News & Articles on Burma-Monday, 23 May, 2011

News & Articles on Burma
Monday, 23 May, 2011
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Letter from Burma: Travelers
UN envoy: Burma does little to stop rights abuse
Myanmar seeks to improve US ties
Myanmar president plans first state visit to China
UN envoy says inquiry needed over rights abuses by Myanmar
UN envoy: Myanmar does little to stop rights abuse
Burma refugees living in Thai jungle fear
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Letter from Burma: Travelers

Truman Capote's inimitable heroine Holly Golightly, that most worldly of waifs, kept her possessions in suitcases with luggage tags that, in place of an address, bore the single word, "Traveling". I was barely out of my teens when I first came across this original approach to abode and I thought it was wonderful and adventurous and interpreted it purely in terms of physical movement.

This perception was strengthened after I was married as Michael's dedication to Himalayan studies frequently took us to remote parts of the world and kept us on the move. Whenever we came back from our long journeys I was surprised to find that many of our friends were still at their old addresses. The peripatetic way of life seemed, to us, the normal one. Even after both our sons were born, travel remained an integral part of our existence. The last three years before I became caught up in the movement for democracy in Burma, our homes moved between England, Japan and India.

Lives that have been described as journeys are, in general, eventful. The mere passing of ordinary days are not usually seen as worthy of the term "travel." Events that have been smoothed featureless by repetition enter into glacier mode, the slow movement frozen into apparent standstill. It is only stillness itself that sharpens our senses to the ebb and flow of the universe around us.

It was during my years of house arrest that I began to know life as travel rather than travel as life. The sameness of my daily routine heightened my sensitivity to the fleetness of time and to the dissimilarity between every single one of the minutes and the hours that made up the mosaic of each fast paced day. Impermanence ceased to be mere philosophy, it became fact, the stuff of daily life, the appearing and disappearing of moments that turned into weeks and months and years.

Regular practice of meditation no doubt did much to sharpen such awareness. As I consciously crossed over from one state of consciousness to another I began to feel that my permanent address was indeed "Traveling." I learnt to assess my "baggage" from time to time that I might discard whatever should be discarded. Since I knew I would always be traveling, I wanted to travel light.

The sense that I was on a long errantry through time and through samsara, like a character out of a fantasy tale, made me feel I could reach out to fellow travelers despite high gates, barbed wire barricades and endless miles. Surely they who are aware that they are on a journey even if they do not know where it would lead and when it would end are linked to one another by an understanding that transcends language and culture as well as time and space? Those who travel uncharted territory develop mutual empathy based on common experience of the hazards of venturing into the unknown with only faith and daring as shield and armor.

My colleagues and I have traveled a rough road over the last two decades and when we see the people of Japan embarking on the uphill path of one of the most challenging rehabilitation and reconstruction programs the world has ever known, we not only sympathize deeply with them, we fervently wish them all success. We want them to overcome all trials and difficulties as we wish to overcome our own trials and difficulties.

The National League for Democracy has had to ride out many waves of repression. In the worst of times we started each day by enquiring who had been taken away in the night. Mondays were particularly bad as the security forces liked to go about their sinister business during the weekends when it was difficult for the members of our party to contact one another. The telephones at our office and my house had been cut off for years and from time to time the telephones of our most active colleagues were also made inoperative. Those were the days before the advent of the cell phone, may it be many times blessed, and we had to send our young people running around collecting information on those who had been whisked away when by all norms of justice and decency they should have been left to sleep peacefully in their own beds.

What enabled us to get through those days of unrelenting persecution with our sanity and even our sense of humor intact? It was our strong sense of solidarity. It straightened our backs and kept us going however heavy the oppression. We offer our solidarity to the peoples of the devastated regions of Japan, we are with you as you travel the road to recovery and renewal.

Trying to decide on the subject of this month's letter, I asked myself: at such a time is there a place for any writing that is not relevant to the chief preoccupation of Japan today? Or would an article that has nothing to do with the tsunami or its aftermath be a welcome change for weary people? Last month I decided to postpone Animal Talk 2, as I did not think that ruminations on animals would have been appropriate at such a time of crisis. "Next month," I thought. Now that "next month" has become this month, I still hesitate: is it yet appropriate? Then it occurred to me that it would be good if I could have some idea of what the Japanese people would like to read at a time like this. Could my readers let me know how best my letters might be of some help to them? (By Aung San Suu Kyi)
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/perspectives/news/20110523p2a00m0na001000c.html
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UN envoy: Burma does little to stop rights abuse
By AP News May 23, 2011 6:59PM UTC

BANGKOK (AP) — The United Nations’ human rights envoy to Burma said Monday that the country’s nascent civilian government has done little to address widespread abuses, including forced labor and extrajudicial killings, since replacing the ruling junta in March.

Elections last year for a new parliament and the installation of civilian leaders this spring were supposed to be the final steps of what Burma’s military leaders had hailed as their “roadmap to democracy.” But U.N. envoy Tomas Ojea Quintana told reporters in Bangkok that “democracy requires much more.”

Burma’s government is currently refusing to allow Quintana to visit the Southeast Asian nation. The envoy spoke after a weeklong trip to Thailand to talk with refugees from Burma. Thailand is home to more than 100,000 people who have fled the neighboring country.

Quintana said violence continues along Burma’s eastern border region, and ethnic minority groups there are victims of “land confiscation, forced labor, internal displacement, extrajudicial killings and sexual violence.”

These abuses “are widespread, they continue today, and they remain essentially unaddressed by the authorities,” Quintana said.

In Burma’s eastern Kayah state, for example, both men and women have fled out of fear of being conscripted into the military, he said. There is such a deficit of schools there that some parents send their children to refugee camps in Thailand for basic education, he added.

Ethnic groups living in the eastern and northern border areas have sought more autonomy since Burma’s independence in 1948, and the government maintains uneasy cease-fires with them. Human rights organizations have long accused the military of forcing civilians into forced labor, particularly as porters.

The military has ruled Burma with an iron hand since 1962, and critics charge the new government is merely the latest iteration of the repressive regime.

Last week, Washington’s deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Joseph Yun, also expressed concern about the new government’s human rights policies.

The Burma Times, meanwhile, quoted Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin as urging Yun to refer to the country as Burma rather than Burma.

The former junta changed the country’s name from Burma to Burma in 1989, but many regime opponents and pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi still call the country by its former name.

The paper quoted the minister as telling Yun: “You might think this is a small matter, but the use of ‘Burma’ is a matter of national integrity. … Using the correct name of the country shows equality and mutual respect.”

The U.S. Embassy in Burma declined to comment on the report.
http://asiancorrespondent.com/55564/un-envoy-burma-does-little-to-stop-rights-abuse/
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GULF TIMES
Latest Update: Monday23/5/2011May, 2011, 02:18 AM Doha Time
Myanmar seeks to improve US ties

Myanmar has told the US it will not accept preconditions to improve relations, saying sanctions imposed by Washington remain the biggest obstacle to better ties, a report said yesterday.

“We would like to urge the US to build mutual trust in the first place and only then will we be able to frankly discuss ways of promoting the relationship between the two countries,” Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin was quoted as saying by the weekly Myanmar Times.

The minister was speaking on Wednesday to Joseph Yun, deputy US assistant secretary of state for East Asia and Pacific Affairs, in the highest-level meeting between the two nations since the advent of a nominally civilian government.

The newspaper quoted a transcript from the talks in the capital Naypyidaw that was released by the office of President Thein Sein, suggesting the new government is pursuing a more sophisticated communications policy.

Myanmar would “not accept any preconditions to promote bilateral relations,” Wunna Maung Lwin said, citing US sanctions as the main obstacle towards achieving closer ties.

The US therefore needs to show “goodwill” towards Myanmar, he said, also calling on Washington to use the country’s official name of Myanmar, which it rejects in favour of the former name of Burma. AFP
http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=436417&version=1&template_id=44&parent_id=24
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Myanmar president plans first state visit to China

May 23, 2011, 4:40 GMT

Yangon - Myanmar President Thein Sein is to travel to China this week, his first state visit since taking office on March 30, state media reported Monday.

Thein Sein will be in China Thursday to Saturday at the invitation of President Hu Jintao, the New Light of Myanmar reported.

A Chinese delegation was the first foreign group to meet with the former general after he took office.

The leader of the pro-military Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) that won the November 7 general election has replaced Senior General Than Shwe, junta chief from 1992 to 2011, as the new head of state.

Thein Sein's first trip abroad as president was earlier this month when he joined the summit of the Association of South-East Asian Nations in Jakarta.

China is military-run Myanmar's strongest ally, and recently became the South-East Asian nation's largest private investor.

State-run Chinese firms are investing heavily in infrastructure projects, such as a 1,000 kilometre-long pipeline from Rakhine state on Myanmar's coast to Yunnan province in southern China.

China has provided Myanmar with a 2.4-billion-dollar loan to construct the pipeline.

Myanmar was ruled by military juntas from 1988, and before that by a military-socialist regime, starting in 1962.

Although now under an elected government, Western democracies had condemned the November 7 polls for failing to include the National League for Democracy opposition party led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and for favouring the victory of the USDP.

The USDP is packed with ex-miliary men and ministers who served under the junta. Some 82 per cent of the new ministers are either former or active military men.
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/asiapacific/news/article_1640787.php/Myanmar-president-plans-first-state-visit-to-China
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UN envoy says inquiry needed over rights abuses by Myanmar

May 23, 2011, 10:57 GMT

Bangkok - A United Nations commission of inquiry should be set up to address Myanmar's human rights abuses which have not stopped under the new government, a senior UN official said Monday.

Tomas Ojea Quintana, the UN special rapporteur on human rights, said the Myanmar military has continued to commit widespread human rights abuses in areas with ethnic minority insurgencies along the border with Thailand, which he visited last week.

'These abuses include land confiscation, forced labour, internal displacement, extrajudicial killings and sexual violence,' Quintana said.

Quintana has not been issued a visa to visit Myanmar since March 2010, when he suggested an inquiry.

His latest assessment follows the November 7 election won by the pro-military Union Solidarity and Development Party. Quintana said he would continue to push the UN General Assembly to set up a commission at its next session in October.

'A commission of inquiry is an option, and I'm not dropping it,' Quintana told a press conference.

The UN has launched 50 commissions of inquiry in its history, including a special probe of Myanmar labour rights abuses conducted by the Intenational Labour Organization (ILO) several years ago.

Although the ILO report failed to stop forced labour in Myanmar, it did pressure the government to allowing the organisation to set up an office in the country, Quintana said.

He said the new parliament is too weak institutionally to address the complex issue of human rights abuses in areas controlled by ethnic minorities fighting the government for six decades.

'These democratic institutions are very new and I see some positive signs in them but it is too early for them to function effectively,' he said.

Myanmar was under military rule from 1962 to 2010, and the current government is run by either former or serving military men.

Quintana also criticized the government's 'amnesty' of thousands of prisoners last week, noting that it had only commuted sentences by a year and included only a handful of political prisoners among those released.

There are an estimated 2,100 political prisoners in Myanmar jails, of whom some 55 were released last week.

'I would like to see a concrete and time-bound plan announced by the government for the systematic release of all prisoners of conscience,' Quintana said.
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/asiapacific/news/article_1640844.php/UN-envoy-says-inquiry-needed-over-rights-abuses-by-Myanmar
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UN envoy: Myanmar does little to stop rights abuse
(May 23rd, 2011 @ 3:29am)
By TODD PITMAN
Associated Press

BANGKOK (AP) - The United Nations' human rights envoy to Myanmar said Monday that the country's nascent civilian government has done little to address widespread abuses, including forced labor and extrajudicial killings, since replacing the ruling junta in March.

Elections last year for a new parliament and the installation of civilian leaders this spring were supposed to be the final steps of what Myanmar's military leaders had hailed as their "roadmap to democracy." But U.N. envoy Tomas Ojea Quintana told reporters in Bangkok that "democracy requires much more."

Myanmar's government is currently refusing to allow Quintana to visit the Southeast Asian nation. The envoy spoke after a weeklong trip to Thailand to talk with refugees from Myanmar. Thailand is home to more than 100,000 people who have fled the neighboring country.

Quintana said violence continues along Myanmar's eastern border region, and ethnic minority groups there are victims of "land confiscation, forced labor, internal displacement, extrajudicial killings and sexual violence."

These abuses "are widespread, they continue today, and they remain essentially unaddressed by the authorities," Quintana said.

In Myanmar's eastern Kayah state, for example, both men and women have fled out of fear of being conscripted into the military, he said. There is such a deficit of schools there that some parents send their children to refugee camps in Thailand for basic education, he added.

Ethnic groups living in the eastern and northern border areas have sought more autonomy since Myanmar's independence in 1948, and the government maintains uneasy cease-fires with them. Human rights organizations have long accused the military of forcing civilians into forced labor, particularly as porters.

The military has ruled Myanmar with an iron hand since 1962, and critics charge the new government is merely the latest iteration of the repressive regime.

Last week, Washington's deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Joseph Yun, also expressed concern about the new government's human rights policies.

The Myanmar Times, meanwhile, quoted Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin as urging Yun to refer to the country as Myanmar rather than Burma.

The former junta changed the country's name from Burma to Myanmar in 1989, but many regime opponents and pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi still call the country by its former name.

The paper quoted the minister as telling Yun: "You might think this is a small matter, but the use of 'Myanmar' is a matter of national integrity. ... Using the correct name of the country shows equality and mutual respect."

The U.S. Embassy in Myanmar declined to comment on the report.

(Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.) http://www.620ktar.com/category/world-news-articles/20110523/UN-envoy:-Myanmar-does-little-to-stop-rights-abuse/
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Burma refugees living in Thai jungle fear

Published: 23/05/2011 at 01:31 PM
Online news: Asia

At first sight the bamboo huts nestled at the foot of soaring limestone cliffs in the jungle could be mistaken for an eco-tourism haven -- except for the barbed wire and armed guards.

A refugee crosses a wooden bridge at the Mae La refugee camp close to the Thai-Myanmar border. Thailand's announcement in April that it wants to close nine border camps, holding more than 140,000 displaced people, has sent ripples of anxiety through the traumatised communities after a more than two-decade presence.

Beyond the perimeter fence and security checkpoints, designed to keep the residents in and unwanted visitors out, tens of thousands of refugees from war-torn eastern Burma are living in fear of being sent home.

Thailand's announcement in April that it wants to close nine border camps, holding more than 140,000 displaced people, has sent ripples of anxiety through the traumatised communities after a more than two-decade presence.

"We're scared to go back," said Suai Pu, 27, who fled Burma six years ago with his wife and son and lives in the biggest camp, Mae La, home to about 46,000 people packed into around four square kilometres (1.5 square miles).

"People are so worried. They are praying. They cannot sleep," he said. "We don't have a home. We don't have land. If we go back, what can we do?"

According to the Thailand Burma Border Consortium, a group of international non-governmental organisations operating along the border, as of March the camps held about 143,000 refugees from Burma, also known as Burma.

Most are Karen, whose eastern state is the scene of one of the world's longest-running civil wars, stretching back six decades. Others include minority Chin, Mon and long-suffering Rohingya, as well as majority Burmans.

About 93,000 residents have been registered with the UN as refugees, but while an ongoing resettlement programme has allowed tens of thousands to move to third countries, they are soon replaced by new arrivals who trickle across the Moei river every day on doughnut-shaped inflated rubber tubes.

Many others live illegally outside the camps.

Vast numbers of people have fled the Burma government's counter-insurgency campaign, which rights groups say deliberately targets civilians, driving them from their homes, destroying villages and forcing them to work for the army.

"Their safety would be seriously at risk if they went back," said David Mathieson, a Burma expert for New York-based Human Rights Watch.

"There's still lots of fighting and landmines and no infrastructure such as clinics and schools. Most of the refugees are in camps because of persecution and if they go back the possibility of retribution from either side is high."

Many of the children in the camps have grown up there and know no other life, leaving them unprepared for a return to the insurgency-plagued jungles of eastern Burma just a few kilometres away across the border.

Thailand's renewed talk of shutting the camps followed the March handover of power from the long-ruling Burma junta to a nominally civilian government, after an election marred by widespread complaints of cheating and boycotted by Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy.

Thailand's National Security Council chief Tawin Pleansri said it had become the country's "burden" to take care of the refugees.

The Thai government has stressed that it will only send them back when it is safe and no timetable has been set for their return, but inside the camps there are some signs of change in the air.

"The Thai officials called a meeting in the camp to start a preliminary screening process. Once that's finished, they will send them back -- although they're not talking about that yet," said Ehkler, a community leader in Mae La.

Sitting in a simple bamboo hut he built with his own hands on a pocket of dusty red ground in the camp, Kyaw Dee remembers constantly fleeing fighting as a child. His uncle was not so lucky.

"He was accused of being a rebel and taken to the Burmese army camp. Nobody dared to vouch for him so he was killed," he said.

Kyaw Dee's story is a familiar one in Mae La: forced to work as a porter for the government army, carrying ammunition and firewood, he left his home and parents behind six years ago to seek refuge across the border.

"Life was hard because we were trapped between the rebels and the government. We paid money to the rebels and had to work for the state army," recalled the 38-year-old father of three.

"I don't like living here but I manage. I want our children to have a better life. We want our country to be peaceful," he said. http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/asia/238460/burma-refugees-living-in-thai-jungle-fear

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