アウン・サン・スー・チーさん（ＡＰ＝共同）
【バンコク共同】約７年半ぶりに自宅軟禁から解放されたミャンマーの民主化運動指導者アウン・サン・スー・チーさん（６５）は３０日、最大都市ヤンゴンの自宅で共同通信との電話インタビューに応じ、日本政府に対し「ビルマ（ミャンマー）の民主化プロセスを支援するすべての国と協調し、（民主化実現の目標達成に向け）協力を続けてほしい」と訴えた。
スー・チーさんは「日本は大切な国だ」と評価し、「日本政府や日本の支援者の皆さんに心から感謝したい」と語った。日本政府側からの接触はまだないが、「誰と協議するかは日本側が決めること」として、日本政府との早期の対話に期待を示した。
またスー・チーさんは、自身が率いる旧最大野党、国民民主連盟（ＮＬＤ）から分派した国民民主勢力（ＮＤＦ）とほかの政党のメンバーを「分け隔てしない」と強調。「すべての民主化勢力を一つにまとめるのは簡単ではないが、最大限の努力を尽くす。団結は力になる」と力を込めた。
国民和解に向けたスー・チーさんの対話の呼び掛けに軍事政権からまだ返答はないが、「過去に接触があった。将来、さらなる接触がないとは思わない」と、あらためて軍政に対話を求めた。
2010/11/30 22:27
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
日本は民主化達成へ協力を スー・チーさんと電話会見
ျမန္မာ့အေရး ကူညီဖို႔ ဂ်ပန္ကို ေဒၚစု တိုက္တြန္း
အဂၤါ, 30 ႏိုဝင္ဘာ 2010 ...By ဗြီအိုေအ (ျမန္မာဌာန)
စစ္အစိုးရ အုပ္ခ်ဳပ္ေနတဲ့ ျမန္မာႏုိင္ငံမွာ ဒီမုိကေရစီက်ေအာင္ လုပ္တဲ့ ျဖစ္စဥ္ကုိ ဂ်ပန္ႏုိင္ငံက ကူညီဖို႔ အတုိက္အခံ ေခါင္းေဆာင္ ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္က ဂ်ပန္ႏုိင္ငံကို ေတာင္းဆုိလုိက္ပါတယ္။
ျမန္မာႏုိင္ငံ ဒီမုိကေရစီ အကူးအေျပာင္းအတြက္ တျခား အစုိးရေတြနဲ႔အတူ အလုပ္လုပ္ဖို႔ ဂ်ပန္အစုိးရကို ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္က တုိက္တြန္းလုိက္တာ ျဖစ္ပါတယ္။ ဂ်ပန္ က်ဳိဒုိ သတင္းဌာနနဲ႔လုပ္တဲ့ တယ္လီဖုန္း အင္တာဗ်ဴးမွာ အဂၤါေန႔က အခုလို ေျပာခဲ့တာ ျဖစ္ပါတယ္။
ေတြ႕ဆုံေဆြးေႏြးေရးကို သူက ထပ္ခါ ေခၚခဲ့ေပမဲ့ စစ္တပ္က မတုံ႔ျပန္ခဲ့ဘူးလုိ႔လည္း ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္က က်ဳိဒုိကုိ ေျပာပါတယ္။ ဒါေပမဲ့ သူမ အေနနဲ႔ ဇြဲရွိရွိ ႀကိဳးစားသြားမယ္လို႔ ဆုိပါတယ္။
ျမန္မာႏုိင္ငံမွာ လူငယ္ေတြက ႏုိင္ငံေရးအရ ပိုအားတက္ေၾကာင္းလည္း ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္က ေျပာပါတယ္။
ညီၫြတ္ေရးဆုိတာ အင္အားျဖစ္ၿပီး အင္အားဆုိတာ ဒီမုိကေရစီ ကူးေျပာင္းေရး ပိုျမန္ဆန္ေစမယ္လို႔ အဓိပၸာယ္ ထြက္တာေၾကာင့္ ႏုိင္ငံေရးပါတီေတြ အားလုံးကုိ စည္းလုံးညီၫြတ္ေအာင္ သူႀကိဳးစားမယ္လို႔လည္း ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္က ေျပာပါတယ္။
အေနာက္ႏုိင္ငံေတြက ပိတ္ဆုိ႔ အေရးယူထားတာေၾကာင့္ ႏုိင္ငံေရး၊ စီးပြားေရးနဲ႔ ျပည္သူေတြရဲ႕ ဘ၀ေတြအေပၚ ဘယ္လို၊ ဘာသက္ေရာက္မႈ ရွိသလဲ ဆုိတာကို သူမ အေနနဲ႔ ျပန္ၿပီး သုံးသပ္မယ္လို႔လည္း ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္က ေျပာၾကားသြားပါတယ္။
BURMA RELATED NEWS - NOVEMBER 30, 2010-TIN KYI
*************************************************************
BURMA RELATED NEWS - NOVEMBER 30, 2010
*************************************************************
AFP - ASEAN chief warns 2015 single market goal in peril
AP - US says Iran got missile boost from North Korea
UPI - U.N. expects more from Myanmar
Marketwire - Canada Supports Families Impacted by Cyclone Giri in Burma
Strategy Page - No Justice, No Peace
ICP - In Myanmar, Reporters Banned from UN Nambiar, No Comment on Press Freedom
Daily Times - Sri Lanka connection key as ethnic war fears grow
The Edge Singapore - Interra Resources starts oil recovery project in central Myanmar
Thai-ASEAN News Network - Burmese Refugees Return Home
Worldwide Faith News - Praying for change in Myanmar
The Nation - Suu Kyi calls on Thailand
Bangkok Post - Opinion: Name food seasonings Burma has banned
Asian Correspondent - Burmese journalists barred from UN press conference
Himal Southasian - BURMA: Microscopic opening
AI - Our Work in Myanmar Isn’t Done Yet!
Foreign Policy - Exclusive: A Video Message from Aung San Suu Kyi
The Irrawaddy - NLD Report Documents Election Fraud
The Irrawaddy - Suu Kyi Among Top 100 Global Thinkers
The Irrawaddy - 'Second Panglong' Proposal Could Mean Trouble for Suu Kyi
Mizzima News - Suu Kyi offers help to kin of political prisoners
Mizzima News - Railway line rerouted after Arakanese heritage site damaged
DVB News - ‘She gives them strength in their struggle’
*************************************************************
ASEAN chief warns 2015 single market goal in peril
Tue Nov 30, 4:56 am ET
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) – ASEAN chief Surin Pitsuwan Tuesday urged member states to step up intra-regional trade, saying it was "difficult" otherwise to see the bloc reaching its goal of economic integration by 2015.
The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has set 2015 as the target for creating a single regional economic market known as the ASEAN Economic Community.
Speaking at a one-day ASEAN finance ministers' meeting in the Malaysian capital, Surin said trading among member states presently accounted for only 25 percent of their total trade. ASEAN comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
"Unless and until ASEAN business communities make that fateful decision to cross borders into each other, it is difficult for me to see we will have an economic community by the year 2015," he told the meeting.
"We need to increase our investments in each others' economies, so it becomes sustainable and competitive," said the ASEAN secretary-general. "Here is the market, let's make it work."
Surin also urged member countries, which mostly emerged relatively unscathed from the financial crisis, to reduce their reliance on the external market.
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said earlier this month that major ASEAN countries had rebounded from the global economic crisis, with average expected growth of 7.3 percent this year, and six percent over the next five years.
*************************************************************
US says Iran got missile boost from North Korea
By BRIAN MURPHY, Associated Press – 1 hr 58 mins ago
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) – A U.S. intelligence assessment concludes that Iran has received advanced North Korean missiles capable of targeting Western European capitals and giving the Islamic Republic's arsenal a significantly farther reach than previously disclosed.
The suspected shipment — mentioned among the flood of classified State Department memos obtained by WikiLeaks — could also give Iran an important boost toward joining the powerful group of nations with intercontinental ballistic missiles, defense experts said Monday.
The U.S. suspicions carry still another jolt: reinforcing international fears about the possibility of closer nuclear cooperation in the future between Iran and North Korean engineers, who have already staged atomic tests.
U.S. officials presented the claim in a meeting with top Russian security officials in late 2009 but did not offer conclusive evidence of the transfer of at least 19 so-called BM-25 missiles, according to the confidential Feb. 24 memo posted by the WikiLeaks website, which specializes in disclosing confidential documents.
It also noted that "Russia does not think the BM-25 exists" and questioned why there have been no Iranian tests of the missile, believed to be based on a Russian design that could be fitted with nuclear warheads.
Still, the U.S.-Russia meeting found ample common ground over concerns that North Korea appears to be actively engaged with Iran in exporting weapons systems and possible nuclear expertise. A U.N. report accusing North Korea of exporting banned nuclear and missile technology to Iran, Syria and Myanmar was sent to the Security Council earlier this month.
"This just confirms a lot of the rumors and reports about the capabilities of the North Koreans and gives more credence to those who support a defense shield against Iran," said Theodore Karasik, a regional security expert at the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis in Dubai.
Independent defense analysts say the possible acquisition of longer-range missiles fits into Iran's step-by-step claims of being able to reach farther from its borders. A year ago, Iran said it successfully test-fired an upgraded version of its Sajjil-2 missile with a reported range of 1,200 miles (2,000 kilometers), putting Israel, U.S. bases in the Gulf and parts of southeastern Europe well within reach.
The range of the BM-25s parent design — the submarine-launched Russian R-27 — is about double: 2,400 miles (4,000 kilometers), the memo said. That covers Western Europe, Moscow and much of Central Asia.
Such a missile could give Iran the ability to carry much larger warheads and give technicians the ability to study and copy an advanced propulsion and guidance systems — all key elements if Iran ever seeks to develop a nuclear arms program as some Western leaders fear. Iran, however, says it only seeks reactors for energy production and medical research.
It would not be the first time Iran has relied on North Korean missile technology. Iran's Shahab-3 missile, first displayed in 1998, is based on North Korea's Nodong-1 design.
But the American claims, if true, could mark the first delivery to Iran of a fully operational and state-of-the-art North Korean missile.
"(Iran) is working on improving their accuracy and not just their range. No one is challenging them and they aren't hiding this," said Ephraim Kam, an Israel-based expert on Iranian affairs. "And there is no doubt that North Korea has given them tremendous assistance in developing these missiles."
The American document did not offer details about the suspect sale or transport of the missile. But another memo describes how Chinese officials failed to intercept shipments of missile parts transiting from North Korea to Beijing, where they were put on Iran Air cargo flights to Tehran.
Besides simply boosting Iran's military muscle with more powerful missiles, the suspected BM-25s would give Iranian technicians a firsthand look at large missile designs and systems toward possibly developing long-range, or intercontinental ballistic missiles, with ranges of up to 3,400 miles (5,800 kilometers) and beyond.
The State Department memo said Iran could view the BM-25 components as "building blocks" for long-range missile development.
Paul Rogers, an expert in defense affairs at the University of Bradford in Britain, said Iran could be seeking to move from its main arsenal of liquid-fueled missiles — that would include the suspected BM-25s — toward longer-range, solid-fueled rockets such as the current known top weapon, the Sajill-2.
The main advantages of solid-fuel missiles are mobility and the ability to fire quickly, he said. They are also more accurate. Liquid fuel takes time to load and cannot remain in the missile indefinitely. Such missiles also need to be near a fuel depot and cannot easily be moved.
"The issue here is whether they are trying to make the leap from liquid fuel to solid fuel," said Rogers.
In February, Iran unveiled a light, two-stage booster rocket it claimed could carry a satellite weighing 220 pounds (100 kilograms) up to 310 miles (500 kilometers).
It came a year after Iran claimed it launched a small satellite into orbit for 40 days — part of an ambitious space program that has worried Western powers because they fear the same technology could also deliver warheads.
Meir Javedanfar, an Iranian-born political analyst now based in Israel, said the leaked memo on suspected North Korean missile sales could "strengthen the voice of those who want military action" against Iran.
"They could say that with such cooperation, sanctions and diplomacy are not going to work," he said.
Many other internal State Department exchanges among the WikiLeaks trove cite Gulf Arab allies and others expressing deep fears about Iran's nuclear ambitions and urging America to consider military strikes.
In Tehran, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad dismissed the State Department documents as "without value" and claimed the leaks were an effort to sour relations between Iran and its neighbors.
*************************************************************
U.N. expects more from Myanmar
Published: Nov. 29, 2010 at 3:25 PM
YANGON, Myanmar, Nov. 29 (UPI) -- Political transition and reconciliation must be based on inclusiveness, a U.N. envoy told authorities in Myanmar after meeting with a pro-democracy leader.
Myanmar had its first general election in nearly 20 years in early November, saying it would open the door to civilian participation. The international community said the election was a sham, however.
Vijay Nambiar, a special U.N. adviser on Myanmar said after meeting with pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi that all interests must be represented in the political environment after the election.
"In order to succeed, any political transition should be broad-based and inclusive, and involve not only those who participated and won seats in the election, but also those who did not or could not," he said in a statement.
Myanmar passed a series of measures before that election that meant several political parties, including Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, couldn't compete in the polls.
Suu Kyi was released from her house arrest Nov. 13, after spending nearly 20 years in detention.
Nambiar said it was time for Myanmar authorities to build on that development and release the estimated 2,200 political prisoners that are still behind bars.
*************************************************************
Canadian International Development Agency - CIDA
Nov 30, 2010 10:35 ET
Marketwire - Canada Supports Families Impacted by Cyclone Giri in Burma
OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Nov. 30, 2010) - The Honourable Beverley J. Oda, Minister of International Cooperation, today announced Canada's humanitarian support to help the Burmese people affected by Cyclone Giri.
"The Government of Canada is responding to humanitarian emergencies caused by Cyclone Giri in Burma. Many families are now vulnerable and without access to essential services," said Minister Oda. "Canada's assistance will provide emergency shelter and health services, as well as access to drinkable water."
On October 22, this cyclone destroyed tens of thousands of homes, including roads and bridges, leaving 100,000 people homeless and at least 260,000 people in need of humanitarian assistance.
Canada is responding with $500,000 in humanitarian aid, through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). Save the Children Canada and Médecins Sans Frontières Canada (MSF) will administer this aid. MSF will receive $250,000 to provide basic health care services to the disaster-affected population in the two hardest hit areas, Minbya and Myebon, while Save the Children Canada will receive $250,000 to distribute emergency shelter material and essential non-food items to families who have lost their homes in the cyclone, including essential supplies to prevent malaria and water-borne illnesses.
*************************************************************
Strategy Page - No Justice, No Peace
November 30, 2010: When it became obvious to the tribes that the November 7 elections were rigged in favor of the military dictatorship candidates, the fighting resumed with the tribal militias. Two decades of efforts to make peace deals with tribal militias has fallen apart. The generals who run the military dictatorship hoped to absorb all the tribal militias into a new border guard force, and disarm the militias. But during the last two years, the tribal factions realized they were being played. It became obvious that the new border force would be commanded by non-tribal generals and closely watched by the secret police. This rebellion of the "pacified tribes" has been building for years. The latest one to rebel was the Buddhist faction of the Karen tribes, which had allied itself with the government in the 1990s. Now the Buddhist and Christian Karen are united in fighting the military dictatorship.
Some of the tribes are also fighting to protect their lucrative new business producing and smuggling amphetamines. Northern Burma has become a major source of illegal amphetamines.
Further complicating the tribal situation are the three new natural gas and oil pipelines moving Burmese product to China. The tribal rebels are expected to stay away from these pipelines, and get some help from China in return (which already provides sanctuary for the United War Army, ethnic Chinese tribes that have long been fighting with the Burmese government).
November 26, 2010: The government has enacted a new law that restricts the speech of members of the new parliament. If government officials decide that a member of parliament is saying something that endangers national security, the unity of the country or violates the constitution, the offender can be sent to jail for two years. The rigged November 7 election gave military dictatorship supporters 80 percent of the seats.
November 19, 2010: Four time bombs were found in a hotel in the capital, and defused.
November 13, 2010: The government has released opposition politician Aung San Suu Kyi from two decades of house arrest. The military dictatorship believes the recent rigged elections will provide cover for the generals to keep running the country without significant opposition. But Suu Kyi, who won the last free elections (just before she was put under house arrest), made it clear that she will her resume her democratic attempts to vote the generals out of power.
November 12, 2010: A UN report accused North Korea of exporting nuclear weapons technology to Burma, and several other nations. But Burma apparently has not gone very far in trying to develop nukes.
November 9, 2010: The government declared that the party created by the military dictatorship had won 80 percent of the seats in parliament. The vote was widely believed to have been rigged.
November 8, 2010: Tribal militias began fighting the army in the north. Thousands of tribal refugees headed for the Thailand border.
November 7, 2010: The first elections in 20 years were held, except in the tribal territories, where the military dictatorship concluded that it would be too difficult to rig the vote. The government declared a 90 day state of emergency to deal with the growing unrest.
*************************************************************
Inner City Press - In Myanmar, Reporters Banned from UN Nambiar, No Comment on Press Freedom
By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, November 29 --Forty eight hours after UN Headquarters in New York had refused to confirm that envoy Vijay Nambiar would be visiting Myanmar, Nambiar held a tightly controlled “press” conference as he left the country.
But reporters who the Than Shwe military government has cracked down on, even those who have managed to become and remain accredited in the country, were barred from Nambiar's press conference. According to The Irrawaddy, “Reporters who were denied access included staff from The Myanmar Times, 7 Day, Venus, The Voice, True News, Weekly Eleven and other news journals. 'We face difficulties in collecting news because the army, police and local authorities all restrict us from doing so. Even if we have news, we have to go through the PSRD before we publish it. We are working under very tight control. The situation may become worse when the new government lead by the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) takes office,' said a reporter, who asked to remain anonymous.The [military government's Press Scrutiny and Registration Division] suspended nine private journals last week.”
Just as Inner City Press previously reported Nambiar's lack of any comment on a new law signed as he arrived by Than Shwe, which criminalizes any speech by new parliamentarians that may “endanger national security, the unity of the country or violate the constitution,” Nambiar send nothing about press freedom in Myanmar. How could he? He held a press conference from which the military government barred journalists.
In the resulting press conference, here were Nambiar's two final answers:
Q: Did you convey any message?
Nambiar: There is no specific message which I have conveyed, but I have conveyed within the context of the issues... As the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General, I look forward to being able to address these concerns in a manner that brings about a commonality of perception...
A “commonality of perception” is easier, he seems to think, if those in power are allowed to control reporters and thus the public's access to news.
On November 26 in lieu of the UN's usually noon briefing, which was canceled, Inner City Press asked among other questions for Haq to “please confirm or deny that Vijay Nambiar is going to Myanmar this weekend, and unless deny, please state his program of work. Separately, please respond to the criticism 'Win Tin expressed extreme disappointment that Ban’s 2010 report to the UN General Assembly on Burma’s human rights situation failed to seriously address violations against ethnic minorities.'”
Haq replied, “I don't have a confirmation concerning Mr Nambiar. I can tell you that we are still working out a program for the Special Adviser. I have no comment on the SG's human rights report, which speaks for itself.”
Al Jazeera, to which Nambiar granted his one and so far only interview about his role in the “white flag” killings in Sri Lanka had this to say about Nambiar: “He is a former Indian ambassador to China and is believed to have a good relationship with Beijing, a key ally of the Myanmar government.”
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's “human rights” report also did not even mention the recommendation by the UN's Special Rapporteur that Ban set up an international panel of inquiry into war crimes in Myanmar.
In a November 22 speech at Seton Hall University in New Jersey, Ban bragged that “Two years ago, when Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar, the government was initially reluctant to open its door to international relief. It was impossible, for me, to stand by and see politics get in the way of saving lives. We pressed the government quite hard. Eventually we got a breakthrough. Aid began to flow. Many thousands of lives were saved. We did the same in Darfur.”
*************************************************************
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Daily Times - Sri Lanka connection key as ethnic war fears grow
By Simon Roughneen
In response to fears that renewed war looms, six ethnic militias have agreed to form a mutual defence pact. The militias can field combined total of around 60,000 fighters
WITH one thousand refugees fleeing fighting in eastern Myanmar into Thailand’s Tak Province over the weekend, fears are growing about renewed war in eastern Myanmar and elsewhere in the ethnic minority-populated borderlands close to Thailand, India and China.
Several deadlines for ethnic militia, such as the 30,000 strong United Wa State Army (UWSA), to join the Border Guard Force have expired, amid speculation that once a new government is in place in Naypidaw, attention will turn to the ethnic issue.
Since her Nov. 13 release from house arrest, Aung San Suu Kyi has called for a second Panglong Conference to discuss long-standing ethnic minority demands for a federal-type solution to Myanmar’s governance problems. Sixteen militias have long-established cease-fires with the junta.
However, the recent purchase by the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) of 24 Russian military helicopters, as well as the establishment of new helicopter bases near the Salween River, suggests that the Tatmadaw, the name for the Myanmarese military, is gearing up for a “military solution” to the ethnic issue.
In response to fears that renewed war looms, six ethnic militias have agreed to form a mutual defence pact, suggesting that if one of the groups is attacked by the Tatmadaw, the others will retaliate against the junta army. The militias can field a combined total of around 60,000 fighters.
However, a united militia front could be difficult to realize in practice. According to Aung Naing Oo, speaking at a forum on post-election Myanmar, “an ethnic militia alliance will be difficult to realize in practice on the ground, as the various groups are separated from each other physically by the army.”
Fears of renewed fighting are contributing to regional drug trafficking. At a UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) report launch in Bangkok last week, official Gary Lewis reminded that late 2009 saw significant increases of methamphetamine flooding into Thailand. At the time, the increased traffic suggested that cease-fire groups were selling stocks in order to acquire arms. In August 2009, the army destroyed the stronghold of the ethnic Chinese Kokang militia, raising the alarm among the other, larger and more powerful cease-fire groups.
However, it is unlikely that the drug trade is completely controlled by ethnic militias. Launching a report on poppy cultivation in Shan State, Shan researcher and journalist Kheunsai Jaiyen said that “most of the poppy-growing areas in Shan State are under the control of militia groups backed by the Tatmadaw.” According to the Shan Drug Watch newsletter, 46 of 55 townships in the region are poppy-growing areas, as the Tatmadaw’s presence in Shan State has increased to 150 battalions – five times the number deployed to fight Chinese-backed Communist rebels in the 1970s and 1980s.
In September 2009, in a rare show of anger against the Myanmarese junta, China voiced displeasure at the attack on the Kokang, which saw almost 40,000 refugees – mainly ethnic Chinese – flee into Yunnan. Chinese arms and diplomatic support were central to the Sri Lankan crushing of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) insurgency in 2008, an outcome that critics described as marred by widespread human rights violations and attacks on civilians.
Sri Lanka, like Myanmar, is part of Beijing’s ‘string of pearls’ strategy in the Indian Ocean, refurbishing existing facilities or building new ports such as Gwadar in Pakistan, Chittagong in Bangladesh and Sittwe in Myanmar. China began building a new naval facility at Hambantota in 2007, around the same time as Sri Lanka began its final offensive against the LTTE. As western loans and aid to Colombo dried up, China stepped in with massive financial support, becoming Sri Lanka’s biggest foreign donor in 2009.
Sri Lanka President Mahindra Rajapakse visited Myanmar, meeting junta leader Than Shwe, shortly after the defeat of the Tamil Tigers. In June 2009, Than Shwe and other leading generals visited Sri Lanka to mark the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries, where the senior-general was thanked by President Mahinda Rajapakse for the the government’s support to ‘combat illegal activities carried out by the LTTE in the past and in drug trafficking in the region’. Both governments lauded their common heritage, rooted in Theraveda Buddhism.
The two governments appear to be sharing military information, with the Tatmadaw eager to learn from Sri Lanka’s bloody culmination to war with the Tamil Tigers. According to a recent report by researcher Kim Joliffe, ‘indicators in the field show that the Myanmar government may now be borrowing methods from the government of Sri Lanka’s successful COIN strategy used against the Liberation Tamil Tigers of Ealam (LTTE) in 2008’. The Sri Lankan-style strategy appears primarily to target the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), which does not have a cease-fire with the SPDC. In response, the KNLA has worked with Western special forces advisers, installing networks of trail-watch cameras, remote-controlled video cameras, spy cameras and sensors in the jungles of the country’s east.
According to K’Nyaw Paw, representing the Forum of Myanmar’s Community-Based Organisations, there are now 237 government battalions in eastern Myanmar, and army attacks have caused 73,000 civilians in the east to flee their homes in the past year. Thirty thousand refugees crossed into Thailand after fighting between a faction of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) and the army, near the towns of Myawaddy and Three Pagodas Pass. In total, an estimated 446,000 people are thought to be displaced inside Myanmar and allegations that the army uses forced labor, forced displacement and rape as part of its campaign in ethnic minority regions are part of the campaign by rights groups to establish a Commission of Inquiry into war crimes in Myanmar. courtesy the irrawaddy
*************************************************************
The Edge Singapore - Interra Resources starts oil recovery project in central Myanmar
Tags: Interra Resources
Written by The Edge
Tuesday, 30 November 2010 21:35
Interra Resources says unit, Goldpetrol Joint Operating Company Inc., has completed development well YNG 3236 and started drilling for oil recently in the Yenangyaung field in central Myanmar.
Interra has a 60% interest in the improved petroleum recovery contract of the Yenangyaung field and also owns 60% of Goldpetrol which is the operator of the field.
Interra’s share of the cost of drilling was funded from existing funds. This is the fourth consecutive shallow development well to be completed this year.
*************************************************************
Thai-ASEAN News Network - Burmese Refugees Return Home
UPDATE : 30 November 2010
Burmese refugees in Tak province have begun to return home after fighting across the border has subsided.
Some 700 ethnic Karen villagers who crossed the border from Myanmar into Thailand to escape the latest round of battles and take refuge at Huay Mahawong Temple in Mahawan subdistrict in Tak's Mae Sot district have begun to return to their homes after the tension there eased.
Thai authorities have provided pick-up trucks to carry them to their destination.
However, some refugees are still in Thailand, as they are uncertain about the situation.
They are under the protection of the Office of the United Nations' High Commissioner for Refugees.
In the meantime, Major General Sonthisak Wittaya-aneknan, deputy commander of the Region 3 Army, today traveled to follow up on the situation at the Thai-Burmese border and visited the remaining refugees at Huay Mahawong Temple.
Soldiers from the Fourth Infantry Battalion's Special Task Force have worked with officials from the 34th Border Patrol Police Unit and local administrative officials to monitor the situation along the border around the clock.
Latest reports said the fierce fighting between Karen minority rebels and Burmese troops in Myanmar is continuing.
*************************************************************
Worldwide Faith News - Praying for change in Myanmar
From WCC media
Date Tue, 30 Nov 2010 14:23:29 +0100
World Council of Churches - News
PRAYING FOR CHANGE IN MYANMAR
For immediate release: 30 November 2010
“We believe in change and ask that you continue to pray for us.”
This was the message an international team of church representatives heard again and again, as they visited people and churches in Myanmar recently.
The group, which included Christians from Bangladesh, Canada, Australia, Norway and the United Kingdom, was travelling as "Living Letters" on behalf of the World Council of Churches (WCC).
The Living Letters team, hosted by the Myanmar Council of Churches, visited Myanmar between 28 October to 3 November, shortly before the country held elections for the first time since 1990.
As they met with Myanmar member churches of the WCC as well as partner organizations and civil society movements, the team learned first hand about the churches’ witness to ust peace despite the nearly four decades of military rule in the country.
The call for peace and justice is not an easy one to convey, the team was told, especially as churches there strive to support their communities in times of political and economic difficulty.
One of the poorest countries in South East Asia, Myanmar has seen a rapid degradation of its economy and environment. It is within this context that churches work ecumenically to provide assistance to communities in need.
Often working with the "poorest of the poor", the churches are confronted daily with the realities of communities that are on the receiving end of decades of poor macroeconomic management, isolationist policies and trade sanctions. The issues they tackle range from the internal displacement of people, relief and resettlement, water security, HIV and Aids, to violence against women and children.
Despite such challenges, the churches retain a spiritual vibrancy and hope for the future that remains a powerful witness to a country in flux. The general election which was held 9 November amid boycott calls by the dissident National League for Democracy (NLD) and a crescendo of international criticism of the poll process did not yield a hoped for change in the political landscape.
Instead the ruling elite maintained most of the power. One hopeful outcome, however, was the 13 November release of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi who had been under house arrest for a decade and a half.
Churches are conveying a clear message to their membership that they have an important role to play in civil society promoting peace within Myanmar.
They are also seeking to provide opportunities for ongoing dialogue and reconciliation in contexts of violence and conflict.
During the Living Letters visit, WCC member churches in Myanmar reiterated their commitment to the movement for Christian unity and encouraged the WCC fellowship to stand in solidarity with their churches.
Noting their relative isolation to the outside world, the Myanmar Council of Churches called for more opportunities for mutual encounter and learning. This desire for closer relations was also palpable when the international visitors met with the Rev. Dr L. B. Siama of the Mara Evangelical Church.
The church, which is located in a remote, underdeveloped corner in the northern part of the country, joined the WCC in 2001, becoming its fourth member church in Myanmar. “We want to walk hand in hand with ecumenical brothers and sisters around the world – drawing strength from each other,” Siama, principal of the Mara Evangelical Church's Lorraine
Theological College, told the Living Letters team.
Tara Tautari is a programme executive in the World Council of Churches general secretariat. She is a member of the Methodist Church of New Zealand.
More information about the visit (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=545019a7f2bcd5b8cd34 )
WCC member churches in Myanmar (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=f65929b0ff5cdcf63603 )
Opinions expressed in WCC Features do not necessarily reflect WCC
policy.
This material may be reprinted freely, providing credit is given to the author.
The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 349 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 560 million Christians in over 110 countries, and works cooperatively with the
Roman Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, from the [Lutheran] Church of Norway. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.
*************************************************************
The Nation - Suu Kyi calls on Thailand
Published on December 1, 2010
Burma's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi yesterday called on Thais to be kind to migrants and refugees from her country.
"We know it is not easy for Thailand to cope with the situation, but we would so appreciate it if you could do what you can for them," she said in a phone interview with Bangkok-based Thai-Asean News Network.
Thailand has been sheltering more than 100,000 Burmese refugees for over two decades, and about 2 million migrants from the country currently have jobs in the Kingdom.
Recently, more Burmese people have fled to Thailand as troops fight with armed ethnic groups along the border.
Suu Kyi, who was released from house arrest early this month, expressed her gratitude to Thais for helping the Burmese people.
"We would like you to know that we wish to be your good friend and good neighbour," she said.
She also spoke to fellow citizens in Thailand and promised they would not be forgotten, and that she would do what she could to bring them back home as soon as possible.
Suu Kyi also called on the government to not just engage with her country's ruling junta, but also the opposition, which is working to bring democracy into the country.
"We would very much like all governments to engage with not just the government of Burma, but also with us," she said.
The Burmese opposition leader, who won the Nobel prize for her dedication to democracy in a military-ruled country, is now trying to get her National League for Democracy (NLD) party to play a significant role in the country's politics.
The immediate task, though, was for the party to re-register because officials dissolved it for failing to comply with the new political party law and refusing to take part in the November 7 election, she said.
Another task would be for the party to reach out to the younger generation and encourage them to play a bigger role in the struggle for democracy, Suu Kyi said.
The political atmosphere in Burma changed a lot while she was in detention and one of the most important changes was that the new generation was paying more attention to politics and joining the NLD, she said. The party plans to build a network of young people across the country and encourage them to work for democracy, she said.
*************************************************************
POST BAG
Bangkok Post - Opinion: Name food seasonings Burma has banned
Published: 30/11/2010 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: News
The Bangkok Post's Business section recently published an article informing readers that Burma has banned Thai seasoning products as they are harmful to people's health.
This is very serious, as the same Thai seasonings are consumed daily by the Thai citizens and most of the 15 million tourists.
What are the products and brands involved? What is the Thai government doing to protect the health of its citizens and visitors in this respect, and at the same time promote exports and not allow the reputation of Thailand to be tarnished abroad?
Unscrupulous manufacturers should be jailed and their businesses closed.
GERARD BRUEL
*************************************************************
Asian Correspondent - Burmese journalists barred from UN press conference
Nov. 30 2010 - 12:17 am
Zin Linn
Domestic journalists were barred from a press conference of a United Nation's special envoy to Burma held before his departure Sunday evening, according to sources in Rangoon.
The UN special envoy to Burma, Vijay Nambiar, spoke to foreign reporters inside the international airport in Rangoon at 5pm. Mr. Nambiar was at closing stage of his two-day visit in which he met with both junta’s officials and recently released democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.
According to media sources, Burmese security personnel did not allow almost two dozen domestic correspondents with official press identification to attend. However, members of the Rangoon foreign correspondents club were allowed to be present at the press conference.
Reporters who were denied access included staff from The Myanmar Times, 7 Day, Venus, The Voice, True News, Weekly Eleven and other news journals.
Sources say the military junta's Press Scrutiny and Registration Division (PSRD) informed the journalists about the press conference, but failed to provide a time and place. This information was leaked to the local press but they were denied entry on arrival. Attending a press conference must be a basic right for the media personnel.
In Burma, not only the political opposition but also journalists and media personnel are under the junta’s strictest set of laws. Journalism is hazardous work. People still remember that Japanese journalist Kenji Nagai was killed in the 2007 Saffron Revolution. Several citizen journalists are still in prison.
Burma was at the vanguard of press freedom in Southeast Asia before the 1962 military coup. The country then enjoyed a free press; censorship was something unheard of. As many as three dozen newspapers, including English, Chinese and Hindi dailies, existed between 1948 and 1962.
Now, Burma is a prison state. All news media in Burma is strictly censored and tightly controlled by the military – all daily newspapers, radio and television stations are under supervision of the junta.
This censorship extends to freedom of speech within parliament. Restrictions announced on November 26 set a two-year prison term for any protest staged within the parliament compound. The laws, signed by junta Chief Senior General Than Shwe stipulate that parliamentarians will not be allowed freedom of expression even in their respective chambers.
Thus, there will not be a space for not only parliamentarians but also for journalists to practice freedom of expression under the upcoming regime.
*************************************************************
Himal Southasian - BURMA: Microscopic opening
December 2010
After two decades of refusing to honour the results of the last elections, held back in 1990, the recent electoral exercise in Burma gave plenty of lead-up time for long-suffering observers to sharpen their critiques. Combine that with the blatant pre-poll manipulations by the junta – pushing through a referendum on a stacked new constitution that gave the military 25 percent of the newly created Parliament seats, imposing a massive USD 500 fee to register candidates, and releasing the tweaked election laws mere months before the polls opened. Then, put this in the context of the decades of crushing authoritarianism, the continued absence of guarantees of basic human or civil rights, approaches to the national economy that border on outright theft from the national coffers, the continued incarceration of more than 2000 political prisoners, and the absence of the main opposition party from the polls. Given all this, by the time the 7 November elections finally rolled around, there was little surprise that most observers had made up their minds on the elections – and written them off entirely.
By now, however, the polls have taken place. The ‘results’, such as they were, have been announced, and the creaky state machinery has been put in motion to oversee and facilitate the largest potential changes in Burma politics in decades. Himal empathises with the debate that went on prior to the elections, particularly the scepticism. But reflexive fatalism, even if grounded in solid and arduous experience, holds the danger of missing a significant if tenuous opportunity: if nothing else, to change the tenor of the public discussion in Burma. For this reason, we suggest that political engagement – that is, engagement with both the new realities and new potentials – is of critical importance.
In this, we take inspiration first and foremost from Aung San Suu Kyi herself. The Nobel Peace Prize winner and head of the opposition (and erstwhile) National League for Democracy has made by far her most important contribution to her country’s struggle simply deciding to stay with her people, rather than taking the many opportunities given to her to leave Burma – and, almost certainly, never to be allowed to return. We also take inspiration from Suu Kyi’s first words upon her 11 November release, after serving an 18-month official sentence on the back of an on-and-off house-arrest that stretched back to the NLD’s crushing electoral victory in 1990. Less than two days after emerging, she told journalists that she was hoping for a ‘non-violent revolution’, going on to specify exactly what she meant: ‘I don’t want to see the military falling. I want to see the military rising to dignified heights of professionalism and true patriotism.’ Admittedly, such a request might well be asking too much of a military leadership with a truly abhorrent track record. Nonetheless, in immediately calling for dialogue and reconciliation, Suu Kyi set a critical tone in favour of political engagement, putting the ball firmly in the court of the generals.
When Suu Kyi’s detention came to an end on 11 November, it did so due to neither the magnanimity nor the whim of General Than Shwe or another demagogue in the leadership. Instead, this took place under the ostensible aegis of the law: her 18-month sentence was finished, so she was set free. Simultaneously, members of the security forces reportedly laid down their weapons in the streets outside of her house, thus giving a clear green light to the rarely seen scenes that followed: thousands thronging the streets to catch a glimpse – and hear the words – of the slim figure most dangerous to the junta’s continued rule. Subsequent rumours suggested that his lackeys were nervous about showing Gen Than Shwe photographs of the reception she received. But whether the general was furious or not, the state did not immediately react in any way.
The loudest voice
And this, indeed, is the nub of the potential opportunity currently before the Burmese opposition and people at large. Whatever the misgivings, the fact is that recent events do not constitute ‘more of the same’; indeed, they are exactly not what has taken place over the past two decades and more. For those years, the junta has operated as an essentially lawless regime, beyond the diktat of a constitution. Today, the body of laws might be suspect, the judicial system might be toothless or worse, and the new Constitution might remain stacked in favour of the military. But the simple fact that the generals seem keen to bring in a semblance of legal legitimacy is a critical change – and opportunity. Now, it is time for all involved to leverage that forced willingness, and the new situation, to their fullest advantage.
There is a certain danger in using Suu Kyi’s current stance to push for political engagement, in that it was only a few months ago that her party, the NLD, decided that it would not be taking part in the elections, citing among other things the unfair election laws. For this reason, and due to opportunistic tinkering with the election bylaws by the junta, the NLD today does not exist as an official political party. But it is precisely because certain members of the NLD did not follow the party line, but rather decided to form their own parties, that there is today, post-election, the possibility of respectful, high-profile dissenting opposition at the highest (civilian) levels in the land. After all, while junta malfeasance resulted in 80 percent of the seats in the new civilian government going to state-backed candidates, these electoral shenanigans left a full 20 percent of seats in the hands of what must be assumed to be an opposition. As noted elsewhere in this issue of Himal , at least one newly elected MP is already unafraid to publicly proclaim not only that the election was not fair, but that she now plans to be ‘the loudest voice in Parliament!’
Unlike the situation for the past two decades, this means that there are now individuals who can truly speak for the sentiments of the people at large, and to whom the people can look for guidance on a broad spectrum of issues. And that is the way that any democracy, even a broken one, is supposed to function. Thus, we hope that Suu Kyi, the NLD and the broader public not only ‘forgives’ those members who defied the NLD line to run for office, but in fact wholly embraces them, either publicly or privately, strategically. There is not enough wiggle room in Burmese politics for schisms in this nascent opposition.
The challenge for Suu Kyi and her fellow democrats will be to do what is ultimately the only solution: to stay within Burma, to organise within Burma, to demonstrate and resist and help to generate a people’s movement within Burma. Suu Kyi’s pressure within Burma and the dissent she will doubtless lead can now, we feel, utilise the microscopic opening that the November elections represent.
*************************************************************
Amnesty International USA (Press Release)
Our Work in Myanmar Isn’t Done Yet!
Asia, Individuals at Risk | Posted by: Bryna Subherwal, November 29, 2010 at 4:51 PM
This post is part of our Write for Rights series.
Labor activist Su Su Nway was arrested for putting up an anti-government banner near the hotel in Yangon, Myanmar’s biggest city, where the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Myanmar was staying. After a few previous close calls, Su Su Nway went in to hiding before the Special Rapporteur’s visit in order to avoid arrest by the oppressive dictatorship which presides over the small Southeast Asian nation of Myanmar (Burma). It is estimated that Su Su Nway is one of over 2,200 political prisoners currently being detained in Myanmar.
Prisoners in Myanmar are held in poor conditions and are at risk of torture and other ill-treatment. Su Su Nway suffers from a congenital heart condition, high blood pressure and, according to a July 21, 2010 “Radio Free Asia” report, malaria and gout, which are all made worse by conditions at the prison where she is held. The prison is 1,200 miles from her family’s home in Yangon, so it is very difficult for them to visit and bring her necessary food and medicine. Prisoners typically rely on their families to bring them medicine and food, as supplies in prison are completely inadequate.
Wonderful news has come out of Myanmar recently with the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Laureate and symbol of hope for eventual Burmese democracy. However, thousands of others, including Su Su Nway, are still being punished for the peaceful expression of their views; the government continues to deny its citizens the freedoms of expression, association, and assembly. But you can make a difference. Write a letter on behalf of Su Su Nway and join with thousands of others in this year’s Global Write-a-thon who are writing to uphold human rights throughout the world.
Lisa Hart, Campaign for Individuals at Risk, contributed to this post.
*************************************************************
Foreign Policy - Exclusive: A Video Message from Aung San Suu Kyi
The newly released Burmese democracy advocate speaks about her selection as an FP Top Global Thinker of 2010.
BY AUNG SAN SUU KYI | NOVEMBER 30, 2010
When FP Global Thinker Aung San Suu Kyi emerged this fall from a house arrest that had lasted on and off for two decades, the world was impatient to hear what this symbol of Burma's embattled resistance movement would have to say. Would she rage against her captors, the Burmese junta that had just days before staged its first, extraordinarily flawed election in two decades? Would she call for international intervention to end a regime that has become known for its vicious crackdowns on minority and opposition groups and a dangerously laissez-faire attitude toward the drug barons operating along its borders? Instead, the freed dissident made a remarkably levelheaded call for long-term reform of the sort that comes from within: "value change," as she put it, not regime change. And she has already begun to take action, filing papers to reinstate her political party and promising an investigation into the recent election. As she said upon her release, "We have a lot of things to do."
She also spoke directly to you, our readers at Foreign Policy magazine, in an exclusive video message commemorating her selection as a Top Global Thinker of 2010. Noting how the world has changed in the years since she was imprisoned, she reaffirms the need to keep fighting for democracy. Her words are transcribed below:
It is a great pleasure to be able to address you like this today. But of course, it would have been an even greater pleasure if I could have joined you in person. I was greatly honored to find that I had been chosen as one of Foreign Policy's Top Global Thinkers. Honored, and at the same time humbled. During the last two decades, my life has swung between periods when I have ample time for thought and contemplation, and periods when I hardly had time to catch thoughts on the wing, because there was so much to do.
But in all these years, the one thought that has stayed with me is that we all have to work together to try to improve any situation. That is not an original thought; I think it's as old as humanity: that there is strength in numbers, that we must learn to help each other. But yet, that is a thought that never ages. I wish I could meet all of you to talk over all the things I have thought about over the last seven years, during which many changes took place in this world.
When I came out of detention, on the 13th of this month, I suddenly found myself in a new world, as it were. The people who came to support me, to offer me their greetings and their continued belief in our cause, were much younger than the ones with whom I had worked many years ago. A whole new generation -- or perhaps I should say, several new generations -- had joined us, and so it is a younger world. At the same time, it is a startling, stranger world because all these young people were so much more familiar with the new IT revolution than I am. And that really made me happy; it encouraged me, it invigorated me, because IT technology means simply better communications; better communications between different peoples, between different generations.
I do not know what I am supposed to have contributed to the Great Thinkers of this world. All I can say is that I stand ready to be taught, to learn, to learn from the new thinking, to learn from younger people, to learn from those who have spent the years that I have spent in detention out in the free world, seeing what is going on, and from that seeing, learning to think again. We have to think again, and again, and again, and yet, we never come to the end of our thinking. We never come to the final conclusion. That is the beauty of human nature -- that we can go on, we can keep on going forward, going upward, going outward in our minds and in our hearts.
This is not the ideas of a thinker that I am expressing to you. These are just the ideas of someone who has lived apart from most of the world for many years and has now come out to join you and to ask for your support, your help, your advice, and for your friendship.
I don't know whether this is what a Global Thinker is supposed to be saying, but whatever I have said, it comes from my heart, and I hope that you will look upon it kindly. Thank you very much.
*************************************************************
The Irrawaddy - NLD Report Documents Election Fraud
By SAI ZOM HSENG Tuesday, November 30, 2010
The National League for Democracy (NLD), led by Aung San Suu Kyi, has completed a draft report that documents cheating and unfair procedures in Burma's Nov. 7 election and the party's central executive committee has approved the report, according to NLD leader Han Thar Myint.
“The cases are coming mostly from individual candidates because they were more oppressed in the election than political parties. There was only one political party which submitted their case to us,” Han Thar Myint told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday.
“The candidates who submitted their complaints about the Nov. 7 election had to show evidence substantiating their complaint. Although we finished the draft, there are still many more cases to come. We can’t confirm when we will release the report because we have to compile many cases and if necessary translate them into an English version,” said Han Thar Myint.
Dr. Saw Naing, a 42-year-old dentist, was an independent candidate who lost in his constituency in South Okkalapa, Rangoon Division, where he competed for a seat in the Regional Parliament against regime-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) candidate Aung Kyaw Moe.
When the vote-counting ended the day after the election, the Union Election Commission (EC) declared Saw Naing the winner by six votes. But that evening Burma's state-run television announced that the ballots had been recounted and Aung Kyaw Moe had won.
“If the regime is not going to discuss the NLD report, I will be dissatisfied. I want the regime to review the report and discuss it with the candidates,” Saw Naing told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday.
In addition to submitting his case to the NLD for inclusion in its report, Saw Naing signed a complaint letter and sent it to junta chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe on Nov. 29.
He said he also wishes to sue the EC in court, but if a candidate wants to sue the EC or an opposing political party, the complaining candidate first has to pay a 1 million kyat (US $1,150) court fee. As a result, no candidate has thus far been able to afford to file a lawsuit.
The NLD documenting team also collected the Nov. 7 experience of Thu Wai, the chairman of Democratic Party (Myanmar), who was declared to have lost in the general election.
Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Tuesday, Thu Wai said, “Even though the NLD report won't effect the outcome of the election, it will record its history. Whether the results of the election change depends only on the government.”
On Nov. 17, China's state news agency reported that the regime-backed USDP won 883 of the 1,154 parliamentary seats, or 76.5 percent, in the Nov. 7 election.
*************************************************************
The Irrawaddy - Suu Kyi Among Top 100 Global Thinkers
By LALIT K JHA Tuesday, November 30, 2010
WASHINGTON — Burma’s pro-democracy icon and popular leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been named among the top 100 global thinkers for the year 2010 by the prestigious Foreign Policy magazine.
Suu Kyi, who was released by the Burmese military junta earlier this month after years of house arrest, was ranked No. 75 on a list of 100 eminent global thinkers that is topped jointly by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates.
The US President, Barack Obama, is ranked third. In a video message commemorating her selection, Suu Kyi noted how the world has changed in the years since she was imprisoned. At the same time, she reaffirmed the need to keep fighting for democracy.
“During the last two decades, my life has swung between periods when I have ample time for thought and contemplation, and periods when I hardly had time to catch thoughts on the wing, because there was so much to do,” she said.
“But in all these years, the one thought that has stayed with me is that we all have to work together to try to improve any situation. That is not an original thought; I think it's as old as humanity: that there is strength in numbers, that we must learn to help each other. But yet, that is a thought that never ages,” the Burmese leader said.
Suu Kyi said when she came out of detention on Nov. 13, she suddenly found herself in a new world, as it were.
“The people who came to support me, to offer me their greetings and their continued belief in our cause, were much younger than the ones with whom I had worked many years ago. A whole new generation—or perhaps I should say several new generations—had joined us, and so it is a younger world,” she said.
“At the same time, it is a startling, stranger world because all these young people were so much more familiar with the new IT revolution than I am.
And that really made me happy. It encouraged me. It invigorated me, because IT technology means simply better communications, better communications between different peoples, between communication between different generations,” she said.
“I do not know what I am supposed to have contributed to the Great Thinkers of this world. All I can say is that I stand ready to be taught, to learn, to learn from the new thinking, to learn from younger people, to learn from those who have spent the years that I have spent in detention out in the free world, seeing what is going on, and from that seeing, learning to think again,” Suu Kyi said.
“We have to think again, and again, and again, and yet, we never come to the end of our thinking. We never come to the final conclusion. That is the beauty of human nature—that we can go on, we can keep on going forward, going upward, going outward in our minds and in our hearts,” she said.
Foreign Policy magazine said Suu Kyi, upon her release, made a remarkably level-headed call for long-term reform of the sort that comes from within: "value change," as she put it, not regime change.
“And she has already begun to take action, filing papers to reinstate her political party and promising an investigation into the recent election. As she said upon her release, 'We have a lot of things to do,'" the magazine said.
A Video Message from Aung San Suu Kyi at Foreign Policy (http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/11/29/Exclusive_Video_Message_from_Aung_San_Suu_Kyi)
*************************************************************
NEWS ANALYSIS
The Irrawaddy - 'Second Panglong' Proposal Could Mean Trouble for Suu Kyi
By BA KAUNG Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Burma's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the country's reclusive generals may be heading on another collision course despite her clear message that dialogue with the regime remains as important as ever in breaking the political deadlock.
The most plausible tipping point of the confrontation could stem from Suu Kyi's efforts to organize what she described as “an ethnic conference in conformity with the 21st Century.”
Many observers have referred to the proposed conference as a “second Panglong”—a meeting of ethnic leaders and other relevant stakeholders along the lines of the 1947 Panglong Conference, which not only provided a basis for the federal state but also guaranteed the ethnic minorities a right to secede from the Union 10 years after Burma won independence from Britain.
The agreement never materialized but was followed by a decades-long civil war that still rages. Furthermore, successive military rulers have identified the federal movement as a threat to their hold on power, and it was also a major pretext for the first military coup in 1962 by late dictator Ne Win, who claimed that he saved the country from disintegration.
Following Suu Kyi's release from house arrest, she has been encouraged by several ethnic leaders to take the leading role in the implementation of the ethnic conference proposal—a highly sensitive issue in the country in view of the growing tension between diverse armed ethnic groups and the Naypyidaw regime in the post-election period.
The first session of the newly-elected union parliament is scheduled to be held in Naypyidaw in the first week of February, 2011. At about the same time as the parliament meets, ethnic leaders opposed to this month's election this month are hoping to hold the proposed “Second Panglong,” under the leadership of Suu Kyi.
“If possible, we'd like to see the event take place on the anniversary of Union Day [on Feb. 12],” said Aye Thar Aung, the secretary of the Committee Representing People’s Parliament, an umbrella movement of political and ethnic groups that won seats in Burma's last election in 1990.
Union Day marks the signing in February 1947 of the Panglong agreement by Suu Kyi's father Gen Aung San and many other ethnic leaders in the eponymous town in Shan State.
Last week, Suu Kyi was asked by Rangoon's opposition groups not to put the “Second Panglong” at the front or even the center of her political stage since the matter was too delicate. But she differed with them, saying she must actively pursue the case and that time was running out for her.
“I told her to focus on the democratization process rather than on Panglong since it was a dangerous and complex topic, but she said she must actively work on it along with other issues,” said Thu Wai, a veteran politician who is also the chairman of the Democratic Party (Myanmar) in Rangoon, who met her last week at the National League for Democracy office.
Another person who has discussed the same issue with Suu Kyi said: “Daw Suu said it's been 22 years since she's been involved in the democratic struggle. Although she tried to reach out to the authorities, that came to no avail. And [she said] nothing would happen if we keep waiting for that.”
The source said, on condition of anonymity: “She said she is aware of the challenges [of the Second Panglong] and would act cautiously and conscientiously.”
Sources within the NLD said Suu Kyi would try to engage in talks with the Chinese and Indian government leaders first to enlist their support in preventing a possible regime crackdown on a conference.
Suu Kyi's party followers said they are now arranging for her to have telephone talks with the Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Indian leaders in coming weeks.
“With the help of China, Daw Suu wants to work towards renewed ceasefire agreements between the government and the armed ethnic groups, especially Kachin and Wa groups,” said an NLD member.
“Daw Suu wants to try for the event [a “Second Panglong”], but she is not pinning much hopes on that. It would just be the first step in finding solutions to the ethnic issues.”
After two weeks of freedom, Suu Kyi is still surveying the political ground, meeting her party members and other opposition groups, including those who participated in the controversial election.
“She is testing the ground, seeking advice and opinion from a diverse group of people,” said a dissident in Rangoon. “Once she has arrived at a decision, the political tempo will be high.
With a 'Second Panglong,' Daw Suu would try to solve the historical debt of her father towards the ethnics.”
State-run newspapers on Sunday carried news of meetings Vijay Nambiar, the new UN special envoy to Burma, had with Suu Kyi, other senior NLD members and ethnic leaders who took principal roles in the recent “Kale Declaration,” which called for a federal system based on equality and democracy to be established through a second Panglong conference.
Suu Kyi and her party colleague, Win Tin, one of the regime's chief critics,were mentioned as belonging to the “dissolved” NLD party. Burma's Supreme Court last week dismissed Suu Kyi's legal bid to restore party status to the NLD, which was officially disbanded for failing to register for the election.
The state press coverage, which gave only little prominence to a meeting between Burmese Foreign Minister Nyan Win and Vijay Nambiar, gave readers the impression that the regime is being conciliatory toward Suu Kyi and her party.
But some observers urged caution, saying it could be just deceptive propaganda, to be used in the event of further decisive action against Suu Kyi.
“Even if another Depayin is not repeated, the regime may give at least a small shock to her in coming months,” said a magazine editor in Rangoon, referring to the deadly attacks against Suu Kyi and her supporters in the town of Depayin in 2003.
*************************************************************
Suu Kyi offers help to kin of political prisoners
Tuesday, 30 November 2010 02:47 Ko Wild
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi yesterday attended the death anniversary alms ceremony of the mother of a student leader serving a long prison term, attended by more than 100 family members of other political prisoners.
The ceremony follows the two-day visit of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s special envoy to Burma, Vijay Nambiar, who had called during meetings yesterday with Burmese junta officials for the release of all political prisoners.
He met Suu Kyi at her residence on Saturday and also met Foreign Minister Nyan Win, election commissioners and representatives of some ethnic political parties and the junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party. He claimed the UN’s role in promoting political reconciliation was appreciated by all sides, the Associated Press reported.
Nambiar also called for inclusion of those who were prevented from or failed to contest in the recent general election, not only the winning parties, in the political process, and political change, the US press agency reported.
Meanwhile, a ceremony was held for the third anniversary of the death of the mother of 88-Generation student leader Htay Kywe, serving a 65-year prison term in Buthitaung prison, Arakan State, at the Pannita Yarma monastery in Bahan Township, Rangoon, his younger sister Mi Mi Kywe told Mizzima.
At the event, Suu Kyi and her son Kim Aris, aka Htein Lin, met families of other student leaders serving long prison terms across the country and offered words of encouragement. She promised that her National League for Democracy party would help with their difficulties, Mi Mi Kywe said.
“Aung San Suu Kyi told us she would arrange a get-together of all family members of imprisoned student leaders. She also said health was the most important issue for prisoners and that we should watch out for their health. She asked us to inform her if we had difficulty in visiting … our loved ones,” she said.
Mi Mi Kywe said her brother was suffering from a gastric ulcer since starting his prison term at Buthitaung, 700 miles (1,120 kilometres) from Rangoon.
The ceremony was also attended by more than 100 family members of jailed 88-Generation student leaders, politicians elected in the 1990 elections and other prisoners of conscience.
The Assistance Association of Political Prisoners-Burma in a statement said that more than 2,000 political prisoners were still behind bars across the country. Many of them were 88-Generation student leaders who played a pivotal role in the pro-democracy uprisings in 1988 and were arrested and jailed again after they marched in the 2007 protests against fuel and commodity price increases. They were each given 65-year prison terms.
*************************************************************
Railway line rerouted after Arakanese heritage site damaged
Tuesday, 30 November 2010 21:56 Thein Zaw
New Delhi (Mizzima) – Two incumbent ministers and national legislators-elect ordered the railways ministry last Thursday to choose a new path for the line it is building near the ancient city of Mrauk-U, after residents complained that walls and pagodas had sustained damage after a section of track had been laid.
The order also came three days after Transport Minister Thein Swe and Industry Minister 1 Aung Thaung, of the junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party, had met lawmakers-elect of the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party, which won more state seats than the USDP in national polls on November 7.
The politicians visited Mrauk-U to redraw the route and Burma’s Archaeology Department under the Ministry of Culture informed the Rail Transport Ministry to follow the new route, which passes through the ancient city’s north.
“The new route will cross the Rangoon-Sittwe Road but it’s a long way from the ancient pagodas and buildings, so the new route is acceptable,” an archaeologist in Mrauk-U said on condition of anonymity.
On November 15, local residents filed a complaint at the office of the Burmese Army Western Command chief Brigadier General Soe Thein, seeking a redesign of the Sittwe-Ann-Minbu railway project after 10 sections of wall, including those named Thazintan, Mungalar Manaung, Khrunkite, Kathel Ai Moat, and three pagodas, were found to have been damaged during the construction of the Kyauktaw-Mrauk-U section, which finished on national election day, residents said.
“After the residents filed the complaint, the Ministry of Culture immediately informed the Ministry of Rail Transport … [which] then … had to postpone the project. The damage was repaired and the route was redrawn,” the archaeologist said.
The Archaeology Department issued a ban last Thursday on railway workers digging in exclusion zones around the city or damaging the ancient forts. It also warned that cultural heritage thieves would be punished, he said.
The Sittwe-Yechanbyin section and Kungaung-Yoetayoke section of the Sittwe-Ann-Minbu railway has been commissioned into service since May last year and 75 per cents of Kyauktaw-Mrauk-U section was complete, a Sittwe rail official said.
Observers and party members have speculated as to the motivation behind Aung Thaung and Thein Swe seeking the meeting with three lawmakers from the RNDP on November 22 in Sittwe, capital of Arakan (Rakhine) State. In the elections, the RNDP secured the largest number of seats, 18, in the 46- to 47-seat Arakan Assembly.
*************************************************************
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.
*************************************************************
News & Articles on Burma-Tuesday, 30 November, 2010
News & Articles on Burma
Tuesday, 30 November, 2010
-----------------------------------------------------
Suu Kyi Among Top 100 Global Thinkers
A Video Message from Aung San Suu Kyi
NLD Report Documents Election Fraud
Mistaken shooting of local resident hushed up
‘She gives them strength in their struggle’
Modus operandi adopted by journalists covering Aung San Suu Kyi release
Suu Kyi offers help to kin of political prisoners
Burma’s new leaders court Arakan party
We Will Speak Out, Say Ethnic Leaders
Refugees Flee Fighting Again in Karen State
--------------------------------------------
Suu Kyi Among Top 100 Global Thinkers
By LALIT K JHA Tuesday, November 30, 2010
WASHINGTON — Burma’s pro-democracy icon and popular leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been named among the top 100 global thinkers for the year 2010 by the prestigious Foreign Policy magazine.
Suu Kyi, who was released by the Burmese military junta earlier this month after years of house arrest, was ranked No. 75 on a list of 100 eminent global thinkers that is topped jointly by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates.
The US President, Barack Obama, is ranked third. In a video message commemorating her selection, Suu Kyi noted how the world has changed in the years since she was imprisoned. At the same time, she reaffirmed the need to keep fighting for democracy.
“During the last two decades, my life has swung between periods when I have ample time for thought and contemplation, and periods when I hardly had time to catch thoughts on the wing, because there was so much to do,” she said.
“But in all these years, the one thought that has stayed with me is that we all have to work together to try to improve any situation. That is not an original thought; I think it's as old as humanity: that there is strength in numbers, that we must learn to help each other. But yet, that is a thought that never ages,” the Burmese leader said.
Suu Kyi said when she came out of detention on Nov. 13, she suddenly found herself in a new world, as it were.
“The people who came to support me, to offer me their greetings and their continued belief in our cause, were much younger than the ones with whom I had worked many years ago. A whole new generation—or perhaps I should say several new generations—had joined us, and so it is a younger world,” she said.
“At the same time, it is a startling, stranger world because all these young people were so much more familiar with the new IT revolution than I am.
And that really made me happy. It encouraged me. It invigorated me, because IT technology means simply better communications, better communications between different peoples, between communication between different generations,” she said.
“I do not know what I am supposed to have contributed to the Great Thinkers of this world. All I can say is that I stand ready to be taught, to learn, to learn from the new thinking, to learn from younger people, to learn from those who have spent the years that I have spent in detention out in the free world, seeing what is going on, and from that seeing, learning to think again,” Suu Kyi said.
“We have to think again, and again, and again, and yet, we never come to the end of our thinking. We never come to the final conclusion. That is the beauty of human nature—that we can go on, we can keep on going forward, going upward, going outward in our minds and in our hearts,” she said.
Foreign Policy magazine said Suu Kyi, upon her release, made a remarkably level-headed call for long-term reform of the sort that comes from within: "value change," as she put it, not regime change.
“And she has already begun to take action, filing papers to reinstate her political party and promising an investigation into the recent election. As she said upon her release, 'We have a lot of things to do,'" the magazine said.
A Video Message from Aung San Suu Kyi at Foreign Policy http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=20217
-----------------------------------------------
A Video Message from Aung San Suu Kyi
By John Ballard
FP Exclusive, with transcript at the link.
When I came out of detention, on the 13th of this month, I suddenly found myself in a new world, as it were. The people who came to support me, to offer me their greetings and their continued belief in our cause, were much younger than the ones with whom I had worked many years ago. A whole new generation -- or perhaps I should say, several new generations -- had joined us, and so it is a younger world. At the same time, it is a startling, stranger world because all these young people were so much more familiar with the new IT revolution than I am. And that really made me happy; it encouraged me, it invigorated me, because IT technology means simply better communications; better communications between different peoples, between different generations.
http://www.newshoggers.com/blog/2010/11/a-video-message-from-aung-san-suu-kyi.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Newshog+%28NewsHog%29
---------------------------------------------------
Mistaken shooting of local resident hushed up
Tuesday, 30 November 2010 13:49 Hseng Khio Fah
Junta officers based in Shan State South’s Mongnawng sub-township, Kehsi township, has warned local residents not to file a lawsuit against their soldiers for their recent wrong shooting of a local villager, threatening to burn the town to the ground if their warning go unheeded, local sources reported.
A 43 year old local man identified as Sai Swe from Quarter No.4 was shot to death last Monday night, 22 November, by Burma Army soldiers from the Mongnawng-based Military Operations Command (MOC) # 2, while he was on the way to buy medicine for his wife Nang Soi.
“There were 4 or 5 gunshots. Then there was the sound of a man groaning with pain and falling to the ground. But no one dared to get out and see who was being shot at that time,” a local resident who asked not to be named said.
But the body was no longer seen on the road the next morning. But a spot of blood remained on the ground. The villagers later found Sai Swe’s remains in a well covered with leaves, 100 yards northeast of the town.
Sai Swe was shot at his waist 5 times, 2 times on his right breast and 1 under his right arm-pit, an eyewitness said.
The culprits were said to be Private Maung Sein Win and Saya (a popular name for corporals and sergeants) Ngwe Maung, another villager said. “The two claimed that they saw Sai Swe from behind and thought he was a rebel.”
The Shan State Army (SSA) South is active in the area.
However, Brig-Gen Tint Lwin, Commander of MOC#2 and G1 Lt-Colonel Wai Lin Aung reportedly ordered police officer Myint Han and Chairman of Quarter No. 4 U Kyaw Lwin to tell villagers and family members not to appeal the case to the top rank and not to leak the information, otherwise the town would be razed to the ground.
The family members and local village headmen buried Sai Swe on 23 November, a day after the shooting.
Sai Swe is survived by 3 daughters, 3 sons and his wife. The family members received Kyat 500,000 (US$ 500) in compensation from Brig-Gen Tint Lwin. http://shanland.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3342:mistaken-shooting-of-local-resident-hushed-up&catid=87:human-rights&Itemid=285
----------------------------------------------------
NLD Report Documents Election Fraud
By SAI ZOM HSENG Tuesday, November 30, 2010
The National League for Democracy (NLD), led by Aung San Suu Kyi, has completed a draft report that documents cheating and unfair procedures in Burma's Nov. 7 election and the party's central executive committee has approved the report, according to NLD leader Han Thar Myint.
“The cases are coming mostly from individual candidates because they were more oppressed in the election than political parties. There was only one political party which submitted their case to us,” Han Thar Myint told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday.
“The candidates who submitted their complaints about the Nov. 7 election had to show evidence substantiating their complaint. Although we finished the draft, there are still many more cases to come. We can’t confirm when we will release the report because we have to compile many cases and if necessary translate them into an English version,” said Han Thar Myint.
Dr. Saw Naing, a 42-year-old dentist, was an independent candidate who lost in his constituency in South Okkalapa, Rangoon Division, where he competed for a seat in the Regional Parliament against regime-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) candidate Aung Kyaw Moe.
When the vote-counting ended the day after the election, the Union Election Commission (EC) declared Saw Naing the winner by six votes. But that evening Burma's state-run television announced that the ballots had been recounted and Aung Kyaw Moe had won.
“If the regime is not going to discuss the NLD report, I will be dissatisfied. I want the regime to review the report and discuss it with the candidates,” Saw Naing told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday.
In addition to submitting his case to the NLD for inclusion in its report, Saw Naing signed a complaint letter and sent it to junta chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe on Nov. 29.
He said he also wishes to sue the EC in court, but if a candidate wants to sue the EC or an opposing political party, the complaining candidate first has to pay a 1 million kyat (US $1,150) court fee. As a result, no candidate has thus far been able to afford to file a lawsuit.
The NLD documenting team also collected the Nov. 7 experience of Thu Wai, the chairman of Democratic Party (Myanmar), who was declared to have lost in the general election.
Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Tuesday, Thu Wai said, “Even though the NLD report won't effect the outcome of the election, it will record its history. Whether the results of the election change depends only on the government.”
On Nov. 17, China's state news agency reported that the regime-backed USDP won 883 of the 1,154 parliamentary seats, or 76.5 percent, in the Nov. 7 election.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=20223
------------------------------------------------
‘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.
http://www.dvb.no/news/%E2%80%98she-gives-them-strength-in-their-struggle%E2%80%99/13144
--------------------------------------------------
Modus operandi adopted by journalists covering Aung San Suu Kyi release
Tue, 2010-11-30 02:26 — editor
* News
By Quintus Perera – Asian Tribune
Colombo, 30 November, (Asiantribune.com):
Aung_San_Suu_Kyi_2_1.JPG
Aung San Suu Kyi
In a dispatch by Reporters without Borders (RSF) under the name of Vincent Brossel, Asia-Pacific Desk, RSF indicated that at least 10 Burmese publications have been sanctioned for paying too much attention to the release of Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, the head of the opposition National League for Democracy.
It indicated that they have been suspended for one to three weeks on the orders of the military authorities in the capital Naypyidaw after the military-supervised Press Scrutiny Board gave them permission to print her photo and a short article about her release. Any further reporting about Suu Kyi is now banned until further notice.
The dispatch indicated that at the same time, the foreign media have been fairly free to cover her release although at least seven foreign journalists were deported while trying to cover the national elections that the military junta held on 7 November.
RSF and the Burma Media Association indicated that during the past few weeks have shown that the privately-owned Burmese media are capable of covering major events such as the elections and Suu Kyi’s release professionally and creatively, but it is regrettable that the orders coming from Naypyidaw are for more censorship. Therefore RSF urge the authorities to rescind the suspensions and drop the system of prior censorship.
The publications that are known to have been sanctioned include Seven Days Journal and Venus Journal, which have been suspended for three weeks, and Open News Journal, Messenger, Myanmar Newsweek, Voice Journal, People Age and Snap Shot, which have been suspended for a week. The military officer in charge of censorship summoned their editors and notified them of the suspensions. Other publications were given warnings without being suspended.
The dispatch indicated that Reporters Without Borders and the Burma Media Association hail the creative use of cryptic methods by certain Burmese journalists to defy the censors and celebrate Suu Kyi’s release. The sports weekly First Eleven Journal, for example, published the message “ Su Free Unite & Advance To Grab Hope, “ hidden in a front-page headline about British Premier League football results. It has been suspended for two weeks. Hot News Journal, a publication owned by Gen. Khin Maung Than’s daughter, has also been suspended for two weeks.
It indicated that an editor told the two organizations: “The authorities force us to just publish photos of [Suu Kyi] on her own and to describe her party, the NLD, as an ‘banned party’ so we have to find veiled methods to cover what is going on. We thought that the Press Scrutiny Board would loosen its control after the elections but it did not happen.”
In November 2008, Reporters Without Borders and the Burma Media Association revealed the existence of a 10-point directive in which the Press Scrutiny Board spells out the censorship rules for editors ( http://en.rsf.org/burma-military-censors-send-privately-04-11-2008,29176 ...).
The dispatch indicated that after providing the junta’s parliamentary elections with extensive coverage, it is unfair and unacceptable that the Burmese media are sanctioned for covering Suu Kyi’s release. The military are using double standards. Asked about the reporting ban, Suu Kyi said it showed that things had not really changed since the elections.
The dispatch indicated that at least seven foreign journalists have been deported after being identified by the security services. Dozens of foreign reporters got into Burma on tourist visas during the elections and Suu Kyi’s release. “The police were on the watch during the elections and anyone identified as a journalist was expelled,” said a European journalist who managed to interview Suu Kyi in Rangoon. “But in the days following Suu Kyi’s release, it was obvious they did not have clear orders.”
Among the latest deportees were two journalists working on a documentary for Australia’s ABC television, who were escorted to the border on 11 November. But the police failed to arrest John Simpson of the BBC, who was able to interview Suu Kyi, the dispatch indicated.
- Asian Tribune - http://www.asiantribune.com/news/2010/11/30/modus-operandi-adopted-journalists-covering-aung-san-suu-kyi-release
-------------------------------------------------
Suu Kyi offers help to kin of political prisoners
Tuesday, 30 November 2010 02:47 Ko Wild
E-mail Print PDF
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi yesterday attended the death anniversary alms ceremony of the mother of a student leader serving a long prison term, attended by more than 100 family members of other political prisoners.
The ceremony follows the two-day visit of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s special envoy to Burma, Vijay Nambiar, who had called during meetings yesterday with Burmese junta officials for the release of all political prisoners.
He met Suu Kyi at her residence on Saturday and also met Foreign Minister Nyan Win, election commissioners and representatives of some ethnic political parties and the junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party. He claimed the UN’s role in promoting political reconciliation was appreciated by all sides, the Associated Press reported.
Nambiar also called for inclusion of those who were prevented from or failed to contest in the recent general election, not only the winning parties, in the political process, and political change, the US press agency reported.
Meanwhile, a ceremony was held for the third anniversary of the death of the mother of 88-Generation student leader Htay Kywe, serving a 65-year prison term in Buthitaung prison, Arakan State, at the Pannita Yarma monastery in Bahan Township, Rangoon, his younger sister Mi Mi Kywe told Mizzima.
At the event, Suu Kyi and her son Kim Aris, aka Htein Lin begin_of_the_skype_highlighting end_of_the_skype_highlighting, met families of other student leaders serving long prison terms across the country and offered words of encouragement. She promised that her National League for Democracy party would help with their difficulties, Mi Mi Kywe said.
“Aung San Suu Kyi told us she would arrange a get-together of all family members of imprisoned student leaders. She also said health was the most important issue for prisoners and that we should watch out for their health. She asked us to inform her if we had difficulty in visiting … our loved ones,” she said.
Mi Mi Kywe said her brother was suffering from a gastric ulcer since starting his prison term at Buthitaung, 700 miles (1,120 kilometres) from Rangoon.
The ceremony was also attended by more than 100 family members of jailed 88-Generation student leaders, politicians elected in the 1990 elections and other prisoners of conscience.
The Assistance Association of Political Prisoners-Burma in a statement said that more than 2,000 political prisoners were still behind bars across the country. Many of them were 88-Generation student leaders who played a pivotal role in the pro-democracy uprisings in 1988 and were arrested and jailed again after they marched in the 2007 protests against fuel and commodity price increases. They were each given 65-year prison terms. http://www.mizzima.com/news/inside-burma/4624-suu-kyi-offers-help-to-kin-of-political-prisoners.html
-------------------------------------
Burma’s new leaders court Arakan party
By HTET AUNG KYAW
Published: 30 November 2010
Burma’s new leaders court Arakan party thumbnail
Workers stand in front of the parliament building in Naypyidaw, which is due to convene by February 2011 (Reuters)
The victors in Burma’s recent elections have met with a leading Arakanese party in what analysts claim may be a precursor to choosing a new vice president.
The talks last week between the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), which won 76 percent of seats, and the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party (RNDP), were brokered by the Election Commission. Dr Aye Maung, head of the RNDP, said the “casual” discussion focused on the development of the western state.
The dominance across the country of the USDP, which receives substantial backing from the Burmese junta, did not stretch to Arakan state, where it came in second behind the RNDP. The party won 35 seats, 11 more than the USDP.
Its success there has led analysts to question the motives of the meeting. Dr Aye Maung said that he did not know what the “intentions of the ministers” were, but that a local power-brokering deal was a possibility.
Aung Lynn Htut, once a senior-ranking Burmese diplomat in Washington who later defected, said however that it could be the first step in the junta’s plan to appoint an ethnic representative as a vice president.
“The meeting between the RNDP and the USDP was ordered by Senior General Than Shwe,” he said, adding that “since 2009, the [junta] had a plan to appoint [an ethnic person] for one of the three vice-presidential positions,” and the Arakanese victory made it the strongest contender.
He said the inclusion in the USDP of industrial minister Aung Thaung was a sign that the meeting “wasn’t an honest discussion but more likely [an attempt] to make the RNDP their [USDP’s] subordinate”.
Various struggles for ethnic autonomy in Burma’s border regions have plagued the junta since it came to power in 1962. Its recent attempt to transform 17 armed groups who agreed to ceasefire deals in the 1990s into junta-backed border militias has stalled, and tensions in the already volatile ethnic regions have risen.
Aung Lynn Htut said the courting of the Arakanese party could be a sign that the ruling generals “are looking for new ethnic friends” following the failure of the Border Guard Force plan.
There is also a chance that the RNDP could be more malleable than the Shan Nationalities Democracy Party (SNDP), which was the most successful ethnic party in the elections, winning 57 seats.
The SNDP, whose ideology mirrors that of the former opposition party, the Shan National League for Democracy (SNLD), which came third in the 1990 elections, likely made them more resistant to approaches by the junta proxy, Aung Lynn Htut said.
“When I was [in government], it was the Kachin they were looking to as the first [vice presidential] candidate,” he added. And when a ceasefire deal was struck with the Kachin army, former prime minister Khin Nyunt told them that Burma’s future prime minister would be Kachin, Aung Lynn Htut continued.
But the Kachin army’s refusal to become a border militia has damaged relations, hence the switch to pressuring the Arakanese, he said.
http://www.dvb.no/elections/burma%E2%80%99s-new-leaders-court-arakan-party/13135
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We Will Speak Out, Say Ethnic Leaders
By SAI ZOM HSENG Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Several ethnic leaders who won parliamentary seats in the Nov. 7 general election have told The Irrawaddy that they will not allow restrictions on free speech in the new parliament to block their political activities.
The laws, which were reportedly authorized by Snr-Gen Than Shwe on Friday, stipulate that parliamentarians in the new Upper and Lower Houses will only be allowed freedom of expression in Parliament if they do not “threaten national security, the unity of the country or violate the Constitution.”
The parliamentary restrictions have not yet been made public by Burma's ruling military junta; however, the news agency Associated Press (AP) broke the story on Saturday quoting an official gazette.
AP said the new laws will include a two-year prison term to anyone who protests in the parliament or its compound or physically assaults a lawmaker.
Dr. Aye Maung, the chairman of Rakhine Nationalities Development Party (RNDP), who has stated publicly that he wants to air his views about federal and ethnic issues in the new parliament, said that no one wants to disintegrate the unity of the country or provoke a civil war. He said elected representatives of the RNDP will speak in the new parliaments under the frame of the Constitution.
He also said that he had been unaware of the restrictions until contacted by The Irrawaddy on Monday.
The RNDP won a majority in 35 of the 44 constituencies it contested in Arakan State (Rakhine State).
The chairman of Thailand-based Burma Lawyers Council, Thein Oo, said that the military leaders do not want the representatives to discuss a federal union, and that the new law has been enacted to enforce this.
Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Monday, Thein Oo said, “This law is like a trap—putting pressure on the representatives. If MPs want to amend a law or an article, they will have to challenge the Constitution. The representatives simply won’t have a chance to speak.
“There is not a parliament in the world where delegates are prohibited from speaking their minds,” he added.
Naing Ngwe Thein, the chairman of the All Mon Region Democracy Party (AMDP), said that the ethnic leaders will do whatever they have to do for their people.
“We will speak up and raise the issues that are important to our people,” the Mon leader said. “If we are afraid to speak, nothing will ever change.”
The AMDP, which had 34 candidates in the election, won 16 seats exclusively in Mon State.
Pu Zo Zam, the chairman of the Chin National Party (CNP), said that the formation of “new disciplined parliament” is a “necessity.”
Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Monday, Pu Zo Zam said, “If we speak about a federal union, it will not violate the Constitution or the unity of the country. It is not a sensitive issue.”
“I agreed with the law that was announced recently because we need to have a disciplined parliament. If there is no rule of law, there will be fighting or wrestling in the parliament,” he said.
The Inn National Development Party (INDP), which fielded five candidates in the election and won all five seats, said they will agree with whatever the government rules.
Aung Kyi Win, the chairman of the INDP, said, “We formed this party to protect our literature, our culture and our ethnicity. We will follow whatever the government says. We feel that is our responsibility.”
The Shan Nationalities Democratic Party, which won the most constituencies in Shan State, refused to comment on the new laws.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=20215
--------------------------------------------------------
Refugees Flee Fighting Again in Karen State
By LAWI WENG Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Fighting between Burmese government army troops and the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) Brigade 5 flared up on Tuesday morning in Phaluu village in Kawkareik Township near the Thai-Burmese border, causing refugees to flee to the border yet again, according to humanitarian organizations helping the refugees.
Heavy fighting including artillery fire lasted around two hours from 9 a.m., according to the refugees.
“About 15 minutes after fighting started, around 100 villagers fled to the border from their village,” said Blooming Night Zan, joint secretary 1 of the Karen Women's Organization (KWO).
“There are babies as young as one-week old among the 100 or so refugees who fled to the Thai border,” she said.
About 1,000 Karen refugees have fled to the Thai border after fighting broke out over the weekend in Phaluu village in Kawkareik Township. Phaluu village is about 40 kilometers south of the Mae Sot-Myawaddy border crossing on the Thai-Burmese border.
The Thai army forced refugees who had taken shelter at a Buddhist temple and Thai school in Pop Phra-District in Thailand's Tak Province to return home, saying the situation was stable.
Some refugees returned to their village around 9 a.m. On Monday morning but had to return again to the Thai border in the afternoon when fighting renewed around 3:30 p.m, sources in the humanitarian organizations said.
“The Thai authorities do not want them to stay. But, the people are afraid of to go back to their village,” said Blooming Night Zan.
The refugees also want to go home as soon as fighting has stopped to gather in the harvest.
The fighting began on Friday evening when DKBA troops led by Lt Col Kyaw Thet ambushed junta troops sending rations to fellow troops in Way Lay Village, the former HQ of DKBA Brigade 5 they captured on Nov.10. The Burmese support column was forced to stay in Phaluu.
About 30 soldiers from junta units and DKBA brigades that became border guard forces were killed in a coordinated attack by Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) and DKBA brigade 5 troops on Sunday, according to the Thailand-based Karen Information Center. The KNLA and Brigade 5 troops are known to have suffered casualties but numbers have not been given.
Fighting has been ongoing since Brigade 5 commander Col Saw Lah Pwe refused to put his troops in a border guard force under Burmese army command and attacked Myawaddy and Three Pagodas Pass townships on Nov. 8.
Fighting is also reported to have spread to Three Pagodas Pass on Monday, where KNLA Brigade 6 troops and junta forces exchanged fire.
Junta forces from Infantry Division 44 suffered three killed and five wounded in fighting around Mae Tha Phu village, 30 kilometers from the Three Pagodas Pass township, according to Thu Rain, a resident in the town.
Junta's troops have banned today travel by boat from Three Pagodas Pass to Kyar Inn Seik Gyi Township in Karen State.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=20222
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
