Thanksgiving—Kachin-style

 Contributed by Htoi Aung

MAI JA YANG, Kachin State — Nomin clears his throat to translate. “He says it is a Biblical concept that the first crop must be shared in this way. In Kachin culture, we also have a traditional Thanksgiving.”

The pastor smiled politely. “All year we plant everything we need and then we bring our crops to church and praise God. Here we bring together our strength and what we have as a people. We call it Nlung Nnan Sha Poi—the first rice festival.”

A line of smiling Kachin musicians greeted the congregation at the gate of the Mai Ja Yang Baptist Church. The sound of bamboo flutes, an iron bell and marching drums set a festive tone.

Children ran around the courtyard and others shot marbles amid the polished Sunday shoes and flip-flops. The courtyard buzzed with laughter as people shuffled to the immaculate church. Everyone stopped at one of the wood alms boxes to drop in a few Chinese yuan or Burmese kyat before crossing under a flower draped archway.

Inside, nearly 800 people looked toward a high stage covered with bouquets. At the foot of the stage was a cornucopia of rice stalks, tamarind, sugar cane, squash, orchids, roses, eggs, ginger, cherry tomatoes, mandarins, marigolds, pomegranates, dragon fruit, corn, a carved melon candle holder, and a Bible. The offerings were beautifully arranged by loving hands.

“We can eat this entire stage!”said a Kachin woman, gazing at the display.

The festivities offered a well-deserved break to the villagers' daily toil. In Kachin State, the average income is about US $1 a day, and as an ethnic minority, rural villagers are marginalized to the lowest level of poverty. Living on the border of China's Yunnan Province, most Kachin in Mai Ja Yang depend on two things: selling their sugar cane crop and the meager civil services provided by a revolutionary political organization that struggles against the military government.

Fifteen years ago, after 46 years of civil war, the regime proposed a ceasefire. In the name of stability and development, the Kachin Independence Organization established an autonomous zone on a range of hills the size of the Gaza Strip and started to rebuild hospitals, teacher training colleges and churches.

Burma's military government, the State Peace and Development Council, began to sell off the remainder of Kachin State to foreign investors who bought up rights to mining, logging and hydropower dams. Chinese laborers took much of the work, the SPDC took the wealth and the Kachin people got leftovers.

Kachin villagers are usually lumped into the “armed ethnic groups” category, frequently mentioned after political prisoners and pro-democracy activists. There are few opportunities for Kachin, especially those living behind rebel lines. Pair this with a history of wicked oppression and limited contact with the outside world, and you can begin to understand the plight of the Kachin today.

As one young woman put it, “We are a  forgotten people, but we know who we are.”

The students of Mai Ja Yang's Intensive English Program (IEP) had prepared their holiday offering all week. In a drafty cement hall under the flickering light provided by the Chinese power company, 56 students will sing “Praise Ye Jehovah.”

But these students bring more than a simple hymn of praise. In a way, the IEP students are themselves an offering to the community.  English is a major step toward realizing a better career and  more thriving communities.

“I want to be a teacher so I can help my community develop,” said one student. “There are many poorly educated people in Kachin. I want them to develop their lives. I want to serve my country as well as I can.”

To open the day's festivity, the IEP students carried handwoven baskets lined with flowers and grain and brimming with fruit and vegetables.

“Every family has brought a basket for the church,” Nomin said. “Every family has a garden and they bring a lot of things. The baskets are offerings to the pastors and the deacon and their families. It will also go back to the people. ”

Following the musicians around the church and down the isle, the students placed their offerings at the foot of the stage. The floor swelled with baskets, displaying the natural wealth of the farming community for all to see.

Children from the primary school took the stage, each holding a vegetable or fruit. One by one they said a few words praising the land.

Standing beneath the words “The Lord loves those who give with a cheerful heart,” the pastor read from “Psalms.”  He spoke about  thankfulness and encouraged the congregation to give, not out of duty or to be seen as someone of status, but to give through sacrifice and happiness.

Searching for Burmes General, Than Shwe

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Benedict Rogers, the deputy chairman of the human rights commission for the Conservative Party in the UK, is also a journalist and human rights advocate who is coauthor of a biography about Burmese dictator Snr-Gen Than Shwe. He spoke to The Irrawaddy's correspondent Zarni Mann in New Delhi about his soon-to-be-publishe d book.

Benedict Rogers

Question: How did the idea of writing a biography of Than Shwe come to mind?
Answer: Both myself and co-writer Jeremy Woodrum from US Campaign for Burma felt that there are many biographies of other dictators from around the world––Kim Jong-il, Saddam Hussein, Robert Mugabe and others––but there was no biography available about any of the Burmese dictators.
We felt that a biography of a dictator is a good way of telling the story of what is happening in the country under his rule. So, we thought it was time to let the world know something about Than Shwe and about what is happening in Burma.

Q: How do you collect the required facts and data about him while there is no freedom of press in Burma? How difficult is it?
A: We are facing a number of difficulties. Firstly, we could not speak to or get access to Than Shwe himself, so that makes it difficult to write a biography about him. We could not get access to people close to him either. And another difficulty was that neither Jeremy nor I speak Burmese. So even though there's a lot of material in Burmese, we found difficulties in accessing it. However, we were able to interview a number of defectors from the Burmese army who have known Than Shwe at different times in his career, so we do have some first-hand information. Also, we interviewed diplomats who met Than Shwe.

Q: Do you think this book will help the democracy movement in Burma?
A: I hope it will. That's the aim of the book. It is to shed light on the situation, on the nature of the regime and the nature of Than Shwe. And I think, by exposing what kind of person he is, what kind of people the regime are, it will help inform the international community better and help raise awareness. And that, hopefully, will help the Burmese democracy movement.

Q: By writing about Than Shwe, what did you find out about the kind of the man he is?
A: It seems that he is a more intelligent person than people give him credit for. I think he is very skilled at dividing people, dividing his rivals within his army and dividing his opponents. He is also skilled in tactics; you know, he is trained in psychological warfare and I think he uses that to some extent.
It is also clear that he is quite a boring person. But, in many ways, that was the secret of his success––he kept quiet until he got to the top. He didn't show any great ambition or any particular skills. His superiors didn't feel threatened by him and so he kept getting promoted until he got to the top.
Also, many people say that early on in life, he had quite a simple lifestyle and he was not as corrupt as he is today. And so clearly this is a person who has been corrupted by power.
I think he is someone who believes in only one thing––holding onto power and protecting his family and his legacy. He is clearly inspired by the ancient Burmese warrior kings. That's why he built Naypyidaw, and he has a statue of three kings in Naypyidaw. So, on the one hand, he is quite boring and quite simple; on the other hand, he has been influenced by history and astrology and psychological warfare.

Q: Do you have any remarkable or memorable moments from your time collecting data and writing this book?
A: I was told that one night about midnight in Maymyo, he suddenly felt the desire for a particular type of cake. So, he ordered his soldiers to go out and find that cake. They couldn't find a cake like that anywhere in Maymyo at all. So they had to go all the way to Mandalay. They woke up a shopkeeper in the middle of the night to buy a cake, and took it back to him.
This is an amusing story for me.

Q: When will the book be released?
A: We just finished writing it. It will take some months to get it ready for publishing. We definitely want to publish it before the election, because I think––after the election––we don't know what Than Shwe's position will be and people might lose interest in him. I would like it to be published sooner. It's currently in the hands of the publisher, so it's up to them to get it out as soon as possible.

Top Generals Hold Final meeting of 2009

Commanders of the Burmese armed forces (the Tatmadaw) began their final meeting of 2009 in Naypyidaw on Tuesday, with the proposed 2010 election reportedly high on the agenda.

The top junta brass meet every four months. The current meeting was postponed from October.
High-ranking Burmese army officers watch a parade during Armed Forces Day in the administrative capital of Naypyidaw on March 27, 2009. (Photo: Getty Images)

Observers say that, apart from the 2010 election, the meeting is expected to discuss tension with ethnic cease-fire groups over the proposed border guard force, US-Burma relations and the status of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The junta leader Snr-Gen Than Shwe and the other top three generals might nominate potential Tatmadaw election candidates, observers say. The military-backed Constitution reserves 25 percent of the future upper and lower houses of parliament for military officers nominated by the Tatmadaw commander-in- chief.

"We can expect to hear something at the conclusion of the meeting," a Rangoon-based journalist told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday. "All key military officials are attending. This is the last meeting of commanders in 2009, so they have to decide something."

The meeting takes place as rumors circulate that the junta's No.2, Vice Snr-Gen Maung Aye, is likely to retire from the military. Maung Aye has reportedly told his close friends that he would like to retire after the election to a house he is building in Naypyidaw.

"I've heard that Vice Snr-Gen Maung Aye may retire from the military and politics, although Than Shwe is not likely to give up his military role," said Chan Tun, a veteran Rangoon politician.

Other observers say Than Shwe has not yet decided whether to step down after the election and is not yet ready to name a date for the poll.

Under the 2008 constitution, the Tatmadaw and its commander-in- chief will hold a paramount position in Burma's power structure. The commander-in- chief will automatically act as a vice president, with authority to abolish parliament for reasons of security. Since the military takeover in 1962, whoever was in charge of the Tatmadaw has also controlled the whole country.

If Than Shwe resigns his Tatmadaw position, his No. 3, Gen Thura Swe Mann, 62, is well placed to succeed him, although the junta's No. 4, Gen Thiha Thura Tin Aung Myint Oo, who is three years younger, is also being named as a possible successor. No love is lost between the two generals.

The London-based think tank, The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), in a Burma report in October, tipped Shwe Mann for the post, but said conflict within the leadership could threaten the Tatmadaw's long-term grip on power.

"A post-election shuffle of positions, with appointments to newly-established posts of president and vice-president, could prove to be destabilizing, " said the EIU.

The junta's plan to transform the armed cease-fire groups into a Border Guard Force poses another threat to stability. The plan, first floated in April, is opposed by key cease-fire groups, including the biggest, the United Wa State Army. The junta has extended its deadline for acceptance of the plan for a further month, until the last week of December.

The possibility of fresh military offensives along the Sino-Burmese border and the possible Chinese response are also certainly on the Naypyidaw agenda.

The generals will also undoubtedly consider the initiative taken two weeks ago by Suu Kyi, who wrote to Than Shwe asking for a meeting and also for permission to meet leaders of her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD). In her conciliatory letter, Suu Kyi also thanked the junta for allowing her to meet a visiting US delegation and western diplomats.

According to sources close to the NLD, the junta is likely to grant Suu Kyi's request for a meeting with her party leaders, although it is uncertain whether the NLD vice-chairman ex-Gen Tin Oo, would be allowed to attend.

Tin Oo—the only former top general to oppose the junta—has been under house arrest since 2003 and the regime has consistently prevented him from meeting Suu Kyi and other NLD leaders. He is regarded by the junta as a traitor.

Tokyo Support for NLD Stand on 2010 Election

The conditions set by Burma's opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) for its participation in the election planned for 2010 won the support of around 400 participants in a symposium in Tokyo on Monday.

The conditions, contained in the so-called Shwegondaing Declaration of April 2009, include the unconditional release of all political prisoners; a review of the provisions in the 2008 Constitution “not in accord with democratic principles”; and an all-inclusive free and fair poll under international supervision. The declaration is named after the Rangoon district where the NLD has its headquarters.

About 400 participants attended the International Symposium on Burma 2009 in Tokyo. (Photo: http://nldlajb.blogspot.com)

About 400 Burmese dissidents, regional activists, foreign diplomats, Japanese government ministers and parliamentarians attended the Tokyo symposium.

Several Burmese dissidents contacted by The Irrawaddy on Monday said the Shwegodaing Declaration is the only gateway to reach genuine national reconciliation in Burma. They urged the Japanese government not to support the 2010 election and called for a boycott of the poll if the declaration's conditions were not met.

Tin Win, a Burmese dissident living in Tokyo and one of the organizers of the symposium, said the international community, including Japan, should give a clear message to the Burmese regime that they won't recognize the result of the 2010 elections if the junta fail to respond to the demands of the NLD.

The symposium was also attended by regional activist groups such as the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus, People Forum of Burma, members of the Japanese Trade Union Confederation and 26 representatives of Burmese opposition and ethnic groups, mostly based in Japan.

Tin Win said Japan government ministers attending the symposium promised the Burmese dissidents to undertake a serious review of Japan's Burma policy. He said it was especially encouraging that ministers from the newly-elected Democratic Party of Japan and Japanese scholars had been actively involved in the symposium.

Burma watcher Jeff Kingston, director of Asian Studies at Temple University’s Japan campus, said Japan's Democratic Party was a stronger supporter of human rights in Burma than the outgoing government. Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada are both members of a parliamentary Burma study group and are therefore well-informed and sympathetic about the plight of the Burmese and political prisoners, Kingston said.

“If Aung San Suu Kyi is to play a role in lifting sanctions, the junta has to create conditions that will enable her to so do and that means restoring her political rights, allowing free and fair elections and respecting the outcome even if military proxies do not prevail,” said Kingston.

UN Slams Burma over Forced Labor Practices

GENEVA  — The UN labor agency has criticized Burma for failing to abolish forced labor more than a decade after the global body first took up the issue with the Southeast Asian country, officials said Friday.

The International Labor Organization adopted a resolution last week saying it is "deeply concerned" that Burma continues to imprison people who claim to have been subject to forced labor or were involved in complaints against the practice, said spokeswoman Laetitia Dard.

The resolution called for the immediate and unconditional release of the prisoners, as well as of all other people detained for political or other labor activism. Foreign governments and human rights groups have for years urged Burma to release pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been detained for 14 of the past 20 years, mostly under house arrest.

Burma has consistently maintained that it is making good-faith efforts to eliminate forced labor and recognize the right of its citizens to make complaints on the subject without fear of punishment. The ILO resolution acknowledged that the country was cooperating regarding complaints.

The Geneva-based ILO has since 1998 been investigating forced labor being used in Burma to aid the governing military junta and to build roads and other projects. The latest resolution also expresses concern about forced labor being used in infrastructure projects such as building oil and gas pipelines.

Burmese Junta Seeks to Win Hearts and Minds with FM Radio

 Please read the detailed story HERE

RANGOON — The 3-year-old girl with thanaka on her face thrilled to the sound of her own voice as she sang along to a song coming out of a cheap, Chinese-made radio. It was one o’clock on a Saturday afternoon, and she was listening to her favorite children’s program on Mandalay’s local FM radio station.

Children are not the only ones who enjoy listening to the radio in Burma. Many adults also like to make their favorite radio programs part of their daily routines.

“I tune in to Rangoon City FM every morning to listen to the famous astrologer San Zarni Bo,” said a bus driver in Burma’s main commercial hub. “I don’t usually listen at any other time of day, unless I can find the time.”

In an era when much of the rest of the world finds it entertainment on the Internet, inexpensive handheld radios are still the technology of choice for most Burmese looking to take their minds off of their mundane lives. And increasingly, they’re finding the distraction they seek on local FM stations licensed by Burma’s ruling military regime.

Although most programming on these stations is not overtly political—unlike the heavy-handed propaganda of the state-run media—it often serves to counter the influence of Burmese-language shortwave radio stations based abroad, which are generally highly critical of the junta.

Especially since the monk-led Saffron Revolution of September 2007 and last May’s Cyclone Nargis, shortwave radio stations have become an important source of reliable, uncensored information in Burma. But at the same time that stations such as the Democratic Voice of Burma and the Burmese-language services of the BBC, Radio Free Asia and Voice of America have become fixtures in the lives of ordinary Burmese, local radio stations, usually run by municipal governments, have also become more popular.

“People who are interested in politics certainly listen to overseas radio stations, but they are mostly from the older generation. For the young, FM radio has more appeal, because these stations have more youth-oriented entertainment,” said a media analyst who asked to remain anonymous.

FM radio stations are relatively new to Burma’s media scene. Rangoon City FM went into operation in November 2001, and Mandalay FM began broadcasting in April 2008. Both stations are owned by their respective City Development Committees and operate in cooperation with the privately owned Forever Company.

An executive from Mandalay FM said that the station broadcasts 18 hours a day to reach the widest possible audience. He added that programming centers on music and other light entertainment.

Despite this emphasis on non-political content, however, the stations—many of which are run by cronies of the regime, including Zay Kabar, Shwe Taung, Shwe Than Lwin, and Thein Kyaw Kyaw—also broadcast commentaries that toe the official line on issues of the day.

To make sure that the pro-junta message reaches as many people as possible, taxi drivers who work for regime-affiliated companies are instructed to tune into the stations when they have passengers, according to a driver for the Parami Taxi Company, owned by the Myanmar Economic Holdings Co. Ltd, a military enterprise.

The success of the radio stations operating in Burma’s biggest cities has recently led to the creation of new stations in other parts of the country. In the past few months, four new stations have appeared: Pyinsawatti FM in Arakan State; Cherry FM in Shan State; Shwe FM, which reaches Pegu Division, Mon State, Karen State and Tenasserim Division; and Pattamya FM, which broadcasts to Kachin State, Sagaing Division and Chin State.  

“Our target is every listener, young or old,” said a spokesperson for Pattamya FM, which has been broadcasting 14 hours daily, from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., since Oct. 1. “We carry news, art, literature, music, movies, and health and education programs. We also provide up-to-date reports on political developments.”

Residents of Shan State said that Cherry FM’s programming consists mostly of popular music, Shan songs and other entertainment programs, but also includes pro-junta news coverage.

“The station has broadcast some news programs belittling [pro-democracy leader] Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Listeners like the music, but they don’t like to listen to those programs. Most just switch off the radio as soon as they come on,” said a resident of Lashio, adding that exiled radio stations were difficult to access in the area.

Some local residents said they saw the recent emergence of FM stations as part of an effort to win voters’ support for pro-regime candidates in next year’s planned general election. They also said that some people in rural areas mistook the new stations for foreign-based shortwave radio stations, which generally have poor reception in remote parts of the country.

Help Burma: Fundraising Event Nov 22, 2009

Download Flyers: Burmese  English

Help 
Burma! 

“ Make Small Donations 

Save Big Population “ 

Burma Needs You to Act Now! 

Please join the fund raiser event

organized by 

volunteer committee for 

Project Help Burma  

San Francisco Bay Area 

                             Proceeds will support public heath and education issues helping to promote the welfare of Burmese people inside Burma. 

11:00 AM to 3 :00PM ; November 22, 2009 (Sunday) Little Theater, 
          Serramonte Del Rey (“Former Jefferson High School”) 699 Serramonte 

         Blvd, Daly City, CA 94015  

Burmese food  (23 items)

Burmese & Ethnic 

Cultural dances

 Burmese famous singer

*

 Welcome to all sponsor And donor. 

“ No Entrance Fee ” 

Draft Program: 11 am - 3 pm (Food sale of 23 items); 12 pm - 1:00 pm (Cultural dances); 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm (Songs and music)

Getting there by BART and BUS:
Take BART to Colma BART Station. At Colma BART take the SamTrans bus #120 going towards Serramonte Shopping Center (ask the bus driver for the right bus). DO NOT get off the bus at the Shopping Center, but continue on the #120 bus about 1/2 mile west of the Shopping Center. Ask the bus driver to let the bus passengers off at Serramonte Del Rey, it will be across the road from the bus stop. See the attached  #120 schedule for Fares and Sunday time schedule. I have also included a File showing the SamTrans (San Mateo County Transit) routes.

Committee for Project Help Burma 

  Concerned individuals & Organizations  in the SF Bay Area
More info: http://projecthelpb urma.blogspot. com/

Mohinga MemoriesFew people I know could turn down a bowl of mohinga, the piquant, complex medley of rice noodles and other ingredients in a savory fish-based broth widely regarded as the country’s national dish. Read More:  http://www.irrawadd y.org/article. php?art_id= 17145

Burmese Dance The Burmese dance uses graceful and lively movements to tell a story. Whether it's a tale of ancient history, political strife, unwavering love or spiritual journeys, the Burmese dancer conveys emotion and action with the common postures of everyday life. The dance steps are executed very slowly with random burst of rapid leaps and movements. With colorful and elaborate costumes, it is clear to see how the Burmese dance has entertained for centuries, and because of its lasting legacy, a talented Burmese dancer is highly respected as a source of national pride.

‘Burma VJ’ Short-listed for Oscar

The award-wining film “Burma VJ” has been placed on the short list for consideration for one of the movie industry’s top prizes—the Oscar for best feature-documentary.

“Burma VJ,” which tells the story of how Burmese video journalists filmed the September 2007 demonstrations in Rangoon, is among 15 productions on the 2010 Academy Awards short list. The list will be whittled down to five finalists, to be announced in February 2010, and the winner will take the stage at the Oscar presentations in Hollywood on March 7.

“Burma VJ” has already won 33 awards—including the World Cinema Documentary Film Editing and Golden Gate Persistence of Vision prizes.

Most of the material for the film was shot by Burmese video journalists at great personal risk and smuggled out to the Norway-based Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB). A Danish professional film-maker, Anders Østergaard, took over direction of the film, which was released to wide acclaim this year.

Several of the video journalists were arrested and sentenced to terms of imprisonment. Many others are in hiding.

Toe Zaw Latt, DVB’s Thailand bureau chief, told The Irrawaddy on Friday the inclusion of “Burma VJ” on the Oscars short list had come as a surprise.

“We only wanted the world to know how difficult it is for journalists to work in Burma and to show the world how big the uprising was,” he said.

The video journalists whose work created “Burma VJ” fed the outside world with evidence of the brutality used by the authorities to suppress the peaceful demonstrations. They infuriated the regime by slipping by every attempt to close media access to the bloody events on Rangoon streets.

Among Hollywood professionals to hail the achievements of the video journalists was actor Richard Gere, who described “Burma VJ” as an important and credible document.

Toe Zaw Latt said the inclusion of “Burma VJ” on the Oscars short list would give heart to the video journalists still in prison. ‘This will help them a lot. They will be very happy to hear the news.”

Kachin against Irrawaddy Dam Project

Detailed story, please read HERE

If there is one confluence of the Irrawaddy River that is famous throughout Burma, it is the Mali and N’Mai rivers, located 27 miles from Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin state.

The confluence is many things to the Kachin people: a source of livelihood; a location of amazing biodiversity that attracts tourists; a potent emblem of identity; and a historical beacon (legend says that it’s the birth place and residence of the Father Dragon and his two sons, Hkrai Nawng and Hkrai Gam).

A man prepares to pan for gold on the Irrawaddy River at the confluence the N’mai and Mali rivers, an area where the largest hydropower dam in the network will be located. (Photo: AMY SMITH and JOHN CAMPBELL)

Since August, the sole road leading to this sanctuary has witnessed a spike in vehicle traffic. The dragon’s sleep has been disturbed by a continual convoy of shinny white Mitsubishi jeeps, their occupants obscured through smoked colored windows. The convoy’s route is a 7 mile stretch between the river and the newly established offices of the Burmese regime friendly Asia World Company, a construction company that contracted with the Power Investment Corporation, a Chinese state company developing the hydro scheme project that will send most of the electricity into China's energy-hungry Yunnan Province, according to International Rivers, a nongovernmental agency.

Asia World has started the construction of the hydroelectric projects at Chibwe, on the N’Mai River, that will lead to the resettlement of hundreds of villagers. For local residents, the vehicles and the buildings are the foreboding signs of the coming social and environmental storm.

The confluence will be home of a 152-meter high dam; the 7th and largest in the dam network on the N’mai and Mali rivers. The network will generate thousands of megawatts of hydroelectricity (capacity of 3,600 MW for the confluent dam alone).

The design is the brainchild of the China Southern Power Grid Company and its construction was authorized by the SPDC. The dams represent a huge financial windfall for the SPDC and an energy bonanza for China.

The custom with economic deals of this nature in Burma is that the decision making is centralized and the contract details are kept from public view. The contract was signed in 2007. While the details are murky, the costs, financially and environmentally, will be significant. The dam’s construction will be ecologically ruinous, razing the confluence’s biodiversity. Perhaps more profound will be the social repercussions: 15,000 villagers face imminent displacement.

Men work to find gold near the site where a 152-meter high dam will be located, forcing many villagers to relocate. (Photo: AMY SMITH and JOHN CAMPBELL)

Up to a few weeks ago, these local communities, living for generations in the 60 villages on the 766 km square to be flooded by the dam, have never officially been told that they would have to move. Now, they have received eviction notices and ordered to leave.

Most of their livelihoods will be destroyed as well as their houses and other assets. If the scenario is similar to what has happened at other dam construction sites, they will receive no compensation. The army is expected to increase its presence in the region, and with it the number of human rights likely will rise.

The villagers are manifestly poor, the victims of decades of civil strife and government neglect. They have no allies and face powerful adversaries. Their plight appears hopeless. Yet, out of their desperation, a resistance has swelled among the local communities.

Undeterred, villagers held protests at the planned construction site in October, as 20,000 Chinese workers were waiting to be transferred to the area. Local communities, deprived of the minimum to insure their survival, refuse to leave the site.Many villagers said they would rather die in their villages than leave the confluence.

The tension has been ratcheted up and support for opposition has increased among the villagers.

Obama in Asia / E-mail Congress for Burma

Email Congress today and ask them to support House Resolution 898! This week, President Obama made his first visit to Asia and publicly called for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, one principle of his new Burma policy. The Obama administration's Burma policy has four pillars which the U.S. will work toward: Ensuring the unconditional release of all political prisoners, including Nobel Laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Pressing for an end to conflicts with ethnic minority groups. Securing genuine tripartite dialogue between the ethnic nationalities, thedemocracy movement, and the military government. Holding the Burmese junta accountable for human rights violations. We support the principles outlined in President Obama's new Burma policy. However, the Obama administration has yet to provide a mechanism to hold the junta accountable for their human rights violations including attacks against ethnic minority groups. Resolution 898 fills this gap by calling for the Administration to support a UN Security Council Commission of Inquiry into crimes against humanity and war crimes committed by the junta. Crimes against humanity have escalated as the Junta tries to consolidate power before the sham election planned for 2010. In the past few months, the regime has displaced more than 50,000 people from eastern and northern Burma, sending tens of thousands of refugees over the border into China and Thailand. Email your member of Congress today to ask them to support this resolution so that the Obama Administration continues to remain strong on Burma. Then amplify our voice by asking your friends and family members to support Resolution 898, which was introduced by Representative Joe Crowley (D) and Representative Peter King (R) last week. Sincerely, Michael Haack

Shan in Chiang Mai Celebrate New Year

About 4,000 ethnic Shan celebrated New Year at Chiang Mai’s Wat Ku Tao Buddhist temple on Monday night.

Ying Harn Sah, the secretary of the Tai Literature and Culture Society and one of the organizers of the festival, told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday that the three-day celebration helps preserve Shan culture and raises awareness about the people’s history and literature.


Slide Show (View)
“Many Shan are always busy with their work here,” she said. “It is difficult to organize them all in one place. The festival is a chance to get them all together and open their eyes about the value of their culture.”

The festival was organized by the Tai Literature and Culture Society, which is based in Chiang Mai, and has taken place annually since 1999.

The northern Thai city of Chiang Mai has a large Shan community, most of whom work on construction sites and in domestic service.

The festival begins on the first lunar month of the Shan calendar and includes traditional dances, songs and fireworks displays.

The Tai Literature and Culture Society said the number of participants has increased this year. Last year, an estimated 2,000 people attended.

The festival also features a merit-making ceremony involving donations of food to the Wa Kau Tao monks, who bless the participants, wishing them luck in the year ahead. Typical offerings are rice with fish and root vegetables, wrapped in banana leaves.

The ceremony marks one of two New Year festivals celebrated by the Shan. The other is a traditional water festival in April, which has a more religious significance.

Shan Culture Being Eliminated under Burmese Junta: Rights Group

Traditional Shan culture is being eliminated by the Burmese military government’s use of tourism and religion, a Shan rights group said on Tuesday.

The exiled Shan Women Action Network highlighted the regime’s attack on Shan culture during a press conference in Chiang Mai, Thailand, for the launch of a new book, “Forbidden Glimpses of Shan State: A Brief Alternative Guide.”

The network said in a press release that the book shows how Burma’s military regime is threatening the last remaining vestiges of the 34 former Shan principalities and is erasing Shan culture by building monuments to honor ancient Burmese warrior kings and replicas of the famous Shwedagon Pagoda across Shan State.

Established in 1999, the network is well-known for its report “License to Rape,” published in 2002, which documents the military regime's use of sexual violence in the ongoing conflicts in Shan State.

According to the group, the junta has built many new pagodas and temples while de-emphasizing traditional Shan architecture and culture.

“The style and manner in which these structures have been built or renovated reveals that they have little to do with the propagation of Buddhism, but rather with the flaunting of power, cultural assimilation and superstition,” the group said.

Since the 1960 coup, the group noted that four palaces of former Shan rulers have been denigrated or destroyed by the military.

After the coup, authorities took over the Kengtung Palace in eastern Shan State for use as an administration office, and in 1991, demolished it and replaced it with a hotel. Authorities transformed the Yawnghwe Palace into a Buddhist museum.

The group said the study of the Shan language is banned in government-controlled areas, and at least 10 people were arrested in 2008 for involvement in teaching private classes in the Shan language.

The book launch was held on the last day of the Shan New Year. A three-day New Year festival was celebrated by the Shan community around Chiang Mai, Thailand, which is home to hundreds of thousands of Shan immigrants. Organizers said about 6,000 people attended the event.

Kachin Manau Dance Site Bulldozed

LAIZA, Kachin State—Burmese military authorities have ordered an ethnic Kachin cultural festival site in the city of Bhamo in Kachin State to be bulldozed, ahead of a traditional Kachin “Manau” dance ceremony on Nov 26-28 at which some 10,000 people were expected to attend.

Entire Kachin communities celebrate Manau festivals and participate in the traditional Manau dance, a large communal dance that unites the Kachin community and affirms their cultural identity. In addition to the Kachin, many ethnic groups and Buddhist monks come together and dance at the Manau.

“It creates unity among everyone and the junta is afraid of that,” said a Kachin man who had planned to go to the Bhamo Manau. Bilingual invitations were sent out in Shan and Burmese.    

In June, Col Khin Maung Myint, the chairman of the Bhamo District Peace and Development Council, ordered the renovation of the ceremony site to be stopped, saying: “There are different ethnic groups in Bhamo and the site would damage the unity of the city.”

However, the military government has given permission to build hundreds of Buddhist pagodas throughout Kachin State, despite a lack of Buddhists in the region.

Khin Maung Myint reportedly arrived at the Manau ceremony site at 10 a.m. On Nov. 12, accompanied by police and a bulldozer. Despite protests by local Kachin, the site was destroyed by bulldozers soon after.

The Kachin Literature & Cultural Committee, which claims to own the site, was reportedly told that if the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) accepted the military regime’s border guard force proposal they could hold their Manau dance without restrictions.

“This is a typical of the junta’s divide-and-conquer tactics to get the Kachin people to fight among ourselves,” said KIA Vice-chief of Staff Gen Gun Maw. 

In 1961, the military government expelled all foreign missionaries and nationalized all missionary schools. Schools were thereafter required to teach lessons in Burmese language only.

“Their ultimate goal is, with their military might, to eliminate all ethnic peoples inside Myanmar—their languages, their culture, their literatures,” said a Kachin who witnessed the destruction.

Despite the damage to the ceremony site, the Kachin Literature & Cultural Committee said it plans to continue with the Manau dance. 

The Kachin are an ethnic group in Burma that number about 1.3 million and are predominately Christians.  The six sub-groups that make up the Kachin have distinct languages and dress, but share clan names, cosmology and the Manau dance, which is based on traditional spirit, or nat, worship.

Burmese Opposition Welcomes Obama’s Call

Burmese opposition groups have welcomed the call by US President Barack Obama for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners, although there is skepticism that it will be heeded by the military regime.

Obama made the call—and also urged the regime to stop violence against ethnic minority groups and to take up dialogue with democratic movements—at a summit meeting with leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in Singapore on Sunday.
US President Barack Obama waits as Asean leaders take their place for a family photo before their Asean-US meeting in Singapore.

Nyan Win, a spokesman for Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) said in Rangoon: “We welcomed that Obama called for the release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.”

Aye Tha Aung, chairman of the Arakan League for Democracy, hoped Obama’s call would help end political conflict in Burma.
“It very much depends on the desire of the regime,” he said. “It will be possible only if the regime wishes it.”

Aye Tha Aung, however, welcomed evidence that the US was getting actively involved in Burma affairs.

Junta leader Snr-Gen Than Shwe and Suu Kyi need to negotiate and get to understand each other first, proceeding then to discussions with the ethnic groups, Aye Tha Aung said.

In a letter to Than Shwe on Nov 11, Suu Kyi thanked the regime for allowing her to meet with a visiting US delegation and asked for a bilateral meeting with the junta leader. She also requested a meeting with her NLD executive committee colleagues.

Suu Kyi said she wanted to cooperate with the regime in efforts to end Western sanctions against Burma.

Burma watcher Jeff Kingston, director of Asian Studies at Temple University’s Japan campus, said: “It is important for Aung San Suu Kyi to get involved in the process of normalizing Burma's relations with the outside world and also normalizing domestic politics.”

However, he said he suspected that Than Shwe, out of arrogance and fear, would not take up Suu Kyi’s offer of talks, preferring to leave contacts to lower level officials.

Kingston also welcomed Obama’s call, describing it as “an encouraging message for all the people of Burma and a signal that the US remains on their side against tyranny.

“His [Obama’s] staunch support for human rights and democracy in Burma is the right message and comes at a critical juncture as the junta decides what to do about elections in 2010.”

Observers doubted, however, that the Burmese regime would comply with Obama’s demands because they represented a
direct indictment of its despotism.

Before attending the US-Asean summit, Min Lwin, a senior Burmese diplomat, told reporters in Manila there was a plan to release Suu Kyi soon in order for her to organize her party.

Debbie Stothard, coordinator of the Alternative Asean Network on Burma (Altsean), said it was important that Obama and former US presidents called for the release of Suu Kyi as the Burmese regime usually disliked her name to be mentioned at regional meetings.

“Everybody understands— even Asean, and most of the governments in the region, and definitely the US—that if you want genuine change and reform in Burma, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s release is the fundamental step in that direction,” Stothard said. 

Obama Says Release Suu Kyi, but Rights Whispers Grow

SINGAPORE — Speaking in Tokyo this morning, US President Barack Obama called on Burma’s military rulers to release opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, saying it was a precondition for any softening of sanctions against the country’s military junta.

Obama said Burma needed to take “clear steps” toward democracy, including the unconditional release of all political prisoners, an end to conflicts with minority groups and a “genuine dialogue” with the opposition and minorities on a “shared vision for the future.”

Obama also pledged to raise human rights issues with the Communist leadership in Beijing, attempting to head off concerns that his administration was taking a soft line in countries such as Iran, Sudan and Zimbabwe, as well as in China and Burma.

However, to avoid angering Beijing, he did not mention Tibet. Obama recently came under fire from human rights advocates for refusing to meet Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama in Washington.

In contrast, the Bush administration met with the Dalai Lama numerous times, and toughened sanctions on the Burmese junta in response to the harsh crackdown on the 2007 Saffron Revolution. Despite this, the US under Bush maintained a positive relationship with Beijing, according to Singaporean academic Kishore Mahbubani.

In Singapore over the weekend, some leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) bloc appeared to pine for the edgier days of the Bush administration.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak told a forum of Apec business leaders that he admired the Republican administration’s policy on free trade. A US-Malaysia trade pact remains stalled. Najib said that he hoped “the same message (on trade) will be repeated” when Obama arrives in Singapore later tonight.

Singapore’s former leader and self-styled “minister mentor” Lee Kuan Yew told business leaders that the US risks being fenced out of Asia unless it revises its newfound aversion toward trade liberalization, while almost all Apec leaders united in calling for a conclusion to the Doha round of trade talks by 2010.

Meanwhile, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told Apec counterparts that “big government is not the answer” to resolving the current economic crisis, or building stronger and more prosperous economies in the future.

The Obama administration is taking heavy political fire in the US, losing two recent state elections to the Republicans, as it pushes for increased government spending, nudging the US toward a more statist governance system and a European-style healthcare plan.

Speaking in Bangkok recently, Kishore Mahbubani remarked that the US had plumbed new depths on human rights by reintroducing torture at Guantanamo Bay during the Bush administration, adding that this meant a loss of moral authority for the US on the world stage.

Alarm has also been growing recently over Obama’s apparent slackness on human rights. When Lee Kuan Yew spoke in Washington recently, urging the US to head off China’s growing clout in Asia, Obama replied by praising the former Singapore strongman effusively, but failed to raise issues about freedom of speech and assembly in the city-state.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton muddied the rights water further when she said that we need a “broad” definition of human rights that doesn’t just focus on freedom of speech, freedom of the press, free elections, or religious freedom, but includes better housing or the right to a job. Cynics say this means that repressive regimes can dispel concerns about basic freedoms by boosting infrastructure or social spending, and is reminiscent of Cold War era sound bites delivered by Communist leaders in Eastern Europe, as well as by leaders in Asia who have long resisted Western pressure to improve their human rights records.

More directly, the US has embarked on a hands-across-the-divide attempt to engage with a variety of regimes—in Iran, Sudan and North Korea, as well as Burma. The US has joined the much-maligned UN Human Rights Council, alongside states such as Saudi Arabia, Russia and China, seeking to “reform it from within,” according to Washington’s UN ambassador Susan Rice. The council has been derided for electing countries such as Sudan, Zimbabwe and Libya, allowing those countries to deflect scrutiny of abuses taking place, and for an excessive focus on Israel.

While the Obama administration has barely begun its engagement with the Burmese regime and pledges not to grant the junta any concessions or reduced sanctions without meaningful reforms first, the impression is that the US will move first to talk to repressive regimes. Despite conciliatory talk from Washington, however, Iran ran a rigged election and clamped down on mass protests earlier this year, while North Korea tested a nuclear weapon.

Burmese Migrant Movie Premiers at Film Festival

A movie depicting the plight of Burmese migrants in Thailand will be shown for one night at the World Film Festival in Bangkok on Saturday, Nov. 14.

The 96-minute drama, "Colors of Our Hearts,” is based on four true stories involving migrant workers and ethnic hill tribes people: an Akha migrant girl who was sold to a brothel; a Karen girl forced to work as a slave; a migrant teacher; and a Mon boy who dreams of a new schoolbag and meeting the Thai king.

The crew and cast of the movie include Burmese, Thai, Mon and other ethnic persons. The film was shot in Mahachai and Chiang Mai, where many Burmese migrants work.

“Colors of Our Hearts” was produced by an NGO, Friends without Borders, and was directed by Supamok Silarak. The screenplay was written by Th’blay Paw and Hta Haw Koh.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Wednesday, Th’blay Paw said, “The film intends to raise awareness about Burmese migrants. We want the Thai people to see migrants as human beings, just the same as Thais.”

Burmese migrants have very hard lives in Thailand, she said. They sometimes get arrested and often have to run from the police. I have memories of this from my childhood in Mahachai. I felt very sorry for them. To help, I decided to make a film, which is a powerful medium to let more people know about what is going on around them.

“Our film is different from other movies, because real migrants played parts, not professional actors and actresses. So, it is very realistic to watch,” she said.

“Colors of Our Hearts” is a sequel to the movie “Hongsa’s Schoolbag,” which debuted at the World Film Festival last year and won first prize.

“Hongsa's Schoolbag" tells the story of a Mon boy living with his migrant parents in Mahachai, a port near Bangkok. In the film, his mother tells him not to play with Thai children because if he falls out with them he will be sent back to Burma. The boy, Hongsa, grows increasingly confused about why Thai police ignore criminals and only arrest innocent migrant workers.

The film portrays the unfairness and lack of freedom and movement that Burmese migrants face every day in Thailand. It shows that migrants are restricted to the provinces where they work, cannot meet in groups and cannot own motorcycles or cell phones.

Estimates of the number of Burmese migrants in Thailand vary from 2 million to 5 million. However, only 500,000 registered with the Thai Ministry of Labor in 2008. There will be about 1 million registering this year, according to Moe Swe, the head of the Mae Sot-based Yaung Chi Oo Workers Association.

Thailand and Burma have agreed to temporary passports for Burmese migrants to be issued at certain offices on the Thai-Burmese border. To date though, only 2,000 people have applied for the documents. Many migrants say they are afraid to register because of repercussions their families in Burma could face.

The deadline for migrants to apply for temporary passports is the end of February 2010. Migrants who don’t have passports will reportedly be repatriated to Burma.

Obama to Seek Suu Kyi’s Release

US President Barack Obama will seek Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's release when he meets leaders of the Association for Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in Singapore this weekend. In keeping with a long-standing US policy, Obama will ask that the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, who led the National League for Democracy (NLD) to victory in Burma's last general election in 1990, be freed “in the context of all political prisoners,” according to senior US official Jeffrey Bader.

“He will probably mention her by name,” said the US senior director for Asian affairs.

The Obama administration has initiated a policy of “engagement” with the ruling junta in Burma, acknowledging that the previous sanctions-only policy had failed to promote democratic reforms, but reminding that “engagement” by itself—the preferred policy of Burma's fellow Asean member-states—had been equally unsuccessful.

However, speaking in Bangkok last week after a two-day visit to Burma, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of East Asia and Pacific Bureau Scott Marciel acknowledged that the US “still does not know why the junta wants to talk to us at this juncture.”

One the surface, there seems to be some synchronization between US and Burmese official public statements. Speaking to The Associated Press in Manila on Monday, Min Lwin, a senior Burmese diplomat, said, “There is a plan to release her [Suu Kyi] soon ... so she can organize her party.”

He gave no details and it was unclear whether the NLD leader would be allowed to campaign or stand for election.

Despite the conciliatory remarks, the country's Constitution includes provisions that bar her from holding office and ensure the primacy of the military in the Parliament. The US has said it will not push the Burmese junta to review its controversial Constitution, saying that this should be discussed as part of a “national dialogue,” which Marciel said he regards as “vital” if the 2010 election is to be credible.

At the recent Asean summit in Cha-am, Thailand, Burmese Prime Minister Gen Thein Sein hinted that Suu Kyi's house arrest could relaxed “if she showed good behavior,” according to a Japanese foreign ministry account of his briefing.

The Nobel laureate has spent more than 14 of the last 20 years in detention, and has been released in the past, only to be returned to incarceration. Her current 18-month term of house arrest was handed down after a trial—widely-dismissed as a politicized sham—for her role in hosting an unregistered foreign guest, American tourist John W Yettaw, at her home.

The US seems to be basing its Burma policy on its pan-Asean needs. According to Bader: “One of the frustrations that we've had with policy toward Burma over recent years has been that the inability to have interaction with Burma has prevented certain kinds of interaction with Asean as a whole.

“The statement we're trying to make here is that we're not going to let the Burmese tail wag the Asean dog,” he said. "We're going to meet with all 10 [Asean members] and we're not going to punish the other nine simply because Burma is in the room, but this is not a bilateral."

Without prior “engagement” with Burma, it would be difficult for the US and Asean to stage a summit meeting. Obama has already pledged to invite Asean leaders to a return summit in Washington sometime in 2010.

The US recently signed a Treaty of Amity and Cooperation with Asean, and with China and India pushing ahead with free trade deals with the Southeast Asian bloc, the US needs to show that it is “back” in the region, as per Secretary of State Clinton's sound bite when she visited Thailand in July.

China is thought to be alarmed at a possible US-junta detente, but is pushing ahead with its dual pipeline project from Burma's Arakan coast to Yunnan Province in China, which will enable Beijing to cut reliance on naval routes for its Middle East and African energy imports.

On Tuesday, China announced a pre-summit visit by President Hu Jintao to Malaysia, to ink an agreement allowing China's ICBC—the world's largest lender by market value—access to the newly-opened Malaysian banking sector. Previously the sector was closed to foreign investors. A US-Malaysia free trade deal remains stalled.

It seems unlikely that Obama will meet Thein Sein on the sidelines of the summit. Last week, Ambassador Marciel told reporters in Bangkok that he did not foresee any high-level meeting involving either the US president or the secretary of state with any Burmese counterpart anytime soon.

The last US president to meet a Burmese leader was Lyndon B. Johnson, who held talks with Prime Minister Ne Win in 1966.

Japan Hails US Engagement with Burma

Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama hailed US efforts to engage Burma and said that Washington’s increased interest in the Southeast Asian country would greatly benefit the entire Mekong region.

He made the comment at the first Mekong-Japan Summit, held in Tokyo on Nov. 6-7 and attended by Japan, Thailand, China, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and Burma.

The US recently revised its policy on Burma, calling for “direct engagement” with the country’s ruling junta while maintaining sanctions until the regime shows signs of moving toward genuine political reforms.

Last week, a US delegation led by Kurt Campbell, the assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, visited Burma and met with Burmese officials, opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other senior members of her National League for Democracy, and ethnic leaders.

Japan has also been reexamining its relations with its Asian neighbors since Hatoyama’s Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) took power in August. With Japan’s economy suffering its worst downturn in decades, Tokyo is turning increasingly to Asia to offset the weakness of the US as a market for Japanese exports.

At last month’s Asean+3 and East Asia summits in Hua Hin, Thailand, the Japanese prime minister raised the issue of Burma’s democratization process, according to Kazuo Kodama, a Japan foreign ministry spokesman.

Kodama said Hatoyama told his Burma counterpart that Japan hoped all stakeholders in Burma’s democratization process would be included in an election slated to take place next year.

Ko Ko Aung, a Burmese dissident living in Tokyo, said that the Japanese government would likely continue to follow the US line calling for a free and fair election in 2010.

Jeff Kingston, the director of Asian Studies at Temple University’s Japan Campus, said that Hatoyama and Foreign Minister Katusya Okada were both members of a Burma study group in Japan’s parliament and are therefore well-informed and sympathetic to the plight of the Burmese.

The DPJ also expresses stronger support for human rights than the former ruling party, the Liberal Democratic Party, said Kingston.

Meanwhile, Burmese dissidents based in Japan are continuing their protests targeting Burmese Prime Minister Gen Thein Sein, who is in Tokyo to attend the Mekong-Japan Summit.

More than 100 Burmese activists launched a protest this morning against the Japanese and Burmese governments outside the New Otani Hotel, where Thein Sein is staying.

The demonstrators criticized Japan for inviting Thein Sein to the summit and condemned the upcoming election in Burma as a ploy to keep the military in power under a Constitution approved last year in referendum widely dismissed as a sham.

The dissidents said their protests against the Burmese government would continue for the duration of Thein Sein’s stay in Tokyo.  
 
As part of its effort to strengthen ties with the Mekong region, Japan agreed to commit more than 500 billion yen (US $5.5 billion) in the next three years to promote economic development and fight climate change in the region, according to Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Burmese Junta Continues Crackdown

Forty-one people, including journalists, artists and relief workers, have been arrested by the Burmese authorities in Rangoon in October and are being held in unknown locations, according to the rights group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners—Burma (AAPP).

Bo Kyi, the joint-secretary of the Thailand-based group, told The Irrawaddy on Thursday, “We got confirmation that 41 people were arrested on October, but we don’t know all of them or where they have been taken. We don’t even know the reason they were arrested. We also have information that there are more people in hiding.”

The detainees include Khant Min Htet, a writer; Paing Soe Oo, a freelance journalist; Thant Zin Soe, and Nyi Nyi Tun, editors; Min Satta, a songwriter; and Nyi Paing, a singer, according to the AAPP.

The families of the detained are trying to locate their loved ones.

The mother of a detainee, Khant Min Htet, said, “They took my son two weeks ago, and I don’t have any information about where he is. I’m really worried because he was sick a lot when he was at home.”

She said when the authorities took her son from her house, they told her he would be questioned, and then released.

Bo Kyi said, “They [Burmese authorities] don’t treat people accordingly to the rule of law when they are arrested. They don’t inform the detainees’ families. They take them to some interrogation camp where they beat and torture them in order to get the confession they want.”

According to AAPP, 2,119 political prisoners are being held in prisons across the country.

Meanwhile, Ni Mo Hlaing, a member of the National League for Democracy, has been hospitalized in Thayet Prison, according to her family.

Ni Mo Hlaing’s sister told The Irrawaddy that Ni Mo Hlaing is very ill, and she is not eating properly.

Her sister said they cried together when she visited her last month. “Her face is very pale. She is skinny and has lost weight,” she said.

Ni Mo Hlaing was arrested in 2008 following the demonstrations and was sentenced to 7 and one-half years in prison.

According to the AAPP, 138 political prisoners have died in Burmese prisons since 1988 and at least 115 are currently in poor health.

Burma: Catching Two Fish at Once?

The visiting US delegation’s talks with the Burmese regime, ethnic minority groups and the opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has coincided this week with the news that the China gas pipeline project is finally under way in Arakan State.

Few things are coincidental in Burma, and several analysts questioned whether the timing of the two initiatives was planned by Burma’s generals or whether, in fact, the US and China were competing to win influence among the generals ahead of each other.

Could it be that the pariah state was effectively catching two fish at once? It would surely be a sunny day for the military elite’s bank accounts if they could consolidate their pipeline deal with the Chinese while simultaneously convincing the Americans to lift sanctions.

China's state-owned National Petroleum Corporation announced on Tuesday that construction has finally started on a pipeline that will transfer Middle Eastern and African oil from the Indian Ocean through Burma to Yunnan Province in China’s southwest.

The multimillion dollar pipeline project will also pipe natural gas from Burmese waters in the Bay of Bengal to China.

If Beijing is to revert to talks with Naypyidaw concerning its energy needs, the savings it will make bypassing the Malacca Strait, and a timeline for constructing the pipeline, then it will likely have to curb its criticisms of the junta’s policy to wage war on Chinese-blooded ethnic groups such as the Kokang and the Wa, and reassess its claims for damages caused by Burma’s government forces during their campaigns against the ethnic armies and condone the resulting flood of refugees onto Chinese soil.

The US has moved hastily to overturn the Bush doctrine of sanctions on Burma’s military rulers since the Obama administration came to power earlier this year. After an initial hint by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at engagement with the generals, the US moved quickly into the spotlight in August by sending Senator Jim Webb to Naypyidaw—where he went a full step further than UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon by physically meeting with junta strongman Snr-Gen Than Shwe.

In September, Burmese Premier Thein Sein attended the UN General Assembly in New York, the first time a Burmese leader had done so in 14 years. Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Nyan Win took advantage of the cooling climate to meet Webb at the Burmese embassy in Washington. 

Most Burma analysts say the regime is trying to find a balance—it wants to maintain a strong relationship with Beijing (without being entirely dependent on China) while aiming to establish better connections with the new US administration.

To that end, the Burmese authorities on Wednesday allowed a US delegation, led by Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell, to meet with Suu Kyi, leaders of her National League for Democracy, and some ethnic representatives.

But most analysts warned that it was too early to be optimistic about results from the US delegation’s visit.

“We can’t expect much from the current visit as the US delegation is just a fact-finding mission,” said Win Min, a Burmese analyst in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

By allowing the US delegation to meet with opposition groups, the regime is relaxing some of its restrictions on dissidents with the aim of having the US lift sanctions on Burma, he said.

Larry Jagan, a British journalist who regularly covers Burma issues, said, “I think this is a part of Than Shwe’s usual approach to international relationships. He is trying to balance China’s influence in Naypyidaw. But, he will keep Burma’s relationship with China strong.”

Sean Turnell, an economist at Australia's Macquarie University who produces the Burma Economic Watch report, said, “I think the regime are attempting to assert that they are not wholly dependent on China, and see the opening of a dialogue with the US as a way of presenting this.”

However, he said that sanctions on Burma won't be lifted in the absence of genuine reform in Burma, and he doesn't see any change on this front for the time being.

“For the moment, it's hard to be anything but skeptical. We have been down this road before,” he said.

Another Burma watcher, Jeff Kingston, the director of Asian Studies at Temple University Japan Campus, said that the Burmese generals are looking to balance their dependence on China by pursuing better ties with the US—but only on their own terms.

US Mission to Burma Heralds Obama’s New Diplomatic Tack

BANGKOK — A mission by senior United States government officials to military- ruled Burma points to Washington’s commitment that engaging with oppressive regimes—than spurning them—is the way forward for change.

The two-day visit by Kurt Campbell, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, and Scot Marciel, deputy assistant secretary, is being seen as a clear sign of the new diplomatic policy US President Barak Obama wants to unveil in the South-east Asian nation, which is also called Myanmar.

This combo of file photos shows Kurt Campbell (L), assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, and the US ambassdor for ASEAN affairs, Scot Marciel (R). (Photo: Getty Images)

This US mission, from Nov. 3 to 4, marks a break from the tough line that the former US administration, under George W Bush, pursued. Campbell and Marciel, furthermore, will be the highest-ranking US officials visiting Burma after 14 years. The last to do so, in 1995, was Madeline Albright, then US ambassador to the United Nations.

The reactions among Burmese to the Obama administration’s policy shift are mixed. It stems from years of enduring a junta that has refused to cave in to outside pressure and chosen to isolate the country from world affairs. Burma’s impoverished millions have also had to endure decades of life under the iron grip of a secretive and paranoid regime that has fattened itself off the country’s immense natural resources, from natural gas to rubies.

"Generally, the people inside Burma, the more politically active, are encouraged by the policy shift of the Obama administration," said Aung Naing Oo, a Burmese political analyst living in exile in Thailand. "But the Burmese political activists in exile are not sure; they are cautiously optimistic."

This mission, for one, will be a "learning curve" for both parties, he told IPS. "The Americans need to understand the Burmese military and how they operate, and the military regime will have to understand where the Americans are coming from."

How Burma’s strongman, Snr-Gen Than Shwe, treats the US visitors, and who in the military and political chain of command they meet, will serve as pointers of this diplomatic adventure. Than Shwe, after all, is notorious for coughing up excuses to avoid foreign visitors on a whim. UN Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon is among those deprived of the welcome mat.

"The test to measure how successful Campbell’s visit is is to see if he gets a meeting with Gen Than Shwe," said Win Min, a Burmese national security expert lecturing at a Payap University in northern Thailand. "He is known to avoid foreign visitors if it is not to his advantage."

But there are signs coming from within the military government that "welcome the change in US policy," Win Min revealed during an interview. "They see this new approach as an opportunity to work with the Obama administration in order to improve Burma’s image within the international community."

Pressure is also growing on Campbell for a meeting with the National League for Democracy (NLD), Burma’s beleaguered opposition party, in the latter’s run-down headquarters in Rangoon, the former capital. "This will be safer for the NLD leaders to talk freely and without fear of their views being secretly recorded than if the meeting was held in a government guesthouse," said a source close to the party on the condition of anonymity.

According to US media reports, Campbell and Marciel are due to meet NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has spent over 14 of the last 20 years under house arrest. The Nobel Peace laureate, who is cut away from her party supporters, is reported to have told her lawyer that "she is keenly monitoring Mr. Campbell’s upcoming visit and is interested in when he will come and what he will do in Burma," according to a report in The Irrawaddy, a magazine produced by Burmese journalists living in exile in Thailand.

Washington’s approach towards a country that suffers from a lack of human rights, the rule of law and democracy was spelled out recently by a ranking member of the US State Department to Burmese political activists. "The US official said that they would use pressure to coax the Burmese regime to come out of isolation," a participant at that closed-door meeting in Thailand told IPS. "It will be different from the hard-line pressure before."

"They are very realistic about how progress should be measured," the participant added. "They know success will not come early.

KIO Calls for Discussion of Panglong Agreement

LAIZA, Kachin State — The Oct. 31 deadline for the ethnic crease-fire groups in Burma to disarm has passed quietly in the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) capital of Laiza.

Observers are focused now on the ongoing KIO-junta negotiations.

After the junta rejected all nine negotiation proposals submitted by the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), the KIO has changed its negotiation tactics.


A Kachin soldier on duty at a guard post at Laiza. (Photo: Ryan Libre)
The tenth proposal—appealing to the principles outlined in the Panglong Agreement—appears to have put the junta on the defensive by asking it to respect a power-sharing agreement signed by the government and ethnic groups in 1947.

The Panglong Agreement, a one-page document, states the central government will not “operate in respect to the Frontier Areas in any matter which would deprive any portion of those areas of the autonomy which it now enjoys in internal administration.”

From the first Constitution in 1947 until today, the promise of internal autonomy for the outlying ethnic areas has never been fully realized, say Kachin sources.

KIO Vice Chairman Gauri Zau Seng, KIA Vice Chief of Staff Gen Gun Maw and others are expected to meet with the junta's Northern Command in Myitkyina during the first week of November to discuss the latest proposal. The meeting could be the first of many to discuss the meaning of the agreement and how it might apply to the current political negotiations.

This is the first time the military has been willing to discuss the Panglong Agreement since seizing power in 1961, say observers.

 A Kachin cultural and political historian said, “If you give us the full meaning of that agreement—the human rights and ethnic minority rights stated on that paper—we will surrender.”

A KIO source said, “Now we are back on the right track, but we are not sure how far it will go.”

Ethnic Kachins to Meet US Delegation

LAIZA, Kachin State—Representatives of Burma's ethnic Kachin State are en route to the capital, Naypyidaw, to attend a meeting on Wednesday with a US delegation led by Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell. The delegation marks the first meeting between Kachin ethnic leaders and US officials since World War II.

The armed cease-fire group, the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), previously expressed an interest in attending the meeting, but the military government denied it the opportunity to participate.

However, in a compromise arrangement, well-known Kachin peace brokers Rev Dr. Lahtaw Saboi Jum and Dr. Manam Duga will deliver the KIO's proposal for a federal system in Burma and represent the organization's official stance.

“We want to let them know we just want a real federal system,” said KIO Vice Chief of Staff Gen Gun Maw. “We are requesting they [the two Kachin delegates] talk about this on behalf of the ethnic minorities.”

Campbell has said the Obama administration will continue to press for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and for an end to conflicts with ethnic minority groups. Campbell has said he views US delegations as a means to facilitate genuine dialogue between the Burmese government, the democratic opposition and the ethnic minorities.

The delegation will meet individually with ethnic representatives and junta officials, and has requested to meet privately with Suu Kyi. US officials have stated they will not be meeting with junta Snr-Gen Than Shwe on this visit.