News & Articles on Burma-Tuesday, 08 March, 2011

News & Articles on Burma
Tuesday, 08 March, 2011
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Aung San Suu Kyi
China to start delayed Myanmar rail link this year
Sponsors Step In to Help Political Prisoners
Wary of Jasmine Fever, Junta to Expand Spying
“Nowhere to be Home”
Thailand to cooperate with neighbours on rice trade
Burmese angry at ‘KNLA enclave’
Civilians to dominate scrutiny body
Burmese Nobel laureate speaks to Berkeley audience by phone
Thailand tires of six-decade Karen conflict - Feature
Heroin use up as supply goes unchecked
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Aung San Suu Kyi
The Burmese pro-democracy leader who has inspired the world with her non-violent resistance to a brutal dictatorship

Sarah Brown
The Guardian, Tuesday 8 March 2011
Aung San Suu Kyi. Photograph: Getty Images

Burma's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi for me embodies one of life's most important lessons; you don't need to be fierce to be strong.

Throughout decades of humiliation, a long imprisonment and searing severance from her husband and children, the woman the Burmese affectionately call "Daw Suu" an honorific title given to revered women, has inspired the world with her campaign of non-violent resistance to one of the most brutal dictatorships the world has known. The courage to face down the military regime has come from her belief that, in the end, no junta is stronger than a people's yearning to be free.

The daughter of Aung San, the leader of Burma's struggle for independence, Aung San Suu Kyi originally returned to Burma from the family life she had built in Oxford to nurse her dying and beloved mother. Once there, she was swept up in the pro-democracy movement and with her insight, integrity and quiet charisma soon found herself general secretary of the National League for Democracy (NLD).

She did not enter politics for personal power, nor even in pursuit of an ideology. She is sustained by only one mission: the right of a people to govern themselves and the belief that democracy is the means by which free people deliberate about a shared future. Her commitment to the cause has been total, causing her to endure more than 15 years in detention and physical attacks on her and her supporters.

Because the junta fears Aung San Suu Kyi so much, she has lived for many years with threats to her life and has suffered beyond our imaginings. But perhaps the saddest sacrifice of all has been the enforced separation from her family. Her husband, Michael Aris, lived with their children in the UK and last saw her in 1995. After being diagnosed with prostate cancer he made a final appeal to be allowed to see her, but the junta replied that if they wished to be reunited, Aung San Suu Kyi would have to leave Burma, with every indication she would never be allowed to return. He died in 1999.

At the end of last year a new chapter in her struggle began when she was released from house arrest. It is typical of her that thoughts of celebration soon turned to plans to free the 2,100 remaining political prisoners in Burma. Her campaign works to free "the faces the regime wants you to forget".

This is a time to reflect not just on the women who inspire us, but also on the lot of women around the world. The Burmese regime has brutalised so many of its people, but perhaps its women most of all. Women bear the brunt of the extreme poverty the dictatorship's mismanagement has caused and are subjected to abuse, including the use of rape as a weapon of war.

Throughout all this, Aung San Suu Kyi, 65, has remained resolute for non-violence and has fought for the freedom of her people with a dignity that has entranced the world. Aung San Suu Kyi's amazing life offers a snapshot of heroism as we celebrate 100 years of women changing our world.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/08/aung-san-suu-kyi-women
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Mar 8, 2011
China to start delayed Myanmar rail link this year

The railway is part of a wide-ranging network that will connect south-west China with its Asian neighbours through a system of railways, roads, power grids, telecommunication networks, oil and gas pipelines and ports. -- PHOTO: AP

BEIJING - CONSTRUCTION of a rail link from China to Myanmar will likely start this year after being delayed by internal problems and mismatched gauges, the Chinese commerce minister said on Tuesday.

The railway is part of a wide-ranging network that will connect south-west China with its Asian neighbours through a system of railways, roads, power grids, telecommunication networks, oil and gas pipelines and ports.

'We originally wanted to start as soon as possible but because the (new) Myanmar government has just been formed and because of their internal problems, we have had to wait,' said Commerce Minister Chen Deming.

Myanmar held the country's first election in 20 years in November - a carefully choreographed vote denounced by pro-democracy parties as rigged to preserve authoritarian rule.

China has close trade and economic ties with Myanmar, which is subject to wide-ranging Western sanctions.

'We want to start construction this year and it (the Myanmar link) will be the first line to open,' Mr Chen said at a meeting of the Yunnan provincial delegation on the sidelines of China's annual meeting of parliament. -- REUTERS http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Asia/Story/STIStory_642768.html
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Sponsors Step In to Help Political Prisoners
By MIN NAING THU Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Some 500 new sponsors have stepped in to assist political prisoners affiliated with the National League for Democracy (NLD) under an initiative promoted by party leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

“The NLD started a new political prisoner assistance program on Burmese Independence Day [Jan. 4],” said party spokesperson Ohn Kyaing. “Party members, including Aung San Suu Kyi, took part in a lottery to assign sponsors to individual political prisoners. Since then, we've received more and more sponsors from both inside the country and abroad.”

The NLD says about 600 of its members are being held at prisons around the country. On Jan. 4, at its Rangoon headquarters, it held the draw, which included selecting a small broach clipped to a photograph of each NLD prisoner of conscience, to whom the sponsor would pledge to donate about US $5 a month, enough to feed and supply basic amenities, such as toiletries.

"On the first day of lottery, about 100 sponsors made pledges toward individual prisoners,” said Ohn Kyaing. “Since then, more donors have stepped forward, including several people abroad who asked us to sponsor a prisoner on their behalf. In fact, now we have only 20 political prisoners awaiting sponsorship.”

The NLD first began a program to assist its members in prison back in 1993. The pro-democracy party generally provides around 5,000 kyat [$5.60] per month to each political prisoner.

While the NLD have some 600 members to provide for, Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma) says there area total of more than 2,200 political prisoners nationwide.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy, Ashin Zawana, the spokesperson for the International Burmese Monk Organization (IBMO), said, “We just released a list of 25 imprisoned monks who have had no outside support. We request assistance for them. They should not be forgotten as they sacrificed themselves in the Saffron Revolution for the wellbeing of their fellow man. Donations can be made anonymously or openly.”

He said the 25 imprisoned monks are not listed with either the NLD or the AAPP, probably because the regime sentenced them under criminal law rather than political acts.

To date, the IBMO says it has received sponsorship for eight monks.

Following a gathering with Suu Kyi and the families of political prisoners on Nov. 29, shortly after the Nobel Peace Prize laureate was released from house arrest, more people became interested in donating to the political prisoners program in Mandalay Division, according to the NLD.

NLD Mandalay Division organizer Ko Ko Lay said, “People heard about it on the radio, and quickly came to our office or contacted us. Since then, we have received several more donations.”

There are currently 41 NLD political prisoners in Mandalay Division. Each of them receive 5,000 kyat plus another 5,000 kyat from another political prisoners assistance program led by Ko Ko Lay.

The Burmese community of Los Angeles, USA, recently rallied and collected sponsorship for 200 political prisoners. The Burmese community in Singapore said it plans to do likewise.

“The Burmese community in Singapore has assisted political prisoners before,” said an organizer from the Burmese community. “Now we plan to sponsor 30 political prisoners by covering their monthly needs.”

The Burmese regime has continuously denied that there are any political prisoners in Burma.

Two motions at the Nationalities' Assembly calling for a blanket amnesty for political prisoners and Burmese exiles have so far failed to gain a response from the government.http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=20896
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Wary of Jasmine Fever, Junta to Expand Spying
By WAI MOE Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Although the “Jasmine Revolution” uprisings taking place in the Arab world have not directly affected Burma, the military regime in Naypyidaw is reportedly planning to bring back the National Intelligence Bureau (NIB) and expand overall intelligence services in order to suppress similar mass anti-government movements.

Military sources said that with the Jasmine Revolution now spreading to China, the junta is concerned that the attempt by pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi to form a “people’s network” could spark mass protests in Burma. As a result, the regime will reinstitute the NIB and increase intelligence services in 2011, the sources said.

The decision to bring back the National Intelligence Bureau came during a meeting between the top six members of the junta led by Snr-Gen Than Shwe. (Photo: AP)
The decision to bring back the NIB—which had been abolished in 2004 after NIB chairman Gen Khin Nyunt and members of his Military Intelligence Service were purged by fellow military officers—came during a meeting between the top six members of the junta: Snr-Gen Than Shwe, Vice Snr-Gen Maung Aye, ex Gen Thura Shwe Mann, ex Gen Thein Sein and ex Lt-Gen Tin Aye, sources said.

Like the old NIB, the new bureau will include Military Affairs Security (formerly known as Military Intelligence) and other intelligence services such as the Special Branch and the Bureau of Special Investigation under the Ministry of Home Affairs and several other ministries related to administrative and security issues.

Following the lead of the mass uprisings in the Arab world, some Burmese activists operating both inside and outside the country recently began a social media campaign against military rule in Burma. The campaign launched a Facebook page called “Just Do It” on Feb.13, the birthday of the late Burmese independence hero Aung San—who was Suu Kyi’s father.

Nearly a month after the Just Do It campaign commenced, some Internet users in Rangoon, Mandalay and other cities are complaining that the Internet speed is slower than before. Some believe Burmese authorities have slowed down the Internet to deter social media driven anti-government movements such as Just Do It.

“It is usual that government agencies survey wire networks in the country, particularly since 2007 [when the monk-led Saffron Revolution uprising occurred]. However, these days there is tightened surveillance at Internet cafes and Yadanapon Cyber City [which oversees Internet traffic in and out of the country],” said a Burmese IT technician from Yadanapon City.

Also as a result of the Arab uprisings, Naypyidaw reportedly plans to put more military officials or former military officials in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to make sure that Burmese diplomats do not follow the lead of Libyan diplomats.

“It is bad news for all civilian staffers of the ministry. It seems civilian staff cannot be promoted to high ranking positions within the ministry,” said a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official in the capital.

Meanwhile, military sources said the reported extra-constitutional “Supreme Council” headed by Than Shwe has been formed. The office of the council is located near the pagoda in Naypyidaw that has the same design as Rangoon’s famous Shwedagon Pagoda.

Sources said that once the new government becomes active, President Thein Sein, who is a member of the Supreme Council, will report to the council over security and administrative matters. Than Shwe will then give Thein Sein instructions about carrying out the junta chief’s plans and projects for the country.

Apart from Than Shwe and Thein Sein, other council members are Maung Aye, Shwe Mann, Tin Aye and two other generals.

“One of the reasons behind the Supreme Council is to calm potential power struggles between top generals after the new government lineup is in place,” said a military officer in Naypyidaw.

While the authorities are concerned about potential mass unrest in the country, they are still struggling to handle inflation in commodity prices. Burmese consumers have been facing sustained food price hikes since mid-February, which observers say is partially related to the junta’s reported plan to significantly increase government salaries.

“The rest of the people are not interested in the ongoing Hluttaw [parliament] meetings or what is going on in Naypyidaw.
They are suffering from the increasing food prices,” said a business reporter with a Rangoon business weekly.

Last week, a 49-kg broken-rice pack increased to 12,500 kyat (US $14.20) from the previous price of 11,000 kyat ($12.50), while good quality rice increased to 36,500 kyat ($ 41.47) per pack, up from 31,000 kyat ($ 35.22).

Businessmen in Rangoon said that despite government efforts to bring commodity prices back to normal levels, they have still not returned to early February prices.

Aung Thet Wine, a Rangoon-based correspondent for The Irrawaddy, also contributed to this story.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=20895
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“Nowhere to be Home”
By MA SU MON Tuesday, March 8, 2011

This month, Voice of Witness releases the book Nowhere to be Home: Narratives from Survivors of Burma’s Military Regime. Nowhere to be Home is a powerful collection of first-person testimonies from Burmese people who have been affected by the repression of Burma’s military regime. The testimonies were compiled and edited by writers Maggie Lemere and Zoë West. The book is the seventh title in the Voice of Witness series, and will be available in the US on March 15th, 2011. To learn more about the book and the work of Voice of Witness, visit www.voiceofwitness.org. The Irrawaddy has been given access to excerpts of some of those testimonies. This week, we feature Ma Su Mon.

MA SU MON’S STORY

Ma Su Mon became involved in Burma’s democracy movement in 1996, when the ruling military junta shut down all of the nation’s universities for four years. She began studying at the National League for Democracy office, where she met “Auntie”—Daw Aung San Suu Kyi—and was inspired to become a full youth member of the opposition group. As a result of her involvement with the NLD, Ma Su Mon was arrested by military intelligence officers and taken to Insein Prison, where she was subjected to cruel treatment, deprived of adequate food, and held in solitary confinement for eleven months. She was twenty-two years old. Since her release, she has become a journalist and is now living in Thailand, where she is pursuing her master’s degree in communications and a career in journalism.

When I became a full member of the NLD, I was just doing very simple things at first. But things changed after March 13, 2000, when we celebrated Human Rights Day in Burma. The NLD had a ceremony for Myanmar Human Rights Day, and we also had a poetry and picture competition. I wrote about my university experience in Burma, about how I was very worried about not being able to continue my education. I wrote that the military government’s oppression made me want to fully participate in the political movement; I realized that politics was the new university in my life. My poem won and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi handed me the prize at the ceremony.

We were really busy that month. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was traveling to our towns to help set up networks of NLD members and to assign student leader positions. Each town had three top youth leaders—first leader, second leader, and third leader. I was chosen to be the third leader in my town.

We knew that we could get arrested, so some of my friends didn’t stay at their family’s homes. I knew that something would happen to us when our leaders gave us those positions, but I didn’t think it would happen so soon. Soon the government started arresting all the members, and then they came to my house.

They just entered my room and started searching everywhere. They found some papers—some official statements and the document from when I won the poetry prize. They took everything. I was really afraid at the time, really nervous. I couldn’t stand on my two feet.

It took about twenty-five minutes for the military officers to collect all of my papers. They had my mom and the local township authorities sign a paper saying they knew and approved that they were taking me from my home. They blindfolded me, and they were very rough when they put me in the car.

When they took me to the military intelligence compound, there were maybe a hundred people there who had been arrested and brought in for interrogation. I could see the others—some of my friends had been arrested—but we couldn’t talk to each other. The MI officers said, “If you sign this paper, you can go back home right now.” The paper said, “I will not be involved in any kind of political movement. I will not participate any more in politics. I will not support this any more.” Some of my friends signed the paper, but I never signed it. It would be shameful for me, because I could not promise that.

After I said I would not sign, they divided us all into two groups. They put hoods over our heads, like they do for people getting the death sentence. We couldn’t see anything. Then they put our group in a police van, the kind with the bars. There were so many people we couldn’t even breathe. We couldn’t see each other, we didn’t know who was who. Maybe the trip took just a minute, but it felt like an hour until they opened the door of the van. They had sent us to Insein Prison, the biggest prison in our country.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=20894
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Thailand to cooperate with neighbours on rice trade
By PETCHANET PRATRUANGKRAI
THE NATION
Published on March 9, 2011

Meanwhile, the Thai government will directly purchase 2 million tonnes of paddy rice from farmers on March 16 as part of its strategy to shore up rice prices.

A senior source from the ministry said Thailand would tighten cooperation on rice trading with Burma and Cambodia by help them export rice overseas. However, the country will not import their rice to the Kingdom, but will set up polishing plants in border provinces, as Thailand has high expertise in rice polishing.

"Many Vietnamese and other foreign rice traders have tried to purchase rice from Burma and Cambodia, as it is good-quality but low-priced. Thailand will help both nations develop their rice polishing and exports to emphasise Thailand as a centre of rice trading," said the source.

The Cambodian government has called for Thailand's cooperation to halt decreases in its rice price after traders from Vietnam purchased rice from that country at very low prices. Cooperation with Thailand should increase the bargaining power for Cambodian farmers and traders, the source said.

Chookiat Ophaswongse, honourable president of the Thai Rice Exporters Association, has supported the government's plan to tighten cooperation with Burma and Cambodia. However, the government must ensure that it will prevent Thai rice seeds getting mixed up with other seeds, as that would destroy the reputation of Thai rice as having the best quality.

In addition, he said the government should concentrate on development of the quality of Thai rice and on reducing production costs rather than increasing its price guarantee.

Chookiat said the rice price had dropped slightly because of increased supply from Vietnam. Thai rice farmers will only enjoy a short-term benefit from increasing the guaranteed price of rice. The government should seek ways to help farmers reduce their costs of production and increase yield per rai in the long run.

The association reported the export price for 5-per-cent Thai white rice had dropped slightly from US$520-$530 a tonne last week to $510 (Bt15,490) a tonne this week. http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home/2011/03/09/business/Thailand-to-cooperate-with-neighbours-on-rice-trad-30150402.html
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Burmese angry at ‘KNLA enclave’
By DVB
Published: 8 March 2011

Burma’s continued refusal to reopen a key border crossing and trading point to western Thailand is down to what it sees as Thailand’s hosting of anti-Burmese government armed groups, the Tak governor has claimed.

The Friendship Bridge connecting Karen state’s Myawaddy town to Thaland’s Mae Sot closed in July last year, with initial speculation that Naypyidaw was protesting perceived attempts by Thailand to re-route the Moei river, which divides the two countries.

But that claim has been rubbished by the governor of Tak province, of which Mae Sot is a principal town. Samart Loifah told Deutsche-Presse Agentur (DPA) that Burma believed Mae Sot and the surrounding area had become a second home for members of the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) and its political wing, the Karen National Union (KNU).

“The main problem is that Myanmar [Burma] does not see the refugees in Tak as refugees,” he told DPA. “They see them as hidden KNU supporters. This is why they refuse to open the bridge.”

The KNLA has been fighting against the Burmese government for nearly six decades in what is perhaps the world’s most protracted civil war. A number of KNLA bases lie in the mountainous region along the porous frontier with Thailand where cross-border movement is easy.

This factor, as well as Thailand’s once lauded open-door policy for refugees, has led to hundreds of thousands of refugees crossing into Thailand to escape regular fighting in Karen state. Nearly 150,000 live in camps along the border, while thousands more are scattered in unofficial locations along the river. According to Loifah, the Burmese junta believes supporters of the insurgency lie among these.

Thailand’s Foreign Trade Department estimated in October last year that around $US3 million was being lost each day due to the closure of the bridge, the main land-crossing between the two countries. In 2009 trade through Mae Sot was worth about $US860 million, nearly a quarter of the total annual bilateral trade.

Perhaps as a result of the bridge’s closure, as well as attempts by Thailand to curry favour with the junta in return for winning lucrative investment contracts, Thai policy toward refugees has become stricter, and some 10,000 Karen who fled earlier this year have been forced to find shelter in makeshift camps along the river, with little access to food and healthcare.
http://www.dvb.no/news/burmese-angry-at-%E2%80%98knla-enclave%E2%80%99/14637
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Civilians to dominate scrutiny body
By AHUNT PHONE MYAT
Published: 8 March 2011

A new committee tasked with scrutinising decisions made by Burma’s new parliament will consist wholly of civilian MPs, signalling a break from recent weeks which have seen the military’s political clout increasingly permeating key government bodies.

The Government’s Guarantees, Pledges and Undertakings Vetting Committee is the fourth and final parliamentary body to be formed, as dictated by the constitution. Fifteen civilians will make up the membership, among them Dr Aye Maung, who heads the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party (RNDP) and who was voted to chair the new committee.

The RNDP came fourth in the elections, having surprised the pro-junta Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) in many constituencies in the country’s western Arakan state.

What may surprise observers is the elevation of a so-called opposition politician, or at least one that is not allied to the ruling junta, to a senior position in a body dedicated to examining whether any suspicious behaviour is evident in the policy-making process.

Political corruption and favouritism is rife in Burma, which has been under military rule for nearly five decades, and the junta’s repeated assertions that it is transitioning to civilian rule and “disciplined democracy” have been met with widespread doubt.

Of the 15 members voted to the committee, eight are from the USDP and the remaining seven from a mixture of junta-backed and opposition parties, including the All Mon Region Democratic Party (AMRDP) and the Shan Nationalities Democratic Party (SNDP). A USDP member will be president of the committee.

Burma’s parliament is dominated by members of the pro-junta Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), which won 80 percent of the vote in last November’s elections and who are likely receive the tacit support of the 388 military personnel – comprising a quarter of the seats – who were appointed prior to the vote.

A significant proportion of the USDP’s upper ranks were once military, but shed their uniforms last year in order to compete in the polls. Many of these have been promoted to senior positions in a number of ministries and committees, despite assertions by the ruling junta that Burma’s is transitioning to civilian rule.

In contrast to a number of other ministries and committees, however, none of the Government’s Guarantees, Pledges and Undertakings Vetting Committee members have military backgrounds, although the majority USDP will likely sway any vote in favour of the pro-junta stance.

The three other committees already formed are Bill Committee, Public Accounts Committee and Hluttaw Rights Committee. The constitution however includes a clause allowing for the creation of a Defence and Security Committee, which it says will come into force “when the occasion arises to have studies made and submitted on defence and security matters or military affairs”.
http://www.dvb.no/news/civilians-to-dominate-scrutiny-body/14632
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Burmese Nobel laureate speaks to Berkeley audience by phone
By Matt O'Brien
Oakland Tribune
Posted: 03/07/2011 09:52:42 PM PST
Updated: 03/07/2011 10:30:51 PM PST

BERKELEY -- Speaking for the first time to a Bay Area audience, Burmese pro-democracy leader and Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi had an intimate conversation Monday night with an auditorium full of supporters at UC Berkeley.

She spoke by telephone from 8,000 miles away, in the Myanmar city of Yangon, answering questions from students and Burmese refugees over a faint connection for more than 45 minutes.

"What the people of Burma want is to be able to live not just in security, but with dignity," the 65-year-old political leader said.

Military rulers in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, released Suu Kyi in November after keeping her under house arrest for 15 of the past 21 years.

The newfound freedom has allowed Suu Kyi, who advocates a nonviolent path to democratizing her tightly controlled homeland, to jump back into political activism and connect with her legion of supporters abroad.

She was the guest Monday night of a student-run class on Burmese politics. Students said Suu Kyi agreed to speak to their 30-person class, but when word got out to the larger Burmese community in the Bay Area, they decided to make the event public.

Suu Kyi spoke frankly about what she called the lack of competence of Myanmar's ruling authorities, but said they could improve the country by trying to win the people's respect "rather than to crush them."

"Democracy is something for them as well as all of the people in Burma," she
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said. "It's not an us-versus-them situation."

Students lined up to ask Suu Kyi questions, as did a handful of the thousands of Burmese immigrants who have immigrated to the Bay Area after fleeing political repression in their homeland. They asked her about her life, her family, her views on worldwide and Burmese conflicts and if her gender was ever an obstacle in a country ruled by military men.

"The people in general do not seem to mind that I am not a man," she answered.

Union City resident Saw Myatmar, a former political prisoner in Myanmar, broke down in tears after Suu Kyi appeared to recognize her voice.

Her clearest message was to local students whose families fled Myanmar when they were children.

"You should not forget your roots. It will enrich you," she said. "I would not like you to forget Burma."

She added that Burmese living in the United States can build networks to raise money to help impoverished people suffering in Myanmar.

"I would like you to do something practical in addition to giving us your moral support," she said.
http://www.contracostatimes.com/bay-area-news/ci_17561251?nclick_check=1
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Thailand tires of six-decade Karen conflict - Feature
Posted : Tue, 08 Mar 2011 03:14:59 GMT
Category : Asia (World)

Mae Sot, Thailand - The Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge has been closed to traffic since July 12, an indication that not all is well in the Thai-Myanmar relationship.

Myanmar's military regime closed the bridge to tourism and trade eight months ago, claiming that Thailand was deliberately trying to alter the course of the Moei River, which defines the common border, with construction of an embarkment on their side.

Thai authorities said the real reason for the closure was Myanmar's conviction that Mae Sot, a border town in the north-western province of Tak, is an enclave for the Karen National Union (KNU), possibly the world's oldest insurgency.

Mae Sot has a long history of close ties with the Karen, an ethnic minority group that has been fighting Myanmar governments for semi-autonomy in the Karen State since 1949.

Former KNU leader Bo Mya built Mae Sot's Porvor Hospital, in which he died on Christmas Eve 2006.

The town and the surrounding territories have provided sanctuary for tens of thousands of Karen refugees fleeing fighting in their homeland since the early 1980s, when Myanmar's army launched a determined offensive to wipe out the Karen National Liberation Army, the military arm of the KNU.

There are currently about 150,000 Karen refugees living in temporary camps in Tak and other Thai border provinces.

"The main problem is that Myanmar does not see the refugees in Tak as refugees," Tak Governor Samart Loifah said. "They see them as hidden KNU supporters. This is why they refuse to open the bridge."

The Thai government, which for decades used the Karen and other ethnic rebel groups to form buffer zones between themselves and Thailand's traditional enemy Myanmar, is now changing its stance on the Karen.

For instance, there are an estimated 11,000 Karen refugees on the border now who have fled recent fighting but who have been denied entry to Thailand and refused food and medical care, according to border relief workers.

The Back Pack Health Worker Team, a non-governmental organization based in Mae Sot, is providing aid to the new arrivals despite the government's prohibition.

Mahn Mahn, executive director of the group, blamed Thailand's get-tough stance on the refugees on three mega-projects involving Thai investors.

In November, Myanmar granted a leading Thai construction company rights to build a deep-sea port and related infrastructure in Dawei, Taninthayi State - an area traditionally controlled by the Karen.

The regime has also approved the construction of the Haigyi dam project on the Salween River, northern Karen State, to supply power to the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand.

And then there is the Asia Highway project, which is destined to pass through Mae Sot to Myawaddy, on the Myanmar side, over the Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge, if it is ever opened again.

"All these projects will help the Myanmar military to destroy the ethnic groups here, especially the KNU and KNLA," Mahn Mahn said.

Besides big business interests, recent political developments in Myanmar have had an obvious impact on Thai-Myanmar relations, to the detriment of Thai-Karen relations.

Although far from free and fair, Myanmar did hold a general election on November 7, and six days later it freed Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, a gesture Western democracies have been demanding for years.

In Mae Sot, the polling was marred by fighting across the border in Myawaddy.

The clash was started by General Saw Lah Pwe, leader of the 5th Brigade of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), a breakaway faction of the KNLA. He allegedly attacked the city to protest the election.

The DKBA was previously allied to the Myanmar army. Saw Lah Pwe's rebellion appeared to have more to do with his refusal to accept the Myanmar junta's demand that he transform his 5th Brigade into a border guard force under their control, than with concerns over the election, observers said.

Much of the fighting in the Karen State over the past three months can be traced to the Myawaddy incident that put the Myanmar army back on the offensive.

"I just see Thailand losing a lot from this border situation," Tak Governor Samart said. "First, Myanmar is suspicious of us, and second, Thais lose out economically with the bridge closed."

The Karen are likely losers too, since Thailand has been their only safe refuge for the past six decades of war.

But long-time observers of the Karen struggle remain optimistic.

"You have had periods over the past 20 years when things looked even grimmer for the Karen," said Desmond Ball, professor of strategic studies at the Australian National University and author of numerous papers on the Karen. "I don't think this is worse than some of those periods."

Author : Peter Janssen http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/370688,karen-conflict-feature.html
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Heroin use up as supply goes unchecked
By MIN LWIN
Published: 8 March 2011

More young people are becoming addicted to heroin in Burma’s northernmost Kachin state as authorities fail to clamp down on dealers, sources in several towns have warned.

Males between the ages of 17 and 40 were among the most affected,s aid a resident of Mogaung town, which lies just west of the Kachin capital, Myitkyina. Other towns suffering rising rates of addiction were Mohnyin, Myitkyina and Hpakant, he added.

“The kids are so ruined,” the man said. “Everyone, from students aged around 18 to even farmers, are addicted to heroin. They were only trying it out at the beginning but now are addicted.”

He continued that most addicts were injecting the drug, a cheaper method despite the health risks. One intra-venous hit, he said, cost around 1000 kyat ($US1), while smoking through a pipe costs up to 4000 kyat ($US4.50).

A group of heroin dealers were reportedly arrested last month in Mohnyin by the government’s Anti-Drugs Task Force (ADTF) but later released on bail. The man said they had quickly got back to dealing.

Assertions by the Burmese government that it is stamping out the country’s lucrative drugs trade have been widely doubted: the US released a report last week saying that Burma had “demonstrably failed” to halt the trade of heroin and its derivative, opium, whilst statistics showed that in-country production of methamphetamine continues to rise.

The report was followed by an announcement in the state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper that 15,021 acres of poppy fields were destroyed in 2010-2011, 411 of which were in Kachin state. Regardless, however, criticism continues to abound.

“The government is the main culprit for this,” said the Mogaung resident. “The government is the first to blame and the dealers the second. They are openly selling drugs on a tray.”

He claimed that dealers paid monthly bribes of up to 400,000 kyat ($US450) to government officials, including the ANTF.

Two years ago the Kachin News Group released an alarming report claiming that a significant number of students at the once prestigious Myitkyina University in Kachin state had fallen victim to drug addiction, notably heroin, with dealers initially luring students in with free samples.

Until the late 1990s and the explosion in Afghan heroin, Burma had held the distinction of being the world’s leading source of the narcotic, with the ethnic United Wa State Army producing hundreds of thousands of tonnes each year.

A report released last year by the Thailand-based Shan Drug Watch claimed that junta-backed militias had taken over ethnic armies as Burma’s main drugs’ producers, with the product finding its way to neighbouring Thailand and China.
http://www.dvb.no/news/heroin-use-up-as-supply-goes-unchecked/14642

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