according to UNAIDS.

"We are breaking the trajectory of the AIDS epidemic with bold actions and smart choices," said Michel Sidibe, executive director of UNAIDS. "Investments in the AIDS response are paying off, but gains are fragile -- the challenge now is how we can all work to accelerate progress."

But not all the news from the UNAIDS report, which covered 182 countries, was good.

"Even though the number of new HIV infections is decreasing, there are two new HIV infections for every one person starting HIV treatment," UNAIDS said.

Sub-Saharan Africa continues to be the region most affected by the epidemic, with 69 percent of all new HIV infections, according to UNAIDS.

In seven countries, mostly in eastern Europe and central Asia, new HIV infection rates have increased by 25 percent.

UNAIDS said in the Asia-Pacific region, 90 percent of countries have laws that obstruct the rights of people living with HIV.

Despite the lower numbers of new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths, UNAIDS said the demand for resources is surpassing the supply.

"Donor governments' disbursements for the AIDS response in 2009 stood at $7.6 billion, lower than the $7.7 billion available in 2008," UNAIDS said. "Declines in international investments will affect low-income countries the most -- nearly 90 percent rely on international funding for their AIDS programs."
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Independent - In Burma only one in five people with HIV are treated
By Phoebe Kennedy in Rangoon
Wednesday, 1 December 2010

The first formal visit the Burmese democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi made on her release from house arrest last month was not to an ambassador's residence or a smart United Nations office, but to a tin-roofed HIV/Aids shelter in one of Rangoon's poorest districts.

Choosing to highlight the plight of one of the most neglected groups in Burmese society was characteristic of Ms Suu Kyi; her eagerness to listen to the voices of the poor and sick stood in sharp contrast to the style of Burma's ruling generals, who prefer to remain aloof in the palaces of their remote, newly-built capital.

Ms Suu Kyi chatted with many of the 80 residents of the shelter, which is funded by her National League for Democracy Party and through her own personal donations. Gaunt faces gazed up at her she clasped hands and listened, her warmth evocative of Princess Diana's visit to an HIV/Aids centre in London two decades ago.

In the Rangoon shelter, residents receive food, reed mats to sleep on, HIV/Aids education and help in accessing treatment. It is a rare haven in a country where attitudes towards HIV are firmly rooted in the past. People infected with HIV are often considered deviant, and most don't come forward for testing. For a long time, government officials claimed that Burma's sexual conservatism and strong moral code of abstinence before marriage and fidelity after could protect the country from the epidemic. Instead, it has one of the worst HIV/Aids problems in Asia.

The visit of 65-year-old Ms Suu Kyi just days after her 13 November release threw the spotlight on an issue that Burma's military leaders have for a long time tried to keep hidden. It was attention the junta did not enjoy.

The next day, local government officials came to the refuge to order the eviction of the residents, saying they would no longer approve requests for overnight guests that are legally required for anyone in Burma if they wish to stay the night away from their home. A week later, after a mass of negative publicity, the order was reversed.

"I am greatly relieved and so are the patients," said Ko Yarzar, the shelter's manager. He said health authorities had offered to relocate the patients to a state-run HIV centre but the patients refused to move, saying their shelter not only offers medical care, food and accommodation but "warmth and affection that no other centre can provide".

Phyu Phyu Thin, a well-known HIV/Aids activist and NLD supporter who founded the shelter in 2002, told The Irrawaddy magazine that the authorities apologised when extending the permit. "In my opinion, the authorities retreated because media inside and outside of Burma, as well as other organisations, focused on the issue," she said.

An estimated 240,000 people in Burma are infected with HIV virus, a figure that comes nowhere close to the numbers infected in parts of Africa. But it is the yawning gap between those who need treatment and those who receive it that marks the country's HIV tragedy. Just a fifth of those in need of anti-retroviral treatment actually get it. The remainder are dying, or waiting to die.

The priorities of the regime lie elsewhere. The government spends nearly half of its budget on defence, but just 0.3 per cent of GDP on healthcare. Of that, only a tiny amount goes towards HIV/Aids.

A key donor in the health sector, the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria, pulled out of the country in 2005 citing political interference, but earlier last year approved a new grant of around £100m to fund HIV/Aids treatment in Burma over five years.
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Japan Today - Suu Kyi calls for Japan's continued support for democracy in Myanmar
Wednesday 01st December, 04:07 AM JST

YANGON — Myanmar’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi said Tuesday she wants continued support from the Japanese government to bring democracy to the military-ruled country. Suu Kyi, in a telephone interview with Kyodo News, also said she will make every effort to unite the pro-democracy forces in the country.

‘‘We would like the Japanese government to work in coordination with all the other governments who are trying to help along the process of democracy,’’ she said.

Suu Kyi, 65, who was released from house arrest Nov 13 after more than seven years of detention, said she has noticed the people of Myanmar, especially the younger generation, have become ‘‘a lot more politically invigorated.’‘

When asked whether there has been any response from the military junta to her repeated calls for dialogue, she said, ‘‘No, not yet,’’ but added she will continue to call for talks.

‘‘One has to persevere. The junta has never been particularly enthusiastic about dialogue, but we have had contacts in the past and I don’t see why we should not have more in the future,’’ she said.

Commenting on Western sanctions imposed on Myanmar, Suu Kyi said she is reviewing the issue.

‘‘We are at the moment prepared to review the whole sanctions business, because we want to find out what are the effects of the sanctions…politically, economically, and we need to assess how that has affected the lives of our people,’’ she said.

Asked about her plans to cooperate with other democratic forces such as the political parties that took part in the recent parliamentary elections, she said would focus on unity among all the forces in order to bring democracy to Myanmar.

‘‘It is never easy to unite all political parties in any situation but we have to try our best, because unity means strength and strength means speedier transition to democracy,’’ Suu Kyi said.

When asked whether she has a message for the Japanese people, Suu Kyi said, ‘‘I’d like to say to the Japanese people that I’ve always found them supportive of our movement for democracy and I’m really very, very grateful and I hope that there will be closer ties between the two people because I think we do have warm feelings for each other.’’
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New Kerala - Funds for cyclone-hit Myanmar: UN

New York, Dec 1 : Humanitarian agencies in Myanmar require an estimated 53 million dollars to respond to the needs of at least 260,000 people who were affected by Cyclone Giri that battered the western coast of the South-east Asian country last month, destroying thousands of homes, infrastructure and farms, the United Nations reported on Tuesday.

The cyclone left at least 45 people dead or missing and nearly 102,000 people remain homeless, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Approximately 17,500 acres of farmland and nearly 50,000 acres of aquaculture ponds were also destroyed.

The storm also washed away roads and bridges, leaving some parts of the affected area only accessible by boat, OCHA said in an update.

The UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, Valerie Amos, has approved the allocation of approximately USD 6 million from the OCHA-managed Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to finance projects to assist those affected. The projects include education, emergency shelter, food aid, health services, livelihood assistance, nutrition, water and sanitation and logistics.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) and its partners are finalising preparations for a food distribution in Dec. An estimated 3,300 tonnes of mixed food items will be distributed to some 200,000 beneficiaries.

As of the end of last week, over 9,300 tarpaulins had been distributed. In addition, 6,037 emergency shelter kits are in the final stage of distribution to beneficiaries in the affected area. The cyclone response effort has so far cost USD 18 million, according to OCHA.

Cyclone Giri, a category-four storm, made landfall in Rakhine State on 22 October, close to the town of Kyaukpyu. The townships of Kyaukpyu, Myebon, Minbya and Pauktaw were badly hit by the storm.
--IBNS
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Bangkok Post - Timber firm plans lawsuit over licence renewal row
Published: 1/12/2010 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: News

Thai timber importer Anton plans to sue the Forest Department for refusing to renew its licence to transport teak logs from Burma through Salawin National Park.

"We are looking into legal aspects of the planned lawsuit," the deputy managing director of Anton, Phichet Lertlum-umphaiwong, said yesterday.

The company's permission to transport teak through Salawin forest in Mae Hong Son expired last month and the department had refused to renew it, even though it had previously been renewed on a year-to-year basis, Mr Phichet said.

"We don't have any explanation why the department denied the renewal of the licence despite the fact that we have run our business for a long time and have paid taxes constantly.

"This makes it difficult for us to operate our timber business as usual."

Mr Phichet said the company holds a legal permit for logging in Burma.

Natural Resources and Environment Minister Suwit Khunkitti held a news conference on Monday at which he said Anton might have been involved in the destruction of 5,329 cubic metres of forest in Salawin which was discovered in January this year. Authorities seized 3,200 cubic metres of logs from that incident, he said.

Mr Suwit said it was the ministry's policy not to allow the transport of logs from Burma through Salawin to ensure trees were not cut illegally from the national park and passed off as logs from the neighbouring country.

He said logs from Burma could only be legally transported by water.

Mr Suwit also claimed the company did not have an export licence from Burma and had no source-of-origin documents to prove the provenance of its logs. He said the company only had a document from Burmese authorities allowing it to cut down trees in Burma.

Mr Suwit has ordered the immediate transfer of national park chief Surasak Wut-in and other officers in the area, and a panel has been set up to investigate 12 officials, including former Forest Department chief Somchai Pienstaporn.

Mr Phichet said the company had nothing to do with Mr Suwit's accusations. He said its transport route was through Muang district, very far from Salawin National Park, which is in Mae Sariang district.

A source from the Department of Customs in Mae Hong Son confirmed that the company had legal documents issued by Myanmar Timber Enterprise, together with a border checkpoint document, known as BP10, which allowed the company to carry logs through a Burmese minority group territory.

"If the company doesn't have legal documents issued by the Burmese government, it is impossible to pass through the minority territory," the source said. "There may have been some misunderstanding."

The source said the Commerce Ministry had clear rules that any company could import logs from neighbouring countries if it produced a timber licence issued by that country, together with a border checkpoint document.
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The Nation - 108 Shops for Burma
Published on December 2, 2010

Sun 108, a subsidiary of Saha Group that operates 108 Shop convenience stores, plans to establish 25 stores in Burma in 2012 after the first two pilot branches are set up next month.

Managing director Vathit Chokwatana said the company recently appointed Myanmar Convenience Store Co as its franchisee in Burma.

Myanmar Convenience Store is a joint venture between City Mart Holding, a major retailer in Burma, and Today Group, a media firm in that country.

The two 108 Shop convenience stores will be opened in Rangoon in January.

Vathit said the company wants to build on its success by expanding the business into foreign countries. It is beginning in Burma because it sees room to grow in that market.

He said Sun 108 would support the Burma operation with warehouse management, online computer systems, sales data recording, product delivery and logistics.

The company will adjust operations to suit the situation in each area, including a system of payment that can calculate the currency exchange.
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UN News Centre - Humanitarian agencies seek funds for cyclone emergency in Myanmar – UN

30 November 2010 – Humanitarian agencies in Myanmar require an estimated $53 million to respond to the needs of at least 260,000 people who were affected by Cyclone Giri that battered the western coast of the South-east Asian country last month, destroying thousands of homes, infrastructure and farms, the United Nations reported today.

The cyclone left at least 45 people dead or missing and nearly 102,000 people remain homeless, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Approximately 17,500 acres of farmland and nearly 50,000 acres of aquaculture ponds were also destroyed.

The storm also washed away roads and bridges, leaving some parts of the affected area only accessible by boat, OCHA said in an update.

The UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, Valerie Amos, has approved the allocation of approximately $6 million from the OCHA-managed Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to finance projects to assist those affected. The projects include education, emergency shelter, food aid, health services, livelihood assistance, nutrition, water and sanitation and logistics.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) and its partners are finalising preparations for a food distribution in December. An estimated 3,300 tonnes of mixed food items will be distributed to some 200,000 beneficiaries.

As of the end of last week, over 9,300 tarpaulins had been distributed. In addition, 6,037 emergency shelter kits are in the final stage of distribution to beneficiaries in the affected area. The cyclone response effort has so far cost $18 million, according to OCHA.

Cyclone Giri, a category-four storm, made landfall in Rakhine State on 22 October, close to the town of Kyaukpyu. The townships of Kyaukpyu, Myebon, Minbya and Pauktaw were badly hit by the storm.
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Canada.com - NDP seeks to honour Myanmar’s pro-democracy leader
By Norma Greenaway, Postmedia News December 1, 2010 9:04 AM

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper should invite Myanmar’s pro-democracy heroine, Aung San Suu Kyi, to Canada so she can personally receive the honourary Canadian citizenship awarded to her in 2007, NDP leader Jack Layton says.

Layton and Paul Dewar, the party’s foreign-affairs critic, made the appeal in a letter sent Tuesday to Harper, telling him Canadians shared in the celebratory mood that swept much of the world after the 65-year-old icon was released from seven years of house arrest.

Harper hasn’t responded yet to the letter, but NDP officials say they are optimistic he will endorse the idea of inviting the winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize to Canada.

“Aung San Suu Kyi has often called on the international community to ‘use your liberty to promote ours,’” the NDP letter said. “In 2007, as she lived in captivity, Canada’s Parliament stood unanimously to honour Aung San Suu Kyi by bestowing upon her an honourary Canadian citizenship.”

Layton and Dewar told Harper the treatment of pro-democracy leaders over two decades in Myanmar — formerly known as Burma — and that government’s refusal to acknowledge the election victory of the National League for Democracy is an affront to to democracy.

“We must act on our commitment to support the democratic ambitions of the people of Burma. Forced labour, torture, arbitrary arrests and imprisonment, denial of freedoms of expression and association should no longer be a daily reality for the Burmese people,” the letter said.

Norway has already invited Aung San Suu Kyi to visit Norway to accept her Nobel Prize in person.
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The Irrawaddy - AIDS Day Highlights Plight of Burma's Sufferers
By KO HTWE Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Burma's HIV/AIDS patients suffer doubly because of harassment by the authorities, according to activist Phyu Phyu Thin.

“They have to find the strength to fight the disease and deal at the same time with the authorities,” Phyu Phyu Thin, who is also a member of the National League for Democracy (NLD), told The Irrawaddy in a World AIDS Day interview.

One example of the harassment HIV/AIDS patients have to contend with was the eviction order given to more than 80 patients at a shelter run by the NLD on Nov. 18. The order to leave the shelter in Rangoon's Dagon Myothit (South) Township came one day after a visit by Aung San Suu Kyi.

The authorities said the shelter posed a health risk and advised the patients to seek treatment at local hospitals.

Patients said they were reluctant to leave, however, because they could rely on the shelter to give them ARV drugs to combat their disease. Many said they felt abandoned by their families.

Phyu Phyu Thin said most HIV/AIDS sufferers in Burma are not receiving adequate treatment. Local communities also lack sufficient knowledge about the disease, she said.

A current UNAIDS report estimates that 240,000 people in Burma are carrying the HIV virus, less than a quarter of them are being treated with ARV drugs.

The report says that 18,000 patients died from the disease or related ailments in 2009. An estimated 16,000 adults were newly infected in 2009—the highest number in Southeast Asia.

Nearly one in five women sex workers in Burma tested HIV-positive in the mid-2000s.

Sex workers, homosexuals and narcotics users are the most at risk, according to the report. Thirty eight percent of intravenous drug users tested HIV-positive.

Lack of local knowledge about HIV/AIDS and the bureaucracy surrounding information campaigns contribute to the high risk factor in Burma.

“My own family discriminates against me because I have AIDS,” said one resident of the Rangoon shelter, whose home is in Taungdwingyi, in Magway Division. “They had no knowledge of the disease. There's no information to be had in my home town.”
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The Irrawaddy - A Visit with Suu Kyi in Her NLD Office
By ALEX ELLGEE Wednesday, December 1, 2010

RANGOON—Following the announcement of the rigged election results, the mood across Burma was lifted by the release of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. But despite the temporary buzz, life has gone back to normal with little change, and the future remains bleak for many Burmese citizens.

One place in Rangoon, which has come alive again, is the National League for Democracy’s crowded headquarters. Following the release of “The Lady”—as many of her adoring supporters refer to her—the wooden office building has seen a steady flow of supporters and members come to see and meet with the democracy icon and be part of a potential NLD revival.

Having just arrived from an appointment with the US ambassador and before attending a meeting with the Committee Representing the People’s Parliament (CRPP), Aung San Suu Kyi squeezed in an interview with this reporter. She’s only five minutes late but apologizes profusely.

We sat in her office on teak furniture, located on the second floor of the headquarters. It wasn't an ideal interview location. The buzz of conversation from downstairs came up through the floor and the roar of cars as they whizzed by on the main road outside.

Asked what it is like to finally be free, Suu Kyi said, “Well, it is very hectic.” Her punishing schedule backs this up. In between meeting with a long line of foreign journalists eager to ask her the same questions, she is keen to consult with as many people as possible— this includes diplomats, ethnic leaders, NGO workers, politicians and many more—before making any decisions about how to move forward, .

In between all this, she attempts to catch up with her son, Kim Aris, now 33, who she hasn’t seen in nearly 10 years. “Yes, it was very nice,” she said, commenting on the moment they met in Rangoon. “He’s changed a bit physically obviously over the last 10 years, but I don’t feel he is a stranger or I don’t feel he has become distant from me, we just picked up where we left off.”

In the office, the workers are ecstatic that their leader has finally been released and is once again visiting the office.

“We are all so happy she is able to come to the office again,” said Htun Htun, an NLD member, while running around helping to organize Suu Kyi’s hectic schedule and do crowd control in the office. “When she is around, the office comes alive, and we all have so much courage and hope. Even if we are tired, we don’t feel it.”

Downstairs NLD members sat on wooden benches drinking tea and discussing national politics under walls decorated with images of their leader and her father, Gen Aung San. Foreign journalists waited around, photographers had their cameras in hand to get any shots they could, and writers stood waiting for the all-important one-on-one interview.

Outside, a stream of well wishers waited, hoping to catch a glimpse of her walking into the office. “I don’t have any involvement with the NLD, but I love Aung San Suu Kyi and heard she was released so I just wanted to see her,” said one man who had traveled from Rangoon’s suburbs. To cater to the crowd, small shops dot the area outside. “Her release has been good business with all these people coming,” said a middle-aged man who sat on the pavement selling ice creams.

On the opposite side of the road, military intelligence personnel were also busy observing who comes and goes.

Sitting in a small teashop, with their orange motorbikes parked outside, the ‘SB’ or ‘Special Branch,’ as locals call them, keep a close eye on activities. Some men take photos with digital cameras while others scribbled notes. Even when NLD youth moved a desk outside to a clear room for a meeting, four men jumped to their feet to record the event.

Despite Big Brother's presence, few NLD members seemed to care. Least to mind was Suu Kyi, who said she will continue her work despite any harassment from the authorities.

Asked if the government’s threats to close Phyu Phyu Thin’s shelter for HIV/AIDS patents will prevent her from visiting other places, she quickly replied, “No, not at all.” It wasn’t the first time it had happened so it might not have been completely because of her visit.

She then said she was sorry the place is overcrowded and said they “would be very very happy to co-ordinate with the authorities on that front, but to refuse registration is illegal, and it’s also of course highly hostile as an act.”

Suu Kyi has long said she would be willing to work with the authorities on political matters too. Asked what she felt was the biggest obstacle for the democracy movement, she said it was “not being able to get to the negotiating table. If only we could all talk to each other, and when I say all, I mean with the military and the democratic forces, and the ethnic nationalities. Burma has not been able to cultivate a precedence of talking over problems across the negotiation table. If you don’t agree with somebody, you take up arms.

“Differences are best settled through political means, that means through dialogue and negotiation and finding a solution acceptable to all parties and so on and so on, until we can establish this kind of political culture, I think there will always be the problem of armed conflict,” she said.

National reconciliation has long been her answer but the generals have shown they are quite happy on their “road map to democracy” without her, and critics have in the past suggested her inflexibility may have pushed the generals even further a way.

Asked if she felt her lack of compromise had hindered the negotiating process, Suu Kyi sharply responded, “I always ask people for an example of when I have been inflexible and no one can give me an answer. This is part of the propaganda against the NLD.

“For example with regard to sanctions, I wrote a letter officially offering to cooperate with the authorities in order to have sanctions removed, but if you study what went on then you will see that they were not that keen for cooperation.”

Around Rangoon, views are divided about how much Suu Kyi can realistically achieve, now that she is free. One student said that he felt empowered by her release.

“After the Saffron Revolution many of us were scared to do politics,” he said sipping Chinese tea. “Now that she has been released so many of us have courage to do politics. When she is free, anything can happen. She can unite everyone to topple the government.”

The opposition is somewhat divided, including Suu Kyi’s party, because of the formation of the National Democratic Front, a group of former NLD members. Asked if she felt the elections had weakened the NLD, she said, “No not in the least. I think the NLD has become stronger in the past seven years. I think it's basically because there is more public support from the people.

“There is more unity, a greater desire to coordinate efforts rather than for one to just go their own way,” she said.

Over the past week, she said she has met many independent candidates who had contested in the elections and lost and who had political agendas that she felt would benefit the country.

“We are very willing to work with all those who share our goals and work in a larger network for democracy,” she said.

Asked if she would consider working within the general’s framework and at their pace towards democracy, she said, “I think we need to work in a pace which is acceptable to all those concerned. How can we move forward, how can we come to a solution, if only one party calls the tune?”

A civil society leader told The Irrawaddy that he felt Suu Kyi could unite some of the opposition groups, but not all.

“A lot has changed since she was put under house arrest, many groups have discovered new ways of doing things,” he said, wishing to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the issue. “It might be difficult for her to lead people who see the election boycott as a mistake. They have committed to working within the regime’s framework which I expect she will not fully agree with.”

A young phone saleswoman in downtown Rangoon also stressed some reservations about Suu Kyi’s ability to bring change.

“We all love her but cannot see how she can do anything to help the country,” she said. “The generals have too firm a grip on power and will only exploit her release for their benefit like getting her to remove sanctions.”

On the subject of sanctions, Suu Kyi said that they would be reviewed but added they have two purposes. “They can affect things economically and politically,” she said. “The effect of sanctions on the political front has not been inconsiderable, it has been considerable.”

In a meeting the morning before this reporter’s interview, Suu Kyi met with Rangoon-based INGO workers. She said she was shocked to hear they felt that sanctions had prevented aid from coming into the country as fast as it should.

“I completely disagree with this because we have never ever said anything which would minimize humanitarian aid coming into the country.

We have always said we welcome humanitarian aid as long as it is done with transparency,” she said.

At Ginky Kids Bar, a weekend hangout for the children of the military and business elite, one young man ventured to say that Suu Kyi served only one purpose now. “To remove sanctions and let the country fully develop.”

While Suu Kyi perhaps has yet to appreciate fully how much Rangoon has changed over the past seven years—saying, “I don’t see that much change in the city”—there has been substantial development.

The roads in Rangoon are increasingly filling up with modern, imported cars, fancy shopping centers and coffee shops and a growing number of business-class youth spend their weekends dancing in expensive nightclubs to Justin Bieber remixes. They may be a tiny minority compared to this country of widespread poverty, but they will also be the next movers and shakers of the country. With functioning businesses, fewer people may be willing to toe any radical line, which could set back the country's growing trade links.

Among the poor of Burma, there appears to be an overwhelming support for Suu Kyi. As she herself acknowledged, most of the supporters who turned up at her first rally “appeared not to be well off.”

Several taxi drivers this reporter traveled with openly showed their support for her. A young lady selling flowers in the market said she believed she was the only person who could help the poor. “Now my living standard is so bad, only she can help to make our life better.”

Commenting on the state of the country, Suu Kyi said from studying the statistics one can see that Burma is doing much worse than other countries in terms of education and health.
“Countries like Ethiopia are doing much better, which some might find confusing,” she said.

Despite varied hopes for Suu Kyi, few disagree that the elections were a sham and that change will be a slow and painful process. One of the few things which has visibly changed, is the country's newly designed flag, which can bee seen on the streets of Rangoon on many buildings and cars.

Some observers have expressed a hope that Suu Kyi will distant herself from the NLD and become a national leader for all the opposition. Asked if she would consider creating a new party, she quickly rejected the idea.

“For any political party, its more important if we have the support of the people,” she said firmly. “It doesn’t matter if we have a piece of paper saying we are a political party or not.”

Asked if she could see herself competing in the 2015 elections, she said, “We’re not even quite sure where the 2010 elections have taken us, so keep that question for later.”

In the interview, she answered every question quickly and clearly, demonstrating that her political ability is still intact despite her time isolated under house arrest. However, it will take new steps and flexibility to reconnect with all the new elements of Burmese society.

It also shouldn’t be underestimated how unwilling the generals are in relinquishing power and what measures they would use to hold on. Every move Suu Kyi makes now will be crucial for the future of her political career, and she will need to tread carefully to avoid another house arrest.

It is clear, though, that the vast majority of the country still supports Suu Kyi and has the utmost faith that she is the one who can improve their lives, but they are cautious and do not hope for too much.

“We know she is the only one who can save Burma, so we keep dreaming of that,” said Bo Bo, an advertising trainee.

“But we also know the generals and how they continue to destroy the country despite her best efforts.”
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NLD urges junta to seek national reconciliation
Wednesday, 01 December 2010 21:14 Phanida

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – The opposition National League for Democracy, led by Aung San Suu Kyi, today repeated its call for the Burmese military junta to strive for national reconciliation as soon as possible, as it celebrated Burma’s National Day at NLD headquarters in Rangoon.

The call came as pro-democracy leader Suu Kyi attended a ceremony to mark the 90th anniversary of National Day at NLD headquarters in Rangoon for the first time in seven years. The day marks the student strike against the British colonial administration’s Rangoon University Act in 1920, the start of the resistance movement that led to independence from British rule.

All three nationwide strikes against the British began at the university and her father Aung San, a student at the university at the time, participated in the protest in 1936.

“If you ask all the people living in this country what they would like to have, one answer is certain, that everybody wants to live peacefully,” Suu Kyi said in her address.

“To live in peace, we need safety and freedom. We need to be free from want and need. We must strive for all of these things. The national cause is not the cause of a single organisation, it is the cause of everyone, including civil servants. The civil service includes servicemen [military] also. This word includes everyone including political parties and individuals,” she added.

A genuine democratic country cannot be built without the participation of ethnic nationalities, party spokesman Ohn Kyaing said.

“Significant victories have been achieved whenever all the national races participated and strived in unison. The most important thing nowadays in our country that we need for resolving political issues is national reconciliation,” he said.

Also called for at the celebration was the release of all political prisoners including monks, laymen and student leaders, who could play a decisive role in resolving political issues practically, and for the creation of an appropriate political atmosphere to achieve this.

Poet Ko Lay (Inwa Gone Yee) drew a correlation between literature and patriotism, and between patriotism and national victory, by sharing his own experiences.

More than 2,000 people attended, including states and divisions NLD leaders, and those pf women’s young people’s wings, Committee Representing the People’s Parliament (CRPP) member Aye Thar Aung, Zomi National Congress chairman Pu Cing Tsing Thang, Thaung Ko Thang, veteran politicians Thakin Thein Pe, Thakin Thein Maung and Nai Tun Thein.

A similar celebration was held at the home of Thanlyin Township NLD branch secretary Soe Han, attended by NLD young people, and past and present Rangoon University students. They recited poetry and sang traditional thangyat songs, Burma Pro-democracy Activists Front (Ba Da Ta) secretary Yan Naing said.

The thangyat is one of the oldest examples of Burmese folk art. Often amusing and satirical, the form combines poetry, dance and music, sung to the beat of a traditional drum on festive occasions. In 1989, a year after taking power in a coup, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) generals banned public performances but it has been kept alive by Burmese communities in exile.

In his National Day message today, reported by junta mouthpiece New Light of Myanmar, SPDC leader Than Shwe said: “Now the Union Election Commission has successfully completed the fifth step [of the junta’s ‘seven-step road map to disciplined democracy’] holding free and fair elections to form Hluttaws according to the new constitution.”

“So only the remaining … sixth and seventh steps are left to be implemented to transfer state power to the people,” his message said.

His message failed to mention anything about educational issues, but merely called for the perpetuation of national sovereignty and the successfully completion of the state’s “road map”.

The National Day is marked the 10th day after Tazaungmone, 1282 BE (AD 1920), when the first Burmese students’ strike was launched, led by Rangoon University students in protest against the British colonial administration’s Rangoon University Act, which forbade Burmese people from pursuing higher learning.

Meanwhile, NLD members meeting in Meiktila District, Mandalay Division, issued a statement that interpreted the essence of National Day, saying that the first and foremost task (for the party) was to consolidate divisions in pro-democracy forces.

“When Aung San Suu Kyi was released, she was recognised as the national leader. On this occasion of National Day, despite the regime’s vote rigging and electoral fraud during the recent general election, the people unanimously chose her as their leader. We can work for national reconciliation with the military only if we have strength of this National Day victory,” Meiktila NLD branch secretary Myint Myint Aye said, without elaborating on what “victory” he meant.

The ceremony at the district’s NLD office was attended by 50 members from a total of eight townships. The mission statement adopted would be sent to Suu Kyi, he said.
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Whole movement for better governance needed: Suu Kyi
Wednesday, 01 December 2010 18:42 Thea Forbes

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Pro-democracy leader and Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi talked of a need for a “whole movement of better governance” in Burma, at National League for Democracy’s crowded Rangoon headquarters on Monday.

Suu Kyi took questions from Mizzima on a range of topics. She was released from house arrest on November 13 this year, a week after national elections she and her party have widely denounced as sham. She also said last month that the NLD would launch an investigation into electoral fraud after her release. It has now completed a draft report on the various incidents of junta electoral fraud, Mizzima reported today.

Mizzima asked Suu Kyi for her views on the viability of the individual candidates and parties without links to the military who took part in the election, and what she thought about those seats gained.

“This was their choice … they are several parties and I think they will have differing opinions on what the elections really meant, I think that’s something you will have to ask them … those who contested the elections, they must speak for themselves, as for how much they think the elections have achieved or not achieved,” she said.

“We boycotted the elections because we did not believe in the 2008 constitution, and we did not think the election rules were free and fair. There is no way that we could have contested the elections by abandoning our comrades in prison, so we decided not to contest the elections.”

She stressed the paramount importance of the NLD’s insistence on accountability and transparency as the keys to reform in Burma. “We’ve always asked for transparency and accountability in governance; good governance requires transparency and accountability, and this is something that we have to talk about,” she said.

When asked about whether she thought that dialogue and interaction between the NLD and the military was a realistic possibility in the current situation, she said:

“Why not? People keep saying that ‘You’ve asked for dialogue for a long time and the SPDC [State Peace and Development Council, the junta’s name for itself] has not responded, so why do you keep on persisting?’ But if people felt that then we would never have had progress as a human race would we? We’d have to go back right to the beginning and those apes would have said ‘Why are you trying to get up on two legs? You’ll never get there.’ And yet here we are, standing up.”

Suu Kyi denied any purported opposition to the launch of a commission of inquiry into crimes against humanity carried out by the Burmese ruling military junta, proposed in a March report to the UN by its special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Burma Tomas Ojea Quintana. She said, “No, I have said nothing of the kind,” and when on to reiterate the need for engagement and dialogue with the military.

“People talk about that fact that perhaps the military are nervous because we will take action against them if ever there were democratic government, and they would be made to pay for this and for that, but this is just mere speculation. And it is precisely because of fears like that, that we need to talk to each other, to sort out what we really want for our country,” she said.

Mizzima asked whether Suu Kyi thought that the military were ready to co-operate and initiate reform in Burma hand in hand with transparency and accountability.

Suu Kyi said: “I don’t think the military has shown any particular keenness for transparency and accountability, but that is no reason why we shouldn’t call for it … It’s not a matter of what the military wants or what the military does not want, it’s a matter of what is needed for the country,”.

In her conference on November 14, she said that education was paramount to reform in a future Burma, and told Mizzima that the NLD was willing to use issues such as health and education to co-operate with the military:

“Health, education, anything that really affects the welfare of the people, we will be very, very happy to co-operate with anybody … I think there must come a time when the military decides to co-operate with the forces that represent the people,” she said.

‘The first step towards unity is to listen.’

The NLD have supported the call for a second Panglong Conference in Burma, and the task of organising such a bid to guarantee the equality and self-determination rights of ethnic peoples was handed to Suu Kyi by Zomi National Congress (ZNC) party chairman Pu Cing Tshing Thang, Mizzima reported on November 25.

The first Panglong Agreement was a deal reached between the Burmese government under Suu Kyi’s father, independence hero Aung San, and the Shan, Kachin and Chin peoples on February 12, 1947, and was designed with the spirit of unity in mind among ethnic nationalities in Burma to form a united front for independence.

When asked for her thoughts on how the military could be involved in creating unity via a new Panglong Conference, Suu Kyi stressed that “the first step towards unity is to listen. To establish unity in a country like Burma where there are many different ethnic groups, you have to listen, especially if you are in a position of power”.

“And by listening you will hear what it is that the people want, what their aspirations are, what their hopes are, what their fears are. Once you understand this then you can start building up a foundation on which we can create unity out of diversity,” she said.

She also responded to questions about Burma’s economic situation and gave a general appraisal on contracts between the junta and foreign governments and companies.

Foreign investment deals made with the military in Burma has led to billions of dollars of revenue (largely from the sale of natural gas and oil) being unaccounted for. Although some Western governments have imposed economic sanctions on the regime and have invested little capital in Burma, its neighbours China, India and Thailand all heavily invest in deals with the junta.

Suu Kyi advised that there should not be a halt on deals brokered between the military and foreign governments and companies, but said: “We believe in the rule of law, and whatever we do, we will respect the rule of law.”

She also reiterated the need for transparency and accountability in Burma to attain good governance and management of the country’s resources and development.

“This is why we say that good governance requires transparency and accountability. It is because the public do not know what is happening to the revenues that we can’t do anything about using them more effectively, for the country in general,” she said.

A new generation has grown up in Burma since Suu Kyi was flung into politics upon her return to Burma and became general secretary of the NLD in 1988. People who were born in 1989, the year Suu Kyi was first put under house arrest, are 21 years old. Suu Kyi seemed confident that Burmese young people were more political than ever.

“I myself find far greater participation of youth in political activities, than was the case seven years ago. So I think that the youth are much more … aware of the fact that they need to be part of those who are working for change, that they just can’t sit back and expect change to happen without any effort on their parts. So it’s a good, good thing, a good change,” she said.

Suu Kyi was also keen to assure that youth had a place in the NLD. “We have a lot of younger people in rather responsible positions. I mean you’ve heard of Phyu Phyu Thin, and she’s young, but she’s a member of the central committee,” she said.

Phyu Phyu Thin is in charge of the South Dagon HIV/Aids “salvation centre” on the outskirts of Rangoon one of a number of hospices the NLD set up in 2002, which Suu Kyi visited on November 17. The recent bid to force the eviction of residents from the centre by junta authorities, seemingly out of spite over Suu Kyi’s visit, fails to bode well for imminent co-operation between the NLD and the military.

Suu Kyi’s connection to her father General Aung San, considered the father of Burmese independence, is implicit in her popularity today.

The NLD office in Rangoon is adorned with pictures of father and daughter. At her November 14 conference, a large poster of Suu Kyi and Aung San was on display. When asked how integral she thought this familial connection was, Suu Kyi told Mizzima her link to her father, was “very important”.

“The people trusted him and politicians who can be trusted are rather rare nowadays. So they are very devoted to my father and they feel that he was a leader they could have depended on him if only he had lived,” she said.

Suu Kyi said that now she was freed from house arrest she planned to meet a lot of people and groups in person, and to fully utilise modern media to communicate with the public.
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NLD to release report on junta electoral fraud
Wednesday, 01 December 2010 02:22 Mizzima News

New Delhi (Mizzima) – National League for Democracy leaders say the party led by Aung San Suu Kyi has completed a draft report on the various incidents of junta electoral fraud in the run-up to and during the national elections early last month.

The report was based on detailed accounts from electoral candidates across the country, NLD member Kyi Win, who was involved in compiling the draft, said.

“It presents a critical review of the junta’s election and comprises nearly 20 pages. We have completed the draft but senior members will modify it,” Kyi Win said.

The draft contains chapters such as “The Emergence of the Election”, “The Electoral Laws”, “The Constitution”, and “Electoral Fraud at Polling Stations”.

Documented were the authorities’ forced collections of advance votes for the junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) and further accounts of the reportedly abundant evidence regarding the junta’s electoral fraud.

“Most USDP candidates won with the help of advance votes. For instance, at first, independent candidate Dr. Saw Naing defeated the USDP candidate in South Okkalapa Township, and on November 7, the Township Election Commission told him to sign the form declaring that he was the winner. But on November 9, the state-run radio announced that the USDP candidate had defeated him … The draft report also contains a brief account of the events by Dr. Saw Naing,” Suu Kyi lawyer Kyi Win, an NLD central executive committee member, said.

The report is likely to be published in the first week of this month.

In a summary of its own extensive report titled Burma 2010 Election Recap, rights think tank Altsean-Burma (Alternative Asean Network on Burma) said “widespread evidence of electoral fraud, irregularities, threats, harassment and lack of independent monitoring characterised election day and the days leading up to it”.

The USDP won 76.52 per cent of the 1,154 seats at stake in the election, Altsean said.
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DVB News - Children ‘most at threat’ from HIV/AIDS
By NANG KHAM KAEW and FRANCIS WADE
Published: 1 December 2010

Southeast Asia has seen a 46 percent rise in rates of HIV infection among children in the past eight years, while in Burma the disease remains a “serious health concern”, a new report claims.

The study was released by the World Health Organisation (WHO) today to mark World AIDS Day 2010, but the findings prove sobering: around 220,000 people across the region have contracted HIV in the past year, with issues of healthcare access and stigmatisation two of the main obstacles to eradication.

“Regionally, women constitute 37 percent of the 3.5 million people living with HIV/AIDS, and without any intervention, about a third of infants born to HIV-positive mothers could acquire HIV,” the report said.

The worst-affected regional countries, according to WHO, are India, Indonesia, Burma, Nepal and Thailand. Also included in the report were Bangladesh, Bhutan, North Korea, Maldives, Sri Lanka and East Timor.

It said also that “only one in three HIV-positive women currently access prophylactic anti-retroviral treatment (ART) in Southeast Asia”.

In Burma, however, 65 percent of HIV-infected mothers are accessing the WHO’s Prevention of Mother to Child transmission of HIV (PMTCT) programme, the organisation said, estimating that overall, 18 percent of total carriers in Burma were receiving antiretroviral treatment by the end of 2009.

But activities to mark World AIDS Day failed to materialise in Burma, given the junta’s decision to postpone it until tomorrow so it could focus on the annual National Day.

The issue of the military’s treatment of HIV/AIDS sufferers was pushed into the spotlight last month after government officials ordered the eviction of up to 100 patients from a Rangoon care home.

That the order was given a day after a visit by opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi gave the International AIDS Society (IAS) reason to suspect the move was “political”. Last week however the junta did a U-turn and said the patients could stay on.

Phyu Phyu Thin, the owner of the care home and a colleague of Suu Kyi’s at the National League for Democracy (NLD), said that the Nobel laureate was also due to visit for the ceremony tomorrow.

A patient there said that conditions in the care home were good compared to those of government-run and Thazin clinics, operated by the Netherlands branch of Médecins Sans Frontières.

“The situation would be so much better if hospitals and Thazin clinics would welcome and treat us warmly” she said. “There have been so many times that we went to the Thazin clinics and we had to wait ages to get checked up and medication.”

The disease remains heavily stigmatised in Burma, where education on the issue is poor and access to healthcare limited. Only around 0.5 percent of the government budget each year is spent on healthcare.

According to UNAIDS figures, the numbers of adults between 15 and 49 carrying the disease rose from 0.2 percent of the population in 1990 to 0.6 last year, although it has seen a decrease from 2001 when it peaked at 0.8 percent.
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DVB News - Thai army ‘obstructing refugees’
By FRANCIS WADE
Published: 1 December 2010

Reports are emerging that suggest the Thai army is blocking refugees from escaping conflict in eastern Burma and ordering those that had fled across the border to return.

Fighting has intensified in recent days close to the border, as the Burmese army continues to hound a breakaway Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) faction. Heavy artillery fire was heard towards the end of last week and sporadic bursts of fighting have continued.

Of the 1,200-odd refugees that crossed into Thailand over the weekend, the majority have returned. But aid workers claim groups are continuing to move back and forth across the border as stability in the area south of Myawaddy remains fragile.

Moreover, refugees interviewed by the Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG), which has been closely monitoring the situation, claim the Thai army is obstructing their escape from Karen state.

“The Thais did not allow us to flee before the guns fired,” said a 38-year-old woman from Wawlay village, which has seen heavy fighting in the past four weeks. She added that “when it [the fighting] became quiet, the Thais asked [the refugees] to go back and so they had to go back.”

The KHRG said it was a case of the Thai army, which in many instances had allowed free movement of refugees, “viewing threats to civilians in the narrowest manner possible”.

“When fighting is audible or visible from Thailand, refugees report being able to enter Thailand. When individual clashes end – sometimes just hours after the sound of gunfire has subsided – refugees report being told it is safe for them to return, and that they must do so.”

Another man from Hpalu village, which was the scene of fighting over the weekend, said that he had had similar experiences with the Thai army.

“The Thai soldiers said [to villagers] ‘If you go back, go back and stay there [in your villages]. Don’t travel [back and forth]. You can stay here [in Thailand] for one or two days. But you can go back and stay there [in your villages], and come back when the fighting happens again.’”

The latest round of conflict follows a precarious period along the border which began on 8 November when the DKBA faction took key government positions in Myawaddy. In the days after, heavy fighting pushed up to 20,000 refugees into Thailand’s Tak province.

Thai policy towards refugees has come under fire several times in the past year. In February, following an exodus of up to 5000 Karen into Thailand, the Thai government said it would force them back across the border. That was suspended at the last minute following heavy pressure from rights groups, and the refugees were allowed to remain.

In December last year, however, Thailand successfully deported 4,500 ethnic Hmong back to Laos in a move that drew scathing international condemnation, given the likely persecution the minority group would face upon their return.

The movement of refugees across the Thailand-Burma has angered the Thai government, as well as catching the attention of the regional Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) bloc. ASEAN chief Surin Pitsuwan said last year in a rare rebuke to Burma that instability along the shared border was a blight on the region’s image.
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DVB News - ‘She gives them strength in their struggle’
By HTET AUNG KYAW
Published: 30 November 2010

Once Burma’s most famous political prisoner, Aung San Suu Kyi has used her newly-found freedom to offer support to the families of more than 2000 detained activists and politicians.

The 65-year-old, who was released from seven years under house arrest on 13 November, yesterday met with around 100 families following a memorial in Rangoon to mark the three-year anniversary of the death of prominent student activist Htay Kywe’s mother.

“She asked about their problems and encouraged them, saying she will meet with them again and solve their problems,” said Phyo Min Thein, the brother-in-law of Htay Kywe, who organised the event.

Suu Kyi had until last month been the world’s only imprisoned Nobel laureate, but that changed following both her release and the awarding of this year’s prize to detained Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo.

Unlike Xiaobo and the majority of Burma’s political prisoners, Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest at her lakeside compound in Rangoon. Shortly after her release, she told the BBC that she although she had had to depend heavily on inner resources, she “always felt free”, and that the conditions she had spent 15 of the past 21 years under paled in comparison to life inside a Burmese prison.

The majority of Burma’s 2,203 political prisoners are held in harsh conditions, and struggle to access adequate healthcare. Many are tortured during the interrogation process before being sent to dank and cramped cells, while some are kept in hard labour camps hundreds of miles from their families.

Amongst the 2,200-plus political prisoners are 256 monks, many of whom were rounded up after the September 2007 uprising.

According to Phyo Min Thein, Suu Kyi said that she would work to help those who were imprisoned on religious grounds, and well as to find aid for prisoners in poor health “based on the current policies of the ICRC [International Committee for the Red Cross]”, who withdrew from Burma in 2006 after tight restrictions were placed on their access to political prisoners.
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