BNN-Asian News

NGOs aid 14 year-old rape victim in Mae Sot

2009-11-04T05:22:00.001+06:30

WCRP, Mae Sot: Phyi Thu Saythana and World Vision, two Mae Sot-based NGOs, are providing for the legal services, shelter, and education of a 14-year-old Mon child raped by her stepfather 2 months ago.
According to the victim’s family, the crime occurred on August 20th at the victim’s home on a corn plantation near Gawe Pon village, in Mae Ramat district, in the northwestern part of Tak province, northern Thailand. The victim and her family are migrant farmers originally from Thanat Pin Town, Pegu division.

According to Nai Aung Chit, the Phyi Thu Saythana NGO member who served as the victim’s legal advocate for this case, “On the 22nd of August at 12:00 pm, the victim’s relatives contacted our organization. They told us about the crime, and asked us to arrest the man who raped the victim, her stepfather. After learning about this crime, our organization immediately located this man, took him into custody, and turned him over to the Gawe Pon police.”

Nai Aung Chit told WCRP that the crime reportedly happened while the victim’s mother was hospitalized for a week in August, after a stomach operation; the victim was left in her stepfather’s care. The victim informed her mother and extended family of the rape upon her mother’s return. According to the report given by the victim to Phyi Thu Saythana, the revelation sparked a vicious physical confrontation between the victim’s mother and stepfather.

The victim and her mother arrived at the Phyi Thu Saythana safe house on August 24th; on September 1st, Phyi Thu Saythana and World Vision met to discuss the case, and sent the victim to get a medical examination the same day. A nurse who examined the victim at Mae Sot Hospital told NGO that the hospital collected evidence of rape, and documented it in preparation for legal proceedings.

Nai Ko Aung Chit informed WCRP that the victim’s stepfather had to be arrested twice, after initially being taken into custody on August 22nd. After escaping police custody in Gawe Pon village, he was detained again on September 2nd on the corn plantation where he was employed, and sent to Mae Ramat district Court, which handled the case.

Phyi Thu Saythana confirmed for WCRP that on September 10th, the Mae Ramat district Court sentenced the victim’s stepfather to 7 years in prison for rape. His sentence was reduced after the victim’s mother, in an attempt to lessen her husband’s jail-time, took partial responsibility for her daughter’s rape in court. The victim’s mother received a sentence of 4 years in prison.

Nai Aung Chit told WCRP that Phyi Thu Saythana’s mission is to, “help anyone who is facing a terrible situation, we aid them however we can, without favoring Mon, Karen, or any other ethnic group.”

Dao, a World Version member, announced to the victim’s relatives after the trial that her NGO plans to personally oversee the victim’s future development and education. She said, “We will care for her, save for her future’ and continue her education. We want to get papers to adopt her from her mother.”

The victim is now living in World Vision-run housing, where her education has been provided for.

rehmonnya

Thai Security Raids Homes of Karen Leaders

2009-11-04T05:11:00.000+06:30

Thai soldiers and police entered the homes and offices of more than 10 leaders of the Karen National Union (KNU) and its military wing, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), around 6 a.m. On Tuesday morning, a KNU source said.

Wife of Col Ner Dah Mya, the son of late KNU leader Gen Bo Mya, has been detained after police found powder for making explosives at his house, KNU sources said.

The purpose of the raids is not clear and The Irrawaddy has been unable to get independent confirmation.

Leaders whose homes were raided included: Gen Tamla Baw, the chairman of the KNU; Zipporah Sein, the general secretary of the KNU, and Saw David Takabaw, the vice-president of the KNU.

The Thai officers were looking for ammunition but found nothing at the homes of the other KNU and KNLA leaders, who were not arrested, sources said.

Many exiled community and political organizations’ offices and migrant schools in Mae Sot are closed for security reasons. Rumors circulating in Mae Sot suggest more raids will occur.

Observers said Thai authorities have stepped up pressure on KNU and KNLA leaders since early this year.

Burmese exiled leaders in Mae Sot predict that Mae Sot’s security conditions will worsen and become more dangerous after the Burmese military-sponsored 2010 election.

An exiled Burmese leader said the junta’s Karen allies that split from the KNU—the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army and the KNU/KNLA Peace Council—are working with the Burmese government’s Military Security Affairs to threaten opposition groups based in Mae Sot.

The KNLA has been fighting the Burmese government since 1948.

After junta forces captured their headquarters at Mannerplaw in Burma in 1995, the KNLA has attacked junta forces using small units based in temporary jungle camps in eastern Burma near the Thai-Burmese border.

In March, Thai authorities told KNU leaders not to engage in military activities while on Thai territory and ordered them to obtain permission when they wanted to enter Mae Sot.

At the 15th Asean Summit in Cha-Am in Thailand this weekend, Burmese Prime Minister Thein Sein told Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva that Burma will not allow anyone to use Burmese territory to attack Thailand.

irrawaddy

Burmese Dissidents Worry about Thai Crackdown

2009-11-04T05:09:00.001+06:30

The raid on the homes of 10 leaders of the Karen National Union (KNU) by Thai security forces in the border town of Mae Sot on Tuesday came just one month after a previous crackdown against Burmese opposition groups in Chiang Mai.

Thai soldiers and police entered the homes and offices of more than 10 leaders of the KNU and its military wing, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), around 6 a.m. On Tuesday morning.

The wife of Col Ner Dah Mya, the son of late KNU leader Gen Bo Mya, was detained after police found material for making explosives at her house.

In September, Thai police raided the offices of several exiled Burmese opposition groups in Chiang Mai including the Human Rights Education Institute of Burma, the Burmese Women’s Union and the National Health and Education Committee, and detained 10 Burmese women for several days.

Since early this year, the pressure on Thai-based Burmese dissidents has been more active. Sources in Bangkok say the Burmese Embassy staff is taking photographs of Burmese activists in demonstrations and at other functions.

During the September crackdown in Chiang Mai, Thai police arrived with detailed information, maps and photographs of the locations of Burmese activists’ offices.

Win Min, a Chiang Mai-based analyst of Burma affairs, said a Burmese military attaché in Bangkok may have played a role in requesting Thai security officials to harass Burmese opposition groups in exile.

However, observers said the recent Mae Sot raid may be the Thai authorities’ way to underscore their informal order in February 2009, which warned KNU military leaders not to orchestrate any activities from Thai territory against the Burmese government and to leave Thailand.

Since then Thai military authorities have increased their pressure. Thai officials told KNU leaders that they must now obtain permission whenever they wanted to enter Mae Sot.

Htay Aung, a Burmese researcher with the Network for Democracy and Development in exile, noted that the KNU is the strongest ethnic armed group never to have signed a ceasefire agreement with the Burmese dictatorship.

The regime sees the KNU as a potent symbol of opposition groups and for that reason, would like it eliminated, said Htay Aung.

Previously, the Burmese junta asked Thai military officials to encourage the KNU and Shan State Army-South (SSA-South) to enter into cease-fire talks.

In return, at the 15th Asean Summit in Cha-Am, Thailand, which ended on Sunday, the Burmese Prime Minister Thein Sein told Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva that Burma would not allow anyone to use Burmese territory to attack Thailand.

According to an article on www.manager.co.th on Wednesday, the Burmese regime plans to purge ethnic minority armed forces such as KNU, the Karen National Progressive Party (KNPP) and the Shan State Army – South (SSA -S) before the general election in 2010.

The report said that junta No 1 Snr-Gen Than Shwe instructed junta No 2 Gen Maung Aye to clean up the ethnic armed groups.

KNLA Col Ner Dah Mya, the son of the late KNU chairman Bo Mya, is a main target of the planned offensive, according to the article.

Meanwhile Thai-Burmese border-based activists say that more pressure on Burmese opposition groups based in Thailand is to be expected.

irrawaddy

Indian troops sent to Burma border

2009-10-26T03:59:00.001+06:30

(DVB)–An Indian paramilitary group has been ordered by Delhi to reinforce its border with Burma amid concerns over continued cross-border drugs and weapons smuggling, local news sources said.

An official from India’s Ministry of Home Affairs was quoted by the Times of India as saying that Burmese militants currently enjoyed a “free run” along the border.

According to C S Kuppuswamy, from the Delhi-based South Asia Analysis Group, much of Burma’s drugs trade is now being directed through its western borders to India and Bangladesh.

This follows concerted efforts by Thailand and China’s border security forces to push the trade away from Burma’s traditional eastern frontier exit points.

Kuppuswamy told DVB today that the Burmese junta is even “converting [profits from the drugs trade] into money and arms”.

He added that drugs and weapons smuggling was “affecting [India’s] north east, especially the health and security concerns [which] are increasing day by day”.

Several insurgent groups operate in India’s unstable northeastern states, which border China, Bangladesh and Burma, and are connected to the rest of India by a narrow strip of land.

Fresh tension between India and China has led to fears that much of the military hardware used by India’s northeastern insurgents is coming from China via Burma.

This fear is compounded by the lawless nature of Burma’s border region near to India, ruled largely by drug barons and warlords.

The news of Delhi’s order comes only a week after India’s military chief, General Kapoor, visited Burma in yet another bid for greater cooperation between the two countries in combating insurgencies.

Speaking to DVB last week, Kim of the Delhi-based Burma Centre said that “there have been a lot of complaints coming from the [Indian] military about the inaction of the [Burmese] junta” regarding the insurgencies.

The Burmese junta’s nascent plan to create border security forces out of ceasefire groups has also raised concern in India. The government is said to be concerned that these groups, many of them ethnic insurgents themselves, will not be able to contain India’s northeastern rebels.

Reporting by Joseph Allchin

Chinese energy firm to expand exploration

2009-10-26T02:50:00.001+06:30

Rangoon (Mizzima) – The China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) will expand its operations in Burma, christening three new drilling wells off the gulf of Martaban, according to an informed source within the energy sector.

The corporation, China’s third largest national oil company, will undertake exploration from November 1st to December 31st, investing more than US$40 million in the process, the source added.

The operation is located at an offshore block named M-10, bordering to the south of the M-12 and M-13 blocks, site of the Yetagon natural gas field, and to the east of M-9, a commercially viable gas deposit uncovered by Thailand’s PTTEP.

The source said a similar well was drilled at the same block in early last year but, while finding a gas deposit, was deemed not commercially feasible.

CNOOC is one of the major investors in Burma’s oil and gas sector, operating in five onshore and offshore blocks.

So far, four Chinese oil companies – SNOPEC, China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), CNOOC and Chinnery Assets – are active in a total of ten onshore and offshore blocks in Burma.

According to official figures, as of March 31, 2009, China has invested $1.33 billion into Burma’s economy and infrastructure, with the oil and gas sector placing third in the list with investment of $124 million dollars – while the mining sector ranks as the most prominent target of Chinese development funds, claiming some $866 million dollars of the sum.

Chinese Premier Raises Border Stability at Asean Summit

2009-10-26T02:34:00.000+06:30

CHA-AM, Thailand—China’s Premier Wen Jiabao talked with his Burmese counterpart Gen Thein Sein about stability and peace along the Sino-Burmese border during the Asean-China Summit, which met in conjunction with the 15th Asean Summit on Saturday in Cha-am, Thailand.

Wen told Thein Sein that Beijing “hopes that the Burmese regime will achieve stability, national reconciliation and development” in Burma, according to the China Ministry of Foreign Affairs Web site.

Wen said that the Sino-Burma relationship is conducive to “regional peace and development,” while pledging development aid to Burma.

To inject “new vitality” in bilateral relations, China will provide support and assistance to strengthen the economy and trade, infrastructure, utilities, energy and other areas, Wen said.

Wen and Thein Sein’s meeting on Saturday was the highest level contact since 37,000 Kokang Chinese refugees in Burma fled to China in September, following a government military offensive against the Kokang ethnic militias in northeastern Burma. At least two Chinese citizens were reportedly killed, and there was widespread looting by government troops of property owned by Chinese citizens.

Wen attended the Asean-China Summit as well as the East Asia Summit (EAS) along with heads of state from Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and India.

The EAS chairman statement called for a free, fair and inclusive election in 2010 in Burma.

“We encouraged the Myanmar [Burma] government to ensure the implementation of the Seven-Step Roadmap to Democracy,” the statement said.

The Asean and the EAS chairman statements over the weekend did not mention the release of Burmese political prisoners including pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Asean-member countries called for the release of all political prisoners at the 14th Asean Summit in late February and at the Asean Regional Forum in July.

Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejijjiva said at a press conference on Sunday that Burmese issues were discussed at the Asean and two other summits throughout the weekend.

He said Thein Sein told leaders at the summits that Suu Kyi was a part of the process of national reconciliation.

Japan, under the new administration of the Democratic Party of Japan, raised the issue of Burma’s democratization process at the Asean + 3 Summit and the East Asia Summit, according to Kazuo Kodama, a Japan foreign ministry spokesman.

Kodama said Japan Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama told his Burma counterpart that Japan hoped all stakeholders in Burma’s democratization process would be included in the 2010 elections.

Kodama said Japan, during its meeting with junta officials, called for the release of Suu Kyi and other political prisoners before the election.

Burmese Foreign Minister Nyan Win met with Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada in Cambodia in early October, and he told Okada that Suu Kyi would be released before her current 18-month house arrest term expires, Kodama said.

irrawaddy

Asia leaders express rare hope over Myanmar

2009-10-26T02:29:00.000+06:30

By Jason Szep
HUA HIN, Thailand (Reuters) - Asian leaders expressed rare optimism in Myanmar's junta on Sunday, from hopes of stability on its volatile northern border to signs of softening attitude towards detained pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.

After talks with Myanmar Prime Minister Thein Sein during a summit of 16 Asia-Pacific nations over the weekend, Asian leaders said the reclusive state acknowledged it needed to show the world it can hold free elections.

The sentencing of opposition leader Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner detained for 14 of the last 20 years, to a further 18 months of detention in August has raised questions over whether next year's election will be a sham.

Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said Myanmar told the meetings Suu Kyi might be able to participate in society and possibly politics again, though no timeframe was given.

"He briefed us on some of the dialogue that is taking place and he feels optimistic that she can contribute also to the process of national reconciliation," Abhisit said of talks with the Myanmar leader in the Thai resort town of Hua Hin.

Next year's elections will be the first since 1990, when Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party scored a landslide victory that the ruling junta refused to recognise.

Military rulers of the former Burma have been on a recent charm offensive, allowing Suu Kyi to meet with Western diplomats this month to discuss Western sanctions and opening the door to more contact with U.S. government officials.

The comments come a day after Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kazuo Kodama quoted Myanmar's leader as saying if Suu Kyi maintained "a good attitude" it was possible Myanmar authorities will relax current measures.

Myanmar's prime minister "recognises full well that the rest of the world expects to see elections as inclusive as possible," Abhisit told a news conference.

That view was generally echoed by other Asian leaders.

"There was an atmosphere of hope that the Myanmar leadership is moving toward normalising its relations with the United States, that they were working towards national reconciliation," said Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

"That's what we all welcome, that next year's election should see a reconciliation of the various segments of Myanmar society," Singh told a separate news conference.

BORDER STABILITY

The United States will send a fact-finding delegation to Myanmar this week as part of an exploratory dialogue with the junta, following the Obama administration's announcement in September it would pursue deeper engagement with Myanmar's military rulers to try to spur democratic reform.

China's premier also expressed confidence in his southern neighbour after meeting with Thein Sein, saying he expected Myanmar will keep the peace on its border after violence pushed thousands of refugees into China in August.

China's Wen Jiabao also pledged more financial aid to Myanmar, according to a Chinese state media report of the closed-door talks.

China's Xinhua state news agency said Wen believed Myanmar "could properly handle problems and safeguard peace and stability in the China-Myanmar border region" after the two met on the sidelines of a summit of 16 Asia-Pacific leaders.

In August, Myanmar's army overran Kokang, a territory that lies along the border with the southwestern Chinese province of Yunnan and was controlled for years by an ethnic Chinese militia that paid little heed to the central government.

Many of the refugees were ethnic Chinese, some of them Chinese citizens, who complained their houses and businesses had been sacked and looted during the violence.

Last month, China rapped the former Burma over the violence, demanding the government protect Chinese citizens and make sure such incidents did not happen again.

But relations appear to be improving again.

"To develop good neighbourly China-Myanmar relations with mutually beneficial cooperation conforms with the fundamental interests of the two countries and will be conducive to regional peace and stability," Wen told Thein Sein, Xinhua said.

Myanmar's prime minister last month visited the U.N. General Assembly for the first time in 16 years to promote next year's elections, part of the junta's recent charm offensive.

(Additional reporting by Martin Petty and John Ruwitch; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)

East Timor joins arms embargo call against junta

2009-10-14T03:56:00.000+06:30

New Delhi (Mizzima) - President of East Timor Dr. Jose Ramos Horta on Monday called on the United Nations Security Council to impose an arms embargo against the Burmese military regime, joining a host of countries calling for such action.

Dr. Jose Ramos Horta, President of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, in a statement on Monday said the Burmese military junta’s decision to sentence Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in August has proved its extraordinary inhumanity and intransigence.

“I deplore this decision, and call for her immediate and unconditional release,” Dr. Horta said.

Dr. Horta said the events in the past two years in Burma such as the junta’s brutal crackdown on protests led by Buddhist monks in 2007, the tragedy of Cyclone Nargis, the constitutional referendum, escalating military offensive against civilians in eastern Burma, and the trial and continued imprisonment of Aung San Suu Kyi are all examples of the desperate political, human rights and humanitarian crisis in Burma.

“As President of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, I therefore call on all members of the UN Security Council to give serious consideration to this question, and to pass a resolution imposing a total, comprehensive, mandatory arms embargo,” Dr. Harto said in the statement.

He said the deterioration in the political and humanitarian situation calls for a clear response by the international community saying, “There can be no justification for selling arms to a regime which has no external threats and uses those arms simply to suppress its owns people.”

Dr. Harto’s statement came as campaigners lobby countries to endorse a UN Security Council resolution on a global arms embargo against Burma’s military rulers.

According to Benedict Roger of the Christian Solidarity Worldwide, a Christian campaign group, at least 33 countries have endorsed the move so far but fear remains that China and Russia, the two veto wielding countries and close allies of the Burmese military junta, would block any attempt to push the UNSC to act.

“The biggest challenge is to persuade China and Russia not to veto a resolution imposing an arms embargo,” Rogers said.

Rogers said, although the Burmese junta might continue manufacturing their own arms, a universal arms embargo will deprive the regime of access to foreign weapons supplies and would send a very important message to the international community about the illegitimacy of the regime.

The European Union, United Kingdom, United States of American, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and East Timor have so far called for an arms embargo against the Burmese regime.

mizzima

Yangon preparing for large-scale conflict: Dhaka

2009-10-14T03:40:00.000+06:30

Bangladesh has said it is responding to threats from its eastern neighbour Myanmar, which has amassed troops on the border and readied warships and fighter jets “in preparation for a large-scale conflict”.
The Myanmar military brought in tanks, artillery guns and 13 warships along its border with Bangladesh Sunday, The Daily Star newspaper said Monday quoting sources at the Bangladesh Armed Forces.

On its part, Bangladesh has strengthened its military build-up in a bid to repulse a Myanmarese incursion by preparing 30 warships in Chittagong and Khulna ports, a Bangladesh Navy official stationed at Chittagong told the newspaper.

Officially, Dhaka sought to play things down over the Myanmarese insistence on erecting a border fence.

Foreign Minister Dipu Moni Sunday rejected reports about the heavy military build-up by Myanmar along the Bangladesh border, saying it was “a routine movement of the security personnel”.

“I had talks with our ambassador in Myanmar and he told me that it is a routine practice,” she told media, adding, “Foreign Secretary Mijarul Quayes also called the Myanmar ambassador in Dhaka and the envoy conveyed him the same message.”

However, the newspaper said, ground reality did not support the foreign minister’s claim “as various sources in the military, Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) and intelligence agencies said that the situation on the border remained tense”.

Major General Mainul Islam, BDR director general, said: “The situation at Bangladesh-Myanmar border has remained tense.”

Dhaka fears problem on the sea front too.

“Myanmar has sent in artillery guns that will bring Chittagong under their firing range,” the navy officer told the newspaper.

“We in the Bangladesh Navy suspect that Myanmar wants to intrude into our sea and declare a large chunk of area as their Maritime Exclusive Zone,” the naval official said.

Bangladesh’s maritime borders with both Myamnar and India remain undemarcated and are a source of tension since all three neighbours want to explore for hydrocarbons in the Bay of Bengal.

The newspaper quoted unnamed sources in Sittwe (formerly known as Akyab) in Myanmar that the Myanmarese Air Force Tatmadaw has stationed three fighter planes at the Sittwe airfield.

Sittwe is only 80 km from Chittagong airport.

thaindian

Thai Security Detains 60 at Islamic school

2009-10-14T03:38:00.000+06:30

PATTANI, Thailand — Security forces raided an Islamic school Monday in insurgency-plagued southern Thailand, detaining 60 students and religious teachers for questioning, police said.

The raid came two days after a group of suspected Muslim insurgents opened fire on the motorcade of a high-ranking civil servant in the area. No one was wounded or killed.

More than 3,700 people have been killed in Thailand's three southernmost provinces since an insurgency flared in January 2004. The provinces—Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala—are the only Muslim-majority areas in the Buddhist-dominated country. Muslims in the area have long complained of discrimination by the central government.

On Monday, 200 policemen and soldiers detained 60 Islamic teachers and students at Saengtham Wittaya School in Narathiwat province's Bacho district, said Police Col. Chamlong Ngamnet.

"We have received information that some might have information about the incident on Saturday and others might have ties to the insurgency," Chamlong said, adding that police found a book about suicide bombings in one of the rooms at the school's dormitory.

"We will release those who are not involved. We just wanted to question them about recent activities at the school and in the area."

The military can search and detain suspects for interrogation for 30 days without charge under a state of emergency that has been in place in the provinces since July 2005.

The insurgents have made no public pronouncements but are thought to be fighting for an independent Muslim state. The area used to be an Islamic sultanate until it was annexed by Thailand in the early 20th century.

The Brussels-based International Crisis Group said in its recent report that the insurgents recruit at Islamic schools, which have become "the battleground for the clash of cultures and ideologies."

The classroom is "the point of first contact" for recruiters who invite devout Muslim youths to join extracurricular indoctrination programs in mosques or disguised as football training, the report said, adding that the government is unlikely to stop the recruiting or the insurgency until it comes up with political solutions to the grievances of local Muslims over discrimination and mistreatment.

A massive security force of 60,000 has failed to stop the violence in the area. The militants target people working with the government, including teachers, soldiers, police and suspected informants. They also stage attacks on civilians that are believed to be intended to scare the Buddhist community into fleeing.

irrawaddy

China denies rumours of Burma eviction

2009-10-02T04:22:00.001+06:30

(DVB)–China’s foreign ministry has denied rumours that the Burmese government forcibly evicted some 10,000 Chinese nationals from its northern border region.

At a press briefing yesterday, foreign ministry spokesperson Jiang Yu was asked to confirm whether the incident reported last month took place.

“According to our knowledge, the reports are not true,” he said. “The current situation in the China-Myanmar [Burma] border are stable and in order. The exchanges between the two peoples are also normal.”

Following clashes in late August between Burmese troops and the Kokang rebel group, based in Burma’s northeastern Shan state, which borders China, Beijing warned its citizens not to travel to the region.

Tens of thousands of Chinese live in the region, many of them shop owners and businessmen. The Kokang rebel group is also predominantly made up of ethnic Chinese.

The fighting forced some 37,000 refugees across the border into China’s southern Yunnan province.

China has since set up a number of refugee camps along the border, with rumours of fresh clashes circulating in Shan state.

The three camps are around the Salween River that flows from China into Burma and are said to be able to accommodate around 15,000 people.

The influx of refugees last month sparked a rare rebuke by China to the Burmese government, urging it to “properly deal with its domestic issue to safeguard the regional stability in the China-Myanmar border area”.

Jiang Yu yesterday reiterated that Burma “take effective measures according to law to protect the lawful rights and interests of the Chinese citizens in Myanmar”.

Reporting by Francis Wade

Burmese community hit in Manila floods

2009-10-02T04:18:00.001+06:30

New Delhi (Mizzima) - The Burmese community in the Philippines also had to bear the brunt of the floods that inundated Manila after it was lashed by a tropical storm the ‘Ketsana’ on Saturday.

The storm, which struck Manila and flooded the city, home to about 12 million people, in 12 hours of incessant heavy rain, claimed the lives of over 200 people.

Lin Lin, a music student from Burma, told Mizzima that on Saturday he packed all his belongings, including stationery items and computers and shifted to the entresol as the water level rose to his chest in his room in Quezon City, north Philippines.

“I held up my passport with one hand and swam to a safe place,” Lin Lin, who is studying in the Asian Institute for Liberty and Music in Quezon City, said.

Lin Lin and his two Burmese friends managed to move to a higher place in Quezon, where they found thousands of other local people, who had evacuated.

“We stayed there the whole day and night and waited for the water level to go down,” he added.

Though the water level is falling, Lin Lin said, he and his class mates are apprehensively waiting for another storm, which is said to be coming soon.

The forecast of the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) today said, the Super Typhoon known as PARMA located approximately 520 miles southeast of Manila, has tracked west-north westward at 16 knots over the past six hours.

There are around 300 Burmese living in the Philippines, of whom about 200 are studying in Manila, according to Lin Lin.

“Right now, it is very difficult to contact each other as telecommunication lines were disrupted by the storm,” another Burmese, who lives in Baguio City, about six miles from Manila, told Mizzima.

He said, though the hill station, where he lives, is not affected by the floods and the storm, some of his Burmese friends’ rented houses in Manila were inundated.

“My friends told me that the water had flooded their homes and destroyed all their belongings," he said.

According to disaster management officials, the homes of some 2.3 million people are affected, and 390,000 are seeking shelter in relief centres in what is being called the worst flooding in the Philippines in four decades.

The Philippines National Red Cross (PNRC) said it continues to maintain 192 evacuation centres in the storm affected areas and has assigned several volunteers to serve more than 7,418 families.

Chinese Authorities Seek Damages from Junta

2009-10-02T04:13:00.000+06:30

Local authorities in Lincang, a region in southwestern China bordering Burma, have demanded 280 million yuan (US $41 million) in compensation from the Burmese regime for loss of property incurred during a junta offensive in Kokang in late August.

According to a source based on the Sino-Burmese border, officials from Lincang want the regime to pay for damage done to Chinese-owned businesses in Laogai, the Kokang capital.

The Burmese authorities responded by asking their Chinese counterparts to provide a detailed list of damaged property. They added that they would only compensate businesses operating legally in Burma.

In a statement issued on Sept. 26, China’s Foreign Ministry urged the Burmese junta to ensure the security of Chinese citizens living near the conflict area and to avoid any further clashes.

Burma’s ambassador to China, Thein Lwin, told China News Service on Sept. 29 that the Kokang region was peaceful again, and that he had “sympathy” for residents’ losses caused by the clashes.

In March 1989, the Kokang became one of the first ethnic armed groups to sign a cease-fire agreement with the Burmese regime.

irrawaddy

Generals Attend Chinese Anniversary Event

2009-10-01T04:47:00.001+06:30

Gen Tin Aung Myint Oo, secretary 1 of the Burmese junta, attended a reception of the 60th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in Rangoon on Monday, only a few days after the Chinese foreign ministry expressed concern for the safety of Chinese residents in Burma.

Lt-Gen Myint Swe, the chief of the Bureau of Special Operations (BSO)-5 which oversees the Rangoon Regional Military Command, and other senior military officers also attended the event, held by Chinese Ambassador Ye Dabo, according to state-backed media.

The report appeared on the front page with two photographs on Tuesday, indicating the important ties between two countries.

The PRC celebrates its 60th anniversary on Thursday, when the Chinese government will hold a huge parade with hundreds of thousands of soldiers marking the Chinese Communist Party takeover of the country.

In 1949, the Burmese government led by Prime Minister U Nu was one of the first countries to recognize the PRC.

The meeting between Chinese officials and Burmese generals comes one month after the Burmese army seized Kokang territory after Peng Jaisheng, a key Kokang leader, failed to accept the junta’s plan to transform his militia into a Border Guard Force under the Tatmadaw’s command. The conflict affected about 37,000 Kokang Chinese who fled to China.

A few days after the regime’s army routed the Kokang militia, Chinese Deputy Commerce Minister Chen Jian visited Naypyidaw, where he met with Tin Aung Myint Oo, who also serves as quartermaster general of the Burmese armed forces, and Burmese Prime Minister Gen Thein Sein on August 27-28.

On the following day, about 1,500 Kokang militia crossed the border and handed over their arms to Chinese authorities, ending the three-day resistance.

On Friday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the Kokang conflict “harmed the rights and interests of Chinese citizens living there” and urged the Burmese regime to make sure such incidents do not happen again.

On Sunday, Lt-Gen Min Aung Hlaing, chief of the BSO-2, who is in charge of military operations against ethnic armed groups in northeastern Burma, visited the Sino-Burmese border area with Maj-Gen Aung Than Htut, the commander of the Northeast Regional Military Command.

According to observers, the government is preparing for more military offensives against ethnic groups such as the United Wa State Army, which has also rejected the junta’s plan to become a border guard force.

Sino-Burmese border sources said Chinese businessmen are still fleeing Burma, fearing more conflicts between ethnic armies and government troops along the border.

irrawaddy

China’s Dilemma: Junta Oil and Wa Refugees?

2009-10-01T04:38:00.000+06:30

As the October deadline nears for ethnic cease-fire groups to capitulate to the Burmese regime’s demands to join its border guard force, it appears unavoidable that, sooner or later, major fighting will break out between government forces and the Wa army.

About 50 government battalions have been deployed around the regions where units of the United Wa State Army (UWSA)—the strongest ethnic cease-fire army with an estimated 20 to 25,000 troops—are based in southern Shan State, according to Shan and Kachin leaders.

Burma analysts say military preparations for the inevitable showdown have been ongoing since the regime’s troops seized the Kokang capital, Laogai, on August 24.

The government seizure of Laogai is considered a strong military location. Analysts say that it strategically cuts off the route for communications and transportation of troops and supplies between the UWSA units in southern Shan State and their headquarters in Panghsang in northern Shan State.

Apart from a direct military offensive against the cease-fire groups—in particular the UWSA and the Mongla-based National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA)—the Burmese generals will typically employ their tried and tested policy of “divide and rule”—a successful tactic in the recent offensive against the Kokang when they seized upon rumors of a split in the Kokang ranks and ousted leader Peng Jiasheng.

Another policy the junta can be relied on to use is discrediting their enemies through national media, mostly by broadcasting accusations of drug trafficking against them.

After the fall of Laogai, the government media reported drug seizures which they linked to the cease-fire groups, particularly the UWSA, whose name has become synonymous with drug trafficking in Burma, despite the close drug-related relationship the Wa enjoyed with the military government just a few years ago.

Htay Aung, a Burmese researcher with the exiled Network for Democracy and Development, said that “double pressure” will apply on the cease-fire groups after the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China on Oct 1.

Beijing would not want a refugee crisis on its borders during its celebrations and has undoubtedly warned Naypyidaw to refrain from causing bloodshed until after the party.

Thailand-based observers, such as Htay Aung, say that—provided they are given the green light by China—the Burmese generals have given themselves little option but to launch military operations against the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), the UWSA and the NDAA.

The next question is: what will Beijing do if and when war breaks out along its southwestern border?

Burmese dissidents and the exiled media have stated that the Chinese government has dual interests—its trade and gas pipelines with the Burmese junta, and its arms sales and blood ties with the Wa and other border-based groups.

David Mathieson, a Burma analyst with Human Rights Watch, said that it is very clear that China is unhappy with the prospect of an armed conflict on its border and certainly does not want an influx of refugees. (In August, 37,000 Kokang and Chinese refugees fled across the border to China after the Burmese army seized Laogai.)

China will be putting pressure on the Kachin, the Wa and the Burmese regime to avoid conflict, said Mathieson.

Thakin Chan Tun, a former Burmese ambassador to China, said, “If China backs only the Wa, this will damage its image [given the Wa reputation as drug traffickers].

“It also has to consider the relationship between Burma and India. If Burma turns its attention fully to India, China will lose out,” he said.

As well as having India to turn to, the Burmese regime has also opened up recently to the US.

Saeng Juen, an editor with the Thailand-based Shan Herald Agency for News, said, “To be able to play with the Chinese government over the cease-fire issue, the junta is now renewing its relationship with the US.”

Meanwhile, according to Reuters news agency, the Burmese ambassador to China, Thein Lwin, said on Wednesday that peace has now “more or less returned” to the Kokang region.

However, Chinese authorities have been building three camps as temporary shelters in Yunnan Province opposite Panghsang in anticipation of an incursion of refugees.

Burmese dissidents have said that China will be deeply torn if fighting breaks out along its border between its ethnic blood brothers and the Burmese government.

However, it would be prudent of Beijing to shelter the ethnic refugees and offer lip-service criticism of the junta while maintaining its diplomatic relationship with Naypyidaw and the security of its pipelines.

According to Thakin Chan Tun, Beijing may be finally realizing its role in Burma: working with refugees and ignoring the Burmese regime’s human rights abuses, and in return securing its long-term national interests in Burma.

irrawaddy

Take Myanmar's Military Ambition Seriously, Says BIPPS

2009-09-18T04:21:00.003+06:30

Dhaka: Bangladesh needs to take the issue of Myanmar's reinforced military presence along the border more seriously, in order to safeguard its national security, The Bangladesh Institute of Peace and Security Studies (BIPSS) was reported as saying in a 12 September article in the Independent.

The BIPSS is a think-tank that deals with security issues in South and Southeast Asia. It recently issued a publication suggesting that there are many contentious issues with neighboring Myanmar that need to be resolved to protect the national interest.

Such issues as the Rohingya refugees and the dispute over the maritime boundary have daunted relations between the two neighbors recently, said an article published in the periodical BIPSS Focus.

The article said that Myanmar's recent strengthening of its military presence in Rakhine State, which borders Bangladesh, is a big concern.

"Bangladesh needs to take Myanmar's recent military ambition seriously," the article, titled "Bangladesh-Myanmar Relations: The Security Dimension" stated. The article points out that Myanmar has increased movement of troops while construction of concrete pillars and barbed-wire fences along the border has been sped up.

The military junta in Myanmar has also extended the runway of the Sittwe airport, enabling operation of MiG-29 multi-role combat aircraft and all 12 MiG-29 aircraft of the Myanmar Air Force currently deployed in Sittwe, the article stated. Land has also been acquired for the construction of another airport in Buthidaung, it adds.

The BIPSS says that massive repair and reconstruction of road, bridges, and culverts is being carried out in the Western Command area while tanks, artillery guns, Recoilless Rifles, and mortars are being unloaded regularly at the Buthidaung river jetty.

Saying that such developments are "alarming" for Bangladesh, the BIPSS article adds that Myanmar has been constructing barbed-wire fencing along the border with Bangladesh since March 2009, and approximately 38 kilometers of fencing was completed by July of this year.

Considering all these issues, the article states, "It is observed that Bangladesh - Myanmar relations have developed through phases of cooperation and conflict."

"Conflict in this case is not meant in the sense of confrontation, but only in the sense of conflict of interests and resultant diplomatic face-off," it says.

The article further warns that "unfriendly relations with Myanmar can benefit small insurgent groups living in the hilly jungle areas of the southern portion of the Chittagong Hill Tract, which can cause some degree of instability in the area and become a serious concern for national security."

The article also suggests that Bangladesh can benefit in ways by maintaining a good relationship with Myanmar, which in turn has a good friendship with China.

"[Myanmar] is the potential gateway for an alternative land route opening towards China and Southeast Asia other than the sea," it says. "Such a road link has the potentiality for a greater communication network between Bangladesh and Southeast Asian countries including Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore."

Moreover, with a rich natural resource base, Myanmar is a country with considerable potential, the article continued. "Myanmar's forests and other natural resources like gas, oil, and stones are enormous, from which Bangladesh can be benefited enormously," it says.

The article suggests that policymakers review the existing defense priorities to suit the magnitude of the threat currently facing Bangladesh.

"The policy regarding Myanmar needs to be a careful combination of effective diplomacy while safeguarding our security interests," it said.

narinjara

Mute Rohingya refugee girl gang-raped

2009-09-18T04:17:00.000+06:30

Kutupalong, Bangladesh: A 15-year old mute girl was gang-raped at the Nayapara refugee camp in the first week of September. The men took advantage of the fact that she could not complain to people or scream for help, said Kassim, a refugee elder from the Kutupalong unregistered refugee camp.
The young girl, Saytara, daughter of late Mohamed Syed, lives with her bother and sister-in-law, at the Kutupalong unregistered refugee camp, Kassim said.

On September 1, her brother’s father-in law, Hanifa, son of Molana Noor Mohamed, who lives in Nayapara camp, Shade D, came to their hut and requested the family to give permission to take her to his room to help his wife, who was about to deliver a baby, according to her brother.

Saytara went to her brother’s hut yesterday in tears and explained with signs that she was raped by Hanifa, taking advantage of her handicap, since she was unable to call for help, Saytara explained with signs.

Saytara also explained that Hanifa called other people to rape her one by one, after she arrived at the camp. A total of nine people raped her, she explained in tears to her sister-in-law.

According to refugees of Nayapara camp, Hanifa is notorious for his bad behaviour, and all the refugees from Block D, hate him.

Saytara’s brother was unable to do anything as Hanifa is the father of his wife and forbade his wife not to contact her father

kaladanpress

Local authorities deny rights of unregistered refugees

2009-09-18T04:15:00.001+06:30

Kutupalong, Bangladesh: The concerned authorities of an official refugee camp (under UNHCR), refused to solve problems between registered refugees and unregistered refugees, said a refugee committee member.

Last evening, Yousef with 15 other registered refugees beat up Hamid from the unregistered refugee camp of Block B 1, with an iron rod. Hamid was seriously injured and the unregistered refugee committee members went to complain about the matter to the officer in-charge of the registered camp. However, they were unable to find him in the camp and then the committee members went to Camp Security Officer Sub Inspector (SI) Monir, who refused to file the case, the committee members said.

Given his serious condition, the refugees tried to get medical treatment for the injured man, from the clinic of the registered camp, which is operated under UNHCR. But, Hamid was denied treatment there too since he was not a registered refugee, said Abu, another Local authorities deny rights of unregistered refugees
unregistered refugee, had gone with Hamid to complain to the concerned local authorities.

Later, the refugees admitted Hamid to the MSF clinic near the camp, where he was admitted as an indoor patient, Abu added.

“I know the UNHCR works for refugees, although why in Bangladesh it follows the divide and role policy among refugees of Kutupalong area is unknown. It is their duty to save a life and the reasons for the UNHCR clinic’s refusal to admit the patient are still uncertain,” said Kalam from camp.

It has been learnt that Hamid had taken Taka 40 from Yousef last week, but had paid back only Taka 25 yesterday and requested for some more time to pay the rest. But, Yousef attacked Hamid with an iron rod, while 15 others joined in, to help Yousef. In the skirmish, Hamid was seriously injured.

kaladanpress

Crackdown on Burmese Dissidents in Chiang Mai

2009-09-15T04:19:00.000+06:30

Thai police officers on Sunday raided the offices of several exiled Burmese opposition groups including the Human Rights Education Institute of Burma, the Burmese Women’s Union and the National Health and Education Committee.

A Burmese source confirmed that 10 Burmese women from the Burmese Women’s Union who were attending a capacity-building workshop in Chiang Mai were apprehended and are now in custody.

The police came with information and photos of the locations of Burmese offices. The arrests took place on Sunday when many offices were closed for the weekend.

The offices of several Chiang Mai-based Burmese opposition groups and media organizations have remained temporarily closed on Monday. The motive for the arrests and the reason why Burmese human rights workers and dissidents have been targeted is not yet known.

Several exiled Burmese and foreign groups have opened NGOs and advocacy offices in Chiang Mai in recent years.

Burmese groups faced the most repressive times under Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s administration in the early 2000s. Many offices were shut down for several weeks due to fears of intimidation and crackdowns.

International human rights groups and Western governments expressed concern for the safety of exiled Burmese dissidents living in Thailand at the time.

Under the current Thai government, Burmese groups in Thailand have enjoyed relative freedom without any major harassment.

According to diplomatic sources, Western embassies in Bangkok are closely watching the situation.

irrawaddy

China pressured on Burma pipeline

2009-09-10T03:38:00.000+06:30

(DVB)–Burmese activists today called on China to stop its construction of oil and gas pipelines across Burma that threaten both civilians, their environment, and the security of the companies involved.

This month China is due to begin work on a set of pipelines that will run from the Bay of Bengal across the bredth of Burma to its southern Yunnan province.
Campaigners have warned however that the human and environmental costs could be huge, with intense militarisation along the length of the pipeline and damage to ecosystems likely.
For the companies involved in the project, including South Korea’s Daewoo International, advocacy groups have warned that instability along the pipeline could seriously jeopardise business and human security.
Corridor of Power, a report released today by the Shwe Gas Movement (SGM), which is monitoring the project, says that companies involved “face serious financial and security risks”.
“A re-ignition of fighting between the regime and ceasefire armies stationed along the pipeline route [and] an unpredictable business environment that could arbitrarily seize property or assets…all threaten investments,” says the report.
It also warns of “public relations disasters” resulting from “complicity in human rights abuses and environmental destruction”.
Accusations of use of forced labour and displacement have already tarnished the image of the project, which has been fiercely promoted by the Burmese government. Revenues from the sale of natural gas alone are estimated at $US29.2 billion.
According to the report, around 13,200 troops have already been stationed along the route of the pipeline, while a naval base will monitor the deep sea port and oil terminal.
Once completed, China will no longer have to rely on the US-controlled Strait of Malacca, beneath Singapore, for its Middle Eastern oil shipping route. The narrow strait is already heavily congested.
China’s thirst for energy has ballooned in the past decade, along with that of neighbouring Thailand, which is thought to receive some 80 percent of its gas from Burma.
Burma ranks tenth in the world for its gas reserve size, yet electricity consumption is five percent of that of China and Thailand, the report says.
Revenues from sale of natural energy are also often not seen by Burmese citizens who suffer regular blackouts. It was fuel shortages that triggered the September 2007 monk-led uprising.
The government is thought to channel 40 to 60 percent of the annual budget into the military, leaving little for a healthcare sector that in 2000 was ranked second worst in the world by the World Health Organisation.
Reporting by Francis Wade

The Military’s Role in Asean Nations

2009-09-10T03:17:00.001+06:30

Most of Southeast Asia has experienced military rule at some stage since the Colonial Era ended, and the political role of the region's military institutions has shaped and influenced politics right up to the present day.

The often-decisive interventions of the military in national politics have restricted the development of democracy, freedom of speech and human rights in many countries. In 2008, of the 10 member-states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), only Indonesia was deemed a fully free country by the US-based Freedom House, an NGO that monitors democracy and human rights.

Implicitly, a behind-the-scenes power-brokering process played by powerful military elites in Southeast Asian countries is a key factor in inhibiting democratic development across the region.

At a September conference at the Institute for Security and International Studies at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, these issues were among those discussed by scholars who examined civil-military relations in Burma, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines.

In the Southeast Asian region, Burma stands out, however, due to the sheer longevity of military rule and the entrenchment of the army in all sectors of society and the economy.

ISIS Director Thitinan Pongsudhirak remarked that in 1960, Burma was a democracy, having the highest GDP per capita in the region and with a relatively-advanced economy and noted education sector.

However, these days, the entrenchment of military rule is so thorough, it is more appropriate to use the term “military-civil relations,” according to Win Min. In a deep irony, the very military institution established by Burmese icon Aung San has kept its founder’s daughter and national democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest for 14 of the past 20 years, as part of its strategy to retain control of the country under a new constitution and elections scheduled for 2010.

The Napyidaw junta is regarded as introverted at best, and outright hostile to cosmopolitan or outside influences at worst, so it is debatable what lessons they have drawn from other countries in the region, which have either experienced military rule or felt the weight of the army bear down on day-to-day politics. There are both parallels and differences between the various cases that can perhaps shed some light on the nature of military rule in Burma.

Indonesia under Gen Suharto seems to be the closest comparison with contemporary Burma, even if optimism about present-day democratization across that vast archipelago does not have any Burmese parallel right now.

Like Burma, the Indonesian army played a central role in winning independence, which entrenched the military’s centrality and authority. Like Burma, Indonesia is a multi-ethnic, multi-religious country—albeit on a vaster scale.

Fears among the military elites in both that peripheral or ethnic minority regions could secede were used to justify for an overweening military influence in both countries and ultimately a military coup in the case of Burma in 1962. In Indonesia, the army retained a dwifungsi (dual function) in both defense/security and government, between 1957, when democratic rule was discarded, and 1998, when the long era of Suhartos's military-backed authoritarianism ended amid chaos and near civil war.

Under Suharto, the military was given corporate representation in government and state-owned corporations. Each military branch has its own foundation, operating businesses in the financial sector, travel industry, manufacturing and resource extraction. Similarly, as Win Min outlines, the Burmese army monopolizes the economy through a crony system.

Two vast conglomerates predominate—the Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings (UMEH) and the Myanmar Economic Cooperation (MEC)—both of which have been led by active military officers. Most of the inward FDI is channeled through UMEH, and both entities are involved in a wide array of business across the full spectrum of the national economy.

Since 1998, the Indonesian military has relinquished its reserved seats in parliament and retreated from its dominance of politics in the archipelago, under pressure from a long-suppressed democratic movement.

While this does not mean that civilian control over the military has been asserted, it is a clear difference between Indonesia and Burma, where the 2008 constitution is geared toward giving the military effective control, under a civilian veneer, in a future Burma.

Under the new constitution, the proposed new military commander-in-chief will have greater authority than the president (who almost certainly will be a retired military officer in any case) in key areas.

Twenty-five percent of national members of parliament and 33 percent of regional MPs will be active military officers appointed by the military chief, and there is no plan to phase this out.

Constitutional amendments will require a 75 percent majority, with the military effectively having a veto over the legislation process. Massive power will be vested in the new National Defense and Security Council, which can declare a state of emergency, and will have more military officers than civilians.
Closer to Burma, Thailand reached a nadir of sorts in civil-military relations with the 1992 coup and Black May crackdown. Military involvement in politics retreated until the September 2006 coup which ousted Thaksin Shinawatra, who transgressed some red lines by appointing some of his supporters to top military positions.

Echoing the Burma case somewhat, as noted by Paul Chambers, a senior research fellow at the University of Heidelberg, in his presentation to the ISIS conference, battling political parties (the yellows and the reds) and external threats (the Cambodia border dispute) have been used to justify or facilitate an increased role for the military in politics in the post-Thaksin era, and the 20008 Internal Security Act gives the military ample scope to transgress on democratic principles and the civilian realm.

The military is dominant in the Thai Ministry of Defense, and the National Security Council is paralleled by the MoD Defense Council. However, in comparison with Burma, military dominance of Thai politics is relatively-light, or covert, rather than in-your-face.

Chambers sees the Thai military as reverting to hidden-hand rule-by-proxy, enabling it to avoid perpetrating another Black May, or even another September 2006 coup. Prof Suchit Bunbongkarn of ISIS believes that the Thai military is somewhat averse to direct rule, as recent political developments have underscored the complexities of government in a challenging political environment.

The Philippines has a lurid history of coups and attempted coups, right up to the present administration under President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Similar to Indonesia and Thailand, the armed forces of the Philippines sees itself as having a de facto legitimate political role, with ample opportunity for side-interests in business and the economy.

However, though none of the militaries under discussion appear to be monolithic, it is arguable that the Philippines is more fractured when it comes to allegiances to mainstream politics and politicians.

That has had some positive impact, however, and offers a point of clarification for the Burmese case. With the recent death of Cory Aquino, there has been much reminiscing about the causes and consequences of the 1986 People's Power revolution in Manila, which ended the authoritarian kleptocracy of Ferdinand Marcos.

The army did not turn on protesting civilians on that occasion, a marked contrast with the military reaction to the Saffron Revolution in Burma, the second anniversary of which has just passed.
Perhaps the junta has learned from this example, by keeping a large, powerful and united military through its monopolization of the economy, and after 2010, a faux-legitimate civilianization of military rule. This will build upon the top-down, bottom-up system of control the junta has been crafting since military rule almost collapsed in 1988.

Politically, this involved ceasefires with the ethnic insurgencies, weakening the urban opposition and pro-democracy activists, and weakening links between the ethnic groups and the Burmese opposition.

Meanwhile, the regime aims to enlarge the army to 500,000 troops, despite already having the largest standing army in the region. By establishing a mass organization known as the USDA, thought to number 24 million members (though it’s unknown how many of these members are enthusiastic or consenting signatories), and peace/development councils staffed by military and ex-military members all the way down to the ward/village level, the junta is seeking optimum control at all levels of society under a civilian veneer.

While it is impossible to know the true opinion of the mass of Burmese soldiers about how the ruling generals govern the country, it appears the junta has worked to forestall any splits or reformism in the corridors of power that could assist or give a green light to pro-democracy activists or lead to a more successful Saffron Revolution II.

After the purge of Gen Khin Nyunt and his apparently reformist intelligence cadre, the military retired about 3,000 officers in 2007-8 and reappointed them to the civil service. Win Min regards this move as setting-up another bulwark against potential dissidence in the bureaucracy, should another Saffron Revolution break out.

According to Andrew Selth of Griffith University, blogging on the Web site Lowy Institute for International Policy in April 2008, the 2007 protests and ensuing international condemnation of the regime focused minds among the junta top brass, who now appear to have closed ranks and set aside any differences for now.

The upshot? A flawed constitution and undemocratic electoral process; the return of Aung San Suu Kyi to house arrest, with another 2,100 political prisoners under lock and key, and the possibility of renewed war with ethnic minority groups.

The junta appears determined to maintain the balance of military-civil relations in Burma decisively in its own favor and as seen in the recent offensive against the Kokang in northern Shan State, it will not shy away from offending China, its chief ally and patron, to achieve its goal of maintaining military control of the country.

irrawaddy

Thousands cross into Thailand for free food

2009-09-04T04:21:00.001+06:30

(DVB)–Around 4000 Burmese crossed into Thailand yesterday to attend an annual food donation event in the border town of Mae Sai, according to Burmese residents in the town.

The event was held at a Chinese temple in the town, and about 5000 people in total collected bags of rice, instant noodle packs, salt and canned fish.

“A lot of poor people from both sides of the border came to get the donation items and about 80 percent were from Burma,” said a Mae Sai resident.

A Burmese national at the event said the donation items would help his family survive for about two days.

“Two days is still not bad – I brought my kids along to the donation and they were given 20 Thai baht (around $US0.6) each,” said the person, adding that said he had been receiving the donation since 1997.

“There are three adults in my family so we got three bags of rice and the cash the kids got paid covered the transportation fee.”

Burmese living close to the border often cross into Thailand for food and medical treatment.

The Burmese government is estimated to spend only around 0.3 percent of its annual budget on healthcare.

In 2000 the World Health Organisation (WHO) ranked Burma’s healthcare system second worst in the world, above the then war-ravaged Sierra Leone.

Burma’s rice production industry was severely damaged by cyclone Nargis last year, which destroyed more than one million hectares of rice paddy in the southern Irrawaddy delta region.

The ruling junta was criticized in the wake of the cyclone for continuing to export rice at the same levels as before, despite widespread food shortages within the country.

The donation event in Mae Sai is sponsored supported by wealthy Thai business owners.

Reporting by Naw Noreen

With no land, Rohingya refugees languish in jail

2009-09-02T23:49:00.001+06:30

IMNA, Rai Maraoh

A group of Rohingya people that was arrested trying to cross illegally into Rangnon, Thailand, remain in prison along the Thai-Burma border after Thai authorities were unable to find a location to repatriate the group.

About 50 Rohingya were arrested by the Thai police in July, as they attempted to enter Thailand by boat. The group, which was assisted by a broker, hoped to find better jobs and asylum in Malaysia.

The Rohingya are a state-less ethnic Muslim minority, traditionally from Arakan area in Western Burma. The Rohingya have attracted sporadic media attention over the last 20 years after facing a variety of abuses. However their status as refugees has been heavily disputed by both Burma and Thailand.

One factor in this dispute has been Burma’s refusal to recognize the group as a legitimate ethnic minority. Having been striped of citizenship in 1982 the group faces regular abuses of religious persecution, land confiscation and arbitrary arrest by the Burmese government.

“Thai soldiers arrested a group of 50 Rohingya migrants, and tried to send them back, but the Rohingya haven’t been sent back yet because they don’t have their own land,” said a Kawthaung resident. “Thai authorities have held them for over a month.”

According to an article published by the New Light of Myanmar, a Burmese government controlled newspaper, on January 30th, 2009, there are more than 100 ethnic groups officially recognized by the government in Burma, however the Rohingya are not amongst the sanctioned groups.

Early last January a group of Rohingya people, who had been living in Arakan State in western Burma, were arrested by Thai authorities after they landed in Rangnon, according to an article published by the Irrawaddy. In a widely criticized response, the Thai authorities beat the attempted refugees and forced them back on boats, setting them adrift without engines, and few supplies.

At ASEAN’s 14th summit meeting, the Burmese foreign minister, Nyan Win, stated that the Rohingya are not Burmese ethnic and that there are no Rohingya in Burma. The Junta has insisted that it will only take back migrants who can prove they are “Bengali”, an ethnic group the government recognizes.

Refugees 'Flood' China

2009-08-30T22:29:00.002+06:30

Refugees cross the Chinese border following armed clashes in northern Burma.

HONG KONG—Thousands of Burmese refugees are flooding into China after military clashes in Kokang, a majority Chinese region close to the southwestern Chinese province of Yunnan.

"I have just got back from the refugee camps in [Yunnan]," a netizen identified as modi7705 wrote on the popular Chinese Web portal Baidu.

"From time to time, some more people come into the camp after sounds of gunfire and they are beset with questions about the situation on the other side of the border," he wrote.

"There are a lot of women and children, including a young woman who gave birth to her baby only four days ago. You can smell disinfectant everywhere. It's not a very clean place. Everyone is sleeping on the floor."

Official media reports confirmed online accounts of refugee camps near Yunnan's Zhenkang city.

"[Burma] residents are flooding into Yunnan province in southwest China Thursday amid a domestic war, the provincial government said," Xinhua news agency said in an urgent bulletin.

The U.S. Campaign for Burma (USCB) said "tens of thousands of ethnic people" had fled the region, as China's Chongqing Evening Post reported that up to 10,000 refugees had arrived in the border town of Nansan.

In a statement on its Web site, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) set the numbers much higher.

"Our information is that as many as 30,000 people may have taken shelter in Nansan county since Aug. 8, saying they were fleeing fighting between Myanmar [Burma] government troops and ethnic minority groups."

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Jiang Yu told reporters Friday that Beijing is concerned about the confrontation and hopes Burma can solve the domestic issue in order to preserve the regional stability of its border area with China.

China is watching the issue and has informed Burma of its position through diplomatic channels, she said.

"We also urge Myanmar [Burma] to protect the safety and legal rights of Chinese citizens in Myanmar," Jiang said.

Early August

Residents of the Burmese region of Kokang interviewed last week said the exodus from the region, where 90 percent of the population is ethnic Chinese, began early this month.

"The Burmese military government has prepared to attack Kokang several times, and a lot of Kokang residents have begun moving over the border back into China," the resident said.

Ou Zhaobin, former editor of the Kokang government Web site, said most ethnic Chinese had already left Kokang, and that many Burmese also had gone to China in recent days.

"The disturbances started a few days ago. The hotels on the Chinese side around Nansan are all packed with people," Ou said.

Employees who answered the phone at hotels and guesthouses around Nansan township near Yunnan's Zhenkang city confirmed separately that they were all full of guests, and that the situation in the town was unstable.

According to Baidu poster Modi7705, at least four people were shot trying to cross the border, but it was unclear whether they had been killed.

"They have put up speakers and people are shouting things over them on this side of the border," he wrote from a border region of Yunnan.

"We can't hear anything properly inside the house, but it sounds like a leader trying to calm everybody down. Actually the organization is pretty good here. The refugees coming across the border are very appreciative of China's abilities. They don't believe that the Burmese army will dare to cross the border."

"One Burmese woman asked me if the Chinese army had arrived at the scene. They are hoping China will step in and mediate the conflict. But I don't really see what can be done other than diplomatic efforts, and taking care of the refugees," he said.

Ethnic differences
Around 90 percent of Kokang's population is ethnic Chinese, speaking a southwestern dialect of Mandarin.

The region was turned into a special economic zone by the Burmese military government in recent years, by agreement with the local authorities.

A 2008 ceasefire with Burma's military rulers expires this year, and the apparent military action seems to have come in response to a splitting of the Kokang leadership.

“The Kokang organization split into two factions [Wednesday] morning," regional military affairs expert Aung Kyaw Zaw said.

"Mainly the leadership split in two factions, but the armed forces are still under the control of [regional commander] Peng Jiasheng."

Kokang, a mountainous region of 2,700 square kms, has a complicated history, changing hands from China's Qing Dynasty to British rule, and then to an uneasy federal relationship with the Burmese junta.

The region is controlled by the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), led by ethnic Chinese commander Peng Jiasheng, based in the border town of Laokai.

The city and administration have now been taken over by Peng's former deputy Bai Souqian, Burmese sources in the region said.

Crackdown ahead of elections

U.S. Campaign for Burma director Jeremy Woodrum said the military move against Kokang is part of a larger campaign against armed ethnic insurgencies intended to maintain the Burmese regime's chokehold on power ahead of planned elections next year.

The 2010 polls would be the first since opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) won elections in 1990 but was never allowed to take power.

"In June, the regime was carrying out attacks against the Karen ethnic minority, and at least 5,000 refugees fled into Thailand. Those attacks are not done. There appears to be a little bit of a lull, but we expect them to ramp up again," Woodrum said.

"Now they're going after the Kokang. I think that will expand to the Wa and possibly to the Kachin in northern Burma. Those all appear [to be an effort] to try to remove the last vestiges of ethnic autonomy before the election," he said.

Woodrum called the pressure on the Kokang, an ethnic group that had a ceasefire agreement in place for nearly 20 years, "qualitatively different and new."

"It was a strategic ceasefire on the regime's part so they could ramp up the size of their military and have enough forces to overrun the area," Woodrum said.

"These are the first shots fired in the region in 20 years," he said.

Fighting in Shan state

Earlier this month, Human Rights Watch called on the Burmese junta to immediately end attacks against civilians after thousands were displaced in Shan state.

It said that the Burmese army had reportedly deployed battalions to clear civilians from large areas in central Shan state between July 27-Aug.1, burning down more than 500 houses as they attacked 39 villages in the area.

The New York-based organization said it believed the operation was part of an intensified campaign against Shan State Army-South, an insurgent group that operates in the area.

Original reporting in Cantonese by Bat Tze-mo, and in Burmese by Zaw Moe Kyaw. Burmese service director: Nancy Shwe. Cantonese service director: Shiny Li. Translated and written for the Web in English by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Sarah Jackson-Han.

RFA

175 boat-people return back Bangladesh from deadly sea route

2009-08-28T03:37:00.001+06:30

Cox’s Bazaar, Bangladesh: On August 24, after languishing in Andaman jail for about eight months, 175 boat-people were handed over to Bangladesh Red Crescent under the supervision of Bangladesh Rifles at the Benapole-Petrapole border at around 9 am, who were rescued from the deadly sea route near the Andaman Islands, said Moniur (23), one of those who returned

Indian coastguards rescued at least 300 people from near death from a sinking engine less boat in December, 2008 as they were forced aboard and set adrift with scanty food and drink allegedly by Thai navy after they made an abortive attempt to go to Malaysia in search of jobs, according to the India rescued department sources.

Indonesia's navy and Indian coastguards rescued boat people believed to be minority Muslims from Burma where human rights activists say were beaten and set adrift in open sea to die or into hell by the Thai military to deny them sanctuary

The boat people claim, Thailand’s navy intercepted their boat, detained them in filthy conditions for a week, tossed several bound men into the open sea and finally set their barge adrift in international waters — with no sail, scarcely any food and little hope of survival who floated aimlessly for 15 days in the deadly sea where most of boat people died, according to the boatpeople report.

The boat people who were rescued by India coastguards from drifting in deadly sea were return back to the Bangladesh are:- from Cox's Bazar 9, Ukhia 12, Teknaf 61, Chakoria 38, Ramu 18, Kutubdia 5 and one each from Moheskhali and Pekoua Kuta Khali and other are Bandarban districts of Chittagong Hill Tracts, he added.

Azizul Islam, assistant commissioner, Cox's Bazar on behalf of deputy commissioner and Bangladesh Red Crescent Society officials, Cox's Bazar district unit officials were received the returnee boat people who arrived in Cox’s bazaar yesterday noon. Their family members were also waiting for them in the receiving point.

According to Moniur , “At first our boat along with 152 people was stopped by the Burmese Navy, and they provided us some rice, water and oil and then they showed us the way to Maylaysia. They didn’t create any trouble, but, when we reached the Thai coast, we were stopped again by the Thai Navy. They fed us and said that we have the chance to live with Thai Muslims. By saying that, at around 5 pm, and after seizing our clothes, they put us in a boat and sailed to an isolated Island from Ranong. After arrival at the island, we saw that about 300 to 400 boat-people had already been detained. We lived with them for two days in that island. The authorities fed us again.”

Two days later, six empty boats or trawlers arrived to the island, and put all 577 boat-people to four boats or trawlers and they took off the engines from the trawlers and put two rice bags and two gallons (30 litters) of water per boat and took the trawlers to deep sea tying it behind their ship. The authorities promised to transfer the boatpeople to a Malaysian ship which will take them to Maylaysia. After 38 hours on sea, they cut off the ropes and let us drift in the deep sea to die, Moniur added.

After which the trawlers floated on the sea, and one went to a westerly direction, two trawlers went to the south and the last one went to the east with the current. The trawler which went to west direction, he (Moniur) was in it. After 13 days of floating on sea, the trawler reached the base of a hill and stayed there one day. 19 people of the 152 boatpeople died of hunger while adrift. Next day, they reached a village walking. The villagers fed them, said Moniur.

The Indian Navy on the Andaman Island, took them to a training camp and detained them there. They were well fed and given medical treatment. They stayed there for around eight months. However, on August 20, 175 people (including 15 Rohingya) were put on a boat, and then after four days and four nights, it reached Kolkata. They were driven to Benapole border check post of India-Bangladesh. At last, they reached at Cox’s Bazaar in the evening of August 25, Moniur added.

Tareque Md. Ariful Islam, counselor of Bangladesh mission in Kolkata, officials of Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) police and Bangladesh Red Crescent Society formally received them at Benapole. He added that after permission from the Indian Government, they were brought to Kolkata from Port Blair, the capital of Anadaman Islands on August 21. They reached Kolkata on August 23.

The Bangladesh authorities had an arrangement for primary check up and treatment by the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society and International Committee of the Red Cross at Benapole check post.

Kabir Uddin, a member of the returnee group, saying that nearly 500 Bangladeshis and Burmese were started for Malaysia from Teknaf by a trawler through the Bay of Bengal. But when the trawler reached Thai territory, were arrested by the Thai Coast Guards, where the Thai authority tortured us first and then took the trawler in the deep sea tying it behind their ship. From there we reached near the Andamans and later were rescued by Indain helicopter, many of our group died of hunger in the deep sea.

There are about 283 people present in Blair camp. Some touts took kyat 5,000 to 20,000 from them saying that they will provide jobs in Malaysia, said Moniur , who reached Cox’s Bazaar on August 25.

Returnees Hashim, said some local human traffickers took Taka 13,000 to 40,000 promising them jobs in Malaysia and put them on trawlers from Teknaf in Cox’s Bazaar for Malaysia.

The repatriation process of 175 boat-people from the Andaman was being supervised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs through the Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi and Deputy High Commission of Bangladesh in Kolkata, said officials.

A first batch of 49 persons were sent back earlier this year after due verification. Now, the second batch of 175 Bangladeshis have been sent to their native land.

Indian ships had "rescued 446 Bangladeshi and Burmese refugees from four boats" since December 29, said Indian Coast Guard commander S.P. Sharma, according to AFP report.

kaladanpress

Daewoo invest $5.6 billion in Burma gas

2009-08-28T03:23:00.002+06:30

(DVB)–South Korean company Daewoo International is waiting for the go-ahead from the Burmese government to invest nearly $US5.6 billion in Burma's gas fields, with the produce destined for China.

If approved, the deal will see Daewoo supplying the China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) over the course of 30 years with around seven percent of the country's current gas consumption, although this is expected to grow rapidly.

Burma has huge offshore natural gas reserves in the Bay of Bengal which already cater for much of Thailand's energy needs.

Advocacy groups have complained that the vast majority of Burma's natural energy is being shipped out of the country, despite many of the major cities suffering frequent blackouts.

Daewoo will be leading a consortium of companies, which includes India's Oil and Natural Gas Corp and GAIL company, the Myanmar Oil & Gas Enterprise, and the Korea Gas Corp.

The project includes the construction of 2,800 kilometer oil and gas pipelines, known as the Shwe Gas Project, running from Burma's western Arakan state to China's southwestern Yunnan province.

Until now China has relied on the congested Strait of Malacca, between Singapore and Indonesia’s Sumatra peninsular, to transport oil from the Middle East to its energy-hungry population. According to Reuters, Burma will be able to tap the pipelines once they are in operation.

In June the Korean government rejected a complaint from two environmental advocacy groups, EarthRights International (ERI) and Shwe Gas Movement, that allegedly exposed human rights abuses surrounding the project.

China and Korea are two of only a handful of countries that still invest substantially in Burma, with China being its main trading partner and political ally.

Burma is subject to sanctions from a number of Western countries, including the United States and European Union, although these do not block investment in Burma's natural energy.

The EU recently ratcheted up its sanctions package on Burma, following the detention of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi earlier this month.

The United States is currently reviewing its policy towards Burma, following comments from some senior officials, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, that sanctions had failed.

Reporting by Francis Wade

Japan pushes for Suu Kyi's release

2009-08-28T03:23:00.001+06:30

(DVB)-Japan showed signs of disapproval today over the sentencing of Burma opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and urged the ruling junta to quickly release her prior to next year's elections.

During talks earlier today with Burma's agriculture minister, Htay Oo, the Japanese foreign minister Hirofumi Nakasone said that Tokyo "strongly expects the swift release of Aung San Suu Kyi".

A statement released by the Japanese foreign ministry following the meeting stressed that Suu Kyi should be able to participate in Burma's democratic process, likely hinting at her role in the 2010 elections scheduled for March next year.

The leader of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) party was sentenced on 11 August to a further 18 months under house arrest, following the visit in May of US citizen John Yettaw to her Rangoon compound.

Htay Oo, who is also secretary of the controversial pro-junta Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) in Burma, replied that the government "will consider [Suu Kyi's] early release if she leads a sincere life", according to the statement obtained by AFP.

Japan had previously expressed "deep disappointment" over the sentencing, but has appeared reluctant to take any further action.

Trade between the two countries has continued, despite Burma being subject to far-reaching sanctions from a number of Western countries, including the United States and European Union.

The commments from Japan follow hot on the heels of an agreement between senior Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) officials to urge regional foreign ministers to appeal for Suu Kyi's release.

If the appeal is approved, it will mark a turning point in ASEAN policy which has so far followed a line of non-interference in domestic matters of member countries.

Although Japan is not a member of ASEAN, which includes Thailand, Cambodia and Laos, as well as Burma, it is party to the wider Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), which also includes China and India.

In April, the New York-based Human Rights Watch urged Japan to "reinvigorate" its Burma policy and make human rights a foreign policy priority, following years of failed "quiet diplomacy".

Reporting by Francis Wade

China Accused of Ignoring Burmese Junta's Graft

2009-08-28T03:01:00.001+06:30

MANILA — China and other governments with lucrative business deals in Burma are ignoring massive corruption by its ruling military junta, a pro-democracy activist said Thursday.

Ka Hsaw Wa said corruption has become the second worst problem in Burma after widespread human rights violations and afflicts all levels of its government.

He spoke to The Associated Press in Manila, where he was named one of six recipients of the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay award, considered Asia's version of the Nobel Prize, for documenting human rights and environmental abuses in his country.

Corruption in Burma should be dealt with urgently, since most people struggle to afford three meals a day, Ka Hsaw Wa said. But obtaining evidence is almost impossible, he said.

"It's simply economic plunder," Ka Hsaw Wa said, adding that "99.9 percent of the ruling junta, from a normal soldier to the top generals, are completely corrupt."

He said corruption within the military should be apparent to friendly foreign governments like China, but they look the other way.

"We won't turn a blind eye to that (corruption), of course," said Ethan Sun, a spokesman at the Chinese Embassy in Manila. He added, however, that trade and economic cooperation "benefit the peoples of both countries."

China has often supported the junta against international pressure in the past.

Most ruling Burmese generals live in sprawling, heavily guarded compounds which are off-limits to the public, he said. When a secret video of the lavish 2006 wedding of Snr-Gen Than Shwe's daughter surfaced on YouTube, it caused outrage in his country.

International watchdogs have consistently ranked Burma among the world's most corrupt nations. Transparency International's 2008 list put it next to last, ahead of only Somalia.

The junta does not publicly respond to accusations of corruption, but it has launched anti-corruption drives mostly targeting low-level offenses. A call to the embassy in Manila was not answered Thursday.

"A lot of countries want to swallow Burma alive, it's so rich in natural resources," Ka Hsaw Wa said. "But they try not to see (corruption) in a way that they can do business there."

While the Burmese government officially restricts logging, middle-level military officers have cut down huge swaths of rain forests for personal profit, he said.

Ka Hsaw Wa, a member of Burma's ethnic Karen minority, was a 17-year-old student activist when the government violently suppressed 1988 pro-democracy demonstrations. After his arrest, he fled to the jungle where he witnessed atrocities committed against villagers, the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation said.

EarthRights, the nonprofit group he co-founded, filed a case in the United States in 1996 against the US-based oil company Unocal for alleged complicity in human rights and environmental abuses committed by Burma's military in the building of the Yadana gas pipeline. After 10 years of litigation, Unocal agreed to compensate the 11 petitioners.

EarthRights also runs a school in Thailand that trains young people from Burma and other countries in nonviolent social change.

irrawaddy

Regional rights group concerned over arrest of migrant child

2009-08-21T04:13:00.001+06:30

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) - A regional human rights body has urged Thailand’s government to protect children of migrant parents, from arrest and forced repatriation.

On Wednesday, the Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission released an open letter, which was submitted to Thai Prime Minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva, urging the Thai government to protect the rights of children, who were born in Thailand to illegal immigrant parents, who had been permitted to temporarily reside in the country on a special basis.

The gesture came following a case of the arrest of a three year old boy, Pol or Abdullah, a child of a registered migrant worker, who was permitted to work and temporarily reside in Thailand, while his mother was selling ‘roti’ in a market in Mueang District, Samutprakarn Province.

The boy was detained at Suan Plu immigration center, with a possibility of deportation at 22.00 pm on 27 July, 2009. The boy was allegedly charged with illegal entry into Thailand, under the provisions of Section 54, of the Immigration Act (1979).

Officers of the Human Rights for Development Foundation (HRDF) had coordinated with other rights groups, including the Lawyer Council of Thailand, and sought to petition the Immigration Bureau, to suspend the deportation and release the child immediately. The boy was later released from the immigration detention center on July 28, 2009.

“Despite the boy having been released and returned to the family, related rights groups are concerned that many state agencies did not have accurate and correct understanding about legal facts or the legal personality of Pol and other children sharing the same legal status with him. Thus these children were often arrested, detained and deported,” AHRC said in a statement.

The group noted that in order to prevent any future unlawful arrests and detention of children and to protect every child, who is in the same situation, the following legal opinion and proposal to protect Pol (Abdulla) and every child born on Thai soil to illegal immigrant parents, be mooted.

“An arrest, detention and deportation is a violation of international criminal law, that a person must not be inflicted with a criminal punishment, unless one has committed an act, which the law considers to be an offence,” the letter noted.

The group proposed the prevention of this problem to the government by implementing measures to ensure the rights of such children would be protected, by ensuring that Thailand and its officials must not arrest and deport any child. The authorities should prevent children from being stateless, by certifying their right to reside. The measure could be adopted immediately by recording the name and personal details of the children in the database.

“Under the international obligation as a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), Thailand is legally bound to protect and promote children through at least four principles of non-discrimination, the best interests of the child, child protection and the right to survival and to be developed to the fullest,” the letter concluded.

Pakistan Senate HR Committee condemns Burmese junta

2009-08-21T04:11:00.001+06:30

New Delhi (Mizzima) - Pakistan’s Senate Functional Committee on Human Rights on Wednesday came down heavily on Burma’s military junta for sentencing opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and urged its government to severe diplomatic ties unless Burma releases the Noble Peace Laureate.

The committee, in its meeting under the chairmanship of Senator Afrasiab Khattak, said by sentencing Aung San Suu Kyi to another 18 months in detention, the Burmese junta is not only blatantly denying the democratic aspirations of the Burmese people but has also stubbornly ignored the demand of the international community.

“The despotic dictatorship has crossed all limits in violating international norms of democracy, civilized governance and human rights,” reads the Committee’s resolution published in a press statement on Wednesday.

The Committee also expressed its solidarity with the Burmese people in their struggle for fundamental rights and “demanded of the [Pakistan] government that it should severe diplomatic ties with the military regime of Myanmar [Burma] unless Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners are released and democratic rights and constitutional rule is restored.”

The committee’s call is the first official statement by the Pakistani government over the sentencing of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi on August 11.

Pakistan and Burma are reported to have maintained a good military relationship with former Burmese Intelligence Chief Lt Gen Khin Nyunt paying a visit to Islamabad in June 2000. Khin Nyunt, who ranked third in the Burmese military hierarchy, was purged in 2004.

Pakistan’s former President General Pervez Musharraf also paid a visit to Rangoon in May 2001.

Pakistan is known to have supplied Burma with conventional weapons and provided training for Burmese Army personnel in Pakistan.

Indonesia withdraws support to Burmese opposition meet

2009-08-21T04:10:00.002+06:30

New Delhi (Mizzima) – The Burmese military junta’s objection to a conference by opposition leaders in exile and efforts at stopping a key meeting on a ‘National Reconciliation Proposal’ in Jakarta is an indication that the regime is apprehensive and feels threatened, opposition members said.

Leaders of one of the largest Burmese opposition alliances on Wednesday and Thursday were compelled to shift their meeting venue and conduct a low profile meeting after Indonesian authorities objected and ordered surveillance.

“As far as we understand, the Burmese Embassy in Jakarta had written a letter to the Indonesia Foreign Ministry tabling their protest at the opposition groups in exile holding a meeting in their country,” Maj. Hkun Okkar, an ethnic Pa-O delegate coming from Jakarta after attending the conference told Mizzima.

Several city policemen were deployed near the meeting venue in Jakarta and “at least four to five Indonesian intelligence officers kept following us, wherever we went,” Hkun Okkar said.

An Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah was quoted as saying by the AP that Burma is a legal State recognised by Indonesia and will not allow the Burmese government-in-exile to hold a conference in its country.

“We will not allow a group claiming to be a government-in-exile from whatever country to hold their activities in Indonesia,” Faizasyah was quoted as saying.

Hkun Okkar, who is a Major in the Pa-O Liberation Organisation (PLO), an ethnic armed group fighting against the Burmese junta for self-determination, said, the protest by the Burmese Embassy to Indonesia proves that the junta fears any opposition movement that might threaten their reign.

“It is clearly visible that the junta is afraid of us gaining the support of the international and regional community,” he said.

“But we are here [Jakarta] for a discussion for reconciliation in our country. We are not here to discuss toppling them but we are discussing how to embrace and reconcile our nation,” he added.

Leaders of the ‘Seven Alliance’, a group that combines various Burmese and ethnic organizations, despite restrictions, held the meeting and approved the “Proposal for National Reconciliation” for Burma, an alternative proposal to the Burmese junta’s transitional plans.

The proposal has three major parts – trust building, economic reforms, and the role of the military – and assures that while maintaining national unity, transition can be achieved through dialogue.

Recognising the fact that transition in Burma cannot be achieved overnight, the proposal states that it needs to kick-start it and the best way to do so is to begin it by releasing political prisoners including Aung San Suu Kyi, who on Tuesday was given a 18-month suspended sentence.

“If we are to move forward, we need to start building trust among each other and it should start by the government releasing political prisoners including Aung San Suu Kyi,” Hkun Okkar, who is heading the delegation of the National Council of the Union of Burma, an umbrella group made up of pro-democracy organisations and ethnic nationalities, said.

The NCUB along with the Burmese government in exile, the NCGUB, Ethnic Nationalities Council (ENC), Women’s League of Burma (WLB), Students and Youth Congress of Burma (SYCB), Nationalities Youth Forum (NYF) and Forum for Democracy in Burma (FDB) form the Seven Alliance.

Prior to the Jakarta conference, Hkun Okkar said, the group had handed a copy of their proposal to the office of Ibrahim Gambari, United Nations special envoy to Burma.

According to the group, the proposal had been endorsed by all Burmese opposition groups and it is the first document on which the fractious Burmese opposition agreed on.

Hkun Okkar said, despite doubts that the junta will refuse to accept the proposal, as they have always done in the past, their next step will be to explain to the international community their plan, which all the opposition groups have agreed to.

“There are fears that if the military is removed from Burmese politics, there would be Balkanisation. But this proposal is proof that ethnic groups are interested in forming a federal union and do not seek cessation,” Hkun Okkar said.

While the group will continue working to push for a change within the country, Hkun Okkar said, international pressures are supportive and could bring the junta to the negotiating table.

“If the international community today says, ‘no we will not endorse the 2010 election unless you review the constitution’ then I am sure the junta has nowhere else to go,” he added.

But with the Jakarta meeting, attended by 40 to 50 Burmese opposition leaders along with their supporters including parliamentarians from Southeast Asian nations, being restricted, even Indonesia, which is the largest democracy in Southeast Asia, seems to be backing off.

And the hope of the international community, despite its rhetorical condemnations, acting against the military rulers seems to be diminishing.

Indian legislators condemn Burmese junta

2009-08-21T04:10:00.001+06:30

New Delhi (Mizzima) - Despite India’s amorphous official stand on the Burmese junta sentencing Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi to 18 months in detention, a number of Indian Parliamentarians condemned the act, calling it ‘irrational’ and an utter ‘disregard’ for international opinion.

“We strongly condemn the irrational verdict on Daw Aung San Suu Kyi by the military junta. It is complete disregard of international opinion and shows the junta’s determination to oppose democracy,” the Indian Parliamentarians’ Forum for Democracy in Burma (IPFDB), a group formed with a few Members of Parliament, said on Thursday.

IPFDB also reminded India that Burma’s problems are a cause of concern to regional stability and that India should take a pro-active role in supporting democratic changes in its Southeast Asian neighbour.

The IPFDB in a statement released on Thursday said, India should “take strong and effective initiatives on regional stability and democratic changes in Burma.”

But India’s official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, in reply to a question on the sentencing of Aung San Suu Kyi on Tuesday said, India has told the Burmese junta of the importance of expediting political reform and national reconciliation process.

“We have maintained that this process should be broad based, including the various ethnic groups. In this context, the issue of release of political prisoners will no doubt receive due attention,” the official spokesperson said without mentioning Aung San Suu Kyi.

But the IPFDB thinks differently, and feels that India should do more as Burma’s problems are creeping onto India and India cannot ignore the problems as an internal affair of the Burmese.

“Every country’s foreign policies are based on its self-interest and we can understand India’s self interest. But India would not be serving its interest by not doing anything to promote democracy in Burma,” Sharad Joshi, a Rajya Sabha (Upper House) MP and convenor of the IPFB, told Mizzima.

Speaking to Mizzima at the signing of the statement, Joshi said, India should be alarmed at the news and rumours of Burma seeking to possess a nuclear weapon with the assistance of other rogue countries.

But an official at the Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday told Mizzima India did not want to comment on Burma’s affairs but has urged the government to expedite political reforms and national reconciliation.

Rights group urges Thailand to look after detained Rohingya

2009-08-21T04:09:00.001+06:30

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – In the wake of two deaths in the detention camp, a rights group in Thailand has urged Thai authorities to provide humanitarian assistance including medicare to detained Rohingya asylum seekers.

Thai Action Committee for Democracy in Burma (TACDB) in a statement on Tuesday said two Rohingya, who were detained in Ranong province’s Immigration Office, died due to lack of medical attention.

The group said, on July 1, 2009, 20-year old, Abdul Salam, died while in detention. He vomited blood several times but officials did not pay heed and refused to take him to hospital or provide medical attention, resulting in his death.

Similarly, the group said, on August 13, 2009, an 18-year old, Hama Tula, died of an unidentified illness.

After the two deaths, the TACDB urged authorities to take several other sick Rohingya detainees in the camp to hospital.

The two dead were among a group of 78 detained ‘Rohingya Boat People’, who were arrested in January after their boat arrived on the Thai coast.

A number of them were sent back to Bangladesh after they admitted to being Bangladeshis and not Burmese and expressed their desire to go back home. Reportedly, 55 people are still in the Ranong Immigration Office.

The TACDB also urged the Thai government not to forcibly repatriate them as their lives are at risk in Burma.

The group further urged the authorities to allow the detainees to practice their religious rituals, as Ramadan, a holy month in the Islamic religion, is to begin from August 21. During this month, Muslims fast and pray throughout the day and eat only after sunset.

“We also called on the Thai government to clarify its policy so that it will not push the Rohingya group to face an uncertain destiny in Burma,” the group said.

Besides, the group also called for investigation into the death of the two men, as they died in detention by the authorities. According to Thai law, families or representatives have the right to access the investigation.

Pol Lieutenant Colonel Nattarit Pinpak, Chief of Ranong Immigration Office said on Wednesday that the 55 Rohingya people, who were in Ranong, were sent to the Repatriation Center in Bangkok on the orders of the Royal Police Office in Bangkok.

Marut Hudsen, a 50-year old man from Arakan State in Burma said they are happy to be moved to the center but are worried about the future where they may be sent back to Burma, where everybody knows about difficulties they have to face.

“If we have a choice, we want to live in Thailand,” Hudsen was quoted as saying by a Thai newspaper Komchadluek.

Rise in child labour feared over Thai policy

2009-08-21T04:08:00.001+06:30

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) - The Thai Government’s policy of not registering families of migrant workers is likely to escalate the problems of child labour, a social worker said.

Executive Director of the Labour Rights Promotion Network Foundation, Sompong Srakaew, who works in close tandem with migrants in Samut Sakorn Province, told Mizzima that the recent government policy to register and verify the nationality of migrant workers from neighbouring countries, particularly Burma, but excluding their family members, may create more child labour issues.

“Many of them have to tell lies that they are older, than their actual age, so that the Thai authorities let them live and work in Thailand, with their parents. Some of them were unable to go to school, because they had to take care of their younger sisters or brothers and help their parents to work,” he said.

In 2004, the Thai government had set up registration for family members of migrants, but later it cancelled this policy. During that time there were about 3,000 migrant children in Samut Sakorn Province, one of the biggest towns in Thailand, which has a thriving fisheries industry.

However, the total number of migrant children is expected to increase to 10, 000, only in Samut Sakorn.

Activists are of the opinion that the registration of these children would show the number of children, who should be in school and then medical and other necessary public facilities could be provided for them.

A 10-year-old girl in Mahachai district of Samut Sakorn told Mizzima that she was attending a local school, but after her sister was born her mother needed her to help at home.

“In addition, the school I went to was quite far from home, so it was difficult to continue,” she said.

The girl also said that in the morning she works at a small frozen prawn factory, while her mother also works there and in the evening she helps her mother take care of her sister.

Many children have to live alone, while their parents are working. Normally these are small rooms in apartments, where hundreds of workers live as a community.

The Thai authorities allow young people above 15, to work in some businesses, but a large number of children aged under 15 told the employers that they were 15 years old. Some employers also reported the child worker’s ages to the authorities and let them work, generally in bad conditions, both in below standard payment and environment.

Local authorities estimated that current statistics of workers in the province is up to 300, 000. Mainly they work in fishery industries, such as prawn shell peeling and cleaning seafood for frozen business. The biggest groups of workers are ethnic Mon, Burmese and some are Kachin and Karen people.

Burmese Women Shot in the South

2009-08-21T04:05:00.000+06:30

A Burmese woman worker was killed and three women wounded in a shooting by unidentified assailants in Pattani Province in southern Thailand on Tuesday, according to local sources.

Moe Kyaw Thu, a 28-year-old Burmese worker in Pattani said the four women were shot at a construction site at noon.

The woman who died was shot in the heart. The three wounded were taken to Pattani Hospital, said the source. The four victims were from Tavoy in Tenasserim Division in southern Burma.

“We are very afraid of working here,” Tun Shwe, a Burmese worker, said. “We have to be careful wherever we go because bombings are frequent.

“For the moment I feel safe enough because I am working at the construction site of the Thai military compound,” he said.

Htoo Chit, an executive director of Grassroots Human Rights Education and Development Committee (Burma) based in Phang Nga Province of southern Thailand, said migrants can easily apply for permits to work in Pattani Province, because there is a strong demand for migrant workers and the authorities don’t ask too many questions.

According to local sources, an estimated 30,000 Burmese migrants work in Pattani. Many work on construction sites and rubber plantations. A construction site worker can earn about 200 baht a day.

“It is difficult to find jobs in other places, so migrants are going to Pattani to work even though they know it is risky,” said Htoo Chit.

An ethnic Mon who works at a rubber plantation in Pattani said: “We can save a lot of money if we work here because plantation owners pay us more than in other places.

“We have to be wary of everyone,” he said. “Sometimes the police come and ask for money, and we have to pay them. Sometime road gangs come and we have to pay them too. Then there are the ordinary thieves who come to steal from us as well.”

Thai security officials said that at least three Burmese migrant workers were killed at construction sites in Thailand's south before the latest shooting.

One Burmese worker was shot and killed on the road by suspected Islamist militants in Pattani in July. Pattani police believe the incident was related to the southern violence.

More than 3,700 people have been killed in the southern provinces of Narathiwat, Yala and Pattani since unrest erupted in January 2004.

Rebels have targeted both Buddhists and Muslims, with victims ranging from security forces to civilians such as teachers and plantation workers.

The region was an autonomous Malay Muslim sultanate until predominantly Buddhist Thailand annexed it in 1902, provoking decades of tension.

irrawaddy

Refugees of the Maepa Rubbish Dump

2009-08-21T04:02:00.000+06:30

MAE SOT, Thailand — Burmese refugee families have lived for years around a trash dump in Mae Sot, but with free medical care and free education for their children, it’s not all bad.

Many families have tried to return to Burma, but most came back to Mae Sot because the life was better. Still, they struggle daily, their wages are miniscule and their humble homes are periodically torn down by Thai authorities.

"I had decent pay before,” said 28-year-old Soe Win, as he washed a frayed jacket he found in the rubbish dump. “But now it’s hard to survive.”

An illegal migrant worker, he has worked around the trash dump for three years, ever since he came from Shwe Kyin Township in Burma to find a job in Thailand.

The Irrawaddy interviewed Burmese refugees who live around the Maepa trash dump in Mae Sot in Thailand’s Tak Province, only a few kilometers inside the Burmese-Thai border.

"There are 287 people here on the resident list. I came here eight years ago. In the past, I earned more than 100 baht per day. Most of people here get only 50 or 65 baht per day,” said Myint Aye, who works in the rubbish dump.

“This recycling factory was opened in May 2009, and there are about 26 workers,” he said. “We get only 2 baht for one kilogram.”

Myint Aye said the residents around the dump have problems with the Thai police who come into the area to remove homes in the spring of each year.

“Now, we all are worrying about it,” he said. “Thai authorities won’t even allow people to build huts here.”
Even so, there are about 70 houses and 290 people live around the rubbish dump, most Burmese or ethnic Karen, he said.

A 42-year-old woman, Than Myint, said: “I came here from Magwe Township two years ago. There are nine members in my family. Only three people work, but, we can survive here. Now I get at least 50 or 60 baht a day because the plastic recycling factory set up near us.” She said her makeshift hut was destroyed last year by authorities, and her bicycle confiscated.

She tried to return to work in Burma, she said, but faced more difficulties and went into debt. She returned, and things are better here, she said.

“We can get free health care and an education for our children,” she said. “We only need to pay a 50 baht school fee per year.”

The School Clinic or the Mae Tao Clinic, founded and directed by Dr. Cynthia Maung, provides free health care for refugees, migrant workers and other individuals who cross the border from Burma.

The dump ground community has a small school, built with the help of the Thai government and donor agencies.

Aung Zaw Oo, the headmaster of Moo (6) School, said: “Our school started in 2005 with the help of the World Education Center (WEC) and the Ministry of Education. Now, there are seven teachers and 92 students from kindergarten to grade five. We plan to expand to grade seven. We teach subjects about Myanmar, science, geography, English and mathematics. The Thai language is taught three times a week.”

A nongovernmental group, “Children on the Edge—New Zealand” helps to support the school with material and funding. The humanitarian agency was founded in 2006 to work on behalf of marginalized and vulnerable children from Burma.

Nan Aye Phyu, a Karen teacher, said, “I think our students get a better education here than children inside Burma.”

irrawaddy

Burmese student recovers from H1N1 flu in India

2009-08-16T00:54:00.000+06:30

by Nem Davies

New Delhi (Mizzima) – A Burmese student, studying in Maharashtra state in India, the state worst affected by the H1N1 virus, has reportedly recovered after being treated for five days in a hospital.

The 23-year old Burmese student at the Spicer Memorial College in Pune in Maharashtra was admitted to hospital earlier this month and was treated for five days before he was discharged.

“Doctors prescribed him H1N1 flu medicines for five days and he was later discharged. But he is still under medication and it will continue for about 15 days,” a friend of the youth studying in the same college told Mizzima.

According to the friend, the youth rejoined college on August 3, following a visit to relatives in the United States. He was detected with high fever the next day, and was tested at the hospital, where he was declared infected with type A (H1N1) flu.

At least two other Indian students from the same college were reportedly infected with the virus, causing alarm among college authorities, who instructed students to put on masks. The college was later closed for a week.

“We were told to inform our teachers if we noticed signs and symptoms of the virus and to take care of personal hygiene. College authorities are monitoring the situation during the week long vacation,” Thang Sian Liang said.

The Spicer College has about 500 students out of which there are over 40 Burmese students studying in various fields. While many of the Burmese students have come with legal passports, several of them joined the College after crossing into India through border gates.

The Maharashtra government on Wednesday was forced to declare holiday in schools and colleges for a week, due to the high rate of human infection of the flu.

Students said the campus of colleges and universities are now filled with people wearing masks as a precautionary measure.

India’s Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Sunday officially announced that the human infection of the flu in India has affected 864 people while the latest death toll has reached 17.

Meanwhile, in neigbouring Burma, the government said 19 people have been found infected with the virus so far and most of the infected patients have been recorded as having returned from foreign trips.

Indonesia meeting pressured by Burma junta

2009-08-16T00:48:00.001+06:30

(DVB)–An “historic” meeting of Burmese opposition groups in Indonesia was yesterday forced to relocate following pressure from the Burmese junta on the Indonesian government to block the meeting from going ahead.

Yesterday delegates from the Movement for Democracy and Rights for Ethnic Nationalities (MDREN), a coalition of Burmese opposition groups, were due to meet at the Sari Pan Pacific Hotel in Jakarta.

According to the participants, the Burmese government reportedly asked the Indonesia government to ban the meeting, so it was relocated yesterday midday to the Indonesian parliament building .

“The meeting was attended by foreign diplomats, representatives from activist groups and members of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus,” said Thaung Htun, spokesperson for the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB).

Yesterday’s move to the parliament building reportedly brought more delegates and media officials.

“We had a big support from the Indonesian parliament members and we managed to discuss a lot on what to do next following the sentencing of Daw Ang San Suu Kyi,” said Thaung Htun.

The prime minister of the NCGUB, Sein Win, had previously said that the convention was “history being made”.

“The proposal envisages opening a process of dialogue with the junta, effectively offering a sustainable exit-strategy for the military rulers,” said a statement on the MDREN website.

According to Khin Omar, chairperson of the Network for Democracy and Development, the meeting will cover a wide range of issues.

“We proposed [suggestions] regarding national reconciliation, particularly what kind of changes we need to make in the 2008 constitution, how to bring changes to the economy and security issues in Burma.”

The meeting will continue today at the Human Rights Commission Office in Jakarta.

Reporting by Aye Nai

AH1N1 virus hits Thailand refugee camp

2009-08-16T00:42:00.000+06:30

(DVB)–Four Burmese children living in a refugee camp close to the Thai-Burma border have been infected with the AH1N1 virus, according to a medical aid group working in the area.

According to Saw Nay Hser, chief of the Mae La camp hospital run by Aide Medical International (AMI), a three-old-girl was first confirmed with the virus on 2 August.

“She was showing symptoms such as coughing, sneezing and a high body temperature but we didn’t think she was infected with the AH1N1 virus,” he said.

Following tests by another medical group, the Shoklo Malaria Research Unit, the girl was confirmed as the first to be infected in the camp.

Risk of the virus spreading in the camp is high, particularly so given the close proximity to one another that people live.

Since the first case was diagnosed, another three have been confirmed, all of whom are close neighbours of the girl.

“On the same day we had the test results, I went to the children’s house with other medical workers,” said Saw Nay Hser.

“They were not doing too badly apart from some coughing and sneezing. We are giving them treatments at their homes.”

He added that the families of the children infected with the virus have been advised not to go outside while neighbours were told not to go visit them. One of the children apparently had visited someone outside of the camp with her family before she fell ill.

About 50,000 Burmese refugees live in Mae La camp, and many are said to be worried that they will also catch the disease.

The camp’s authorities say they are doing as much as they can to distribute medicine and educate people about the disease. Tests are still being conducted to find out exactly how many people have been infected.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), so far 1462 people worldwide have died from AH1N1, with 177457 cases reported, although it warns that this figure is likely to be below the actual amount.

Reporting by Naw Noreen

China Warns Commander to Avoid Instability in Shan State

2009-08-16T00:29:00.001+06:30

Chinese officials have warned the junta’s northeastern military commander not to create instability in Shan State bordering with China, according to sources on the Sino-Burmese border.

Two Chinese officials from Yunnan Province met with northeastern commander Aung Than Htut in Loigai Township on August 10.

Aung Kyaw Zaw, a Burmese analyst based on the border, said the Chinese officials told the commander they were worried about a migration of refugees from Shan State into China, if armed clashes between junta troops and ethnic armed groups break out.

About 10,000 people, including Kokang and Chinese migrants, reportedly entered China earlier this month after tension increased between government troops and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), a Kokang ceasefire group.

The two Chinese officials expressed their views forcefully, according to the source.

Tension have increased following an attempted raid by 70 government troops on the home of the MNDAA chairman, in search of illegal drugs. About 300 Kokang troops blocked the government troops on their way to the residence, sources said.

Chinese officials reportedly told Vice Snr-Gen Maung Aye of the Burmese army, to handle border area conflicts among the ethnic armed ceasefire groups peacefully during his visit to China in June, according to sources.

The government is trying to force ethnic armed groups, the Wa, Kokang and Monglar, in Shan State to transform their forces into a border guard force under the military government.

The three groups have refused the offer, increasing tensions. The junta has deployed more troops in the area as a result. Some analysts say that the government appears to be preparing an offensive against the armed ethnic groups. Other sources say they believe government troops will not mount any immediate offensives in Shan State because of China’s concern and the upcoming national election in 2010.

The three ethnic armed ceasefire groups have formed an alliance to support each other if there are clashes with government troops, said sources in Shan State.

irrawaddy

Thailand Weakens Sanctions against Burma

2009-08-16T00:27:00.000+06:30

Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said that Thailand had no problem with other countries putting more pressure on the military regime including arms sanctions, but opposed banning gems, the Bangkok Post reported on Friday.

Thailand and China are the two largest importers of Burmese gemstones.

Abhisit made clear Thailand's position on gems sanctions in talks with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Bangkok on July 21, and said Thailand opposed banning Burmese gems in order to put more pressure on the military regime after the sentencing of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi this week.

Former US President George Bush signed the Burma Jade Act into law on July 29, 2008, restricting the import of Burmese gemstones and extending existing import sanctions on Burma.

According to the Burmese Central Statistical Organization, Burma produced 30,896.44 tons of jade and 20.5 million carats of gems in 2008. The gems included ruby, sapphire, spinel, peridot and pearl.

British ambassador to Thailand Quinton Quayle said after talks with Abhisit that more measures would be imposed on Burma if the junta continued to ignore calls for Suu Kyi's release. Britain now holds the presidency of the United Nations Security Council.

"I think Prime Minister Abhisit and his foreign minister, Kasit Piromya, will have to hold talks with all Asean country leaders in order to find out what steps can be taken next, apart from issuing a [Asean] statement," Quayle said.

As chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Thailand released a statement on Wednesday in which it expressed "deep disappointment" at the Burmese court's ruling on Tuesday.

Thailand is largely dependent on Burma for its energy needs and also has investments in telecommunications there.

Some analysts said that the effectiveness of international sanctions on Burma are limited owing to the Burmese junta’s close links with China, India and Thailand.

According to Agence France Presse, "They are a huge block [against international action]," said Ian Holliday, dean of social sciences at the University of Hong Kong and an expert on Burma. "China is the essential one, and India and Thailand follow in its wake."

The EU, US and other countries have targeted Burma with economic sanctions and travel bans.

The European Union on Thursday said it is expanding its sanctions against Burma after the Burmese junta sentenced pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi to an additional 18 months of house arrest.

"It would not be appropriate for India to join the US-led efforts if it wants to retain any influence in Burma," said C Uday Bhaskar, head of India's National Maritime Foundation think tank.

irrawaddy

Goh says Suu Kyi ‘is part of the problem’

2009-08-11T17:26:00.000+06:30

DVB)–Aung San Suu Kyi “is part of the problem” in Burma’s political crisis because she still believes she is the government, said former Singaporean prime minister Goh Chok Tong yesterday.

The comment, reported yesterday in Channel NewsAsia, was made during the inaugural Asia-Middle East Media Roundtable in Singapore yesterday.

Goh Chok Tong, now a Senior Minister in Singapore, had previously urged the ruling junta in Burma to hold free and fair elections next year following a meeting with Senior General Than Shwe in June.

The comments have stirred unrest among Burma observers, with the foreign affairs coordinator of the National League for Democracy-Liberated Areas, Nyo Ohn Myint , saying he was “very upset” by it.

“She has been under house arrest for 14 years and has never had a chance for dialogue or to show her ability to reconcile with the junta,” he said.

“[Goh] should have a look at the real problem, which is not the democracy icon, but is the military junta.”

Singapore is a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) bloc, and follows the ASEAN policy of non-interference in internal matters of member states.

But, said Nyo Ohn Myint, the relationship runs deeper than straight diplomacy, with Singapore a significant investor in Burma.

“I think Singapore is protecting its business interests,” he said. “Singapore, and ASEAN countries, always try not to side with the opposition but stick with the ruling generals.”

Burmese political analyst Aung Naing Oo said however that the problem is “a conflict between idealism and pragmatic action”.

“[Singapore] wants the country to move forward, and they see Aung San Suu Kyi as the obstacle, mainly because the military is not moving,” he said.

“In a conflict that is not going anywhere, it is normal for anybody to look for alternatives. From a moral idealisitic point of view, then Goh Chok Tong is not right, but from pragmatic thinking he may be right.”

He added that the comment symbolizes the conflict between Eastern and Western countries on what action to take on Burma, with the likes of China and India refraining from condemnation while the United States and European Union hold tough sanctions on the regime.

Reporting by Francis Wade

Asia's leaders condemn Aung San Suu Kyi's continued detention

2009-08-11T17:19:00.001+06:30

by Larry Jagan

Bangkok (Mizzima) - As Aung San Suu Kyi awaits her fate at the hands of the Burma’s military regime, more Asian leaders are lending their voices to the international demand for her immediate release. The judges are scheduled to announce the verdict on Tuesday in the court inside Insein prison where she is on trial for allegedly breaking the conditions of her house arrest when she gave food and shelter to an uninvited American intruder, who swam to the back of her lakeside residence. If she is found guilty, she faces a maximum of five years in jail. She has already spent more than 13 of the last 20 years in detention.

“Aung San Suu Kyi’s continued detention shames all of Asia,” the former South Korean president and fellow Nobel Peace laureate, Kim Dae Jung said recently. It is a travesty of justice that cannot be tolerated by the international community he added. “Burma’s authoritarian rulers have suppressed the people for too long.”

Kim Dae Jung and the former Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim have both joined the campaign urging concerted international action on behalf of the detained Burmese opposition leader. They were amongst more than a hundred former political prisoners who signed a statement released on the eve of Aung San Suu Kyi’s 64th birtday, (on 19 June), calling for her release and for the United Nations Security Council to establish a global arms embargo on Burma. The political prisoners signed the statement as part of the continuing campaign organised by Amnesty International to draw attention to Aung San Suu Kyi’s plight, www.64forSuu.org.

Amnesty International believes that the participation of key Asian political personalities like Anwar and Kim shows that Aung San Suu Kyi’s continued unjustified detention is an international concern – not just that of Europe and the United States.

“The willingness of Anwar Ibrahim and Kim Dae Jung to join the campaign to free Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and Myanmar's other political prisoners is critically important, as it gives the lie to the notion -- voiced most often by the generals in Myanmar and their defenders in China and Russia -- that Daw Suu Kyi is a concern only of the West,” Benjamin Zawacki, Amnesty’s Bangkok-based Burma researcher told Mizzima.

“ASEAN’s policy of non-intervention is not helping to serve regional interests,” said Anwar. “We need to work together in ASEAN for regional stability and prosperity. Political progress in Burma is an integral part of this, including the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and all other political prisoners,” he said.

Anwar Ibrahim, whose official title is Dato' Seri Anwar, is currently the de facto leader of one of Malaysia’s main opposition parties Keadilan, the People’s Justice Party. Following mass protests calling for political reform in 1997, he was sentenced to six years in prison for corruption and to another nine years for sodomy in 2009. He reportedly endured six years in solitary confinement. In 2004 his conviction was reversed and he was released. Subsequently the Malaysian government, fearing his popularity in the country brought fresh charges against him and his new trial is about to start.

Over the weekend Mizzima was able to conduct an exclusive interview with the Malayisan politician.

Q: What do you think of the charges against Aung San Suu Kyi and what would you say if she is sentenced to jail?

A: The charges are contrived and have been made simply to deny Aung San Suu Kyi the freedom that she is entitled to and that has been denied to her for so many years. It is quite clear that the democratic contagion which is sweeping across Southeast Asia has made inroads into Myanmar such that the generals are fearful of what she can achieve as a free citizen leading her people. I think her continued imprisonment would be a tragedy for Myanmar and an embarrassment to the international community’s efforts to bring a measure of justice to Myanmar.

Q: What does Aung San Suu Kyi mean to you personally – do you draw inspiration from her courage; do you see a parallel with your own struggle and your own personal history?

A: She is an inspiration to all who struggle to free their country or people from the chains that bind them and who fight for freedom and justice. I see in her a reflection of the spirit of the late Cory Aquino whose memory we celebrate this week as one of Asia’s most heroic women leaders.

We are in a similar fight in Malaysia but it would not be accurate to say that conditions in Malaysia and Myanmar are similar. The situation is far worse in Myanmar. But I can empathise with her personal situation. We in Malaysia have fought hard against laws that deprive personal freedoms and permit detention without trial or due process, most recently in the demonstrations in Kuala Lumpur in August against the Internal Security Act.

Q: Why should the junta free her – of course it’s a human rights issue, but what is Burma and Asia missing out on by her continued detention?

A: The junta should free her because she is the leader of the democracy movement in her country. She is the legitimate choice of her people as expressed in an election that took place in 1990 whose results have been ignored by the junta. All of free Asia should join in one voice to press for Myanmar’s immediate transition to democracy. Isn’t 47 years of military rule long enough to be ended for a people willing and able to move out of the shadows of military dictatorship and economic stagnation?

Q: What can the international community do to get her released; do you agree with sanctions, or should there be renewed engagement?

A: The policy of constructive engagement has clearly failed as we see members of the junta and the generals deriving massive financial benefits from contracts and business deals without any inclination to change repressive policies and redress the massive denial of basic human rights of the people of Myanmar. It is critical that the centers of power in Asia take a firm stand on this issue. India, China, Japan and the Asean bloc must be vocal in condemning the ongoing persecution of Suu Kyi and the other political prisoners held in Myanmar. Along with the United Nations, the European Union and the United States, the international community must make common cause in pressuring the junta to agree to a timetable for Myanmar’s transition to democratic rule. Pressure – diplomatic, political and cultural – should be applied but not economic sanctions as they would impoverish an already beleaguered people.

Anwar and Kim are being joined by many more voices throughout Asia, as Aung San Suu Kyi faces the grim prospect of another five years in jail. “The issue isn't the freedom of a single woman, or even of 2,160 other political prisoners, but the advancement of human rights that are as important in Malaysia and South Korea as they are in Myanmar -- or the West. It is indeed the international community that is demanding change in Myanmar,” said Benjamin Zawacki.

The top general Than Shwe must be in doubt that the eyes of the world are watching the current events in Burma, and if Aung San Suu Kyi is not released soon international pressure is set to increase further.

Malaysian Official Accused of Selling Burmese Man

2009-07-29T04:46:00.000+06:30

KUALA LUMPUR— A Malaysian immigration official has been charged with selling an illegal immigrant from Burma to human traffickers at the country's border with Thailand, his lawyer said on Monday.

Rahman Selamat, a senior immigration official from southern Johor state, pleaded innocent to human trafficking charges, his lawyer, Wan Mohamad Fadzil Maamor, said.

If found guilty, Rahman faces up to 15 years in prison. The court in northern Kelantan state refused bail for Rahman pending trial on August. 25, Wan Mohamad Fadzil said. Further details were not immediately available.

Rahman was arrested July 17 with four other immigration officials and four bus drivers, who allegedly helped transport the migrants to the border.

Police said investigations showed the immigration officers sold an unspecified number of Burmese migrants detained for living in Malaysia without valid travel documents to human traffickers at the Thai border for up to 600 ringgit (US $170) each.

The traffickers then allegedly took the migrants into Thailand and told them to pay 2,000 ringgit ($570) each for their freedom, or they would be forced to work in the fishing industry, police said.

It was unclear if the other Malaysian officials or bus drivers accused of involvement would also be charged. The officials did not specify the ethnicity of the migrants, but most Burmese people who try to enter Malaysia are ethnic Rohingya Muslims.

In April, a report by the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations said illegal Burmese migrants deported from Malaysia were forced to work in brothels, restaurants and on fishing boats in Thailand if they had no money to buy their freedom.

The United Nations refugee agency has registered more than 48,000 refugees in Malaysia, most of them Burmese. But community leaders estimate the number of Burmese people in Malaysia is about twice that.

irrawaddy

Bangladesh Minister pressurizes Burmese envoy on Rohingya issue

2009-07-24T04:11:00.001+06:30

Dhaka, Bangladesh: Bangladesh’s Food and Disaster Management Minister, Dr. Mohammed Abdur Razzak has raised the Rohingya refugee issue with Burmese Ambassador, Phae Thann Oo, seeking an immediate solution through regular diplomatic meetings, a senior government official said yesterday.

Dr. Mohammed Abdur Razzak pointed out the urgency during a discussion with Burmese Ambassador, Phae Thann Oo, at his office, the official said.

“Regular meetings at diplomatic levels between both the friendly countries should be held to solve the problems related to these issues, which will strengthen the existing friendly relations,” the Minister told the envoy.

“Bangladesh gave shelter to the Rohingyas on humanitarian grounds and created scope for them to earn their living as per the ability of the country, though many of them got mixed up with the locals,” the minister added.

The Burmese Ambassador agreed on the Rohingya refugee issue with Dr Razzak and said they would soon send in a delegation to the Cox’s Bazaar camp housing the refugees.

“The problem regarding Rohingya refugees is no longer a problem only for Bangladesh, it is a regional issue. And it would be a bigger problem for the region in future,” said Prof Imtiaz Ahmed, at another discussion meeting on 'The Rohingyas: From stateless to refugee', which was organized by the Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS) at its office in the city, with its Director General Maj Gen. Sheikh Md Monirul Islam as chairperson yesterday.

There are still at least 0.2 million undocumented Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, besides those living in the camps, though they were supposed to have returned to Myanmar in 1978 and 1992, under an agreement between the two countries, said Prof Dr Imtiaz Ahmed, of the Department of International Relations of Dhaka University, while presenting keynote speech at a panel discussion.

He said, “It has been a problem for the country year after year and remains the same and there has been no change in the situation. Thailand, India and Indonesia have already got involved in the issue and we had hoped there would be some change this time. There has to be international pressure to resolve the problem.”

Prof Anwar Hossain said, “Multi-dimensional effort is necessary to address the problem regarding Rohingya refugees. Firstly, the problem is humanitarian, then demographical and it is also concerned with the security of the country. The only way out is to address the problem multilaterally with the involvement of regional countries.

Former Defence Attaché of Bangladesh to Myanmar Brig Gen (retd) Salim Akhtar said, “Bangladesh provides support to the Rohingya refugees in terms of their skill development and education and the government should also track down the undocumented refugees, because they may get involved in international gunrunning and militancy and the country also suggests bringing the Rohingya leaders to the negotiating table to understand the realities of the situation and finding out a key solution.”

Ambassadors of Indonesia, India and Thailand were also present at the discussion and felt the necessity of a combined regional effort to solve the problem.

“Camps are expensive to run. Camps are also discriminatory for the Bangladeshi people living around the area where the Rohingya camps are located,” Arjun Jain, acting representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Dhaka said.

"The issue has become a forgotten matter in the global context and the international community should pay more attention to it," said Arjun Jain.

“We had come here to escape the persecution of the ruling Burmese junta, a long time ago and now we have more than 1.5 million people all over the world. We don’t want to stay in any other country if we get all the facilities as the other ethnic groups of Burma. We need the support of the international community to get this opportunity,” said Aman, a Rohingya politician from Bangladesh.

“There is no security in Arakan, Burma, so we came to Bangladesh. We were not safe here too, so we tried to find a safe place by the sea route, where our community lost thousands of lives in the Andaman Sea last winter,” he added.

kaladanpress

Asean expects Burma to respond to Int’l concerns

2009-07-24T03:46:00.001+06:30

New Delhi (Mizzima) – The Association of Southeast Asian Nations and their dialogue partners on Thursday concluded the regional security forum, exhorting Burma to release opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, whose trial will hear the final argument on Friday.

Thailand’s Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya, in his press statement as the Chairman of the Asean Ministerial Meeting, Post Ministerial Conferences and ASEAN Regional Forum reminded military-ruled Burma to be responsive to international concerns.

Kasit said the Asean as well as members of the ARF respect the sentiment of friendship and goodwill and would like to assist Burma in its efforts to promote democracy, human rights and the well-being of her people.

“At the same time, it is hoped that Myanmar would also be responsive to the international community's concerns,” Kasit said.

Delegates from Burma led by Foreign Minister Nyan Win, during the four day conference held in Thailand’s resort island of Phuket faced criticism and strong worded messages from several quarters over the trial of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

On Wednesday evening, US officials met the Burmese delegation and conveyed the importance of Burma implementing the terms of the United Nations Security Council resolution 1874 on North Korea, which imposed sanctions on North Korea over its recent missile and nuclear tests.

US Secretary of State Clinton did not join the talks with the Burmese delegation.

During the talks, according to a statement by the US State Department, the US officials also pointed out their expectation from Burma to release Aung San Suu Kyi and to begin a process of freeing political prisoners, and making the election scheduled for 2010 open, transparent and credible.

Clinton, during a press briefing on Thursday said, this view was not only of the US, “It was very widely and, I must say, from the heart – it was really expressed from the heart by so many people.”

On Wednesday, Clinton said Asean should consider expelling Burma from the grouping if the ruling regime sentences the detained Nobel Peace Laureate.

But later on the same day, she also said, the US would expand relations with Burma if the military junta releases Aung San Suu Kyi.

“If she [Suu Kyi] were released, that would open up opportunities, at least for my country, to expand our relationship with Burma, including investments in Burma. But it is up to the Burmese leadership,” Clinton said.

But her remarks were refuted on Thursday by Thailand’s Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva saying there are “insufficient grounds" to expel Burma from the 10-member bloc.

Speaking in his capacity as the current chair of Asean, Abhisit said while the west and Asean share the same goals regarding democracy in Burma, the policies cannot be the same.

He also said, expelling the military-ruled country over the detention of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is not likely solve the problem but will only further isolate the country.

"There are not enough grounds to expel Myanmar [Burma] from ASEAN", reports quoted Abhisit as saying. "If we do that, it will further isolate Myanmar [Burma] and would not solve the problem."

But he reiterated that Asean wishes to see Burma achieve democracy and is monitoring the situation there including the trial of Aung San Suu Kyi.

Aung San Suu Kyi, who led the 1990 election winning National League for Democracy party, is currently facing a trial on charges of violating her detention terms for allegedly harbouring an American man, John Yettaw, who swam to her lakeside home in early May.

If found guilty, she could be sentenced up to five years in prison.

mizzima

US and Burma Meet in Phuket

2009-07-24T03:36:00.000+06:30

PHUKET, Thailand— A senior US official told The Irrawaddy on Thursday that US officials from Hillary Clinton’s delegation held a bilateral meeting with Burmese officials on Wednesday evening in Thailand’s resort island of Phuket.

“They met yesterday—a small group from the State Department and a small group from Burma,” said a senior official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

He said the US officials at the meeting expressed the importance of Burma hearing the terms of the UN Security Council Resolution 1874 on North Korea.

The resolution included calls on all UN member states to carry out inspections of North Korean ships that may be carrying equipment related to weapons of mass destruction and to increase vigilance over financial dealings with Pyongyang.

The official said that the outcome of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s detention would have a “direct effect” on the next step of engagement regarding their bilateral relationship, adding this meant that if the Burmese authorities released Suu Kyi, the US would be prepared to look at “positive measures.”

Scot Marciel, who is currently deputy assistant secretary East Asia and Pacific Bureau and ambassador for Asean affairs, led the US delegation, which lasted for 90 minutes, according to the official.

Burma’s Foreign Minister Nyan Win reportedly led the Burmese delegation, but the US official said the former army officer had nothing to say except that they would take the messages back to senior leaders in Naypyidaw. The official added that “the Burmese basically listened.”

Responding to questions on the US policy review for Burma, the official said their policy was “very consistent” in calling for the Burmese authorities to “release Suu Kyi and the other 2,100 political prisoners,” and for the junta to open the country up to a participatory political process with free elections.

The Burmese foreign minister and the Burmese delegation declined to comment on the issue when The Irrawaddy approached them.

“I have no more to say as I am very tired from talking [at the meeting]… so no more comment,” Nyan Win said in Burmese.

Burmese officials usually avoid speaking to reporters when abroad over sensitive issues for fear of punishment or dismissal by senior leaders.

This is the second meeting between the two countries that has taken place outside Burma. In

2007, Burmese officials and American State Department officials held an unpublicized meeting in Beijing.

The Beijing meeting, which came at the request of the Burmese military junta, was thought to herald a shift in the Bush administration’s US policy. The frank exchange of opinions on both sides was thought to include the continued detention of Suu Kyi, US sanctions and the political situation in Burma.

irrawaddy

Senior Thai Official Says Junta Reaction 'Positive'

2009-07-22T03:33:00.000+06:30

PHUKET, Thailand—The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) views the Burmese military junta’s cooperation with the organization as “positive”, according to a senior official at Thailand’s Asean office.

“The first time I saw Myanmar’s [Burma] reaction, I thought it was a very positive…they fully understand and appreciate the offers of help by Asean colleagues,” said Vitavas Srivihok, the director-general of Asean - Thailand Office, at a press briefing on Tuesday.

“The foreign minister of Myanmar is going to report back to Naypyidaw [on the meeting], and we will wait for their leader’s response. Then we will have further discussions with Myanmar’s foreign minister on the reaction,” he said.

Although Asean said that Burma’s response through Foreign Minister Nyan Win was positive at the meeting in Phuket, Naypyidaw has still failed to meet the United Nations and Asean’s call for the release of political prisoners including Aung San Suu Kyi, and for an inclusive process in Burma’s politics, Asean observers said.

At the end of the Asean foreign ministerial meeting on Monday, Asean called for an inclusive process in the 2010 elections in Burma, and for the immediate release of all Burmese political prisoners. However, Asean also assured that the bloc would not give up its “constructive engagement” policy on Burma.

Meanwhile Asean observers are saying that if the elections in 2010 take place under an undemocratic constitution, this will contravene the terms of reference for the new Asean Human Rights Body and the Asean Charter.

“The [Asean] statement on the election sounds like they have their heads in the clouds!” said Debbie Stothard, coordinator of the Alternative Asean Network on Burma (Altsean). “Their [Asean’s] engagement has not been really "constructive", but it has allowed the regime to be more destructive.”

Burma became a member of Asean in 1997. Since then, Asean has used a policy of constructive engagement with the Burmese regime to bring positive changes in the country, saying that Asean’s policy would be different from the West’s pressure and economic sanctions.

In 1999, however, the then Thai Foreign Minister, Surin Pitsuwan, who is now Secretary-General of Asean, suggested Asean replace its constructive engagement policy with a more proactive flexible engagement policy.

Though Asean foreign ministers adopted the Asean Human Rights Body yesterday, Asean cannot move forward until changes occur in Burma, according to Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya, as reported in the Bangkok Post.

The foreign minister of Indonesia, the largest democracy in Asean, told the Associated Press on Tuesday that unless Suu Kyi was released, the 2010 elections would be neither free nor fair.

“We have been saying to them [Burma] directly that the process must be inclusive for all groups in society ... including Aung San Suu Kyi,” said Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda. “We should see whether from now until 2010 they develop a credible process leading to truly democratic elections acceptable to the international community.”

Wirayuda added that the Burmese junta changes “too slowly, and often a little change at a time.”

Today the meeting of the Southeast Asian Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone (SEANWFZ) commission was held in Phuket. According to Vitavas Srivihok, the closer relations between pariah states Burma and North Korea was discussed.

Vitavas Srivihok said the issue could be talked at the Asean Regional Forum (ARF) on July 22-23.

The Burmese military regime is reportedly trying to get nuclear and missile technology from Pyongyang. The North Koreans are also helping the Burmese build underground military facilities.

Analysts say that if the Burmese military junta can develop weapons of mass destruction, the first victims could be neighboring Thailand and other Asean nations.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is scheduled to arrive in Bangkok today from India. After meeting with the Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, she will fly to Phuket to attend the ARF. She is expected to raise Burma’s political situation and the North Korean nuclear crisis at the meeting.

irrawaddy

Asean Calls for Inclusive Election; Release of All Political Prisoners

2009-07-22T03:28:00.000+06:30

PHUKET, Thailand — Foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) called for the immediate release of Burma’s political prisoners including pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi as well as free, fair and inclusive elections in 2010, at the conclusion of the two-day Asean Ministerial Meeting on Monday in Phuket, Thailand.

“We encouraged the Myanmar [Burma] Government to hold free, fair and inclusive elections in 2010, thereby laying down a good foundation for future social and economic development,” said the joint communiqué of the 42nd AMM.

Although Asean’s statement is the same essentially as that of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Burma, it focuses on different principles from that of two significant stakeholders in Burmese politics such as Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) and various ethnic ceasefire armed groups.

The NLD and the main ceasefire groups, such the United Wa State Army and the Kachin Independence Army, have emphasized the need for a review of Burma’s new constitution to resolve the political crisis and promote genuine national reconciliation.

In the Asean foreign ministers’ joint-statement, titled “Acting Together to Cope with Global Challenges,” said the release of political prisoners was a way to pave the way for meaningful dialogue with all stakeholders in Burmese politics.

Asean ministers also seemed to support what they call a “constructive engagement policy” on Burma by reiterating that the Burmese delegation said “international pressure and economic

sanctions on Burma for changing course were ‘hampering’ democratization and development of the country.”

Critics of Asean’s “constructive engagement policy” towards Burma say that for more than a decade, the policy has failed to bring positive changes to Burma.

The statement mentioned the regional problem of human trafficking and the need to enhance cooperation between the countries of origin, transit and destination as a way to address the issue. No mention was made of the North Korea issue or of the Rohingya immigration issue.

irrawaddy

Malaysian Officers Held over Burmese Migrant Sale

2009-07-22T03:27:00.000+06:30

KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysian authorities have arrested five immigration officers suspected of selling illegal immigrants from Burma to human traffickers, police said Tuesday.

It is the first time Malaysia has found evidence that government officials were involved in the forced labor exploitation of Burmese migrants at its border with Thailand—an accusation that prompted the US State Department to put Malaysia on a list of top trafficking offenders last month.

Police federal crimes investigation head Mohamad Bakri Zinin said authorities have arrested five Immigration Department officers and four bus drivers over the past five days.

Investigations showed the officers brought Burmese migrants—who lived in Malaysia without valid travel documents—to Malaysia's northern border with Thailand and handed them to human traffickers in exchange for up to 600 ringgit ($170) for each.

The traffickers took the migrants into Thailand and told them to pay 2,000 ringgit ($570) each for their freedom or they would be forced to work in the fishing industry, Mohamad Bakri said.

"These things really happen," Mohamad Bakri said.

All nine arrested could be charged for profiting from the exploitation of trafficked persons, he said. The bus drivers allegedly helped transport the migrants to the border.

If convicted, they face up to 15 years in prison.

The officers arrested were reportedly senior state-level personnel. Immigration officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

In April, a report by the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations said illegal Burmese migrants deported from Malaysia have been forced to work in brothels, fishing boats and restaurants across the border in Thailand if they had no money to buy their freedom.

The US State Department recommended that Malaysia fully implement and enforce its anti-trafficking laws—which have been in place for several years—and increase prosecutions, convictions and sentences for trafficking.

The United Nations refugee agency has registered more than 48,000 refugees in Malaysia, most from Burma. But community leaders estimate the number of people from military-ruled Burma living in Malaysia is about twice that.

irrawaddy

Burmese FM: Ban’s Proposals Not Off the Table

2009-07-22T03:26:00.000+06:30

PHUKET, Thailand—Burmese Foreign Minister Nyan Win told his counterparts from Southeast Asian nations on Sunday that issues including the release of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners recommended by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon have not necessarily been ruled out.

After an informal working dinner on Sunday, Surin Pitsuwan, the secretary-general of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), told reporters: “We have been briefed [by Nyan Win] about the visit of the [UN] secretary-general, and we have been told some issues recommended by the secretary-general should not be taken as [having] not been accepted because [they have] not been responded to. It will take time.”

Nyan Win’s comment could be interpreted to mean that Ban’s call to release Suu Kyi and all political prisoners is under consideration by the military regime.

However, some analysts said the remark could also be a way for the ruling generals to buy time, in light of the strong international criticism they have received over the ongoing trial of Suu Kyi.

Ban called for the release of all political prisoners during his trip to Burma in early July. His request to see Suu Kyi was turned down by the military regime.

Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said on Sunday that the Suu Kyi issue should be resolved through an inclusive political process that the international community and Asean have called for.

Kasit said the criticism over Burma’s arrest and trial of Suu Kyi was not interference in the country’s internal affairs.

“I think it is a part of the whole inclusive political process,” he said. “We do not disrupt or interfere in the internal affairs of Myanmar [Burma]. But Myanmar is a part of the Asean family.”

Responding to questions about a possible Asean role in monitoring Burma’s upcoming elections in 2010, Kasit said it was a possibility but no discussions have taken place.

With the foreign ministers’ approval of the Terms of Reference language for the new Asean Human Rights Body, Asean will now form a human rights commission comprised of representatives from member countries.

Kasit told reporters that ministers are generally supportive of the proposed name “Asean Inter-Governmental Commission on Human Rights.”

Other issues relating to Burma included a faster visa processing effort for members of the Tripartite Core Group, who work on the Cyclone Nargis relief effort.

Surin said the regime needs to play a more active role in granting visas for humanitarian workers.

“There have been some serious backward steps,” he said. “The TCG will have to be a part of the decision process [on visas for relief workers].

The TCG is comprised of Burmese officials, Asean and the UN. During the 14th Asean Summit in Cha-am in late February, the Burmese regime agreed to extend the mandate for TCG to work until July 2010, while Asean and the UN have called for a three-year recovery plan for the Cyclone Nargis relief effort.

Commenting on the human rights body at a press conference, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said on Monday the rights body will operate under three principles: credibility, realism and evolution.

The first step will be the promotion of human rights for the 577 million Asean citizens, he said.

Protection, or enforcement, “of human rights will be an evolving process,” Abhisit said. “Better to make a start than no progress at all."

Some human rights groups in the region have expressed disappointment over Asean’s perceived lack of commitment and means to enforce human rights’ protection in the region.

"Without the protection mandate and the independent experts, the Asean human rights body will be a toothless tiger,” said Yap Swee Seng, the executive director of the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development in a statement.

On Tuesday, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will meet with the Thai prime minister in Phuket. She will attend the full meeting of the Asean Regional Forum on Wednesday and Thursday.

Clinton is expected to address the issues of North Korea, the political situation in Burma and the recent terrorist bombing in Jakarta.

irrawaddy

Rohingya excluded from Thai migrant worker permits

2009-07-17T04:41:00.002+06:30

(DVB)–Burma’s Rohingya minority have been excluded from verification procedures that will see greater numbers of Burmese migrants being allowed to legally work in Thailand.

Burmese migrants in Thailand are thought to number around two million, the majority of which have no status and thus work illegally.

Three centres have been set up in Burma near to the Thai border which will aim to manage the verification of around 600 Burmese each day.

However, Burma’s Rohingya population, a Muslim minority, are not included in the process given that the Burmese government refuse to acknowledge them as Burmese citizens.

“For the verification, it would mean that the Burmese have to verify that they are Burmese, which they won’t do,” said Jackie Pollock, head of the Thailand-based Migrants Assistance Programme (MAP).

The Bangkok Post reported today that Burma’s deputy foreign minister Maung Myint said that he expects only around 400 Burmese in Thailand to come forward for verification, which would amount to around one in 10,000.

Burma has a number of ethnic groups, many of which are present in Thailand, which are either denied status outright or are subject to harassment by the Burmese government.

“[The Burmese government] has foreseen that not only the Rohingya but that quite a lot of the migrants, if they went for the process, would be refused nationality,” Pollock said.

“There are many migrants who have been here for a long time, and so amongst the Shan community the Burmese will say that they’re not Burmese. The Thai authorities seem to want to be careful not to upset the [Burmese government].”

The agreement between Thailand and Burma was technically formalized in 2003, although progress on it has been slow.

Thailand also has similar agreements with other neighbouring countries, including Cambodia and Laos, that date back to 2003.

“It’s still maybe only 10 percent of the migrants from Cambodia and Laos who have had their nationality verified and got their passports, and that’s in six years of them working on it,” said Pollock.

“So [regarding Burmese] it’s going to be very small numbers if any of them actually do get the passports.”

Reporting by Francis Wade

Bangladeshi police attack Rohingya camp

2009-07-17T04:28:00.000+06:30

(DVB)–Hundreds of makeshift homes belonging to Rohingya refugees in a camp near to the Bangladesh-Burma border were destroyed by “aggressive and abusive” Bangladeshi police, according to a medical aid group.

The incident was witnessed by staff working for Medicins Sans Frontiers (MSF), which provides medical aid to the estimated 300,000 Rohingya of Burmese descent who have sought refuge on the Bangladesh side of the border.

According to MSF, around 30 Bangladeshi police and officials arrived at the Kutupalong camp near to Cox’s Bazaar on 14 July and destroyed 259 homes.

“Other residents of the makeshift camp were told that they have 48 hours to clear their homes or they will be burnt down,” the statement said.

The Kutupalong camp is adjacent to a camp run by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. Officials taking part in the incident reportedly claimed it was being done to create a buffer zone between the two camps.

“The systematic use of intimidation, violence and forcible displacement against residents of the makeshift camp is absolutely unacceptable,” said MSF’s head of mission in Bangladesh, Paul Critchley.

“This vulnerable population has fled persecution and discrimination in Myanmar [Burma], only to be left unrecognized and unassisted in Bangladesh.”

In June, Thailand and Bangladesh pledged to help aid the repatriation of Rohingya back to Burma, where they have long suffered persecution at the hands of a government who don’t officially recognize them.

Their plight hit the headlines in January this year when around 1000 Rohingya refugees landed ashore in Thailand, only to towed back out to sea by Thai authorities. Around 550 were thought to have died.

The Burmese government has been reluctant to grant repatriation to Rohingya who had fled the country’s western Arakan state, claiming they would have to prove they came from Burma in the first place.

This would be almost impossible, however, given that Rohingya in Burma are denied legal status.

Reporting by Francis Wade

Clinton to Discuss Burma at Asean Meeting

2009-07-17T04:15:00.002+06:30

WASHINGTON — Burma will come up as a major issue of discussion when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton meets her Asean counterparts in Thailand on Friday, according to a state department official.

Scot Marciel, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs,
said that Clinton, during her meetings with Asean foreign ministers, would bring up the issue of Burma.

“I don't want to try to predict exactly what she's going to say. I'm confident that she will raise Burma and express our concerns quite clearly,” he said.

While Clinton will meet with several of her Asean member counterparts, there is no planned meeting with the Burmese foreign minister, said the spokesperson.

“They will probably…they could be in the same meeting when she meets with her Asean foreign minister counterparts. But there's no bilateral meeting scheduled,” he said.

The 42th Asean Ministerial Meeting, Post Ministerial Conferences (PMC) and 16th Asean Regional Forum will be held in the southern province of Phuket from Friday to Wednesday.

The US policy review on Burma has “slowed down” because of the trial of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, said a state department spokesperson.

“As you know, the policy review has been underway since she announced it in February. It's been slowed, I guess I would say, because of the new developments, specifically the Burmese arrest and prosecution of Aung San Suu Kyi, and that ongoing trial is certainly factoring into our policy review,” he said.

Briefing reporters on the upcoming trip to Thailand, Marciel said that the basic principles and goals of the US Burma policy remain the same.

“The fact that we haven't completed this policy review doesn't mean that we're without diplomatic tools or fundamental policy. The fundamental policy remains the same, which is to do whatever we can to try to encourage progress in Burma,” he said.

“By progress, I mean the beginning of a dialogue between the government and the opposition and the ethnic minority groups, release of political prisoners and improved governance and, we would hope, more of an opening to the international community,” he said.

“So those fundamental principles, if you will, haven't changed. The policy review is really looking at what can we do that might help us better achieve those goals, and that's still very much under review.

“The policy review is sort of trying to figure out the details, or how can we be more effective. But we are not left empty-handed or frozen, if you will, by the fact that the review's not completed,” Marciel said.

Ten foreign ministers of Asean member countries and dialogue partners such as China, Japan, Republic of Korea, India, Australia, New Zealand and the US have confirmed their participation.

More than 1,200 delegates from 26 countries and related organizations will attend a total of 32 Asean-related meetings during the conference.

irrawaddy

Indonesia and Thailand ally to tackle Burma issues

2009-07-13T17:59:00.001+06:30

(DVB)–Thailand and Indonesia will look to join together in tackling the influx of Rohingya refugees from Burma into their respective countries, whilst also pushing for the release of Burma’s Aung San Suu Kyi.

Thailand’s deputy foreign minister Panich Vikitsreth spoke to the Jakarta Post recently during a three day trip to Indonesia to discuss regional issues, as well as Thailand’s ongoing problems with Muslim separatists in the south of the country.

Indonesia, like Thailand, has also received boatloads of Rohingya refugees fleeing persecution in Burma’s eastern Arakan state, which borders Bangladesh.

Thailand was widely condemned for its treatment of the Rohingya in January when around 500 refugees who had arrived in boats on Thailand’s eastern shores were towed back out to sea by Thai officials and set loose without food or water.

To placate critics, Vikitsreth said that the Rohingya “are human beings, and must be treated as human beings,” adding that “We do not have any policy or intention to hurt them”.

Thailand holds the current chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), whose member countries, which include Indonesia, will meet in Phuket this week for the annual ASEAN regional forum.

Despite ASEAN’s policy of non-interference in domestic issues of member countries, Thailand has criticized the trial of Aung San Suu Kyi and said that Burma’s ongoing problems are “tarnishing” the bloc’s image.

Many believe that the trial of Suu Kyi, which resumed last Friday after a six-week delay, it being used by the junta as a pretext to keep her in detention beyond the 2010 elections.

"We would like to see the election next year go through the right manner. We would like to see the release of Aung San Suu Kyi,” Vikitsreth told the Jakarta Post, adding that “We have sent a strong message to the Myanmar [Burma] government" on the issue.

Reporting by Francis Wade

Huge Heroin Haul near Burmese-Thai Border

2009-07-13T17:48:00.000+06:30

Burmese authorities have seized about 1,000 kilograms of heroin and 340,000 methamphetamine tablets found in a truck on the outskirts of the Burmese-Thai border town of Tachilek, local police reported.

A police source in Tachilek told The Irrawaddy on Monday that the truck was stopped and searched at the Loi Taw Kham checkpoint outside the town on July 10.

The truck had been traveling from Mong Hsat in Kengtung Township, eastern Shan State, a center of Burma’s opium trade. The United Wa State Army (UWSA), regarded as the biggest player in Shan State’s illicit drugs business, is particularly active in the region.

The seized drugs were apparently destined for Thailand, the police source said.
Three people in the truck were arrested and are being held in prison in Tachilek.
The quantity of heroin and amphetamines seized was the largest known haul in Burma this year.

In January, police and customs officers in Rangoon reported seizing 89 kilograms of heroin at the city’s Asia World Port Terminal, found in a container on the Singaporean-flagged ship Kota Tegap.

A report issued by the US State Department in March said Burma "is a significant player in the manufacture and regional trafficking of amphetamine-type stimulants." It said large amount of the drugs from Burma end up in Thailand.

The Thai government, meanwhile, is preparing to sign an agreement with the governments of the Mekong region, including Burma, intended to eliminate illegal drug trafficking.

The Burmese military regime has reported destroying 7,893 acres of opium poppy fields in the Shan and Kachin states during this year's growing season.

Burma remains the world's second largest producer of heroin after Afghanistan, according to US and UN experts.

irrawaddy

India urged to stop helping Burmese junta

2009-07-09T03:03:00.000+06:30

New Delhi (Mizzima) – The Indian government has been exhorted to stop helping the Burmese military regime by student leaders and journalists from Northeast Indian states, who in a show of solidarity, demanded the unconditional release of Burmese Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

Dr Samujjal Kumar Bhattacharya, advisor of the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) on Tuesday said he supports restoration of democracy in Burma and urges India to initiate a move for the immediate release of Aung San Suu Kyi, currently being tried in Rangoon’s Insein prison court.

“We want democracy to be restored there and at the same time, the leader [Aung San Suu Kyi] should be released,” Samujjal Bhattacharya told Mizzima.

Journalists and student leaders from Northeast India voiced their demand as India continues to be silent about the trial of Augn San Suu Kyi and has steadfastly refused to join the global outcry against the junta.

Nava Thakuria, a Guwahati-based Assamese journalist said, India as the largest democracy in the world should review its ‘Look East’ policy, which claims to be based on its national interest.

Thakuria said the focus of India’s foreign policy on Burma is to counter China’s influence in Burma and flush out all Northeast militants based in Burma’s northern Kachin state and North-Western Sagaing division with the help of the military regime.

“But we can say this policy has failed, as there are still many Northeast militants sheltered on Burmese soil,” he added.

In a show of solidarity, Indian journalists, social activists and student leaders of Northeast India on July 4, held a round-table meeting highlighting ‘India’s policy on Burma: A northeast Perspective’, in Guwahati, capital of Assam state.

Indian students, journalists and activists called on India to stop supporting the Burmese regime especially with the sale of military hardware.

“India has sold military hardware including helicopters and tanks to the Burmese military regime earlier. We urge them not to sell more armaments in the future because they are used for repressing the people,” said Thakuria, who also acted as the contact person for the Roundtable discussion in Guwahati.

He said, while New Delhi has boosted bilateral trade with Burma, it should also accommodate Burmese pro-democracy activists in exile to help their political cause.

India and Burma, in recent years, have stepped up bilateral trade relationship. The Indo-Burmese bilateral trade for the fiscal year 2007-08 stood at US $ 901.3 million with Burma's export to India standing at US $ 727.85 million.

mizzima

Thai investment grows in the face of ‘useless’ Burma sanctions

2009-07-09T02:55:00.001+06:30

(DVB)–Thai prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has said that the international boycott of Burma would not impact on the country’s ruling generals as Thailand looks to explore further investment opportunities in Burma.

The comments came during talks with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who made a brief stopover in Thailand after leaving Burma on Saturday.

Observers have said that Ban Ki-moon’s visit to Burma achieved little, with his request to meet imprisoned opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi rejected twice, and the regime showing no signs of opening up dialogue with opposition groups.

Thailand currently holds the chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and has repeatedly expressed its desire to see Suu Kyi freed, much to the chagrin of the Burmese generals.

Yet like China, it remains unmoved in its refusal to join with Western countries, including the United States and European Union, in implementing sanctions on the regime.

While Thailand defends this policy in the face of sanctions that are “not useful”, as Vejjajiva told the meeting on Saturday, some observers say Thailand is acting to satisfy self interests.

“I think it’s a combination of both,” said Krasaik Choonhaven, head of the ASEAN Inter-parliamentary Myanmar Caucus.

“In Thailand there is an attempt to balance the policy that good governance should not only be applied to our own country, but our neighbouring countries.

“[Without doing so] this leads to insecurity, such as the allowance of drug producing warlords… [We should] punish those who produce or collaborate in an activity that leaves thousands of refugees in Thailand,” he said.

Thailand’s Board of Investment is set to send around 25 businessmen to Burma to explore new investment opportunities in four major cities, the Thai News Service reported.

Thai business investments in Burma currently amount to $US7.4 million. According to Burma’s Weekly Eleven journal, total foreign investment in Burma now stands at $US15 billion, the majority of which is chanelled into Burma’s oil and gas sector.

Reporting by Francis Wade

N Korea Using Malaysian Bank for Burmese Weapons Deals: Yonhap

2009-07-05T04:21:00.001+06:30

North Korea sought payment through a bank in Malaysia for a suspected shipment of weapons to Burma being carried on a freighter tracked by the US Navy, according to a source quoted by South Korea’s Yonhap news agency.

Yonhap reported on Saturday that the source said a US envoy would visit Malaysia this weekend to focus on ways to cut off the payment to North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.

“Kim will have a hard time collecting his money,” said the high-level source.

The revelation comes as the North Korean freighter Kang Nam 1 is apparently returning home after being tracked by a US Navy destroyer that suspected it of carrying cargo banned under UN Security Council Resolution 1874, which toughened sanctions imposed after North Korea conducted its first nuclear test in 2006.

Philip Goldberg, the US coordinator for the implementation of the resolution, which was passed on June 12 to punish North Korea for its May 25 nuclear test, is scheduled to arrive in Malaysia on Sunday. Goldberg is in China ahead of his visit to Malaysia.

The White House said that US President Barack Obama discussed North Korea and financial regulations with Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razakon by phone late last month.

According to another source in Seoul, the Kang Nam 1 is believed to be carrying small Soviet-era arms such as AK-47 rifles and RPG-7 anti-tank launchers manufactured in North Korea.

Adm Gary Roughead, the chief of US Naval operations, told reporters on Saturday that the Kang Nam 1 was being closely watched and is now in the East China Sea.

“I believe we are seeing the effects of the UN Security Council resolution,” he said.

On Friday, South Korean news channel YTN quoted an unidentified diplomatic official as saying that Burma requested that the Kang Nam 1 turn around.

The US State Department announced on Tuesday that it had frozen the US assets of Namchongang Trading Corp and Iran-based Hong Kong Electronics to curtail North Korea’s ability to trade in missiles and nuclear materials. Namchongang Trading Corp is allegedly connected to the Burmese arms industry.

irrawaddy

Japan thwarts suspect N Korea-Burma missile device deal

2009-07-03T18:50:00.001+06:30

(DVB)–Japanese police have arrested three men on suspicion of attempting to illegally export into Burma heavy machinery that could be used in the development of missile systems.

The reports surfaced yesterday on the Japanese news website, Yomiuri Shimbun, who reported that the three men, two Japanese and one Korean, were charged under the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Law.

Concerns over Burma’s military ambitions have been heightened in recent weeks with reports that a North Korean ship suspected to be carrying arms was heading in the direction of Burma.

Similarly, photographs obtained by DVB show a network of tunnels built with North Korean assistance beneath the Burmese capital, with leaked documents revealing plans to hold large rockets and satellite communication command centers inside.

The Yomiuri quoted police as saying that the three men, who were working for a Hong Kong-based North Korean trading firm, were caught with a magnetic measuring device “believed necessary for developing long-range ballistic missile systems on instructions from North Korea”.

The export was attempted in January this year, at a cost of around seven million yen (US$73,000). Police reportedly believe that the same firm has transported similar machinery to Burma in the past.

According to the Yomiuri report, the firm’s office in North Korean capital Pyongyang is believed by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) to be involved in the development of weapons of mass destruction.

Reporting by Francis Wade

US Ban Related to N Korea-Burma Arms Deal

2009-07-03T18:30:00.000+06:30

The United States took steps on Tuesday to curtail what it sees as North Korea's ability to trade in missiles and nuclear materials, with the Treasury and State Department announcing actions against two North Korean companies, one of which is allegedly connected to the Burmese arms industry.

The US imposed sanctions and froze the US assets of Namchongang Trading Corp and Iran-based Hong Kong Electronics in an apparent attempt to choke off the firms’ funds.

The two companies are charged with being at the center of Pyongyang's attempts to export its nuclear and long-range missile technologies, according to US officials.

The US sanctions bar any US firms from conducting business with Namchongang and Hong Kong Electronics.

Accordingly to the Wall Street Journal on Thursday, US officials said Namchongang Trading Corp has aided the Burmese arms industry and was importing centrifuge equipment that North Korea is using to develop a uranium enrichment capability. Uranium, when enriched to a weapons grade, can be used to build atomic weapons.

Namchongang is headed by Yun Ho Jin, a former senior North Korean diplomat who served at Pyongyang's mission to the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN's atomic watchdog. He is also believed to be closely aligned with senior members of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's government.

US officials alleged Hong Kong Electronics was playing a key role in facilitating the weapons trade between North Korea and Iran.

The Wall Street Journal on Thursday reported US Treasury Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Stuart Levey as saying, “North Korea uses front companies like Hong Kong Electronics and a range of other deceptive practices to obscure the true nature of its financial dealings.”

Meanwhile, the Japanese daily Yomiuri Shimbun reported on Thursday that the Toko Boeki trading company was linked by Japanese police with attempts to export high-tech equipment with arms applications to Burma, and is suspected of shipping several other devices with potential for making weapons of mass destruction to the junta as well..

Kanagawa prefectural police said North Korean Lee Kyoung Ho, the president of the Toko Boeki firm, was arrested on Monday on suspicion of attempting to ship a magnetic measuring instrument from Yokohama port to Burma via Malaysia on January 23, a device that could potentially be used to produce weapons of mass destruction, said the Yomiuri Shimbun.

The Japanese newspaper said Tokyo-based Toko Boeki has allegedly been exporting instruments that can be used to produce missiles to Burma without government permission since 2006, one year before the two countries resumed diplomatic relations.

irrawaddy

Burmese Injured in Malaysian Camp Riots

2009-07-03T18:29:00.000+06:30

Eight Burmese detainees were wounded after a small riot broke out at the Semenyih Immigration camp near Kajang Township, in Malaysia on Wednesday.

Speaking clandestinely to The Irrawaddy on Thursday, one of the detainees involved in the riot at the camp said the trouble started at 8pm after camp authorities beat 30 detainees who were refusing to board a truck that was to take them to another camp.

The detainees began breaking up the walls of their rooms and throwing plates at security officers, demanding prison authorities release the 30 people who had been loaded onto the truck.

The police used tear gas to break up the riot.

“We are very angry after we heard they had beaten and forced fellow prisoners to get on a truck and be moved another camp. When they came for them they said it was only to meet officials from the UNHCR [United Nations High Commissioner of Refugees],” he said.

The detainee was in hiding as he talked to The Irrawaddy by phone from the camp. Camp authorities ban the use of mobile phones.

“On Tuesday, two Burmese detainees were also seriously beaten when they went to the clinic to ask for medicine. One detainee was beaten around the eyes,” Lwin Oo reported.

“We don’t know if he will regain his vision because his eyes are filled with blood. At the moment he can’t see,” he said. “The other detainee suffered cigarette burns on his body and is in serious condition now.”

Yante Ismail, a spokesperson for the UNHCR based in Kuala Lumpur told The Irrawaddy, Thursday, that a group from UNHCR left for the camp that morning to investigate the riot.

She said that she was unable to provide any further details on what happened at the camp.

The Malaysian National News Agency announced on their Bernama website that no one was injured during the riot and that the situation was under control.

According to Burmese rights groups in Malaysia, there are about 700 Burmese detainees at the Semenyih Immigration camp. They are accusing camp authorities of keeping people who have already served sentences in detention.

Roi Mon, a member of the Mon Refugees Organization based in Malaysia, said that inmates do not have enough food and water, and the camp is crowded because the authorities have refused to release detainees.

Meanwhile, in its annual Trafficking in Persons Report 2009 released in June, the US State Department put Malaysia back on the Tier 3 blacklist for its record of abuse and exploitation of migrant workers. Malaysia joins 16 other countries including Burma, North Korea, Sudan and Zimbabwe on the blacklist.

The report accused Malaysia authorities of deporting Burmese detainees to the Thai-Malaysia border and selling them to human traffickers, who then demanded ransoms for their release.

If payments were not made, the victims would be forced to work as slave labor on fishing boats in Thailand and Indonesia, and women could be forced to work as prostitutes in brothels.

Malaysian authorities have disputed the report’s conclusions.

According to the Kuala Lumpur-based Burma Workers’ Rights Protection Committee, about 500,000 Burmese migrants work in Malaysia, legally and illegally.

irrawaddy

Suu Kyi Image Lights up Central Jakarta

2009-07-03T18:27:00.000+06:30

The British embassy in Indonesia is displaying a large image of Burma’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in downtown Jakarta to coincide with the visit to Burma by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

The image is being projected on a large banner located at the perimeter of the Bundaran HI traffic circle in the Indonesian capital. The three-day action began on Thursday and ends at sunset on Saturday.

The British embassy said in a statement that the image of Suu Kyi was being shown to mark two important events—Ban’s visit to Burma, which began on Friday, and Suu Kyi’s trial.

The embassy said in a statement: “The visit will offer an opportunity for the Burmese regime to respond to the many calls for the release of all political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi; and to allow the start of a genuinely inclusive political dialogue involving the opposition and minority groups.”

The British government also thought it was “essential that progress is made during the Secretary-General’s visit in laying the groundwork for free and fair elections in Burma in 2010,” the statement said.

In other official British comments on Ban’s visit, Foreign Office Minister Ivan Lewis said: "This is a key moment for Burma and its people and I wish the Secretary-General every success."

Britain’s Chargé d'Affaires in Indonesia, Matthew Rous, said: "Burma's neighbors have a duty to call loudly for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi. I am greatly encouraged by the fact that Indonesia's voice is being heard so loudly and clearly. I hope the British Embassy's initiative will help us all to keep Aung San Suu Kyi's image in front of our eyes during this hugely important visit."

In another high profile demonstration of solidarity with Suu Kyi, the hugely popular Irish rock group U2 urged its fans to don masks of Suu Kyi at concerts it is giving on a current European tour. The band’s concert program features a song, “Walk on,” dedicated to Suu Kyi.

Thousands of fans wore the masks at the first concert of the U2 European tour, in Barcelona, Spain, on Tuesday.

irrawaddy

Bangladesh Removes Rohingyas from Nearby Refugee Camp

2009-07-01T17:47:00.000+06:30

About 400 crude dwellings belonging to ethic Rohingyas near the Kutupalong Refugee Camp in Cox’s Bazar District in Bangladesh have been destroyed or relocated, according to officials of the United Nations High Commissioner of Refugees (UNHCR) based in Dhaka.

The Bangladesh government claimed that the Rohingyas were not refugees and came to live near the refugee camp to receive benefits, said the UNHCR.

An estimated 1,000 people have been forcibly evicted from the camp by Bangladeshi police and camp management, said the UNHCR.

The Bangladesh government announced in May that people who lived within 100 feet of the camp must leave, according to the Arakan Project (AP).

Chris Lewa, the coordinator of AP, said, the authorities told the settlers to leave their homes or actions would be taken to remove their dwellings. She said that 853 Rohingyas were recently returned to Burma shortly after they enter Bangladesh territory, generally in small boats across the Naf River and in some cases across the land border.

About 100 families from north Maungdaw Township in Arakan State settled recently on the outskirts of the camp, she said.

Tin Soe, an editor of Kaladan Press Network, based in Bangladesh, said that the people who were evicted have remained in the area, some using plastic bags to protect themselves from the rain. He said they have insufficient food and water and lack toilet facilities.

There are nearly 30,000 Rohingyas currently living in two makeshift camps in Cox’s Bazar District. They are undocumented by the UNHCR.

Meanwhile, the UNHCR has provided the refugees. The UNHRC earlier called the Rohingyas issues a “protracted” humanitarian problem that began 30 years ago.

In June, the Burmese military government agreed with the Bangladesh government to repatriate Rohingya who live in Bangladesh. It was the first time Burma officially accepted Rohingya back from Bangladesh. However, the Bangladesh government said that unless there is political improvement in the country, Rohingya refugees will be sent back.

The Burmese government started building a border fence between Burma and Bangladesh to prevent Rohingya from Araka State from illegally entering Bangladesh to find work early this year. Burmese local authorities said that the fence was being built to deter smuggling and human trafficking. Illegal immigration has been a problem in this border region since colonial times.

The Rohingya are a stateless Muslim minority who face severe discrimination in Burma. They are prohibited from traveling outside Arakan State and are further marginalized by other discriminatory regime laws. They allege widespread, systemic human rights abuses by Burmese authorities, saying the government deprives them of free movement, education and rightful employment.

According to official Thai figures, the number of Rohingyas arrested for illegally entering Thailand has increased steadily in recent years, from 1,225 in 2005-6 to 4,886 in 2007-8.

irrawaddy

4,000 Burmese Migrants Arrested in June

2009-07-01T17:46:00.000+06:30

Some 4,000 Burmese migrants were arrested by the Thai authorities in Thailand in June, according to a Thai Web site, www.manager.co.th.

The Thai news and entertainment Web site said that the Burmese migrants were arrested in different regions by the Thai authorities, but the majority were arrested in Phop Phra District in Tak Province.

It is believed that many of those arrested were sent back to Burma, while others are being detained or were released.

A Thai police officer in Phop Phra told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday that many Burmese are coming to Thailand in the hope they can get new work permits, because a fresh registration of migrants in Thailand begins in early July.

The Thai government announced in June that the country needed some two million foreign workers for the multitude of jobs available, including those jobs known as the “3 Ds”—dirty, dangerous or degrading—which most Thai workers refuse.

There are up to five million Burmese migrants living and working in Thailand, says the Migrant Assistance Program (MAP) in Chiang Mai. However, only 500,000 registered at the Thai Ministry of Labor last year.

The Thai government is currently offering new one-year work permits to those who registered last year.

However, Jackie Pollock, a founding member of MAP, said that some migrants cannot afford to pay the 3,800 baht (US $112) fee for registration because they don’t have jobs due to the economic crisis in Thailand.

Moe Swe, the head of the Yaung Chi Oo Workers Association in Mae Sot in Tak Province, said that many of the Burmese migrants in Mae Sot couldn’t afford to pay the registration fees due to poor wages.

Burmese workers generally get paid about 1,500 baht ($44) per month working at a factory in Mae Sot, he said.

Thailand has recently tightened its border security to prevent an influx of Burmese migrants into the county. Meanwhile, in Chiang Mai, police have set up nighttime roadblocks as part of an ongoing campaign to crack down on Burmese migrants.

Meanwhile, the Network of Action for Migrants in Malaysia and MAP Foundation in Thailand have called on the Malaysian and Thai governments to protect the rights of Burmese migrants and ensure that migrants can exercise their labor, social, cultural, economic and political rights.

In a joint statement released last week, the groups called for a halt to unjust, discriminatory and unconstitutional policies on migrants.

A report released by the US State Department in June claimed that Thailand had not complied with international labor laws and that Thai authorities frequently abused migrants’ rights.

irrawaddy

Japanese Police Block Suspected Missile Technology Exports for Burma

2009-07-01T17:45:00.000+06:30

Japanese police arrested three top businessmen on Monday on suspicion of attempting to export to Burma a measuring instrument that could be used to develop long-range ballistic missile systems, Japanese newspapers reported.

Accordingly to the newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun, Japanese police initially believed that the three—all of them presidents of Japanese companies—were trying to export the device to North Korea via Burma.

But then suspicions hardened that the nominal North Korean importer had exported other missile development-related equipment to Burma, leading the police to believe that “North Korea was attempting to promote the transfer of missile technologies, such as its Taepodong system, to Myanmar [Burma].”

The three businessmen, arrested on suspicion of violating the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Law, were identified as Lee Kyoung Ho, 41, an ethnic Korean resident and president of the trading firm Toko Boeki; Miaki Katsuki, 75, president of a manufacturing firm; and Yasuhiko Muto, 57, president of an export agency.

According to the police, the three conspired to export the magnetic measuring device to Burma via Malaysia around January 2009 at a price of about 7 million yen (US $73,000), the newspaper report said.

Export of the device is restricted under regulations that prohibit exports of products that could be used for weapons of mass destruction.

The newspaper said that around September 2008, the company had also tried to export the same instrument to Burma’s Ministry for Industry 2, which plays a key supporting role in Burma's nuclear program as the chairman of the Myanmar [Burma] Atomic Energy Committee.

The Japanese newspaper report said both attempts to export the device were aborted immediately before shipment when Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry notified the company that it had failed to submit an export application.

The export attempts were based on an order by the Beijing office of New East International Trading Ltd, based in Hong Kong, in early 2008. The firm is believed to be under the direct control of the Second Economic Committee of the Pyongyang's Workers' Party of Korea. The committee is responsible for the party's military procurement.

North Korea has a record of selling arms and military technology to Burma. It is suspected that this may include secret nuclear technology.

In 2004, a high-ranking US government official said North Korea had proposed the sale of missiles to Burma.

A North Korean cargo ship, Kang Nam 1, left a North Korean port reportedly for Burma on June 17, and is believed to be carrying weapons, missile parts or possibly even nuclear materials. A US Naval ship is shadowing the ship, which is being monitored under UN sanctions.

irrawaddy

Thailand raises surveillance near Moei River

2009-06-30T04:32:00.000+06:30

by Usa Pichai

Chiang Mai (mizzima) - Security officials in Thailand have beefed up surveillance on Moei River, in the wake of clashes with ethnic Karen armed men, who were trying to cross over to Thailand.

A villager from Tak province, who lives near the border, told Mizzima that Thai military personnel have raised the surveillance level along the Moei River, which is also the border between Thailand and Burma. Thai security officials increased surveillance after a Thai soldier had a minor skirmish with an ethnic armed group, who were trying to cross over to Thailand.

The skirmish took place on Saturday, as Thai military personnel in Mae Sot District of Tak province met a group of Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) soldiers, who were crossing over into Maeku Luang Village. The clash, reportedly, went on for about 10 minutes.

Following the incident, Thai officials inspected the area and found that two DKBA soldiers – a man and a woman – had bullet injuries and were later sent to the Mae Sot Hospital, while two other soldiers fled from the scene into Thailand. Officials also found a number of weapons at the spot. The Thai military are on the lookout for the other two armed men.

The incident followed a severe attack on a DKBA boat, by unidentified armed men on the Moei River, which left 16 DKBA soldiers, including senior level officials dead.

According to a report on a Thai news website, Manager, on Sunday, Pol Lieutenant General, Surasri Suntornsarntoon, Commander of the Sixth Royal Police Office, visited the area in Mae Sot and followed up on the investigations into the attack on the DKBA boat, in which Colonel San Pyone, Commander of DKBA’s Battalion 7 of the Brigade 999, was also killed.

Colonel San Pyone, had earlier been accused of having links with the murder of Pado Mahn Sha, former Secretary General of the Karen National Union (KNU) in Mae Sot district last year. In the event of his death, the police would withdraw the arrest warrant, against San Pyone, which had been issued by a Thai Criminal Court, it had been stated.

However, the officials still beefed up surveillance because local villagers said that they found armed men crossing over into Thailand and fighting is still continuing in the area.

The situation near the Karen State border with Thailand this year has drawn a lot of attention from the local and international community, because several thousand local Karen villagers in Burma fled to Thailand and many of them are suffering from ill-health and malnutrition.

Currently, international non government organizations have donated more medicines for malaria patients, which is the main disease among the current batch of refugees, who took shelter in Thasongyang district of Tak province, together with respiratory diseases.

The Thailand government expected that the number of new Karen refugees was about 3,000, but local NGO workers believe that the real number is much higher and would increase due to the tension from the clashes near the Moei River.

North Korea Can Allay Fear at Regional Forum

2009-06-30T04:21:00.001+06:30

North Korea should calm regional fears by explaining its relations with Burma at the 16th Asean Regional Forum (ARF) to be held in Phuket, Thailand, July16-23.

An editorial in the Bangkok Post, Monday, stated ARF would be the perfect forum for North Korea to explain its recent actions and lay out its future plans.

“An unauthorized nuclear project, even without weapons capability, would pose a serious threat to the ecology of Thailand and the region,” the editorial declared.

The editorial said, “The world including Thailand views North Korea as a dangerous country, addicted to frightening threats of nuclear attacks and weapons trafficking on any scale it chooses.”

North Korean has a record of selling arms and military technology to Burma. It is suspected that this may include secretive nuclear technology.

The North Korean cargo ship, Kang Nam, that recently left North Korea for Burma could be carrying weapons.

North Korea’s military support for Burma may be considered a serious issue at the forum, according to analysts.

“ARF is supposed to be a forum for regional security, so we hope that they will consider issues related to comprehensive security as part of an Asean plan of action,” Debbie Stothard, coordinator of the Bangkok-based Alternative Asean Network on Burma said to The Irrawaddy.

“North Korea is definitely a very serious issue,” she added. “ARF hasn’t been taking the situation in Burma seriously, and consequently they don’t have any plan of action.”

“In effect ARF is allowing Burma to become another North Korea, which is a danger to the region,” Stothard said.

By bringing Asian and Western powers together, ARF can provide an important forum for discussing the array of dangers arising from North Korea's illegal weapons trafficking to Burma, according to Burma political analysts.

ARF was founded in 1994 to promote open dialogue on political and security issues and to build trust among its members through dialogue and confidence-building measures.

Twenty seven nations currently participate in ARF. They automatically include Asean member states as well as Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, China, European Union, India, Japan, Democratic Peoples' Republic of Korea, Republic of Korea, Mongolia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Russian Federation, Sri Lanka, Timor Leste and the United States.

irrawaddy

21 Protesters Arrested in Dhaka

2009-06-27T02:24:00.001+06:30

21 Arakanese protesters were arrested by Bangladesh police today in Dhaka while they were staging a demonstration for the 34 Arakanese and Karen freedom fighters who have been detained by the Indian government since 1998.

Ko Kan Myint, who led the protest, said, "We are now at Gulshan police station in Dhaka and the police authorities are asking us about the protest. Some of our leaders are explaining to the police officer about the protest. I don't know what will be happening in the near future."

Today is a global action day for the 34 Arakanese and Karen freedom fighters, and many Burmese in exile are staging protests in at least 20 countries, including Thailand, India, Bangladesh, Japan, and Britain, to demand their release.

The 21 protesters, including monks and women, staged a protest against the Indian government outside of the Indian embassy in Dhaka at 9:30 am, by gathering and shouting slogans.

Within a short time a police team came to the area and picked them up in vehicles, later bringing them to the Gulshan police station.

"Our 34 freedom fighters were arrested in 1998 but their trial has not finished yet. We all Burmese people are unable to tolerate such manner of the Indian government. So we staged a demonstration against the Indian government at its embassy in Dhaka. We also demanded the Indian government release them as soon as possible," the protest leader added.

In February 1998, members of the Arakan Army and Karen liberation army led by Major Khaing Raza went to an Indian Island in the Andaman Archipelago to set up a new navy base in accordance with an agreement with the Indian army to watch Chinese military activities in the Andaman Sea.

When they arrived at the island, Indian soldiers killed Bo Raza and five other senior leaders in the group in cold blood. The 34 freedom fighters were arrested and have been in custody since then. They are currently being detained in a prison in Kolkata.

narinjara

Burmese migrant workers seized by Thai police in Rangnon

2009-06-27T01:56:00.000+06:30

Burmese migrant workers were arrested by Thai police last night around 8 p.m. Three boats transporting about 33 Mon migrants were seized by police in Rangnon while they tried to enter Thailand.

“33 migrants are at the Rangnon police station. No one has tried to pick them up from the Thai police; their brokers [and friends/family] also fear being arrested by the authorities,” said a boat owner from Kawthoung Township.

The arrested Burmese migrants are from Moulmein, Mudon and Thanphyuzayat townships, Mon State. At present, Kawthoung authorities will not allow residents from areas outside Tenasserim division to enter the city via boat.

This order comes after 11 migrants were killed when a boat sank between Kawthoung and Rangnon on May 22. Kawthoung is a main entry point for migrant workers hoping to travel to Thailand.

“The Kawthoung authorities banned people from other divisions [and states] from crossing into Kawthoung township from Tavoy township by boat, however authorities allow people entering by car," said a Kawthoung resident.

Many migrant workers travel by ferry boat from Tavoy to Kawthoung because it takes only a day, it can carry 200 passengers, and there are no government check points. The cost for one person is 40,000 kyat.

To travel the same distance by car is more expensive than by boat and it takes twice as long. Many drivers must stop to sleep along the mountainous route, which also has many checkpoints.

“If migrant workers go to Kawthoung Township by car, they have to pay 5,000 kyat to cross the Kawthoung check point gate. Anyone can go to the Township after they pay the money," added the Kawthoung resident.

imna

Thai government urged not to repatriate Karen refugees

2009-06-26T04:16:00.001+06:30

Chiang Mai (mizzima) – The government of Thailand has been urged by Asian lawmakers and activists not to repatriate Karen refugees, who recently fled to Thailand in the wake of fighting along the border.

Kraisak Chunhavan, chairman of the Asean Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC) expressed concern over the situation on the Thai-Burma border where the fighting between the Burmese Army and an ethnic armed group is on, resulting in several thousand Karen villagers fleeing for shelter on the Thai side.

Kraisak insisted that the Thai government should provide humanitarian aid to these villagers and AIPMC will propose to the Thai government, as the current chairman of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), to work with member countries to promote democracy and sustainable peace in Burma.

“We are worried because the situation is still vulnerable. Many more refugees are coming to Thailand and we believe that the Thai government will not send these people back while the fighting continues because it is the principle of the Asean Charter to protect the rights of the people,” Kraisak said.

On Monday, the Karen Women’s Organization (KWO) released a statement expressing concern over the current situation of repatriation of families who recently arrived in Thailand in Tha Song Yang of Tak Province.

KWO said these women, if repatriated, will be vulnerable to abuses including sexual harassment and the children are already exhausted from running. Evidence of two Karen teenaged girls raped and killed is proof of a well founded fear of women being abused if they return. The group called on the international community to do whatever they can to stop possible repatriation by the Thai Army.

The group said, the Thai government and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) should urgently chalk out a procedure to obtain proper consent from the villagers, over the possibility of returning to their villages or to ask if they want to take refuge in Thailand. They should not be forced back in keeping with respect for international law.

"The Thai authorities should at least wait and observe the situation. Forcing back these people during the rainy season and to the place where they still have every reason to fear for their lives is inhuman and a violation of their rights," said Dah Eh Kler, the Secretary of KWO. "These people just fled to the border a few weeks ago from fear and fresh memories of attacks."

Similarly, Action Network for Migrants, a network of migrant workers activists and organization also in a statement urged the Thai government and related organizations to reconsider the policy that will not register new refugees to live in refugee camps along the borders. The authorities should allow non government organizations to provide education for the new comers children, which is a basic human right.

Mizos call for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi

2009-06-26T04:12:00.000+06:30

New Delhi (Mizzima) – Scores of Mizo and Burmese activists on Thursday held a sit-in protest in Aizawl, capital of India’s northeastern state of Mizoram, calling for the release of detained Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

With banners declaring ‘Mizoram for Aung San Suu Kyi’ the protestors held a one-hour demonstration at Aizawl's Temple Square. The protestors expressed concern for the Burmese Nobel Peace Laureate, who is currently facing a trial under charges stemming from the trespassing of an American man into her home in early May.

“We want the Burmese junta to release Aung San Suu Kyi, that is the main purpose of today’s demonstration,” said Ruata, Secretary of the Mizoram Committee for Democracy in Burma (MCDB), the group that organized the protest.

The sit-in demonstration, in support of Aung San Suu Kyi and democracy in Burma, is the second such action organized by MCDB, which was formed in October 2007 following the junta's crackdown on the Saffron Revolution.

Speaking to Mizzima, Ruata said the organization will also send a letter to India's President, Pratibha Devisingh Patil, and Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, through the Mizoram government, urging them to do everything India can in order to secure the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, past recipient of India’s Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding.

“We urge the Indian President and Prime Minister to put pressure on the Burmese regime to release Aung San Suu Kyi as the trial against her is not fair,” Ruata said.

“We also call for the restoration of democracy in Burma and urge India to review its current foreign policy toward the Burmese regime,” he added.

Meanwhile, Ko Htwe, a Mizoram-based member of the Burmese Social Welfare Association who spoke at the protest on Thursday, said the protest was also a show of solidarity for Burma.

Joining the protest were prominent Mizoram political leaders, including those from the Mizo National Front (MNF), Zoram Nationalist Party (ZNP), Bharatya Janata Party (BJP-Mizoram), Mizoram Peoples Conference (MPC) and Mizoram Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC), as well as representatives from Mizo non-governmental organizations.

Zothankimi, General Secretary of the Women's Wing of the MPCC, speaking at the protest, said it is shameful and cowardly of the Burmese generals to try and suppress an unarmed, single woman.

Similarly, Ruata, condemning the continued military rule in Burma, said the impact of rights violations by the junta have caused thousands of Burmese people to flee their homes for foreign lands, including Mizoram.

“A lot of refugees have come to Mizoram. That’s the impact of military rule in Burma,” explained Ruata, showing his sympathy towards the Burmese refugees in Mizoram.

He further encouraged Mizoram authorities to show sympathy to the Burmese and not to harass or deport them, as they are merely seeking shelter in Mizoram state.

Thai authorities tell Karen refugees to go home

2009-06-24T04:55:00.000+06:30

(DVB)–Karen refugees in Thailand are reportedly being told by Thai authorities to return to their homes in Burma, despite concerns that many villages near the border are littered with landmines.

Around 4000 Karen have fled Burma in recent weeks as a Burmese army offensive against the opposition Karen National Union (KNU) has intensified.

The European Union has called for the Burmese government to comply with international humanitarian law regarding the offensive, amid reports that Karen villagers still in the conflict zone were being forcibly recruited into the Burmese army.

Thailand has so far remained quiet on the issue, despite the Burmese government mouthpiece New Light of Myanmar newspaper accusing the Thai government of providing “fertile soils to [Burmese] insurgent groups”.

The Karen Women’s Organisation (KWO) today released a statement saying they are “very concerned” about the possibility of forced repatriation because of what awaits the villagers upon their return.

“The local [Thai] authorities just come to the people and asked them to go back” said KWO secretary, Dah Eh Kler.

According to the KWO, Karen villagers face the prospect of being forced to walk in front of troop patrols as minesweeper, while rape of women is a real threat: last week two Karen women, both teenagers, were raped and murdered by the Burmese army.

“Wherever the Burma army goes there is widespread human rights abuses and rape is just another weapon used by them against the people to dominate and control them,” said a spokesperson from the Free Burma Rangers (FBR) relief organisation.

There has been speculation that the reason for such a response by the Thai authorities is due to pressure from the Burmese government and Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), who are fighting alongside Burmese troops in the offensive.

“It would be more likely for it to be the DKBA behind all this,” he said.

“They basically want those people back in their area of control so they can dominate everyone and force them to be human minesweepers [and be used for] forced labour.”

There are also suggestions that the DKBA will force villagers to help them with their new role as border guards.

“Now SPDC asked DKBA to become border guard, they need to recruit [and] if our people go back, they will be forced to become army” said Dah Eh Kler.

Reports last week stated that the DKBA and Burmese army had ceased firing mortars, some of which had landed on Thai soil.

Some are skeptical however as to how long the ceasefire will last, with “absolutely no guarantee that the DKBA won’t again restart attacking their own people,” according to the FBR spokesperson.

KWO meanwhile have described conditions that refugees are currently living as “very hard”.

There have been mixed reports about whether there is sufficient food, although KWO confirmed that diarrhea is prevalent, while “most people are suffering from malaria”.

Reporting by Daniella Nayu

Asia’s ‘Axis of Evil’ Flexes Its Muscles

2009-06-24T04:50:00.001+06:30

Burma’s burning ambition to acquire modern missile technology and to upgrade its conventional weapons is no longer a secret, and if left unchecked, could pose a destabilizing threat to regional stability.

Thailand, its most prominent historical enemy, should be concerned—its military leaders would not like to see a Burma in possession of missiles that could easily lead to a tit-for-tat arms race. Also, of course, there’s the generals’ chronic fear of the West, heightened last year when foreign navy vessels showed up off the Burmese shore in an effort to deliver relief items and water to cyclone victims in the Irrawaddy delta region.

Since then, Burmese leaders have increasingly been looking for a source of medium range missiles, sophisticated anti-aircraft and radar systems to deter imagined external threats.

Gen Thura Shwe Mann, the regime’s No 3 man, made a secret visit to North Korea in November 2008, no doubt with a shopping list for the above items.

Shwe Mann, chief of staff of the army, navy and air force, and the coordinator of Special Operations, made a secret, seven day visit to Pyongyang on November 22, travelling there via Kunming, China.

The 17-member, high-level delegation was given an important sightseeing visit to Pyongyang and Myohyang, where secret tunnels have been built into the mountains to store and shield jet aircraft, missiles, tanks and nuclear and chemical weapons.

Accompanied by air defense chief Lt-Gen Myint Hlaing, Brig-Gen Hla Htay Win, Brig-Gen Khin Aung Myint, Brig-Gen Thein Htay, Brig-Gen Mya Win and senior officials from heavy industries, the delegation was clearly on a mission to cement stronger military ties with the reclusive, hermit state.

On November 27, Shwe Mann and Gen Kim Kyok-sik, chief of general staff, signed a MoU, officially formalizing the military cooperation between Burma and North Korea.

North Korea will reportedly build or supervise the construction of some Burmese military facilities, including tunnels and caves in which missiles, aircraft and even naval ships could be hidden. Burma will also receive expert training for its special forces, air defense training, plus a language exchange program between personnel in the two armed forces.

Burmese army sources in Naypyidaw confirmed to The Irrawaddy that the secret arms-procurement mission covered most of the generals’ wish list.

During his seven-day visit, Shwe Mann, who is presumed to be the heir apparent to take over Burma’s armed forces, visited radar and jamming units in Myohyang, a highly sophisticated anti-aircraft unit, air force units and a computerized command control system in Pyongyang.

The delegation also visited a surface-to-surface (SCUD) missile factory, partially housed in tunnels, on the outskirts of Pyongyang to observe missile production. Since the late 1980s, North Korea has sold hundreds of SCUD-type missiles and SCUD production technology to Iran, Syria and Egypt.

The SCUD-D missile, with a range of 700 kilometers, and SCUD-E missile, with a range of 1,500 kilometers, could easily intimidate Burma’s neighbors, including Thailand. It is believed that Burma already has deployed six radar air defense systems along the Thai-Burmese border.

During the visit, the Burmese were also particularly interested in short-range 107 mm and 240 mm multi-rocket launchers—a multipurpose missile defense system in case of a foreign invasion, analysts said.

Also of great interest was the latest in anti-tank, laser-guided missile technology that can be deployed within an infantry division. Defense analysts say Burma has already purchased short and medium- range missiles from North Korea under a barter deal.

It is not known if regime leaders have already put in an order for SCUD-D or the more powerful SCUD-F missiles, with a range of 3,000 kilometers. To suppress ethic insurgents, the regime doesn’t need such sophisticated weapons, but Burma’s strong interest in missile, radar, AWAC air defense systems, GPS communication jammers and search radar indicates that Naypyidaw’s leaders envision both defensive and offensive capabilities.

Historically, Burma has procured small arms, jet fighters and naval ships from the West, namely the US, Britain and some European countries, including Holland and Switzerland.

But after brutally crushing the 1988 democracy uprising, it faced Western sanctions and Burmese leaders desperately looked for new sources of weapons and ammunition to modernize and upgrade its armed forces. Burma has bought jet fighters and naval ships from China but increasingly it’s looked for alternatives because of low quality and poor after-sale service

In the past, Burma purchased a “Pechora” air defense system—a Russian-made, surface-to-air, anti-aircraft system. Analysts say that Russians have provided technical training and language courses to Burmese technicians.

The junta continues to strengthen its military capacity and spends the country’s precious foreign reserves on more and more sophisticated weapons.

When Gen Maung Aye visited Moscow in April 2006, he told Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov that Burma wished to order more Russian-made MiG-29 jet fighters (in addition to the 12 it had already secured), as well as 12 secondhand MI-17 helicopters.

During the Moscow visit, the deputy chief of armed forces also expressed a desire to build a short-range guided missile system in central Burma with assistance from Russia.

Curiously, say analysts, Shwe Mann and his delegation also studied the subway system in the North Korean capital—in theory an underground subway is an effective way to deploy and mobilize troops during a conflict in an urban area.

As early as 2002-3, Burma begun to build underground tunnels and caves to hide and protect aircraft and weapons, as well as to house a central command and control facility.

Foreign analysts note that Burma was humiliated when it lost serious military skirmishes with Thailand in 2001-2002. Thailand employed F-16 jet fighters along its border and successfully disrupted Burma’s communication system between its troops in the front line and its central command.

The generals seem determined to go into the next field of battle with equal if not superior forces.

irrawaddy

Parliamentarians seek expulsion of Burma from ASEAN

2009-06-22T04:53:00.000+06:30

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Representatives from regional Parliaments have urged ASEAN to reconsider Burma’s membership in the bloc, while activists, academics and civic groups in Thailand organized several activities calling for the release of Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

Kraisak Chunhavan, President of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC) said in a conference on Friday at Thailand’s Chiang Mai University that it is time for ASEAN to revise the status of Burma in the group because Burma’s military government has failed to respond to repeated calls by the international community to improve the human right situation in the country.

“ASEAN is in a difficult time because it is pursuing a progressive and developed image by trying to set up a charter to protect human rights in the region. However, Burma’s problems have limited dialogue with other regional blocs because the counterparts are unlikely to talk at the same table as the Burmese regime.”

Kraisak also said more than 3,000 ethnic Karen villagers have fled to Thailand in the wake of recent fighting in the east of Burma between government forces and their allies and the Karen National Army.

“We are ashamed of Thai companies operating and investing in Burma, particularly in the energy sector, leading to a worsening of the situation and allowing the Burmese junta to further suppress ethnic people such as with the forced relocation of villagers in Karen State to build dams on the Salween River,” he added.

Additional attendees at the conference calling for ASEAN countries to take a stronger stance regarding the Burmese junta were AIPMC chairs Loretta Ann P. Rosales from the Philippines, Charles Chong from Singapore.The AIPMC representatives were joined by several hundred academics, activists and interested parties.

At a similar gathering at Bangkok’s Thammasat University, Sriprapa Petchmisri from Mahidol University commented that the human rights problem in Burma is not only about political rights and freedom of the people but also concerns other problems such as accessing food, water and other supplies.

She added that the failure of regional countries such as China, Russia and Indonesia to support U.N. Security Council Resolutions on the crisis in Burma is troublesome.

“This is a worrisome comment from Burma’s neighboring countries,” she conjectured.

The events were timed to coincide with the 64th birthday of the detained Burmese opposition leader.

Surprise check on monks’ office in Bangladesh

2009-06-22T04:52:00.001+06:30

Dhaka (Mizzima) – Police in Cox’s Bazaar, Bangladesh raided the International Monks’ Organization office here today.

DSP Inspector Arlanky along with two policemen arrived in the office at about 4 p.m. and interrogated the monks in the office for about an hour.

Sayadaw (abbot) U Kay Meinda told Mizzima that they answered the questions the police officer asked. They said that they formed the monks’ organization in 2007. The monks who took part in the Saffron Revolution joined the Ne Pyi Ththis organization based in the US which has branches in other countries. It is working for the restoration of democracy in Burma through non-violent means.

“Our organization stages protest demonstrations frequently on the Burma issue. We staged a demonstration yesterday on Daw Aung Suu Kyi’s 64th birthday. I think the police were investigating because of this,” Sayadaw added.

The police asked if the computer being used in the office is registered with the Bangladesh government. They also wanted to know how and where the office procures establishment costs, Pyi Thein, the person in-charge of the office, told Mizzima.

After the brutal and violent crackdown against the monk-led peaceful demonstration in 2007, the monks who took part in it fled to neigbouring countries after which they formed the International Monks’ Organization.

mizzima

Mekong citizens appeal to Thai PM against construction of dams

2009-06-19T03:39:00.000+06:30

Chiang Mai (mizzima news) - Citizens of six countries which share the Mekong River on Thursday submitted a petition with 16,000 signatures to Thailand’s Prime Minister to save the Mekong River.

‘The Save the Mekong coalition’, a civil environmental society concerned about the Mekong River released a press statement on Thursday saying that the group is to hand in a petition, endorsed by more than 16,000 people from the six-countries of the Mekong region and around the world, who have signed a “Save Mekong” petition urging governments to abandon plans for hydropower development along the river’s mainstream.

The six countries that share the Mekong River are China, Lao, Burma, Vietnam, Thailand, and Cambodia.

The statement noted that most postcard signatories wrote personal messages to the region’s leaders such as “Don’t let hydropower dams block our children's future!” said Wang Dezhi from Yunnan, China.

“Don’t build the Mekong dams. The existing dams in Thailand already make brothers and sisters fight against each other!” Mak Vangdokmai, Roi et, from Thailand wrote. “Saving us, saving our resources! Electricity is not everything!” Nguyen Thanh Hang, Hanoi, from Vietnam wrote in the petition.

Over the past few months, citizen groups have organized a number of events to the run-up to this week’s Save the Mekong launch, to rally public support for the river including a photo exhibition, environment workshops and events.

Mekong fisheries provide a critical source of food and income for millions of people along the river. Recent official estimates place the annual value of the river’s wild capture fisheries to be worth up to US$3 billion, the statement said.

It further added that mainstream dams will block the massive fish migration that account for up to 70 per cent of the river’s commercial fish catch which ensure regional food security. Experience around the world demonstrates that there is no way to mitigate the fisheries impact of such large dams.

“China’s dam construction on the Upper Mekong mainstream (Lancang) has already caused serious environmental problems, in the form of declining fish stocks, riverbank erosion, and hazardous water level fluctuations in downstream Burma, northern Thailand and northern Lao PDR,” the group said in the statement.

“The Save the Mekong coalition and those that signed the petition are very concerned that similarly severe cross-border impacts could create cross-border disputes,” the group added.

The petition has been written in seven languages by fishermen and farmers living along the river’s mainstream and tributaries, as well as by monks, students, city-folk and even some of the region’s well-known celebrities, and will be submitted to Thailand’s Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva in Bangkok, and sent to other government leaders in the region.

Civil society groups in the Mekong region and internationally have been sounding the alarm about plans to build 11 hydro dams on the Lower Mekong mainstream for many years, in what is often described as an uphill battle.

The group concluded that the largely donor-backed inter-governmental Mekong River Commission, meanwhile, has failed to disclose its assessment of the Don Sahong dam, prepared in 2007, despite repeated requests from civil society groups, and is now positioning itself as a “facilitator” among the region’s hydro developers. The MRC has skirted some of the most critical issues, including ensuring transparency and public participation, and protecting regional food security.

Chinese firms to have stakes in two mega dams

2009-06-19T03:38:00.000+06:30

Rangoon (mizzima news) - Business stakeholders from Burma, China and Thailand are into discussions for Chinese investors to involve themselves in two huge hydro power dams in Burma, said a Rangoon-based energy expert.

The two multi-billion-dollar projects on the Salween River are being developed by Thailand's MDX Group and Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand, both of which have joint ventures with Burma's Ministry of Electric Power (1).

“A few Chinese firms are holding discussions with officials concerned to participate in the two projects -- Tasang and Hatgyi,” said the expert.

The Tasang hydropower project, worth US$ 7 billion, is the largest Thai investment in Burma. It will generate an estimated 7,100 megawatts (MW) and is being operated by Thailand’s MDX Group, while the US$1 billion Hatgyi project is being developed by the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT).

However, the expert, who wished not to be named for fear of reprisal, refused to comment on how many shares the Chinese side will take.

The Tasang project, located about 75 kilometres from the Thai border, will be 868 metres long and 227 metres high and will be the biggest dam ever and is scheduled to become functional in 2022.

A joint venture agreement to build the dam was signed in Rangoon in April 2006 between Burma and MDX Group. The pre-feasibility study started in 1997.

The expert said the Burmese side was delaying building the Tasang project and that the actual construction only started in early 2007 but was suspended shortly thereafter.

The Tasang project, one of the five mega hydropower projects on the Salween River, is being jointly developed by Burma and Thailand.

Meanwhile, the expert said China is negotiating to participate in the $1 billion Hatgyi project on Salween River in Karen State. China’s Sinohydro Corp will be the investor in the Hatgyi project that is located in the conflict zone between the Karen rebels and the Burmese Army.

Two EGAT technicians were killed while on a survey at the dam site in 2007, forcing the EGAT to halt the survey work.

Many Migrants Need More Protection: Karen Rights Group

2009-06-18T05:37:00.001+06:30

Many Burmese migrant in Thailand need expanded protection because they are not “economic migrants” as much as refugees displaced by war and human rights abuses, said a new report released by a Karen rights group on Tuesday.

The Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG) report titled “Abuse, Poverty and Migration” called for a radical rethink of the division between refugees and so-called “economic migrants.”

The report was based on 150 interviewees conducted mostly in Karen State in eastern Burma and with Burmese working abroad.

The Karen rights group said that many Burmese migrant workers in Thailand lack adequate protection and assistance because of their status as war and human rights refugees.

Naw September Paw, a spokesperson for the report, said, “The vast majority of the migrant workers we interviewed left Burma because of the life-threatening poverty created as a direct result of the military regime’s exploitative abuses.”

“Yet, they are considered as ‘economic migrants’ who leave their country merely in search of better financial opportunities and therefore receive almost no protection assistance,” said September Paw.

More than 2 million Burmese migrant workers live and work in Thailand both legally and illegally, according to labor rights groups.

“It is the time that the distinction between refugees and ‘economic migrants’ is challenged, so that migrant workers can begin to receive the protection and recognition of their rights that they deserve,” said September Paw.

In July 2008, Thai paramilitary troops forced more than 50 Karen refugees—mostly women and children—to leave two refugee camps, Mae La Oon and Mae Ra Ma Luang in northern Mae Hong Son Province, and return to Karen State, where they had fled Burmese military offensives.

Human Rights Watch criticized the Thai authorities for forcing the Karen refugees into a conflict zone in eastern Burma.

Poe Shen, a field director for the KHRG, said, “They fled for offensive reasons. They have no where to stay as their lands were confiscated by the Burmese army. We hope host countries will extend protection for the migrants.”

Burmese migrant workers usually seek work in neighboring countries including Thailand, Malaysia, China, India and Bangladesh.

irrawaddy

Suu Kyi’s Detention Affects Asean’s Credibility: Thai PM

2009-06-18T05:34:00.000+06:30

If the junta fails to release pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the Association of Southeast Asian Nation’s (Asean) credibility will be “affected inevitably,” Thai Prime Minster Abhisit Vejajjiva told The Far Eastern Economic Review recently.

During the Far Eastern Economic Review’s interview published on Tuesday, 16 June, Abhisit, who is now chairman of Asean, said Burma’s political process will have to be inclusive to gain the acceptability and respectability of the international community.

However, the Thai PM said the Burma issue is the responsibility of the international community and not just Asean.

“I think it would be unfair to single out Asean and I think the whole international community puts in an effort and if it's not succeeding, why single out Asean?” he said.

“On the contrary, we think that Asean has helped to facilitate possible channels and processes by which the situation there can be resolved and we’ll continue to do that,” he said, adding that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon would also play a role in the issue.

Commenting on Burma’s membership with Asean, Abhisit said Asean did not want to isolate or alienate the Burmese military further.

“I doubt that that would make the situation better now,” Abhisit said, stating that it would be wrong to say it was the fault of Asean that things were not going as well as people would like.

“We accept our responsibility and we’re doing what we can,” he said.

Answering a question about how confident Asean’s was of Suu Kyi’s release, Abhisit said: “It’s difficult to say. It’s difficult for anybody to say with certainty.”

Abhisit said that what Asean is looking at more is the direction that Than Shwe and the leadership of Burma will take, which clearly begins with how the trial plays out.

“So we’ll watch that,” Abhisit said.

irrawaddy

China Adds ‘Democracy,’ ‘Economic Growth’ to Burma Policy

2009-06-18T05:28:00.000+06:30

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has told the Burma’s No 2 leader, Vice Snr-Gen Maung Aye, on Tuesday in Beijing that China hopes the military junta will promote democracy in Burma.

According to a Chinese language news website, www.news.qq.com, Wen said in order to achieve Burma’s national reconciliation, safeguard national stability and economic development, Beijing hoped the military government would promote democracy.

Apart from the political situation in Burma, Wen also spoke of the nearly six decade long diplomatic ties between the neighboring countries as well as sustained bilateral relations.

The Chinese media reported that Maung Aye said during his meeting with Wen on Tuesday that “Paukphaw,” or deep friendship relation between Burma and China, have been deepen even more. He thanked the Chinese government for its aid for economic and social development in Burma.

Maung Aye also said Burma supported the one-China policy when he met with Premier Wen, the Chinese media reported.

Aung Kyaw Zaw, a Burmese analyst based on the Sino-Burmese border, said it was a positive step for Bejing to add democracy, national reconciliation and economic development to its old policy of “stability” in Burma.

“Wen Jiabao’s words of national reconciliation, stability and economic development to Gen Maung Aye reflected China’s current Burma policy,” he said.

However, other Burma observers are still skeptical about China’s policy on Burma, saying Beijing only focuses on its own economic and military interests in regard to Burma.

“I do not expect much out of this visit and certainly not Chinese pressure on Naypyidaw to adopt reforms,” Jeff Kingston, the director of Asian Studies at Temple University’s Japan campus, told The Irrawaddy.

“China wants stability on its border and even if it has some reservations about the SPDC's methods and capabilities, it shows no inclination to gamble on democracy or condemn human rights abuses.”

He noted that Burma’s powerful neighbors, China and India, are its largest trading partners and their dependence on natural resources and desire for a stable Burma trump their interests in a free and democratic Burma.

“The development of Burma is for their own interests,” he said.

During his China visit, Muang Aye was accompanied by ministers and seniors officials of Burma’s Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of National Planning and Economic Development, Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Energy as well as representatives from Burmese businesses.

According to Aung Kyaw Zaw, www.news.qq.com also recently republished an article by Swedish journalist Bertil Lintner on North Korea’s involvement in tunnel and underground facility construction in Burma.

Observers say Beijing is observing the relationship between Burma and North Korea, and does not want North Korea to help the Burmese generals achieve nuclear or missile capabilities, such as in Iran and Syria.

“Definitely, China will not want two more nuclear power countries on its northeast and southwest border,” Aung Kyaw Zaw said.

In last year, officials of Burma and North Korea exchanged a number of visits. Burmese foreign minister Nyan Win visited North Korea in October 2008. In November 2008, North Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Young Il stopped in Burma before he flew to Iran. The junta’s No 3 leader, General Shwe Mann, reportedly visited Pyongyang in April 2008.

During Maung Aye visit to China, Kim Jong Un, 26, the favored youngest son of the North Korean dictator, Kim Jong Il, also made a secret trip from Pyongyang to Beijing last week.

“It is interesting that Maung Aye's visit follows that by a delegation from North Korea, two pariah regimes that owe much to Beijing's support—economic, diplomatic and military,” said Kingston.

irrawaddy

Thai Army Chief denies presence of KNU soldiers among refugees

2009-06-16T04:24:00.000+06:30

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) Thailand’s Army Chief has insisted that no armed group has entered Thai territory, after the recent clashes between the armed wing of the Karen National Union and the Burmese Army.

Thailand’s Army Chief, Gen Anupong Phaochinda, said that Karen villagers from Burma, had escaped to Thailand, but there were no reports that KNU soldiers had also fled to Pobphra district of Thailand.

“We raised surveillance to prevent infiltration by armed groups and also to prevent cross-border exchange of fire. Recently, the villagers were worried about their safety because some bullets went astray on the Thai side. When the local Thai villagers feel confident about their safety, they will return home,” he is believed to have said, according to a report in Thai newspaper, Matichon, on Monday.

Lieutenant General Thanongsak Apirakyothin, Thailand’s Third Army Chief, has said regarding the current conflict near the Thailand and Burma border, that he believed the battle would be over soon and in that case the Burmese Army and the rebels should remove their troops.

Thanongsak said that Thai villagers, who were affected due to the fighting were relocated to safer areas, which was provided by local authorities and security officials. “The number of refugees is estimated at 2,800 but not more than 3,000 people have been sent to shelters on the Thai side. Mainly they are women and children and none of them are suspected soldiers or porters from the armed group,” he added.

Thai health officials from Thasongyang districts of Tak province have set up a medical center, to provide health check ups for about 3,000 Karen villagers, who escaped from conflict-torn Burma, and who currently are in Mae Song and Mae U-Su villages, since June 2. About 50 refugees suffered from diaorrhea, malaria and respiratory diseases. The officials have asked for more medicine from the provincial health office, because it is unlikely that the refugees can return home in the near future due to the ongoing battle.

The European Union last week expressed “serious concern” over the mounting military offensive by the Burmese Army and its allies against the Karen National Liberation Army, which has resulted in large numbers of civilians in eastern Burma fleeing to neighbouring Thailand.

However, the Burmese military junta "categorically rejected" the European Union’s concerns over a growing offensive against the Karen armed group, state media said on Sunday.

The New Light of Myanmar newspaper quoted the Burmese military regime's Foreign Ministry’s statement that said Myanmar was "disappointed with the politically motivated declaration of the EU presidency, which was released without a thorough study of Myanmar's insurgency problem".

"Therefore, the Ministry categorically rejects the factually incorrect declaration made by the EU presidency, relying on inaccurate information originated from the insurgent groups and biased media reports," it said.

mizzima

Korea rejects Burma gas project complaint

2009-06-16T04:16:00.000+06:30

(DVB)–Conflicts of interest within the Korean government have led to it rejecting allegations of human rights abuses connected to Korean-backed natural gas projects in Burma, according to a report released today.

Still in construction, the Shwe Gas project, which will pump Burma’s vast natural gas supplies to China, has been linked with cases of forced relocation of civilians and land confiscation.

Korean corporation Daewoo International part operates the project, and in 2001 formed an international consortium which includes the state-run Korean Gas Corporation (KOGAS) to develop the Bay of Bengal gas field.

Advocacy group EarthRights International (ERI) and campaign group Shwe Gas Movement (SGM), supported by Korea’s two largest labour unions, last year filed a complaint to the Korean government regarding the pipeline.

The complaint alleged that Daewoo and KOGAS “failed to practice due diligence to prevent negative human rights and environmental impacts of the Shwe Project”, and that the project failed to respect international humanitarian law.

Furthermore it alleged that the companies violated guidelines for multinational organisations set out by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which advises governments on business and economic development.

A report released today by ERI and SGM cited “inherent conflicts of interest within the Korean government” that pushed it to reject the complaint.

“The ministry tasked with receiving OECD complaints is the same ministry tasked with promoting overseas energy development projects and the same ministry that provided Daewoo a sizeable loan to proceed with the controversial Shwe Project,” the report said.

“The Korean government sided completely and uncritically with Daewoo International and KOGAS on every aspect of the complaint.”

Matthew Smith, Burma Project coordinator at ERI, said that despite the conflict of interest, ERI were still surprised at the rejection of the complaint.

“There are certain elements of the Korean government that do have an interest evidently in promoting business over concern for human rights abuses and other elements of the OECD guidelines, [such as] sustainable development and environmental protection,” he said.

An official from the Korean government’s oil and gas ministry said that he was aware of Burma’s human rights problems, but that he personally thought Korea approached countries with only “a business mind” regarding foreign investment, adding that it “costs a lot of money” to investigate human rights abuses abroad.

ERI called for the Burmese government to include affected people living in the vicinity of the pipeline in the decision-making process, and called on the OECD to fill the gap created by the Korean government’s inaction.

Reporting by Francis Wade

Maung Aye Starts China Visit

2009-06-16T04:10:00.000+06:30

The Burmese junta’s No 2 ranking general made his third trip to China on Monday while Naypyidaw faces sustained international pressure over the trial of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

But what is China’s real position on Burma?

Vice Snr-Gen Maung Aye left for Beijing from the airport in the remote capital of Naypyidaw for a six-day official visit to neighboring China, according to the Chinese media.

“Aimed at promoting neighborly, friendly and cooperative ties with China, Maung Aye who is vice-chairman of the Myanmar State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), is paying his third visit to China in six years,” China’s state-run Xinhua reported on Monday.

Maung Aye visits China at the invitation of Chinese Vice-President Xi Jinping.

As Napyidaw’s closest ally in military, economic and diplomatic ties, Burmese ruling generals often go to China to import more military equipments, for trade as well as to talk about the Burmese political situation.

Burma observers say Chinese officials will discuss their concerns on Burma’s ongoing political situation. The currently hot issue, Aung San Suu Kyi’s detention and trial is expected to be included.

On Suu Kyi’s trial, Beijing has repeated its position that the issue is an internal affair.

“Burma's issue [here] should be decided by the Burmese people,” said a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman at a regular news briefing in May.

However, the spokesman added that China hopes “the relevant parties in Burma could realize reconciliation, stability and development through dialogue.”

For years, stability in Burma was the center of Beijing’s Burma policy. But after the mass demonstrations, led by monks, in September 2007, Burma’s stability under military rule has been an issue for policy makers in Beijing.

Although China did not condemned Burma over the junta’s crackdown on the mass protests, it spoke of its concern.

“We hope all parties can exercise restraint and properly handle the situation there to ensure the situation does not escalate,” said a foreign ministry spokeswoman in late September 2007.

After crackdowns on the September demonstrators, the junta’s head, Snr-Gen Than Shwe, sent foreign minister Nyan Win to Beijing as his special envoy to brief the Chinese on the situation.

Though China voted the United Nations Security Council (UNSC)’s binding resolution against the Burmese regime in 2007, it agreed to a non-binding presidential statement of the UNSC that deplored the crackdown and called for dialogue for the national conciliation in Burma.

Recently, the Chinese government’s policy on Burma stresses not only stability but also national conciliation and development in the country.

“The stability and development of Myanmar is not only in the interest of the region, [but it is] also the interest of the whole international community,” said Yan Jiarong, a Chinese representative at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva in March.

Recent international strategy for efforts to bring change to Burma centers on the influence countries such as China, India and Southeast Asian countries can exert.

Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah said on Friday in Jakarta that China and India should push the junta for reforms.

“Those countries play a key role to find a settlement in Myanmar's issue... and we very much would like to see them urge Myanmar to embrace the value of human rights,” he said.

irrawaddy

Burma-Sri Lanka Connection: Religion and Terrorism

2009-06-16T04:09:00.000+06:30

Sri Lankan President Mahindra Rajapakse paid an official visit to Burma on Sunday to cement ties between the two countries.

Burma was the first country to be visited by President Mahindra Rajapakse after his government defeated the Tamil Tigers guerrilla forces in May.

Inside sources in Burma said that Burmese military leaders who recently launched a military offensive against Karen rebels in eastern Burma were impressed by Mahindra Rajapakse’s military strategy used against the Tamil tigers.

Deputy Minister for Defense Maj-Gen Aye Myint said at the 8th Shangri-La Dialogue Meeting in Singapore in May: “The world has recently witnessed the successful end of a long-standing insurgency in Sri Lanka. But, people have forgotten about insurgency in Myanmar [Burma]. Why? Because there is no more major fighting erupted in Myanmar in recent days. But it does not mean Myanmar has completely brought to an end of its internal insurgency. We have realized that hard power alone is not fully effective in winning the counter-insurgency campaigns. Therefore, we are painstakingly, patiently and time-consumingly [sic] solving the problems of insurgency.”

The Burmese regime donated US $50,000 to the Sri Lanka government to assist internally displaced persons in the Northern area of Sri Lanka.

Snr-Gen Than Shwe warmly welcomed President Mahinda Rajapaksa and expressed appreciation for his visit to Burma as Prime Minister of Sri Lanka in 2004 to participate at the World Buddhist Conference in Rangoon.

The visit also commemorated the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations established between the two countries.

The state-run newspapers in Burma stressed the Theravada Buddhism that the two countries share.

But aside from religion, the two governments agreed to enhance their military cooperation.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Rohitha Bogollagama who accompanied the president said that the decision of President Rajapaksa to choose Burma as the country for his first overseas tour after successfully defeating terrorism is of significant event for both nations.

Minister Bogollagama noted that Snr-Gen Than Shwe had commended that the “bold steps” taken by the government to fight terrorists organizations. The regime in Burma often labels ethnic rebel groups in Burma as terrorists.

According to the official government news portal of Sri Lanka, President Rajapaksa also agreed to offer placements for two officials of the Burmese armed forces to be trained at the Kothalawala Defense Academy as a follow-up to a MoU signed on Intelligence Exchange Cooperation in 2007 to strengthen cooperation in combating terrorism and intelligence sharing.

Dr Tint Swe, a self-appointed minister for information of the exiled Burmese government, the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma, told The Irrawaddy that the regime in Burma is deceitful to use the religion card in light of its brutal crackdown on monks in September 2007.

Ashin Issariya, a leader of the All Burma Monks Alliance (ABMA) in exile, said: “Sri Lanka is a Buddhist country and exercised Theravada principles. The government (in Sri Lanka) allowed Burmese monks to demonstrate in the country in 2007 (to protest against brutal crackdown in Burma). But they did not condemn the Burmese military junta.”

Minister Bogollagama said that Burma and Sri Lanka maintained a close and cordial relationship as both nations are influenced by Theravada Buddhism.

“Both countries are linked through political, religious and cultural heritages that have an extended history of over 20 centuries,” he said.

Minister Bogollagama said that President Rajapaksa expressed a willingness to offer scholarships to Buddhist monks from Burma to pursue higher studies in Sri Lankan Universities.

But to political analysts in Burma, see the visit by the Sri Lanka president as not about religion, but rather that the generals are increasingly finding it difficult to contain insurgent groups in the country’s northern frontier and are willing to learn some fresh lesson from President Mahindra Rajapakse on how to defeat the enemy.

irrawaddy

Buddhist Monk Killed in Southern Thailand

2009-06-16T03:45:00.000+06:30

BANGKOK — Police have arrested two suspected Muslim insurgents on suspicion of shooting to death a 60-year-old Buddhist monk and wounding another as they collected food from the faithful on Friday in southern Thailand.

The assailants allegedly opened fire with AK-47 assault rifles as the monks made their daily alms rounds through a Buddhist community in Yala, one of three southernmost provinces where more than 3,400 people have been killed in a five-year-old separatist insurgency.

Police Lt Col Niyom Ruenraeng said the attackers likely hoped to incite conflict between Buddhists and Muslims following the killing of 10 people at a mosque in neighboring Narathiwat province on Monday.

In a related incident in Narathiwat, the army detained two young men found in possession of leaflets accusing the government of masterminding the June 8 mosque massacre.

The two were seized on Thursday night as they distributed the leaflets, said Army 2nd Lt Yothi Youngdam.

Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala provinces—the only Muslim-majority provinces in predominantly Buddhist Thailand and the focus of the separatist insurgency—are governed by martial law. The military can hold suspects for up to 30 days without charge under martial law provisions.

Since the mosque attack, rumors have circulated among some villagers that government authorities were behind the shootings and a number of incidents have followed in recent days, including a bomb explosion and arson.

The government has denied involvement in one of the deadliest incidents of the insurgency and has stepped up security across the region.

Five or six men shot automatic rifles into the mosque in Joh-I-Rong district, according to police. Among the dead was the mosque's imam, or prayer leader.

Security forces sometimes blame the insurgents for attacks on Muslim individuals and institutions, claiming they mean to stir up hatred to boost their cause and trigger sectarian strife.

But it is widely believed that some local Buddhists, with the help of rogue security forces, have their own vigilante groups to fight against suspected insurgents.

irrawaddy

Burmese Migrant Workers Arrested in Malaysian Crackdown

2009-06-12T05:04:00.001+06:30

Malaysian authorities have arrested about 100 Burmese migrant workers in their latest crackdown on foreign labor.

The arrested migrants include 50 Mon, according to Roi Mon, joint chairman of the Mon Refugee Organization. Twenty Karen are among the arrested Burmese, said Mahn Sein Than, chairman of the Karen Refugee Organization.

Hundreds of other Burmese migrants who escaped arrest have cut their working hours drastically because of fears of new raids. The current crackdown began on June 1.

About 1,000 Burmese migrants work in restaurants and other businesses in one area alone of Kuala Lumpur’s Chinatown, in Petaling Street.

Malaysian authorities have reportedly threatened restaurant owners in Petaling Street that their licenses will be cancelled if they are found to employ foreign workers. “There are longer any Burmese working in the restaurants there,” said Roi Mon.

One Burmese woman, War Yu, said: Two of my friends had to return to Burma last week because they were laid off.”

According to the Kuala Lumpur-based Burma Workers’ Rights Protection Committee, about 500,000 Burmese migrants work in Malaysia, legally and illegally.

The Malaysian government announced last December that the country no longer needs foreign labor and stepped up its efforts to deport migrant workers.

Meanwhile, the Network of Action for Migrants in Malaysia and MAP Foundation in Thailand have called on the Malaysian and Thailand governments to protect the rights of Burmese migrants and ensure that migrants can exercise their labor, social, cultural, economic and political rights.

The groups called in a joint statement, released yesterday, for a halt to unjust, discriminatory and unconstitutional policies on migrants. Burmese migrants were in a desperate situation because of the global economic crisis, they said.

irrawaddy

Indian PM urged to secure Suu Kyi’s release

2009-06-11T02:21:00.001+06:30

New Delhi (Mizzima) - More than one-hundred Indian Members of Parliament (MP) on Wednesday called on Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh to press Burma's military regime to release Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and restore democracy to the country.

One-hundred eighteen Indian MPs joined the petition initiated by the Indian Parliamentarians Forum for Democracy in Burma (IPFDB), urging Manmohan Singh to secure the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and support the reinstatement of democratic governance in Burma.

“We strongly call on the Indian government to intervene in the current situation to urge upon the Burmese generals through all possible diplomatic and other demarches to release Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and impress upon the regime in respecting democratic principles,” said Abani Roy, Member of India’s Upper House of Parliament, in a press conference held at the Indian Women Press Corp. on Wednesday.

Abani Roy added, “As the largest democracy and good neighbor, we have a moral obligation to rescue her [Aung San Suu Kyi] and the country from the devastation.”

The call of the Indian MPs comes as India's government has remained silent for the past month regarding Aung San Suu Kyi’s ongoing trial, while other members of the international community including the United Nations, United States, European Union and Association of Southeast Asia Nations have expressed their concerns and called for the immediate release of Suu Kyi and political reform in the troubled Southeast Asian nation.

Sharad Joshi (MP), co-convener of IPFDB, also urged India's National Congress party, recently returned to power by voters, to review its soft approach to the military regime as its silence over the suffering of the Burmese people has only served to make the regime more aggressive.

“We understand that the military regime in Burma currently headed by General Than Shwe continues to pose a threat to the lives and liberties of hundreds of thousands of innocent people in Burma,” MPs told Manmohan Singh in their petition letter.

Indian MPs also reminded the Indian government that an inclusive political process and free and fair elections in 2010 will not occur if the regime continues to detain Aung San Suu Kyi along with the more than 2,100 other political prisoners.

Dr. Tint Shwe, Information Minister of the exile-based National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB), further articulated in a press conference today that India's government should not only engage with the Burmese regime but should also reach out to the Burmese pro-democracy movement as well.

mizzima

Burmese migrants in Thailand and Malaysia demand equal rights

2009-06-11T02:18:00.001+06:30

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Burmese migrants working in Thailand and Malaysia have released a joint statement on the impact of the global economic crisis on Burmese migrant workers, urging relevant governments to address their concerns.

Burmese migrants, support groups, trade union leaders, human rights activists and lawyers from Thailand and Malaysia noted in a statement released on Tuesday following a conference in Bangkok that the Thai and Malaysian governments’ response to the situation of migrant workers affected by the economic crisis has not been comprehensive, failing to provide adequate protection for workers.

“Migrant workers are not even included in these [economic assistance] programs and are thus expected to deal with the impact of the economic crisis by themselves,” according to the release.

“Employers must not use the economic crisis as an excuse to dismiss workers or close down factories without adequate notice to the workers,” added the group.

They also noted that employers currently fail to adequately compensate migrant workers, calling for the establishment of a mechanism to ensure just compensation in addition to appealing for equal access to programs aimed at lessening hardship stemming from the economic crisis.

Specifically, the group seeks the abolition of Malaysia’s ‘Foreign Workers First Out’ principle – a policy necessitating migrant workers lose their jobs before local workers in times of crisis regardless of time on the job.

Burmese migrants in both Malaysia and Thailand have also reported accidents in the workplace due to sub-standard occupational health and safety standards and enforcement.

“The governments of Thailand and Malaysia should ensure that employers do not take shortcuts on matters concerning health and safety of workers and facilitate migrants’ access to the legal mechanisms to receive compensation when accidents do occur,” argues the consortium.

Further, due to the undocumented status of many parents, migrant children often have difficulty in accessing education. As a result, the group calls for the governments of both countries to support the education of migrant children in both formal and non-formal education systems.

The group is additionally concerned for those migrants lacking official status or without full status. In such an atmosphere, without proper protective mechanisms in place, it is said migrants can be subjected to the arbitrary decisions or desires of employers and governments alike.

Because of their lack of protection, migrants face an increased risk of arrest, detention and deportation. “We are deeply concerned about the recent reports of deaths of migrants in detention in Malaysia, deaths which could have been avoided with proper access to health care,” stipulate the aggrieved.

The statement concluded by calling for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and its constituent parts to abandon their constructive engagement policy toward the Burmese regime which, they contend, serves merely to prolong the injustice in Burma.

The joint declaration followed the second Two Destinations One Origin Conference organized by the MAP Foundation (Thailand), Workers Hub for Change (WH4C) and Network of Action for Migrants in Malaysia (NAMM).

mizzima

Japanese Parliamentarians critical of Burma policy

2009-06-11T02:17:00.000+06:30

New Delhi (Mizzima) - The ongoing trial against opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has attracted the attention of Japanese Parliamentarians, raising questions regarding Japan’s stance on Burma.

At least 70 Japanese Parliamentarians on Wednesday urged the government to push for a six-party type of talks – a-la-North Korea – concerning Burma, inclusive of regional countries and China. The Parliamentarians say Japan must kick-start the process in order to ensure genuine change comes to the militarily-ruled Southeast Asian nation.

Dr. Min Nyo, a representative of the National Council of the Union of Burma, an exile opposition umbrella group, said Japanese Diet (Parliament) members have of late responded to events unfolding in Burma and would much regret if the junta sentences Aung San Suu Kyi to yet another spell of detention.

“There were a lot of questions from the Parliamentarians both from the ruling and opposition parties on the events in Burma and in relation to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s trial,” said Dr. Min Nyo, referring to an emergency meeting of the Japanese Diet members concerning the freedom of Aung San Suu Kyi conducted on Wednesday.

He said the meeting was led by the Union of Japanese Diet Members for the support of Democracy in Burma (GIREN) and drew the participation of leaders from the Japanese Labor Union as well as the Director of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the main body responsible for shaping Japan’s Burma policy.

Traditionally, Japan has maintained a quiet diplomacy with the Burmese military junta, often refusing to publicly condemn the junta while still citing concern over events transpiring in the conflict-stricken country.

“But today, Parliamentarians and other leaders of the Labor Union have asked the Director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to take note of their concern and to push the government for stronger action,” Dr. Min Nyo emphasized.

Japan is the largest donor country in terms of providing humanitarian aid in the form of emergency health projects, training and technological assistance to Burma.

Following the latest charges leveled against Aung San Suu Kyi, the Japanese Foreign Ministry issued three unilateral statements and a joint statement. In all the unilateral statements, Japan acknowledged that the trial of Aung San Suu Kyi is an internal affair but expressed its hope that the junta’s 2010 election will be well received by the international community.

Yuki Akinomoto, director of the Burma Information Network-Japan, said Japan’s policy vis-à-vis Burma is to endorse the junta’s roadmap to democracy and support the 2010 election, so that it can fully engage with Burma without restrictions on aid or investment.

“Therefore, probably the best case scenario for Japan is for the 2010 elections to be held reasonably ‘well’ so that no one will object to Japan increasing aid and generally resuming normal relations with Burma,” Akinomoto conjectured.

Akinomoto said Japan is also concerned about the growing Chinese influence in Burma and the Mekong region in general, which is why it is now planning to host a Japan-Mekong summit, including Burma and excluding China, later this year.

After the death of Japanese photojournalist Kenji Nagai in Rangoon during the September 2007 uprising, the Japanese government threatened to terminate its humanitarian aid to Burma.

“Following the death of Kenji Nagai Japan sent an envoy but the issue remained unaddressed,” Dr. Min Nyo added.

But he said the latest events regarding the plight of Aung San Suu Kyi have provoked the interest of many Parliamentarians.

“The Parliamentarians said if Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is sentenced, the Japanese government must act to push for substantive change in Burma by introducing a six-party talk that will include countries influential to Burma,” he expounded.

mizzima

Indonesia says US sanctions hurting Burmese citizens

2009-06-11T01:48:00.001+06:30

(DVB)–The Indonesian foreign minister said during a speech in the United States yesterday that US sanctions on Burma are causing hardship to its people, while expressing concern at the lack of democratic progress in Burma.

Speaking at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace organization, Hassan Wirajuda called for the release of Burma opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and for greater diplomatic engagement with the regime.

In February US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton said that US policy toward Burma needed to be reviewed in light of the failure of sanctions, although the trial of Suu Kyi has dashed any signs that sanctions will be eased.

Hassan’s comments were echoed by the labour minister for the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma, an exiled Burmese political party.

“The Burmese people are in trouble not because of the international sanctions but only by the [government’s] mismanagement of the nation,” said Myint Tun.

“The country was in trouble before the US imposed the sanctions.”

In April the European Union added brief weight to the anti-sanctions argument by stating it could ease its blockade when it came up for renewal if democratic progress is seen in the country, although this failed to materialise.

Some observers have claimed however that sanctions have only further isolated the regime, whose economy is being propped up by trade with China and India.

“Isolation means that the military can do whatever it wants to the people, and no country has any moral or whatever authority over the regime,” said political analyst Aung Naing Oo.

“Sanctions have contributed to the suffering in the country,” he continued, adding that regardless of sanctions, foreign countries need to engage the junta more.

Reporting by Rosalie Smith

Thai-based Burmese migrants systematically denied compensation

2009-06-11T01:45:00.000+06:30

(DVB)–A coalition of Thai labour unions has filed a complaint to the International Labour Organisation alleging unfair treatment of Burmese migrant workers in Thailand, with many being denied compensation following accidents.

More than a quarter of the estimated two million Burmese migrant workers who have arrived in Thailand illegally have obtained a residence certificate and work permit entitling them to work legally.

Still, says the State Enterprise Workers Relations Confederation (SERC), Thailand prohibits employers of migrant workers paying dividends to the Workmen’s Compensation Fund, which provides financial aid in case of an accident at work.

This, according to the SERC, contravenes an International Labour Organisation (ILO) convention on the treatment on migrant workers that has been ratified by both the Burmese and Thai governments.

“[Migrant jobs] are dirty jobs, they’re dangerous jobs; mainly in construction, agriculture, fishing manufacturing,” says the coordinator for UK-based Human Rights Development Foundation (HRDF), Andy Hall.

“The workers are working in conditions where they’re likely to have accidents quite frequently.”

A case study used to back up the complaint, which HRDF has been assisting the SERC with, is of Nang Noom, a woman who was paralyzed in 2006 after a 300 kilogram mould fell on her at a construction site where she worked.

It was only following a media campaign and pressure on the Thai government by HRDF that she received nearly 600,000 baht ($US17,600) in compensation, the highest compensation ever paid to a migrant worker.

But, says the SERC, the problem continues. Burmese migrants have to satisfy “almost impossible” criteria before receiving government compensation, and so the decision is left to their employers.

The result is that “many employers do whatever they can to avoid compensating heir injured migrant worker”, say the SERC.

Thailand’s economy is reliant on cheap migrant labour, and the “environment of repression and economic deterioration” in Burma works as a strong push factor for Burmese to look for work in Thailand.

But, says the complaint, these workers “are relegated to a social zone of lawlessness where they are not protected by the criminal and civil laws of Thailand, much less Thai labour laws”.

The HRDF have used the case of Nang Noom as a pressure tool to bring the discrimination of migrant workers to light.

“What we are trying to do with this is case is to use it as a test case; we’re trying to get the [Thai] government to respond, to allow the migrant workers to access the social security system in Thailand,” said Hall.

The root cause of the problem, he added, was that the process between Thailand and Burma for dealing with migration was breaking down.

In an attempt to formalise this process, the Burmese government has demanded migrant workers return to Burma to verify their nationality, after which they are free to return to Thailand for work.

This, however, says Hall, is an impossible task for the two million migrant workers currently in Thailand.

Reporting by Soe Naing and Rosalie Smith

Goh’s Comments Significant

2009-06-11T01:38:00.000+06:30

Former Singaporean Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong told junta leader Snr-Gen Than Shwe that Suu Kyi’s trial had “an international dimension to the matter, which Myanmar [Burma] should not ignore.”

According to Channel News Asia, Goh’s comments came during a meeting with Than Shwe in Naypyidaw on Tuesday, adding to the diplomatic pressure on the Burmese junta over pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s trial.

Win Tin, one of the leaders of Burma’s main opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), said he welcomed the Senior Minister of Singapore’s comments on Burma’s political crisis.

“I want to say that Mr Goh Chok Tong’s trip is a good diplomatic approach. I appreciate his trip and his comments on Burmese politics,” he told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday.

“But just one trip is nothing as far as diplomatic efforts for change in Burma are concerned,” she said, adding, “Asean should push continuously. Burma issues are now a problem for Asean.”

He said Goh’s trip is significant because Singapore is the country that has attempted to drag the isolated Burmese regime into the international community through its “constructive engagement policy.”

Singapore is also one of biggest investors in Burma and supported Burma’s membership with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in 1997.

Win Tin said he hopes Goh noted the wrongdoings of the junta in Burma and suggested ways to alleviate the suffering in the country.

Commenting on the potential for an all-inclusive process in Burmese politics, Win Tin said he believes that the term “all-inclusive” should mean not only in respect of elections, but also an all-inclusive process in all political issues in Burma.

He also said that elections are important in the democratization process, but that the regime must review the constitution alongside opposition parties.

According to Channel News Asia, the Burmese leadership responded to Goh’s comments by noting that “the opposition [in Burma] needs to recognize that the military plays a pivotal role in the reconciliation process.”

Win Tin told The Irrawaddy that the junta’s comments were untrue, as the NLD has always stated that it recognizes the military’s role.

Goh, one of Asia’s most prominent statesmen and currently Senior Member of the Singaporean government, is in Burma at the invite of Burmese Prime Minister Gen Thein Sein who visited the city-state in March 2009.

However, Burma analysts said Goh would use Singapore’s strong position in Asean to push concerns about the political situation in Burma.

Larry Jagan, a British journalist in Bangkok who specializes in Burmese issues, told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that although Goh visited Burma as the Singaporean Senior Minister, he could informally act as an envoy on behalf of Asean to tell Than Shwe face-to-face what Asean members think about the criminal trial of Suu Kyi and the Burmese political situation.

“Goh Chok Tong is a senior politician within Asean. He is someone that Than Shwe has high regard for. So, he has the kind of stature that is needed as someone who can go to talk with Than Shwe frankly,” Jagan said.

“What he told Than Shwe is more his personal view than Asean’s view,” he added. “But his concerns [about the trial and the political crisis in Burma] are shared by most Asean leaders.”

Singapore is one of the Burmese regime’s most important diplomatic relatives and trading partners. Burma experts suspect millions of dollars of the generals’ and their cronies’ money are in Singaporean banks.

The Burmese junta, who is under sanctions from the United States and the European Union, has attempted to trade with the world through Singapore, experts say.

The former British island colony also serves as a hospice and retreat for Burma’s ruling generals, including Than Shwe, the late Gen Soe Win and the late Lt-Gen Maung Bo.

Military affairs also play a role in the two countries’ relationship. Burmese military experts have claimed that the Burmese junta has bought warfare material from the Singaporean government in the past.

Analysts have said Goh’s trip is quite significant as a diplomatic approach, because he was able to meet with Than Shwe who earlier this year rebuffed Ibrahim Gambari, the UN special envoy to Burma.

Debbie Stothard of Alternative Asean Network on Burma said Asean leaders are now showing their concerns over the ongoing political process in the country.

irrawaddy

Singapore’s Goh Raises Suu Kyi’s Trial in Naypyidaw Talks

2009-06-11T01:19:00.000+06:30

Singapore's Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong urged Burma’s junta leaders at a meeting in Naypyidaw on Tuesday not to allow the trial of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi to affect the national reconciliation process, and to ensure that next year’s general election is free and fair.

A report on the meeting in the Singapore newspaper Straits Times, quoting Goh’s press secretary, said the Singapore minister pointed out during a two-hour meeting with junta chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe, Prime Minister Gen Thein Sein and other Naypyidaw leaders that while Suu Kyi’s trial is Burma’s domestic affair it also has an international element that should not be ignored.

The trial has evoked international concern and condemnation. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) has issued a strongly-worded statement through its current chair, Thailand, saying the trial puts Burma's honor and credibility at stake.

Another issue dominating Tuesday’s meeting was Burma's democratization process leading up to preparations for the 2010 election.

Goh stressed that the elections must be inclusive and that the opposition National League for Democracy, led by Suu Kyi, must be part of the process of national reconciliation.

According to reports in the Singapore press, both Than Shwe and Thein Sein assured Goh that the 2010 election will be free and fair. Thein Sein also said that Burma was aware it had to address the concerns of three groups—the Burmese people, Asean and the international community, including the UN.

Singapore, one of Burma's biggest foreign investors, has close relations with the Burmese junta.

Over the past two decades, according to Jane's Intelligence Review, Singapore has sent the junta guns, rockets, armored personnel carriers and grenade launchers. Singaporean companies have also provided computers and networking equipment for Burma's defense ministry and army.

Some analysts believe that despite US financial sanctions, Burma's military leaders and their cronies still hold accounts in Singaporean banks, while the Money Authority of Singapore is unlikely to advise its banks to cut ties with Burmese firms.

Singapore is also a favored destination for regime officials seeking medical treatment.

Goh’s visit comes at the invitation of Thein Sein, who visited Singapore in March. He previously visited Burma in 1998.

Singaporean Minister for Manpower Gan Kim Yong, Government Parliamentary Committee Chairman (Foreign Affairs & Defense) Michael Palmer and other senior officials are accompanying Goh on his Burma visit.

irrawaddy

Sri Lanka and Singapore ministers in Burma

2009-06-09T03:43:00.001+06:30

(DVB)–A senior minister from the Singaporean government today began a four-day visit to Burma while Sri Lankan government sources say that the country’s president is soon to “consolidate bilateral relations” with a visit.

Goh Chok Tong, Singapore’s former prime minister, will meet with senior Burmese government figures, including Senior General Than Shwe, during the visit on the behest of Prime Minister Thein Sein.

“Mr Goh, who last visited [Burma] in 1998, will use the visit to update himself on developments in the country,” said a statement on the Singaporean government website.

Relations between the two countries have in the past been strong, although have come under strain as Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries, including Singapore, mount criticism on Burma over the trial of Aung San Suu Kyi.

Last month Singapore expressed “dismay” over the trial, but said that expelling Burma from ASEAN would achieve nothing.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday marked the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries by speaking of his intentions to visit Burma.

The ColomboPage newspaper reported that he talked of strengthening ties between the two countries, following Burma’s donation of $US50,000 to victims of the recent Sri Lankan offensive against Tamil Tiger rebels.

“My visit to the Union of Myanmar this month and the numerous other activities planned to take place in our two countries as part of the 60th anniversary celebrations will further consolidate our bilateral relations,” he said.

Reporting by Francis Wade

178 Burmese Muslim Pushed Back to Burma in 4 Days

2009-06-08T04:45:00.001+06:30

By Tun Kyaw, Cox�s bazar: Within four days 178 Rohingya Muslims from Burma who entered Bangladesh illegally were arrested and pushed back across the border to Burma by Bangladesh authorities, a source reports.

The individuals were arrested by Bangladesh Rifles Battalion No. 17 in the area of Bangladesh's Ukia Sub-division under Cox's Bazar District on the border of Maungdaw Township in Arakan State as they attempted to enter Bangladesh illegally to seek refuge.

Many Rohingyas were arrested on a bus in an area of Phalaung Khali while another 25 were arrested on a bus in the area of Balukhali in Ukia Sub-division, on the Teknaf - Cox's Bazar highway last Wednesday when authorities set up checkpoints for buses traveling that route.

Rohingyas from Burma have been illegally entered Bangladesh in groups one after another over the last month. "The flow of Burmese Muslims into Bangladesh has been unabated," said a border security officer on the condition of anonymity.

Local newspapers claim that Burmese entering Bangladesh are mixing into populations in the Chittagong Hill Tracts and causing crime and social unrest.

Due to the increasing numbers of Rohingyas fleeing Burma and entering Bangladesh, a committee comprised of 17 government departments was formed to prevent an influx of Rohingyas from Burma, said an official report.

narinjara

ASEAN-led humanitarian aid effort needed in Burma

2009-06-05T04:37:00.000+06:30

Bangkok (Mizzima) - Many international and regional aid officials are now suggesting using an ASEAN-led model for all future humanitarian assistance to Burma.

Last weekend was the anniversary of the establishment of the Tripartite Core Group (TCG) – the international communities’ response to the Burmese government’s reluctance to accept international relief aid and assistance in the first few weeks after Cyclone Nargis devastated most the Irrawady Delta and parts of the former capital Rangoon.

The success of the TCG, which primarily helped coordinate the international community’s response to the devastating affect of Cyclone Nargis in May last year, has led many ASEAN officials, international aid workers and UN representatives to urge the Burmese government to consider extending the process to cover all humanitarian and development projects throughout the country..

Aid workers believe it would be particularly useful as a model to improve international support provided to the west of the country, the home of nearly a million Burmese Muslims – known as Rohinygas – who are causing international concern because of their mass exodus to escape poverty and repression there.

The ASEAN-led mechanism, which brought together the south-east Asian regional body, UN agencies and the Burmese government, was invaluable in ensuring a rapid and effective relief effort in the weeks immediately after the cyclone hit Burma. “The dialogue and good cooperation between its members contributed to facilitate the efficient, transparent and accountable provision of relief and recovery efforts,” the UN’s resident humanitarian coordinator, Bishow Parajuli told Mizzima.

It was critical in getting speedy access to the Delta for relief workers and providing visas for international staff from NGOs and the UN that were needed to support the relief effort in the first few months after the cyclone. The Burmese government was initially reluctant to accept relief materials and allow large numbers of aid workers into the country.

“Without the TCG the humanitarian impasse may have dragged on,” Andrew Kirkwood, head of the UK-based aid agency, Save the Children in Burma told Mizzima. “The TCG helped to build trust, coordinated the aid effort, and overcame obstacles like visa handling for humanitarian workers,” said Matt MacGuire, Cyclone Recovery Co-ordinator in Rangoon for the British government’s Department for International Development (DIFD).

Many aid workers believe it could now be used now to respond to the problems in Northern Arakan state. More than a thousand Rohinygas made international headlines earlier this year when they were allegedly pushed out to sea by the Thai authorities after braving the turbulent waters from Bangladesh to Thailand and Malaysia in search of a better life. Hundreds ended up in Indonesia and India, as well as Thailand.

These refugees and their future became a major regional issue. ASEAN at their summit in Thailand in February decided that the Bali Process, established in 2002 to deal with human trafficking and other crimes in the region should deal with it. At the same time the countries of the region proposed that ASEAN coordinate a census of those Rohingyas languishing in south-east Asian countries.

This raised the prospect of a TCG-type mechanism to deal with the issue, particularly as the south-east Asian nations endorsed the idea that the Rohingya issue had also to be dealt with at source – the causes for the mass exodus – as well as their repatriation.

“The TCG could have an enormous benefit if it could be extended to the rest of the country or to specific areas like Northern Rakhine state (NRS),” Luke Arend, Medecines Sans Frontiere’s Deputy Head of Mission in Burma told Mizzima.

But other senior humanitarian officials in Burma believe it is the co-operation and coordination that the TCG established between the three sides involved that should be replicated.

“The cooperation between the TCG partners -- Government, ASEAN and the UN representing the international humanitarian community -- has worked well, and the UN hopes that the parties can have an open dialogue and joint efforts in facilitating the delivery of humanitarian and development assistance to other parts of the country,” Mr. Parajuli told Mizzima.

Thailand and Bangladesh to aid Rohingya repatriation

2009-06-05T04:32:00.001+06:30

(DVB)–Thailand and Bangladesh are to take action to stem the flow of Rohingya refugees into Burma’s neighbouring countries and will help with repatriation back to Burma, said the Thai foreign minister yesterday.

The Muslim Rohingya are a minority in Burma and have the fled the country in increasing numbers in recent years.

Their plight hit the headlines in January this year when around 1000 Rohingya refugees landed ashore in Thailand, only to towed back out to sea by Thai authorities. Around 550 were thought to have died.

Thai foreign minister Kasit Piromya said that he and his Bangladeshi counterpart had agreed tripartite dialogue with Burma to find a solution to the problem.

The Burmese government have initially been reluctant to grant repatriation to Rohingya who had fled the country’s western Arakan state, claiming they would have to prove they came from Burma in the first place.

This would be almost impossible, however, given that Rohingya in Burma are denied legal status.

“There would need to be assurances from the government of [Burma] that the returning Rohingya people would not be penalized for leaving [Burma] in the first place,” said Kitty McKinsey, spokesperson for the UN Humanitarian Commission for Refugees in Asia.

Thousands of Rohingya are believed to leave Burma each year for Malaysia and Thailand, while around 250,000 have sought refuge on the Bangladeshi side of the Burmese border.

“It’s not at all clear that these people would voluntarily go back to Myanmar,” McKinsey said.

“What would help the Rohingya would be if they were admitted to a screening process in Thailand to have their claims heard and to determine whether they are legitimate refugees,” McKinsey explained.

Last month Human Rights Watch reported of the plight of the Rohingyas stating that Thailand’s ‘deterrence policy’ in treating the Rohingyas has violated international legal obligations towards asylum seekers.

The report stated Thailand has claimed that Rohingya are merely economic refugees and are a threat to national security.

Reporting by Rosalie Smith

Burmese Media Again Challenge Thailand’s Burma Policy

2009-06-05T04:16:00.001+06:30

Burma’s state-run media has resumed its war of words with the government of neighboring Thailand over Bangkok’s Burma policy.

The Myanma Alin newspaper reported on Wednesday that former Thai Foreign Minister Noppadol Pattama had charged that Thailand’s relationships with neighboring countries had worsened under the administration of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya.

Noppadol served briefly as Thailand’s foreign minister in the short-lived government led by the People’s Power Party, which took office in 2008. Noppadol, a lawyer, was a close associate of fugitive former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, whose government had nurtured close ties with Burma.

Wednesday’s Myanma Alin report quoted remarks by Noppadol that appeared in the Thai daily Matichon: “Now Thailand is the chairman of Asean [the Association of Southeast Asian Nations] and the credibility of the Asean chairman is down because Thailand’s relationships with Asean members, Burma and Cambodia, are not good.”

Thailand, as chairman of Asean, issued a statement on May 19 condemning the trial of Aung San Suu Kyi and calling for the release of her and all other political prisoners. Myanma Alin quoted Noppadol as saying the statement was interference in Burma’s internal affairs.

The Burmese newspaper also reported that Noppadol had called on Kasit to resign.

In a report on Burmese-Thai relations on Tuesday, Myanma Alin quoted Gen Sonthi Boonyaratglin, a leader of the 2006 coup that ousted Thaksin, as saying that “if Thailand has a conflict with Burma, it will face defeat.”

Another Burmese language daily, The Mirror, has also carried reports questioning the Thai government’s Burma policy, although the state-run English language daily, The New Light of Myanmar, has been silent on the issue.

irrawaddy

Need for political change in Burma for regional stability: Thai FM

2009-06-03T02:01:00.000+06:30

Dhaka: Political change in military-ruled Myanmar was "very much needed" for regional stability, said Kasit Piromya Foreign Minister of Thailand yesterday.

Piromya was holding a joint-press briefing with Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Dipu Moni at the Bangladesh Foreign Ministry office in Dhaka yesterday. The Thai FM was on a two-day official visit.

"Changes in Myanmar are very much needed. It is not only a necessity for the security of Myanmar but also for all the neighbouring countries including Bangladesh and Thailand," Piromya said.

The Thai minister said changes in Myanmar would resolve the issues of internally displaced Myanmarese along the Bangladesh-Myanmar and Myanmar-Thailand borders.

He, however, avoided comment to the Press on the affect the trial of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi by the Burmese junta would have on regional stability.

U Maung Aye Chan, a senior Arakanese politician in Cox’sbazar said the Thai FM is also likely to discuss the trial of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in Insein prison because ASEAN and other neighbours of Burma are being criticized by western countries and international human rights organizations for its failure to pressurize the Burmese military regime for political reforms.

Thailand has also been severely criticized by the international community and human rights organizations for putting Rogingya boat people, who come by boat, adrift at sea in engineless boats.

On the Rohingya issue, Piromya said that Thailand is ready to work with Bangladesh on repatriation of Rohingya refugees.

“It is a common problem for the two countries next to Myanmar,” Piromya said.

Both the foreign ministers felt that the two countries should convince the Burmese military authorities that the Bangladesh-Myanmar Road is "a more viable" route for the proposed Asian Highways to connect Thailand to western countries.

The Thai Foreign Minister added that Bangladesh and Thailand could easily be connected by road via Burma. The road will help the two countries economically.

narinjara