IMNA
18 Apr 2008 - Departmental officers of the Burmese government have been made to sign a pledge that they will work in coordination with the referendum commission to campaign to the people to cast the ‘Yes' vote.
A school administrator in Mon State, "We had to sign that we are going to cooperate and help them in the coming referendum". All staff members of schools and other departments were forced to sign.
"We will help out the commission in the polling booths and the referendum process in May", she said. Their signatures will be submitted to the top authorities.
Departmental offices in Mon State were forced to sign by their relevant ministry from the end of March.
To get the 'Yes' vote, the Burmese regime has not closed government offices for civilian staff members during the water festival even though it had declared closure during the festival.
After the Burmese regime ordered the closure for the duration of the water festival, the Township department officers were reordered not to close the office and stand by at the office by their concerned ministry.
According to some civilian department officers, the officers have to take the responsibility of explaining to their staff members about the new constitution.
"It was a mix up. We can't do our job well due to such contradictory orders," the school administrator said.
Monday, 21 April 2008
Burmese embassy in Singapore to conduct absentee voting
Mizzima News
April 19, 2008
New Delhi – The Burmese embassy in Singapore has announced that it will hold absentee referendum voting at the end of April, and has reportedly sent out notices to Burmese citizens to come to the embassy premises to cast their votes.
In a letter sent to Burmese citizens, the embassy said it will hold absentee referendum voting from April 25 to 29. The letter, which is dated April 10, was signed by Kyaw Swe Tint, Consul of the Burmese embassy in Singapore.
The letter, a copy of which is with Mizzima, said Burmese citizens must bring copies of their passports or proof of identity. Reports said Singapore hosts at least 40,000 Burmese citizens with legal documents.
Meanwhile, the Singapore based Patriotic Exile Burmese Organisation, has urged Burmese citizens to cast the "No" vote as a protest against the current military rulers.
The group said, it has begun explaining to people the articles in the junta's draft constitution and urged them to reject it by voting "No'.
However, the group expressed concern over rumours that voters going to the embassy to vote will be asked to write down their passport number and national identity card numbers, which will help authorities identify voters.
"Vote rigging is almost certain even if we cast the 'No' vote. And some are afraid of casting the 'No' vote in the referendum after hearing the rumours that their passport number and National ID number will be noted down on the ballot paper. So they are undecided about going to the embassy for casting their votes. But we explained to them and many are convinced," Ko Kyaw Soe from the Patriotic Exile Burmese organization said.
A Burmese in Singapore said that the draft constitution has not yet been distributed in Singapore and inviting them to cast votes in the referendum is nothing but cheating them by forcing them to cast votes without studying the draft and knowing about the pros and cons of giving their consent to this draft.
"The constitution is an important document which must guarantee fundamental civic rights and human rights. It is not fair to cast votes in a referendum without studying the draft. So we have no other choice, but to cast 'No' votes in this referendum," he added.
The Patriotic Exile Burmese Organization said it will urge voters, authorities of Singapore, foreign embassies in Singapore, media groups and Burmese monks to monitor the voting at the embassy and call for counting of the votes on the same day and monitor the result.
"There are about 40,000 Burmese in Singapore. It will be ok if 35,000 cast 'No' votes and the remaining 5,000 cast 'Yes' votes on that day. This news will spread to Burma and influence the voting in Burma," Kyaw Soe said.
Similarly, Burmese citizens in Japan, US, UK, and Australia have been notified by the Burmese embassy for the dates of absentee referendum voting. However, the actual dates could not be confirmed as yet.
April 19, 2008
New Delhi – The Burmese embassy in Singapore has announced that it will hold absentee referendum voting at the end of April, and has reportedly sent out notices to Burmese citizens to come to the embassy premises to cast their votes.
In a letter sent to Burmese citizens, the embassy said it will hold absentee referendum voting from April 25 to 29. The letter, which is dated April 10, was signed by Kyaw Swe Tint, Consul of the Burmese embassy in Singapore.
The letter, a copy of which is with Mizzima, said Burmese citizens must bring copies of their passports or proof of identity. Reports said Singapore hosts at least 40,000 Burmese citizens with legal documents.
Meanwhile, the Singapore based Patriotic Exile Burmese Organisation, has urged Burmese citizens to cast the "No" vote as a protest against the current military rulers.
The group said, it has begun explaining to people the articles in the junta's draft constitution and urged them to reject it by voting "No'.
However, the group expressed concern over rumours that voters going to the embassy to vote will be asked to write down their passport number and national identity card numbers, which will help authorities identify voters.
"Vote rigging is almost certain even if we cast the 'No' vote. And some are afraid of casting the 'No' vote in the referendum after hearing the rumours that their passport number and National ID number will be noted down on the ballot paper. So they are undecided about going to the embassy for casting their votes. But we explained to them and many are convinced," Ko Kyaw Soe from the Patriotic Exile Burmese organization said.
A Burmese in Singapore said that the draft constitution has not yet been distributed in Singapore and inviting them to cast votes in the referendum is nothing but cheating them by forcing them to cast votes without studying the draft and knowing about the pros and cons of giving their consent to this draft.
"The constitution is an important document which must guarantee fundamental civic rights and human rights. It is not fair to cast votes in a referendum without studying the draft. So we have no other choice, but to cast 'No' votes in this referendum," he added.
The Patriotic Exile Burmese Organization said it will urge voters, authorities of Singapore, foreign embassies in Singapore, media groups and Burmese monks to monitor the voting at the embassy and call for counting of the votes on the same day and monitor the result.
"There are about 40,000 Burmese in Singapore. It will be ok if 35,000 cast 'No' votes and the remaining 5,000 cast 'Yes' votes on that day. This news will spread to Burma and influence the voting in Burma," Kyaw Soe said.
Similarly, Burmese citizens in Japan, US, UK, and Australia have been notified by the Burmese embassy for the dates of absentee referendum voting. However, the actual dates could not be confirmed as yet.
Upcoming political uncertainties hover over Burma
By Kavi Chongkittavorn
In less than three weeks the Burmese people will vote in a national referendum on the country's draft constitution.
April 21, 2008 - It will be a historic democratic battle between the iron-fisted government that wants to impose its rule and impoverished voters who want to be free. The draft constitution, which would give 25 per cent of parliament seats to the military, was recently completed after 15 years. Draft copies are now available in bookstores for 1000 kyats (Bt4,846) - something not all Burmese can afford.
Bangkok-based diplomats and Burmese living in exile around the world have predicted that voters will certainly reject the draft constitution. Growing resentment over the increased price of gas and oil, which triggered the saffron uprising last August, continues to mount and is currently being compounded with increases in the price of rice and other basic-food commodities.
Unfortunately, the exact count will never be known or publicised. The results - whatever they may be - will depend
totally on the whip or rather the imagination of junta leaders. Without international observers, the referendum would lack creditability and legitimacy. There is also a strong possibility that there could be further violence after the referendum if the junta goes against the people's will.
To the junta, public affirmation and legitimacy - even if it has been fabricated to the hilt - is necessary and considered a pivotal step to put its seven-point roadmap for democracy in place. At issue here are the various post-referendum scenarios and the outside world's reaction to them. Whatever happens would inevitably affect Burma's future and its people's aspirations for democracy, including the planned 2010 election. Despite pessimism, Asean, the UN and the international community continue to look for ways to make Burma more democratic and inclusive in future political processes.
They are now trying to gauge the junta leaders' political moves, which have been surprising so far. After repeatedly failing to engage the Burmese regime even before September's crackdown on monks, they have been looking for new ways to keep channels with the junta open.
De-linking politics from humanitarian and development assistance, the approach currently taken by the EU, could serve as a new modus operandi. The idea of punishing the regime, coupled with increasing assistance to those most vulnerable inside Burma, is gaining currency.
With the US continuing to impose harsher sanctions, the EU approach is obviously more attractive at this point. However, it is still too early to tell if this path will lead to more positive outcomes. In past months, vulnerable Burmese have benefited more from increased humanitarian and development assistance, especially in heath care and education, than before. As a matter of urgency, the EU should provide more anti-viral drugs for additional HIV/Aids patients beyond the current 10,000.
Asean's inability to convince Burma to comply with norms of collective responsibility and group interest has been appalling. For over a decade, the Burma debacle has sapped the grouping's energies and marred the grouping's prospects of cooperation with dialogue partners. As the current Asean chair, Singapore, has tried and subsequently failed to engage both Asean members and major powers in resolving the Burmese quagmire.
Burma's bitterness over Singapore's handling of the political fallout from the September crackdown remains evident. The cold shoulder that Burma has been giving UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari over the past six months is linked to his aborted plan to brief East Asian leaders at November's Asean Summit in Singapore.
But the UN remains crucial for any future settlement and rehabilitation in Burma. With continued coordination between US, UK and France, the council is expected to add Burma to its future agenda. A tougher and more binding resolution could be expected.
In the previous council's discussion last year, China and Russia vetoed the resolution calling for sanctions. Given the current international political environment, there could be further trade-offs among the council's members.
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's dealings with Burma have been quite exceptional. He has had personal correspondence with the reclusive General Than Shwe for quite some time. But it was only last week that the president's office had enough confidence to inform the media that Yudhoyono's efforts were not all in vain and that the general has answered his mail.
In his letter, Than Shwe assured Yudhoyono of the continuing democratic process in his country and pledged to continue communicating with him. "This is a unique process as every one of the president's letters has been replied to by General Than Shwe," said presidential spokesman Dino Patti Djalal.
It remains to be seen whether this "unique process" will lead to more tangible progress. After all, Than Shwe is still the leader who decides everything in Burma. With a presidential election scheduled for next year, Yudhoyono is also pondering his own political legacy. As Asean's largest member, Indonesia carries weight with whatever plans it undertakes, especially on regional issues.
To back up Yudhoyono's personal initiative, the Indonesian foreign ministry has fine-tuned a peace plan for Burma that would involve initially informal discussions among a handful of key stakeholders. It is essentially a mechanism similar to the informal talks held in Jakarta in the early 1990s to end the Cambodian conflict. Indonesia skilfully played the role of mediator and employed a strategy that allowed rival Cambodian groups to meet and subsequently agree on common ground, which eventually led to the Paris peace talks.
Before it is formally proposed to Asean, Indonesia wants to make sure that it has the support of its colleagues and the international community for a Burmese peace plan. China has already supported this peace plan and soon Asean would make its position known.
Source: The Nation
In less than three weeks the Burmese people will vote in a national referendum on the country's draft constitution.
April 21, 2008 - It will be a historic democratic battle between the iron-fisted government that wants to impose its rule and impoverished voters who want to be free. The draft constitution, which would give 25 per cent of parliament seats to the military, was recently completed after 15 years. Draft copies are now available in bookstores for 1000 kyats (Bt4,846) - something not all Burmese can afford.
Bangkok-based diplomats and Burmese living in exile around the world have predicted that voters will certainly reject the draft constitution. Growing resentment over the increased price of gas and oil, which triggered the saffron uprising last August, continues to mount and is currently being compounded with increases in the price of rice and other basic-food commodities.
Unfortunately, the exact count will never be known or publicised. The results - whatever they may be - will depend
totally on the whip or rather the imagination of junta leaders. Without international observers, the referendum would lack creditability and legitimacy. There is also a strong possibility that there could be further violence after the referendum if the junta goes against the people's will.
To the junta, public affirmation and legitimacy - even if it has been fabricated to the hilt - is necessary and considered a pivotal step to put its seven-point roadmap for democracy in place. At issue here are the various post-referendum scenarios and the outside world's reaction to them. Whatever happens would inevitably affect Burma's future and its people's aspirations for democracy, including the planned 2010 election. Despite pessimism, Asean, the UN and the international community continue to look for ways to make Burma more democratic and inclusive in future political processes.
They are now trying to gauge the junta leaders' political moves, which have been surprising so far. After repeatedly failing to engage the Burmese regime even before September's crackdown on monks, they have been looking for new ways to keep channels with the junta open.
De-linking politics from humanitarian and development assistance, the approach currently taken by the EU, could serve as a new modus operandi. The idea of punishing the regime, coupled with increasing assistance to those most vulnerable inside Burma, is gaining currency.
With the US continuing to impose harsher sanctions, the EU approach is obviously more attractive at this point. However, it is still too early to tell if this path will lead to more positive outcomes. In past months, vulnerable Burmese have benefited more from increased humanitarian and development assistance, especially in heath care and education, than before. As a matter of urgency, the EU should provide more anti-viral drugs for additional HIV/Aids patients beyond the current 10,000.
Asean's inability to convince Burma to comply with norms of collective responsibility and group interest has been appalling. For over a decade, the Burma debacle has sapped the grouping's energies and marred the grouping's prospects of cooperation with dialogue partners. As the current Asean chair, Singapore, has tried and subsequently failed to engage both Asean members and major powers in resolving the Burmese quagmire.
Burma's bitterness over Singapore's handling of the political fallout from the September crackdown remains evident. The cold shoulder that Burma has been giving UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari over the past six months is linked to his aborted plan to brief East Asian leaders at November's Asean Summit in Singapore.
But the UN remains crucial for any future settlement and rehabilitation in Burma. With continued coordination between US, UK and France, the council is expected to add Burma to its future agenda. A tougher and more binding resolution could be expected.
In the previous council's discussion last year, China and Russia vetoed the resolution calling for sanctions. Given the current international political environment, there could be further trade-offs among the council's members.
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's dealings with Burma have been quite exceptional. He has had personal correspondence with the reclusive General Than Shwe for quite some time. But it was only last week that the president's office had enough confidence to inform the media that Yudhoyono's efforts were not all in vain and that the general has answered his mail.
In his letter, Than Shwe assured Yudhoyono of the continuing democratic process in his country and pledged to continue communicating with him. "This is a unique process as every one of the president's letters has been replied to by General Than Shwe," said presidential spokesman Dino Patti Djalal.
It remains to be seen whether this "unique process" will lead to more tangible progress. After all, Than Shwe is still the leader who decides everything in Burma. With a presidential election scheduled for next year, Yudhoyono is also pondering his own political legacy. As Asean's largest member, Indonesia carries weight with whatever plans it undertakes, especially on regional issues.
To back up Yudhoyono's personal initiative, the Indonesian foreign ministry has fine-tuned a peace plan for Burma that would involve initially informal discussions among a handful of key stakeholders. It is essentially a mechanism similar to the informal talks held in Jakarta in the early 1990s to end the Cambodian conflict. Indonesia skilfully played the role of mediator and employed a strategy that allowed rival Cambodian groups to meet and subsequently agree on common ground, which eventually led to the Paris peace talks.
Before it is formally proposed to Asean, Indonesia wants to make sure that it has the support of its colleagues and the international community for a Burmese peace plan. China has already supported this peace plan and soon Asean would make its position known.
Source: The Nation
Voices silenced in Myanmar vote campaign
21 April, 2008
YANGON: In military-run Myanmar, the junta’s campaign for the proposed draft constitution is in full swing while opposing voices are kept silent, but many people are not convinced by the generals’ promises.
Three weeks ahead of the May 10 referendum on the charter, front pages of state press scream in bold headlines: “Let’s vote Yes for national interest.”
Songs extolling the new proposed constitution, which was drafted by a committee hand-picked by the generals, fill the prime-time airwaves of government-owned television and radio stations.
The draft constitution book is now available in many bookstores in Yangon, albeit at a price of nearly $1 – far beyond the means of most people in this impoverished country.
Than Than, a 45-year-old housewife in the economic hub Yangon, has no plans to splash out for the hefty 194-page basic law.
“We don’t even need to read that book. Even a housewife like me has enough experience under military rule. I think it was just prepared to secure their power,” she said.
The regime says the referendum will pave the way for multi-party elections in 2010.
But activists say the constitution was drafted with no public input, and simply enshrines the military’s role in the country it has ruled for nearly half a century.
While barely a day goes by without the appearance in local press of poems, cartoons and editorials urging people to vote “Yes”, efforts by pro-democracy activists to campaign against the charter have been quashed.
Detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party is urging people to vote down the charter, but said last week that their activities were being curtailed, sometimes violently.
In the western town of Sittwe on Tuesday, at least 23 people wearing T-shirts bearing just one word – “No” – were arrested, the party said.
Official NLD documents were confiscated by authorities, they said, while local party organisers had been detained and interrogated.
Amid the tense atmosphere, people were weighing up their choice in the first poll to be held in Myanmar in 18 years.
“People are so stubborn. They should be aware that if we vote ‘Yes’, the military will step down in two years, if not it will take another 10 years,” said a Myanmar engineer who works in Singapore.
The proposed constitution reserves one quarter of seats in both chambers of Parliament for military members, while some key ministries including home affairs will also be controlled exclusively by the army.
Aung San Suu Kyi would be barred from running for president under the new constitution because she was married to a foreigner.
Win, a 73-year-old former socialist party member, said it reminded him of the period after the military first grabbed power in 1962, headed by Ne Win.
“Many army officials including General Ne Win changed uniforms and took up positions in country’s administration,” he said.
Many people in Myanmar were unwilling to discuss how they plan to vote out of fear of repercussions from the regime, and some are afraid that their votes too will be monitored by the junta.
“It would be dangerous for us if we vote ‘No’ because somebody might watch what we vote for at polling places”, said 59-year-old Ye Ye.
Analysts have warned that the generals will do anything to prevent a “No” vote, and have cautioned that the poll will likely not be free and fair.
The last time the junta called open elections in 1990, the NLD won by a landslide in a result the regime refused to recognise.
Instead, the generals kept Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest, where she has remained for 12 of the last 18 years.
“I don’t think they will clear out even if the result is ‘No’, but I just want to show clearly that I don’t want them anymore,” said a 38-year-old woman. “So although there is not much hope for voting ‘No’, I will just vote ‘No’ anyway.”
Source: AFP-Gulf Times
YANGON: In military-run Myanmar, the junta’s campaign for the proposed draft constitution is in full swing while opposing voices are kept silent, but many people are not convinced by the generals’ promises.
Three weeks ahead of the May 10 referendum on the charter, front pages of state press scream in bold headlines: “Let’s vote Yes for national interest.”
Songs extolling the new proposed constitution, which was drafted by a committee hand-picked by the generals, fill the prime-time airwaves of government-owned television and radio stations.
The draft constitution book is now available in many bookstores in Yangon, albeit at a price of nearly $1 – far beyond the means of most people in this impoverished country.
Than Than, a 45-year-old housewife in the economic hub Yangon, has no plans to splash out for the hefty 194-page basic law.
“We don’t even need to read that book. Even a housewife like me has enough experience under military rule. I think it was just prepared to secure their power,” she said.
The regime says the referendum will pave the way for multi-party elections in 2010.
But activists say the constitution was drafted with no public input, and simply enshrines the military’s role in the country it has ruled for nearly half a century.
While barely a day goes by without the appearance in local press of poems, cartoons and editorials urging people to vote “Yes”, efforts by pro-democracy activists to campaign against the charter have been quashed.
Detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party is urging people to vote down the charter, but said last week that their activities were being curtailed, sometimes violently.
In the western town of Sittwe on Tuesday, at least 23 people wearing T-shirts bearing just one word – “No” – were arrested, the party said.
Official NLD documents were confiscated by authorities, they said, while local party organisers had been detained and interrogated.
Amid the tense atmosphere, people were weighing up their choice in the first poll to be held in Myanmar in 18 years.
“People are so stubborn. They should be aware that if we vote ‘Yes’, the military will step down in two years, if not it will take another 10 years,” said a Myanmar engineer who works in Singapore.
The proposed constitution reserves one quarter of seats in both chambers of Parliament for military members, while some key ministries including home affairs will also be controlled exclusively by the army.
Aung San Suu Kyi would be barred from running for president under the new constitution because she was married to a foreigner.
Win, a 73-year-old former socialist party member, said it reminded him of the period after the military first grabbed power in 1962, headed by Ne Win.
“Many army officials including General Ne Win changed uniforms and took up positions in country’s administration,” he said.
Many people in Myanmar were unwilling to discuss how they plan to vote out of fear of repercussions from the regime, and some are afraid that their votes too will be monitored by the junta.
“It would be dangerous for us if we vote ‘No’ because somebody might watch what we vote for at polling places”, said 59-year-old Ye Ye.
Analysts have warned that the generals will do anything to prevent a “No” vote, and have cautioned that the poll will likely not be free and fair.
The last time the junta called open elections in 1990, the NLD won by a landslide in a result the regime refused to recognise.
Instead, the generals kept Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest, where she has remained for 12 of the last 18 years.
“I don’t think they will clear out even if the result is ‘No’, but I just want to show clearly that I don’t want them anymore,” said a 38-year-old woman. “So although there is not much hope for voting ‘No’, I will just vote ‘No’ anyway.”
Source: AFP-Gulf Times
Myanmar arrests keep pressure on "no" campaign
By Aung Hla Tun
April 20, 2008, YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar's junta is intensifying its campaign of intimidation against dissidents, and conducting a propaganda drive, to ensure its new constitution gets passed in a referendum next month, opposition leaders said on Sunday.
At least 60 people have been arrested in Sittwe, capital of northwest Rakhine state, since last week's traditional New Year celebrations for wearing T-shirts urging people to vote "No" in the May 10 plebiscite.
"More than 30 have been released but at least 20 are still in detention, and the arrests are still going on," Ko Thein Hlaing, a senior member of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) in Rakhine, told Reuters.
The NLD, whose leader Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi remains under house arrest, is leading the campaign to reject the constitution, which has been drafted over the last 14 years by an army-picked committee.
The NLD boycotted the process because of Suu Kyi's detention, and refuses to accept some of the main clauses of the charter, in particular those guaranteeing the army 25 percent of seats in parliament and the right to suspend the constitution at will.
Other underground opposition groups are also pushing for the former Burma's 53 million people to reject the charter, most notably the "88 Generation Students" who led a brutally crushed 1988 uprising against decades of military rule.
In addition to the Sittwe arrests, NLD spokesman Nyan Win said one party official had been arrested in Yangon for putting up a "No" poster, and several other party members had been beaten or assaulted for campaigning.
Perhaps mindful of 1990, when they allowed an election only to suffer a humiliating defeat -- which they then ignored -- to Suu Kyi's NLD, the generals are also pulling out all the propaganda stops to ensure the charter passes.
State-run MRTV has been broadcasting programmes and songs calling for a "Yes", while government workers and soldiers have also received orders on how to vote.
Regime-controlled newspapers have also been carrying slogans, articles, commentaries and poems urging people to vote in favour.
"To approve the State Constitution is a national duty of the entire people today," the New Light of Myanmar, the junta's official mouthpiece, blared in a front-page headline.
Inside, the paper carried a sinister commentary accusing dissidents of being "the axe-handles and mouthpiece of the colonialists".
(Writing by Ed Cropley; Editing by Bill Tarrant)
April 20, 2008, YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar's junta is intensifying its campaign of intimidation against dissidents, and conducting a propaganda drive, to ensure its new constitution gets passed in a referendum next month, opposition leaders said on Sunday.
At least 60 people have been arrested in Sittwe, capital of northwest Rakhine state, since last week's traditional New Year celebrations for wearing T-shirts urging people to vote "No" in the May 10 plebiscite.
"More than 30 have been released but at least 20 are still in detention, and the arrests are still going on," Ko Thein Hlaing, a senior member of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) in Rakhine, told Reuters.
The NLD, whose leader Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi remains under house arrest, is leading the campaign to reject the constitution, which has been drafted over the last 14 years by an army-picked committee.
The NLD boycotted the process because of Suu Kyi's detention, and refuses to accept some of the main clauses of the charter, in particular those guaranteeing the army 25 percent of seats in parliament and the right to suspend the constitution at will.
Other underground opposition groups are also pushing for the former Burma's 53 million people to reject the charter, most notably the "88 Generation Students" who led a brutally crushed 1988 uprising against decades of military rule.
In addition to the Sittwe arrests, NLD spokesman Nyan Win said one party official had been arrested in Yangon for putting up a "No" poster, and several other party members had been beaten or assaulted for campaigning.
Perhaps mindful of 1990, when they allowed an election only to suffer a humiliating defeat -- which they then ignored -- to Suu Kyi's NLD, the generals are also pulling out all the propaganda stops to ensure the charter passes.
State-run MRTV has been broadcasting programmes and songs calling for a "Yes", while government workers and soldiers have also received orders on how to vote.
Regime-controlled newspapers have also been carrying slogans, articles, commentaries and poems urging people to vote in favour.
"To approve the State Constitution is a national duty of the entire people today," the New Light of Myanmar, the junta's official mouthpiece, blared in a front-page headline.
Inside, the paper carried a sinister commentary accusing dissidents of being "the axe-handles and mouthpiece of the colonialists".
(Writing by Ed Cropley; Editing by Bill Tarrant)
Sunday, 20 April 2008
Friday, 18 April 2008
Myanmar monks pray for democracy
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - Monks who helped lead last year's protests against Myanmar's junta urged the country to mark the traditional New Year on Thursday with prayers for democracy.
The All Burma Monks Alliance, a coalition of activist monks in Myanmar, denounced the country's military leaders for having "mistreated and abused the religion and Buddhist monks" during its crackdown on peaceful protests.
In a statement, the alliance called on the devoutly Buddhist country to pray "for the success of the democratic movement and to pray that those who committed sins against the religion ... face retribution."
The alliance was instrumental in organizing last September's pro-democracy protests. Most of its leaders were arrested or are in hiding. The statement with the group's seal was sent by e-mail from the same address it has used in the past.
Calls for democratic reforms in Myanmar intensified after the junta quashed the protests. The United Nations estimates at least 31 people were killed and thousands more detained during the crackdown.
The All Burma Monks Alliance, a coalition of activist monks in Myanmar, denounced the country's military leaders for having "mistreated and abused the religion and Buddhist monks" during its crackdown on peaceful protests.
In a statement, the alliance called on the devoutly Buddhist country to pray "for the success of the democratic movement and to pray that those who committed sins against the religion ... face retribution."
The alliance was instrumental in organizing last September's pro-democracy protests. Most of its leaders were arrested or are in hiding. The statement with the group's seal was sent by e-mail from the same address it has used in the past.
Calls for democratic reforms in Myanmar intensified after the junta quashed the protests. The United Nations estimates at least 31 people were killed and thousands more detained during the crackdown.
Cracks in constitution divide Myanmar
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
Asia Times
BANGKOK - Myanmar's military regime is under fire for the language in a new constitution to be approved at a national referendum on May 10. The full text of the charter was made public only a month ahead of the plebiscite.
Articles that have aroused anger deal with attempts by the junta to legitimize its role as the supreme political authority in the troubled country. Such clauses make the constitution's promise of a new democratic landscape meaningless, say critics.
Article No 445 tops the list of concerns for the Burma Lawyers' Council (BLC) and groups like the US-based Global Justice Center (GJC). "No legal action shall be taken against those (either individuals or groups who are members of SLORC and SPDC) who officially carried out their duties according to their responsibilities," states this article.
Tha SLORC (State Law and Order Restoration Council) and the SPDC (State Peace and Development Council) are the official names the governing arm of the regime has been known by since military leaders staged a power-grabbing coup in 1988. The regime that it overthrew was itself military-based and had come to power following a 1962 coup.
"That clause is to provide immunity to the junta for all the human rights violations it has committed since 1988," says Aung Htoo, general secretary of the BLC. "The new constitution will be meaningless if the perpetrators of violence can enjoy immunity after it is approved. What is the difference for the people, who are the victims? Nothing."
It also undermines the hope of Myanmar transforming from a dictatorship to a democracy, he explained in an interview. "A constitution for a post-conflict society has to give justice and genuine national reconciliation a priority. That is what happened in South Africa. But the new constitution offers little to move Burma [Myanmar] away from its current conflicts."
On Monday, the BLC and GJC issued a statement denouncing the military regime for trying to evade "criminal prosecution" through the constitution. "There is ample evidence that the military regime has committed war crimes, crimes against humanity and potentially even genocide through forced relocations, torture, rape, enforced disappearance and extermination," they said.
Leaders of the Myanmar's ethnic communities are perturbed that the junta's much-vaunted promise to create regional assemblies through the constitution amounts to essentially toothless legislative bodies. The new charter is set to create 14 assemblies in areas that are home to the major ethnic groups, marking the first offer of political space to the non-Burmese minorities since the country gained independence from the British in 1948.
"The regional assemblies will be under the junta, which has the power to appoint a fourth of the members and the chief minister for the region," says David Taw, joint general secretary of the Ethnic Nationalities Council (ENC), an umbrella body for the seven major ethnic groups. "Most of the people would like to choose their own chief minister through a ballot."
The space for economic activity to meet the needs of the ethnic communities is also restrained, Taw added in an interview. "The local people will not be able to pursue their economic activity freely. It is a setback to our hope of achieving a federal system of government."
The unresolved question of genuine political representation for Myanmar's ethnic communities has dogged the country since independence, resulting in bloody separatist conflicts that have lasted over six decades. "The attempt to adopt a constitution to lengthen the military dictatorship will [create] more problems," the ENC declared in a recent statement. "It will also lengthen the 60-year-long civil war caused by breaching the self-determination rights of the ethnic nationalities."
The current constitution has been 15 years in the making. Some say the delay was created by the junta to stall the country's democratic parties, led by detained Aung San Suu Kyi, in claiming a stake in running the country. The junta refused to recognize the outcome of a parliamentary election in 1990, which Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) won in a landslide. Instead, the military created a national convention soon after to draft a new constitution.
The current charter is Myanmar's third, following the 1947 document, which was drafted by the country's resistance fighters ahead of independence from British colonialism, and the 1974 document, which was shaped by the military dictator at the time, General Ne Win.
The second constitution, which established a one-party state to promote a socialist agenda, was torn up in 1988 by the current military regime. Consequently, the SLORC and SPDC governed without constitutional authority and were seen as lacking political legitimacy by a domestic and a growing international constituency.
The only advance the new constitution has made over the 1974 document is its promise to create a multi-party democracy. But the prospect of such inclusive features has been undermined by the junta's move to limit the drafting of the charter to military-appointed delegates and its harsh restrictions on public discussion of the document.
"The military has made sure that any amendments to the constitution introduced by political parties in the future will be harder to be approved," says Aung Naing Oo, an independent Myanmar political analyst living in exile in Thailand. "The conflict in the country will go on without the prospect of change and improvement."
The likelihood of the constitution adding to the political fires already burning in Myanmar arises from the deep divisions that plague the country. "Burma is a different country today than it was in 1974. When the constitution was passed then, we were not so divided," Aung Naing Oo added. "Now it is different, and now the entire world is also watching."
The junta, for its part, appears confident that it has drafted the best constitution for Myanmar. "Approving the constitution is the responsibility of all citizens in the country. All who support our national interests must vote in favor," declared the page-one headline of a state-run newspaper on the week the referendum campaign was officially launched.
Asia Times
BANGKOK - Myanmar's military regime is under fire for the language in a new constitution to be approved at a national referendum on May 10. The full text of the charter was made public only a month ahead of the plebiscite.
Articles that have aroused anger deal with attempts by the junta to legitimize its role as the supreme political authority in the troubled country. Such clauses make the constitution's promise of a new democratic landscape meaningless, say critics.
Article No 445 tops the list of concerns for the Burma Lawyers' Council (BLC) and groups like the US-based Global Justice Center (GJC). "No legal action shall be taken against those (either individuals or groups who are members of SLORC and SPDC) who officially carried out their duties according to their responsibilities," states this article.
Tha SLORC (State Law and Order Restoration Council) and the SPDC (State Peace and Development Council) are the official names the governing arm of the regime has been known by since military leaders staged a power-grabbing coup in 1988. The regime that it overthrew was itself military-based and had come to power following a 1962 coup.
"That clause is to provide immunity to the junta for all the human rights violations it has committed since 1988," says Aung Htoo, general secretary of the BLC. "The new constitution will be meaningless if the perpetrators of violence can enjoy immunity after it is approved. What is the difference for the people, who are the victims? Nothing."
It also undermines the hope of Myanmar transforming from a dictatorship to a democracy, he explained in an interview. "A constitution for a post-conflict society has to give justice and genuine national reconciliation a priority. That is what happened in South Africa. But the new constitution offers little to move Burma [Myanmar] away from its current conflicts."
On Monday, the BLC and GJC issued a statement denouncing the military regime for trying to evade "criminal prosecution" through the constitution. "There is ample evidence that the military regime has committed war crimes, crimes against humanity and potentially even genocide through forced relocations, torture, rape, enforced disappearance and extermination," they said.
Leaders of the Myanmar's ethnic communities are perturbed that the junta's much-vaunted promise to create regional assemblies through the constitution amounts to essentially toothless legislative bodies. The new charter is set to create 14 assemblies in areas that are home to the major ethnic groups, marking the first offer of political space to the non-Burmese minorities since the country gained independence from the British in 1948.
"The regional assemblies will be under the junta, which has the power to appoint a fourth of the members and the chief minister for the region," says David Taw, joint general secretary of the Ethnic Nationalities Council (ENC), an umbrella body for the seven major ethnic groups. "Most of the people would like to choose their own chief minister through a ballot."
The space for economic activity to meet the needs of the ethnic communities is also restrained, Taw added in an interview. "The local people will not be able to pursue their economic activity freely. It is a setback to our hope of achieving a federal system of government."
The unresolved question of genuine political representation for Myanmar's ethnic communities has dogged the country since independence, resulting in bloody separatist conflicts that have lasted over six decades. "The attempt to adopt a constitution to lengthen the military dictatorship will [create] more problems," the ENC declared in a recent statement. "It will also lengthen the 60-year-long civil war caused by breaching the self-determination rights of the ethnic nationalities."
The current constitution has been 15 years in the making. Some say the delay was created by the junta to stall the country's democratic parties, led by detained Aung San Suu Kyi, in claiming a stake in running the country. The junta refused to recognize the outcome of a parliamentary election in 1990, which Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) won in a landslide. Instead, the military created a national convention soon after to draft a new constitution.
The current charter is Myanmar's third, following the 1947 document, which was drafted by the country's resistance fighters ahead of independence from British colonialism, and the 1974 document, which was shaped by the military dictator at the time, General Ne Win.
The second constitution, which established a one-party state to promote a socialist agenda, was torn up in 1988 by the current military regime. Consequently, the SLORC and SPDC governed without constitutional authority and were seen as lacking political legitimacy by a domestic and a growing international constituency.
The only advance the new constitution has made over the 1974 document is its promise to create a multi-party democracy. But the prospect of such inclusive features has been undermined by the junta's move to limit the drafting of the charter to military-appointed delegates and its harsh restrictions on public discussion of the document.
"The military has made sure that any amendments to the constitution introduced by political parties in the future will be harder to be approved," says Aung Naing Oo, an independent Myanmar political analyst living in exile in Thailand. "The conflict in the country will go on without the prospect of change and improvement."
The likelihood of the constitution adding to the political fires already burning in Myanmar arises from the deep divisions that plague the country. "Burma is a different country today than it was in 1974. When the constitution was passed then, we were not so divided," Aung Naing Oo added. "Now it is different, and now the entire world is also watching."
The junta, for its part, appears confident that it has drafted the best constitution for Myanmar. "Approving the constitution is the responsibility of all citizens in the country. All who support our national interests must vote in favor," declared the page-one headline of a state-run newspaper on the week the referendum campaign was officially launched.
European Parliament Calls for Pressure on Junta
By WAI MOE
The Irrawaddy News
The European Parliament says the Burmese referendum on May 10 is a move to give the military power and keep opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi out of politics, according to its press release on April 16.
The statement also noted that “pressure within Burma is certain to mount” as the date of the referendum draws nearer.
A Dutch member of the European Parliament, Thijs Berman, who chaired the parliament’s hearing on Burma on April 2, said the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) should launch an inquiry into human rights abuses in Burma and said he hoped the UNSC would start bringing human rights violations in Burma before the International Criminal Court.
He suggested the European Parliament adopt a resolution on Burma at its next meeting. He also called for economic pressure to be applied to international companies who undertake business with the Burmese regime.
While the official Burmese media are calling on voters to approve the constitution on May 10, dissident groups, such as Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy and the 88 Generation Students group, are urging the Burmese public to vote against the constitution.
A Portuguese member of the European Parliament, Jose Ribeiro e Castro, called on the European Union (EU) to give more support to Suu Kyi—a former winner of the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize. He also urged the EU to have a coherent strategy in relations with China and India in order to coordinate an international response to the regime.
Glenys Kinnock of the British Labour Party said any development assistance to Burma should be linked to political progress—part of a wider call by many parliament members for “smarter sanctions.”
The EU’s special envoy to Burma, Piero Fassino, told European Parliament members at the hearing that the junta had refused a UN plan that would lead to democracy and that the plan stressed the importance of dialogue and recognition.
The issue of Burma has also been discussed at a conference of the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats-Alliance of Liberal and Democrats for Europe, which is being held from April 15 to April 17 in the Belgian capital, Brussels. Fassino is one of the speakers at the conference.
Win Min, a Burmese political analyst based in Chiang Mai, Thailand, said that after the September uprising in Burma, the EU’s stand on Burma had been stronger and that the EU is the second most influential institution after the United States in terms of pressuring the Burmese junta.
“EU pressure is an important factor because it has two permanent members of the UNSC, as well as good economic and political ties with China,” he said. “However, the EU’s decision is dependent upon a caucus decision among its 27 member states,” Win Min noted.
Meanwhile, Burmese authorities in Sittwe, northwestern Burma, arrested 23 democracy activists during the Burmese New Year festival as they marched peacefully wearing t-shirts bearing the slogan “No,” which have become increasingly popular as a sign of protest against the junta’s constitution.
The junta’s planned referendum on a new constitution will be reduced to “a mere ritual” unless international observers are allowed to monitor the vote, said the outgoing UN human rights investigator on Burma, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, on Monday.
“How can you believe in this referendum?” Pinheiro added. “How can you have a referendum without any of the basic freedoms?”
The Irrawaddy News
The European Parliament says the Burmese referendum on May 10 is a move to give the military power and keep opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi out of politics, according to its press release on April 16.
The statement also noted that “pressure within Burma is certain to mount” as the date of the referendum draws nearer.
A Dutch member of the European Parliament, Thijs Berman, who chaired the parliament’s hearing on Burma on April 2, said the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) should launch an inquiry into human rights abuses in Burma and said he hoped the UNSC would start bringing human rights violations in Burma before the International Criminal Court.
He suggested the European Parliament adopt a resolution on Burma at its next meeting. He also called for economic pressure to be applied to international companies who undertake business with the Burmese regime.
While the official Burmese media are calling on voters to approve the constitution on May 10, dissident groups, such as Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy and the 88 Generation Students group, are urging the Burmese public to vote against the constitution.
A Portuguese member of the European Parliament, Jose Ribeiro e Castro, called on the European Union (EU) to give more support to Suu Kyi—a former winner of the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize. He also urged the EU to have a coherent strategy in relations with China and India in order to coordinate an international response to the regime.
Glenys Kinnock of the British Labour Party said any development assistance to Burma should be linked to political progress—part of a wider call by many parliament members for “smarter sanctions.”
The EU’s special envoy to Burma, Piero Fassino, told European Parliament members at the hearing that the junta had refused a UN plan that would lead to democracy and that the plan stressed the importance of dialogue and recognition.
The issue of Burma has also been discussed at a conference of the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats-Alliance of Liberal and Democrats for Europe, which is being held from April 15 to April 17 in the Belgian capital, Brussels. Fassino is one of the speakers at the conference.
Win Min, a Burmese political analyst based in Chiang Mai, Thailand, said that after the September uprising in Burma, the EU’s stand on Burma had been stronger and that the EU is the second most influential institution after the United States in terms of pressuring the Burmese junta.
“EU pressure is an important factor because it has two permanent members of the UNSC, as well as good economic and political ties with China,” he said. “However, the EU’s decision is dependent upon a caucus decision among its 27 member states,” Win Min noted.
Meanwhile, Burmese authorities in Sittwe, northwestern Burma, arrested 23 democracy activists during the Burmese New Year festival as they marched peacefully wearing t-shirts bearing the slogan “No,” which have become increasingly popular as a sign of protest against the junta’s constitution.
The junta’s planned referendum on a new constitution will be reduced to “a mere ritual” unless international observers are allowed to monitor the vote, said the outgoing UN human rights investigator on Burma, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, on Monday.
“How can you believe in this referendum?” Pinheiro added. “How can you have a referendum without any of the basic freedoms?”
Exile, Canadian-Style
By AUNG ZAW
The Irrawaddy News
Myo Min pointed to the on-board computer in his police patrol car. “This is how we track down the bad guys,” he boasted, clearly relishing his newfound role as a high-tech crime fighter.
But this is Canada, and bureaucracy soon stood in the way of his desire to show off. He couldn’t let me into the vehicle, he said, without getting permission from his supervisor at least 48 hours in advance. I did, however, notice that he was playing a song by Burmese rock star Zaw Win Htut in the car’s cassette player.
It was a brutally cold night, and Myo Min was on duty patrolling the streets of Ottawa, doing his bit to keep the Canadian capital safe from drug traffickers and drunk drivers and free of domestic violence and illegal weapons.
Stopping by the apartment where I was staying with a friend, he adjusted his bulletproof vest and started telling me about his journey from the jungles of the Thai-Burmese border to Canada. Every few minutes, our conversation was interrupted by radio communication from his walkie-talkie.
Twenty years ago, Myo Min was one of thousands of young Burmese who left their country to resist a regime that had just seized power in a bloody coup. He joined the All Burma Students’ Democratic Front (ABSDF), a student army formed in the jungles of eastern Burma, but after several years, he grew disillusioned with the armed struggle and factional infighting within the students’ army. He left for resettlement in Canada in 1997.
In 2003, he joined the police force in Ottawa. These days, he doesn’t talk much about bringing down the regime in Burma. But like many former activists living abroad, he still dreams of returning to his homeland someday.
According to Kevin McLeod, an active member of Canadian Friends of Burma (CFOB) and self-described “unemployed student,” many Burmese asylum seekers in Canada are struggling to keep their heads above water in their new country.
“They have emotional stress and frustration and suffer from depression,” he said of some of his many Burmese friends and acquaintances.
He noted that Burmese who migrated to Canada in the 1960s were better educated and more financially secure than those who migrated after fleeing political persecution in 1988. Most of these later immigrants came with nothing and have had to rebuild their lives from scratch, making integration much more difficult for them.
McLeod is perhaps uniquely sympathetic to the difficulties faced by Burmese living in Canada. His Burmese friends jokingly call him a “Canadian refugee,” because like many former student activists from Burma, he hasn’t completed his university studies and is often broke. But he is an avid student of Burmese affairs, reading many books on the country and spending countless hours talking with Burmese friends, on whose couches he often finds himself spending the night.
In some cases, the failure to adapt to life in Canada has ended in tragedy. Several years ago, a young activist named Aung Ko jumped off Niagara Falls. Close friends said that he suffered from depression and may have had a drug-abuse problem. Later, another young Burmese activist hung himself in his room in Toronto.
But all is not doom and gloom for Burmese living in Canada. Tin Maung Htoo, the current executive director of CFOB, said that Canada offers great opportunities to Burmese.
As former members of Burma’s clandestine high-school student union, Tin Maung Htoo and his close friend and fellow CFOB member Toe Kyi have followed a familiar trajectory from student activism inside Burma to eventual third-country resettlement.
But in their case, they managed to avoid imprisonment in Burma—a common fate among activists—only to end up spending three years in the Special Detention Center in Bangkok for attempting to protest against the Salween dam project in 1993.
The Thai authorities refused to release Tin Maung Htoo and Toe Kyi onto Thai soil, so the two friends finally agreed to go to Canada. They were taken directly from the detention center to the airport.
Tin Maung Htoo, who studied at the University of Western ontario, said that he especially appreciates the educational opportunities in Canada, both for himself and his children. He also thinks he is lucky because he has been able to continue his involvement in the Burmese pro-democracy movement. These days, he said, he can go to Parliament to meet politicians and senior foreign ministry officials to discuss Burma and Canadian foreign policy. Several years ago, he said, this would have been impossible. “Doors were closed and we were blocked.” But under Tin Maung Htoo, CFOB has become an effective lobby group.
But Tin Maung Htoo’s friend, Toe Kyi, was more skeptical about how well Canadians and Burmese really understand each other. He recounted how the pastor at the church where he stayed when he first arrived in Canada attempted to convert him to Christianity. When it came time for the baptism, the pastor asked Toe Kyi if he could forgive his enemies, including the military leaders in Burma. He shook his head to indicate that he would never forgive the generals who had ruined his country, and the ceremony came to an abrupt end. He added, with a touch of chagrin, that he saw many other Burmese activists convert to Christianity in Thailand or Canada just to ensure their survival.
Today, Toe Kyi and his Burmese wife and child enjoy their life in Canada, where his political interests have expanded over the years. In their living room, Toe Kyi and his wife are watching CBC news coverage of the US presidential election campaign—they are both big fans of Hillary Clinton. He is also a supporter of the Dalai Lama, who held formal talks with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper during a visit to Ottawa last November.
When US President George W. Bush made an official visit to Canada in 2004, Toe Kyi joined protests against the immensely unpopular American leader. He said that he and fellow protestors braved baton-wielding police and tear gas to show their opposition to US foreign policy. I joked that the experience probably made him nostalgic for his days as an activist during the 1988 uprising against military rule in Burma.
Toe Kyi, who now works for CompuCorps Mentoring in Ottawa, a non-profit organization that donates hundreds of used computers to African countries, hasn’t forgotten about his country and his people. He recently arranged a donation of over 100 computers for refugees recently arrived from the Thai-Burmese border. He said that he wants to set up a voluntary service inside Burma to do community development work.
The best thing about Canada, he said, is its respect for the rule of law and democratic values. Despite this, however, he only reluctantly became a Canadian citizen after several years of living in the country.
Many Burmese are deeply ambivalent about life in Canada, noted Kevin McLeod from CFOB, who attributed this to their strong attachment to the Burmese pro-democracy struggle. “They are very devoted,” he said.
Though Burmese enjoy life in a democratic country, they haven’t learned to be united and democratic, according to another Canadian observer married to a former student activist. After years of working on the Thai-Burmese border, she returned to live in Vancouver, where she said that many of the Burmese she met seemed like lost souls.
Not all Burmese are completely directionless, however. In fact, most have simply moved on, finding jobs and trying to get ahead in life. Some have even joined the Canadian Armed Forces. Zaw Latt, a former member of the Burmese high school student union, is now a Canadian soldier assigned to Afghanistan. His friends joke that he really wishes he had been sent to Naypyidaw to fight.
Many activists want Canada to do more on Burma. CFOB is asking Canada to support Burma groups along the Thai-Burmese border and take a tougher stance toward the regime. Many Burmese activists think Canada’s recent comprehensive sanctions on the junta were a good start, but others say that Canada has yet to show much commitment to Burmese issues.
The Canadian government recently held a one-day Burma conference in Quebec City, with UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari as a keynote speaker. At the gathering, some NGOs and activists expressed concern that Ottawa seems more interested in supporting the UN’s fruitless missions and providing humanitarian assistance inside Burma than in addressing Burma’s political impasse more directly.
Most Burmese in Canada would like to see Ottawa send a stronger message to the regime in Naypyidaw.
Even Burmese who have been hurt by the sanctions that are now in place say that they support punitive measures against the junta.
Zaw Win Aung, a former ABSDF member and owner of the Golden Burma grocery store in Toronto, and Aung Tin, another grocery store owner and member of the National League for Democracy, said that the sanctions made it harder for them to import goods such as betel nuts from Burma. But, said Zaw Win Aung with a smile, “It is good” that Canada has taken action against the regime.
As I spoke with Zaw Win Aung, some newly arrived Karen refugees walked into his store to buy some betel nut. Outside, the weather was bitterly cold. Suddenly, a BMW 318 with the words “Free Burma” painted on it and with photographs of detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and monks in the rear windows pulled over in front of the shop. A window rolled down and a familiar face smiled and said hello to his friends and the new arrivals. He was Si Thu, a former ABSDF member who arrived in Canada in the early 1990s.
For a moment, the Karen family from the Mae La refugee camp in Thailand looked at the car and its owner with admiration, recognizing both familiar images from their homeland and a symbol of success in their new country. But after a few moments, they returned to their own reality—far from the struggle in Burma, and equally distant from any sense of belonging in Canada—and walked back to their small apartment.
The Irrawaddy News
Myo Min pointed to the on-board computer in his police patrol car. “This is how we track down the bad guys,” he boasted, clearly relishing his newfound role as a high-tech crime fighter.
But this is Canada, and bureaucracy soon stood in the way of his desire to show off. He couldn’t let me into the vehicle, he said, without getting permission from his supervisor at least 48 hours in advance. I did, however, notice that he was playing a song by Burmese rock star Zaw Win Htut in the car’s cassette player.
It was a brutally cold night, and Myo Min was on duty patrolling the streets of Ottawa, doing his bit to keep the Canadian capital safe from drug traffickers and drunk drivers and free of domestic violence and illegal weapons.
Stopping by the apartment where I was staying with a friend, he adjusted his bulletproof vest and started telling me about his journey from the jungles of the Thai-Burmese border to Canada. Every few minutes, our conversation was interrupted by radio communication from his walkie-talkie.Twenty years ago, Myo Min was one of thousands of young Burmese who left their country to resist a regime that had just seized power in a bloody coup. He joined the All Burma Students’ Democratic Front (ABSDF), a student army formed in the jungles of eastern Burma, but after several years, he grew disillusioned with the armed struggle and factional infighting within the students’ army. He left for resettlement in Canada in 1997.
In 2003, he joined the police force in Ottawa. These days, he doesn’t talk much about bringing down the regime in Burma. But like many former activists living abroad, he still dreams of returning to his homeland someday.
According to Kevin McLeod, an active member of Canadian Friends of Burma (CFOB) and self-described “unemployed student,” many Burmese asylum seekers in Canada are struggling to keep their heads above water in their new country.
“They have emotional stress and frustration and suffer from depression,” he said of some of his many Burmese friends and acquaintances.
He noted that Burmese who migrated to Canada in the 1960s were better educated and more financially secure than those who migrated after fleeing political persecution in 1988. Most of these later immigrants came with nothing and have had to rebuild their lives from scratch, making integration much more difficult for them.
McLeod is perhaps uniquely sympathetic to the difficulties faced by Burmese living in Canada. His Burmese friends jokingly call him a “Canadian refugee,” because like many former student activists from Burma, he hasn’t completed his university studies and is often broke. But he is an avid student of Burmese affairs, reading many books on the country and spending countless hours talking with Burmese friends, on whose couches he often finds himself spending the night.
In some cases, the failure to adapt to life in Canada has ended in tragedy. Several years ago, a young activist named Aung Ko jumped off Niagara Falls. Close friends said that he suffered from depression and may have had a drug-abuse problem. Later, another young Burmese activist hung himself in his room in Toronto.
But all is not doom and gloom for Burmese living in Canada. Tin Maung Htoo, the current executive director of CFOB, said that Canada offers great opportunities to Burmese.
As former members of Burma’s clandestine high-school student union, Tin Maung Htoo and his close friend and fellow CFOB member Toe Kyi have followed a familiar trajectory from student activism inside Burma to eventual third-country resettlement.
But in their case, they managed to avoid imprisonment in Burma—a common fate among activists—only to end up spending three years in the Special Detention Center in Bangkok for attempting to protest against the Salween dam project in 1993.
The Thai authorities refused to release Tin Maung Htoo and Toe Kyi onto Thai soil, so the two friends finally agreed to go to Canada. They were taken directly from the detention center to the airport.
Tin Maung Htoo, who studied at the University of Western ontario, said that he especially appreciates the educational opportunities in Canada, both for himself and his children. He also thinks he is lucky because he has been able to continue his involvement in the Burmese pro-democracy movement. These days, he said, he can go to Parliament to meet politicians and senior foreign ministry officials to discuss Burma and Canadian foreign policy. Several years ago, he said, this would have been impossible. “Doors were closed and we were blocked.” But under Tin Maung Htoo, CFOB has become an effective lobby group.
But Tin Maung Htoo’s friend, Toe Kyi, was more skeptical about how well Canadians and Burmese really understand each other. He recounted how the pastor at the church where he stayed when he first arrived in Canada attempted to convert him to Christianity. When it came time for the baptism, the pastor asked Toe Kyi if he could forgive his enemies, including the military leaders in Burma. He shook his head to indicate that he would never forgive the generals who had ruined his country, and the ceremony came to an abrupt end. He added, with a touch of chagrin, that he saw many other Burmese activists convert to Christianity in Thailand or Canada just to ensure their survival.
Today, Toe Kyi and his Burmese wife and child enjoy their life in Canada, where his political interests have expanded over the years. In their living room, Toe Kyi and his wife are watching CBC news coverage of the US presidential election campaign—they are both big fans of Hillary Clinton. He is also a supporter of the Dalai Lama, who held formal talks with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper during a visit to Ottawa last November.
When US President George W. Bush made an official visit to Canada in 2004, Toe Kyi joined protests against the immensely unpopular American leader. He said that he and fellow protestors braved baton-wielding police and tear gas to show their opposition to US foreign policy. I joked that the experience probably made him nostalgic for his days as an activist during the 1988 uprising against military rule in Burma.
Toe Kyi, who now works for CompuCorps Mentoring in Ottawa, a non-profit organization that donates hundreds of used computers to African countries, hasn’t forgotten about his country and his people. He recently arranged a donation of over 100 computers for refugees recently arrived from the Thai-Burmese border. He said that he wants to set up a voluntary service inside Burma to do community development work.
The best thing about Canada, he said, is its respect for the rule of law and democratic values. Despite this, however, he only reluctantly became a Canadian citizen after several years of living in the country.
Many Burmese are deeply ambivalent about life in Canada, noted Kevin McLeod from CFOB, who attributed this to their strong attachment to the Burmese pro-democracy struggle. “They are very devoted,” he said.
Though Burmese enjoy life in a democratic country, they haven’t learned to be united and democratic, according to another Canadian observer married to a former student activist. After years of working on the Thai-Burmese border, she returned to live in Vancouver, where she said that many of the Burmese she met seemed like lost souls.
Not all Burmese are completely directionless, however. In fact, most have simply moved on, finding jobs and trying to get ahead in life. Some have even joined the Canadian Armed Forces. Zaw Latt, a former member of the Burmese high school student union, is now a Canadian soldier assigned to Afghanistan. His friends joke that he really wishes he had been sent to Naypyidaw to fight.
Many activists want Canada to do more on Burma. CFOB is asking Canada to support Burma groups along the Thai-Burmese border and take a tougher stance toward the regime. Many Burmese activists think Canada’s recent comprehensive sanctions on the junta were a good start, but others say that Canada has yet to show much commitment to Burmese issues.
The Canadian government recently held a one-day Burma conference in Quebec City, with UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari as a keynote speaker. At the gathering, some NGOs and activists expressed concern that Ottawa seems more interested in supporting the UN’s fruitless missions and providing humanitarian assistance inside Burma than in addressing Burma’s political impasse more directly.
Most Burmese in Canada would like to see Ottawa send a stronger message to the regime in Naypyidaw.
Even Burmese who have been hurt by the sanctions that are now in place say that they support punitive measures against the junta.
Zaw Win Aung, a former ABSDF member and owner of the Golden Burma grocery store in Toronto, and Aung Tin, another grocery store owner and member of the National League for Democracy, said that the sanctions made it harder for them to import goods such as betel nuts from Burma. But, said Zaw Win Aung with a smile, “It is good” that Canada has taken action against the regime.
As I spoke with Zaw Win Aung, some newly arrived Karen refugees walked into his store to buy some betel nut. Outside, the weather was bitterly cold. Suddenly, a BMW 318 with the words “Free Burma” painted on it and with photographs of detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and monks in the rear windows pulled over in front of the shop. A window rolled down and a familiar face smiled and said hello to his friends and the new arrivals. He was Si Thu, a former ABSDF member who arrived in Canada in the early 1990s.
For a moment, the Karen family from the Mae La refugee camp in Thailand looked at the car and its owner with admiration, recognizing both familiar images from their homeland and a symbol of success in their new country. But after a few moments, they returned to their own reality—far from the struggle in Burma, and equally distant from any sense of belonging in Canada—and walked back to their small apartment.
Burmese Embassy in Singapore Prepares for Absentee Referendum Voting
By MIN LWIN
The Irrawaddy News
April 17, 2008 - The Burmese Embassy in Singapore has sent a letter to Burmese citizens urging them to vote absentee in the constitutional referendum from April 25 to 29, while an anonymous telephone message is urging people to vote “No.”
“We the Burmese people can vote “No” at the Myanmar [Burma] embassy…. Please pass this message to all your friends and take this exercise seriously for our freedom,” says the telephone message, which is being widely distributed in the Burmese community.
The embassy letter sent to Burmese citizens was dated April 10, urging them to bring their Burmese passport or citizen documents as identification. An estimated 50,000 Burmese citizens live in Singapore.
“The letter was signed by Kyaw Swe Tint, the Burmese counselor,” said a Burmese man from Tuas South on the outskirts of Singapore, who received a letter on Thursday.
He said the letter was sent by air mail to Burmese citizens who paid their income tax at the embassy.
Ko Hla, an information technology engineer in Singapore, said Burmese citizens are likely to vote “No” on the referendum or to not vote.
“I haven’t heard of anyone who will give a ‘Yes’ vote,” Ko Hla told The Irrawaddy on Thursday.
“As a Burmese citizen, the constitutional referendum is important for me to vote,” said Myo Htet a construction engineer in Singapore. “Even the people inside Burma will vote ‘No.’ Why can’t I vote ‘No’ too?”
A worker at a Singapore shipping yard said he will not go to the embassy to vote.
“I get no leave from my boss, so I can’t,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Burmese Embassy in the United States of America is collecting names of people eligible to vote based on an income tax list.
Millions of migrants live outside of Burma, but the Burmese regime has not yet announced whether they all will be allowed to vote in the referendum. More than one million Burmese migrants live in Thailand.
The Irrawaddy News
April 17, 2008 - The Burmese Embassy in Singapore has sent a letter to Burmese citizens urging them to vote absentee in the constitutional referendum from April 25 to 29, while an anonymous telephone message is urging people to vote “No.”
“We the Burmese people can vote “No” at the Myanmar [Burma] embassy…. Please pass this message to all your friends and take this exercise seriously for our freedom,” says the telephone message, which is being widely distributed in the Burmese community.
The embassy letter sent to Burmese citizens was dated April 10, urging them to bring their Burmese passport or citizen documents as identification. An estimated 50,000 Burmese citizens live in Singapore.
“The letter was signed by Kyaw Swe Tint, the Burmese counselor,” said a Burmese man from Tuas South on the outskirts of Singapore, who received a letter on Thursday.
He said the letter was sent by air mail to Burmese citizens who paid their income tax at the embassy.
Ko Hla, an information technology engineer in Singapore, said Burmese citizens are likely to vote “No” on the referendum or to not vote.
“I haven’t heard of anyone who will give a ‘Yes’ vote,” Ko Hla told The Irrawaddy on Thursday.
“As a Burmese citizen, the constitutional referendum is important for me to vote,” said Myo Htet a construction engineer in Singapore. “Even the people inside Burma will vote ‘No.’ Why can’t I vote ‘No’ too?”
A worker at a Singapore shipping yard said he will not go to the embassy to vote.
“I get no leave from my boss, so I can’t,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Burmese Embassy in the United States of America is collecting names of people eligible to vote based on an income tax list.
Millions of migrants live outside of Burma, but the Burmese regime has not yet announced whether they all will be allowed to vote in the referendum. More than one million Burmese migrants live in Thailand.
Wednesday, 16 April 2008
Looming "Vote No" messages in Little Myanmar Island
By Joe Moe
Almost 100,000 Burmese nationals in Singapore are looming to cast a "Vote No" at the forthcoming constitutional referendum in which the military is occupying 25% of the seats in parliament.
Kyaw Swe Thint, First Secretary of the Union of Myanmar Embassy to Singapore sent quietly an uncommon letter through the post to Burmese residents in Singapore inviting them to attend the embassy to vote for the upcoming referendum.
The “Vote NO” messaging campaign, Singapore island-wide via SMS text messaging, popular service amongst the Burmese bloggers and news agencies has started to flow around the world.
"Dear All, Kyaw Swe Thint, First Secretary to the Burma embassy in Singapore issued notification about voting for constitution dated 10 April 08, inviting all Burmese in Singapore to attend the embassy for voting any day from April 25 - 29 between 9am to 5pm. Either you received the letter or not, please attend the embassy and vote for "NO". "Be united for the Freedom of Burma". "We must win".
The announcement from the First Secretary clearly confirmed those who identify as Myanmar citizens eligible to cast a vote at the office of Myanmar embassy which is located at 15, Saint Martin's Drive, Orchard Road, starting from 25 to 29 April from 9:00a.m to 5:00p.m.
Singapore is the first country for overseas Burmese people to cast their vote officially for the constitutional referendum amongst the other countries.
How Can the Constitutional Referendum be Monitored?
Burmese and Ethnics in majority are concerned about the monitoring of the voting event in Burma and Singapore.
It is now clear that many people in Singapore will cast a "No" vote against the military government's constitutional referendum by the end of April at the Myanmar Embassy.
On April 13, the word "No" appeared at several locations in Singapore, whilst Burmese people celebrated water festival at Toa Payoh Burmese Buddhist Temple and Eunos Mingala Vihara (Buddhist Temple).
A "No" vote is required, said the NLD, because the draft constitution was written by "hand-picked puppets" of the military government and lacks basic principles of democracy and human rights. The NLD was the major winner in the 1990 general elections.
Meanwhile, a small group of people inside and outside Burma have expressed support for the draft. However, there is little likelihood of a real debate between "No" and "Yes" groups at this stage.
If the "Vote No" campaign gained significant momentum, there's always the possibility that the junta might cancel the referendum, or if the referendum proceeds, that the election results will be rigged by the junta's so-called poll-watchers, including the Union Solidarity and Development Association.
Because the junta has banned outside poll-watchers, it's up to the NLD and other groups to try to monitor the referendum as well as they can.
A proposal to allow international observers to monitor the referendum by UN Special Envoy to Burma Ibrahim Gambari in March was rejected outright by the military authorities.
"We are a sovereign country," they said. "We have done these things before without international help."
Gambari told news agencies in a recent exclusive interview: "Our position is that their situation has been the subject of international concern, so [there is a need] to enhance the credibility of the process, to meet the exercise of their sovereign right to ask for help. Technical assistance or even independent monitors need not come from the UN—it could be from international monitors or neighboring countries or from friendly countries."
There is no chance the junta will change its mind and accept the UN's proposal.
Therefore, the NLD and other activist groups have the impossible task of trying to monitor the election. They risk severe penalties if they are seen to be obstructing the referendum process because of the junta's new law, enacted in February and signed by junta Snr-Gen Than Shwe, provides for up to three years imprisonment and a fine for anyone who distributes statements or posters or who makes a speech against the referendum.
An NLD member was arrested on Sunday for possessing a NLD party statement calling for a "No" vote, according to party spokesperson Nyan Win.
The junta has created a situation that prohibits any effective monitoring of the referendum. To do so, risks imprisonment. Opposition groups have again been out maneuvered by the wily generals.
The "Vote No" campaign is likely to produce the desired results, but the question is will the referendum's official outcome reflect the people's vote, or—more likely—what the generals want?
Original News sources:
BBC Burmese and from the various bloggers
http://www.ko-htike.blogspot.com/
http://myochitmyanmar.blogspot.com/
http://linletkyalsin.blogspot.com/ and
http://arzarni.blogspot.com/
Almost 100,000 Burmese nationals in Singapore are looming to cast a "Vote No" at the forthcoming constitutional referendum in which the military is occupying 25% of the seats in parliament.
Kyaw Swe Thint, First Secretary of the Union of Myanmar Embassy to Singapore sent quietly an uncommon letter through the post to Burmese residents in Singapore inviting them to attend the embassy to vote for the upcoming referendum.
The “Vote NO” messaging campaign, Singapore island-wide via SMS text messaging, popular service amongst the Burmese bloggers and news agencies has started to flow around the world.
"Dear All, Kyaw Swe Thint, First Secretary to the Burma embassy in Singapore issued notification about voting for constitution dated 10 April 08, inviting all Burmese in Singapore to attend the embassy for voting any day from April 25 - 29 between 9am to 5pm. Either you received the letter or not, please attend the embassy and vote for "NO". "Be united for the Freedom of Burma". "We must win".
The announcement from the First Secretary clearly confirmed those who identify as Myanmar citizens eligible to cast a vote at the office of Myanmar embassy which is located at 15, Saint Martin's Drive, Orchard Road, starting from 25 to 29 April from 9:00a.m to 5:00p.m.
Singapore is the first country for overseas Burmese people to cast their vote officially for the constitutional referendum amongst the other countries.
How Can the Constitutional Referendum be Monitored?
Burmese and Ethnics in majority are concerned about the monitoring of the voting event in Burma and Singapore.
It is now clear that many people in Singapore will cast a "No" vote against the military government's constitutional referendum by the end of April at the Myanmar Embassy.
On April 13, the word "No" appeared at several locations in Singapore, whilst Burmese people celebrated water festival at Toa Payoh Burmese Buddhist Temple and Eunos Mingala Vihara (Buddhist Temple).
A "No" vote is required, said the NLD, because the draft constitution was written by "hand-picked puppets" of the military government and lacks basic principles of democracy and human rights. The NLD was the major winner in the 1990 general elections.
Meanwhile, a small group of people inside and outside Burma have expressed support for the draft. However, there is little likelihood of a real debate between "No" and "Yes" groups at this stage.
If the "Vote No" campaign gained significant momentum, there's always the possibility that the junta might cancel the referendum, or if the referendum proceeds, that the election results will be rigged by the junta's so-called poll-watchers, including the Union Solidarity and Development Association.
Because the junta has banned outside poll-watchers, it's up to the NLD and other groups to try to monitor the referendum as well as they can.
A proposal to allow international observers to monitor the referendum by UN Special Envoy to Burma Ibrahim Gambari in March was rejected outright by the military authorities.
"We are a sovereign country," they said. "We have done these things before without international help."
Gambari told news agencies in a recent exclusive interview: "Our position is that their situation has been the subject of international concern, so [there is a need] to enhance the credibility of the process, to meet the exercise of their sovereign right to ask for help. Technical assistance or even independent monitors need not come from the UN—it could be from international monitors or neighboring countries or from friendly countries."
There is no chance the junta will change its mind and accept the UN's proposal.
Therefore, the NLD and other activist groups have the impossible task of trying to monitor the election. They risk severe penalties if they are seen to be obstructing the referendum process because of the junta's new law, enacted in February and signed by junta Snr-Gen Than Shwe, provides for up to three years imprisonment and a fine for anyone who distributes statements or posters or who makes a speech against the referendum.
An NLD member was arrested on Sunday for possessing a NLD party statement calling for a "No" vote, according to party spokesperson Nyan Win.
The junta has created a situation that prohibits any effective monitoring of the referendum. To do so, risks imprisonment. Opposition groups have again been out maneuvered by the wily generals.
The "Vote No" campaign is likely to produce the desired results, but the question is will the referendum's official outcome reflect the people's vote, or—more likely—what the generals want?
Original News sources:
BBC Burmese and from the various bloggers
http://www.ko-htike.blogspot.com/
http://myochitmyanmar.blogspot.com/
http://linletkyalsin.blogspot.com/ and
http://arzarni.blogspot.com/
Enjoying Burmese New Year as a fictitious outlet from dictatorship nightmares
By Burmakin
In accordance with Buddha's biography written by Ven. U Visitta,the first Burmese scholar to memorize all tripitika text (All Theravada scriptures), the real new year day in Buddhism is the full-moon day of Kason (the birthday of Buddha in the third week of May), the vivacious transition period from the scorching summer to the and renovating rainy season.
It is a paradoxical fact that the Burmese Buddhists have a new year day at the beginning of the last month of the Buddha's calendar instead of the actual new year day after the actual last month.This is another upside-down matrix created by wicked Burmese ancient kings (since Pagan) who wanted to hold their long-live power like today's nasty military government.
As Burmese wrongly celebrate the new year day in the old year,the monarchs believed that there would not be new comings in the new year on the ground of the cosmic astrological power to hold that the effects of the symbolism will last throughout (washing the old ones at the old time and becomes the old ones again in the same old time- water festival, thus no change when the new year time actually comes. In Burmese words, Burmese people have been put under "inferior star" by the dictators who rule them and who always want to hold the "superior star" over the people.
Burmese will probably regard the enjoyment of Thingyan as an opportunity for their outlet from those nightmares of military dictatorship. In reality, they are going for an outlet where there is virtually no outlet. So is the situation of Burmese in sham referendum today what the junta is going to hold. Ostensibly and superficially, it could be assumed that Burmese could vote and could make a choice now. Actually, Burmese are forced to do a choice where there is actually no choice for them.
In accordance with Buddha's biography written by Ven. U Visitta,the first Burmese scholar to memorize all tripitika text (All Theravada scriptures), the real new year day in Buddhism is the full-moon day of Kason (the birthday of Buddha in the third week of May), the vivacious transition period from the scorching summer to the and renovating rainy season.
It is a paradoxical fact that the Burmese Buddhists have a new year day at the beginning of the last month of the Buddha's calendar instead of the actual new year day after the actual last month.This is another upside-down matrix created by wicked Burmese ancient kings (since Pagan) who wanted to hold their long-live power like today's nasty military government.
As Burmese wrongly celebrate the new year day in the old year,the monarchs believed that there would not be new comings in the new year on the ground of the cosmic astrological power to hold that the effects of the symbolism will last throughout (washing the old ones at the old time and becomes the old ones again in the same old time- water festival, thus no change when the new year time actually comes. In Burmese words, Burmese people have been put under "inferior star" by the dictators who rule them and who always want to hold the "superior star" over the people.
Burmese will probably regard the enjoyment of Thingyan as an opportunity for their outlet from those nightmares of military dictatorship. In reality, they are going for an outlet where there is virtually no outlet. So is the situation of Burmese in sham referendum today what the junta is going to hold. Ostensibly and superficially, it could be assumed that Burmese could vote and could make a choice now. Actually, Burmese are forced to do a choice where there is actually no choice for them.
No tidy answer to labor pinch
By Electa Draper
The Denver Post
April 15, 2008 - Immigrant workers from Mexico sort potatoes at the Spud Seller Inc. in Monte Vista last week. Growers say they face their worst labor shortage in years. But an idea to match those jobs to refugees from Myanmar now located in Denver has many detractors. (Hyoung Chang, The Denver Post)
Help Wanted: San Luis Valley crop growers and shippers desperately seek workers and are willing to recruit Myanmar refugees in Denver eager for jobs and a return to agrarian roots.
It sounds as if it could be a neat solution to two problems. Instead, it has created a backlash.
The mayor of a town in the valley has misgivings. The director of the health care system there has them, too. And the head of the immigrant resource center in Alamosa doesn't think it is a good idea.
"We don't want to go where there is a problem, where they don't want us," said Rocky Martin, leader of a Denver community of about 325 Karen, an ethnic minority displaced by Myanmar's military junta.
The story of the Karen and the San Luis Valley underscores the gap between an immigration policy that discourages the use of migrant workers and an agricultural economy that makes it nearly impossible to use anyone else.
In the valley, the result is labor shortages of up to 50 percent for some growers and shippers.
Mike Abeyta, manager of the Worley & McCullough Inc. potato warehouse, has about 42 workers. He'd like 55 to 60.
"This is the worst I've seen it in five years," he said of the labor crunch.
"The Karen love to work, from what I understand," Abeyta said. "And we need the help."
A raid by immigration officials on undocumented workers last April winnowed the valley's already thin ranks of farm workers. Some spinach and lettuce growers are cutting plantings in half. Others are switching to wheat or alfalfa and other more automated crops.
"We have a chronic labor shortage. It never goes away," said Jim Ehrlich, director of the Colorado Potato Administrative Committee in Monte Vista.
In the valley, agribusiness accounted for 30 percent or more of the jobs in Conejos, Costilla, Rio Grande and Saguache counties in 2005, compared with 4 percent of jobs statewide, according to the Colorado Department of Agriculture.
State legislation in 2007 beefed up documentation requirements for legal workers.
The new law discourages many established migratory workers, even legal ones, from getting entangled in Colorado's paper labyrinth, labor and agriculture officials say.
"The new law was a good thing in that it tightened everything up — our industry does not want to hire illegal workers — but it didn't find a solution to our labor problems," Ehrlich said. The Karen were seen as one of those solutions.
Martin went to the valley last fall to scope out work opportunities for the Karen but left deflated of hope.
The Karen, although legal, don't speak much English. Nor are they conversant in the valley's second language, Spanish, as Mexican and Guatemalan workers are, officials said.
"We only want to go where people are willing to work with us," Martin said.
Gideon Kaw, a 29-year-old Karen refugee who resettled in Denver three years ago, said the refugees are adaptable and grateful to be anywhere in the United States — "after running all our lives from killing."
Many Karen, an ethnic minority accounting for about 7 percent of Myanmar's population, have been stuck in refugee camps for up to two decades.
Myanmar, known as Burma until 1989, is ruled by a military regime that stands accused of human-rights abuses including the violent displacement of more than 500,000 people.
Denver, while a haven, has presented an economic struggle for resettled Karen.
Without English skills, many receive low wages and often less than full-time hours in service and manufacturing jobs.
"Wherever you get a job, you follow the job," Kaw said. "You have to feed your family."
Nevertheless, he and other Karen have come to feel that moving to the San Luis Valley would be a mistake.
The relocation proposal found support among Colorado rural housing officials with vacant farm-worker housing. Labor officials found it worthy of consideration. But otherwise, there was resistance.
"We'd rather keep the people who have been working here forever, rather than introduce a new population we know nothing about," said Margaret Salazar, director of Valley-Wide Health Systems in Alamosa.
The traditional labor supply to which Valley-Wide is accustomed, however, has dried up.
In the San Luis Valley in 2007, the number of migratory field workers that employers reported fell 200 from the previous year's 400 to 450, said Betty Velasquez, southern regional director of the Colorado Workforce Center.
Still, Center's mayor, Adeline Sanchez, said she is reluctant to bring the Karen to the San Luis Valley. Sanchez said matching up willing workers to pleading employers is simply not enough of an answer.
"We just need to be sure any people we're bringing in are not getting false hopes," Sanchez said. "I'm not for using people for our purposes. We want something for their futures, too."
Part of the resistance to a Karen relocation is the suspicion that it's a short-term solution to labor shortages, but one that doesn't address the underlying problems of low wages.
"If the Karen are seen as the quick fix, (lawmakers) could say there is no need for immigration reform or living wages," said Flora Archuleta, the executive director of the Alamosa-based San Luis Valley Immigrant Resources Center.
"I don't want them to come in and be abused," Archuleta said.
The demanding farm labor pays about $7 to $12 an hour, with the higher rate generally reserved for skilled machinery operators, Abeyta said.
"The growers are going to have to recognize the fact — and many of them already do — that they have to pay more," Ehrlich said.
Bringing in the Karen — who would face low wages, seasonal work, no health insurance and limited services — "just perpetuates poverty in the valley," said Mitch Garcia, a Valley-Wide Health official.
Paul Stein, coordinator of the Colorado Refugee Services Program, agrees.
"I'm opposed to refugees suddenly being viewed as a replacement for migrant workers," Stein said. "The San Luis Valley would never be part of our plans because of the economy and lack of community resources."
Last year, the state hosted 1,085 refugees, including the 325 from Myanmar, and most stay in the Denver metro area where 70 percent of programs and services are located, Stein said. The relocation of the Karen to the small communities of the San Luis Valley would guarantee their isolation, not integration, he said.
"They've already lost their country. They've lost family. Their sense of loss is profound," Stein said. "We want the opportunity for their children to move out of the fields and into some economic opportunity."
Staff writer Nancy Lofholm contributed to this report. Electa Draper: 303-954-1276 or edraper@denverpost.com
The Denver Post
April 15, 2008 - Immigrant workers from Mexico sort potatoes at the Spud Seller Inc. in Monte Vista last week. Growers say they face their worst labor shortage in years. But an idea to match those jobs to refugees from Myanmar now located in Denver has many detractors. (Hyoung Chang, The Denver Post)
Help Wanted: San Luis Valley crop growers and shippers desperately seek workers and are willing to recruit Myanmar refugees in Denver eager for jobs and a return to agrarian roots.
It sounds as if it could be a neat solution to two problems. Instead, it has created a backlash.
The mayor of a town in the valley has misgivings. The director of the health care system there has them, too. And the head of the immigrant resource center in Alamosa doesn't think it is a good idea.
"We don't want to go where there is a problem, where they don't want us," said Rocky Martin, leader of a Denver community of about 325 Karen, an ethnic minority displaced by Myanmar's military junta.
The story of the Karen and the San Luis Valley underscores the gap between an immigration policy that discourages the use of migrant workers and an agricultural economy that makes it nearly impossible to use anyone else.
In the valley, the result is labor shortages of up to 50 percent for some growers and shippers.
Mike Abeyta, manager of the Worley & McCullough Inc. potato warehouse, has about 42 workers. He'd like 55 to 60.
"This is the worst I've seen it in five years," he said of the labor crunch.
"The Karen love to work, from what I understand," Abeyta said. "And we need the help."
A raid by immigration officials on undocumented workers last April winnowed the valley's already thin ranks of farm workers. Some spinach and lettuce growers are cutting plantings in half. Others are switching to wheat or alfalfa and other more automated crops.
"We have a chronic labor shortage. It never goes away," said Jim Ehrlich, director of the Colorado Potato Administrative Committee in Monte Vista.
In the valley, agribusiness accounted for 30 percent or more of the jobs in Conejos, Costilla, Rio Grande and Saguache counties in 2005, compared with 4 percent of jobs statewide, according to the Colorado Department of Agriculture.
State legislation in 2007 beefed up documentation requirements for legal workers.
The new law discourages many established migratory workers, even legal ones, from getting entangled in Colorado's paper labyrinth, labor and agriculture officials say.
"The new law was a good thing in that it tightened everything up — our industry does not want to hire illegal workers — but it didn't find a solution to our labor problems," Ehrlich said. The Karen were seen as one of those solutions.
Martin went to the valley last fall to scope out work opportunities for the Karen but left deflated of hope.
The Karen, although legal, don't speak much English. Nor are they conversant in the valley's second language, Spanish, as Mexican and Guatemalan workers are, officials said.
"We only want to go where people are willing to work with us," Martin said.
Gideon Kaw, a 29-year-old Karen refugee who resettled in Denver three years ago, said the refugees are adaptable and grateful to be anywhere in the United States — "after running all our lives from killing."
Many Karen, an ethnic minority accounting for about 7 percent of Myanmar's population, have been stuck in refugee camps for up to two decades.
Myanmar, known as Burma until 1989, is ruled by a military regime that stands accused of human-rights abuses including the violent displacement of more than 500,000 people.
Denver, while a haven, has presented an economic struggle for resettled Karen.
Without English skills, many receive low wages and often less than full-time hours in service and manufacturing jobs.
"Wherever you get a job, you follow the job," Kaw said. "You have to feed your family."
Nevertheless, he and other Karen have come to feel that moving to the San Luis Valley would be a mistake.
The relocation proposal found support among Colorado rural housing officials with vacant farm-worker housing. Labor officials found it worthy of consideration. But otherwise, there was resistance.
"We'd rather keep the people who have been working here forever, rather than introduce a new population we know nothing about," said Margaret Salazar, director of Valley-Wide Health Systems in Alamosa.
The traditional labor supply to which Valley-Wide is accustomed, however, has dried up.
In the San Luis Valley in 2007, the number of migratory field workers that employers reported fell 200 from the previous year's 400 to 450, said Betty Velasquez, southern regional director of the Colorado Workforce Center.
Still, Center's mayor, Adeline Sanchez, said she is reluctant to bring the Karen to the San Luis Valley. Sanchez said matching up willing workers to pleading employers is simply not enough of an answer.
"We just need to be sure any people we're bringing in are not getting false hopes," Sanchez said. "I'm not for using people for our purposes. We want something for their futures, too."
Part of the resistance to a Karen relocation is the suspicion that it's a short-term solution to labor shortages, but one that doesn't address the underlying problems of low wages.
"If the Karen are seen as the quick fix, (lawmakers) could say there is no need for immigration reform or living wages," said Flora Archuleta, the executive director of the Alamosa-based San Luis Valley Immigrant Resources Center.
"I don't want them to come in and be abused," Archuleta said.
The demanding farm labor pays about $7 to $12 an hour, with the higher rate generally reserved for skilled machinery operators, Abeyta said.
"The growers are going to have to recognize the fact — and many of them already do — that they have to pay more," Ehrlich said.
Bringing in the Karen — who would face low wages, seasonal work, no health insurance and limited services — "just perpetuates poverty in the valley," said Mitch Garcia, a Valley-Wide Health official.
Paul Stein, coordinator of the Colorado Refugee Services Program, agrees.
"I'm opposed to refugees suddenly being viewed as a replacement for migrant workers," Stein said. "The San Luis Valley would never be part of our plans because of the economy and lack of community resources."
Last year, the state hosted 1,085 refugees, including the 325 from Myanmar, and most stay in the Denver metro area where 70 percent of programs and services are located, Stein said. The relocation of the Karen to the small communities of the San Luis Valley would guarantee their isolation, not integration, he said.
"They've already lost their country. They've lost family. Their sense of loss is profound," Stein said. "We want the opportunity for their children to move out of the fields and into some economic opportunity."
Staff writer Nancy Lofholm contributed to this report. Electa Draper: 303-954-1276 or edraper@denverpost.com
Suu Kyi can vote in Myanmar charter poll, her party says
YANGON (AFP) - Myanmar's detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has the right to vote in a referendum next month on a military-backed constitution, her political party said Tuesday.
"According to the law, (Aung San Suu Kyi) has the right to vote at the referendum as her detention was not a court order or sentence," said Nyan Win, spokesman for the National League for Democracy (NLD).
"It was just an administrative function," he told AFP.
Aung San Suu Kyi has spent 12 of the past 18 years locked away by the ruling military junta in her sprawling lakeside home in Yangon.
Her latest period of detention began in 2003 after a deadly attack on her convoy by supporters of the junta, and has been periodically extended since, with little sign that the generals plan to free her.
The regime has called a referendum on May 10 on the proposed new charter, which they claim will -- if approved -- lead to general elections in 2010.
Under the new constitution, which was drafted by a committee hand-picked by the junta, Aung San Suu Kyi would be barred from running for office because she was married to a foreigner, Michael Aris, a British citizen who died in 1999.
People convicted of a crime by a court are not allowed to vote in the referendum, but detainees who have not faced trial can cast a ballot.
There are currently about 1,850 political prisoners in Myanmar, at least 700 of whom were arrested after anti-junta demonstrations last September, which the military crushed, killing at least 31 people, the UN says.
Next month's referendum will be the first balloting in Myanmar since 1990, when Aung San Suu Kyi led the NLD to a landslide victory, which was never recognised by the junta.
The NLD and other activists are calling for a "No" vote on the charter, which analysts say simply enshrines the military's role.
Source: AFP
"According to the law, (Aung San Suu Kyi) has the right to vote at the referendum as her detention was not a court order or sentence," said Nyan Win, spokesman for the National League for Democracy (NLD).
"It was just an administrative function," he told AFP.
Aung San Suu Kyi has spent 12 of the past 18 years locked away by the ruling military junta in her sprawling lakeside home in Yangon.
Her latest period of detention began in 2003 after a deadly attack on her convoy by supporters of the junta, and has been periodically extended since, with little sign that the generals plan to free her.
The regime has called a referendum on May 10 on the proposed new charter, which they claim will -- if approved -- lead to general elections in 2010.
Under the new constitution, which was drafted by a committee hand-picked by the junta, Aung San Suu Kyi would be barred from running for office because she was married to a foreigner, Michael Aris, a British citizen who died in 1999.
People convicted of a crime by a court are not allowed to vote in the referendum, but detainees who have not faced trial can cast a ballot.
There are currently about 1,850 political prisoners in Myanmar, at least 700 of whom were arrested after anti-junta demonstrations last September, which the military crushed, killing at least 31 people, the UN says.
Next month's referendum will be the first balloting in Myanmar since 1990, when Aung San Suu Kyi led the NLD to a landslide victory, which was never recognised by the junta.
The NLD and other activists are calling for a "No" vote on the charter, which analysts say simply enshrines the military's role.
Source: AFP
Burma Regime Denounced For Giving Selves Immunity
Wednesday, 16 April 2008
Press Release: Global Justice Center
International Lawyers Denounce Attempt By Myanmar Regime To Give Themselves Immunity From Criminal Prosecutions And Renew Call For Criminal Investigation
The Myanmar regime, guilty of the most serious crimes of concern to the international community, has revealed that it is seeking to give itself constitutional immunity from prosecution for those crimes. The Burma Lawyers' Council, the Global Justice Center and the Burma Justice Committee denounce this attempt by the regime to avoid accountability. The recently distributed final version of the Constitution being put to a "referendum" on May 10th, 2008 now includes in Chapter XIV "Transitory Provisions," Article No. 445, stating, "No legal action shall be taken against those (either individuals or groups who are members of SLORC and SPDC) who officially carried out their duties according to their responsibilities." This immunity is invalid under international law and cannot be accepted by the international community.
There is ample evidence that the military regime has committed war crimes, crimes against humanity and potentially even genocide through forced relocation, torture, rape, enforced disappearances and extermination. Perpetrators of these, the most serious of crimes, are not eligible for amnesty under international law. Moreover, the global community has a commitment under the Responsibility to Protect Doctrine, Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security and Resolution 1674 on the protection of civilians in armed conflict, to hold the regime accountable for the crimes committed against the people of Burma. In seeking an amnesty, the military regime recognizes that it has committed serious crimes and needs amnesty for what it has done and is doing. The regime cannot, however, simply give itself immunity as it is seeking to do.
The constitutional amnesty is another example of how the regime abuses the law as it seeks to solidify the military's rule of oppression through a façade of legality. As stated by U Aung Htoo, Secretary General of the Burma Lawyers' Council "Rule of law must replace military might. This Constitution and its illegal amnesty provision cannot bring sustainable peace to Burma."
The Burma Lawyers' Council, Global Justice Center and Burma Justice Committee therefore today make clear:
The military regime must immediately desist from committing further crimes against the people of Burma;
The military regime's constitutional process and intended amnesty fails to comply with any of the applicable international legal norms and will not have any force as a matter of law either internationally or for the future within Burma; and
As a matter of international law, the U.N. Security Council should create an Independent Commission of Inquiry to investigate the crimes and pursue criminal accountability of those members of the military regime who have committed international crimes.
Source: Scoop NZ
Press Release: Global Justice Center
International Lawyers Denounce Attempt By Myanmar Regime To Give Themselves Immunity From Criminal Prosecutions And Renew Call For Criminal Investigation
The Myanmar regime, guilty of the most serious crimes of concern to the international community, has revealed that it is seeking to give itself constitutional immunity from prosecution for those crimes. The Burma Lawyers' Council, the Global Justice Center and the Burma Justice Committee denounce this attempt by the regime to avoid accountability. The recently distributed final version of the Constitution being put to a "referendum" on May 10th, 2008 now includes in Chapter XIV "Transitory Provisions," Article No. 445, stating, "No legal action shall be taken against those (either individuals or groups who are members of SLORC and SPDC) who officially carried out their duties according to their responsibilities." This immunity is invalid under international law and cannot be accepted by the international community.
There is ample evidence that the military regime has committed war crimes, crimes against humanity and potentially even genocide through forced relocation, torture, rape, enforced disappearances and extermination. Perpetrators of these, the most serious of crimes, are not eligible for amnesty under international law. Moreover, the global community has a commitment under the Responsibility to Protect Doctrine, Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security and Resolution 1674 on the protection of civilians in armed conflict, to hold the regime accountable for the crimes committed against the people of Burma. In seeking an amnesty, the military regime recognizes that it has committed serious crimes and needs amnesty for what it has done and is doing. The regime cannot, however, simply give itself immunity as it is seeking to do.
The constitutional amnesty is another example of how the regime abuses the law as it seeks to solidify the military's rule of oppression through a façade of legality. As stated by U Aung Htoo, Secretary General of the Burma Lawyers' Council "Rule of law must replace military might. This Constitution and its illegal amnesty provision cannot bring sustainable peace to Burma."
The Burma Lawyers' Council, Global Justice Center and Burma Justice Committee therefore today make clear:
The military regime must immediately desist from committing further crimes against the people of Burma;
The military regime's constitutional process and intended amnesty fails to comply with any of the applicable international legal norms and will not have any force as a matter of law either internationally or for the future within Burma; and
As a matter of international law, the U.N. Security Council should create an Independent Commission of Inquiry to investigate the crimes and pursue criminal accountability of those members of the military regime who have committed international crimes.
Source: Scoop NZ
Burma's Referendum: A Fruitless Attempt of the Military Junta
By Zin Linn
Bangkok 16 April, 2008 (Asiantribune.com): People of Burma have been disappointed with the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and his Special Envoy Ibrahim Gambari, with SG because he has failed to call for the Security Council action on Burma and with Gambari because he has been misleading the world body in support of the undisciplined military regime.
On 31 March, Members of Parliament elected in the 1990 General Elections but prevented from taking office by the country's junta issued an appeal to lawmakers all over the world. Their message was: reject the military-ordained new constitution of Burma. The appeal signed by 14 MPs 'elect' said both Ban Ki-moon and Ibrahim Gambari have failed in the mission expected of them. "We expected them to pressurise the Junta into yielding for national reconciliation but their efforts are unproductive". About the Security Council also the appeal had some harsh comment. "This highest authoritative body of the United Nations has failed to take an effective and timely action to stop one-sided acts of the SPDC (State Peace and Development Council) and to facilitate real national reconciliation and democratization in Burma".
Four days earlier, on March 27, marking the 63rd Armed Forces Day, Senior General Than Shwe (75), made a 15-minute nationwide radio and television speech giving hint of 'May Referendum' on the draft constitution but did not state when the new statute would be available for public scrutiny. He was not also honourably silent on the dates for the referendum. Indications are that the referendum will take place in May. He however said that the civilians would take the reins of government after elections in 2010, once a constitution is approved giving broad powers to the military.
The constitution is a part of the junta's seven-step roadmap to democracy. It emerged out of the National Convention, which was a farce in itself. Opponents of the regime, such as the National League for Democracy, led by the detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, were excluded from the drafting process, which took 14 years.
Critics have termed the new statute as a trick to consolidate the military's supremacy. Nonetheless, Year 2008 may become an important watershed for the democracy movement in Burma because of the farcical Referendum. For the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), legitimacy to the Constitution is a priority..
The Junta is going out of its way to court the support of ASEAN and other neighbouring countries especially China and India for its constitutional makeover. At the same time it is riding roughshod over the National League for Democracy (NLD) which is the only challenger to its supremacy at home. Aung San Suu Kyi will not be allowed to contest in the elections scheduled for 2010, the Junta made it clear already.
On May 27, the Burma's opposition groups will observe the 18th anniversary of NLD's significant victory in the 1990 General Elections. NLD had won 392 of the 485 seats on offer in Parliament. NLD allies, the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD) won 23 seats and the Arakan League for Democracy (ALD) bagged 11 seats in what was certainly one of the free and fair elections that had taken place in the South-East Asia region. But, the SPDC's authoritative generals, especially Sen. Gen. Than Shwe, adamantly refuse to honour the 1990 Elections' result. Than Shwe is unwilling even to talk to Aung San Suu Kyi.
A constitution is a contract between the people and the government of a nation. Only a statute that is willingly accepted by the people will endure the test of time. The National League for Democracy believes that if genuine multi-party democracy is to be established in Burma, a constitution based on democratic principles is an absolute necessity.
The NLD was set up to usher in a genuine democratic system which lives up to the aspirations of the people and contributes to building a strong Union of Burma. It believes that the state derives its power from the people. And a democratic nation must have the rule of law and a constitution that guarantees human rights, and basic freedoms - of worship, expression and association. Moreover, the NLD believes that the foundation for a strong, lasting and prosperous union has to be laid through a national convention where all the ethnic groups of Burma are represented and decide collectively the destiny of the nation. The landslide victory in 1990 was a public endorsement of what all the NLD has come to stand for.
Unfortunately, SPDC and its earlier incarnation, State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) practiced means fair and foul to undo the electoral verdict. First, it invalidated the result, and then it sacked the MPs. They were also disqualified them from standing for elections again. When the MPs resisted pressure to resign, false cases were slapped and they were thrown into jail. Once this exercise was complete and 200 members were eased out, the Junta said "Parliament is not being constituted as we don't have enough elected members".
Approximately 100 of the 426 elected MPs passed away in the past 18 years. Three MPs died in police custody. Tin Maung Win, NLD MP of Khayan Constituency (1), Rangoon Division, passed away on January18, 1991 in the notorious Insein Prison. Hla Than from Coco Islands Constituency (also Rangoon Division) died on August 2, 1996 at the guard ward in Rangoon General Hospital. Saw Win (a.k.a) Kyaw Zaw Lin, who had won Htee Lin Constituency (Magwe Division) on Aug 7, 1998 in Thayawaddy Prison.
Three law makers passed away soon after their release from jail. Kyaw Min of Bassein West Constituency (Irrawaddy Division), died of liver cirrhosis on July1, 1999 in Rangoon General Hospital. San San Win, who represents the Ahlon Constituency (Rangoon Division), passed away in 2000 and Hla Maung who had won Kyainseikkyi seat from Karen State died November 27, 2003.
Win Ko who represented Ye Oo Constituency (Sagaing Division), was assassinated in Kunming, China, on Nov 1, 1992 and Hla Pe, (Pyaw Bwe Constituency, Mandalay Division), was eliminated on the outskirts of Bangkok on June 16, 1993. At least 12 law makers are languishing in the Junta's notorious prison. And the appeals by the international community -United Nations General Assembly including for their release have gone in vain. In fact, there are some 1000 political prisoners. They include the 1991 Nobel Prize winner, Aung San Suu Kyi.
Myint Thein, a Member of Parliament and spokesman for NLD who was jailed repeatedly, died at age 62 in Singapore on 29 March. He was last detained in Yangon's notorious Insein Prison on Sep 27, 2007, after the peaceful protests led by Buddhist monks ended in a brutal crackdown. Myint Thein had been in declining health while he was incarcerated and he had to be hospitalized upon his release on Oct 30, 2007. Frequent detentions and lack of medical treatment and inadequate food in prison made him sick.
Suu Kyi and NLD stand for dialogue as they firmly believe in Gandhian values and concepts. But the Junta has cold shouldered NLD and ignored its dialogue offer. So NLD has no place at the National Convention the Junta had convened. The second-largest pro-democracy party, the Shan National League for Democracy (SNLD), did not turn up dubbing the convention as undemocratic. The United Nationalities Alliance (UNA), which represents the ethnic parties of Shans, Karens, Kachins, Chins, Arakans, Mons and Karennis also declared ahead of the convention that they would not go to the forum in the absence of the NLD.
It goes without saying that minus NLD, the junta's seven-step roadmap becomes a farce with no genuine democratic principles and objectives. SPDC's roadmap has three foremost objectives. First whitewash the junta's crimes against humanity including the premeditated massacre at Depayin. Second do away with the result of the 1990 General Elections. Third persuade regional governments to support a sugar-coated military-monopolized parliament as a legislative body of Burma.
However, present situation in Burma shows that the military junta has been adamantly marching along the anti-democracy road. For instance, the junta continues to detain and imprison nearly 2,000 political prisoners, including Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest on and off since 1990, leaders of the '88 Generation Students such as Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi, Hla Myo Naung, Mee Mee, Aung Thu, Ko Ko and political leaders such as Shan leader Hkun Htun Oo and U Win Tin, a prominent journalist and executive member of the NLD, who at 78 has been languishing in prison since July 4, 1989.
Moreover, Su Su Nway, a member of the NLD, has been kept in custody in notorious Insein Jail since November 2007, following a peaceful demonstration. She received the 2006 Humphrey Freedom Award from the Canada-based group, Rights and Democracy, for her human rights activities. She was arrested in 2005 and 2007. Many political prisoners are reportedly seriously ill and receive only rudimentary health care. The International Committee of the Red Cross has been denied free access to conduct confidential prison visits since December 2005. Arrests and intimidation of political activists and journalists in Burma have been going on for two decades.
The state-run newspaper, the New Light of Myanmar, said the arrests were made by peace-loving people to prevent instigators from trying to cause insecurity and strife. The '88 Generation Students' group condemned the action. It is improper and immoral to assault, perturb, harass and detain those demonstrating peacefully for change. The student group urged the government to start dialogue with the detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi for the sake of national reconciliation.
Earlier than the 18th anniversary of Burma's 1990 General Elections which falls on 27 May 2008, the key regional players, China, India, Japan and ASEAN, should recognize their obligation to Burma. They must urge SPDC to give up its fruitless policies and unproductive plans. If the junta is reluctant to recognize the will of its own people, the consequences that follow may not be to its likings. People's will cannot be wished away nor their aspirations just as the verdict in a popular election cannot be brushed aside endlessly.
People believe that the decision to hold a referendum this May is a fruitless attempt of Sen. Gen. Than Shwe. It will be hard to convince the country's voters that it was not a controversial constitution written by pro-military delegates. On the contrary, Than Shwe has declared a war not only on the people of Burma but also towards the world body by neglecting the UN's decisions. Than Shwe dares enough to challenge Ban Ki-moon as if he knew of rival's weakness. It is time Ban puts a thinking cap and takes a fresh look at the Burma question in its entirety.
- Asian Tribune -
Bangkok 16 April, 2008 (Asiantribune.com): People of Burma have been disappointed with the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and his Special Envoy Ibrahim Gambari, with SG because he has failed to call for the Security Council action on Burma and with Gambari because he has been misleading the world body in support of the undisciplined military regime.
On 31 March, Members of Parliament elected in the 1990 General Elections but prevented from taking office by the country's junta issued an appeal to lawmakers all over the world. Their message was: reject the military-ordained new constitution of Burma. The appeal signed by 14 MPs 'elect' said both Ban Ki-moon and Ibrahim Gambari have failed in the mission expected of them. "We expected them to pressurise the Junta into yielding for national reconciliation but their efforts are unproductive". About the Security Council also the appeal had some harsh comment. "This highest authoritative body of the United Nations has failed to take an effective and timely action to stop one-sided acts of the SPDC (State Peace and Development Council) and to facilitate real national reconciliation and democratization in Burma".
Four days earlier, on March 27, marking the 63rd Armed Forces Day, Senior General Than Shwe (75), made a 15-minute nationwide radio and television speech giving hint of 'May Referendum' on the draft constitution but did not state when the new statute would be available for public scrutiny. He was not also honourably silent on the dates for the referendum. Indications are that the referendum will take place in May. He however said that the civilians would take the reins of government after elections in 2010, once a constitution is approved giving broad powers to the military.
The constitution is a part of the junta's seven-step roadmap to democracy. It emerged out of the National Convention, which was a farce in itself. Opponents of the regime, such as the National League for Democracy, led by the detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, were excluded from the drafting process, which took 14 years.
Critics have termed the new statute as a trick to consolidate the military's supremacy. Nonetheless, Year 2008 may become an important watershed for the democracy movement in Burma because of the farcical Referendum. For the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), legitimacy to the Constitution is a priority..
The Junta is going out of its way to court the support of ASEAN and other neighbouring countries especially China and India for its constitutional makeover. At the same time it is riding roughshod over the National League for Democracy (NLD) which is the only challenger to its supremacy at home. Aung San Suu Kyi will not be allowed to contest in the elections scheduled for 2010, the Junta made it clear already.
On May 27, the Burma's opposition groups will observe the 18th anniversary of NLD's significant victory in the 1990 General Elections. NLD had won 392 of the 485 seats on offer in Parliament. NLD allies, the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD) won 23 seats and the Arakan League for Democracy (ALD) bagged 11 seats in what was certainly one of the free and fair elections that had taken place in the South-East Asia region. But, the SPDC's authoritative generals, especially Sen. Gen. Than Shwe, adamantly refuse to honour the 1990 Elections' result. Than Shwe is unwilling even to talk to Aung San Suu Kyi.
A constitution is a contract between the people and the government of a nation. Only a statute that is willingly accepted by the people will endure the test of time. The National League for Democracy believes that if genuine multi-party democracy is to be established in Burma, a constitution based on democratic principles is an absolute necessity.
The NLD was set up to usher in a genuine democratic system which lives up to the aspirations of the people and contributes to building a strong Union of Burma. It believes that the state derives its power from the people. And a democratic nation must have the rule of law and a constitution that guarantees human rights, and basic freedoms - of worship, expression and association. Moreover, the NLD believes that the foundation for a strong, lasting and prosperous union has to be laid through a national convention where all the ethnic groups of Burma are represented and decide collectively the destiny of the nation. The landslide victory in 1990 was a public endorsement of what all the NLD has come to stand for.
Unfortunately, SPDC and its earlier incarnation, State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) practiced means fair and foul to undo the electoral verdict. First, it invalidated the result, and then it sacked the MPs. They were also disqualified them from standing for elections again. When the MPs resisted pressure to resign, false cases were slapped and they were thrown into jail. Once this exercise was complete and 200 members were eased out, the Junta said "Parliament is not being constituted as we don't have enough elected members".
Approximately 100 of the 426 elected MPs passed away in the past 18 years. Three MPs died in police custody. Tin Maung Win, NLD MP of Khayan Constituency (1), Rangoon Division, passed away on January18, 1991 in the notorious Insein Prison. Hla Than from Coco Islands Constituency (also Rangoon Division) died on August 2, 1996 at the guard ward in Rangoon General Hospital. Saw Win (a.k.a) Kyaw Zaw Lin, who had won Htee Lin Constituency (Magwe Division) on Aug 7, 1998 in Thayawaddy Prison.
Three law makers passed away soon after their release from jail. Kyaw Min of Bassein West Constituency (Irrawaddy Division), died of liver cirrhosis on July1, 1999 in Rangoon General Hospital. San San Win, who represents the Ahlon Constituency (Rangoon Division), passed away in 2000 and Hla Maung who had won Kyainseikkyi seat from Karen State died November 27, 2003.
Win Ko who represented Ye Oo Constituency (Sagaing Division), was assassinated in Kunming, China, on Nov 1, 1992 and Hla Pe, (Pyaw Bwe Constituency, Mandalay Division), was eliminated on the outskirts of Bangkok on June 16, 1993. At least 12 law makers are languishing in the Junta's notorious prison. And the appeals by the international community -United Nations General Assembly including for their release have gone in vain. In fact, there are some 1000 political prisoners. They include the 1991 Nobel Prize winner, Aung San Suu Kyi.
Myint Thein, a Member of Parliament and spokesman for NLD who was jailed repeatedly, died at age 62 in Singapore on 29 March. He was last detained in Yangon's notorious Insein Prison on Sep 27, 2007, after the peaceful protests led by Buddhist monks ended in a brutal crackdown. Myint Thein had been in declining health while he was incarcerated and he had to be hospitalized upon his release on Oct 30, 2007. Frequent detentions and lack of medical treatment and inadequate food in prison made him sick.
Suu Kyi and NLD stand for dialogue as they firmly believe in Gandhian values and concepts. But the Junta has cold shouldered NLD and ignored its dialogue offer. So NLD has no place at the National Convention the Junta had convened. The second-largest pro-democracy party, the Shan National League for Democracy (SNLD), did not turn up dubbing the convention as undemocratic. The United Nationalities Alliance (UNA), which represents the ethnic parties of Shans, Karens, Kachins, Chins, Arakans, Mons and Karennis also declared ahead of the convention that they would not go to the forum in the absence of the NLD.
It goes without saying that minus NLD, the junta's seven-step roadmap becomes a farce with no genuine democratic principles and objectives. SPDC's roadmap has three foremost objectives. First whitewash the junta's crimes against humanity including the premeditated massacre at Depayin. Second do away with the result of the 1990 General Elections. Third persuade regional governments to support a sugar-coated military-monopolized parliament as a legislative body of Burma.
However, present situation in Burma shows that the military junta has been adamantly marching along the anti-democracy road. For instance, the junta continues to detain and imprison nearly 2,000 political prisoners, including Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest on and off since 1990, leaders of the '88 Generation Students such as Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi, Hla Myo Naung, Mee Mee, Aung Thu, Ko Ko and political leaders such as Shan leader Hkun Htun Oo and U Win Tin, a prominent journalist and executive member of the NLD, who at 78 has been languishing in prison since July 4, 1989.
Moreover, Su Su Nway, a member of the NLD, has been kept in custody in notorious Insein Jail since November 2007, following a peaceful demonstration. She received the 2006 Humphrey Freedom Award from the Canada-based group, Rights and Democracy, for her human rights activities. She was arrested in 2005 and 2007. Many political prisoners are reportedly seriously ill and receive only rudimentary health care. The International Committee of the Red Cross has been denied free access to conduct confidential prison visits since December 2005. Arrests and intimidation of political activists and journalists in Burma have been going on for two decades.
The state-run newspaper, the New Light of Myanmar, said the arrests were made by peace-loving people to prevent instigators from trying to cause insecurity and strife. The '88 Generation Students' group condemned the action. It is improper and immoral to assault, perturb, harass and detain those demonstrating peacefully for change. The student group urged the government to start dialogue with the detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi for the sake of national reconciliation.
Earlier than the 18th anniversary of Burma's 1990 General Elections which falls on 27 May 2008, the key regional players, China, India, Japan and ASEAN, should recognize their obligation to Burma. They must urge SPDC to give up its fruitless policies and unproductive plans. If the junta is reluctant to recognize the will of its own people, the consequences that follow may not be to its likings. People's will cannot be wished away nor their aspirations just as the verdict in a popular election cannot be brushed aside endlessly.
People believe that the decision to hold a referendum this May is a fruitless attempt of Sen. Gen. Than Shwe. It will be hard to convince the country's voters that it was not a controversial constitution written by pro-military delegates. On the contrary, Than Shwe has declared a war not only on the people of Burma but also towards the world body by neglecting the UN's decisions. Than Shwe dares enough to challenge Ban Ki-moon as if he knew of rival's weakness. It is time Ban puts a thinking cap and takes a fresh look at the Burma question in its entirety.
- Asian Tribune -
ASEAN-Japan complete Comprehensive EPA
April 15, 2008 (Indonesia) - The ten Governments of Brunei Darussalam, the Kingdom of Cambodia, the Republic of Indonesia, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, the Union of Myanmar, the Republic of the Philippines, the Republic of Singapore, the Kingdom of Thailand, and the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, Member States of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and the Government of Japan have completed the signing of the Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Partnership among Member States of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and Japan.“
The AJCEP Agreement is comprehensive in scope, covering such fields as trade in goods, trade in services, investment, and economic cooperation.
The signing has been completed by authorized Ministers in the capitals of respective countries. As a next step, ASEAN Member States and Japan will start their respective domestic procedures necessary for entry into force of the Agreement and notify their completion of such domestic procedures to the other countries.
The AJCEP Agreement will enter into force on the first day of the second month following the date by which such notifications have been made by Japan and at least one ASEAN Member State, for those signatory States that have made such notifications by this date.
ASEAN Member States and Japan look forward to the early entry into force of the AJCEP Agreement, which will provide a strong impetus for further invigoration of trade and investment in the region.
Association of Southeast Asian Nations
Source: Fibre 2 Fashion
The AJCEP Agreement is comprehensive in scope, covering such fields as trade in goods, trade in services, investment, and economic cooperation.
The signing has been completed by authorized Ministers in the capitals of respective countries. As a next step, ASEAN Member States and Japan will start their respective domestic procedures necessary for entry into force of the Agreement and notify their completion of such domestic procedures to the other countries.
The AJCEP Agreement will enter into force on the first day of the second month following the date by which such notifications have been made by Japan and at least one ASEAN Member State, for those signatory States that have made such notifications by this date.
ASEAN Member States and Japan look forward to the early entry into force of the AJCEP Agreement, which will provide a strong impetus for further invigoration of trade and investment in the region.
Association of Southeast Asian Nations
Source: Fibre 2 Fashion
Myanmar Detains at Least 20 Activists
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) -- Myanmar's military junta detained more than 20 activists as they walked through the northwestern city of Sittwe in a peaceful rally against the country's proposed constitution, an opposition party spokesman said Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Myo Nyunt, a youth member of the opposition party and a close aide of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, was arrested at his grandmother's home near Yangon, said Nyan Win, spokesman for the National League for Democracy. He was taken from his home near Yangon on Tuesday morning.
He was given a 15-day prison sentence by a court for failing to report to authorities when he spent a night at someone else's house, Nyan Win said.
In Myanmar, the law requires that a person inform local authorities when staying overnight at a house where they are not listed as a member. But Nyan Win said Myo Nyunt was sentenced because he was an active member of the party.
The arrests came ahead of the country's May 10 referendum on a new constitution that critics say was drafted to perpetuate military rule.
The NLD has urged voters to reject the charter because it was drafted without any input from the junta's critics and the country's pro-democracy movement.
The protesters were wearing T-shirts printed with the word "No," during a 5-day festival to celebrate Myanmar's traditional New Year's holiday.
Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine state in western Myanmar is known for its strong anti-military sentiment. It was the city where Buddhist monks first joined anti-junta rallies that swelled into nationwide protests last September. At least 31 people were killed when the military crushed the protests, sparking global outrage.
On Sunday, some youth activists in suburban Yangon were reprimanded by authorities and warned not to wear the "No" T-shirts, said a member of the NLD who asked not to be named for fear of official reprisal.
"Arrests of NLD members and intimidation against opponents of the regime's draft constitution are becoming more frequent," Nyan Win said, adding that several activists have also been attacked by unidentified assailants.
Last week, the NLD called on international observers to take part in the referendum. Junta officials rejected the idea of international observers when it was proposed by United Nations special envoy Ibrahim Gambari last month.
The proposed constitution would ban anyone who enjoyed the rights and privileges of a foreign citizen from holding public office. This would keep Suu Kyi out of government because her late husband was a Briton.
The proposed charter allots 25 percent of the seats in both houses of Parliament to the military.
It also stipulates that no amendments to the charter can be made without the consent of more than 75 percent of lawmakers, making changes unlikely unless supported by military representatives.
The constitutional referendum is supposed to be followed by a general election in 2010.
Myanmar has been without a constitution since 1988, when the current junta took power and scrapped the previous charter after violently quashing mass pro-democracy demonstrations.
(This version CORRECTS that activist was arrested at his grandmother's house)
Meanwhile, Myo Nyunt, a youth member of the opposition party and a close aide of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, was arrested at his grandmother's home near Yangon, said Nyan Win, spokesman for the National League for Democracy. He was taken from his home near Yangon on Tuesday morning.
He was given a 15-day prison sentence by a court for failing to report to authorities when he spent a night at someone else's house, Nyan Win said.
In Myanmar, the law requires that a person inform local authorities when staying overnight at a house where they are not listed as a member. But Nyan Win said Myo Nyunt was sentenced because he was an active member of the party.
The arrests came ahead of the country's May 10 referendum on a new constitution that critics say was drafted to perpetuate military rule.
The NLD has urged voters to reject the charter because it was drafted without any input from the junta's critics and the country's pro-democracy movement.
The protesters were wearing T-shirts printed with the word "No," during a 5-day festival to celebrate Myanmar's traditional New Year's holiday.
Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine state in western Myanmar is known for its strong anti-military sentiment. It was the city where Buddhist monks first joined anti-junta rallies that swelled into nationwide protests last September. At least 31 people were killed when the military crushed the protests, sparking global outrage.
On Sunday, some youth activists in suburban Yangon were reprimanded by authorities and warned not to wear the "No" T-shirts, said a member of the NLD who asked not to be named for fear of official reprisal.
"Arrests of NLD members and intimidation against opponents of the regime's draft constitution are becoming more frequent," Nyan Win said, adding that several activists have also been attacked by unidentified assailants.
Last week, the NLD called on international observers to take part in the referendum. Junta officials rejected the idea of international observers when it was proposed by United Nations special envoy Ibrahim Gambari last month.
The proposed constitution would ban anyone who enjoyed the rights and privileges of a foreign citizen from holding public office. This would keep Suu Kyi out of government because her late husband was a Briton.
The proposed charter allots 25 percent of the seats in both houses of Parliament to the military.
It also stipulates that no amendments to the charter can be made without the consent of more than 75 percent of lawmakers, making changes unlikely unless supported by military representatives.
The constitutional referendum is supposed to be followed by a general election in 2010.
Myanmar has been without a constitution since 1988, when the current junta took power and scrapped the previous charter after violently quashing mass pro-democracy demonstrations.
(This version CORRECTS that activist was arrested at his grandmother's house)
Tuesday, 15 April 2008
THAILAND MUST IMPROVE ITS MIGRANT POLICY IF IT’S NOT TO RECEIVE INTERNATIONAL CONDEMNATION
By Methawee
Pattaya Daily News
The recent death of the 54 Burmese migrants in a container in Ranong, on April 10 represents, but the tip of the iceberg. Human rights lawyers and labour rights activists in Thailand say that violence against Burmese migrant workers is on the increase. They accuse Thai authorities of doing too little to protect Burmese working in Thailand.
The Migrant Worker Group, a coalition of NGOs, cited at least documented 10 cases in which more than 100 people had died being transported to Thailand in the past year. Since the beginning of 2008, scores of Rohingya Muslims from Burma have drowned in the Andaman Sea in an attempt to reach Southern Thailand, However, rather than help, Thai PM Samak Sundaravej has recently announced he will detain them on a deserted island to deter more arrivals.
"These preventable deaths are the tragic result of people fleeing repression and poverty in Burma, only to find abuse and exploitation in Thailand. Thai policies denying migrants basic rights contribute to such tragedies and urgently need to be revised or scrapped. These deaths put Thai authorities squarely on notice that reform cannot wait," said Elaine Pearson, Deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
Over 2 million Burmese migrants are estimated to be working in Thailand, less than 500,000 of them legally. Yet the numbers rise steadily—the lure of jobs and the hope of a better life outweighs all the uncertainty and threat of physical danger, murder and exploitation that these people suffer.
Nearly 20,000 registered Burmese migrant workers work in the Mae Sot area of Thailand's Tak border province with Myanmar, where cases of abuse are particularly high. Moe Swe, head of the Yaung Chi Oo Workers Association in Mae Sot, said because migrant workers were reluctant to get involved with the police, many incidents go unreported. Unregistered migrants fear deportation if they complain to the authorities
800 cases of abuse, including murder and rape, were reported to the Seafarers Union of Burma from mid-2006 to November 2007. Union member Ko Ko Aung maintained 30% of the reported cases involved murder. It appears some Thai employers resort to murder, rather than pay their migrant workers.
Adults are not the only victims of Burma's instability, children are also represented. Here estimates are vague, there being no official statistics, but NGOs cite 20,000 as a generally accepted figure. The economic crisis and instability in Burma is driving hordes of Burmese children into hard labour, begging and the sex trade, claims exiled Burmese rights groups. Paw Ray, the chairperson of the BMWEC, which operates nearly 50 schools for children of Burmese migrant workers in Mae Sot maintains "there's no security and no protection for migrant workers or their children. Neither the authorities nor employers can give them security."
With many Thais avoiding mundane, dirty and dangerous work in agriculture, fishing and construction, and Myanmar's generals refusing to improve their crippled economy, Thai officials say the influx of cheap, migrant labour will continue.
However, most Thais are unaware of the positive contributions that migrant workers make for Thailand. Estimates of their contributions amount to Bt370 billion, or about 6.2 per cent of Thailand's GDP and the average unskilled migrant earns between 50 and 80% of the average unskilled Thai. Yet it appears as if the Thai political leaders, captains of industry and ordinary citizens - who most benefit directly or indirectly from migrant labour - have conspired to suppress such information. Those who benefit most in the absence of any genuine attempt to regulate the inflow of migrants from Burma, Cambodia and Laos are unscrupulous Thai employers bent on exploiting labour to maximise profits.
And Thailand continues to treat these people with utter contempt and prejudice. In fact, it appears the more Thailand comes to depend on migrant workers for its economic and social well-being, the worse the Thai people treat them.
Successive governments, including the outgoing Surayud government, have been complicit in the systematic exploitation of migrants, for failure to secure borders, and lax enforcement of laws relating to immigrants and their employers.
Human Rights Watch maintains "If Thailand's labour laws were followed across the board, fewer migrants would resort to illegal crossings or be susceptible to trafficking, and could travel and work with basic rights under law." They continue
"It's time for the Thai and Burmese governments to implement transparent measures that protect the lives and basic rights of migrant workers."
Pattaya Daily News
The recent death of the 54 Burmese migrants in a container in Ranong, on April 10 represents, but the tip of the iceberg. Human rights lawyers and labour rights activists in Thailand say that violence against Burmese migrant workers is on the increase. They accuse Thai authorities of doing too little to protect Burmese working in Thailand.
The Migrant Worker Group, a coalition of NGOs, cited at least documented 10 cases in which more than 100 people had died being transported to Thailand in the past year. Since the beginning of 2008, scores of Rohingya Muslims from Burma have drowned in the Andaman Sea in an attempt to reach Southern Thailand, However, rather than help, Thai PM Samak Sundaravej has recently announced he will detain them on a deserted island to deter more arrivals.
"These preventable deaths are the tragic result of people fleeing repression and poverty in Burma, only to find abuse and exploitation in Thailand. Thai policies denying migrants basic rights contribute to such tragedies and urgently need to be revised or scrapped. These deaths put Thai authorities squarely on notice that reform cannot wait," said Elaine Pearson, Deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
Over 2 million Burmese migrants are estimated to be working in Thailand, less than 500,000 of them legally. Yet the numbers rise steadily—the lure of jobs and the hope of a better life outweighs all the uncertainty and threat of physical danger, murder and exploitation that these people suffer.
Nearly 20,000 registered Burmese migrant workers work in the Mae Sot area of Thailand's Tak border province with Myanmar, where cases of abuse are particularly high. Moe Swe, head of the Yaung Chi Oo Workers Association in Mae Sot, said because migrant workers were reluctant to get involved with the police, many incidents go unreported. Unregistered migrants fear deportation if they complain to the authorities
800 cases of abuse, including murder and rape, were reported to the Seafarers Union of Burma from mid-2006 to November 2007. Union member Ko Ko Aung maintained 30% of the reported cases involved murder. It appears some Thai employers resort to murder, rather than pay their migrant workers.
Adults are not the only victims of Burma's instability, children are also represented. Here estimates are vague, there being no official statistics, but NGOs cite 20,000 as a generally accepted figure. The economic crisis and instability in Burma is driving hordes of Burmese children into hard labour, begging and the sex trade, claims exiled Burmese rights groups. Paw Ray, the chairperson of the BMWEC, which operates nearly 50 schools for children of Burmese migrant workers in Mae Sot maintains "there's no security and no protection for migrant workers or their children. Neither the authorities nor employers can give them security."
With many Thais avoiding mundane, dirty and dangerous work in agriculture, fishing and construction, and Myanmar's generals refusing to improve their crippled economy, Thai officials say the influx of cheap, migrant labour will continue.
However, most Thais are unaware of the positive contributions that migrant workers make for Thailand. Estimates of their contributions amount to Bt370 billion, or about 6.2 per cent of Thailand's GDP and the average unskilled migrant earns between 50 and 80% of the average unskilled Thai. Yet it appears as if the Thai political leaders, captains of industry and ordinary citizens - who most benefit directly or indirectly from migrant labour - have conspired to suppress such information. Those who benefit most in the absence of any genuine attempt to regulate the inflow of migrants from Burma, Cambodia and Laos are unscrupulous Thai employers bent on exploiting labour to maximise profits.
And Thailand continues to treat these people with utter contempt and prejudice. In fact, it appears the more Thailand comes to depend on migrant workers for its economic and social well-being, the worse the Thai people treat them.
Successive governments, including the outgoing Surayud government, have been complicit in the systematic exploitation of migrants, for failure to secure borders, and lax enforcement of laws relating to immigrants and their employers.
Human Rights Watch maintains "If Thailand's labour laws were followed across the board, fewer migrants would resort to illegal crossings or be susceptible to trafficking, and could travel and work with basic rights under law." They continue
"It's time for the Thai and Burmese governments to implement transparent measures that protect the lives and basic rights of migrant workers."
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