The growing instability in eastern Burma from ongoing military conflict is forcing thousands of ethnic people to become internally displaced persons (IDPs), according to a press release from the Thailand Burma Border Consortium (TBBC) on Thursday.
The statement said at least 75,000 people in eastern Burma were forced to leave their homes during the past year, meaning the number of IDPs in the area now exceeds half a million. TBBC compared the scale of displacement to that of Darfur in eastern Sudan.
“After 25 years of responding to the consequences of conflict in eastern Burma, it is tragic to see the causes remain unaddressed and the situation is likely to further deteriorate during the next 12 months.” Jack Dunford, the executive director of TBBC said in the statement.
Bangkok-based TBBC, an umbrella group of aid agencies that supplies a high percentage of humanitarian aid to IDPs and refugees at the Thai-Burmese border, said that between August 2008 and July 2009, some 120 communities were destroyed, making a total of more than 3,500 villages and “hiding sites” in eastern Burma that have been destroyed or forcibly relocated since 1996.
The main threats to human security in eastern Burma are related to militarization, TBBC said. While military patrols and landmines are the most significant and fastest growing threats to civilian safety and security, forced labor and restrictions on movement are the most pervasive threats to livelihoods.
Duncan McArthur, a coordinator of emergency relief for the TBBC, told The Irrawaddy on Thursday: “The people don’t have any security and our survey indicates the situation is getting worse.
“We have documented the situation to highlight the ongoing problems for ethnic people in eastern Burma,” he said.
The northern Karen area and southern Shan State have the highest rates of recent displacement, according to the report. Almost 60,000 Karen villagers are in hiding in the mountains of Kyaukgyi, Thandaung and Papun townships, a third of who fled from artillery attacks or the threat of Burmese government troop patrols during the past year.
In Shan State, nearly 20,000 civilians from 30 villages were forcibly relocated by the Burmese government forces in retaliation for Shan State Army-South operations in Laikha, Mong Kung and Keh Si townships, said TBBC.
The statement said that the scale of displaced villages has been recognized as the strongest single indicator of crimes against humanity in eastern Burma.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Burmese Junta Continues to Suppress Religious Freedom: US
WASHINGTON — The Burmese military junta continues to oppress people on religious grounds and actively promotes Theravada Buddhism, said a US report on religion released on Monday.
"It systematically restricted efforts by Buddhist clergy to promote human rights and political freedom," the State Department said in its annual International Religious Freedom Report 2009.
"Adherence to Buddhism remains generally a prerequisite for promotion to senior government and military ranks. Anti-Muslim violence continued, as did the close monitoring of Muslims' activities. Restrictions on Christians and other non-Buddhist minority groups also continued throughout the country," the report said.
The report examined how governments in 198 countries and territories protect or fail to protect religious freedom, calling attention to abuse and positive steps taken by many countries to promote freedom and interreligious harmony."
The Burma section of the report noted that many of the Buddhist monks arrested in the violent crackdown that followed the pro-democracy demonstrations of September 2007, including prominent activist monk U Gambira, remain in prison serving long sentences.
Noting that the Burmese military junta systematically restricted efforts by Buddhist clergy to promote human rights and political freedom, the report said the junta actively promoted Theravada Buddhism, particularly among minority ethnic groups.
"Although there were no new reports of forced conversions of non-Buddhists, the government applied pressure on students and poor youth to convert to Buddhism," it said.
This is the first report of the Obama administration on international religious freedom, which becomes in factor in the United States designating countries into various categories. Earlier this year, days before the Bush administration left office, it put Burma along with China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan under the category of "Countries of Particular Concern (CPC)."
Michael H. Posner, the assistant secretary of state for Democracy, Human Rights and Labour, said a new CPC list is expected in the next few months.
"We are eager to at least get it done by January, and I'd like to say sooner. We have the ability throughout the year to make designations or remove countries," he said.
Burma was first designated a CPC in 1999 and most recently was re-designated on Jan. 16, 2009.
"It systematically restricted efforts by Buddhist clergy to promote human rights and political freedom," the State Department said in its annual International Religious Freedom Report 2009.
"Adherence to Buddhism remains generally a prerequisite for promotion to senior government and military ranks. Anti-Muslim violence continued, as did the close monitoring of Muslims' activities. Restrictions on Christians and other non-Buddhist minority groups also continued throughout the country," the report said.
The report examined how governments in 198 countries and territories protect or fail to protect religious freedom, calling attention to abuse and positive steps taken by many countries to promote freedom and interreligious harmony."
The Burma section of the report noted that many of the Buddhist monks arrested in the violent crackdown that followed the pro-democracy demonstrations of September 2007, including prominent activist monk U Gambira, remain in prison serving long sentences.
Noting that the Burmese military junta systematically restricted efforts by Buddhist clergy to promote human rights and political freedom, the report said the junta actively promoted Theravada Buddhism, particularly among minority ethnic groups.
"Although there were no new reports of forced conversions of non-Buddhists, the government applied pressure on students and poor youth to convert to Buddhism," it said.
This is the first report of the Obama administration on international religious freedom, which becomes in factor in the United States designating countries into various categories. Earlier this year, days before the Bush administration left office, it put Burma along with China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan under the category of "Countries of Particular Concern (CPC)."
Michael H. Posner, the assistant secretary of state for Democracy, Human Rights and Labour, said a new CPC list is expected in the next few months.
"We are eager to at least get it done by January, and I'd like to say sooner. We have the ability throughout the year to make designations or remove countries," he said.
Burma was first designated a CPC in 1999 and most recently was re-designated on Jan. 16, 2009.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Burmese Drowning in Debt
BOGALAY, Irrawaddy delta—Aye Kyu, 42, chokes when she talks about the burden of her debt.
"Every day the money lenders chase us, telling us to hurry up and pay them back. But, how can we pay off our debts when there is no work?" the mother of two said.
Aye Kye has been living with her family in a temporary shack since Cyclone Nargis destroyed her home in Setsan, a village in one of the hardest hit areas 150 minutes by boat from Bogalay Township near the mouth of the Irrawaddy delta.
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| Laborers extract salt from salt fields in Laputta Township of the Irrawaddy delta in April. Many laborers have had to borrow money to buy rice for their families' daily survival. (Photo: Reuters) |
Before the cyclone, Aye Kyu and her husband regularly found work as day laborers in the paddy fields belonging to farmers in the surrounding villages.
In the wake of the cyclone there has been little work, forcing Aye Kyu and her husband to take loans at rates of interest as high as 25 percent a month.
With monthly household monthly expenses amounting to nearly US $50, Aye Kyu’s family can only earn around $30 in present conditions.
“We have no choice but to go into debt. We have to buy rice for the children,” Aye Kye said, adding that she owed the equivalent of almost $400 dollars to the money lenders.
Thousands of cyclone-affected households in the delta are falling into a debt trap because job opportunities are still few even though 18 months has passed since the cyclone.
Cyclone Nargis, which devastated Rangoon and the Irrawaddy delta in the first week of May last year killed almost 140,000 people and affected more than 2 million, destroying the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands.
Agriculture and fisheries, the two major industries in the storm-affected area, were severely hit.
Despite assistance from the international community and the government, neither industry has fully recovered.
Day laborers who relied on finding work on fishing boats or on the farms have had to borrow money. Most say they had to take out loans to buy rice.
According to the Rapid Food Security Assessment released by the United Nations’ World Food Programme in March, the vast majority—83 percent of sampled households—reported being in debt because they had to buy food.
Interest rates vary from place to place, with some money-lenders taking between 5 and 20 percent and others between 25 and 50 percent, depending on the situation of the borrowers.
Though interest rates are high, the cyclone-affected debtors find it difficult to borrow money unless they can find loan guarantors in their villages.
“We want to pay off our debts as quickly as we can,” a cyclone-widow from Setsan Village said, “but we have to struggle just to earn enough for one meal a day.”
Humanitarian agencies are calling for agriculture and fisheries to be put back on a more secure basis as quickly as possible.
“As long as these industries are not fully back to normal, you cannot expect day laborers to have enough job opportunities,” said an official from CARE, a UK-based charity working in Burma since 1995.
“Restoring these sectors is the best way to help day laborers in the long term,” the official said.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
No Decision on Dialogue with Burma: US
WASHINGTON — The administration of US President Barack Obama said on Friday that no decision has been taken on how the next round of dialogue with the Burmese authorities will be organized or who will be participating in it.
The first round of US-Burma talks were held in New York last month, and according to an unnamed Burmese official quoted in an Associated Press report, senior US officials will visit Burma for further talks next week.
“We hope that that dialogue will entail face-to-face meetings in Burma, but we still have not decided how exactly that dialogue will be organized,” US State Department spokesperson Ian Kelly told reporters during his daily press briefing on Friday.
When asked about the talks held in New York recently—the first since the administration announced its new Burma policy, which involves engaging the military junta—Kelly described them as “positive.”
“I don’t know if I would characterize it as progress. We have begun the dialogue, which is positive. But we are still working out exactly where we will go from here. As I say, we hope to be able to continue the dialogue. But nothing is confirmed at this point,” Kelly said.
Earlier this week, the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs, Kurt Campbell, who recently led talks with Burmese military leaders, confirmed that the US intended to pursue further dialogue with the junta.
Appearing before a Congressional panel early this week, Campbell said: “We intend to go to Burma in the next few weeks for a fact-finding mission.”
The Associated Press reported from Rangoon that a “high-ranking US official” would visit next week as part of the new approach by Washington, which has shunned Burma in the past. The name of the US official was not released by the unnamed Burmese official quoted in the report.
The first round of US-Burma talks were held in New York last month, and according to an unnamed Burmese official quoted in an Associated Press report, senior US officials will visit Burma for further talks next week.
“We hope that that dialogue will entail face-to-face meetings in Burma, but we still have not decided how exactly that dialogue will be organized,” US State Department spokesperson Ian Kelly told reporters during his daily press briefing on Friday.
When asked about the talks held in New York recently—the first since the administration announced its new Burma policy, which involves engaging the military junta—Kelly described them as “positive.”
“I don’t know if I would characterize it as progress. We have begun the dialogue, which is positive. But we are still working out exactly where we will go from here. As I say, we hope to be able to continue the dialogue. But nothing is confirmed at this point,” Kelly said.
Earlier this week, the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs, Kurt Campbell, who recently led talks with Burmese military leaders, confirmed that the US intended to pursue further dialogue with the junta.
Appearing before a Congressional panel early this week, Campbell said: “We intend to go to Burma in the next few weeks for a fact-finding mission.”
The Associated Press reported from Rangoon that a “high-ranking US official” would visit next week as part of the new approach by Washington, which has shunned Burma in the past. The name of the US official was not released by the unnamed Burmese official quoted in the report.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Burma Ranks Next to Last on Most Corrupt Country List
Burma’s military government is still one of the most corrupt countries in the world, according to the Global Corruption Report 2009 released by Transparency International (TI) on Thursday.
The Berlin-based group said Burma ranks just ahead of Somalia and tied with Iraq for the second-lowest score.
The report ranked countries on a scale of 1 to 10. The highest 9.3 ranking went to Denmark, New Zealand and Sweden as the world’s least corrupt and most transparent countries, followed by Singapore, at 9.2.
Somalia ranked lowest at 1.0. Burma ranked 1.3, the same position as in 2008.
The TI report said Burma routinely violated human rights and had rampant corruption among government officials. The country’s score placed it just behind Haiti at 1.4 and Afghanistan at 1.5.
“These governments should embrace thorough and transparent reviews, which are the only way to ensure that each country’s anti-corruption efforts are judged equally and fairly,” said Huguette Labelle, the chair of TI’s board of directors, in a press release.
Abuse of power and corruption among Burmese officials is common, according to civil servants and businessmen in the country.
A recent example was the detention of three police officials by military authorities in Myawaddy Township on the Thai-Burmese border. Sources said the three officials accepted bribes of about 70,000 (US $2,100) baht from amphetamine trafficking gangs in Myawaddy.
Police are one of the most corrupt institutions in Burma, and they receive little respect from the people.
In early October, the Burmese’s junta dismissed the Rangoon Division police chief following misuse of power and corruption allegations, according to sources in Rangoon. Sources said he accepted bribes from massage parlors and karaoke shops, and that he also ran illegal businesses. His dismissal has not been reported in the state-run media.
“Corruption has become a custom here. They say it is paying respect instead of paying a bribe,” said a businessman familiar with Burmese culture.
A civil servant in Naypyidaw said, “If I want to get a higher position, or I want to move somewhere that I like in my job, I have no choice but to bribe them in order to get that chance.”
The Berlin-based group said Burma ranks just ahead of Somalia and tied with Iraq for the second-lowest score.
The report ranked countries on a scale of 1 to 10. The highest 9.3 ranking went to Denmark, New Zealand and Sweden as the world’s least corrupt and most transparent countries, followed by Singapore, at 9.2.
Somalia ranked lowest at 1.0. Burma ranked 1.3, the same position as in 2008.
The TI report said Burma routinely violated human rights and had rampant corruption among government officials. The country’s score placed it just behind Haiti at 1.4 and Afghanistan at 1.5.
“These governments should embrace thorough and transparent reviews, which are the only way to ensure that each country’s anti-corruption efforts are judged equally and fairly,” said Huguette Labelle, the chair of TI’s board of directors, in a press release.
Abuse of power and corruption among Burmese officials is common, according to civil servants and businessmen in the country.
A recent example was the detention of three police officials by military authorities in Myawaddy Township on the Thai-Burmese border. Sources said the three officials accepted bribes of about 70,000 (US $2,100) baht from amphetamine trafficking gangs in Myawaddy.
Police are one of the most corrupt institutions in Burma, and they receive little respect from the people.
In early October, the Burmese’s junta dismissed the Rangoon Division police chief following misuse of power and corruption allegations, according to sources in Rangoon. Sources said he accepted bribes from massage parlors and karaoke shops, and that he also ran illegal businesses. His dismissal has not been reported in the state-run media.
“Corruption has become a custom here. They say it is paying respect instead of paying a bribe,” said a businessman familiar with Burmese culture.
A civil servant in Naypyidaw said, “If I want to get a higher position, or I want to move somewhere that I like in my job, I have no choice but to bribe them in order to get that chance.”
Thursday, October 22, 2009
US to send mission to Myanmar
US to send mission to Myanmar
Source ::: AFP
Washington: The United States said yesterday it would send a rare mission to Myanmar in the coming weeks as it pursues engagement with the reclusive regime.
Kurt Campbell, the US assistant secretary of state for East Asia, said the trip would follow up on his talks last month with a senior official in New York — the highest-level US contact with the military regime in nearly a decade.
“We intend to go to Burma in the next few weeks for a fact-finding mission,” Campbell testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Campbell did not state who would take part in the trip to Myanmar, formerly known as Burma. A State Department spokeswoman had no immediate information on the mission.
“During our trip, we will talk to the Burmese government, representatives of the ethnic nationalities and the democratic opposition including the National League for Democracy, Aung San Suu Kyi and others,” he said.
The National League for Democracy, headed by democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, swept the nation’s last elections in 1990 but was never allowed to take power.
The junta has kept Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel laureate, under house arrest for most of the past two decades. President Barack Obama’s administration has sought to engage US adversaries including Iran, Cuba and Sudan.
The Obama administration, in a policy review, concluded that longstanding US policy of isolating Myanmar had said it would not ease sanctions without progress on democracy and human rights.
In August, Myanmar’s military leader Than Shwe held an unprecedented meeting with a visiting US senator, Jim Webb, a leading advocate of engaging the junta.
Source ::: AFP
Washington: The United States said yesterday it would send a rare mission to Myanmar in the coming weeks as it pursues engagement with the reclusive regime.
Kurt Campbell, the US assistant secretary of state for East Asia, said the trip would follow up on his talks last month with a senior official in New York — the highest-level US contact with the military regime in nearly a decade.
“We intend to go to Burma in the next few weeks for a fact-finding mission,” Campbell testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Campbell did not state who would take part in the trip to Myanmar, formerly known as Burma. A State Department spokeswoman had no immediate information on the mission.
“During our trip, we will talk to the Burmese government, representatives of the ethnic nationalities and the democratic opposition including the National League for Democracy, Aung San Suu Kyi and others,” he said.
The National League for Democracy, headed by democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, swept the nation’s last elections in 1990 but was never allowed to take power.
The junta has kept Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel laureate, under house arrest for most of the past two decades. President Barack Obama’s administration has sought to engage US adversaries including Iran, Cuba and Sudan.
The Obama administration, in a policy review, concluded that longstanding US policy of isolating Myanmar had said it would not ease sanctions without progress on democracy and human rights.
In August, Myanmar’s military leader Than Shwe held an unprecedented meeting with a visiting US senator, Jim Webb, a leading advocate of engaging the junta.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Burmese Timber Still Smuggled to China
BANGKOK — There has been a sharp decline in timber illegally imported into China from Burma, but smugglers are still supplying Chinese companies that export the wood to Europe, America and throughout the world, an environmental watchdog agency said Wednesday.
The British-based group Global Witness, in a report issued Wednesday, called on Chinese and Burmese authorities to step up efforts to stop illegal logging in northern Burma and crack down on illicit cross-border trade.
"Clearly action taken by authorities in China and Burma to combat illegal logging in Kachin state has had a significant positive impact," Global Witness quotes its forest policy expert, Jon Buckrell, saying. "But they should do more to close down the remaining industry, which is almost wholly reliant on the illegal timber supply from Burma."
After an October 2005 report by Global Witness alleged that vast stretches of virgin forest were being destroyed to feed China's growing demand for wood, Beijing sought to curb the trade by closing border crossings to timber trucks from its southern neighbor. The military government of Burma—also known as Myanmar—announced it had suspended timber cutting, transport and shipments to China.
In the 2005 report, Global Witness described the area where the forests were being cut as "very possibly the most bio-diverse, rich, temperate area on earth"—a place home to red pandas, leopards and tigers. It said that China depended largely on imported lumber from Malaysia, Russia, Burma, Indonesia and Gabon after it banned the felling of its own old-growth trees in 1998.
China became the biggest foreign investor in Burma this past year, and is the closest ally of its military regime, which is shunned by the West because of its poor human rights record and failure to hand over power to a democratically elected government.
The new report, "A Disharmonious Trade," said trade data showed that imports of logs and sawed wood from Burma to China fell by more than 70 percent between 2005 and 2008, confirming a trend found by the group's own field investigations.
But smugglers use "bribery, false papers, transportation at night and avoiding checkpoints" to get around the restrictions on sending the wood to China, the report said.
China's Foreign Ministry and Burma's Forestry Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Global Witness said its researchers had visited flooring companies on China's east coast to gauge the availability of timber from Burma, and found widespread use of teak from Burma, along with other high value species such as black walnut.
Global Witness said its investigators were told by 13 of the 14 firms visited that it was still possible for them to obtain timber from Burma despite the import restrictions, and that several admitted that their supplies were obtained through smuggling.
The report said the Chinese companies export worldwide, including to the United States and Europe. It said some US based companies advertise wood flooring from Burma, although under a US law amended by Congress last year, the Lacey Act, it is illegal to import illegally obtained plants and their products, including timber and wood products.
The British-based group Global Witness, in a report issued Wednesday, called on Chinese and Burmese authorities to step up efforts to stop illegal logging in northern Burma and crack down on illicit cross-border trade.
"Clearly action taken by authorities in China and Burma to combat illegal logging in Kachin state has had a significant positive impact," Global Witness quotes its forest policy expert, Jon Buckrell, saying. "But they should do more to close down the remaining industry, which is almost wholly reliant on the illegal timber supply from Burma."
After an October 2005 report by Global Witness alleged that vast stretches of virgin forest were being destroyed to feed China's growing demand for wood, Beijing sought to curb the trade by closing border crossings to timber trucks from its southern neighbor. The military government of Burma—also known as Myanmar—announced it had suspended timber cutting, transport and shipments to China.
In the 2005 report, Global Witness described the area where the forests were being cut as "very possibly the most bio-diverse, rich, temperate area on earth"—a place home to red pandas, leopards and tigers. It said that China depended largely on imported lumber from Malaysia, Russia, Burma, Indonesia and Gabon after it banned the felling of its own old-growth trees in 1998.
China became the biggest foreign investor in Burma this past year, and is the closest ally of its military regime, which is shunned by the West because of its poor human rights record and failure to hand over power to a democratically elected government.
The new report, "A Disharmonious Trade," said trade data showed that imports of logs and sawed wood from Burma to China fell by more than 70 percent between 2005 and 2008, confirming a trend found by the group's own field investigations.
But smugglers use "bribery, false papers, transportation at night and avoiding checkpoints" to get around the restrictions on sending the wood to China, the report said.
China's Foreign Ministry and Burma's Forestry Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Global Witness said its researchers had visited flooring companies on China's east coast to gauge the availability of timber from Burma, and found widespread use of teak from Burma, along with other high value species such as black walnut.
Global Witness said its investigators were told by 13 of the 14 firms visited that it was still possible for them to obtain timber from Burma despite the import restrictions, and that several admitted that their supplies were obtained through smuggling.
The report said the Chinese companies export worldwide, including to the United States and Europe. It said some US based companies advertise wood flooring from Burma, although under a US law amended by Congress last year, the Lacey Act, it is illegal to import illegally obtained plants and their products, including timber and wood products.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Asian Art Museum Burmese Art Show Presentations
Dear Friends,
You are cordially invited to Tales from the Emerald Cities: Arts of Siam and Burma Exhibition at San Francisco Asian Art Museum of San Francisco on Oct 25, 2009.
There will be many other cultural presentations we will showcase at the museum from
10 am to 4pm, in addition to famous Mandalay Marionettes Puppet Show.
Volunteers are welcome and we will arrange free admissions for them.
Burmese Traditional Attires are strongly recommended if you have a chance.
For more information:
Please invite to your friends and families.
Thanks and with much respect,
KWP
Saturday, October 17, 2009
New Constitution Guarantees Junta Immunity: Report
When Burma’s new Constitution comes into effect after next year’s election, it will enshrine the culture of impunity that has allowed the ruling junta to commit countless human rights abuses over the past two decades, according to a new report released by the New York-based International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ).
The 40-page report, titled “Impunity Prolonged: Burma and its 2008 Constitution,” says the charter—approved last year in a referendum widely dismissed as a sham—contains a number of provisions that protect the regime from future prosecution.
The 40-page report, titled “Impunity Prolonged: Burma and its 2008 Constitution,” says the charter—approved last year in a referendum widely dismissed as a sham—contains a number of provisions that protect the regime from future prosecution.
Burmese junta chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe reviews a guard of honor on Armed Forces Day. Like other members of the regime, he is protected from prosecution for war crimes by the country’s new Constitution. (Photo: Getty Images)
“Burma presents one of the most difficult challenges in the world in relation to making progress toward combating impunity,” says the report, which urges the international community to withhold support for the election until the regime amends the Constitution to end impunity for human rights violations.
The junta’s human rights abuses have continued unabated since it seized power in 1988, particularly in rural areas populated by ethnic minorities. According to the Thailand Burma Border Consortium, a nongovernmental humanitarian relief group, there are currently some 451,000 internally displaced persons in eastern Burma alone.
Forced labor, recruitment of child soldiers and sexual violence against women are among the more common forms of abuse committed by the regime.
According to the ICTJ report, numerous cases documented by UN special rapporteurs and women’s groups demonstrate “that rape is not a violation committed by rogue elements in the military, but rather appears to be a strategy” of the junta.
“The perpetrators have a level of impunity that indicates institutional support for these practices,” said the report.
Khin Maung Shwe, a Burmese dissident who has attended ICTJ seminars in South Africa, said that the 2008 Constitution does not only give the armed forces 25 percent of seats in parliament; it also guarantees the military immunity from prosecution for crimes committed against the civilian population.
According to Khin Maung Shwe, under Articles 443 and 445 of Chapter XIV of the Constitution, the current regime cannot be held accountable for its wrongdoing in the past.
Article 443 states that “the preparatory work done by the [regime] before this Constitution comes into operation, to bring the Constitution into operation, shall be deemed to have been carried out in accord with this Constitution.”
“No proceeding shall be instituted against the [ruling military council] or any member thereof or any member of the Government, in respect to any act done in the execution of their respective duties,” according to Article 445.
“By legitimating the constitution, it is like giving an amnesty to the junta,” said Khin Maung Shwe.
David Mathieson, a Burma researcher with the New York-based Human Rights Watch, said the ICTJ report shows how entrenched the culture of impunity is for crimes against humanity in Burma.
“The international community should realize that just ignoring these crimes only makes the impunity worse,” he said.
Others also highlighted the need to address the issue of widespread abuses that have been carried out over decades.
“We can say with certainty that crimes against humanity and war crimes are being committed in Burma,” said Aung Htoo, the general-secretary of the exiled Burma Lawyers’ Council.
“How can the planned elections be given any credence when war still rages in eastern Burma?” asked Debbie Stothard, the coordinator of Altsean-Burma.
Many Burmese dissidents and ethnic leaders have also urged greater international pressure on the regime to revise the Constitution, which Zipporah Sein, the general secretary of Karen National Union, called “a death sentence for ethnic diversity.”
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Many Burmese Monks Arrested
At least 30 monks were arrested in Burma in September and October, the two-year anniversary of the Saffron Revolution, sources said.
Sources familiar with the Sangha, the institution of monks nationwide, said 13 monks from Meiktila and 10 monks from Kyaukpadaung townships in Mandalay Division were arrested in late September, in an effort by the military junta to discourage or break up potential demonstrations by monks.
A Burmese Buddhist Monk makes a protest to 'Free Burma' during the 62nd Cannes Film Festival in May in Cannes, France. (Photo: Getty Images)
An official in Meiktila who requested anonymity said monks from the Nagar Yone Monastery in the township were among those arrested.
A Burmese human rights group in exile, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners-Burma (AAPP), confirmed that dozens of monks were arrested in the past two months.
“More than 20 monks were detained throughout September,” Bo Kyi, the joint-secretary of the AAPP, told The Irrawaddy on Thursday. “We’ve gotten reports of seven monks arrested recently.”
The AAPP said the recent arrests took place in Arakan State, and Rangoon, Mandalay and Magwe divisions.
There are 224 monks among the 2,119 political prisoners in Burma, said the AAPP, not including the recent arrests.
In September, the Burmese regime announced an amnesty for prisoners. The number of political prisoners released totaled 127, including four monks, of the 7,114 prisoners who received amnesty.
The All Burma Monks’ Alliance, which led the 2007 demonstrations, has renewed its call for the regime to apologize for the beating and arrests of monks in Pakokku two years ago and to release all monks who were imprisoned during the subsequent crackdown.
The monks set an Oct. 3 deadline for the regime to respond, saying that if there is no apology, monks will start another boycott of alms offered by all military and government personnel, known in Buddhism as “patta ni kozana kan.”
Burmese authorities responded to the monks’ call by increasing security in Rangoon early this month.
Sources familiar with the Sangha, the institution of monks nationwide, said 13 monks from Meiktila and 10 monks from Kyaukpadaung townships in Mandalay Division were arrested in late September, in an effort by the military junta to discourage or break up potential demonstrations by monks.
A Burmese Buddhist Monk makes a protest to 'Free Burma' during the 62nd Cannes Film Festival in May in Cannes, France. (Photo: Getty Images)
An official in Meiktila who requested anonymity said monks from the Nagar Yone Monastery in the township were among those arrested.
A Burmese human rights group in exile, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners-Burma (AAPP), confirmed that dozens of monks were arrested in the past two months.
“More than 20 monks were detained throughout September,” Bo Kyi, the joint-secretary of the AAPP, told The Irrawaddy on Thursday. “We’ve gotten reports of seven monks arrested recently.”
The AAPP said the recent arrests took place in Arakan State, and Rangoon, Mandalay and Magwe divisions.
There are 224 monks among the 2,119 political prisoners in Burma, said the AAPP, not including the recent arrests.
In September, the Burmese regime announced an amnesty for prisoners. The number of political prisoners released totaled 127, including four monks, of the 7,114 prisoners who received amnesty.
The All Burma Monks’ Alliance, which led the 2007 demonstrations, has renewed its call for the regime to apologize for the beating and arrests of monks in Pakokku two years ago and to release all monks who were imprisoned during the subsequent crackdown.
The monks set an Oct. 3 deadline for the regime to respond, saying that if there is no apology, monks will start another boycott of alms offered by all military and government personnel, known in Buddhism as “patta ni kozana kan.”
Burmese authorities responded to the monks’ call by increasing security in Rangoon early this month.
Burmese Activists Urge Japan to Increase Pressure on Naypyidaw
A group of Burmese pro-democracy activists urged Japan’s new Deputy Foreign Minister Tesuro Fukuyama at a meeting in Tokyo on Wednesday to increase pressure on Burma’s military government to enter into dialogue with their country’s opposition.
According to a trade union association leader who attended the meeting, the group also appealed to Japan’s Foreign Ministry to put forward a plan for Burma at the UN Security Council.
The appeals were contained in a presentation by a leader of the Burmese group, Maung Maung, the general-secretary of the National Council of Union of Burma.
A Japanese Foreign Ministry official told The Irrawaddy on Thursday that Maung Maung informed Fukuyama how Burmese activists believed democratic change could be brought about in their country.
“Our basic policy stand is to promote democracy in Burma,” the official said. “This is why our deputy foreign minister hosted the meeting with Maung Maung, to listen to his view s on democratization in Burma.”
The meeting in Tokyo was the first between Japan’s new deputy foreign minister and Burmese democracy activists in Japan.
Chihiro Ikusawa, executive director of the International Department of the Japanese Trade Union Confederation, who participated in the meeting, reported that apart from appealing for increased pressure on the Burmese regime by the Japanese Foreign Ministry, Maung Maung proposed that Japan should send a permanent envoy to Burma to observe the 2010 election.
Japan’s new government has asked the Burmese government to ensure a free and fair election in 2010, and Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada has asked Burmese foreign minister Nyan Win to release all political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi, before the poll.
Earlier this month, Japan embassy officials in Rangoon held a meeting with Win Tin, an executive member of the opposition National League for Democracy.
The newly elected Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) is seen to be taking a more active role in promoting democratization in Burma. The DPJ is believed to be a strong supporter of the Burmese democracy movement, unlike its predecessor, the Liberal Democratic Party, which rarely criticized the Burmese junta.
While pressing for democratic change, Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said it has no plans to alter its policy of direct engagement with the Burmese regime. It has also said that it supports the recently revised US policy, which now combines engagement with continued economic sanctions.
Japan is one of Burma’s main donor nations. Between 1999 and 2006, it provided Burma with more than US $2.96 billion in Official Development Assistance (ODA), according to Japanese officials.
However, Tokyo temporarily stopped its ODA to Burma after the 2007 Saffron Revolution, when a Japanese journalist, Kenji Nagai, was killed by security forces.
Former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama had a phone conversation with Suu Kyi when she was released from house arrest in 2002.
When Suu Kyi was sentenced to a further eighteen months house arrest earlier this year, the Japanese Foreign Minister said his government was deeply disappointed and called on the regime to release her and all other political prisoners.
According to a trade union association leader who attended the meeting, the group also appealed to Japan’s Foreign Ministry to put forward a plan for Burma at the UN Security Council.
The appeals were contained in a presentation by a leader of the Burmese group, Maung Maung, the general-secretary of the National Council of Union of Burma.
A Japanese Foreign Ministry official told The Irrawaddy on Thursday that Maung Maung informed Fukuyama how Burmese activists believed democratic change could be brought about in their country.
“Our basic policy stand is to promote democracy in Burma,” the official said. “This is why our deputy foreign minister hosted the meeting with Maung Maung, to listen to his view s on democratization in Burma.”
The meeting in Tokyo was the first between Japan’s new deputy foreign minister and Burmese democracy activists in Japan.
Chihiro Ikusawa, executive director of the International Department of the Japanese Trade Union Confederation, who participated in the meeting, reported that apart from appealing for increased pressure on the Burmese regime by the Japanese Foreign Ministry, Maung Maung proposed that Japan should send a permanent envoy to Burma to observe the 2010 election.
Japan’s new government has asked the Burmese government to ensure a free and fair election in 2010, and Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada has asked Burmese foreign minister Nyan Win to release all political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi, before the poll.
Earlier this month, Japan embassy officials in Rangoon held a meeting with Win Tin, an executive member of the opposition National League for Democracy.
The newly elected Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) is seen to be taking a more active role in promoting democratization in Burma. The DPJ is believed to be a strong supporter of the Burmese democracy movement, unlike its predecessor, the Liberal Democratic Party, which rarely criticized the Burmese junta.
While pressing for democratic change, Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said it has no plans to alter its policy of direct engagement with the Burmese regime. It has also said that it supports the recently revised US policy, which now combines engagement with continued economic sanctions.
Japan is one of Burma’s main donor nations. Between 1999 and 2006, it provided Burma with more than US $2.96 billion in Official Development Assistance (ODA), according to Japanese officials.
However, Tokyo temporarily stopped its ODA to Burma after the 2007 Saffron Revolution, when a Japanese journalist, Kenji Nagai, was killed by security forces.
Former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama had a phone conversation with Suu Kyi when she was released from house arrest in 2002.
When Suu Kyi was sentenced to a further eighteen months house arrest earlier this year, the Japanese Foreign Minister said his government was deeply disappointed and called on the regime to release her and all other political prisoners.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Sign-up Ignite for Burma Week of Action
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Friday, October 9, 2009
Another Torture Victim Flees Burma
Released after being incarcerated for 16 days in Burma’s notorious Aung Thapyay interrogation center in Rangoon last month, Toe Aung decided to leave the country, fearing he would be rearrested.
The 45-year-old activist was arrested on Sept. 11 on charges of connections with the monks’ organizations that are allegedly organizing a political movement inside the country. During his 16 days in detention, he said he was beaten and tortured.
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| Toe Aung (Photo: The Irrawaddy) |
“I was taken from my hostel in Kamayut Township [in western Rangoon] and put in a cell. For the first two days, the officers deprived me of sleep and food,” said Toe Aung from a safe house in Mae Sot, a Thai border town.
“The police officers were very violent,” he said. “Worse, I had to survive without water for three days.
“Without food and water, I became more and more exhausted. They came to my cell and interrogated me, but if they thought I was lying, they beat me up.”
Toe Aung said he was arrested like a common criminal by several police officers and members of the pro-junta Union Solidarity and Development Association civic group.
It was not the first time this had happened. He previously served nine years in Insein and Mandalay prisons for his political activities with Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD).
When it comes to the election planned for next year, Toe Aung said he disagrees with the idea that the NLD should participate.
“I support the Shwegondaing Declaration,” he said, referring to the announcement by the NLD in April that offered to establish a dialogue with the military junta and take part in the 2010 election on the condition the regime release all political prisoners, review the Constitution and establish a true democracy.
“Ordinary Burmese people are afraid to become involved in political activities such as protests because the military government oppresses the people,” Toe Aung said.
He said that about 20 political activists were being interrogated in the center while he was there. Among them, he met Nyi Nyi Aung, a Burmese-born US citizen, who was arrested on Sept. 3 at Yangon International Airport when his flight landed.
Toe Aung said Nyi Nyi Aung seemed to be suffering from physical and psychological trauma due to torture.
In late September, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma), an exiled rights group, issued a press statement titled “Torture is State Policy in Burma.” The statement said, “Nyi Nyi Aung was taken to various different interrogation centers where he was kicked and beaten, deprived of food for seven days, and questioned throughout the night.”
“Even though Burmese domestic law and international law forbids torture, no officials are ever held to account for their actions,” Bo Kyi, joint-secretary of the AAPP, said in the statement. “There is no doubt about it: torture is state policy in Burma. We are deeply concerned for the safety of those activists recently arrested.”
Toe Aung also said that he met some monks in Aung Thaphay interrogation centre who had been arrested by Burmese intelligence on suspicion of planting bombs.
“It made me sad, because the authorities disrobed monks and beat them,” he said.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Thailand: We Won’t Send Back Refugees
A leading Thai security official predicted on Tuesday that more than 200,000 refugees from Burma would flood into northern Thailand if fighting broke out again in northern Burma, but added that refugees would not be forcibly repatriated, according to a Bangkok-based daily The Nation.
Speaking at a conference on Thailand-Burma relations at Chulalongkorn University, Bhornchart Bunnag, the director of the Bureau of Border Security Affairs at the National Security Council, said that the outbreak of hostilities between Burmese government forces and the United Wa State Army (UWSA) could force more than 200,000 refugees into northern Thailand’s Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai provinces.
Soldiers from the United Wa State Army ride in a vehicle in a street in city of Namteuk near the Chinese border. (Photo: Reuters)
He was quoted by The Nation as saying that Thai border authorities would continue to abide by the current policy of not forcing refugees back to unsafe areas.
“Any repatriation of displaced people would be voluntary,” he reportedly said.
Bhornchart’s statement is likely to raise eyebrows given the Thai government’s anti-narcotics policy and the fact that the 20,000-strong UWSA is frequently cited as one of the world’s biggest drug trafficking groups, notorious not only for opium and heroin production but for the manufacture of methamphetamines in recent years.
Observers said the Thai authorities will be very busy if Wa civilians in southern Shan State flee into northern Thailand. However, they generally acknowledged that the Thais will probably look to using the situation as part of a plan to eradicate drugs in the region.
Saeng Juen, an editor with the Thailand-based Shan Herald Agency for News, said the Thai authorities will accept Wa civilians from a humanitarian perspective, but would move against those they considered linked with the drug trade.
The UWSA’s second in command, Wei Hsueh-Kang, is wanted in Thailand and the United States.
Four years ago, the US indicted eight Wa leaders after a court described the UWSA as “a criminal narcotics trafficking organization.”
Win Min, a Burma expert based in Chiang Mai, told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that “Thailand wants Wei Hsueh-Kang, for sure.”
However, he said he doesn’t think an attack against the Wa can put an end to drug trafficking in the region.
“If the entire UWSA collapses, that will be another story,” said Win Min.
Hla Kyaw Zaw, a senior member of the Communist Party of Burma, based on the Sino-Burmese border, however, said that the Burmese government will try to discredit the UWSA leaders as drug traffickers as justification for attacking them.
The UWSA is widely rumored to rely on its drugs profits to maintain its large army and keep it equipped with arms. Its other sources of income are reported to be logging, zinc mining, casinos and taxation.
Thailand recently accepted a wave of refugees from Burma when an influx of some 3,000 to 4,000 displaced Karen were temporarily sheltered in Tha Song Yang District following an offensive by the Burmese government’s troops and their allies, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, against the Karen National Union (KNU) in June.
However, observers generally agree that the backgrounds of the KNU and the UWSA are very different.
“Thailand will likely agree with the Burmese regime’s attack against the Wa,” said Saeng Juen.
Speaking at a conference on Thailand-Burma relations at Chulalongkorn University, Bhornchart Bunnag, the director of the Bureau of Border Security Affairs at the National Security Council, said that the outbreak of hostilities between Burmese government forces and the United Wa State Army (UWSA) could force more than 200,000 refugees into northern Thailand’s Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai provinces.
Soldiers from the United Wa State Army ride in a vehicle in a street in city of Namteuk near the Chinese border. (Photo: Reuters)
He was quoted by The Nation as saying that Thai border authorities would continue to abide by the current policy of not forcing refugees back to unsafe areas.
“Any repatriation of displaced people would be voluntary,” he reportedly said.
Bhornchart’s statement is likely to raise eyebrows given the Thai government’s anti-narcotics policy and the fact that the 20,000-strong UWSA is frequently cited as one of the world’s biggest drug trafficking groups, notorious not only for opium and heroin production but for the manufacture of methamphetamines in recent years.
Observers said the Thai authorities will be very busy if Wa civilians in southern Shan State flee into northern Thailand. However, they generally acknowledged that the Thais will probably look to using the situation as part of a plan to eradicate drugs in the region.
Saeng Juen, an editor with the Thailand-based Shan Herald Agency for News, said the Thai authorities will accept Wa civilians from a humanitarian perspective, but would move against those they considered linked with the drug trade.
The UWSA’s second in command, Wei Hsueh-Kang, is wanted in Thailand and the United States.
Four years ago, the US indicted eight Wa leaders after a court described the UWSA as “a criminal narcotics trafficking organization.”
Win Min, a Burma expert based in Chiang Mai, told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that “Thailand wants Wei Hsueh-Kang, for sure.”
However, he said he doesn’t think an attack against the Wa can put an end to drug trafficking in the region.
“If the entire UWSA collapses, that will be another story,” said Win Min.
Hla Kyaw Zaw, a senior member of the Communist Party of Burma, based on the Sino-Burmese border, however, said that the Burmese government will try to discredit the UWSA leaders as drug traffickers as justification for attacking them.
The UWSA is widely rumored to rely on its drugs profits to maintain its large army and keep it equipped with arms. Its other sources of income are reported to be logging, zinc mining, casinos and taxation.
Thailand recently accepted a wave of refugees from Burma when an influx of some 3,000 to 4,000 displaced Karen were temporarily sheltered in Tha Song Yang District following an offensive by the Burmese government’s troops and their allies, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, against the Karen National Union (KNU) in June.
However, observers generally agree that the backgrounds of the KNU and the UWSA are very different.
“Thailand will likely agree with the Burmese regime’s attack against the Wa,” said Saeng Juen.
Benefit yard sale for Burma THIS SATURDAY OCT 10 (and other events)
To:
badamember@yahoogroups.com, baburma@yahoogroups.com, 8888laorganizers@yahoogroups.com
1. Benefit Yard Sale for Burma's Children Education
Proceeds going to refugee schools on Thai/Burma border
Where: 2002 Barbara Drive, Palo Alto (near 101 and Embarcadero Rd./Oregon Expwy)
When: Saturday, October 10 from 9-3
Some of the items featured are: McCroskey Airflex Queen box spring, high end European women's clothing (new), books, framed Asian art, furniture, toys, kitchen and household items, Panasonic Microwave, TV, Burmese handcrafts, Yoga Studio Gift Certificate, Restaurant Sent Sove Gift Certificate, toys, Peets Coffee (first 50 shoppers) and homemade cookies.
Come support these most deserving young people and learn about Burmafrom members of the Burmese American Democratic Alliance (badasf.org)
2. Emerald Cities: Arts of Siam & Burma
Oct 23 - Jan 10 at Asian Arts Museum
In the 19th-century Siam and Burma—two neighboring kingdoms in Southeast Asia—were renowned for their golden-roofed temples, lush gardens, and handsomely adorned palaces.Emerald Cities is the first major exhibition in the West to explore the rich but little known arts of Siam and Burma from this period. Many of the 140 stunning artworks—including gilded ritual vessels, mother-of-pearl inlaid furniture, colorful paintings, manuscripts, exquisite textiles, delicate ceramics, and more—were recently acquired by the museum from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and are on display for the first time.
The Asian Art Museum is the exclusive venue for this exhibition.
To learn more, explore the links below.
http://www.asianart .org/emeraldciti es.htm
3. The Movie "CRUDE" - Until Oct 8 in SF, Berkeley
CRUDE, the movie Chevron is scared of, has been held over in San Francisco and Berkeley thru Saturday Oct 8th, and we need your help to fill those theaters and keep this new wave of pressure up on Chevron. CRUDE is playing in Chevron’s backyard. Lets let them know the message in the film is spreading.
There are three simple and easy ways you can support this films success in the Bay Area:
*Spread the Word: Invite your friends to see Crude in San Francisco and Berkeley. Spread the word on social networking site - Facebook, Twitter, etc.
*Attend Other Screenings: Crude in San Francisco and Berkeley.
Opera Plaza Cinema (starting 10/2)
601 VAN NESS AVE.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102
Shattuck Theater:
2230 Shattuck Ave.
Berkeley, CA 94704
global scale. The documentary film called CRUDE which chronicles the epic battle to hold oil giant Chevron (formerly Texaco) accountable for its systematic contamination of the Ecuadorian Amazon – an environmental tragedy experts call "the Rainforest Chernobyl."
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Burmese Rally against Thein Sein in Tokyo
About 200 Burmese dissidents demonstrated outside Japan’s Parliament House in Tokyo on Friday, the second of three planned protests against Burma’s military government during a visit by Prime Minster Gen Thein Sein, who arrived in the Japanese capital on Thursday to attend the first Mekong-Japan Summit.
Burmese pro-democracy demonstrators also launched a protest outside the New Otani Hotel, where the Burmese premier is staying during the summit.
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| Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama (C) hosts the Mekong-Japan Summit Meeting with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, Laotian Prime Minister Bouasone Bouphavanh, BUrmese Prime Minister Thein Sein, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung at Hatoyama's official residence on November 6, 2009 in Tokyo. (Photo: Getty Images) |
Ko Ko Aung, a Burmese dissident living in Tokyo, said that the aim of the protest was to decry the upcoming election in Burma as a government ploy to hold onto power in accordance with the sham 2008 Constitution.
“We want to give a message to the Japanese government that we don’t accept the 2010 election or the junta’s Constitution, so they should not support the Burmese military government,” he said.
Ko Ko Aung called for the Japanese government to investigate the details of the current political situation in Burma. Japan’s support of the Burmese regime will not help the Burmese people, he said.
He said that the demonstrators have also scheduled a protest outside the Burmese embassy in Tokyo, which Thein Sein will visit on Friday evening.
Jeff Kingston, the director of Asian Studies at Temple University Japan Campus, told The Irrawaddy on Friday that Japan wants to step up human security efforts in the region and sees the Mekong-Japan Summit as a vehicle for doing so in a coordinated way.
“Japan will promote human security, natural disaster alleviation, pandemic control and climate initiatives for the nations along the Mekong,” he said. “It is a safe way for limited engagement with Burma that allows the [Japanese] government to plausibly deny re-engaging while at the same time getting some traction in Burma.”
Kingston noted that Japan’s new prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama, and Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada were both well-informed about and sympathetic to the plight of the Burmese and political prisoners and said the current government has expressed stronger support for human rights than previous administrations.
Burma is a member of the six-country Greater Mekong Subregion-Economic Cooperation Program, along with Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and China.
Japan is traditionally Burma’s largest donor nation.
Japan has invested US $216.76 million in 23 projects since 1988, according to a Xinhuanews agency report on Thursday.
Japan Calls for ‘Fair and Transparent’ Election in Burma
Japan’s new foreign minister, speaking with his Burmese counterpart in Cambodia on Saturday, called on Burma’s ruling regime to ensure that an election slated for next year is fair and transparent and includes all stakeholders.
Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Katsuya Okada made the remarks during a meeting with Burmese Foreign Minister Nyan Win on the sidelines of the second Mekong-Japan Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, held in Siem Reap, Cambodia, on October 2-3.
Okada said that to ensure a free and fair election, “the Burmese government should release all political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi, before the country holds the election,” Kazuo Kodama, a press secretary from Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday.
Okada added that the election would be “a great opportunity for the Burmese government to show the international community” that it is committed to the process of democratization.
Japan is one of Burma’s main donor nations. Between 1999 and 2006, it provided Burma with more than US $2.96 billion in Official Development Assistance (ODA), according to Japanese officials.
However, Tokyo temporarily stopped its ODA to Burma after the 2007 Saffron Revolution, when a Japanese journalist, Kenji Nagai, was killed.
In August of this year, when Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was sentenced to a further 18 months of house arrest, the Japanese foreign minister said in statement that Japan was deeply disappointed and called for her release and that of other political prisoners.
In response to the current Japanese foreign minister’s call to release Suu Kyi, Nyan Win said that it would depend on her actions.
Japan welcomed the Burmese regime’s release of over 100 political prisoners in late September, but said that all of the country’s estimated 2,100 political detainees should be freed to allow them to participate in the election.
Some Burmese pro-democracy activists in Japan said that they believe the newly elected Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) will take more active role in promoting democratization in Burma.
The DPJ is believed to be a strong supporter of the Burmese democracy movement, unlike the previously ruling Liberal Democratic Party, which rarely criticized the Burmese junta. Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama spoke with Suu Kyi on the telephone when she was released from house arrest in 2002.
Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said it has no plans to change its policy of direct engagement with the Burmese regime. It also said that its supports the recently revised US policy, which now combines engagement with continued economic sanctions.
Although Tokyo’s often lukewarm support for political reform in Burma is usually linked to its desire to please the US, its main ally, Japan also has other reasons to be concerned about developments in Burma.
Over the past 20 years, Japan has lost much of its influence in Burma to China, which has ignored international calls to isolate the junta. In recent years, the Burmese regime has also formed closer ties with North Korea, a country that is often openly hostile to Japan.
An editorial in the English-language edition of the Asahi Shimbun, one of Japan’s major daily newspapers, said today that “Restoring democracy to Myanmar [Burma] … would block the possibility of military cooperation with North Korea.”
Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Katsuya Okada made the remarks during a meeting with Burmese Foreign Minister Nyan Win on the sidelines of the second Mekong-Japan Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, held in Siem Reap, Cambodia, on October 2-3.
Okada said that to ensure a free and fair election, “the Burmese government should release all political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi, before the country holds the election,” Kazuo Kodama, a press secretary from Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday.
Okada added that the election would be “a great opportunity for the Burmese government to show the international community” that it is committed to the process of democratization.
Japan is one of Burma’s main donor nations. Between 1999 and 2006, it provided Burma with more than US $2.96 billion in Official Development Assistance (ODA), according to Japanese officials.
However, Tokyo temporarily stopped its ODA to Burma after the 2007 Saffron Revolution, when a Japanese journalist, Kenji Nagai, was killed.
In August of this year, when Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was sentenced to a further 18 months of house arrest, the Japanese foreign minister said in statement that Japan was deeply disappointed and called for her release and that of other political prisoners.
In response to the current Japanese foreign minister’s call to release Suu Kyi, Nyan Win said that it would depend on her actions.
Japan welcomed the Burmese regime’s release of over 100 political prisoners in late September, but said that all of the country’s estimated 2,100 political detainees should be freed to allow them to participate in the election.
Some Burmese pro-democracy activists in Japan said that they believe the newly elected Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) will take more active role in promoting democratization in Burma.
The DPJ is believed to be a strong supporter of the Burmese democracy movement, unlike the previously ruling Liberal Democratic Party, which rarely criticized the Burmese junta. Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama spoke with Suu Kyi on the telephone when she was released from house arrest in 2002.
Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said it has no plans to change its policy of direct engagement with the Burmese regime. It also said that its supports the recently revised US policy, which now combines engagement with continued economic sanctions.
Although Tokyo’s often lukewarm support for political reform in Burma is usually linked to its desire to please the US, its main ally, Japan also has other reasons to be concerned about developments in Burma.
Over the past 20 years, Japan has lost much of its influence in Burma to China, which has ignored international calls to isolate the junta. In recent years, the Burmese regime has also formed closer ties with North Korea, a country that is often openly hostile to Japan.
An editorial in the English-language edition of the Asahi Shimbun, one of Japan’s major daily newspapers, said today that “Restoring democracy to Myanmar [Burma] … would block the possibility of military cooperation with North Korea.”
Monday, October 5, 2009
New US Policy has Multiple Goals
Mere days after the US announced it would alter its Burma policy, the Burmese courts refused to release Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest. While her appeal was never likely to succeed, the timing of the denial arrives as a clear signal that change will not come quickly in Burma.
Not that anyone was expecting it. Addressing a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Burma in Washington last week, Kurt Campbell, the assistant secretary of the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, acknowledged that “a long and difficult process" lay ahead. Tough US sanctions, Campbell said, will remain in place until the United States sees "concrete progress toward reform" in Burma, and he added that more sanctions could be imposed if changes are not forthcoming.
Suu Kyi's release is one of the conditions laid down by the US for a relaxation or even removal of sanctions, which have been in place since the Clinton era, first signed into law in 1997.
The junta has claimed that sanctions are immoral, and hurt the Burmese people—a view which is disputed by many experts who say that the majority of the Burmese people do not participate in the lucrative resource extraction and export economy. Sanctions have not loosened the junta's grip on power—though it is debatable whether this was ever the intention—with sanctions aiming to deny the regime international legitimacy and punishing it for its authoritarian rule.
China, India, Japan and Burma's Asean counterparts all do business with the regime, giving it alternatives to make up for the lack of Western involvement, a few cases such as Chevron and Total notwithstanding.
Given that the regime is notoriously averse to anything it deems as outside interference, precedent suggests that the US dialogue will have little or no chance of achieving anything of note domestically. The snap verdict against Suu Kyi's appeal is indicative—though more encouraging is the weekend exchanges between Suu Kyi and senior regime officials, where rumors circulate that she wants to work with the generals to try to negotiate an end to sanctions.
Suu Kyi's assistance on relaxing sanctions would doubtless require a quid pro quo, perhaps at least her release and the release of at least some of the remaining political prisoners held in Burmese prisons.
Whether or not the generals would agree to a process that involves meeting key NLD and US demands, in advance of 2010 election, remains to be seen. But even this would not meet the conditions for a free and fair election next year.
The US may have other reasons for opening dialogue with the junta: reasons that do not have any direct link with improving the human rights situation in the country, or more distant goals, such as revising the flawed 2008 constitution, or arm-twisting the generals into holding free and fair elections next year.
As Campbell put it, “Our policy review also was informed by the fact that, for the first time in recent memory, the Burmese leadership has shown an active interest in engaging with the United States. But, let me be clear: we have decided to engage with Burma because we believe it is in our interest to do so.”
US interests are both stated and unstated. Allegations that the junta is working with North Korea on nuclear technology have neither been proven nor disproven. However, the US is taking this seriously.
In his testimony, Campbell said: “We also focused on emerging questions and concerns regarding Burma’s relationship with North Korea, particularly in light of the passage of UN Security Council Resolution 1874, which prohibits member states from engaging in trade with North Korea in virtually all conventional weapons as well as in sensitive technologies, including those related to ballistic missiles and nuclear and other WMD programs.”
The US wants to bring Burma more closely into its counter-proliferation activity, which, in general, has met with varied success. Despite entreaties from the White House, North Korea tested missiles earlier this year, and Iran's second, “secret” facility at Qom led to a behind-the-scenes dispute between President Obama on the one hand, and French President Sarkozy and UK Prime Minister Brown on the other, at the UN.
In keeping with the non-proliferation theme at the UN, the junta offered what could be a subtle hint to the US about what is on the table. Prime Minister Thein Sein said the following in his address to the UN General Assembly last week -
“The continued existence of weapons of mass destruction, particularly nuclear weapons, poses the greatest threat to mankind. Myanmar believes that the total elimination of nuclear weapons is the single absolute guarantee against the threat or use of those weapons.”
Neither Campbell nor other senior US officials have gone into any great detail about the junta's relationship with China.
Not that anyone was expecting it. Addressing a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Burma in Washington last week, Kurt Campbell, the assistant secretary of the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, acknowledged that “a long and difficult process" lay ahead. Tough US sanctions, Campbell said, will remain in place until the United States sees "concrete progress toward reform" in Burma, and he added that more sanctions could be imposed if changes are not forthcoming.
Suu Kyi's release is one of the conditions laid down by the US for a relaxation or even removal of sanctions, which have been in place since the Clinton era, first signed into law in 1997.
The junta has claimed that sanctions are immoral, and hurt the Burmese people—a view which is disputed by many experts who say that the majority of the Burmese people do not participate in the lucrative resource extraction and export economy. Sanctions have not loosened the junta's grip on power—though it is debatable whether this was ever the intention—with sanctions aiming to deny the regime international legitimacy and punishing it for its authoritarian rule.
China, India, Japan and Burma's Asean counterparts all do business with the regime, giving it alternatives to make up for the lack of Western involvement, a few cases such as Chevron and Total notwithstanding.
Given that the regime is notoriously averse to anything it deems as outside interference, precedent suggests that the US dialogue will have little or no chance of achieving anything of note domestically. The snap verdict against Suu Kyi's appeal is indicative—though more encouraging is the weekend exchanges between Suu Kyi and senior regime officials, where rumors circulate that she wants to work with the generals to try to negotiate an end to sanctions.
Suu Kyi's assistance on relaxing sanctions would doubtless require a quid pro quo, perhaps at least her release and the release of at least some of the remaining political prisoners held in Burmese prisons.
Whether or not the generals would agree to a process that involves meeting key NLD and US demands, in advance of 2010 election, remains to be seen. But even this would not meet the conditions for a free and fair election next year.
The US may have other reasons for opening dialogue with the junta: reasons that do not have any direct link with improving the human rights situation in the country, or more distant goals, such as revising the flawed 2008 constitution, or arm-twisting the generals into holding free and fair elections next year.
As Campbell put it, “Our policy review also was informed by the fact that, for the first time in recent memory, the Burmese leadership has shown an active interest in engaging with the United States. But, let me be clear: we have decided to engage with Burma because we believe it is in our interest to do so.”
US interests are both stated and unstated. Allegations that the junta is working with North Korea on nuclear technology have neither been proven nor disproven. However, the US is taking this seriously.
In his testimony, Campbell said: “We also focused on emerging questions and concerns regarding Burma’s relationship with North Korea, particularly in light of the passage of UN Security Council Resolution 1874, which prohibits member states from engaging in trade with North Korea in virtually all conventional weapons as well as in sensitive technologies, including those related to ballistic missiles and nuclear and other WMD programs.”
The US wants to bring Burma more closely into its counter-proliferation activity, which, in general, has met with varied success. Despite entreaties from the White House, North Korea tested missiles earlier this year, and Iran's second, “secret” facility at Qom led to a behind-the-scenes dispute between President Obama on the one hand, and French President Sarkozy and UK Prime Minister Brown on the other, at the UN.
In keeping with the non-proliferation theme at the UN, the junta offered what could be a subtle hint to the US about what is on the table. Prime Minister Thein Sein said the following in his address to the UN General Assembly last week -
“The continued existence of weapons of mass destruction, particularly nuclear weapons, poses the greatest threat to mankind. Myanmar believes that the total elimination of nuclear weapons is the single absolute guarantee against the threat or use of those weapons.”
Neither Campbell nor other senior US officials have gone into any great detail about the junta's relationship with China.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
[8888laorganizers] Please Donate/support Garage Sale for Burma’s Children Education (Sat., Oct 10, Palo Alto)
Garage Sale for Burma’s Children EducationTo support the Education of Migrants & refugees Children at Thai-Burma border!
Saturday, October 10/09, 9am-3pm
2002 Barbara Drive, Palo Alto, CA 94303
(near 101 and Embarcadero/ Oregon Expwy)
Hosted by Barbara Slone!
(Contact 650-465-8882 or Barbara.Slone@ gmail.com to donate items.)
We are in great need of good, salable items for this sale!
In 2007 we had many beautiful handcrafts from the Thai/Burma border refugee camps that American people really liked to have the opportunity to buy.
Tax deductible donation available for donating goods for this sale. Please contact or bring items to Barbara's home by the 8th or 9th so that we can get it ready for sale. You may also drop off your items at the above address. (If no one is around; there will be a big tarp on the front porch under which you may leave your items. If you require a receipt please leave your name and address on the clipboard along with an itemized list of your donations.)
Help us help the children from Burma!
Proceeds to Benefit: BADA Children’s Education Fund that support the schools at the Thai-Burma border for the education of the children of Burma’s of migrants and refugees. With your kind support, BADA has been able to support children from two schools at the Border. However, there are hundreds of schools and thousands of children and the need is ever greater due to constant oppression inside Burma and we would like to do more support more schools at the Border.
Founded in 2001, BADA is a 501 (c3) non- profit organization realizing advocacies and actions for the betterment of the people of Burma. For more information, please visit: www.badasf.org.
Rangoon under Tight Security Again
The Burmese military junta has again tightened security in Rangoon to quell any potential unrest over the political and economic situation, say sources in Rangoon.
The All Burma Monks’ Alliance, which led the peaceful mass street demonstrations in September 2007, recently issued a statement calling for the government to apologize for its brutal confrontation with monks in Pakokku two years ago, in which hundreds of monks were beaten and injured, and to release all monks who were imprisoned after September 2007.
Riot police gather outside of the City Hall in downtown Rangoon during their patrol as the Rangoon court hears the appeal of detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Oct. 2. (Photo: AP)
The monk alliance set an Oct. 3 deadline for the military regime to apologize.
If the junta fails to comply, the alliance said it will start another boycott of alms offered by all military and government personnel, known in Buddhism as “patta ni kozana kan.”
Last month was the second anniversary of the “Saffron Revolution,” which lead to multiple deaths and injuries when demonstrators, led by monks and nuns, took to the streets.
Friday is also the day a new 5,000 kyat banknote was introduced by the government. Many residents have expressed fears about its affect on the value of the kyat.
On the first day of the distribution of the new banknote, the price of the kyat fell slightly and consumer prices fluctuated modestly.
“Before the new bank note, one US dollar was about 1,050 kyat. Now one dollar is around 1,080,” said a currency broker in Rangoon.
Sources said that beginning Friday morning extra security forces began to appear at various strategic locations downtown.
“I saw 16 riot police vehicles near the Rangoon City Hall today,” said a student activist, who noted that extra security forces were also located near parks and busy intersections.
Other sources said Chinese-made trucks carrying riot police patrolled city streets.
On Friday, a Rangoon Division Court rejected the appeal of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, but there were no demonstrations.
The All Burma Monks’ Alliance, which led the peaceful mass street demonstrations in September 2007, recently issued a statement calling for the government to apologize for its brutal confrontation with monks in Pakokku two years ago, in which hundreds of monks were beaten and injured, and to release all monks who were imprisoned after September 2007.
Riot police gather outside of the City Hall in downtown Rangoon during their patrol as the Rangoon court hears the appeal of detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Oct. 2. (Photo: AP)
The monk alliance set an Oct. 3 deadline for the military regime to apologize.
If the junta fails to comply, the alliance said it will start another boycott of alms offered by all military and government personnel, known in Buddhism as “patta ni kozana kan.”
Last month was the second anniversary of the “Saffron Revolution,” which lead to multiple deaths and injuries when demonstrators, led by monks and nuns, took to the streets.
Friday is also the day a new 5,000 kyat banknote was introduced by the government. Many residents have expressed fears about its affect on the value of the kyat.
On the first day of the distribution of the new banknote, the price of the kyat fell slightly and consumer prices fluctuated modestly.
“Before the new bank note, one US dollar was about 1,050 kyat. Now one dollar is around 1,080,” said a currency broker in Rangoon.
Sources said that beginning Friday morning extra security forces began to appear at various strategic locations downtown.
“I saw 16 riot police vehicles near the Rangoon City Hall today,” said a student activist, who noted that extra security forces were also located near parks and busy intersections.
Other sources said Chinese-made trucks carrying riot police patrolled city streets.
On Friday, a Rangoon Division Court rejected the appeal of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, but there were no demonstrations.
Friday, October 2, 2009
China, Burma Bust Up Over Border Unrest
Please read the detailed story HERE
BANGKOK — The border dispute between two close allies, China and Burma, has now been compounded by concerns over the junta’s future relations with the United States.
The past few weeks have seen a flurry of diplomatic activity between the two states, with Beijing even issuing some unusually forthright criticism of its Southeast Asian neighbor.
Unrest on their common border led to a mass exodus of more than 30,000 Chinese refugees in late August, and fears of a renewed civil war in the area have alarmed Beijing. Its officials are also now worried by the Burmese military regime’s interest in developing closer ties with the US, which has strong sanctions in place against the junta.
"Beijing has been taken aback by the Burmese junta’s cavalier approach to their normally strong relationship," said Win Min, a Burmese academic based at Chiang Mai University. "But it is likely to prove to be a hiccup rather than a major shift in relations."
Last weekend a government-controlled provincial television channel, based in Kunming—the capital of Yunnan province which borders northern Burma—broadcast a Chinese government announcement advising all Chinese citizens in eastern Burma to return home quickly.
This came on the heels of a formal complaint from China to Burma days earlier over the way Chinese citizens living in the border region had been treated during recent clashes between an ethnic militia and Burmese in August.
In statement issued last week, China's Foreign Ministry said the recent conflict with the Kokang, in a northeastern Burmese region bordering China, had "harmed the rights and interests of Chinese citizens living there." The Burmese government should make sure similar incidents do not happen again, the statement said.
Burma insists that peace has been restored to the area in question and most of the refugees who fled to China had returned. But there are still thousands seeking refuge across the border, not just from the Kokang areas, according to residents living in China along the border with Burma.
Right along the border, from the Kachin areas in the east to the Shan areas in the west, people have fled into China for fear of renewed fighting between other ethnic rebel groups, especially the Kachin and the Wa, two of Burma’s larger armed groups, according to Indian entrepreneurs who travel along this area doing business.
"Everyone fears that the 20-year-old cease-fire agreements have been torn up by the Burmese generals, and a return to fighting is imminent," said a Kachin student living in the Chinese border town of Ruili.
"At the moment, it does not look as though the Burmese army is about to attack any of the other ethnic rebel groups that have ceasefire agreements, though there is a lot of posturing going on," said Win Min. "There is no doubt that the regime means to have all the ethnic rebel armies disarm before next year’s elections and become part of the border guards under the control of the Burmese army."
Earlier this year the junta sought the assistance of the former intelligence chief and prime minister, General Khin Nyunt—who was deposed in Oct. 2004 and is now under house arrest in Rangoon—to help negotiate with these rebels groups, especially the Wa.
Khin Nyunt had masterminded these ceasefire agreements some 20 years ago, and was still trusted by many of the ethnic leaders. He accepted the junta’s request on condition that his men—some 300 military intelligence officers who were jailed in the aftermath of Khin Nyunt’s fall—be freed. The government refused to accept his condition, and turned to the Chinese—who have extremely close relations with the key ethnic groups along the border—the Kachin, Kokang and the Wa. The Chinese reluctance to help angered the Burmese junta’s leaders.
It is now increasingly evident that a significant rift exists between the two countries that could have crucial implications for other countries in the region. It is also likely to impact any approach that the international community may take to encourage the Burmese military regime to introduce real political change.
The implications of this growing divergence could also have significant affects on the border region, as most of the ethnic groups—especially the Kachin, Kokang and Wa—in this area have ceasefire agreements with the Burmese junta. They also have traditionally close ties with the Chinese authorities. Economically and culturally, the area is certainly closer to China than the Burmese regime.
Thousands of Chinese businessmen and workers have migrated into northern Shan state over the last decade seeking employment and economic opportunities. Many of these ethnic leaders go to Chinese hospital across the border for medical treatment and send their children to school in China.
BANGKOK — The border dispute between two close allies, China and Burma, has now been compounded by concerns over the junta’s future relations with the United States.
The past few weeks have seen a flurry of diplomatic activity between the two states, with Beijing even issuing some unusually forthright criticism of its Southeast Asian neighbor.
Unrest on their common border led to a mass exodus of more than 30,000 Chinese refugees in late August, and fears of a renewed civil war in the area have alarmed Beijing. Its officials are also now worried by the Burmese military regime’s interest in developing closer ties with the US, which has strong sanctions in place against the junta.
"Beijing has been taken aback by the Burmese junta’s cavalier approach to their normally strong relationship," said Win Min, a Burmese academic based at Chiang Mai University. "But it is likely to prove to be a hiccup rather than a major shift in relations."
Last weekend a government-controlled provincial television channel, based in Kunming—the capital of Yunnan province which borders northern Burma—broadcast a Chinese government announcement advising all Chinese citizens in eastern Burma to return home quickly.
This came on the heels of a formal complaint from China to Burma days earlier over the way Chinese citizens living in the border region had been treated during recent clashes between an ethnic militia and Burmese in August.
In statement issued last week, China's Foreign Ministry said the recent conflict with the Kokang, in a northeastern Burmese region bordering China, had "harmed the rights and interests of Chinese citizens living there." The Burmese government should make sure similar incidents do not happen again, the statement said.
Burma insists that peace has been restored to the area in question and most of the refugees who fled to China had returned. But there are still thousands seeking refuge across the border, not just from the Kokang areas, according to residents living in China along the border with Burma.
Right along the border, from the Kachin areas in the east to the Shan areas in the west, people have fled into China for fear of renewed fighting between other ethnic rebel groups, especially the Kachin and the Wa, two of Burma’s larger armed groups, according to Indian entrepreneurs who travel along this area doing business.
"Everyone fears that the 20-year-old cease-fire agreements have been torn up by the Burmese generals, and a return to fighting is imminent," said a Kachin student living in the Chinese border town of Ruili.
"At the moment, it does not look as though the Burmese army is about to attack any of the other ethnic rebel groups that have ceasefire agreements, though there is a lot of posturing going on," said Win Min. "There is no doubt that the regime means to have all the ethnic rebel armies disarm before next year’s elections and become part of the border guards under the control of the Burmese army."
Earlier this year the junta sought the assistance of the former intelligence chief and prime minister, General Khin Nyunt—who was deposed in Oct. 2004 and is now under house arrest in Rangoon—to help negotiate with these rebels groups, especially the Wa.
Khin Nyunt had masterminded these ceasefire agreements some 20 years ago, and was still trusted by many of the ethnic leaders. He accepted the junta’s request on condition that his men—some 300 military intelligence officers who were jailed in the aftermath of Khin Nyunt’s fall—be freed. The government refused to accept his condition, and turned to the Chinese—who have extremely close relations with the key ethnic groups along the border—the Kachin, Kokang and the Wa. The Chinese reluctance to help angered the Burmese junta’s leaders.
It is now increasingly evident that a significant rift exists between the two countries that could have crucial implications for other countries in the region. It is also likely to impact any approach that the international community may take to encourage the Burmese military regime to introduce real political change.
The implications of this growing divergence could also have significant affects on the border region, as most of the ethnic groups—especially the Kachin, Kokang and Wa—in this area have ceasefire agreements with the Burmese junta. They also have traditionally close ties with the Chinese authorities. Economically and culturally, the area is certainly closer to China than the Burmese regime.
Thousands of Chinese businessmen and workers have migrated into northern Shan state over the last decade seeking employment and economic opportunities. Many of these ethnic leaders go to Chinese hospital across the border for medical treatment and send their children to school in China.
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