News & Articles on Burma-Sunday, 01 January 2012-uzl

News & Articles on Burma Sunday, 01 January 2012 -------------------------------------- NLD General Secretary Comforts Fire Victims Myanmar motorists see 34-per-cent petrol price hike Nay Win Maung dies of heart attack Myanmar's Art Of Freedom Film Festival: Myanmar may free more prisoners next week: Official Myanmar artists test recent freedoms through film festival --------------------------------------- NLD General Secretary Comforts Fire Victims Sunday, 01 January 2012 09:47 Written by Info.NLD NLD vice chairman U Tin Oo, General Secretary Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the team visited the temporary refuge of fire victims in Mingalartaungnyut Township, Rangoon and comforted them. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi met with venerable Sayarday U Pyinnyanda who accepted victims at his monastery and explained the NLD's plan to assist victims of fire. And the team greeted and encouraged victims in the temporary camp. There are about 1160 victims in the camp. http://www.nldburma.org/social-activity/emergency-help/463-nld-general-secretary-comforted-fire-victims.html ------------------------------------- Myanmar motorists see 34-per-cent petrol price hike Jan 1, 2012, 6:32 GMT Yangon - Myanmar's state-run petrol prices rose 34 per cent on New Year's day, officials announced Sunday. Petrol stations in Yangon increased the price per gallon (4.5 litres) from 2,500 kyat (3.12 dollars) to 3,350 kyat. Prices of compressed natural gas (CNG) and diesel were unchanged. Fuel price hikes have proven politically explosive in the past. Increased rates for petrol, CNG and diesel in August 2007 sparked street protests that were joined by Buddhist monks, prompting a military crackdown that left dozens dead or missing. http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/business/news/article_1683453.php/Myanmar-motorists-see-34-per-cent-petrol-price-hike --------------------------------------- Nay Win Maung dies of heart attack By PETER AUNG Published: 1 January 2012 Pivotal Burmese civil society leader Nay Win Maung has died of a heart attack, aged 50. A close friend of the founder of the prominent Myanmar Egress group, Kyaw Linn Oo, told DVB that he was submitted to Rangoon General Hospital around 11pm last night. "He suffered from vascular occlusion which led to a heart attack," he said. "He was driving back home when the chest pain kicked in so he drove to hospital instead -- his family followed him there after they learnt about it." Born in 1962, he graduated from Rangoon Medical University-1 in 1998, and went on to win a political science fellowship at Yale University in the US in 2004. He became CEO of the Living Colour Media Group, which publishes The Voice Weekly news journal, as well as forming Myanmar Egress. "His death is such a great loss," said Zeya Thu, coordinator at The Voice Weekly. "There are so many things left for him to do for our country. "He knew that he was ill but he couldn't find the time to attend to it. Now the heart disease has taken his life and he is such an irreplaceable loss to us. If we really love and respect him, we will have to keep striving to achieve his goals." Nay Win Maung became something of a controversial figure in his role at Egress, which critics see as closely aligned with the Burmese government. His relationship with President Thein Sein has come under scrutiny, with rumours circulating that Nay Win Maung scripted at least of Thein Sein's key speeches after coming to power. His admirers however see Egress as an increasingly influential force in Burma's emerging civil society sector. Until his death, he had attempted to broker peace talks between the government and ethnic armed groups. Maung Zarni a Burmese analyst and former acquaintance of Nay Win Maung, said: "While our political views came to diverge radically -- and I had criticised him publicly -- at the personal level I have always considered him a deeply patriotic man trying to do the impossible in spite of severe attacks on him, including from people like me." Dr Nay Win Maung is survived by his wife, Win Kalyar Swe, and four daughters. His funeral was held on 1 January at Yayway Cemetery in Rangoon. http://www.dvb.no/news/nay-win-maung-dies-of-heart-attack/19436 -------------------------------------- Myanmar's Art Of Freedom Film Festival: Country Screens Its First Ever Uncensored Films YANGON, Myanmar --- Artists in Myanmar are testing new freedoms through films shown at a festival that for the first time in the country's recent history were not censored. "The Art of Freedom Film Festival" began screening films on Saturday that were not approved by the strict Film Censorship Board. Myanmar's new nominally civilian government has relaxed some draconian security measures, although films are still supposed to pass the censorship board. The event was organized by comedian Zarganar, film director Min Htin Ko Ko Gyi and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. Zarganar, who uses one name, was recently released from three years in prison. He described the festival as freedom of expression through film.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/31/myanmar-art-of-freedom-film-festival_n_1177698.html ----------------------------------- Myanmar may free more prisoners next week: Official Sunday, 01 January 2012 01:18 NAYPYIDAW: Myanmar's army-backed regime may free more political prisoners on the upcoming national holidays of January 4 and February 12, an official from the lower house of parliament said Thursday. "More prisoners of conscience will be released very soon for sure," Aung Ko, chairman of the judicial and legal affairs committee of the lower house, told reporters in Naypyidaw. Aung Ko did not specify how many political detainees might walk free. He said that Myanmar's Railways Minister Aung Min, who is also the government's envoy for high-profile peace talks with ethnic minority groups, recently said prisoner amnesties could happen on January four, when the country celebrates Independence Day, and on Union day on February twelve. Hopes for change in Myanmar have grown recently following a series of reformist gestures as the country appears keen to end its international isolation, but pressure remains for it to release all political detainees. The new nominally civilian government, which in March replaced a long-ruling military junta, pardoned more than 6,300 prisoners -- including about two hundred political detainees -- in a much-anticipated amnesty in October. But the government disappointed observers and the opposition National League for Democracy party by leaving many top dissidents behind bars. A key demand of the opposition and foreign governments has long been the freeing of Myanmar's political prisoners, estimated by activists to number anywhere from 500 to more than 1,500. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton insisted on the release of all of Myanmar's prisoners of conscience during a historic visit to the country earlier this month. AFP http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/s.-asia/philippines/177833-myanmar-may-free-more-prisoners-next-week-official.html ---------------------------------------- The Canadian Press - ONLINE EDITION Myanmar artists test recent freedoms through film festival By: The Associated Press 31/12/2011 8:11 AM | Comments: 0 YANGON, Myanmar - Artists in Myanmar are testing new freedoms through films shown at a festival that for the first time in the country's recent history were not censored. "The Art of Freedom Film Festival" began screening films on Saturday that were not approved by the strict Film Censorship Board. Myanmar's new nominally civilian government has relaxed some draconian security measures, although films are still supposed to pass the censorship board. The event was organized by comedian Zarganar, film director Min Htin Ko Ko Gyi and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. Zarganar, who uses one name, was recently released from three years in prison. He described the festival as freedom of expression through film. http://www.brandonsun.com/world/breaking-news/myanmar-artists-test-recent-freedoms-through-film-festival-136473503.html?viewAllComments=y