News & Articles on Burma-Monday 30 May, 2011

News & Articles on Burma
Monday 30 May, 2011
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Two battalions of Burmese reinforcements deployed near KIA position
Burmese Delegation in Sweden Raises Concerns
Suu Kyi Plans Tour of Myanmar Countryside
Myanmar trial of Australian journalist adjourned until June 14
Myanmar's Suu Kyi calls for China openness amid clampdown
Police file whitewashes Depayin massacre
Eight years after the tour that led to her arrest, Suu Kyi plans rural Myanmar visit
Hunger strike spreads to remote jails
Myanmar opposition figure returns home after medical treatment
Military Cronies Expand into Media
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Two battalions of Burmese reinforcements deployed near KIA position
Monday, 30 May 2011 21:15 KNG

The military-controlled Burmese government sent two army battalions to the area near Battalion 9 of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), in northern Shan State, local residents said.

Battalion 9 connects the KIA headquarters in the north and Loikang-based KIA’s Brigade 4 Command as well as Kokang and the Wa (or United Wa State Army, UWSA) territories in the east.
kia-battalion-9-map-engAccording to local military observers, Burmese troops have been transported from Lashio and stationed at the village of Dima, close to the base of the KIA’s Battalion 9, since Saturday, May 28.

In Dima, about 60 Burmese soldiers had already been deployed before the new military reinforcements arrived in the village, the observers added.

The KIA’s Battalion 9 is now on standby for a military response if government troops enter into its controlled areas, sources close to the battalion said.

Dima is controlled by a pro-government militia group. The village connects with the KIA-controlled Daknai Village, on the east side of Dima Stream.

The road reconstruction intended to cross the area controlled by the KIA’s Brigade 4 was temporarily stopped by the Burmese government after a May 14th warning that it will lead to war.

Military tension and short clashes have gradually increased since the KIA rejected the government’s proposal to disarm and transform into the Burmese Army-controlled Border Guard Force (BGF), in August last year.

Local military analysts said China wants the Burmese government and KIA to avoid renewed civil war between them because it will jeopardize China’s multi-million dollar investment in the country.

The KIA officially demanded on May 19th that the central government withdraw all its troops from the areas close to KIA military bases by May 25. It also warned the government must take responsibility for the consequences of refusing to withdraw. http://www.kachinnews.com/news/1925-two-battalions-of-burmese-reinforcements-deployed-near-kia-position.html
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Burmese Delegation in Sweden Raises Concerns
By BA KAUNG Monday, May 30, 2011

The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) has denied having links with the new Burmese government or violating EU economic sanctions in connection with a program in which it is indirectly financing Burmese groups for the purpose of economic development.

The denial was issued following Swedish media reports about a meeting on May 20 in Stockholm between Sida representatives and a Burmese delegation that reportedly included members of Myanmar Egress, a Rangoon-based Burmese NGO, and possibly with individuals connected to the Burmese Chamber of Commerce.

Myanmar Egress is known in Burma for its pro-government stance, including support for the controversial election in November of last year and opposition to Western economic sanctions.

Burma's Chamber of Commerce is technically independent of the government but is known to be government-influenced. For example, the previous chairman of the Chamber of Commerce was Win Myint, who is also the minister of commerce.

The Local, a Swedish news website based in Stockholm, reported last week that the Burmese delegation was invited by the International Council of Swedish Industry (known as the NIR in Sweden), which on its website describes itself as the independent associate of the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise, representing some 60,000 member companies.

The Burmese delegation met with representatives of Sida, Swedish foreign ministry officials and the Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden. News of the meetings has raised the issue of whether Sida and the NIR's relationship with the Burmese government and groups close to it might be in violation of EU policy towards Burma.

In April, the EU lifted its visa ban on certain Burmese senior government officials, including the Burmese foreign minister, but decided to maintain its economic sanctions against Burma, known as the the EU Common Position on Burma.

Speaking with The Irrawaddy on Friday, Johan Akerblom, a senior adviser at Sida who met the Burmese delegation, said that one and a half years ago Sida began providing 12 million Swedish Kroner (US $ 1.9 million) annually to an NIR project involving several countries to promote “market development, human rights and democracy,” and Burma was only a small part of that project.

“This exchange with the Burmese delegation is part of an agreement between Sida and NIR,” said Akerblom, who added that the Burmese individuals he met were not representing the new Burmese civilian government.

In interviews with The Irrawaddy, both Sida and NIR officials declined to comment on the identity of the members of the Burmese delegation, citing policy reasons, and reaffirmed that both Sida and the NIR were in line with the EU Common Position on Burma.

But when asked if they had confirmed that the Burmese individuals in the delegation were not linked to the Burmese government, Akerblom said that Sida has asked the NIR for an explanation about these individuals and expected to get an answer by Tuesday.

“When it comes to Burma, it is very important to underline that Sweden follows EU policy and the NIR has to work in line with that. We are not cooperating with the regime,” he said.

The NIR's director of operations, Sofia Svingby, conceded in a local Swedish report that the Burmese delegation included members of Myanmar Egress. When speaking with The Irrawaddy on Friday, however, she said the NIR does not work with Burmese government and individuals connected to it.

Regarding the NIR's intentions for its programs directed towards Burma, Sofia said that the organization is now investigating what it can do for positive economic development in the country.

Asked whether the NIR is going to implement its programs in Burma regardless of the country's political conditions, she said, “Economic development, that is what we want. We are not into politics. We don't work politically.”

In the report in The Local, NIR CEO Erika Molin was quoted as saying that they [the Burmese delegation] believe that economic growth and a functioning industry is a fundamental prerequisite for the development of the country and the people.

“That's why we have invited these people,” she said.

Despite the EU decision to maintain its economic sanctions against Burma, Burmese opposition groups have expressed concerns that some of the bloc members, such as Germany, are trying to lift sanctions for business interests before any political progress is made.

According to a 2008 diplomatic cable from the US Embassy in Berlin that was disclosed by Wikileaks, German officials had previously expressed skepticism about the effectiveness of the EU's economic sanctions against Burma, and members of the German parliament did not want to see ordinary Burmese people hurt by sanctions,.

The US cable quoted the then German Foreign Minister and current vice-chancellor Frank-Walter Steinmeier as having the impression that the sanctions were “largely counterproductive, had helped to forge solidarity within the military, had increased China's influence and had given the regime excuses for legitimizing its rule.”

Early this month, the Friedrich Naumann Foundation, a German foundation based in Berlin, invited a Burmese delegation, which included a representative from the Myanmar Egress, to come and speak about Burma in the post-election period. The Irrawaddy’s editor Aung Zaw also attended the conference.

Burma analysts have noted that some EU governments are eager to engage the regime and its proxies, such as the Myanmar Egress, who claim to have established civil society groups inside Burma. Government critics also point out that mainstream opposition members inside Burma cannot travel outside of Burma, but some “third force” members, such as the Myanmar Egress representatives, enjoy the freedom to travel internationally and are frequently invited to Western capitals to present their political views and paint the Burmese picture in a positive light.

As a result, critics say, international officials who have the responsibility to determine Burma policy on issues such as sanctions only hear the pro-government arguments while attending international events.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21389
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Suu Kyi Plans Tour of Myanmar Countryside
Associated Press

HONG KONG—Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi said Monday she plans to tour the country next month in her first trip into the provinces since a 2003 political tour ended in her lengthy house arrest.

"I hope to be able to travel out of Rangoon in the month of June, as soon as I have got rid of all the work that has piled up," she said in a videolink to an audience at Hong Kong University. Rangoon is the old name for Yangon, Myanmar's biggest city.

She said the authorities have not given her any "particular assurances" about security. She didn't provide further details.

The Nobel Peace Prize laureate drew large crowds when she last toured northern Myanmar, and her popularity rattled the military government. Exactly eight years ago Monday, supporters of the ruling junta ambushed her entourage. Several of her followers were killed, but she escaped, only to be arrested.

She was released last November after Myanmar held general elections in which her party didn't participate, calling the vote unfair. Ms. Suu Kyi's party won the last elections in 1990 but wasn't allowed to govern. The junta was officially disbanded after the November elections, but the current government is still military dominated.

Ms. Suu Kyi answered dozens of questions from students, alumni and reporters in the videolink with Hong Kong University. She has been jailed or under house arrest for 15 of the past 21 years, and during her brief periods of freedom she hasn't traveled outside Myanmar, fearing the military wouldn't allow her to return.

She avoided criticizing China, an important backer of Myanmar's government. Beijing provides the country crucial economic support, military assistance and diplomatic protection at the United Nations.

Myanmar could maintain neighborly relations with China while having a "friendship based on shared values of democracy" with Western countries, she said.

"I don't think we have to make it either-or. We can be friends with the West and we can be friends with China each in its own special way," Ms. Suu Kyi said.

Western nations and groups critical of Myanmar's poor human-rights record had made her freedom a key demand. They estimate the country still has more than 2,000 political prisoners, and a U.N. envoy said last week Myanmar has changed little since its stated transition to civilian rule.

Ms. Suu Kyi said her party has tried hard to establish a relationship with China's government. But party members aren't even able to break the ice with Chinese diplomats at cocktail receptions, she said.

"Somehow they seem to be able to evade our people quite successfully. I wish they would talk to us," she said.

Ms. Suu Kyi ended by answering a question on how she felt about the death of terror mastermind Osama bin Laden, who was killed by U.S. Navy Seals in a raid on his hide-out in Pakistan.

"With regards to the recent death of bin Laden, it just shows that violence ends with violence, and that there is too much violence already in our world and we've got to try do something about it," she said. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303745304576355160774891024.html?mod=rss_asia_whats_news
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Myanmar trial of Australian journalist adjourned until June 14
May 30, 2011, 12:39 GMT

Yangon - The trial of Australian journalist Ross Dunkley, arrested in Myanmar on charges of violating immigration regulations and sexually assaulting a woman, was adjourned at its start on Monday.

Dunkley, a co-founder of the foreign-funded Myanmar Times weekly newspaper, was arrested on February 10.

An hour into the proceedings, the trial was adjourned until June 14, Dunkley's defence lawyer said. Dunkley was questioned, but no more details were available.

Dunkley, 53, was released on bail from Myanmar's Insein Prison on March 29 and, at the time, expressed confidence he would be found not guilty of charges against him.

Insein Prison is notorious for its poor conditions.

The Kamaryut Township Court granted Dunkley bail of 10 million kyats (12,300 dollars), after six previous attempts at gaining his release had failed.

The Myanmar Times was founded in 2000 and is the country's only media outlet with foreign investment. Like all other media in Myanmar, it is subject to government censorship.

Dunkley told the Committee to Protect Journalists in 2008 that about 20 per cent of the stories he submitted for publication were censored.

Myanmar, also called Burma, has been under military dictatorships since 1962 and has one of the world's worst records for press freedom.

Critics say that the advent of a new elected government, packed with ex-military men, appears not to have changed the regime's attitude towards the press.

According to the CPJ there were 13 journalists in jail in Myanmar as of December 1, 'making it one of the five worst jailers of journalists in the world.' http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/asiapacific/news/article_1642376.php/Myanmar-trial-of-Australian-journalist-adjourned-until-June-14
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President Thein Sein declared that the historical paukphaw (fraternity) relationship between Burma and China has reached “a strategic level” during his three-day state visit to China, potentially alienating Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) members in the process.

“Having been designated as partners for multi-strategic cooperation, Myanmar [Burma]—China relations have reached a new chapter and the highest level in China’s foreign relations,” he said while meeting Chinese President Hu Jintao at Bejing's Great Hall of the People on May 28, according to the state-owned New Light of Myanmar. “Both [of the] two countries have to work hard at all levels to maintain multi-strategic cooperation partnership relations.”

The two nations issued a joint statement defining the strategic level as: “The two sides will maintain close high-level contacts, continue to promote strategic mutual trust and further enhance friendly exchanges and cooperation between the parliaments, governments, judicial departments and political parties of the two countries.”

This was Thein Sein's first state visit to China after assuming the presidency and he headed a high-level delegation with more than a dozen cabinet ministers, deputy ministers and senior officials of the new government. He discussed a broad range of bilateral and regional issues with his Chinese counterpart.

During discussions with President Hu, Thein Sein apparently sought China's political support for Burma's relationship with Asean—specifically the issue of taking the bloc's chairmanship in 2014—and financial support for a number of development projects assisted by China.

In return for China's consistent support, Thein Sein pledged to President Hu that his new government maintained support for the “One China Policy” and backed its northern neighbor regarding South China Sea issues.

Thein Sein's vocal backing coincides with rising tensions between China and Vietnam in the South China Sea. Chinese marine surveillance vessels recently approached a ship operated by the state oil and gas firm PetroVietnam and cut its exploration cables, according to AFP.

Asean and China signed the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) on the sidelines of the sixth Asean-China Summit in November 2002, and so Burma has an obligation as a member state to respect the DOC and take a neutral standpoint. Thein Sein, however, decided to side himself with China.

Point five of the DOC stipulates: “The parties undertake to exercise self-restraint in the conduct of activities that would complicate or escalate disputes and affect peace and stability including, among others, refraining from inhabiting the presently uninhabited islands, reefs, shoals, cays, and other features and to handle their differences in a constructive manner.”

Furthermore, Thein Sein's support for China in South China Sea issues could further weaken the unity of Asean and is not consistent with bloc leaders’ Joint Statement on the Asean Community in a Global Community of Nations, which was issued during the Indonesia Asean Summit in May.

According to this statement, Asean is making efforts to have a common platform by 2022 for “a more coordinated, cohesive, and coherent Asean position on global issues of common interest and concern, based on a shared Asean global view, which would further enhance Asean’s common voice in relevant multilateral fora.”

Thein Sein also sought China's assistance to be able to lead Asean in 2014. Referring to China's experiences in hosting international games and conferences, Thein Sein said: “Myanmar will host the SEA [Southeast Asia] Games in 2013 and the Asean Summit in 2014, so Myanmar would like China to offer its assistance.”

Thein Sein needs the support of Asean's dialogue partners in order for Burma to gain the bloc chairmanship, and the Chinese president is a crucial figure in this regard for the influence he wields. Other key partners are the European Union, Japan, United States, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and Russia.

Kavi Chongkittavorn, senior editor for Bangkok-based newspaper The Nation, said that China's support is key for the Burmese chairmanship bid.
He said: “The scope and extent of China's influence and interest depends on the ability of Thien Sein's administration to gain international recognition as soon as possible. The best way to wrap up the seven-point road map is to chair Asean in 2014.
“China's attendance is important because of the East Asia Summit and other key meetings.
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Myanmar's Suu Kyi calls for China openness amid clampdown
ReutersBy Robert Birsel | Reuters – 52 minutes ago

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi urged China's Communist leaders Monday to be more open and tolerant amidst a heavy clampdown on dissidents and government critics in recent months.

"My message to China's leaders will be very simple," said Suu Kyi who was released after years of house arrest last November by Myanmar's military junta and is widely seen as a voice against political repression worldwide.

"China is a great country, the Chinese people are a great people with a marvellous and long history behind them. They can afford to take more steps, they can afford to be daring, they can afford to allow room for all kinds of opinions," said Suu Kyi during a video conference with an international audience at the University of Hong Kong.

With Myanmar subject to widespread international sanctions, China has remained its biggest economic and political ally and has maintained a no strings investment policy.

Myanmar, a former British colony also known as Burma, is widely considered to have one of the world's most autocratic governments despite releasing Suu Kyi and holding elections last year that were widely criticised as a sham.

Uprisings across the Arab world have made Chinese authorities jittery about any sign of instability and several prominent dissidents have been detained in recent months.

Suu Kyi's comments come days before the 22nd anniversary of a bloody crackdown in and around Beijing's Tiananmen Square in 1989, when Chinese troops were ordered to fire on pro-democracy demonstrators.

The previous year, the military in Myanmar crushed a student-led protest movement.

While any public commemoration of June 4 is banned in mainland China, pro-democracy groups in Hong Kong are gearing up for a candlelight vigil that organisers expect to draw an especially large turnout given the ongoing clampdown.

"I don't think that we should despair," said Suu Kyi. "The Chinese people are so interested in economic progress that they have not quite reached the political side of the matter. I think that will come, and perhaps sooner than people imagine."

As for her own plans, Suu Kyi said she intended to make a trip around Myanmar in the next month or two to meet supporters, but she declined to give details.

On the Middle East uprisings and whether they might hold lessons for Myanmar's long struggle for democracy, Suu Kyi said it was too early to deem such populist uprisings a success, though she said she was against foreign military intervention of the kind seen in Libya.

"This is not something that we particularly want (in Myanmar). What we want to achieve is national reconciliation."

Myanmar's new president Thein Sein, who took office last month, is seen as a stooge for former junta supremo Than Shwe and analysts expect little change.

Western governments are pressing for reforms and the release of hundreds of political prisoners in Myanmar.

(Editing by Robert Birsel) http://uk.news.yahoo.com/myanmars-suu-kyi-calls-china-openness-amid-clampdown-124736186.html
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Police file whitewashes Depayin massacre
By DVB
Published: 30 May 2011

A police report following the infamous Depayin massacre in 2003 in which a convoy carrying Aung San Suu Kyi and her supporters was attacked claims that only four people died, far short of the 70 deaths estimated by observers.

The title of the 11-page internal report, seen by DVB, refers to “the disturbance” that took place on 30 May 2003 in Depayin town in Sagaing division, and comprises “accounts from 117 witnesses”, none of which are identified.

It claims that a number of slingshots and pellets were found in the car Suu Kyi, her driver and bodyguard were travelling in, which came under attack eight years ago today. The discovery of the weapons, it claimed, was proof that Suu Kyi knew her supporters were preparing to “attack the peaceful protesters” that had harassed her convoy over the previous month as it travelled around Burma.

It also refers to the Nobel laureate, who spent the subsequent seven years under house arrest for what the regime said was for her own security, as Daw Suu Kyi – considered a disparaging name among Burma’s pro-democracy movement.

The findings of the report contrast sharply with documentation of the incident over the eight years since it took place. Members of Suu Kyi’s convoy, the majority of whom were National League for Democracy (NLD) members, have recounted how upon arrival in Kyiywar village on the outskirts of Depayin township, hundreds of people armed with sticks and other weapons blocked the road.

Her driver at the time, Kyaw Soe Lin, told DVB in an exclusive interview last year that a mob carrying knives surrounded the vehicle, some of whom were wearing monk robes. A number of young NLD supporters who had tried to act as a shield between the car and the attackers were beaten to death.

Kyi Kyi Myint, who was travelling in the convoy at the time said that two monks had flagged down the car near to Kyiywar village and asked Suu Kyi to make a speech. “Just as this was happening, our car shook violently, and we saw about five or six vehicles coming with their headlights on,” she told DVB.

“The mob started beating up people including villagers from Kyiywar, kids and the elderly indiscriminately, killing two men on the spot.” Kyi Kyi Myint and two women in her car were also beaten. “They kept on with the beating and when the noises died down, one of their leaders shouted: ‘It’s all good men! They are all dead. Get back into the cars’.” People who then began to flee the scene were arrested.

The police report states however that upon seeing the mob blocking the road, the NLD convoy “came charging into the direction of the mob”. One of these was a pickup truck carrying Suu Kyi, it claimed.

The truck “ignored the mob” and “instead came in with increased speed”, forcing “all the people – abbots, monks and commission members – to dive off their chairs to avoid getting hit by the vehicle”. A second vehicle brushed past a motorbike, causing the driver to come off, and “a third vehicle following the second one ran over the motorbike driver. After that, the driver lost control and the vehicle came to stop when it hit a tree”.

A convoy of motorbikes then “aggressively rammed into the mob”, the police report says. Many people scarpered down nearby dirt tracks, “but the motorbikes followed them down there, still trying to hit them”.

“The people [referring to the mob] finally lost their temper and a riot, lasting for about 15 minutes, ensued.” Around 150 NLD supporters from Kyiywar village then arrived with weapons and began smashing the windows of minibuses that had carried the mob, which is referred to as the “anti-DSK mob”, shorthand for Daw Suu Kyi.

The police file quoted an anonymous Abbot who was reportedly witness to events at Depayin. “We were lucky to be alive given that her [Suu Kyi’s] car was driven very fast,” he said. “She is a very vile and rude woman [who is] trying to provoke a problem. Why don’t you just leave given that circumstances are out of control?”

The exact identity of the plain-clothed men who set upon the convoy has never been ascertained, although speculation has rested on members of the junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA), which last year became the now-ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party, or the notorious Swan Arr Shin militia.

The Hong Kong-based Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) said in a follow-up report to the UN Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) that it was “a well-organised and premeditated attack… planned in advance with the connivance of the highest authorities”, an evaluation supported by the Burma Lawyers’ Council.

Of the four people listed as dead in the police report, two are NLD members – Tin Maung Oo and Myint Soe – and two are “non-NLD members”. Three of these died from “injuries sustained from reckless driving”.

The Ad Hoc Commission formed of the Burma Lawyers’ Council and the National Council of the Union of Burma, said in a report dated 25 June 2003 that at least 70 people were killed by the 5000-strong mob that had gathered outside Kyiywar village.
http://www.dvb.no/news/police-file-whitewashes-depayin-massacre/15890
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Eight years after the tour that led to her arrest, Suu Kyi plans rural Myanmar visit
KELVIN CHAN
Hong Kong— The Associated Press
Published Monday, May. 30, 2011 8:30AM EDT

Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi said Monday she plans to tour rural Myanmar next month in her first trip into the provinces since a 2003 political tour ended in her lengthy house arrest.

“I hope to be able to travel out of Rangoon in the month of June, as soon as I have got rid of all the work that has piled up,” she said.
More related to this story

She said the authorities had not given her any “particular assurances” about security. She did not provide further details.

The Nobel Peace Prize laureate drew large crowds when she toured northern Myanmar, and her popularity rattled the military government. Exactly eight years ago Monday, supporters of the ruling junta ambushed her entourage. Several of her followers were killed, but she escaped, only to be arrested.

She was unconditionally released in November after Myanmar held a general election in which her party did not participate, calling the vote unfair. Ms. Suu Kyi's party won the last election in 1990 but was not allowed to govern. The junta officially disbanded since the November election, but the current government is still military dominated.

Ms. Suu Kyi spoke Monday via videolink to an audience at Hong Kong University, answering dozens of questions from students, alumni and reporters. She has been jailed or under house arrest for 15 of the last 21 years, and during the brief periods of freedom, she has not traveled outside Myanmar, fearing the military would not allow her to return.

She avoided criticizing China, an important backer of Myanmar's military-dominated government. Beijing provides the country crucial economic support, military assistance and diplomatic protection at the United Nations.

Myanmar could maintain neighborly relations with China while having a “friendship based on shared values of democracy” with Western countries, she said.

“I don't think we have to make it either-or. We can be friends with the West and we can be friends with China each in its own special way,” Ms. Suu Kyi said.

Western nations and groups critical of Myanmar's poor human rights record had made her freedom a key demand. They estimate the country still has more than 2,000 political prisoners, and a UN envoy said last week Myanmar has changed little since its stated transition to civilian rule.

Ms. Suu Kyi said her NLD party has tried hard to establish a relationship with China's government. But party members aren't even able to break the ice with Chinese diplomats at cocktail receptions, she said.

“Somehow they seem to be able to evade our people quite successfully. I wish they would talk to us,” she said.

Ms. Suu Kyi ended by answering a question on how she felt about the death of terror mastermind Osama bin Laden, who was killed by U.S. Navy SEALs in a secret raid on his hideout in Pakistan.

“With regards to the recent death of bin Laden, it just shows that violence ends with violence, and that there is too much violence already in our world and we've got to try do something about it.”
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/asia-pacific/eight-years-after-the-tour-that-led-to-her-arrest-suu-kyi-plans-rural-myanmar-visit/article2039578/
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Hunger strike spreads to remote jails
By AHUNT PHONE MYAT
Published: 30 May 2011

Influential monk Ashin Gambira is among a group of political prisoners in the remote Kale jail in northern Burma who began a hunger strike last week, only days after a similar protest in Rangoon’s Insein prison ended.

Four inmates there, including Ashin Gambira and 1990 MP-elect Nyi Pu, had addressed a letter earlier this month to Burma’s home affairs minister complaining that they were being denied adequate healthcare, food and the freedom to communicate with their families.

Khin Thu Htay, the sister of the monk, who is serving a 63-year sentence for his pivotal role in the September 2007 uprising, visited the prison over the weekend. She said that the lack of any response to the letter prompted inmates to begin the hunger strike on Friday.

“I inquired with guards at the prison’s gate if the situation has been solved and they said not yet,” said Khin Thu Htay. “Just as I was talking to them, a local police official and a Special Branch official arrived and apparently they were there to collect information about the hunger strike.

“[Ashin Gambira] said all political prisoners would stage a hunger strike together – so I know it wasn’t only him.”

Nearly 30 political prisoners in the notorious Insein prison in Rangoon joined a hunger strike last week, also in protest at conditions there, while reports are circulating today that inmates in Hkamti prison in far northern Burma are also refusing food.

The Insein strike began on 17 May, the day after Burmese President Thein Sein announced a controversial amnesty that saw only 50 political prisoners among nearly 17,000 inmates released in a countrywide commutation.

At least seven of the Insein protesters were placed in solitary confinement for several days before eventually returning to their cells on 26 May.

Ashin Gambira is no stranger to prison protests, which are often met with hefty punishment: previous demands he made for former junta chief Than Shwe to visit him in prison and begin dialogue were quickly dealt with by authorities, who filled his mouth with a cloth, taped him up and repeatedly beat him.

Thein Sein and the UN Human Rights Commission were among the would-be recipients of the letter from Kale jail, which includes requests for prisoners to be allowed reading books, radio and satellite television.

Burma is estimated to have around 200,000 prisoners in 43 jails across the country. Around 2,100 of its prison population are so-called political prisoners, a group that includes monks, journalists, lawyers and doctors. Kale prison lies close to Burma’s border with India, around 680 miles north of Rangoon, and houses more than 40 political prisoners.
http://www.dvb.no/news/hunger-strike-spreads-to-remote-jails/15878
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Myanmar opposition figure returns home after medical treatment
May 30, 2011, 12:56 GMT

Yangon - Outspoken Myanmar government critic U Win Tin returned home Monday after five days in hospital, his family said.

Win Tin, who is a senior adviser to opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and a founding member of her National League for Democracy, was hospitalized Thursday.

Win Tin served 19 years in prison for publishing anti-government propaganda to instigate civil disobedience.

Since his release in September 2008 he has been in poor health, suffering from both liver and heart problems.
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/asiapacific/news/article_1642381.php/Myanmar-opposition-figure-returns-home-after-medical-treatment
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Military Cronies Expand into Media
By KO HTWE Monday, May 30, 2011

Burma's top cronies are expanding into the media industry by starting new publications.

Nay Aung and Pyi Aung, the sons of the secretary of Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) Aung Thaung, and owners of the IGE Group of Companies, are planning to publish a business weekly. On top of controlling large-scale import-export concessions, IGE currently has investments in information technology and the energy sector.

Aung Thaung and his immediate family are on the EU and US visa blacklist and are listed as a target of EU sanctions. Pyi Aung is married to former Deputy Snr-Gen Maung Aye's daughter.

“I heard they will put more investment in the media industry,” said an editor of a Rangoon-based publication on the condition of anonymity. “They have offered journalists twice their current salary.”

IGE offered the editor-in-chief position of the Myanmar Wall Street, the proposed title of the forthcoming publication, to a Burmese economist and is currently filling other positions.

At the same time, the Htoo Group of Companies, owned by influential Burmese tycoon Tay Za, also plans to publish a journal. A source close to the company have outlined some details of the Htoo publication, but issues such as the inaugural issue’s date of publication have yet to be worked out.

“Htoo has already hired reporters,” said the source close to Htoo; however, he refused to give the names of reporters who have been extended offers.

Htoo has not confirmed plans for a new journal.

“By using media, the tycoon Tay Za wants to influence the public,” said Maung Wun Tha, a well-known Burmese writer and journalist. Maung Wun Tha also added that Tay Za is aware of the media’s utility, and plans to capitalize on the media’s advantages.

Meanwhile, US-sanctioned crony Zaw Zaw is reportedly planning to buy Myanmar Times in the near future.

“IGE, Htoo and Zaw Zaw involve ministers’ children, and they also have political intentions,” said the editor of the Rangoon-based publication, “Businessmen associated with the military are preparing to enter the next election, and they believe the media will be an effective force.”

There are an estimated 170 journals in Burma, several of which have close ties to the current regime. Myat Khaing, a close associate of Snapshot publisher and Minister of Information former Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan, publishes Monitor. Tin Tun Oo, a USDP member, publishes the Myanmar Times, Pyi Myanmar and Thadin Hlwar. Zaw Min Aye, the son of former Lt-Gen Tin Aye, publishes Messenger, and ex-Lt-Gen Win Myint’s family owns Popular. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21388

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