News & Articles on Burma-Thursday, 24 March, 2011

News & Articles on Burma
Thursday, 24 March, 2011
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6.8-magnitude earthquake strikes northeastern Burma
Wa, Mongla “advised” by China to shun new alliance
Canadian Arrested in Myawaddy
Shan State Armies to Reconcile?
Rangoon Shoe Factory Workers Stage Successful Strike
100 Arakanese arrested, some tortured
Shan rebel ‘supporters’ uprooted
Parliamentary houses of Myanmar form representatives vetting committees
MYANMAR: Over 30 percent of TB cases going undetected
Teenager killed in Pegu bombings
Norway ups Burma oil investments
Burma sanctions must continue: Suu Kyi
Burma’s Parliament Revelations
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http://asiancorrespondent.com/51089/7-0-earthquake-in-myanmar-close-to-thai-border/
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The Associated Press


6.8-magnitude earthquake strikes northeastern Burma
Date: Thursday Mar. 24, 2011 11:06 AM ET

Rangoon, BURMA — A strong earthquake struck northeastern Burma on Thursday night, shaking buildings as far away as Bangkok. No tsunami was generated.

The quake struck along Burma's borders with Thailand and Laos, about 70 miles (110 kilometres) from Chiang Rai. The northern Thai city sustained a little damage, according to Thai television.

The 6.8-magnitude quake was just six miles (10 kilometres) deep, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. At that strength and depth, the monitor said 600,000 people got shaking anywhere from strong to violent and that the buildings are considered vulnerable so moderate to very heavy damage is expected in homes.

Buildings swayed in Bangkok, about 480 miles (770 kilometres) south of the epicenter.

Max Jones, an Australian resident of the Thai capital, was in his 27th-floor apartment when his building started swaying so hard he had to grab the walls to keep from falling.

"It was bloody scary, I can tell you?" he asked. Jones said he could smoke rising from nearby buildings and people running in the streets.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center says it was located too far inland to create a destructive wave.http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/World/20110324/burma-earthquake-110324/
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Wa, Mongla “advised” by China to shun new alliance
Thursday, 24 March 2011 16:51 Hseng Khio Fah

Two of the anti- border guard force groups: United Wa State Army (UWSA) and National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA), were reportedly warned by China not to get involved with any groups opposing the military junta, otherwise they would be open to attacks like the Kachin Independence Army and Shan State Army (SSA) ‘North’, according to a Sino-Burma border source.

“The junta will leave you alone if you don’t get involved with the new alliance,” a source quoted one of the Chinese officials as saying.

The report however has yet to be confirmed by Wa or Mongla authorities.

In February, the SSA and KIA participated in the formation of UNFC (United Nationalities Federal Council), an alliance of 11 ethnic armed ceasefire and non-ceasefire groups, which is to embark on an ambitious plan to set up a Union Army to be made up of armed forces from its member organizations. (The SSA later backed out, saying it could join it only on a state basis, not on an organization basis.)

A few days before the formation, a clash broke out between the KIA and the Burma Army in Manzi township for the first time in 18 years of theirs ceasefire period.

Likewise, the SSA is being under attack by the junta since 13 March. Fighting between the two sides are informed in several places in Shan State South’s Monghsu and Kehsi Townships and in Shan State North’s Mongyai township yesterday and today.

So far there has been 5 clashes: three yesterday and twice this morning. One took place near Mongkhang village, Tuya village tract, Mongnawng Sub-township of Kehsi Township, between SSA’s No. 801 Battalion and some Burma Army troops patrolling in the area.

Other include one at Kawngsaomong hill near Longkawng village in Shan State North’s Mongyai with SSA’s Battalion No. 1 and another between Nam-nga and Wan Hwe village in Monghsu township with SSA’s Battalion 196. Each attack lasted for half an hour, a SSA officer said.

“At least 3 were killed on the Burma Army’s side. We are still gathering the full data,” the officer said.

This morning clashes were at Loi Zang in Mongnawng with SSA’s 801, lasting for almost 6 hours from 3 am to 9 am, local sources said.

Yet again the two fought between Mong Awd and Tawoonkeng crossing on the Salween. At present, thousands of Burma Army troops are moving around the SSA controlled area and along the Salween which serves as a shared boundary with the UWSA.

The Burma Army also brought in hundreds of mules and horses for transportation in the roadless countryside. http://www.shanland.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3525:wa-mongla-advised-by-china-to-shun-new-alliance&catid=86:war&Itemid=284
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Canadian Arrested in Myawaddy
By THE IRRAWADDY Thursday, March 24, 2011

Burmese security forces arrested a Canadian man on Thursday for illegally entering Burma near the Thai-Burmese border town of Myawaddy, according to official sources.

Although they did not reveal the name of the detainee, the sources said the man was a 62-year-old Canadian national who was arrested shortly after he crossed the border near War Lay Myaing in Myawaddy Township.

During interrogation at Myawaddy police station, the man, who was carrying only his passport and a camera, said that he accidentally entered the country after misreading a map.

Burmese officials in the town said the man would likely be charged under Section 13/1 of the Immigration Act.

On Nov. 7, a Japanese journalist was arrested after entering Myawaddy to cover Burma’s elections. He was released after three days detention.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21005
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Shan State Armies to Reconcile?
By KO HTWE Thursday, March 24, 2011

The ongoing conflict between Burmese government troops and the Shan State Army-North (SSA-North) Brigade 1 could potentially lead to a reconciliation or a platform of cooperation between the political wings of Brigade 1 and the SSA- South, according to sources close to the ethnic factions.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Thursday, Khuensai Jaiyen, the editor of Thailand-based Shan Herald Agency for News (SHAN), said both the SSA-North Brigade 1 and SSA-South are fighting the same enemy.

“I heard there is a mutual understanding between both the Shan armies, but details of any formal agreement are not available yet,” he said. “At first, when hostilities broke out with the Tatmadaw [Burmese army], Brigade 1 expected assistance from their allies, but it could not convince the SSA-South to fight.”

The SSA-North Brigade 1's allies include the United Wa State Army (UWSA), with 30,000 troops, and the 10,000-strong Kachin Independence Army (KIA), as well as other ethnic cease-fire groups.

A breakaway faction of the SSA-North, Brigade 1 is led by Col Pang Fa and is estimated to be the strongest of the SSA-North's three brigades with some 3,000 troops. Unlike the SSA-North's other two factions—Brigades 3 and 7—Pang Fa's unit refused to join the regime's Border Guard Force (BGF) plan under Burmese army command.

Sai Lao Hseng, the spokesperson for the SSA-South, said that in the past there were differing points of view between the political wing of SSA-North Brigade 1, called the Shan State Progressive Party (SSPP), and the SSA-South’s political wing, which is called the Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS).

“No agreements have been made yet, but we have a personal relationship with them,” he said. “For the time being, we are helping each other though it is not as part of an official alliance.

“SSA-North [Brigade 1] did not get the rights they expected. So, they believe they have to take up arms,” he said. “That makes it more possible for them to begin cooperating with us.”

Led by Col Yawd Serk and based along the Thai-Burmese border, the SSA-South is one of the strongest ethnic groups that has taken up arms against the Tatmadaw.

There has been continuous fighting between Burmese government forces and the SSA-North Brigade 1 in Mongshu and Tangyan townships over the last month.

According to local sources, a clash between Brigade 1 and the Tatmadaw took place in Mong Naung Township on Thursday morning. Although full details of the clash have not been released, local residents said that a number of civilians, including one monk, were killed. Thousands were forced to flee their villages and are now reportedly existing in makeshift camps as internally displaced persons.

The Burmese army ordered SSA-North Brigade 1 to evacuate its headquarters in Kyethi Township by the end of March. Brigade 1 controls territory in Kyethi and Monghsu townships in southern Shan State, as well as Mongyai and Tangyan townships in the northern part of the state.

Since last year, the Burmese regime has pressured 17 cease-fire armies to accept the BGF plan, but only a few have joined. The others, including the UWSA and the KIA, have refused.

The UWSA and the SSA-South, which never signed a cease-fire with the junta, have offered support to SSA-North Brigade 1 since it resumed hostilities with the Burmese army. http://www.irrawaddy.org/highlight.php?art_id=21001
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Rangoon Shoe Factory Workers Stage Successful Strike
By THIN AUNG Thursday, March 24, 2011

Workers from the New Way shoe factory in Rangoon's Hlaing Tharyar Industrial Zone 4 went on a one-day strike on Tuesday to protest failed salary negotiations, according to sources. The strike ended when an agreement was reached with management.

“There were about 500 employees sitting or standing in front of the factory. No violent action took place. It looks like they just didn't enter the factory compound in protest,” said the owner of a shop near the factory.

A factory staff member told The Irrawaddy that workers staged the protest because negotiations between worker representatives and factory officials regarding a salary increase failed. The negotiations began on March 21, he said.

“Workers were asked to go back home around noon on Monday, much earlier than the end of their work day. I think they talked to each other and agreed to stage a protest at 7:30 a.m. the next morning,” said the factory staff member.

Police and firemen in Hlaing Tharyar reportedly arrived at the protest scene around 8:30 a.m. and blocked Bogyoke street with long bamboo poles in order to prevent people from passing by.

“Chinese officials at the factory do not treat us so badly. But Burmese supervisors are very rude. Even when we are sitting when we don't have work to do they always berate us for speaking to each other and turning around. They press us more, and that's why I think the protest broke out,” said a person who used to work at New Way.

A shop owner told The Irrawaddy that she saw a Mazda jeep with a Township Peace and Development Council [TPDC] label enter the factory around 9 a.m. On Tuesday.

“Officials from the TPDC and township labor office came. I don't know what they were talking about in the factory. After the departure of the TPDC car, the workers went back inside the factory compound,” said the shop owner.

In a new round of negotiations between worker representatives, the head of the New Way factory and township TPDC and labor officials that started at 10 a.m. On Tuesday, factory officials reportedly agreed with the demands of workers, including a monthly salary increase of 6,000 kyat [US $6.80].

A worker who participated in the protest said that apart from the salary increase, factory officials promised to provide workers with clean drinking water and the convenient use of restrooms.

He said officials also pledged to relax other regulations related to work hours, warnings for being late to work, sleeping or eating during work hours, lying down while having no work to do and speaking while working.

Another worker said they all would go back to work on Wednesday as the factory head and other officials made their promises in front of government authorities.

“We will be given salary for March on April 5, so we will definitely know if our salary is increased by 6,000 kyat then. Their promises include an award of 20,000 [US $22.70] kyat to workers who have worked the whole year without absence, but nobody is interested in it,” said a female worker.

New Way is jointly owned by Burmese and Chinese businessmen. There are more than 1,000 employees working in the factory, out of which less than 100 are male. The male employees work as technicians and security guards.

The protest at New Way was the second protest in Hlaing Tharyar Industrial Zone 4 this month. Workers from the Taiyi shoe factory, who staged a protest last week, will receive a salary increase of 12,000 kyat [US$ 13.60].
http://irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21000
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100 Arakanese arrested, some tortured
By NAW NOREEN
Published: 24 March 2011

Police in Rangoon have reportedly rounded up and arrested nearly 100 Arakanese nationals, some of whom were tortured, following suspicion that they were linked to a bomb attack in late February.

A coordinator of the Rakhine [Arakan] Club said that the wave of arrests took place in Hlaingtharyar and Insein township, the site of the bombing, after an Arakanese man who lived with one suspect initially arrested by police went into hiding.

Another Arakanese national told DVB that six people, including the Rakhine Club’s chairman, Saw Hla Aung, were detained and interrogated for days. Saw Hla Aung was reportedly handcuffed, and when he questioned the harsh treatment, was told he was “definitely going to prison”.

“They also said: ‘You Arakanese are arrogant and we’ve been longing to beat you up. We’ll send you lot into prison’,” according to the man.

All have since been released after police failed to find any link between them and the bombing, which took place in Insein township’s Aungzaya Housing Complex on 27 February.

But a 29-year-old man identified as Kyaw Hla Sein is believed to have been tortured for nearly 10 days to the point were he has required treatment for trauma, while another Arakanese taxi driver whom police suspected had driven the accused had a rolling pin rolled on his calf, and now has difficulty walking.

Officials at Insein and Hlaingtharyar police stations were unavailable for comment.

Eight people were inured in the February attack, which a government official said happened after a 26-year-old man “accidentally” triggered an explosive device he was carrying near to a street stall.
http://www.dvb.no/news/100-arakanese-arrested-some-tortured/14909
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Shan rebel ‘supporters’ uprooted
By NANG MYA NADI
Published: 24 March 2011

Inhabitants of six villages in southern Shan state have been ordered to relocate as the Burmese army looks to isolate Shan rebels operating in the region.

More than 190 families in the Kunhing township villages have been told to leave by the end of March and will be forced to move closer to the road connecting Kunhing to the town of Nansang.

One Kunhing resident said that move was aimed at “curbing support for Shan rebels”, likely referring to the Shan State Army–South (SSA–South), which holds sway over a large part of the southern Shan region.

The order came hot on the heels of fighting between Burmese troops and the SSA–South on 10 and 11 March in the Kunhing district. Reports surfaced at the time that villagers were forcibly abducted to serve as porters during a fight in nearby Mongshu township, while some were told to show troops the location of nearby Shan army bases.

The relocation is part of the junta’s so-called ‘four cuts’ strategy which looks to sever lines of support and communication for Burma’s various ethnic armed groups. The country’s military generals ordered troops to re-launch the maligned tactic in order to rout defiant opposition armies like the SSA–South who have refused its demands to become border security forces.

In the country’s remote border regions, swathes of which are under the control of ethnic armies, the Burmese junta considers the line between civilian and insurgent heavily blurred and thus regularly targets rural populations it deems guilty of supporting the groups.

The ‘four cuts’ has also seen a renaissance in Burma’s west, where troops are fighting the Arakan Liberation Army, but it has struggled to apply a strategy designed for lowland warfare in the mountainous border regions.

Fighting also broke out further north in Shan state after Burmese troops on 13 March launched an attack on bases belonging to the Shan State Army-North (SSA-North).

The series of assaults came as the junta supposedly gave the group an ultimatum to withdraw from its bases by 20 March and fully surrender by 1 April.

The location of the bases, in Namlao, is seen as a key strategic target, both in the fight against the SSA-North but also against the larger and more powerful United Wa State Army (UWSA) – the Burmese junta fears the UWSA will coordinate with SSA–South to aid the SSA–North.
http://www.dvb.no/news/shan-rebel-%E2%80%98supporters%E2%80%99-uprooted/14915
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Parliamentary houses of Myanmar form representatives vetting committees
15:53, March 24, 2011

Both parliamentary house of representatives (Lower House) and parliamentary house of nationalities (Upper House) of Myanmar have formed representatives vetting committees respectively to scrutinize representatives as from the second meeting of the first respective parliaments, according to the respective parliaments' announcements made public Thursday.

The lower house's representatives vetting committee was formed with 14 members with U Maung Oo, current home minister, as chairman, while the upper house's representatives vetting committee was set up with 8 members with U Aung Tun as chairman.

Meanwhile, according to Thursday's Union Election Commission, 19 more parliamentary candidates from some region or state constituencies and their election agents were disqualified, bringing the total of such candidates to 112 so far since March 15.

The commission said these candidates and their election agents failed to submit election expenses during the 60-day period after they were announced as parliament representatives-elect through Nov. 7, 2010 general election as found by the election tribunal.

The commission added that they are disallowed to contest in the election as parliamentary candidates in the existing parliament term and the next term.

In the 2010 general election, 1,154 candidates out of over 3, 000 representing political parties in contesting were elected as parliamentary representatives at three levels, in which 325 as representatives to the house of representatives, 168 as representatives to the house of nationalities and 661 as representatives to the region or state parliament.

A total of 37 political parties including 82 independents took part in the parliamentary election held across the country's seven regions and seven ethnic states.

Myanmar started its first three-chamber parliament sessions simultaneously on Jan. 31 this year and the sessions of the house of representatives (lower house) and house of nationalities (upper house) ended in the new capital of Nay Pyi Taw Wednesday evening, while the sessions of region or state parliament remain ongoing separately in 14 respective regions or states since then.

The union parliament is made up of the house of representatives and the house of nationalities, each level of which involves elected ones in the November 2010 general election and 25-percent military-nominated ones.

In Myanmar's presidential election on Feb. 4 this year, Prime Minister U Thein Sein won the presidency, while U Tin Aung Myint Oo and Dr. Sai Mauk Kham were elected as the vice presidents.

Source: Xinhua http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90851/7330432.html
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MYANMAR: Over 30 percent of TB cases going undetected
Photo: Brennon Jones/IRIN
Some 300,000 people are believed to have TB in Myanmar

YANGON, 24 March 2011 (IRIN) - According to the most recent national tuberculosis (TB) prevalence survey in Myanmar conducted from 2009-2010 and still undergoing analysis, preliminary data show a large proportion of TB cases are going undetected.

In 2010, the World Health Organization (WHO) - working from 2009 estimates not yet confirmed by the latest survey data - estimated 300,000 TB cases out of a total population of 53 million, but that only 64 percent of new cases were being detected.

The latest survey by the government’s national TB programme of 51,367 people in 70 geographical areas confirmed the 2009 estimates.

Of the estimated 597 in every 100,000 people nationwide who have TB (316,410 out of 53 million), most are male living in urban areas. The number infected in urban areas is twice as high as in rural areas, as has been the case for years.

“Of the found TB cases in the [2009-2010] national prevalence survey, the majority had not sought health care for TB,” said Eva Nathanson, the TB technical officer in Myanmar’s WHO office.

It may be that patients are ignoring symptoms of their illness, are unaware about TB, live far from health care facilities, are not having their TB detected by health workers, or are being misdiagnosed, she added.

Of those who do start treatment, many abandon it before completion, making them candidates for multi-drug resistant TB, said a government clinic doctor in Mgway Division in central Myanmar who preferred anonymity.

“Many patients do not understand their TB could be resistant if they do not take drugs regularly. It is hard to convince them why they must take their drugs on a regular basis… Some patients stop taking their drugs when their health is getting better. They just come back [to treatment] when their health is bad again.”

MDR-TB

The 2009-2010 survey did not examine multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB) - when patients no longer respond to the first line of TB treatment because they are infected with a drug-resistant form of the disease, or they did not follow through with the entire course of treatment, thereby rendering treatment ineffective.

Based on earlier surveys, heath experts estimated there were 9,000 people with this more difficult-to-treat form of TB in Myanmar in 2008.

The next nationwide drug resistance survey is expected to be conducted in 2011.

TB results in an estimated 1.7 million deaths each year, with the global number of new cases in 2009 (more than nine million, with 55 percent occurring in Asia) higher than at any other time in history, according to WHO.

In a study published in the British medical journal, the Lancet, for World TB Day on 24 March, the authors concluded: “Increasing rates of drug-resistant TB in eastern Europe, Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa now threaten to undermine the gains made by worldwide tuberculosis control programmes.”

Classified by WHO as a high-burden TB country, Myanmar has one of the world’s highest TB prevalence rates. http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=92272
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Teenager killed in Pegu bombings
By MOE MYINT ZIN
Published: 24 March 2011

A 17-year-old boy has died and several more were left injured after a series of blasts hit the Pegu division town of Shwegyin on Monday.

Three separate explosions occurred in different locations around the town, which lies around 150km north of Burma’s economic hub, Rangoon. A Shwegyin resident said that the first went off at 5.30am local time close to a popular gold digging site, where one man was seriously injured.

The second, half an hour later on a road leading to a local army base, killed 17-year-old Htun Linn Naing, while another blast later that morning close to the same gold digging site caused minor injuries to several people.

The Burmese army’s Light Infantry Battalion 57, which operates close to Shwegyin, had put out orders restricting gold digging around Madama creek, near to where two of the explosions happened, although it is not clear whether the two are linked in any way.

No details about the bombings have been released by the Burmese government, who regularly blames attacks against civilians on opposition ethnic armies.

The spokesperson for the Karen National Union, David Thackrabaw, whose armed wing the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) has troop deployments in Pegu division, said he knew nothing of the attacks, and that KNLA troops were under orders not to plant explosives in civilian areas.
http://www.dvb.no/news/teenager-killed-in-bago-bombings/14904
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Norway ups Burma oil investments
By FRANCIS WADE
Published: 24 March 2011

Figures released last week by the Norwegian government show that investments in oil and gas companies operating in Burma stand at close to $US5 billion, despite heavy opposition from rights groups.

The new sum marks an increase of around $US300 million on last year’s figures. The state-owned investment body, the Norwegian Pension Fund, holds shares in 15 energy companies in Burma, a position that the campaign group Norwegian Burma Committee this week criticised as “double morale”.

The Fund, which was founded on the country’s North Sea oil wealth, was the focus of a damming report in December last year by EarthRights International (ERI), who accused it of “contributing to grave unethical actions in Burma” through its investments.

The revelation coincides with reports of several extra-judicial executions last month close to pipelines operated by two overseas companies, the US-based Chevron and French oil giant, Total. Both are targets of investment by the Fund, which has shares of more than $US2 billion in Total and $US0.9 billon in Chevron.

It has also doubled its stake in the controversial Swiss-American drilling firm Transocean, which is being investigated by the US for its work with a consortium of Burmese companies that includes a firm owned by junta crony Steven Law, who is a target of US sanctions.

ERI, which has been monitoring the impact of the Yadana and Yetagun gas pipelines in Burma’s southern Tenasserim division, released a statement yesterday in which it claimed an ethnic Karen man had been killed by Burmese troops close to the pipelines. Both Total and Chevron, who operate the Yadana pipeline in partnership with Thailand’s state-owned PTTE and the Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE), are known to use Burmese army units as security for their operations.

Eight of the 15 companies, including Transocean, have seen increased investment from the Fund, while six have seen a reduction and one remains the same.

Its shares in Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries have soared from $US11.5 million to $US173 million, while its holdings in PetroChina now top $US100 million, information obtained by ERI shows.

What these companies have in common is their involvement in the controversial Shwe dual pipeline project, which will transport Burmese gas and Middle Eastern and African oil across the breadth of the country to southern China. The campaigning group Shwe Gas Movement (SGM) claims the project has dramatically increased military presence along the pipeline route and caused the forcible relocation of hundreds of civilians.

Matthew Smith, senior consultant at ERI, said the increase in investments by the Pension Fund “is indiscriminate of the ethical considerations – that [the Fund doesn’t] determine whether or not to increase their holdings based on ethnical decisions”.

Significant chunks of the Shwe pipeline and the Yadana-Yetagun pipelines, which transport gas to Thailand, run through military zones, where incidents such as the killing of the Karen man in February are common. Smith said however that such risks are an issue “these companies have consistently tried to deny in communications with their investors and other interested parties”.

The Pension Fund in March 2007 disinvested from the Chinese company Dongfeng following evidence that it had been supplying trucks to the Burmese military.

Norway was one of the first countries to accept Burmese refugees following the 1988 uprising, and in 1991 awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
http://www.dvb.no/news/norway-ups-burma-oil-investments/14919
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Burma sanctions must continue: Suu Kyi

Suu Kyi is pushing for change in Burma. [ABC]

Burma's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi says sanctions on the Burmese military regime should remain.

Her comments to a German newspaper come ahead of a decision next month by the European Union on whether to continue sanctions.

Aung San Suu Kyi says sanctions should only be lifted when there are changes in Burma.

EU diplomats held talks with Ms Suu Kyi last week on a possible policy change.

Global think-tank International Crisis Group has recently described the sanctions as 'counterproductive'. http://www.radioaustralianews.net.au/stories/201103/3172722.htm?desktop
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THE DIPLOMAT
Burma’s Parliament Revelations
By Mong Palatino
March 24, 2011

Burma’s Amyotha Hluttaw (Upper House) and Pyithu Hluttaw (Lower House) have been holding sessions since January 31, but it wasn’t until two weeks ago that members were allowed to question government ministers. The transcript of the meetings published by the state-owned paper New Light of Myanmar provides a peek inside the parliament.

So what have we discovered so far? As expected, the debates were non-antagonistic in a parliament dominated by the junta-backed party. Meanwhile, the minority had to submit questions in advance, which allowed government ministers to prepare well-researched reports on all issues raised by opposition MPs.

But the statistics and other information given by the junta’s ministers also turned out to be unexpectedly useful in determining the true situation in the country. And, rather than improving the image of the new government, they quite surprisingly ended up validating fears about the continuing suffering of Burma’s citizens under the insane and brutal leadership of the junta.

For example, the minister for agriculture and irrigation may have assured the parliament that most of the agricultural dikes and dams that were destroyed by Cyclone Nargis in 2008 and Cyclone Giri last year have already been rehabilitated, but his report also highlighted how the junta’s denial about the scale of destruction was misleading. We also learned that 37 percent of the dikes in Ayeyawady and Yangon regions and in Rakhine state are still damaged, as are 46 percent in An township, and 42 percent in Yanbye township.

Yet despite the slow pace of reconstruction efforts in the Nargis-hit regions, the government had the audacity to boast that ‘rescue and rehabilitation tasks have achieved success’ and that other countries are using Burma as a model for their post-disaster efforts.

This isn’t all. The health minister claimed that Burma is providing free medical services for the poor, while the finance and revenue minister argued that increasing the salaries of government personnel isn’t a priority because wages have already been raised nine times since 1972.

A close examination of the transcript of proceedings also provided a better understanding of the junta’s censorship network. Asked by an MP to explain why a manuscript submitted to the Press Scrutiny and Registration Division (PSRD) hadn’t been approved, the information minister was forced to outline the necessary procedures for manuscripts to be published in Burma. It was made clear that a manuscript first has to be scrutinized by junior PSRD officers before being submitted to the deputy director and then go to the division director for approval. Following this, the relevant division submits the material to the appropriate ministry for comments.

The final decision is made by the information minister. It’s easy to understand now why there are only five newspapers in Burma.

The bicameral parliament may be an institution that’s manipulated by the junta, but so far it has been providing us with junta-sanctioned reports about the deteriorating conditions inside the country which the pro-democracy movement could use to push for more democratic and substantial reforms.
http://the-diplomat.com/asean-beat/2011/03/24/burma%E2%80%99s-parliament-revelations/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+the-diplomat+%28The+Diplomat+RSS%29

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