BURMA RELATED NEWS - FEBRUARY 26, 2011

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BURMA RELATED NEWS - FEBRUARY 26, 2011
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IPS - Global Fund Back With New Hope
New Zealand Herald - Looking to build hope in a troubled Burma
Reuters - Q+A: How U.S. financial sanctions on Libya might work
CNN - 25 years on, Philippines offers lessons for Egypt
E-Commerce Times - Worries Abound Over US Cyber-Emergency Internet Policy
ANN - Uprisings possible without the Internet
The Japan Times - 186 fewer apply for refugee status
The Japan Times - Refugee families' dads land jobs in farming
Times of India - Mizoram bird flu alarm
AsiaNews.it - Thousands of Karen refugees in Thailand risk hunger
Mizzima News - Border town struggles to clean up its drug image
Mizzima News - Suu Kyi supports expansion of ILO in Burma
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Global Fund Back With New Hope
By Marwaan Macan-Markar

BANGKOK, Feb 26, 2011 (IPS) - Burma’s transition from an overt military rule to a civilian administration of retired generals is getting a shot in the arm from a former critic of the junta – the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

The Fund that left the South-East Asian nation in protest more than five years ago is returning this year to Burma, or Myanmar. The move follows three agreements inked last November to finance two-year grants of up to 112.8 million dollars against the three killer diseases.

It marks an increase from the 98.4 million dollars that the Geneva-based humanitarian body had pledged during its first foray. The group pulled out in August 2005 citing political interference in its programmes.

Support for HIV/AIDS initiatives is billed to get the largest share, 46 million dollars, with malaria receiving 36.8 million dollars and tuberculosis (TB) 30 million dollars, according to the Global Fund.

"Burma re-applied for Global Fund grants in 2009 and due to the technical merit of the proposals the board decided to approve them," Marcela Rojo, spokesperson for the Global Fund confirmed in an IPS interview.

The decision coincided with last year’s general election in Burma, the first in two decades. The Nov. 7 poll gained notoriety for its irregularities, prompting critics to say that little has changed since the country came under the grip of oppressive military rule in 1962 after a coup.

"No one really expects the new government to improve the human rights situation, but one practical dividend that must come with the new parliament is increased humanitarian space," says David Scott Mathieson, Burma consultant for Human Rights Watch, a New York-based global watchdog.

"The Global Fund (entry), given its past experience, is going to be an important litmus test in assessing the new government’s sincerity," he added.

The significance of its re-entry is clear to the Fund, as it begins working with its international partners in the country, Save the Children and the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS).

"Strong additional safeguards have been put in place to ensure strict oversight of these grants and to ensure the ability of the Global Fund to move quickly should any irregularities be identified," said Rojo. These include an assurance from Burmese officials that the Fund’s staff will have immediate access to implementation sites.

"Funding for life saving drugs, awareness raising in the most vulnerable populations, and behavioural change campaigns will feature in the package to combat HIV," said Andrew Kirkwood, head of Save the Children’s Burma office, that receives 28.3 million dollars for its AIDS programmes.

"The goal is to reduce HIV transmission and HIV-related morbidity, mortality, disability and social and economic impact," he added in an interview.

Burma reportedly has nearly 240,000 people living with HIV, of which 120,000 need life prolonging anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs. Many of them belong to the three most vulnerable groups: female sex workers, men who have sex with men, and injecting drug users.

Malaria has left an equally troubling trail, with nearly 70 percent of the country’s 57 million people at risk, and 475, 297 already infected, according to health reports. TB is as virulent, with some 200,000 cases reported in 2008, placing Burma 20th among 22 countries across the world topping in the burden of the disease.

Dovetailing with the Fund’s initiative is another international programme, the Three Diseases Fund (3DF), aimed at caring for the sick infected by HIV, TB and malaria.

Set up by a coalition of donors from Australia, Britain, Sweden, the Netherlands and the European Commission, 3DF invested an estimated 100 million dollars when it came to Burma in 2006 after the Global Fund quit.

"These programmes have provided 21,138 people living with HIV antiretroviral medication, detected and treated more than 100,000 cases of tuberculosis and treated over one million cases of malaria," Sanjay Mathur, director of UNOPS in Burma told IPS.

"The challenge to cover all those in need has always been daunting," admits Paul Yon, head of the Medecins Sans Frontier (MSF- Doctors Without Borders) mission in Burma.

"The pulling out of the Global Fund in Myanmar did not make the situation better for the people in need of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria treatment for sure," he told IPS. "MSF has always been advocating for international inputs and to get donors such as the Global Fund back in the country."

The desperate need for foreign funds was brought home by MSF in 2008, when it warned that 76,000 patients needed the life-prolonging ARV therapy but only about 25,000 were receiving first-line drugs.

By then, the military regime’s record on welfare was as notorious as its oppressive grip. The junta had only permitted some 1,800 people to be treated with ARVs in 22 hospitals across the country. The health budget that year to care for people living with HIV was only 200,000 dollars, compared to the nearly 8 billion dollars the regime had earned from natural gas sales from the resource rich country between 2000 and 2008.

"Aid has always been a political issue in Burma and it will be that way now that the Global Fund is back," said a Rangoon-based doctor who spoke on condition of anonymity. "We need this assistance, because it is a lifeline for the patients."
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New Zealand Herald - Looking to build hope in a troubled Burma
By Simon Scott
5:30 AM Monday Jan 17, 2011

Political leaders much talked about in their own time are, with a few notable exceptions, largely forgotten by history.

Their influence and fame begin to expire as soon as their hold on power does and often their lives never seem to live up to their words.

They frequently become just a name in a book on a library shelf, a paragraph, perhaps, in a student's history notes or the answer to a tricky question at a pub quiz night.

Aung San Suu Kyi, on the other hand, seems destined to outlive her time.

More than just a spokeswoman for Burma's struggle for democracy, "The Lady", as her people affectionately call her, is the embodiment of that struggle itself.

Like a modern Gandhi, she lives those timeless and universal notions which have always appealed to humans - freedom, sacrifice, endurance, peace, courage, forgiveness and most of all, hope, when there is little reason for it.

At 65 years of age, she has spent 15 of the past 21 years under house arrest in Rangoon for speaking out against the country's repressive ruling regime and yet still remains fearless.

Released from house arrest only two months ago, she is already risking her freedom by speaking publicly about the troubles in Burma.

Although Suu Kyi has been released, more than 2000 political prisoners remain behind bars in Burma.

The daughter of Burma's famous independence leader General Aung San and a Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Suu Kyi became involved in politics in Burma in 1988 and led the National League for Democracy (NLD) to victory in the 1990 elections - a victory that was denied her by the ruling military regime which refused to give up power.

She is a mother of two and recently met her youngest son Kim Aris for the first time in 10 years after he was finally granted a visa to visit her in Burma.

Herald: Looking ahead in 2011, what is your vision for the future of Burma and what kind of a role do see yourself playing in that future?

Suu Kyi: Well, what I see for 2011 is the need to try to make the people understand that we have the capacity to bring about change. What I want most of all is to empower the people and make them understand 'we are the ones who can bring about change in this country'.

Herald: It seems that the Burmese people have pinned their hopes on you. Do you feel that it is realistic for them to see you as the saviour of Burma?

Suu Kyi: I think they should pin their hopes on themselves. I always tell people, that they can't hope without endeavour. If they have any hopes, they have got to work towards the realisation of their hopes. I'll do everything I can to help bring about the realisation of the hopes of our country, but they also have to do their part.

Herald: At the end of 2010 two key events occurred in Burma, the November elections and your own release from house arrest. Do you think these events can be seen as being a sign of positive change?

Suu Kyi: My release from house arrest had to do with the fact that my term of detention was over anyway and they could not legally have kept me under dentition anymore. Of course, if they wanted to they could have done anything at all, but I think that they decided that it was much better to be legalistic. So I don't think that this was anything out of the ordinary. As for the elections, it was part of the road map that they had written out - that they had blueprinted some years ago. So, I don't think it was a new development. It was just another step in the road map they had marked out.

Herald: Critics say the November vote was a charade aimed at preserving the current rule in Burma and giving it legitimacy in the eyes of the international community. Do you agree? Can you think of one positive thing that came out of the election?

Suu Kyi: I think it did make some people understand what elections should not be about, or how elections should not be conducted. I think that is positive, if people can start to get an understanding of what should not be done if elections are supposed to be democratic.

Herald: It seems that the ruling generals are in a bind of sorts. Even if they really do decide they want to move the country towards democracy, they will no doubt be fearful that by handing more power to the people they will be putting themselves at risk for retribution, such as being put on trial for crimes against humanity. Is there any way to get out of this bind?

Suu Kyi: I think that we need a new kind of thinking on both sides. The people need to be more confident of their ability to change things, and at the same time, I think those in authority have to learn to think that they should not see the people as the enemy.

Herald: Many people in New Zealand support you and your struggle for democracy in Burma. Do you have anything you would like to say to them? Is it really possible for the average New Zealander to make a difference in Burma?

Suu Kyi: Oh, yes, of course. Anybody who supports our movement gives us some strength, helps us in some way however small it may be. And I'm immensely grateful to the people of New Zealand for the interest they have taken in our movement. After all, New Zealand is far removed from us and it is a completely different sort of society and yet, the fact that they care enough, about the rights of the people in Burma, is a great boost to our morale, it does strengthen us. I have been trying to build up a network for Democracy in Burma and would like to think the people of New Zealand would be a strong and very active part of the movement.

Herald: In January 2010 the Australia and New Zealand Free Trade Area was established. This was a trade agreement between Australia and New Zealand and Asean member countries, including Burma. Do you think countries like New Zealand should sign these kinds of agreements which facilitate economic co-operation and trade with Burma?

Suu Kyi: We would very much like to be certain that whatever business activities [or] economic activities New Zealand undertakes with regard to Burma, [that they] keep in sight very, very clearly the need for certain policies in this country with regards to the rights of workers and with regards to accountability and transparency and other necessary democratic values.

Herald: What is your current advice to New Zealand tourists wanting to visit Burma and why?

Suu Kyi: We are going to work out a policy on tourism as to what kind of tourists and what way we would welcome tourists to come. How they should come and how they should go about the country. What kind of hotels they should use and what kind of facilities they should use and what they should look out for.

Herald: Do you mean doing things in such a way so that money gets directed towards the people rather than the regime?

Suu Kyi: That's right. In such a way that tourism would benefit the people rather than the powers that be.

Herald: Your youngest son Kim was recently able to come to Burma to visit you for the first time in a decade. What was it like seeing him after all that time?

Suu Kyi: Oh, it was lovely. I think the loveliest thing of all was that we didn't feel we had been apart for 10 years. It was very nice. We felt very close to each other, as close as we have ever been.

Herald: Was there any one moment or time during your son's visit that was especially memorable?

Suu Kyi: Just being together, I think, and he cooked breakfast for me one day which was very nice. I didn't have time to cook for him at all.

Herald: What did he cook?

Suu Kyi: He made me a mushroom omelette. [It was] very tasty. He is a good cook.

Herald: What are your hopes in terms of seeing him again? Do you think he will be able to visit you again?

Suu Kyi: We hope so - both of us hope very much that he will be able to come again soon. But it depends on many, many things, because he has other commitments as well.

Herald: Now that you have been released from house arrest, are you concerned about your own safety and security? Are you fearful your life is at risk or that you may be re-arrested?

Suu Kyi: Actually, I have to admit, I don't think about it very much. People keep speaking about my security, but I believe it is the duty of the Government to look after the security of all its citizens including myself.
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Q+A: How U.S. financial sanctions on Libya might work
Fri Feb 25, 10:23 pm ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States on Friday imposed sanctions on the Libyan government, targeting its longtime leader Muammar Gaddafi, his family and other senior officials.

President Barack Obama signed an executive order freezing any financial assets tied to Gaddafi's government that were held by U.S. banks and institutions throughout the world.
Following are some questions and answers on how the United States imposes and enforces sanctions, and what legal authorities would be required.

CAN THE U.S. TREASURY FREEZE LIBYAN ASSETS?

Obama's executive order clears the way for the sanctions to be imposed. Various executive orders exist targeting governments that are accused of oppressing their people or that are seen as security threats to the United States, including Iran, Sudan, Zimbabwe and Myanmar. Other executive orders target behaviors such as financing of terrorism, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction or narcotics trafficking.

HOW CAN OBAMA IMPOSE AN EXECUTIVE ORDER?

Based on an assessment of the situation or threat, he has declared a "national emergency" under authorities granted by the National Emergencies Act and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. This allows an executive order blocking transactions with targeted parties and freezing their assets.

In addition, if the U.N. Security Council were to issue a resolution ordering sanctions on a country, Obama could issue an executive order to implement those sanctions, allowing the Treasury to act.

HOW DO FINANCIAL SANCTIONS WORK?

Once an order is issued, the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control identifies individuals, companies and other entities linked to the targeted regime or that show evidence of engaging in the targeted behaviors. It puts them on a list of "specially designated nationals," which blocks Americans from engaging in transactions with them. Assets they may have under U.S. jurisdiction are frozen. Financial institutions are notified to scrutinize transactions for possible links to the blacklisted individuals or entities. The aim is to deny them access to the international financial system.

HOW EFFECTIVE ARE FINANCIAL SANCTIONS

They have been effective in closing off access to the financial system for certain entities, such as accused terrorist financing networks, but it not clear whether they are effective in changing governments' policies or behavior.

In 2005, the blacklisting of Macau's Banco Delta Asia shut down North Korea's main conduit to the international financial system. Both U.S. and foreign banks declined transactions with the bank, and the action became a major issue in nuclear talks with Pyongyang.

The strengthening of sanctions against Iran last year over its nuclear and missile programs has hurt Iran's economy, cutting off access to imported materials. But there is little evidence it has had any effect on Tehran's nuclear program. Iran has also been adept at creating new shell companies to conceal transactions, Treasury officials say.

But others argue that U.S. sanctions on Libya helped push Gaddafi to renounce his country's programs to develop weapons of mass destruction and open Libyan territory to international weapons inspectors. Washington lifted those sanctions in 2004.

COULD THE U.S. GOVERNMENT SEIZE LIBYAN ASSETS IN COURT?

Yes. The U.S. Justice Department could go to federal court to try to seize any assets, such as money or property, that the government believes are the proceeds from alleged illegal activity. It can be a particularly lengthy process to seize assets, as it is subject to challenges by the owners and appeals. The process, known as civil asset forfeiture, can be undertaken if the funds from illicit activity overseas are found in the United States, either in bank accounts or in the form of property.

For example, the Justice Department has sought to seize two properties, including a luxury Manhattan apartment, that are believed to have ties to alleged corrupt activities by the former president of Taiwan and his family.
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25 years on, Philippines offers lessons for Egypt
By Maria Ressa, Special to CNN
February 25, 2011 4:51 p.m. EST

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Philippines marks 25 years since people power toppled President Ferdinand Marcos
Since then, U.S.-style democracy has "largely failed" in the Philippines
Meanwhile, since its government fell in 1998, Indonesia has become a stable nation with a growing economy

Editor's note: Maria Ressa is CNN's former Jakarta bureau chief and author of "Seeds of Terror: An Eyewitness Account of Al-Qaeda's Newest Center of Operations in Southeast Asia." She worked as a journalist in Southeast Asia for nearly 25 years, most recently for ABS-CBN, and is the first Author-in-Residence at the International Centre for Political Violence & Terrorism Research (ICPVTR) in Singapore.

(CNN) -- When you live under a dictator, you follow the rules. Why? Because you're afraid -- for your job, your family, your life. Your neighbors are afraid. It creates a culture of fear and silence.

The system only changes when people find the courage to band together and challenge authority. When enough do that, they break the wall of fear. Tunisia and Egypt are the latest countries to do just that, the people winning their freedom and fanning a contagion effect across the Middle East and North Africa.

This isn't the first time it's happened, and as history has shown, deposing a dictator may be the easiest part of building a nation. No country knows this better than the birthplace of people power, the Philippines, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this week.

The 1986 people power revolt sparked pro-democracy movements across the world: Thailand, South Korea, Taiwan, Romania, Mongolia, Indonesia and many more.

1986 in the Philippines had many similarities to Egypt: Ferdinand Marcos, a U.S.-backed dictator in power for 21 years, was pushed out by more than two million people facing tanks and troops. The call to come to the streets and peacefully protest was also spread by the technology of the time -- not Facebook and Twitter -- but radio.

Euphoria infused the entire society: it was a moment of redemption. Spontaneously created, people power in the Philippines was triggered by a failed military coup; the calls of the powerful Catholic Church to help the soldiers; the journalists who risked their lives to get the message out; alternative political figures who rallied around a widow, Corazon Aquino; and the people who answered the call and came to the streets. In those moments of uncertainty, Filipinos took a stand and risked all they had.

Globally, the social movement that creates people power is driven by activists who call for passionate volunteers. They are more motivated than those who join political parties and government bureaucracies because this is an outpouring of emotion with only one general goal: depose the dictator. They are good fighting evil.

In Egypt, the protesters changed the fight against Hosni Mubarak. In the past, it was led by a political party, the Muslim Brotherhood, with clear leadership, hierarchy, structure and ideology (making it easier for government to track and control). Then the organizational framework changed when it became a social movement, largely leaderless, with no clear goals beyond demanding the end of Mubarak's regime.

Protesters broke the wall of fear and reached a tipping point quicker, amplifying their new-found courage through social media. That shift surprised the Egyptian government, creating uncertainty, volatility and the breakaway of the military which ended Mubarak's rule. Turning a social movement into a political system that delivers on the exuberance of people power is not easy. Only two nations have done it in the past 25 years: Indonesia and South Korea.

They did it by combining the revolutionary zeal of the social movement with working institutions and the experience of government bureaucracy. They did not abolish everything overnight. South Korea, where people overthrew a U.S.-backed military dictatorship, introduced reforms at a calibrated pace to create a stable democracy.

In 1998, Indonesia, which has the world's largest Muslim population, had much in common with Egypt today: a Muslim majority with a large Christian minority; strongman ruler in power for at least 30 years; a powerful military intertwined with government; an Islamist underground that was seen as a threat and also the best excuse for authoritarian rule.

Once the government was toppled, Indonesia combined reforms with a balance of its institutional past -- strengthening its political parties and systems, painstakingly building its democracy.

Thirteen years later, Indonesia is the democratic model in Southeast Asia, turning its political successes into tangible benefits for its 237 million people. Its $695 billion economy, Southeast Asia's largest, continues to grow. It is politically stable, has controlled its Islamist threat, and has a vibrant civil society. Last week, senior U.S. officials said Indonesia is "widely seen as the best example" of where Egypt could go.

Contrast that with Thailand's 1992 revolution against a military regime. It changed the government but failed to nurture its newfound democracy. Elections since then have been rituals, full of sound and fury signifying nothing. Now as it prepares for elections later this year, it faces an insurgency in the south, a border dispute with Cambodia and two different groups (red shirts and yellow shirts) staging regular protests. Their dissenters are addicted to the streets -- much like the Philippines.

People power in the Philippines became a political tool, brandished by its people and its symbol, Corazon Aquino. She led mass protests against her three successors: fighting charter change under President Fidel Ramos; successfully deposing President Joseph Estrada in a second people power uprising which bastardized its meaning because he was a democratically elected leader; helping install President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, then later calling for protests against her.

Mrs Aquino's attempts to rekindle people power and repeat her extra-constitutional triumph challenged her primary legacy -- democracy -- and further weakened the fledgling institutions she left behind.

What's clear is that American-style democracy has largely failed in the Philippines. More form than substance, it has given little back to the people who risked their lives in the streets 25 years ago. Figures from the Asian Development Bank show the Philippines is the only Southeast Asian nation to record an increase in the absolute number of poor people since 1990 (although no figures are available for Myanmar).

On World Governance indicators -- Voice and Accountability, Political Stability, Government Effectiveness, Regulatory Quality, Rule of Law and Control of Corruption -- the Philippines actually slid backwards between 1998 and 2009. A survey done in 2006 showed that only 36% of Filipinos believed Ferdinand Marcos should have been removed by people power.

His son, Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos, Jr. is now a senator and tweeted this after Hosni Mubarak stepped down: "25 years from now in 2036 -- a pretty long time -- I hope Egypt does not look back and lament that things have since gone for the worse."

Ironically, Aquino's son, Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino, III, now has the challenge of fulfilling the promise of people power (which brought his mother into power). Elected by the largest margin since 1986, he was a reluctant candidate with a hodge-podge political machinery that has yet to translate to effective governance. (One of the main problems of the Philippines remains its underdeveloped political parties, depriving politicians of the chance to practice running institutions before they actually get into power).

Still, no one doubts his good intentions. So in its birthplace, where is people power 25 years later? The daily and exhausting drama of real-life political theater and the repeated attempts to replay the now tired script of people power -- all this have only succeeded in trivializing its meaning.

By the third time, people power became a parody of itself. It prevented the painful but necessary growth of all sectors of a society that needed to learn accountability for its choices during elections and a government bureaucracy that needed to institute systems of transparency so it could be held accountable.

People power should never have become part of the regular political arsenal; it was a once-in-a-lifetime act that should have been followed by the hard work of building democratic institutions. That never happened. That is the work that, 25 years later, desperately needs to be done in the Philippines -- and the lesson Egypt should take to heart.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Maria Ressa.
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TECHNOLOGY LAW CORNER
Worries Abound Over US Cyber-Emergency Internet Policy
By C. Donald Brown, E-Commerce Times
02/26/11 5:00 AM PT

Sen. Lieberman has categorically stated that there is no "kill switch" in the bill he cosponsored, and that "it is impossible to turn off the Internet in this country." Its purpose is to protect "the most critical infrastructures that Americans rely on in their daily lives -- energy transmission, water supply, financial services, for example -- to ensure that those assets are protected in case of a potentially crippling cyberattack."

In the midst of the civil unrest in Egypt and throughout the Middle East, U.S. Senate-proposed legislation that has become known as the "Internet kill switch bill" was recently reintroduced.

The controversial bill, first introduced by Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn, in June 2010, seeks to empower the president and, in turn, the Department of Homeland Security to issue decrees that pertain to certain privately owned computer systems should the president declare a "national cyberemergency."

Amid criticism from the likes of the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Sen. Collins has stated that the proposed bill is proactive in that "we cannot afford to wait for a cyber 9/11 before our government finally realizes the importance of protecting our digital resources."

Moreover, in addressing the concerns directed to the expansive nature of the bill, the senator has stated that "the emergency measures in our bill apply in a precise and targeted way only to our most critical infrastructure."

In contrast to the control exerted most recently in Egypt, proponents of are of the view that the proposed bill provides for protections against cyberattacks and that it would not be implemented to control freedom of speech nor the organization of peaceful assemblies.

Addressing Civil Disobedience by Turning Off the Internet

The reintroduction of the proposed bill comes at a time when the Egyptian uprising, and Egypt's deactivation of the Internet in an effort to silence mounting dissent, has dominated the news.

By unplugging itself entirely from the Internet, Egypt did what was once thought unthinkable for any country with a major Internet economy. What occurred in Egypt has shown that a country with strong control over its Internet Service Providers (ISPs) can force all of them to simultaneously "switch off" the Internet.

The notion of quelling dissent by limiting people's access to communications -- including the Internet -- is not new. Various countries have attempted to restrict Internet access and cellphone use by their citizens. This tactic was used by the governments of both Myanmar and Iran.

In 2007, the Myanmar government shut down the Internet during anti-government protests. However, unlike Egypt, Myanmar was not as pervasively connected to the Internet.

In 2009, widespread demonstrations occurred following the presidential elections in Iran. The protests were organized in part through social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter. As a result, the Iranian government filtered and censored the Internet. However, it still allowed the Internet to function.

For years, China has restricted the content that can be viewed by its citizens over the Internet.

Still, it should be noted that until the Internet went dark in Egypt, a shutdown had never been implemented on such a large scale and in such synchronicity. Egypt demonstrated that it could be done.

Can the US Government Kill the Internet?

So, could the complete shutdown of the Internet occur in the United States? Even with the looming passage of the controversial "kill switch bill," it is unlikely that what occurred in Egypt could happen in the United States.

The U.S. has numerous ISPs and numerous ways of connecting to the Internet. While Egypt has dozens of ISPs, there are only five large carriers for Internet connectivity. It would be extremely difficult for the U.S. to coordinate a comparable, simultaneous shutdown.

This fact was emphasized by Sen. Lieberman, who has categorically stated that there is no "kill switch" in this bill, and that "it is impossible to turn off the Internet in this country."

Instead, the proposed legislation would see government control asserted over "the most critical infrastructures that Americans rely on in their daily lives -- energy transmission, water supply, financial services, for example -- to ensure that those assets are protected in case of a potentially crippling cyberattack," he said.

Despite these assurances, civil liberties groups and other critics are concerned that the president would still be given tremendous authority to interfere with Internet communications. As such, the issue for critics is not whether there is an Internet "kill switch."

Instead, the question that should be asked is whether the government can interfere with communications; and if so, whether there are significant protections, such as the ability to obtain a judicial review, to ensure the government does not overstep its boundaries.

The government recognizes that "a total Internet kill switch is totally unacceptable," said Jim Harper, member of a DHS advisory panel. "A smaller Internet kill switch, or a series of kill switches, is also unacceptable... . How does this make cybersecurity better? They have no answer."

Though critics from industry groups or technology companies may have views that differ in their particulars, they are united in that the proposed bill "is in need of additional refinement" before it should be unleashed on the American public.
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Asia News Network
Uprisings possible without the Internet
Jeremy Au Yong, The Straits Times
Publication Date : 26-02-2011

The Web doesn't spark revolts but it helps in mobilising protesters

It is not immediately obvious, but nearly all street protests involve only a minuscule proportion of a country's population. None of the high-profile protests in recent memory, whether in Bahrain, Libya, Egypt, Tunisia, Iran or Moldova, have involved even 1 per cent of the people.

The 300,000 Egyptians, for instance, who descended on Tahrir Square in Cairo represent just 0.4 per cent of the country's 83 million people. Many other revolts involve even fewer.

That makes the 1979 Iran Revolution particularly noteworthy. The number of Iranians who gathered to voice their anger with the Shah was estimated at between six million and nine million - more than 10 per cent of Iran's population then. Looking at it some three decades later, it seems particularly impressive that such a widespread movement was put together without the Internet.

Iranian activists then did not have a Facebook page, did not send out any Twitter message and did not have Google. This makes one wonder: How much credit can social media take for the revolutions unfolding now in North Africa and the Middle East?

One way to answer that question would be to ask: Would the protests that we are seeing now have happened without social media?

There is no doubt that the Egyptian protests could have occurred offline. The protests continued, even intensified, after the country was cut off from the Web. But what if there had never been Internet in the first place?

There is no shortage of examples of large-scale protests around the world that had nothing to do with cyberspace: Among others, the eastern European protests of 1988 through the early 1990s, the Indonesian reformasi movement of the late 1990s and the Philippine protest that unseated then president Joseph Estrada in 2001. In each case, demonstrators used offline tools to organise.

In the Philippines, activists wrote a simple SMS message that was forwarded numerous times that day: 'Go to EDSA. Wear Black.' (EDSA is the acronym for Epifanio de los Santos Avenue, a highway that connects Manila to five other cities.)

In the case of Iran in 1978, the exiled Ayatollah Khamenei communicated with activists back home through cassettes that were smuggled into the country. Elsewhere, everything from radio transmitters to fliers and payphones have been the revolutionary tools of choice.

Granted, it is hard to guess if the lack of Twitter might have been a reason why people did not come out against oppressive governments elsewhere. But what these examples show is that there are certain commonalities among revolutions. They do not require online tools as such, but all protests need to be organised and protesters need communication tools.

It just so happens that the Internet is perfect for this job. It is fast, wide-reaching, and relatively resilient against government action. It is harder to break up activists meeting online compared with those sitting in a coffee shop. But as many of these previous protests show, when there is no Internet, activists can just use a different, if less perfect, tool.

Perhaps it would be more instructive to figure out if the Internet can actually be the tipping point in a given protest. Can Facebook and Twitter or YouTube actually cause a revolution?

In recent history, economic pressure has proved to be a common trigger of unrest in South-east Asia. The 2007 protests in Burma were largely caused by the junta's decision to suddenly remove fuel subsidies. The 1998 protests that heralded the fall of Suharto in Indonesia can be attributed to the economic crisis that hit the country hard. Elsewhere, violent death is a frequent flashpoint.

Oxford historian Mark Almond, writing for the BBC, noted that the most common catalyst for radicalising discontent over the past 30 years has been violent death. The Tunisian revolution, for instance, was triggered by the self-immolation of street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi. He set himself on fire on Dec 17 last year to protest against the confiscation of his goods and subsequent harassment.

Similar self-immolation incidents took place in Egypt last month, though some point to another death six months earlier - that of Mr Khaled Mohamed Saeed last June. Mr Khaled, aged 28, is believed to have been beaten to death by Egyptian police.

What is interesting here is that the Internet was integral to him becoming a martyr. Outrage was at its most intense after photos of him badly disfigured made the rounds online. A Facebook page set up in his honour attracted more than 900,000 members.

On the face of it, this seems like pretty solid evidence that the Egyptian revolution might not have happened without the Internet. Yet, it should be pointed out that news of the deaths in the 1978 Cinema Rex fire that aggravated the situation in Iran managed to make the rounds without the Internet.

What the Egyptian example shows us is simply the power of the Internet to mobilise and to do so quickly. There is no denying the resourcefulness of a determined, even if unplugged, activist, but it is clear that the rapid spread of unrest in the Arab world today can largely be attributed to the Internet's power.

It has been just two months since Tunisia's revolution and already it has influenced events in Egypt, Bahrain, Libya, Yemen and, most recently, Morocco.

In contrast, the 1979 Iranian revolution began almost two years before it actually hit its peak. The Tiananmen Square protests in China in 1989 took about as long to gestate.

And maybe that's just it: The Internet's single greatest gift to revolutionaries is speed. The lack of the Internet doesn't completely stall a revolution - it just slows it down.
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02/25/2011 17:09
MYANMAR – THAILAND
AsiaNews.it - Thousands of Karen refugees in Thailand risk hunger

Members of the Burmese ethnic minority fled their country because of fighting between the military and rebels. At least 10,000 complained about the lack of adequate shelter and food. Women, the elderly and children are the most affected. The Thai government is stopping donations of rice. Aung San Suu Kyi expresses her solidarity.

Yangon (AsiaNews) – Thousands of ethnic Karen refugees, who fled Myanmar, could die of hunger in Thailand. Most have been living in makeshift tents in Tak province since January after intensified fighting between Karen rebels and Myanmar’s military forced them to leave their homes for the border area and then across the border into Thailand.

Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi spoke about the refugee crisis, expressing hope that the refugees can come home quickly and enjoy better living conditions.

An estimated 10,000 Karen refugees have been surviving in Thailand without adequate shelter and food, eating plain rice, struggling to make any money since they are unable to work. “We only get rice,” said one man in the border town of Mae Sot, “two cups per person each day, provided once every two weeks”.

Making matters worse, “It’s difficult enough even for the [sympathisers] to donate rice because Thailand doesn’t officially approve this.”

Elderly women and young children are among the refugees who are most at risk for malnutrition.

In Thailand, they live makeshift tents set up in wooded areas. Some have found shelter in local farms.

Most want to go back to their villages in Myanmar, but the border region is covered in landmines. Last week for example, a seven-year-old girl was injured after she rode her bike over a mine.

Moreover, for many refugees the trip itself would be too expensive.

The United Nations special envoy to Burma, Tomas Ojea Quintana, said yesterday that rising numbers of Burmese refugees and asylum seekers in Southeast Asian countries is evidence that the Myanmar’s regime is experiencing a serious domestic crisis that has become a regional problem.

Aung San Suu Kyi, head of the National League for Democracy (NLD), also spoke out on the refugee issue, expressing her solidarity towards fellow Burmese fleeing the country.
“I am very sorry that conditions in our country are such that the Burmese have been forced to become refugees,” said the Nobel Prize laureate.

“We hope that the day will come when they will be able to return to their homes in safety,” she noted, urging host countries “to look upon these refugees with compassion and understanding.”
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Saturday, Feb. 26, 2011
The Japan Times - 186 fewer apply for refugee status
Kyodo News

The number of foreigners who applied for refugee status in Japan in 2010 totaled 1,202, down 186 from a year earlier, while only 39 people were certified as refugees, up by nine, the Justice Ministry said Friday.

Applicants from Myanmar, the largest group, decreased by 226, apparently because the situation in the country has been stabilizing since 2007, a year that saw violent repression of antigovernment demonstrations, according to the ministry's Immigration Bureau.

Those who applied for refugee status in 2010 included 342 people from Myanmar, 171 from Sri Lanka, 126 from Turkey, 109 from Nepal and 91 from India. The number of Nepalese more than doubled from the previous year.
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Saturday, Feb. 26, 2011
The Japan Times - Refugee families' dads land jobs in farming
By MASAMI ITO, Staff writer

The fathers of five refugee families from Myanmar who have been undergoing language training and living orientation after arriving in Japan under the U.N.-sponsored third-country resettlement program have landed jobs on farms, Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara said Friday.

The fathers of two ethnic Karen families comprising 12 refugees will work farms to grow leaf vegetables and peanuts in Yachimata, Chiba Prefecture, and the fathers of the remaining three families comprising 15 refugees will cultivate shiitake in Suzuka, Mie Prefecture, the Foreign Ministry said.

"I hope that the refugees will be able to live a stable life independently with the support of their local governments, their employers and society," Maehara said.

The Foreign Ministry refused to reveal other details for privacy reasons.

The three-year pilot program began last fall, under which 90 refugees will be accepted from the Mera refugee camp in Thailand. Japan is the first Asian country to participate in the program.

The government is now in the process of choosing the next 30 candidates who will arrive in Japan this fall.

The five families who came here last fall have been on a six-month training program. According to the Foreign Ministry, the 27 refugees, ranging from adults to young children, have been studying Japanese as well as learning to adjust to daily life in Japan.

The training program will end March 9 and the five families are expected to start their new lives later that month.

"The government will continue to follow up on the lives of the refugees and is prepared to give them advice in various areas," Maehara said.
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Times of India - Mizoram bird flu alarm
TNN, Feb 26, 2011, 12.15am IST

AIZAWL: The Mizoram government has sounded a bird flu alert and imposed a ban on import of chicken and eggs from Myanmar and Tripura where avian influenza was detected recently.

An official statement issued here on Friday said all veterinary doctors and technical staff posted in the border areas had been instructed to verify any death of chicken and other bird within their respective jurisdictions and maintain close vigil on the illegal import of birds and eggs from across the border. Mizoram shares a 404-km international border with Myanmar and 66-km boundary with Tripura.

The statement said H1N1 case was detected in Myanmar's Sittwe district bordering Mizoram on January 18, while the bird flu outbreak was confirmed in Tripura on February 9 at a state government-run poultry farm where over 30,000 ducks and chickens had to be culled.
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Mizzima News - Border town struggles to clean up its drug image
Saturday, 26 February 2011 18:19 Jim Andrews

A shootout in a Thai town on the Burmese border is a reminder that the illegal drug trade is thriving in northern Thailand, despite efforts to crack down.

“Two policemen were shot by drug dealers in the noodle shop over there,” said a Swiss volunteer teacher, pointing across the road to where the clash occurred the day before.

Welcome to Arunathai, aka Nong Ook, a dusty little Thai town whose one main street leads to a narrow country road that ends abruptly at the closed Burmese border 3 kilometres away.

For the police officers, it was a close call. In the clash with the drug traders, troops quickly sealed off the town and a tense standoff occurred as the two forces of law and order argued over ownership of confiscated drugs. The injured officers were taken to hospital, where they recovered.

Arunathai - literally “the place where the sun comes up” - was mostly built on drug money. The town is Thai in name only - 90 percent of its 1,600 families are ethnic Chinese, direct descendants of Kuomintang forces who sought refuge in this remote corner of Thailand in the chaotic years following World War II. Although successive Thai anti-narcotics campaigns have replaced opium-producing poppy fields with alternative crops, the raw drug and its derivative, heroin, are still successfully smuggled from Burma across the nearby, porous border.

But the battle in the main street of Arunathai was over an insidious alternative to opium and heroin. As Burmese and Thai government efforts to stamp out the trade gained strength in recent years, methamphetamine, or so-called “ya ba (crazy medicine),” joined the shopping list of illegal, addictive substances produced and marketed by operators characterized by author and Burma expert Bertil Lintner as “merchants of madness”.

Millions of smuggled methamphetamine pills are confiscated by Thai police and members of the government’s anti-drugs force every year, and hundreds of once prosperous dealers are serving long sentences in the country’s prisons.

Crooked police officers and local politicians are among those behind bars and some have paid the ultimate penalty for tapping into the lucrative trade - this week four senior Thai police officers from northern Thailand were sentenced to death by a Thai court for trying to sell 150,000 “ya ba” tablets for 11.25 million baht to an undercover agent in a sting operation.

Crackdowns have failed to stem the trade. In the first three months of a “war on drugs” launched by Thailand’s former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in 2003, more than 40 million methamphetamine pills were seized and 43,000 dealers were arrested. The controversial campaign came at a huge cost in human lives, however—at least 2,500 people were killed, mostly in extrajudicial “executions”.

Thaksin’s radical campaign, however, only interrupted the trade in methamphetamines, and after a lull the annual haul of the addictive tablets rose steadily from 17.7 million in 2004 to a current estimate of nearly 30 million.

The events of 2003 still hang heavily over Arunathai, where local people are reluctant to talk about Thaksin’s “war on drugs”. The recent shootout in the noodle shop is shrugged off as just another incident in the continuing tension that holds the little town in its grip.

Thai army and border police checkpoints straddle the one paved road into town, while army bases dot the border area. Local community leaders who work to keep the town drug-free claim the continuing trade is carried out by smugglers who are unwanted outsiders.

It wasn’t always so. When fleeing remnants of the anti-Communist Kuomintang, defeated in 1949 by Mao Zedong’s forces, settled here after being pushed out of the Chinese western province of Yunnan and then out of Burma, many of the refugee soldiers kept themselves alive by cultivating opium and selling it on a relatively open market.

Arunathai - then a tiny settlement with the name Nong Ook - was ideally located amid the rolling uplands and mountains of Northern Thailand. The climate, soil conditions and elevation were just right for the cultivation of the poppies that provided opium.

Better still, the region was remote from the reach of officialdom. A mule track was the only way in to the settlement, and few outsiders ventured the long journey from the nearest towns of any size, Chiang Dao, 50 kilometres south, and Chiang Rai, about an equal distance east.

Today, another nearby township established by Kuomintang forces, Santikhiri, perched picturesquely on the Doi Salong mountain, attracts thousands of tourists annually by cleverly marketing its fascinating history. On its one main street, handicraft and souvenir boutiques jostle with guesthouses for space, hemmed in by mountain slopes clothed in fruit orchards and tea plantations. On the outskirts of town, a luxury resort beckons with an infinity pool where swimmers can sip sundowners as they drink in the magnificent views.

Arunathai, on the other hand, is a very poor cousin, a shabby little backwater where it’s difficult to find even a cup of the tea that has made Santikhiri famous. Its one guesthouse offers very simple accommodation for 300 baht a night.

Yet whatever Arunathai lacks in tourist facilities it makes up for in authenticity. Ninety percent of its estimated 5,000 people are ethnic Chinese, tracing their ancestry back to roots lying deep within China. Signboards are written in Mandarin as well as Thai, and sometimes only in the Chinese script.

Liu Hua Chang, who has served three terms as Arunathai’s kamnan, or local mayor, and is now the owner of a motorcycle agency, is a prominent and proud representative of these second-generation ethnic Chinese. His father - whose own father hailed from the far eastern Chinese province of Jiang Su - was captain of a mule train company in the 93rd Division of Chiang Kai-shek’s nationalist army, the Kuomintang.

The 93rd Division’s presence in this region of Indochina dates back to World War II, when the allies accepted an offer in 1942 by Chiang Kai-shek to commit some of his crack troops to help protect the supply routes between Rangoon and Shan State, the so-called “Burma Road”.

Units of the 93rd Division from China’s Yunnan Province established a base in Kengtung, Shan State, but came under heavy bombardment by Thai aircraft flying in support of Japan’s Northern Army.

The surviving Kuomintang forces withdrew into the jungle-clad mountains of eastern Shan State and fought their way back to China.

At the end of the war in Asia, in 1945, a reconstituted 93rd Division found itself again in action when civil war broke out in China between Chiang Kai-shek’s nationalist Kuomintang and the Communist forces of Mao Zedong.

When Mao Zedong emerged victorious in 1949, several units of the 93rd Division in Yunnan Province refused to surrender and withdrew to Burma. For the next 20 years they fought for survival against Burmese government forces and troops of the outlawed Burmese Communist Party.

At the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950, America’s Central Intelligence Agency hired Kuomintang troops in Shan State to slip into Yunnan Province on espionage missions - and so began a murky chapter in which the Kuomintang were dragged into the opium trade to finance their undercover operations.

Most of the Kuomintang forces were pushed out of Burma in 1961 and settled across the border in Thailand, establishing bases in areas under constant threat by Thailand’s emerging Communist movement. The Thai government took eager advantage of the Kuomintang’s anti-communist stand and enrolled the Chinese soldiers in its campaign to eradicate the rebels.

As a reward for their assistance in ridding Thailand of the Communist threat, the Kuomintang troops and their families were given sanctuary. Many were granted Thai citizenship.

It took several years, however, to wean the new settlers away from the opium, after a Western anti-drug drive began in the 1950s and the Thai government made trade in the drug illegal in 1959. In 1967, a Kuomintang commander, Tuan Shi-wen, told a British newspaper: “We have to continue to fight the evil of communism, and to fight you must have an army, and an army must have guns, and to buy guns you must have money. In these mountains, the only money is opium.”

Today, the fields of opium-producing poppies have disappeared from the mountainsides of this region of Northern Thailand, replaced by alternative crops like fruit and tea. But, despite Thai government efforts to stamp out the influx of drugs from Burma, methamphetamine pills still drive a lucrative but illegal part of Arunathai’s economy and the potential for shootouts on the main street remain.
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Mizzima News - Suu Kyi supports expansion of ILO in Burma
Friday, 25 February 2011 19:08 Myo Thant

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Burma's pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, was briefed by an International Labour Organization (ILO) team in Rangoon on Friday led by Executive Director Guy Ryder.

Suu Kyi gave her support during a meeting held in her home on University Avenue. ILO projects include protecting labour rights and interests and advocating for the freedom to form trade unions.

‘The ILO explained to Daw Suu their planned expansion and the mandate they presented to the Burmese regime’, NLD leader Ohn Kyaing told MIzzima.

The meeting included Ryder, ILO liaison officer Steve Marshall and three other ILO representatives, in addition to Nyan Win and Hanthar Myint of the NLD.

An ILO team met with about 80 human rights activists at Traders Hotel in Rangoon on Thursday.

During the meeting, participants expressed concern about the recruitment of child soldiers in Burma, and ILO officials said they planned to continue to hear complaints from Burmese citizens and work with the regime to remove child soldiers from the armed forces.

An NLD official said, ‘They explained how the army took responsibility for these child soldiers. The Army has issued orders of discharge in some cases, but not in others.’

The ILO and the Burmese government renewed a memorandum of understanding for one year on Thursday, which includes procedures for lodging complaints against forced labour cases and child soldier conscription.

People can also lodge complaints of forcible seizure of farmland with the ILO, said officials.

Human Rights Education Institute in Burma (HREIB) director Aung Myo Min said that the Burmese government has estimated that there are about 60,000 child soldiers in the army. Other armed groups may contain about 6,000 child soldiers, say observers.
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News & Articles on Burma-Friday, 25 February, 2011

News & Articles on Burma
Friday, 25 February, 2011
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Rice Prices Rising on Rumor of New Banknote
Burma's MPs Paid a Bonus
Students from war zone stranded in towns
Burma jails five dissidents: lawyer
Burma's President-Elect: A Clever Puppet?
Chin state abuses are the tip of the iceberg
Unpreventable armed conflicts in Burma
Myanmar’s human rights problems affect other countries in the region
U.S. in talks on Myanmar aid
Suu Kyi’s determination to peacefully defy dictatorship
Compound interest in Myanmar
9,000 War Refugees Still Stranded in Thailand
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Rice Prices Rising on Rumor of New Banknote
By THE IRRAWADDY Friday, February 25, 2011

The price of rice and some related goods is rising in Rangoon due to rumors that the Burmese regime plans to introduce new 10,000-kyat banknotes in the near future, according to business sources in the former capital.

A rice trader at Rangoon's Bayintnaung market said that a standard-size pack of Pyapon Paw San Hmwe, a high-grade rice, has risen from 29,500 kyat (US $34) to 33,000 kyat ($38) in recent weeks, while Shwebo Paw San Hmwe, another high-grade variety, is now 35,000 kyat ($40), up from 30,000 kyat ($34).

“Prices have been increasing day by day since the rumors started. Another reason is that transportation costs have also gone up. Many people speculate that the price will be higher during the rainy season when farmers start planting again,” a source said.

The price of other varieties of rice is also increasing. Two commonly consumed varieties, Manaw Thukha and Ziya, now costs 18,000 kyat ($21), up by 4,000 kyat ($4.60) in recent weeks.

There is widespread speculation that rice prices will continue to rise in the coming months as Burma enters its rainy season. The price of high-quality rice such as Paw San Hmwe could go as high as 50,000 kyat ($57) per pack, according to some observers.

A rice trader in Myaung Mya Township in Irrawaddy Division said that many local traders are holding onto their rice in expectations of higher prices in the future.

Another factor affecting the price of rice is the weather, which has been unusually wet in Upper Burma this year. Cyclone Giri, which hit the Arakan coast late last year, has also had an impact.

Some observers also attributed rising commodity prices to increasing transport costs, as Burma changes its regulations to conform with the standards of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

The price of cooking oil has risen as well. One viss of peanut oil has gone from 4,200 kyat ($4.80) to 4,500 kyat ($5.17) and sesame oil, previously priced at 3,000 kyat ($3.45), is now 3,200 kyat ($3.70), according to local sources.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=20832
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Burma's MPs Paid a Bonus
By THE IRRAWADDY Friday, February 25, 2011

The 658 members of Burma’s Parliament, called the Hluttaw, were given a bonus and allowance of 600,000 kyat (US $681.81) each at the conclusion of their parliamentary session on Friday.

In total, the Burmese government paid the members of Parliament more than $467,000 dollars on Friday. By comparison, a majority of the people in Burma survive on less than one dollar per day.

“This is a kind of salary for the lawmakers and military officers serving in Parliament. But the Hluttaw officials did not say it was the payment of salary, they said it was a bonus and allowance,” said an MP who attended Friday's joint session of the Upper and Lower Houses of Parliament and spoke on condition of anonymity.

According to lawmakers who attended the joint session, the Lower House and Upper House will meet separately next week to discuss the budget, begin drafting laws, form sub-committees and consider proposals raised by lawmakers.

“In March, ministers-in-waiting will also answer questions from lawmakers after the new government is officially formed,” said an ethnic MP.

However, lawmakers said they do not expect to engage in critical debate because no big change was possible given that the junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) and military officers appointed by the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces dominate both Houses.

“We cannot hope for much at the Hluttaw meetings. During the Union Hluttaw meetings [joint sessions of Parliament], the handful of lawmakers from the minority parties could not say or do anything,” said a MP from the National Democratic Front, which won four Upper House seats and 12 Lower House seats.

“The USDP and military officers hold a majority in both Houses and they speak as one voice,” he said. “As long as they speak as one voice, opposition parties cannot do anything here.”
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=20829
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Students from war zone stranded in towns
Friday, 25 February 2011 11:41 S.H.A.N.

As war clouds gather in central Shan State, students who are finishing their final exams say they might be stuck in towns where they have been studying, according to sources from Lashio and Mandalay.

The Burma Army has closed passage of moter vehicles going south to Monghsu, where a rubyland was discovered around 1990. Between it and Kehsi in the west is Wanhai, the headquarters of the Shan State Army (SSA) ‘North’ of Maj-Gen Pangfa, who has turned down the Naypyitaw-run Border Guard Force (BGF) program.

“The only road open is from Mongnawng (south of Monghsu)”, said a father of two children who are studying in Mandalay. “But once shooting begins, it’ll be closed too.”

Aside from 16 armored personnel carriers (APCs) and 30 military trucks full of soldiers going up from Taunggyi, Light Infantry Dission (LID) 99 have been sighted in Namlan, Hsipaw township, on their way to the south. “We think they are going to Wanhai,” said a driver whose truck has been turned back.

The SSA North, meanwhile, says Burma Army troops are still keeping their distance from Wanhai, from where all the civilians have left.

The SSA North has been reorganized into 5 brigades since January:
Commander in Chief – Maj Gen Pangfa
Deputy Commander in Chief (1) – Col Kherh Tai
Deputy Commander in Chief (2) – Col Sai Du
Chief of Staff – Col Khemin
1st Brigade – Ngao Fa
72nd Brigade – Lao Herh, Hseng Fa and Mongli
36th Brigade – Peun Mong
74th Brigade – Zing Mong
HQ Security Brigade – Zaw Mong and Naw Fa

It is one of the 12 groups that had formed the alliance: United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC) on 16 February.
http://www.shanland.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3486:students-from-war-zone-stranded-in-towns&catid=86:war&Itemid=284
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Bangkok Post
Burma jails five dissidents: lawyer

* Published: 25/02/2011 at 03:31 PM
* Online news: Asia

A court in military-ruled Burma sentenced five men to up to 11 years in prison for offences including associating with overseas dissident groups, a lawyer said Friday.

Myanmar soldiers are seen on parade during a ceremony in junta's administrative capital Naypyidaw. A court in the military-ruled nation has sentenced five men to up to 11 years in prison for offences including associating with overseas dissident groups.

They were initially arrested as suspects in a series of explosions at a water festival in Rangoon in April 2010 that left 10 people dead.

But they were charged with other offences after the authorities failed to find evidence linking them to the attack, said lawyer Kyaw Hoe, who was in court as an observer for Tuesday's verdict.

"They were arrested as suspects relating to the bombing.... But they were charged for other acts, not the bombing," said Kyaw Hoe, an attorney for opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party.

One of the men, Bo Bo Thein, was sentenced to a total of 11 years imprisonment for immigration and drug offences, unlawful association and anti-state activities, he said.

The others received sentences ranging from two to eight years.

"The main accusation was that Bo Bo Thein and his group had contact with NLD (LA) and Generation Wave," Kyaw Hoe said, referring to two dissident groups in exile.

He said their lawyer would try to appeal the verdict.

This month a video reporter for the Norway-based Democratic Voice of Burma was handed 13 years in prison for filming at the scene of the festival blasts with his son Sithu Zeya, who received an 18-year jail term. http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/asia/223492/burma-jails-five-dissidents-lawyer
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Burma's President-Elect: A Clever Puppet?
By THE IRRAWADDY Friday, February 25, 2011

Upon inspection, the make-up of Burma’s “new” government much resembles the old. The only apparent difference from the military regime that has run the country for the past two decades is that certain job titles have changed to accommodate the facade of a civilian government and some ministers who had fallen out of favor with junta chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe have been replaced by their deputies.

Probably the biggest indication that it is junta business-as-usual in Naypyidaw is the fact that former Prime Minister Thein Sein, who is Than Shwe’s most malleable puppet, is now President-elect Thein Sein. But does the fact that he has been appointed the new government’s first president demonstrate a shrewdness that he is not often given credit for?

Born in Irrawaddy Division, Thein Sein was a 1968 graduate of the Defense Services Academy’s 19th Intake. He was a major in Light Infantry Division 55 when the nationwide pro-democracy uprising broke out in 1988 and later served as the commander of Infantry Battalion 89 in Kalay, Sagaing Division.

In 1989, Thein Sein’s path to promotion opened following graduation from the well-known Command and General Staff College in Kalaw, Shan State, and he was later assigned to the War Office as the Colonel General Staff for Than Shwe.

Observers said Thein Sein was transferred to the War Office as a courtesy to ex-Gen Khin Maung Than, the former head of the Bureau of Special Operations. At that time, fighting in the northeastern region had subsided and the junta was focusing its military efforts on the Karen National Union and the All Burma Students' Democratic Front in the southeastern part of the country, where the army engaged in hard-fought battles in which many senior officers died.

Being good at office work, Thein Sein became known as “Senior Clerk.” The dutiful Thein Sein gained favor with Than Shwe for his work as the junta chief’s personal assistant and was promoted to brigadier general earlier than expected. Although the Colonel General Staff position was traditionally held only by colonels, Than Shwe let Brig-Gen Thein Sein remain in the post.

In order to keep up with the growing number of officers, Than Shwe and a group of military leaders decided to expand the size of the army. Consequently, more divisions were created and Thein Sein was assigned to establish the newly formed No. 4 Military Operations Command in Rangoon's Hmawbi Township.

In 1997, Thein Sein became the commander of the Triangle Region Command based in eastern Shan State. The nature of the orders he received in this command reportedly caused him painful head-aches, and according to Tachileik residents, he often went to a barber shop to get his hair washed in an effort to relieve his sufferings.

During his time as the Triangle Region Commander, Thein Sein developed a reputation of being anti-Thai because a number of border skirmishes with Thai troops occurred on his watch.

When Lt-Gen Tin Oo, who was then the Adjutant General, died in a helicopter crash in Karen State in 2001, Thein Sein became his successor. Two years later, he was appointed Secretary 2 of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), and after the regime adopted its seven-step “Roadmap to Democracy,” he was assigned to be the chairman of the National Constitutional Convention.

Some who know him well said that although Thein Sein seems kinder and less haughty than other generals, he possesses the same negative character traits as most Burmese army officers—he once punched a railway station master in Mandalay. Nonetheless, among the arrogant and haughty top generals who comprise his peer group, Thein Sein is reportedly considered more open-minded and easy-going than most.

Thein Sein’s non-confrontational style led him to become known as Than Shwe’s “yes-man” who always listened to the junta chief whether he was right or wrong. From the junta chief’s perspective, this made Thein Sein the perfect choice to fill the vacancy when then Prime Minister Lt-Gen Soe Win—who allegedly masterminded the 2003 attack on Aung San Suu Kyi and her entourage—died of cancer.

As Prime Minister, Thein Sein was sent into the international arena and often asked to carry the regime’s highly controversial flag. According to recent dispatches by Wikileaks, Than Shwe ordered Thein Sein to boycott a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) held after the 2007 monk-led protests in Burma if Asean leaders allowed Ibrahim Gambari, a former UN special envoy to Burma, to speak at the meeting.

Also according to Wikileaks, Than Shwe ordered Thein Sein to try his best to alleviate US sanctions imposed on the junta, and Thein Sein became the first Burmese general to be allowed on US soil since 1988.


During his visit to New York, Thein Sein almost had the dubious distinction of being the first Burmese prime minister to be hit by shoes when former student leader Moe Thee Zun and other Burmese activists planned to throw their shoes at his car. For better or worse, he managed to avoid the incident.

Thein Sein was not given much respect at home, either. His mandates were reportedly blocked by Thiha Thura Tin Aung Myint Oo because he was considered too weak to handle the job of prime minister. Other ministers even remarked that Tin Aung Myint Oo had usurped Thein Sein’s power.

The two rivals have moved in unison into the new government­they have now become the President and the Vice President, respectively­and some observers said tension between Thein Sein and Tin Aung Myint Oo has already appeared in the Parliament and the ruling junta.

A businessman who met Thein Sein in person told The Irrawaddy that the President-elect is a good speaker, good at administrative matters and also well-liked by many people, but he does not seem to have an economic vision. The businessman said he does not know how the new President will administer the country's economy without economic knowledge.

But even though he may not personally understand much about Burma’s economy, Thein Sein has recruited businessmen such as Khin Maung Aye, the chairman of the Co-operative Bank who allegedly became rich through illegal logging, to be his advisors. He reportedly takes Tay Za and Zaw Zaw, the Burmese economic tycoons who are subject to Western sanctions, along with him whenever he makes a trip outside the country.

Compared to Snr-Gen Than Shwe and other top generals who have been repeatedly accused of making the state's money their own, Thein Sein is thought to be the least corrupt former general. Also, his children are reportedly not business hungry persons like those of former Gen Shwe Mann and Tin Aung Myint Oo.

Khin Khin Win, Thein Sein's wife, said, “We don't have money. We are living in the house provided by the State.”

However, some ethnic Wa and other leaders from the Triangle Region Command have said that there is no regional commander or general who does not accept bribes. So Thein Sein may have savings from what he was able to pocket while serving as the regional commander and prime minister.

Perhaps Burma's Office of the Auditor General has just not yet caught up with Thein Sein­something which often coincidentally occurs when Than Shwe decides that a top junta official’s usefulness to him has run its course.

Related Article: Will Likely Vice President Be Brave? Above It All

End of an Era, or Beginning of a Dynasty? http://irrawaddy.org/highlight.php?art_id=20824
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Chin state abuses are the tip of the iceberg
By RICHARD SOLLOM
Published: 25 February 2011

Recently a new Burmese legislature convened for the first time in 22 years, but the parliament resembles last year’s electoral exercise – an elaborate show that is a democracy only in name. Yesterday, as DVB reported, Burma snatched power from judges as well.

The 50 million people living in Burma are still under the military regime’s repressive rule, and for them, the human rights abuses that they suffer at the hands of the military junta are a regular way of life.

Burma’s military regime has been a constant roadblock to democracy. The new parliament is under the junta’s strong arm, and 84 percent of all parliamentary seats are reserved for current military officers or held by General Than Shwe’s cronies – the same army soldiers who committed 73 percent of all reported human rights violations last year. The brutal treatment of ethnic nationalities under the military junta is well known to the international community, but the mass atrocities that they suffer have been deliberately hidden from the world by this repressive regime.

Physicians for Human Rights recently went door-to-door in Burma’s remote western Chin state to conduct a random survey of 702 households. Together with our local partners, we documented 2,951 abuses over a 12-month period. We found that government authorities may have killed an estimated 1,000 household members, tortured 3,800 individuals and raped 2,800 adults and children over the course of the 12-month reporting period. And that’s in just one state of 500,000 people who represent one percent of the total population of Burma. Our report, Life Under the Junta, presents strong evidence that Burmese authorities are committing crimes against humanity.

One 18-year-old woman told us how the Burmese military raped her at gunpoint in June 2009 in her rural village in Mindat. The reason they raped her and forced her into servitude is because she is Christian and Chin – a different ethnic nationality than the military, who are mostly Buddhist and Burmese.

The collective voices captured in our survey speak for a brutalized population who will not see the results of Burma’s new “democracy.” As one of its first orders of business, the new parliament should allow a full and independent investigation into these possible crimes. Such an investigation, which the United Nations could establish as a commission of inquiry, is an essential first step to help Burma replace impunity with accountability and bring justice and stability to the people of Burma.

I was in Geneva in the days before Burma’s review of its deplorable human rights record by the United Nations. While there, I had the opportunity to speak with UN delegations of countries that publicly support an investigation of crimes in Burma. The leadership these countries have shown in forging a path to justice is a hopeful sign, but more countries must join their ranks. Currently 14 countries publicly support establishing a UN Commission of Inquiry, most of which are Western democratic governments. Now these 14 countries, including the United States, should build cross-regional unity in the push for accountability in Burma to end these mass atrocities.

We know that Burmese authorities will continue the abuses that it has been committing for decades, and that the government will not investigate the crimes on its own. Under this regime of impunity, the 18-year-old Chin woman who told us her tale of survival will have no recourse to justice. International action is essential for justice, accountability, and a peaceful future. Now is the time for the international community to come together, stand alongside the people of Burma and Aung San Suu Kyi, and demand accountability in a country that has been plagued with injustice.

Richard Sollom is deputy director of the Nobel prize-winning Physicians for Human Rights.
http://www.dvb.no/analysis/chin-state-abuses-are-the-tip-of-the-iceberg/14439
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Unpreventable armed conflicts in Burma
Fri, 2011-02-25 01:10 — editor

* Myanmar

By - Zin Linn
25 February (Asiantribune.com):

Armed conflicts between ethnic rebels and the junta’s troops in Karen State resumed during country’s undemocratic elections last November.

Thousands of civilian fled across the border into Thailand, seeking to escape from the bloodlettings, uncertainty and instability continued. The new parliamentary system created by the military junta is dominated by retired generals who have been rightly criticized as a charade aimed at supporting military ruling.

At the same time, the junta is finding faults with some other ceasefire groups along China-Burma border. Burma’s military junta had done away with the license of an airline linked to Burma’s largest ceasefire group United Wa State Army (UWSA) since November 2010. It was the Yangon Airways which forced to suspend its operations from 3 December, due to the aviation officials refused to give back its Aircraft Operating Certificate (AOC).

The company-owner was Aik Hauk, the son-in-law of Bao Youxiang (Pau Yu Chang), who leads the strongest ceasefire rebel-group, the UWSA. Even though agreeing to a ceasefire deal with the junta in the 1990s, UWSA’s refusal to turn into the junta’s Border Guard Force plan and this has seriously damaged relations.

Then, the junta made a harsh move to beat the Wa. Following its rejection to renew operating license of the Wa’s Yangon Airways in December, Nay-pyi-taw has ordered closure of its Hong-pang bus line that runs between Tachilek, opposite Thailand’s Mae Sai, and Kengtung, 160 km north of the border, according to a report by Shan Herald Agency for News (SHAN).

The closure-order of Hong-pang bus line was delivered to the UWSA’s liaison officer Ah Chang in Kengtung on Sunday, 20 February, by General Staff Officer Grade 1 Col Khin Maung Htwe, Shan Herald said quoting a source close to the Wa. There are 2 other bus lines running between the two cities – Shwe Myodaw and Shwe Yegan.

The signs of closures of Yangon Airways Hong-pang bus line owned by UWSA seem gloomier than ever in the Shan state. The military regime has been tightening its grip toward the ceasefire groups those refused to accept the BGF proposal.

Furthermore, 21 truckloads of soldiers and military supplies were sent out to the armed clashes site between the Burma Army and the Shan State Army (SSA) South which took place at night on 22 Feb., according to local and rebel sources, SHAN News said. The night-attack took place after bombardment by an unknown armed group on the Burma Army outpost in Monghta on 18 February. The area has been actively influenced by both the Wa and the SSA, Shan Herald said.

Naypyitaw has designated Monghta, as well as Kali, Kholam and Mongzang villages on the west bank of the Salween River to become new sub-townships. The latter three sub-townships will be directly controlled by the newest Middle East Region Command.

According to the Shan rebel source, the armed clash on 22 February with Monghta-based Burma Army’s Light Infantry Battalion 328 lasted for nearly 90 minutes. The Shan patrol saw three dead and one injured, but they believed there were more casualties on the Burma Army part.

Tensions heightened between the Burma Army and ceasefire groups – the UWSA, Kachin Independence Army (KIA), SSA ‘North’ and the NDAA. Discomforts have been soaring up since the junta raises ultimatum to accept BGFs program. Both sides have been reinforcing their troops on heightened alert after none of them accepted the junta’s plan.

Although the newly formed parliament under President Thein Sein, an ex-general, has been going on with its sessions, there is no discussion on the autonomy issue put forward by the ethnic ceasefire-groups.

It is true that Sai Mauk Kham, a 61-year-old Shan physician, becomes Burma’s new vice-president. But, he will not be allowed to practice effective power within the new government. He cannot be able to fulfill the main necessities of the nation, such as national reconciliation and the ethnic equal opportunity.

Several political observers believe that the military-backed new USDP government will not change its high-handed policy, which constantly goes against the self-determination of the ethnic people.

Meanwhile, Burma’s ethnic groups have made a historical accord in a conference at an undisclosed venue along the Thai-Burma border. The conference held from 12 to 16 February 2011 attracted more than 50 ethnic representatives from 15 ethnic groups. They have reached a unanimous agreement to form an umbrella alliance called the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC).

The newly formed UNFC endorsed a 16-page constitution, consisting of 32 articles in nine chapters, during a 5-day conference at a venue on the Thai-Burma border. The alliance also provided for a political department with sub-divisions such as Legal Affairs, Home Affairs and Foreign Affairs, which are expected to serve as political anchor for the grouping.

The opposition non-Burman ethnic alliance has already formed several coalitions. Most noteworthy are the organization-based National Democratic Front (NDF) formed in 1976 and the state-based Ethnic Nationalities Council (ENC) formed in 2001. On the contrary, the new coalition’s membership will be opened to all groupings, whether they are state-based, organization-based or ethnic-based, according to its constitution.

According to Shan Herald Agency for News , UNFC also welcomes oppositions like the United Wa State Army (UWSA) and Shan State Army (SSA) ‘South’ that are still playing the waiting game to become associate partners.

The conference was jointly organized by Committee for the Emergence of Federal Union (CEFU), the National Democratic Front (NDF) and the United Nationalities League for Democracy (UNLD). About 15 groupings participated.

The UNFC has selected six Central Executive Committee members and 10 Central Committee members. Gen Mutu Saypo of the Karen National Union (KNU) becomes Chairman and Lt Gen Gauri Zau Seng of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) Vice Chairman-1, Maj Gen Abel Tweed of the Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP) Vice Chairman-2, and Nai Hongsa of the New Mon State Party (NMSP) General Secretary) respectively.

In a statement issued on last 17 February, the Emergency of a Federal Union (UNFC) said part of its basic principles and aims are to work for a better recognition of the ethnic armed groups, for ethnic equality, rights and self-determination, and for a genuine democratic federal Union of Burma.

Hence, Burma’s civil war may not prevent all along the ethnic areas unless a true democratic government takes the office.

- Asian Tribune - http://www.asiantribune.com/news/2011/02/24/unpreventable-armed-conflicts-burma
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Myanmar’s human rights problems affect other countries in the region, warns UN Special Rapporteur
Source: United Nations Human Rights Council
Date: 24 Feb 2011

KUALA LUMPUR / GENEVA (24 February 2011) – The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Tomás Ojea Quintana, warned Thursday that the disquieting situation of human rights in Myanmar is affecting other countries in the region.

"There is clearly an extra-territorial dimension to the human rights problem in Myanmar," Mr. Ojea Quintana said in Kuala Lumpur, at the end of his eight-day fact-finding mission to Malaysia, one of the affected countries. "Despite the promise of the transition in Myanmar, the human rights situation remains grave."

As of the end of January 2011, there were some 84,800 refugees and asylum-seekers from Myanmar registered in Malaysia, where a large number remain unregistered. Other countries in the region also host a considerable number of refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants from Myanmar.

"Countries in the region have a particular interest in persuading the Government of Myanmar to take necessary measures for the improvement of its human rights situation," the Special Rapporteur stressed. "These measures are an urgent matter for the new Government, and the international community should ensure that Myanmar fulfills this responsibility."

As part of his efforts to continuously gather information about conditions in Myanmar, Mr. Ojea Quintana met with a wide range of individuals who had fled Myanmar to Malaysia and the organizations that serve these communities in the country. The Special Rapporteur met with different ethnic groups and focused particularly on the Chin and Rohingya communities.

"During my visit I talked to many people who had recently left Myanmar fleeing forced labour, land and property confiscation, arbitrary taxation, religious and ethnic discrimination, arbitrary detention, as well as sexual and gender-based violence," the human rights expert said.

Mr. Ojea Quintana heard moving and disturbing testimony of human rights abuses suffered by numerous individuals from Myanmar. These include:

One man left Chin State after 15 years of portering and forced labour for the military. In one incident, after he was detained with 14 others on his way to church and forced to porter, he was in fear of being forcibly recruited into the military and thus fled.

One prominent Chin woman religious leader was coerced to read a statement at a televised event denying allegations of restrictions on religious freedom despite her own views. Her experiences of discrimination based on religion were echoed in many of the Special Rapporteur's interviews with Chin people.

One young man left Northern Rakhine State after he was denied the necessary travel permit to attend university and was arrested for his efforts to bypass these restrictions as part of what the Special Rapporteur sees as a widespread pattern of discrimination against the Rohingya population.

Another young man left Shan State after years of forced labour and following an incident whereby the military confiscated his family's farm for which his brother was arrested and subsequently killed; he himself was also arrested but managed to escape.

The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar will present his latest report to the Human Rights Council in March 2011.

Mr. Tomás Ojea Quintana (Argentina) was appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council in May 2008. As Special Rapporteur, he is independent from any government or organization and serves in his individual capacity.

For additional information on the mandate of the Special Rapporteur, please visit: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/countries/mm/mandate/index.htm

OHCHR Country Page – Myanmar: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/countries/AsiaRegion/Pages/MMIndex.aspx
For press inquiries and additional information, please contact Ms. Christine Chung (Tel: +41 22 928 9673 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting +41 22 928 9673 end_of_the_skype_highlighting / email: cchung@ohchr.org) or write to sr-myanmar@ohchr.org
----------------------------------------
U.S. in talks on Myanmar aid
Thursday, February 24, 2011 7:11 AM

Feb. 24, 2011 (United Press International) -- The top U.S. diplomat in Myanmar says he is talking to opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on aid to the military-ruled country, currently under U.S. sanctions.

"Of course, the United States is engaging in a dialogue with Aung Sang Suu Kyi and the NLD (National League for Democracy) about U.S. assistance programs in Burma (now known as Myanmar)," Larry Dinger, the U.S. chargé d'affaires, told the BBC.

Suu Kyi, recently released after years of intermittent house arrests, is the leader of the NLD. The party boycotted elections last November, widely criticized at home and abroad as a sham designed to keep the junta in power.

Under the sanctions directed at the military rulers, the United States offers no direct aid to Myanmar except in emergencies or on humanitarian grounds.

The NLD earlier this month called for discussion with Western countries on any changes to the sanctions. At the time, Suu Kyi said any discussions with the United States and other countries should deal with when, how and under what circumstances the sanctions might be modified "in the interests of democracy, human rights and a healthy economic environment."

Her party, referring to recent calls for lifting the sanctions by some organizations and nations, said available evidence showed "economic conditions in the country have not been affected by the sanctions to any notable degree.

"We hope that it will be a continuing conversation," Dinger told the BBC, adding there have also been such talks with Myanmar authorities, which he hoped would help in formulating "U.S. policies toward Burma."

The military has ruled the country since 1962. The NLD won the 1990 elections but was never allowed to form government.
(Source: UPI )
(Source: Quotemedia) http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewiStockNews/articleid/4918086
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Mainichi Shimbun (Japan):
Suu Kyi’s determination to peacefully defy dictatorship remains unchanged –
Pak Chong-chu
Thu 24 Feb 2011
Filed under: Opinion, Other

The Mainichi Shimbun resumed Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s column, “Letter from Burma,” this year after a 13-year break. I flew to Myanmar where press restrains were in force late last year and visited Suu Kyi’s residence prior to the publication of the first part of the column on New Year’s Day.Suu Kyi had been under house arrest there on and off over a 15-year period from 1989 to November last year. I stood by one of the windows of her residence, and thought about how firm her determination must be to spend her life resisting Myanmar’s military dictatorship.

The military dictatorship has been in power in Myanmar for nearly half a century since the 1962 coup. Suu Kyi founded the National League for Democracy (NLD) in 1988 in a bid to democratize the country, and the party secured 82 percent of the seats in Parliament in a 1990 general election. Nevertheless, the military regime refused to hand over power to the NLD and suppressed pro-democracy movements.

The military regime has continued a reign of terror, detaining and torturing NLD members and supporters. Last autumn, the regime called a general election and released Suu Kyi from house arrest. However, the shift to civilian rule was a mirage and the military is still ruling the country.

Suu Kyi’s residence is situated in Yangon, the largest city in Myanmar. Since its gate is higher than an adult’s average height, it is impossible to look into her home from the street. There is no other house nearby, and since security forces are surrounding her home round the clock, ordinary citizens are reluctant to approach her house out of fear that security authorities might suspect they have ties to Suu Kyi.

Her house is a western-style two-story building with white walls, and security authorities set up a fence with barbed wire behind her home facing a lake. When I saw a scene at the lakeside while waiting for her to return home, I could hardly believe my eyes. There, dozens of couples were dating while people with children were taking a walk. A promenade leads to an amusement park and a Ferris wheel towers over trees.

A place isolated from the outside world and a place where citizens lead their daily lives coexist there — a ruthless reality.

Suu Kyi, who was separated from her family because of her house arrest, has never lost courage even though she regularly sees citizens nearby who appear happy, and instead tolerates her solitary life. She has reasons for having to do so.

Suu Kyi lost her husband, who had been battling cancer in Britain, in 1999 while she was under house arrest. Feeling that he was close to the end of his life, he applied for a visa to visit Myanmar to meet his wife, only to be rejected. The military regime hoped that Suu Kyi would leave for Britain to meet with her ailing husband. However, she chose to stay home because there was no guarantee that she would be allowed to come back to Myanmar once she left the country. She chose to prioritize her pro-democracy movement rather than stay with her dying husband. Her determination is undoubtedly attributable to the existence of fellow freedom fighters imprisoned as political prisoners.

In December 1995, shortly after she started the column in the Mainichi Shimbun, Suu Kyi told the world political prisoners were barred from meeting their children for over two years and that their family members were being interrogated and harassed.

Her message that she was not the only Myanmar woman detained for her political thoughts appears to reflect a kind of guilty feeling she harbors toward other people who were being suppressed by the military regime.

There is a special reason why Suu Kyi evaded being tortured or imprisoned even though she is the leader of Myanmar’s pro-democracy movement. Her father played a leading role in winning Myanmar’s independence and she is well-known to the world as a Nobel Peace Prize laureate. The military regime cannot simply take her away from society.

In other words, Suu Kyi is a pro-democracy activist whose safety is guaranteed. Therefore, she is obviously determined to share the pain imposed on her fellow pro-democracy activists. In the second letter of the current series that ran on Feb. 6, she confessed that she made a habit of having breakfast quite late during her house arrest “so that in my hunger I would not forget our comrades who were incarcerated not in their own homes but in prisons, often in places far distant from where their families live.”

I have met various people as a journalist, but I clearly remember I felt tense when I first met Suu Kyi. The feeling derived from my sense of reverence — similar to a feeling I harbored toward citizens who repeatedly staged a sit-in protest in the Henoko district of Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, to express opposition to the relocation of a U.S. base to the area and those who were involved in a signature-collecting campaign against a so-called plutonium-thermal power generation project. They are determined to confront political power without resorting to violence.

I asked Suu Kyi, a Japanophile who studied at Kyoto University in the 1980s, what she expects Japan to do for the democratization of Myanmar. Instead of answering my question, she asked me whether I, as a Japanese national, have urged the Japanese government to pressure Myanmar’s military regime to release all political prisoners. I couldn’t nod with confidence to Suu Kyi, who shot a questioning glance at me. (By Pak Chong-chu, Foreign News Department)

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/perspectives/column/news/20110224p2a00m0na003000c.html?inb=rs&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+mdn%2Fall+%28Mainichi+Daily+News+-+All+Stories%29
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Compound interest in Myanmar
By Bertil Lintner

BANGKOK - While the outside world grapples with how much power Myanmar's new partly civilian government will command, the country's still ruling generals are literally digging in, taking no chances of a substantial power shift after last November's general elections.

Those who predicted that the blatantly rigged polls would mean something more than further institutionalizing the military regime may now have to reevaluate those assessments. United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon said in New York on February 5 that he hoped the new elected parliament would mark "the beginning of a change in the status quo" in Myanmar. He said that the appointment of retired general Thein Sein as the new president was "an important step".

However, those hopes were dashed just days after Ki-moon presented his optimistic scenario for Myanmar's political future. The old junta strongman, General Than Shwe, decided against retirement and will become the chairman of a new seven-member "State Supreme Council", which, as the name suggests, will be the most powerful institution in the country.

Significantly, the new constitution, under which last year's elections were held and the new government formed, does not mention or legally mandate the creation of any such body. Many earlier thought Than Shwe would retain influence through a constitutionally mandated 11-member National Defense and Security Council (NDSC), which will be led by the president.

Apart from chairman Than Shwe, the extra-constitutional State Supreme Council will also include the number two in the old junta hierarchy, General Maung Aye. Other former members of the now dissolved junta, known as the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), will include Thura Shwe Mann, a known Than Shwe ally who supposedly retired from military service to become a "civilian politician" before last year's election. He has also been appointed the new speaker of the Lower House of the new National Assembly.

More importantly, a new village has been built on the outskirts of the capital Naypyidaw, apparently to ensure that members of the top brass remain in view and stay in step with Than Shwe's new political order. According to a town plan leaked to Asia Times Online, 16 new homes have or are in the process of being built behind a high-walled compound for the country's 16 top military leaders.

Than Shwe's own residence sits at the center of this exclusive, closely guarded "gated community". He will reside in a huge mansion, complete with a sprawling garden, tree-lined driveway and swimming pool, according to the town plan. Next door, the plan shows, his deputy Maung Aye will reside in a considerably smaller villa.

Homes in the compound have also been reserved for Thein Sein, the former lieutenant-general-turned-civilian president, supposedly retired former general Thura Shwe Mann, and ex-Lieutenant General Tin Aye, now chairman of the Election Commission. The other houses will belong to other generals and newly appointed parliamentarians.

According to the source who leaked the town plans, Than Shwe wants to make sure that no one in his flock goes astray: "It's like they are under some kind of house arrest. Than Shwe is dead-scared of any possible split, or even disagreements, within the top military leadership," the source said. To guard against potential threats, there is a complex network of bunkers and bomb-proof culverts built under Than Shwe's presumptuous new residence, according to the plan. Apart from a domestic revolt, Than Shwe is known to fear a possible US-led foreign invasion.

Mild dissent
Historically, Myanmar's ruling military has demonstrated a remarkable ability to remain united in the face of both domestic protests and international condemnation, particularly of its abysmal rights record. However, divergent opinions over how to handle public unrest became apparent among junta leaders in late 2007, when hundreds of thousands of Buddhist monks marched through the old capital Yangon and other cities and towns.

There was also reportedly disagreement among the top brass over whether international aid should be accepted after Cyclone Nargis devastated much of lower Myanmar in May 2008. According to a cable from the US Embassy in Yangon, which was sent shortly after the cyclone and made public by WikiLeaks in February this year, both Than Shwe and Thura Shwe Mann were reluctant to allow international rescue workers into the country.

"Than Shwe remained worried about a US invasion and [was] determined to hold on to power," the leaked cable said. Than Shwe was eventually persuaded by other top generals to give rescue workers access to the affected areas, but only after more than a hundred thousand people had perished and hundreds of thousands more were dislocated or otherwise adversely impacted by the natural disaster.

Faced with a Buddhist monk-led revolt in 2007, both Than Shwe and his deputy Maung Aye "gave the orders to crackdown on the monks, including shooting them if necessary", according to another US cable made available by WikiLeaks. Dated November 28, 2007, that cable alleges that Thura Shwe Mann disagreed with the decision to suppress the monk-led anti-government manifestation, but carried it out while "quietly advising regional commanders to do so with minimal bloodshed".

With the country's 16 most powerful men living together inside a new compound, future disagreements will be more easily managed, some sources suggest. The appointment of Thein Sein as president will also ensure that little changes after the election and the formation of a new National Assembly.

Myanmar sources draw parallels with the Machiavellian tactics deployed by former strongman Ne Win, who "retired" as president of the country in 1981 and symbolically handed power to San Yu, a weak and colorless figure who obediently complied with his boss's wishes. Ne Win also stayed on as chairman of the then ruling Burma Socialist Program Party, the country's supreme authority, until both he and San Yu resigned in 1988 amid massive anti-government demonstrations that swept the country.

According to the assessment of some Myanmar insiders, Thein Sein has become "Than Shwe's San Yu". As one of the leaked US cables suggests, Thein Sein may have been among those who wanted to accept foreign assistance after Cyclone Nargis. However he is not known to have ever challenged any major official policy - no matter how controversial.

On May 9, 2001, when Thein Sein served as a major general and commander of the Myanmar Army's Golden Triangle Command in eastern Shan State, he said in a speech before former rebels in the town of Mong La near the Chinese border: "I was in Mong Ton and Mong Hsat for two weeks. U Wei Xuegang and U Bao Youri from the Wa groups are real friends."

Wei and Bao may have made peace with the central government, but both have been indicted by a US court for their involvement in the Golden Triangle drug trade, which includes the production of methamphetamines as well as heroin. To Thein Sein, however, they were "friends" of the regime. Such tow-the-line statements indicate to observers that Thein Sein will remain a loyal servant to Than Shwe in his new presidential capacity.

According to another of the leaked US Embassy cables, "Than Shwe's isolation and paranoia know no bounds ... the question is who is brave enough to shunt Than Shwe aside? Most Burmese [Myanmars] tell us no one." Because all the top generals will be closely guarded neighbors under the watchful eye of a general who will remain the country's most powerful player, the potential for an internal coup seems as remote as the country's democratic prospects under "civilian" rule.

Bertil Lintner is a former correspondent with the Far Eastern Economic Review and the author of several books on Myanmar. He is currently a writer with Asia Pacific Media Services. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/MB26Ae01.html
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9,000 War Refugees Still Stranded in Thailand
By SAW YAN NAING Friday, February 25, 2011

An estimated 9,000 Burmese refugees who have been stranded at the Thai-Burmese border for almost four months in the wake of border clashes are now being fed basic supplies by local Thai communities, said a relief group that assists the refugees.

The refugees are mostly ethnic Karen villagers from eastern Burma who fled to Thai soil in November after escaping fighting between Burmese government forces and Karen rebels in southern Karen State.

Although there is no official figure, and Thai authorities claim that the Karen refugees have already returned home, Karen human rights groups said that many villagers dare not to return home as clashes continue. Many are in hiding at the Thai border while others work for local Thai villagers on farms to earn enough to survive.

Mahn Mahn, the director of the Back Pack Health Workers Team, a relief group that provides food to displaced people on the border, said that supplies of food are delayed due to logistics problems.

He said his relief workers could only reach a separate group of some 1,000 refugees and provide them with two temporarily shelters in Tak Province.

“They can’t go back to their villages because clashes break out almost every day. Burmese government troops have also planted landmines around their villages,” he said, adding that a 7-year-old boy died last week after stepping on a landmine.

Several thousand refugees fled to various points along the Thai-Burmese border in November when serious clashes broke out between the Burmese army and a splinter group of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), Brigade 5, led by Brig-Gen Saw Lah Pwe.

On Nov. 8, the day after Burma's general election, more than 20,000 residents from Myawaddy Township fled into Mae Sot and sought refuge due to fighting. But one day later they were forced to return home by the Thai authorities.

A few days later, other pockets of refugees fled to Thailand from various parts of southern Karen State, including Myawaddy, Kawkareik and Kya Inn Seik Kyi townships, as fighting escalated.

Poe Shan, the director of Thailand-based Karen Human Rights Group, said that despite some of villagers returning home, many are still stranded in Thai villages, with some hiding in the jungle on the Thai border.

DKBA Brigade 5 Commander Saw Lah Pwe said fighting between his troops and the Burmese army has broken out almost every day in southern Karen State since November. He said he did not see any prospect of a cease-fire.

Meanwhile, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Burma, Tomás Ojea Quintana, on Friday criticized Burma over human rights violations. He said that Burma is burdening other countries in the region, with an influx of refugees fleeing a host of abuses from forced labor and land confiscation to arbitrary detention and sexual violence.

Despite the promise of political transition in Burma, the human rights situation remains grave, said the UN envoy in Kuala Lumpur at the end of an eight-day fact-finding mission to Malaysia. Countries in the region, especially Thailand, also host a considerable number of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants from Burma, he added.

Thailand currently houses some 150,000 refugees, mostly Karen people who have fled from war in Karen State.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=20830

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