Aug 4, 2008 (DVB)–Residents of Irrawaddy's cyclone-devastated Bogalay township have complained that local authorities have been pressuring them to pay a construction tax for repair work on their houses.
A Bogalay resident said municipal officials had told locals to apply for construction permits to repair damage caused by the cyclone and charged them between 100,000 and 200,000 kyat depending on the size of the house.
"Whenever they see a pile of bricks and sand in front of someone's house, they think they can make some money," she said.
"Our houses were damaged by the cyclone and they should not charge us for repairing them."
The resident said those who paid the tax were not given receipts by the officials.
Reporting by Naw Say Phaw
Tuesday, 5 August 2008
Looking toward the 2010 elections - Commentary
By Htet Win
Mizzima News
04 August 2008 - Even though the operational strength of the political opposition has been significantly impaired by the military government, they still – albeit on condition that the junta does not cheat in the polling – have a chance to win the forthcoming multiparty elections scheduled for 2010.
But the country is desperately in need of many more democratically-minded politicians to move the country forward at a manageable pace. This fact is compounded by the current detention of most leading nationalist, and opposition, politicians.
However, opposition political parties can rest assured that they would gain the majority of public support in the coming election, even if they are opposed by figures hand-picked from organizations such as the junta-inspired Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA).
"That [an opposition victory in the 2010 voting] would not be primarily because the general public likes the opposition parties, but largely because the public is so fed up with the military government and its prescriptions such as the USDA, which is led by the likes of Industry (1) Minister Aung Thaung and Information Minister Brigadier General Kyaw Hsan, who are senior executives with USDA," said a political observer and a leading businessman who maintains a close relationship with top-ranking military personnel.
But why is the public so fed up with the current state? Reasons include the government's suppression of opposition protests in late 2007 that saw 30 people killed – including some monks – and the government's negligence to the widespread devastation inflicted by last May's Cyclone Nargis – which resulted in 138,000 potential deaths and displaced an estimated 2 million others.
"Because of the late September 2007 movement, the political influence of monks has become significant – whether of conscious design or not," the observer explained.
Another major factor in the public's discontent is that the junta's power thirst has led to the country's prolonged economic hardship, causing the increased suffering of 50 million people over the course of the past three decades.
In this scenario, what the public and the political opposition need is a single, nationalist political party to replace the military government forever.
To solidify the position of nationalist politicians, domestic opponents and international pressure must be steadfastly unified in order to push the military government to release political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi. Prominent international actors in this endeavor must include ASEAN, the UN and China. The military government has no choice but to move if and when its giant neighbor – China – presses it to do so.
"In this regard, China's genuine attitude toward Myanmar's greater openness is widely expected. Still, China seems to be satisfied with Myanmar's present progress, which favors the first to exploit the country for its own economic interests," analyzed a Rangoon-based lawyer.
Yet the lawyer further cautioned that while the military government itself has not proven efficient in guiding the country in a positive direction, they are too self-centered to give space for those who – regardless of being outside or inside Burma – support the country's real progress.
Also, ASEAN, the UN, and China could encourage the junta to open a dialogue with opposition groups. Dialogue is the best way. However, because of the limited number of capable political representatives, there would be an influx of political opportunists into Burma's already unstable political environment – especially in the lead-up to the 2010 elections.
In this scenario, there could exist after the election a new government with similar traits as to the present military regime. The new government, though, would be hamstrung by the inclusion of young persons who are chiefly concerned about financial clout and not necessarily politically mature – and definitely most of whom are not nationalists but opportunists probably coming from celebrity and business circles.
The less the number of nationalist politicians that contest the election, the more those in favor of entrenching military rule win.
"The forthcoming election, the fifth step of Myanmar's political roadmap, is expected to be accomplished," said a senior pro-government figure and representative at the National Convention, which laid down the principles to a new draft constitution ensuring the military's control over any elected government.
"The military government seems to have already calculated that the formation of an inefficient government would lead to yet another military coup, although it would be rule-based this time," the National Convention representative recently said, referring to a clause that the president must transfer power to the Commander-in-Chief during a state of emergency.
If this situation is to be avoided, and the 2010 elections are to be a step in the right direction, some fundamental changes must first come to Burma.
Conditions, currently, to support a free and fair election are still not inadequate. To overcome this obstacle, local media will have to be empowered so as to permit them to inform the people of their choices and to raise awareness about how important their polls are in the removal of the military government and road to democracy.
There are now many people who keep themselves away from politics although they may be interested in politics. It is correct to say that Burmese people live in a land of fear, which the military has created. To overcome this fear, they must have the capacity to listen to the radio, to read newspapers – especially those of informed external media outlets – and to actively partake in the coming political events of the country.
Mizzima News
04 August 2008 - Even though the operational strength of the political opposition has been significantly impaired by the military government, they still – albeit on condition that the junta does not cheat in the polling – have a chance to win the forthcoming multiparty elections scheduled for 2010.
But the country is desperately in need of many more democratically-minded politicians to move the country forward at a manageable pace. This fact is compounded by the current detention of most leading nationalist, and opposition, politicians.
However, opposition political parties can rest assured that they would gain the majority of public support in the coming election, even if they are opposed by figures hand-picked from organizations such as the junta-inspired Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA).
"That [an opposition victory in the 2010 voting] would not be primarily because the general public likes the opposition parties, but largely because the public is so fed up with the military government and its prescriptions such as the USDA, which is led by the likes of Industry (1) Minister Aung Thaung and Information Minister Brigadier General Kyaw Hsan, who are senior executives with USDA," said a political observer and a leading businessman who maintains a close relationship with top-ranking military personnel.
But why is the public so fed up with the current state? Reasons include the government's suppression of opposition protests in late 2007 that saw 30 people killed – including some monks – and the government's negligence to the widespread devastation inflicted by last May's Cyclone Nargis – which resulted in 138,000 potential deaths and displaced an estimated 2 million others.
"Because of the late September 2007 movement, the political influence of monks has become significant – whether of conscious design or not," the observer explained.
Another major factor in the public's discontent is that the junta's power thirst has led to the country's prolonged economic hardship, causing the increased suffering of 50 million people over the course of the past three decades.
In this scenario, what the public and the political opposition need is a single, nationalist political party to replace the military government forever.
To solidify the position of nationalist politicians, domestic opponents and international pressure must be steadfastly unified in order to push the military government to release political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi. Prominent international actors in this endeavor must include ASEAN, the UN and China. The military government has no choice but to move if and when its giant neighbor – China – presses it to do so.
"In this regard, China's genuine attitude toward Myanmar's greater openness is widely expected. Still, China seems to be satisfied with Myanmar's present progress, which favors the first to exploit the country for its own economic interests," analyzed a Rangoon-based lawyer.
Yet the lawyer further cautioned that while the military government itself has not proven efficient in guiding the country in a positive direction, they are too self-centered to give space for those who – regardless of being outside or inside Burma – support the country's real progress.
Also, ASEAN, the UN, and China could encourage the junta to open a dialogue with opposition groups. Dialogue is the best way. However, because of the limited number of capable political representatives, there would be an influx of political opportunists into Burma's already unstable political environment – especially in the lead-up to the 2010 elections.
In this scenario, there could exist after the election a new government with similar traits as to the present military regime. The new government, though, would be hamstrung by the inclusion of young persons who are chiefly concerned about financial clout and not necessarily politically mature – and definitely most of whom are not nationalists but opportunists probably coming from celebrity and business circles.
The less the number of nationalist politicians that contest the election, the more those in favor of entrenching military rule win.
"The forthcoming election, the fifth step of Myanmar's political roadmap, is expected to be accomplished," said a senior pro-government figure and representative at the National Convention, which laid down the principles to a new draft constitution ensuring the military's control over any elected government.
"The military government seems to have already calculated that the formation of an inefficient government would lead to yet another military coup, although it would be rule-based this time," the National Convention representative recently said, referring to a clause that the president must transfer power to the Commander-in-Chief during a state of emergency.
If this situation is to be avoided, and the 2010 elections are to be a step in the right direction, some fundamental changes must first come to Burma.
Conditions, currently, to support a free and fair election are still not inadequate. To overcome this obstacle, local media will have to be empowered so as to permit them to inform the people of their choices and to raise awareness about how important their polls are in the removal of the military government and road to democracy.
There are now many people who keep themselves away from politics although they may be interested in politics. It is correct to say that Burmese people live in a land of fear, which the military has created. To overcome this fear, they must have the capacity to listen to the radio, to read newspapers – especially those of informed external media outlets – and to actively partake in the coming political events of the country.
Time for Stalling on Human Rights Over
By BO KYI
The Irrawaddy News
The United Nations Human Rights Council sent a special rapporteur, Tomas Ojea Quintana, to Burma this week to seek improvements on the human rights situation in Burma.
One might have expected that Than Shwe's junta would make some concessions on human rights prior to Quintana's trip—instead, the exact opposite has happened, as human rights abuses have increased.
The mission, only the latest in dozens of failed trips to Burma by UN envoys and rapporteurs, was off to a bad start even before it has begun.
Instead of making substantive moves on human rights, over the past two months the junta ramped up its repression of the Burmese people. Just days ago, Than Shwe's troops re-energized their scorched-earth campaign against ethnic minorities in eastern Burma, forcing hundreds of innocent villagers to flee their homes as refugees and internally displaced persons.
On July 31st, the junta announced its intention to sentence Burma's most famous comedian and social activist, Zarganar, along with the country's leading sports reporter.
About two months ago, the junta detained various members of the National League for Democracy, the political party of Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi.
On July 21, student political activist Khin Maung Tint died in Burma's notorious prison gulag, in the midst of serving a 20-year sentence.
On July 25, the junta sentenced 10 Muslim student activists to prison with hard labor for participating in the September 2007 Buddhist-monk led pro-democracy uprising.
No doubt, Than Shwe's junta will try to obscure these moves during Quintana's visit. If previous behavior is any guidepost, the junta will make a series of promises to change that will subsequently be broken when Quintana leaves the country. The regime will hope for positive comments by Quintana after his trip—statements they will use to show they are making "progress" when in reality there are no lasting changes whatsoever.
If the junta is feeling generous, it may even release a few political prisoners whom they deem to be unthreatening to their grip on power.
Instead of looking toward genuine change, the junta sees visits by UN envoys as an exercise in public relations, hoping the envoys will publicly thank the regime for allowing them to visit and thereby diminishing hopes for actual change. That such trips happen at all is cited as "progress" by some countries in the UN who seek so preserve Burma’s status quo.
This pattern of obfuscation has been carried on successfully by the junta for many years. Sadly, it has enabled Than Shwe to commit massive, widespread, systematic atrocities that could someday land him in the International Criminal Court.
Among other abuses, Than Shwe has destroyed many villages like in Darfur, Sudan, forcing hundreds of thousands of innocent villagers to flee as refugees and internally displaced persons.
He has recruited more child soldiers than any other country in the world, also a crime against humanity.
His troops carry out a policy of using rape as a weapon of war against ethnic minority women.
His regime now has nearly 2,000 political prisoners in its jails.
Before more people are senselessly imprisoned or killed in Burma, we hope that Quintana delivers a strong message to Than Shwe, demanding the immediate release of all political prisoners. While in Burma, Quintana should meet with key imprisoned leaders, including Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi, Su Su Nway and Zarganar.
Quintana must call on the military regime to immediately end all attacks on ethnic minorities in the country. That Than Shwe has gotten away with such attacks for so many years is devastating to Burma’s ethnic groups, and it sets a terrible precedent for the rest of the world.
Finally, Quintana should make it clear to Than Shwe that change must come immediately—if the junta attempts to draw the envoy into a protracted game of cat and mouse on human rights implementation, the UN must seek stronger action from the Human Rights Council and UN Security Council.
The time for stalling on human rights is over.
Bo Kyi is a co-founder of the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma). He was tortured and served more than 7 years as a political prisoner in Burma.
The Irrawaddy News
The United Nations Human Rights Council sent a special rapporteur, Tomas Ojea Quintana, to Burma this week to seek improvements on the human rights situation in Burma.
One might have expected that Than Shwe's junta would make some concessions on human rights prior to Quintana's trip—instead, the exact opposite has happened, as human rights abuses have increased.
The mission, only the latest in dozens of failed trips to Burma by UN envoys and rapporteurs, was off to a bad start even before it has begun.
Instead of making substantive moves on human rights, over the past two months the junta ramped up its repression of the Burmese people. Just days ago, Than Shwe's troops re-energized their scorched-earth campaign against ethnic minorities in eastern Burma, forcing hundreds of innocent villagers to flee their homes as refugees and internally displaced persons.
On July 31st, the junta announced its intention to sentence Burma's most famous comedian and social activist, Zarganar, along with the country's leading sports reporter.
About two months ago, the junta detained various members of the National League for Democracy, the political party of Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi.
On July 21, student political activist Khin Maung Tint died in Burma's notorious prison gulag, in the midst of serving a 20-year sentence.
On July 25, the junta sentenced 10 Muslim student activists to prison with hard labor for participating in the September 2007 Buddhist-monk led pro-democracy uprising.
No doubt, Than Shwe's junta will try to obscure these moves during Quintana's visit. If previous behavior is any guidepost, the junta will make a series of promises to change that will subsequently be broken when Quintana leaves the country. The regime will hope for positive comments by Quintana after his trip—statements they will use to show they are making "progress" when in reality there are no lasting changes whatsoever.
If the junta is feeling generous, it may even release a few political prisoners whom they deem to be unthreatening to their grip on power.
Instead of looking toward genuine change, the junta sees visits by UN envoys as an exercise in public relations, hoping the envoys will publicly thank the regime for allowing them to visit and thereby diminishing hopes for actual change. That such trips happen at all is cited as "progress" by some countries in the UN who seek so preserve Burma’s status quo.
This pattern of obfuscation has been carried on successfully by the junta for many years. Sadly, it has enabled Than Shwe to commit massive, widespread, systematic atrocities that could someday land him in the International Criminal Court.
Among other abuses, Than Shwe has destroyed many villages like in Darfur, Sudan, forcing hundreds of thousands of innocent villagers to flee as refugees and internally displaced persons.
He has recruited more child soldiers than any other country in the world, also a crime against humanity.
His troops carry out a policy of using rape as a weapon of war against ethnic minority women.
His regime now has nearly 2,000 political prisoners in its jails.
Before more people are senselessly imprisoned or killed in Burma, we hope that Quintana delivers a strong message to Than Shwe, demanding the immediate release of all political prisoners. While in Burma, Quintana should meet with key imprisoned leaders, including Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi, Su Su Nway and Zarganar.
Quintana must call on the military regime to immediately end all attacks on ethnic minorities in the country. That Than Shwe has gotten away with such attacks for so many years is devastating to Burma’s ethnic groups, and it sets a terrible precedent for the rest of the world.
Finally, Quintana should make it clear to Than Shwe that change must come immediately—if the junta attempts to draw the envoy into a protracted game of cat and mouse on human rights implementation, the UN must seek stronger action from the Human Rights Council and UN Security Council.
The time for stalling on human rights is over.
Bo Kyi is a co-founder of the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma). He was tortured and served more than 7 years as a political prisoner in Burma.
Drug-dealing Prisoners to Get Closer Monitoring
By SAI SILP
The Irrawaddy News
To suppress prisoners who continue to operate drug networks while behind bars, Thai authorities will establish special zones for drug-related detainees who will undergo closer monitoring.
Sompong Amornwiwat, the Thai minister of justice, told prison officials in Bangkok that the ministry plan to create special prison zones for selected drug-related detainees, who currently make up a total 60 percent of all prisoners.
About 1,000 drug detainees will be separated from other cases to prevent them from dealing drugs outside the prison and high-technology tools will be used to monitor this zone.” Sompong said, according to a report on the Thai government’s Web site.
The ministry has plans to tighten restrictions in eight high-security prison zones.
In one of the latest examples, in April, crystal methamphetamine, or Ya Ice, was discovered hidden inside the cover of a pocket book sent to Lueng Pak Lun, a Korean convicted of drug offences, in Zone 10 of the Khlong Prem Central Prison in Bangkok. Prison officials suspect the drug was ordered by mobile phone and delivered through contacts inside and outside the prison.
The Corrections Department has started blocking mobile phone signals at three maximum security prisons to cut off contact between prisoners and drug dealers on the outside, after officials found a series of attempts to contact dealers and bring drugs into the prisons.
The signal-blocking devices are at Khlong Prem Central Prison, Bang Kwang Prison and the Central Correctional Institute for Drug Addicts, which house high-profile drug traffickers. Drugs may still enter the prisons. Officials admit it is difficult to screen items sent to prisoners by mail. Narcotics have been discovered sealed inside cups of yoghurt, bottles of lotion and other items.
There have been complaints from foreign prisoners who have protested that parcels addressed to them had been rifled through. Some cases have ended in lawsuits against prison staff and wardens. Prisons normally must obtain a warrant from a court to search a prisoner’s mail.
The Justice Ministry, however, is now seeking a change in the law that would allow a prison commander to decide whether to authorize a mail search.
In early July, authorities arrested a group of drug traffickers and seized more than 170,000 methamphetamine tablets sent from Chiang Mai under the direction of detained Thai and Burmese drug dealers in Zone 10 of the Central Correctional Institute for Drug Addicts.
The Irrawaddy News
To suppress prisoners who continue to operate drug networks while behind bars, Thai authorities will establish special zones for drug-related detainees who will undergo closer monitoring.
Sompong Amornwiwat, the Thai minister of justice, told prison officials in Bangkok that the ministry plan to create special prison zones for selected drug-related detainees, who currently make up a total 60 percent of all prisoners.
About 1,000 drug detainees will be separated from other cases to prevent them from dealing drugs outside the prison and high-technology tools will be used to monitor this zone.” Sompong said, according to a report on the Thai government’s Web site.
The ministry has plans to tighten restrictions in eight high-security prison zones.
In one of the latest examples, in April, crystal methamphetamine, or Ya Ice, was discovered hidden inside the cover of a pocket book sent to Lueng Pak Lun, a Korean convicted of drug offences, in Zone 10 of the Khlong Prem Central Prison in Bangkok. Prison officials suspect the drug was ordered by mobile phone and delivered through contacts inside and outside the prison.
The Corrections Department has started blocking mobile phone signals at three maximum security prisons to cut off contact between prisoners and drug dealers on the outside, after officials found a series of attempts to contact dealers and bring drugs into the prisons.
The signal-blocking devices are at Khlong Prem Central Prison, Bang Kwang Prison and the Central Correctional Institute for Drug Addicts, which house high-profile drug traffickers. Drugs may still enter the prisons. Officials admit it is difficult to screen items sent to prisoners by mail. Narcotics have been discovered sealed inside cups of yoghurt, bottles of lotion and other items.
There have been complaints from foreign prisoners who have protested that parcels addressed to them had been rifled through. Some cases have ended in lawsuits against prison staff and wardens. Prisons normally must obtain a warrant from a court to search a prisoner’s mail.
The Justice Ministry, however, is now seeking a change in the law that would allow a prison commander to decide whether to authorize a mail search.
In early July, authorities arrested a group of drug traffickers and seized more than 170,000 methamphetamine tablets sent from Chiang Mai under the direction of detained Thai and Burmese drug dealers in Zone 10 of the Central Correctional Institute for Drug Addicts.
Quote on Unity
"if Thais and Burmese activists can join efforts towards freedom,
Burmese ethnic groups ought to practice
Unity
to reach our goal with higher strength"
-Jeg
Burmese ethnic groups ought to practice
Unity
to reach our goal with higher strength"
-Jeg
Thai, Burmese Note 8-8-8 Anniversary
By HTET AUNG
The Irrawaddy News
BANGKOK — Burmese and Thai activists in Bangkok on Sunday renewed their efforts to bring democracy to Burma at a 20-year anniversary commemoration of the 8-8-88 uprising.
“If I have to state my view, there has been no progress in Burma. But I still have a positive view,” said Dr Charnvit Kasetsiri, a historian and the former rector of Thammasat University, in a keynote speech. “The situation in Burma is serious, but it is not hopeless.”
The commemoration was co-hosted by the Faculty of Liberal Arts at Thammasat University and the Thai Action Committee for Democracy in Burma (TACDB) in collaboration with several organizations working on Burma issues.
A panel discussion, “A Two-decade Overview on Changes in Burma,” included Burmese and Thai democracy activists and scholars. Panel participants included Dr. Naruemon Thubchumpon, the director of Master of Arts in International Development Studies at Chulalongkorn University; Dr. Thaung Htun; Ajarn Pornpimon Trichot; Nang Hseng Noung of the Presidium of Women’s League of Burma (WLB); and Aung Thu Nyein, an exiled Burmese scholar.
“In the last 20 years, even though I have witnessed a sort of fluctuation in Thai policy towards Burma,” said Dr. Thaung Htun, a representative of the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB), “the support of Thai academia and civil society organizations remain unchanged and it is a great encouraging sign.” However, ordinary Thai citizens need to be more aware of the Burmese issue, he said.
Regarding the NCGUB’s efforts during the coming UN General Assembly, he told The Irrawaddy, “At this moment, we haven’t seen the concrete conclusion or comment made by the UN secretary-general regarding the progress and the outcome [of the constitutional referendum]. We have a plan to advocate the background history of the referendum process and how it failed to be inclusive and to reflect the will of the people.
“We will convince all the international players [that] the key is to find a solution, and the 2010 election is not a solution for our country.”
Ajarn Pornpimon Trichot, a senior researcher at the Institute of Asian Studies at Chulalongkorn University, who visited Burma soon after Cyclone Nargis, said “Distrust is rampant in Burmese society, resulting in a difficult situation to cooperate with each other and this has been for 20 years.”
She said distrust can be overcome with more people-to-people cooperation and understanding.
“Some of the people can overcome [distrust] because a lot of them from all walks of life came out and helped people [after Cyclone Nargis] with love and compassion,” she said. “These kinds of activities [should] keep going on and on.
“In fact, the Burmese people are strong, hardworking and determined to develop their livelihood. I am surprised that the Burmese government treats their citizens as enemies.”
Other Thai academic and civil organizations involved included the Thai Allied Committee of the Burma Foundation, the Cross Cultural Foundation, the Peace Foundation and the Alternative Asean Network on Burma.
“It is very important to remind the Thai community and the world that though we haven’t seen change, we expect it will come soon,” TACDB chairperson Laddawan Tuntivityapitak told The Irrawaddy. The TACDB is one of the staunchest Thai groups in support of Burmese activists in Thailand.
Meanwhile, a group of Burma supporters have launched a Thai-English bilingual Web site www.thaifreeburma.org to inform Thai citizens on Burmese issues.
About 100 Thai and Burmese activists, academics and students attended the commemoration. After the panel discussion, participants placed white roses on a black desk in remembrance of the Burmese people killed by the military government in 1988.
The Irrawaddy News
BANGKOK — Burmese and Thai activists in Bangkok on Sunday renewed their efforts to bring democracy to Burma at a 20-year anniversary commemoration of the 8-8-88 uprising.
“If I have to state my view, there has been no progress in Burma. But I still have a positive view,” said Dr Charnvit Kasetsiri, a historian and the former rector of Thammasat University, in a keynote speech. “The situation in Burma is serious, but it is not hopeless.”
The commemoration was co-hosted by the Faculty of Liberal Arts at Thammasat University and the Thai Action Committee for Democracy in Burma (TACDB) in collaboration with several organizations working on Burma issues.
A panel discussion, “A Two-decade Overview on Changes in Burma,” included Burmese and Thai democracy activists and scholars. Panel participants included Dr. Naruemon Thubchumpon, the director of Master of Arts in International Development Studies at Chulalongkorn University; Dr. Thaung Htun; Ajarn Pornpimon Trichot; Nang Hseng Noung of the Presidium of Women’s League of Burma (WLB); and Aung Thu Nyein, an exiled Burmese scholar.
“In the last 20 years, even though I have witnessed a sort of fluctuation in Thai policy towards Burma,” said Dr. Thaung Htun, a representative of the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB), “the support of Thai academia and civil society organizations remain unchanged and it is a great encouraging sign.” However, ordinary Thai citizens need to be more aware of the Burmese issue, he said.
Regarding the NCGUB’s efforts during the coming UN General Assembly, he told The Irrawaddy, “At this moment, we haven’t seen the concrete conclusion or comment made by the UN secretary-general regarding the progress and the outcome [of the constitutional referendum]. We have a plan to advocate the background history of the referendum process and how it failed to be inclusive and to reflect the will of the people.
“We will convince all the international players [that] the key is to find a solution, and the 2010 election is not a solution for our country.”
Ajarn Pornpimon Trichot, a senior researcher at the Institute of Asian Studies at Chulalongkorn University, who visited Burma soon after Cyclone Nargis, said “Distrust is rampant in Burmese society, resulting in a difficult situation to cooperate with each other and this has been for 20 years.”
She said distrust can be overcome with more people-to-people cooperation and understanding.
“Some of the people can overcome [distrust] because a lot of them from all walks of life came out and helped people [after Cyclone Nargis] with love and compassion,” she said. “These kinds of activities [should] keep going on and on.
“In fact, the Burmese people are strong, hardworking and determined to develop their livelihood. I am surprised that the Burmese government treats their citizens as enemies.”
Other Thai academic and civil organizations involved included the Thai Allied Committee of the Burma Foundation, the Cross Cultural Foundation, the Peace Foundation and the Alternative Asean Network on Burma.
“It is very important to remind the Thai community and the world that though we haven’t seen change, we expect it will come soon,” TACDB chairperson Laddawan Tuntivityapitak told The Irrawaddy. The TACDB is one of the staunchest Thai groups in support of Burmese activists in Thailand.
Meanwhile, a group of Burma supporters have launched a Thai-English bilingual Web site www.thaifreeburma.org to inform Thai citizens on Burmese issues.
About 100 Thai and Burmese activists, academics and students attended the commemoration. After the panel discussion, participants placed white roses on a black desk in remembrance of the Burmese people killed by the military government in 1988.
UN Rights Envoy Meets Burmese Buddhist Monks
RANGOON (Irrawaddy News-AP) — A United Nations envoy met senior Buddhist monks Monday at the start of a four-day mission in Burma, but it remained unclear if he would hold talks with junta officials and detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, diplomats said.
Tomas Ojea Quintana, the UN Human Rights Council investigator for Burma, met early Monday with senior members of the State Sangha Organization, the body that supervises the country's monasteries and monks, said Asian diplomats speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose the envoy's itinerary.
He also met leaders of other religious groups and representatives of a government-sponsored women's group, the diplomats said. They had no details of what was discussed at any of the meetings.
Quintana has also requested talks with senior government officials, representatives of ethnic groups and political parties, according to a UN statement Sunday. The statement did not mention Suu Kyi, the opposition figure under house arrest, but all former UN human rights envoys have asked for such a meeting.
Quintana's predecessor, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, was not allowed to visit the detained opposition leader when he visited in November.
The diplomats said Quintana was expected to travel to meet government ministers in the capital, Naypyitaw, but it was not known if he would be granted a meeting with junta chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe.
A UN spokesman could not be immediately reached for comment Monday and the UN has not released a full itinerary of Quintana's visit.
He was expected to visit the Irrawaddy delta where a May 2-3 cyclone killed more than 84,000 people. Burma's military rulers were accused of initially preventing foreign relief workers from accessing the area, then dragging their feet on providing food, water and shelter to the estimated 2.4 million survivors.
Quintana was due to meet the Tripartite Core Group that oversees cyclone relief work later Monday, the diplomats said. The group comprises representatives of the government, UN agencies and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nation, Asean, of which Burma is a member.
Quintana's scheduled departure Thursday comes a day before the 20th anniversary of a 1988 uprising against the military junta. The government has already beefed up security, fearing pro-democracy activists could launch anti-junta protests to coincide with the anniversary.
Burma has been under military rule since 1962. The current junta came to power in 1988 after crushing a nationwide pro-democracy movement, killing as many as 3,000 people. It called elections in 1990 but refused to honor the results when Suu Kyi's party won overwhelmingly.
The junta ruled mostly unchallenged until last August when thousands of Buddhist monks joined rallies against a fuel price increase. The junta cracked down on anti-government demonstrations in September by shooting and arresting protesters, killing as many as 31 people. Dissident groups put the death toll far higher.
Tomas Ojea Quintana, the UN Human Rights Council investigator for Burma, met early Monday with senior members of the State Sangha Organization, the body that supervises the country's monasteries and monks, said Asian diplomats speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose the envoy's itinerary.
He also met leaders of other religious groups and representatives of a government-sponsored women's group, the diplomats said. They had no details of what was discussed at any of the meetings.
Quintana has also requested talks with senior government officials, representatives of ethnic groups and political parties, according to a UN statement Sunday. The statement did not mention Suu Kyi, the opposition figure under house arrest, but all former UN human rights envoys have asked for such a meeting.
Quintana's predecessor, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, was not allowed to visit the detained opposition leader when he visited in November.
The diplomats said Quintana was expected to travel to meet government ministers in the capital, Naypyitaw, but it was not known if he would be granted a meeting with junta chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe.
A UN spokesman could not be immediately reached for comment Monday and the UN has not released a full itinerary of Quintana's visit.
He was expected to visit the Irrawaddy delta where a May 2-3 cyclone killed more than 84,000 people. Burma's military rulers were accused of initially preventing foreign relief workers from accessing the area, then dragging their feet on providing food, water and shelter to the estimated 2.4 million survivors.
Quintana was due to meet the Tripartite Core Group that oversees cyclone relief work later Monday, the diplomats said. The group comprises representatives of the government, UN agencies and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nation, Asean, of which Burma is a member.
Quintana's scheduled departure Thursday comes a day before the 20th anniversary of a 1988 uprising against the military junta. The government has already beefed up security, fearing pro-democracy activists could launch anti-junta protests to coincide with the anniversary.
Burma has been under military rule since 1962. The current junta came to power in 1988 after crushing a nationwide pro-democracy movement, killing as many as 3,000 people. It called elections in 1990 but refused to honor the results when Suu Kyi's party won overwhelmingly.
The junta ruled mostly unchallenged until last August when thousands of Buddhist monks joined rallies against a fuel price increase. The junta cracked down on anti-government demonstrations in September by shooting and arresting protesters, killing as many as 31 people. Dissident groups put the death toll far higher.
Activists Urge Olympic Boycott of Chinese Jade
By SAW YAN NAING
The Irrawaddy News
Burmese pro-democracy activists are calling for a boycott of jade during the Olympic Games in Beijing, claiming the event could boost demand for stones mined in Burma.
Cristina Moon, an activist for the New York-based “8-8-08 for Burma” campaign said that while her organization was pleased to know that official souvenirs would not be made of Chinese jade, “there is a growing demand for Burmese jade that will increase due to the Olympic promotion of jade. The generals will keep using their jade profits to buy weapons and crush dissent in Burma unless individuals take a stand.”
Jade sales are Burma’s third highest source of foreign income.
At least 90 percent of jadeite on sale in China comes from Burmese mines, which are controlled and operated by the Burmese regime and its business partners, according to a report titled: Blood Jade: Burmese Gemstones & the Beijing Games.
The report, released on Monday by an ethnic activists group, the All Kachin Students and Youth Union (AKSYU) and the “8-8-08 for Burma Campaign,” says the Burmese government earns about US $300 million (348 billion kyat) yearly from the export of jade, mainly to China.
Naw La, a Kachin environmentalist and member of the AKSYU, said the expansion of jade mining in Kachin State had led to land confiscation, forced relocation and environmental destruction.
“Our mountains have disappeared and our youth are dying,” he said. “The generals are letting their cronies mine away our future.”
The Irrawaddy News
Burmese pro-democracy activists are calling for a boycott of jade during the Olympic Games in Beijing, claiming the event could boost demand for stones mined in Burma.
Cristina Moon, an activist for the New York-based “8-8-08 for Burma” campaign said that while her organization was pleased to know that official souvenirs would not be made of Chinese jade, “there is a growing demand for Burmese jade that will increase due to the Olympic promotion of jade. The generals will keep using their jade profits to buy weapons and crush dissent in Burma unless individuals take a stand.”
Jade sales are Burma’s third highest source of foreign income.
At least 90 percent of jadeite on sale in China comes from Burmese mines, which are controlled and operated by the Burmese regime and its business partners, according to a report titled: Blood Jade: Burmese Gemstones & the Beijing Games.
The report, released on Monday by an ethnic activists group, the All Kachin Students and Youth Union (AKSYU) and the “8-8-08 for Burma Campaign,” says the Burmese government earns about US $300 million (348 billion kyat) yearly from the export of jade, mainly to China.
Naw La, a Kachin environmentalist and member of the AKSYU, said the expansion of jade mining in Kachin State had led to land confiscation, forced relocation and environmental destruction.
“Our mountains have disappeared and our youth are dying,” he said. “The generals are letting their cronies mine away our future.”
Security Tightens as 8.8.88 Anniversary Campaign Begins - Red Campaign
By VIOLET CHO
The Irrawaddy News
A Burmese student movement has launched a so-called “Red Campaign” ahead of the anniversary of the 1988 uprising, spraying red paint on the walls of schools and other public places in Rangoon to remind people of the event.
The campaign, organized by the student-based “Generation Wave,” despite stepped up security by police and troops.
“The army and riot police are everywhere,” said Burmese clerk who works for an international non-governmental organization in Rangoon. Security was also reportedly tightened in Mandalay.
The anniversary of the uprising and its brutal suppression falls on August 8. Up to 3,000 protesters are thought to have died in clashes with the authorities, while 2,000 arrested during and after the uprising are still in prison.
Moe Thway, a leading member of “Generation Wave” told The Irrawaddy on Monday that the movement had organized the “Red Campaign” to raise awareness among young people of the significance of August 8, 1988.
“We are doing this as evidence that we are not defeated, despite military suppression,” he said. “We young people will continue our struggle for justice and freedom for all Burmese citizens.”
The campaign kicked off as the UN Human Rights Council investigator for Burma, Tomas Ojea Quintana, arrived in Rangoon on his first mission to the country.
The Irrawaddy News
A Burmese student movement has launched a so-called “Red Campaign” ahead of the anniversary of the 1988 uprising, spraying red paint on the walls of schools and other public places in Rangoon to remind people of the event.
The campaign, organized by the student-based “Generation Wave,” despite stepped up security by police and troops.
“The army and riot police are everywhere,” said Burmese clerk who works for an international non-governmental organization in Rangoon. Security was also reportedly tightened in Mandalay.
The anniversary of the uprising and its brutal suppression falls on August 8. Up to 3,000 protesters are thought to have died in clashes with the authorities, while 2,000 arrested during and after the uprising are still in prison.
Moe Thway, a leading member of “Generation Wave” told The Irrawaddy on Monday that the movement had organized the “Red Campaign” to raise awareness among young people of the significance of August 8, 1988.
“We are doing this as evidence that we are not defeated, despite military suppression,” he said. “We young people will continue our struggle for justice and freedom for all Burmese citizens.”
The campaign kicked off as the UN Human Rights Council investigator for Burma, Tomas Ojea Quintana, arrived in Rangoon on his first mission to the country.
Cyclone Nargis response enters a new phase in relief and early recovery
Fourth Press Release of the Tripartite Core Group (TCG)
Yangon, Myanmar (Relief Web), 30 July 2008 - The Government of Myanmar organised a field trip involving more than 148 representatives of foreign missions, UN agencies, international non-governmental organisations, relief organisations and the media to the cyclone Nargis-affected areas in the Ayeyarwady Delta using six Myanmar Air Force helicopters on 29 July 2009.
‘This is to reassure that access to the disaster-affected areas continues to be unimpeded and is expanding. This is also to give first-hand information to encourage the international community to work with us to intensify the emergency relief and early recovery for the affected communities,’ explained U Kyaw Thu, Myanmar’s Deputy Foreign Minister and TCG Chairman. He also expects the field trip will bring forward and provide complementary support to the government’s 50-billion-kyat recovery programme. Other TCG members also joined the field visit.
The field trip follows the release of the Post-Nargis Joint Assessment (PONJA) Report on the sidelines of the 41st ASEAN Ministerial Meeting in Singapore on 21 July and concurrently in Yangon. US$303 million is urgently needed to intensify the relief and early recovery efforts as presented in the 10th July Revised Appeal by the UN, while recovery needs are estimated at US$1 billion over the next three years as assessed in the PONJA Report.
On the ground, the TCG reported that all of the disaster-affected communities have received relief assistance at least once. Bishow Parajuli, UN Resident Coordinator and also a member of the TCG said, ‘Now, we have double challenges, one, sustaining the relief and two, advancing the support for early recovery in terms of livelihood and subsequently local level recovery on the ground. There is progress in the ongoing farming recovery activities. However there is still a lot to do and we are concerned that many farmers may be unable to catch up with the fast-ending monsoon paddy crop planting season, with their subsequent future food security concern’.
The TCG has facilitated more than 2,000 visas for humanitarian workers involved in Nargis-related tasks. Humanitarian clusters continue to deliver aid together with the line ministries and local governments.
Along that line, the TCG recently launched a Community-Based Early Recovery Pilot Project at Seik Gyi in Kungyangon Township. This TCG special project will focus on early recovery efforts, such as community infrastructure repairs including monasteries and cleaning of community dug wells; and livelihood stimulation support such as planting of betel leaves, building fishing boats and providing fishing nets for the affected communities.
During the first TCG’s visit to the village on Saturday, 26 July 2008, H.E. Bansarn Bunnag, Thailand’s Ambassador to Myanmar and senior ASEAN member of the TCG explained, ‘This project will serve as the model for an integrated relief and early recovery that we could replicate quickly in other places in the affected areas’.
* Note: The TCG is an ASEAN-led mechanism to facilitate trust, confidence and cooperation between Myanmar and the international community in the urgent post-Cyclone Nargis humanitarian relief and recovery work. The TCG started its work on 31 May 2008 and has been meeting at least once a week in a spirit of mutual understanding, trust and cooperation. It has been working closely with the National Disaster Preparedness Central Committee chaired by His Excellency Prime Minister General Thein Sein, Union of Myanmar.
The TCG comprises three members from the Myanmar Government: (Deputy Foreign Minister H.E. U Kyaw Thu who is the Chairman; Acting Director-General, Ministry of Social Welfare and Resettlement U Aung Tun Khaing; and, Deputy Director-General, Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation U Than Aye); three members from ASEAN (Thailand’s Ambassador to Myanmar H.E. Bansarn Bunnag; Dr Puji Pujiono, a senior UNDP officer seconded to the ASEAN Secretariat; and, Dr. Anish Kumar Roy, Director of Bureau for Resources Development of the ASEAN Secretariat alternating with Ms. Adelina Kamal of the ASEAN Secretariat); and three from the UN (UN Humanitarian Coordinator Mr Daniel Baker; UN Resident Coordinator Mr Bishow Parajuli; and, a rotating UN agency representative).
For further information, please contact:
Ms. Adelina Kamal
Head, Coordinating Office for the ASEAN Humanitarian Task Force
Phone No.: +951 544500 ext 417
E-mail: akamal.aseanhtf@gmail.com
Original Source: Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN); Government of Myanmar; United Nations Country Team in Myanmar
Yangon, Myanmar (Relief Web), 30 July 2008 - The Government of Myanmar organised a field trip involving more than 148 representatives of foreign missions, UN agencies, international non-governmental organisations, relief organisations and the media to the cyclone Nargis-affected areas in the Ayeyarwady Delta using six Myanmar Air Force helicopters on 29 July 2009.
‘This is to reassure that access to the disaster-affected areas continues to be unimpeded and is expanding. This is also to give first-hand information to encourage the international community to work with us to intensify the emergency relief and early recovery for the affected communities,’ explained U Kyaw Thu, Myanmar’s Deputy Foreign Minister and TCG Chairman. He also expects the field trip will bring forward and provide complementary support to the government’s 50-billion-kyat recovery programme. Other TCG members also joined the field visit.
The field trip follows the release of the Post-Nargis Joint Assessment (PONJA) Report on the sidelines of the 41st ASEAN Ministerial Meeting in Singapore on 21 July and concurrently in Yangon. US$303 million is urgently needed to intensify the relief and early recovery efforts as presented in the 10th July Revised Appeal by the UN, while recovery needs are estimated at US$1 billion over the next three years as assessed in the PONJA Report.
On the ground, the TCG reported that all of the disaster-affected communities have received relief assistance at least once. Bishow Parajuli, UN Resident Coordinator and also a member of the TCG said, ‘Now, we have double challenges, one, sustaining the relief and two, advancing the support for early recovery in terms of livelihood and subsequently local level recovery on the ground. There is progress in the ongoing farming recovery activities. However there is still a lot to do and we are concerned that many farmers may be unable to catch up with the fast-ending monsoon paddy crop planting season, with their subsequent future food security concern’.
The TCG has facilitated more than 2,000 visas for humanitarian workers involved in Nargis-related tasks. Humanitarian clusters continue to deliver aid together with the line ministries and local governments.
Along that line, the TCG recently launched a Community-Based Early Recovery Pilot Project at Seik Gyi in Kungyangon Township. This TCG special project will focus on early recovery efforts, such as community infrastructure repairs including monasteries and cleaning of community dug wells; and livelihood stimulation support such as planting of betel leaves, building fishing boats and providing fishing nets for the affected communities.
During the first TCG’s visit to the village on Saturday, 26 July 2008, H.E. Bansarn Bunnag, Thailand’s Ambassador to Myanmar and senior ASEAN member of the TCG explained, ‘This project will serve as the model for an integrated relief and early recovery that we could replicate quickly in other places in the affected areas’.
* Note: The TCG is an ASEAN-led mechanism to facilitate trust, confidence and cooperation between Myanmar and the international community in the urgent post-Cyclone Nargis humanitarian relief and recovery work. The TCG started its work on 31 May 2008 and has been meeting at least once a week in a spirit of mutual understanding, trust and cooperation. It has been working closely with the National Disaster Preparedness Central Committee chaired by His Excellency Prime Minister General Thein Sein, Union of Myanmar.
The TCG comprises three members from the Myanmar Government: (Deputy Foreign Minister H.E. U Kyaw Thu who is the Chairman; Acting Director-General, Ministry of Social Welfare and Resettlement U Aung Tun Khaing; and, Deputy Director-General, Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation U Than Aye); three members from ASEAN (Thailand’s Ambassador to Myanmar H.E. Bansarn Bunnag; Dr Puji Pujiono, a senior UNDP officer seconded to the ASEAN Secretariat; and, Dr. Anish Kumar Roy, Director of Bureau for Resources Development of the ASEAN Secretariat alternating with Ms. Adelina Kamal of the ASEAN Secretariat); and three from the UN (UN Humanitarian Coordinator Mr Daniel Baker; UN Resident Coordinator Mr Bishow Parajuli; and, a rotating UN agency representative).
For further information, please contact:
Ms. Adelina Kamal
Head, Coordinating Office for the ASEAN Humanitarian Task Force
Phone No.: +951 544500 ext 417
E-mail: akamal.aseanhtf@gmail.com
Original Source: Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN); Government of Myanmar; United Nations Country Team in Myanmar
Burmese activists urge UN rights Rapporteur to meet detainees
New Delhi (Mizzima-Relief Web)— The UN human rights Rapporteur, during his visit to Burma should meet political prisoners, independent organizations and listen to the people in order to understand the nature of the ongoing human rights violations, a Burmese human rights activist said.
Tomas Ojea Quintana, the newly appointed UN special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights in Burma, is currently on a four-day visit to Burma.
The Thailand based Human Rights Education Institute of Burma's director Aung Myo Min said, Quintana's mission cannot be a success unless he is able to meet political prisoners, talk to political parties, leaders of ethnic nationalities and listen to the peoples' voices on the ongoing human rights violations in the country.
"If he cannot meet political prisoners then his mission will not be called a success," Aung Myo Min said.
Quintana, who took over from his predecessor Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, on the first day of his mission on Sunday, met government officials including Burma's Deputy Foreign Minister Kyaw Thu, who also chairs the Tripartite Core Group formed with the UN, Association of Southeast Asian Nations and Burmese government to help Cyclone Nargis victims.
According to the UN, Quintana was briefed by Kyaw Thu on the progress made in terms of helping victims of Cyclone Nargis that lashed Burma's coastal divisions of Irrawaddy and Rangoon and left 138,000 killed or missing.
Attending meetings and following the junta's schedule would not help the Rapporteur to understand the nature of abuses that the people of Burma had faced since 1962, which significantly accelerated after the 1988 mass uprising that was brutally crushed, critics said.
Aung Myo Min said, the Rapporteur must insist on meeting political detainees including pro-democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who have been arrested and kept in solitary confinement for the past 12 of 18 years.
"He should also raise the issue of the May referendum where there have been widespread allegations of vote rigging and intimidations," Aung Myo Min added.
Another Human Rights activist in Burma, Myint Aye, said Quintana needs to go beyond the government's schedule and look for people in the cyclone hit region, and conduct prison visits to see the real situation.
"Much will depend on whether he can insist on his own plans," Myint Aye, a member of Human Rights Defenders and Promoters Network in Burma, told Mizzima.
The HRDP, which has been actively taking initiatives to promote human rights awareness in Burma, has been on the government's targeted list with several of their members brutally beaten by government-backed thugs and detained.
"We, even human rights activists, are subject to harassment and attacks," said Myint Aye adding that they are willing to meet the visiting Rapporteur to explain the true situation that they are facing.
Meanwhile, Burma's main opposition party the National League for Democracy said it does not believe that Quintana will be able to bring about any kind of change in Burma but expects that the Rapporteur will at least discover the ongoing rights abuses.
"We hope he [Quintana] can reveal the human rights abuses in Burma as United Nation Special Rapporteur," Nyan Win, the NLD spokesperson said.
But in order to do so, he must not confine his meetings to the government's schedule but should meet civil organizations, and non-government groups.
According to the UN, while Quintana asked to meet State officials and Heads of State institutions, he had also requested that he wanted to meet representatives of ethnic groups, political parties, religious groups, civil society, NGOs and members of Human Rights Bodies.
He has also requested for a visit Yangon and areas affected by cyclone Nargis and travel to Kayin State and Rakhine State, the UN said.
Nyan Win said, he and his group are also waiting for invitations to meet the visiting Rapporteur and are willing to explain the situation of human rights as they see it on the ground.
"So far there is no invitation to us for meeting him," Nyan Win added.
It is the UN Rapporteur's first visit to Burma after his predecessor made his last visit in November 2007. He will conclude the trip on August 7.
Tomas Ojea Quintana, the newly appointed UN special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights in Burma, is currently on a four-day visit to Burma.
The Thailand based Human Rights Education Institute of Burma's director Aung Myo Min said, Quintana's mission cannot be a success unless he is able to meet political prisoners, talk to political parties, leaders of ethnic nationalities and listen to the peoples' voices on the ongoing human rights violations in the country.
"If he cannot meet political prisoners then his mission will not be called a success," Aung Myo Min said.
Quintana, who took over from his predecessor Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, on the first day of his mission on Sunday, met government officials including Burma's Deputy Foreign Minister Kyaw Thu, who also chairs the Tripartite Core Group formed with the UN, Association of Southeast Asian Nations and Burmese government to help Cyclone Nargis victims.
According to the UN, Quintana was briefed by Kyaw Thu on the progress made in terms of helping victims of Cyclone Nargis that lashed Burma's coastal divisions of Irrawaddy and Rangoon and left 138,000 killed or missing.
Attending meetings and following the junta's schedule would not help the Rapporteur to understand the nature of abuses that the people of Burma had faced since 1962, which significantly accelerated after the 1988 mass uprising that was brutally crushed, critics said.
Aung Myo Min said, the Rapporteur must insist on meeting political detainees including pro-democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who have been arrested and kept in solitary confinement for the past 12 of 18 years.
"He should also raise the issue of the May referendum where there have been widespread allegations of vote rigging and intimidations," Aung Myo Min added.
Another Human Rights activist in Burma, Myint Aye, said Quintana needs to go beyond the government's schedule and look for people in the cyclone hit region, and conduct prison visits to see the real situation.
"Much will depend on whether he can insist on his own plans," Myint Aye, a member of Human Rights Defenders and Promoters Network in Burma, told Mizzima.
The HRDP, which has been actively taking initiatives to promote human rights awareness in Burma, has been on the government's targeted list with several of their members brutally beaten by government-backed thugs and detained.
"We, even human rights activists, are subject to harassment and attacks," said Myint Aye adding that they are willing to meet the visiting Rapporteur to explain the true situation that they are facing.
Meanwhile, Burma's main opposition party the National League for Democracy said it does not believe that Quintana will be able to bring about any kind of change in Burma but expects that the Rapporteur will at least discover the ongoing rights abuses.
"We hope he [Quintana] can reveal the human rights abuses in Burma as United Nation Special Rapporteur," Nyan Win, the NLD spokesperson said.
But in order to do so, he must not confine his meetings to the government's schedule but should meet civil organizations, and non-government groups.
According to the UN, while Quintana asked to meet State officials and Heads of State institutions, he had also requested that he wanted to meet representatives of ethnic groups, political parties, religious groups, civil society, NGOs and members of Human Rights Bodies.
He has also requested for a visit Yangon and areas affected by cyclone Nargis and travel to Kayin State and Rakhine State, the UN said.
Nyan Win said, he and his group are also waiting for invitations to meet the visiting Rapporteur and are willing to explain the situation of human rights as they see it on the ground.
"So far there is no invitation to us for meeting him," Nyan Win added.
It is the UN Rapporteur's first visit to Burma after his predecessor made his last visit in November 2007. He will conclude the trip on August 7.
Gems And Justice In Burma
02 August 2008
Gems And Justice In Burma - Download (MP3)
Gems And Justice In Burma - Listen to (MP3)
(VOA)-Despite growing international pressure for democratic reform, the military junta that has ruled Burma for decades shows no inclination of loosening its repressive grip. Hoping to get the attention of the generals where it can't be missed – in their bank accounts – the United States has tightened economic sanctions on regime leaders, its supporters and companies that are linked to them.
President George Bush approved legislation enacted by the U.S. Congress to strengthen financial sanctions against regime leaders and their supporters and to outlaw the importation of rubies and jade mined in Burma. The East Asian nation is a major supplier of the world’s jade and rubies, and the gem trade provides substantial income to the regime. After timber and oil, gems are Burma's third largest export. The trade provides crucial revenue to the military government and the generals themselves since it is believed that members of the junta own a majority interest in each of the country's mines. Many of the operations sit on land confiscated from private owners or local communities.
Some large jewelry companies around the world, worried about being associated with the junta, already have given up sales of Burmese gems. But it is also possible to mask the origin of a stone as it often changes hands many times and in many countries, before it ever reaches the U.S. as a finished necklace or ring. The new sanctions now make it harder for unscrupulous traders to circumvent the ban on trading in Burmese gems.
These new sanctions aim to increase financial pressure on the regime. At the same time, the U.S. and others continue to apply political pressure on the regime leadership to move towards democratic transition.
"On the Burmese regime, our message is: The United States believes in democracy and freedom," President Bush said.
Gems And Justice In Burma - Download (MP3)
Gems And Justice In Burma - Listen to (MP3)
(VOA)-Despite growing international pressure for democratic reform, the military junta that has ruled Burma for decades shows no inclination of loosening its repressive grip. Hoping to get the attention of the generals where it can't be missed – in their bank accounts – the United States has tightened economic sanctions on regime leaders, its supporters and companies that are linked to them.
President George Bush approved legislation enacted by the U.S. Congress to strengthen financial sanctions against regime leaders and their supporters and to outlaw the importation of rubies and jade mined in Burma. The East Asian nation is a major supplier of the world’s jade and rubies, and the gem trade provides substantial income to the regime. After timber and oil, gems are Burma's third largest export. The trade provides crucial revenue to the military government and the generals themselves since it is believed that members of the junta own a majority interest in each of the country's mines. Many of the operations sit on land confiscated from private owners or local communities.
Some large jewelry companies around the world, worried about being associated with the junta, already have given up sales of Burmese gems. But it is also possible to mask the origin of a stone as it often changes hands many times and in many countries, before it ever reaches the U.S. as a finished necklace or ring. The new sanctions now make it harder for unscrupulous traders to circumvent the ban on trading in Burmese gems.
These new sanctions aim to increase financial pressure on the regime. At the same time, the U.S. and others continue to apply political pressure on the regime leadership to move towards democratic transition.
"On the Burmese regime, our message is: The United States believes in democracy and freedom," President Bush said.
Sunday, 3 August 2008
Villagers forced to work as army porters
Aug 1, 2008 (DVB)–Government troops in Shwe Kyin township, Bago division, have been extorting money from locals in Don Zayit village and forcing them to work as porters for frontline army camps.
A local villager said troops from the State Peace and Development Council Light Infantry Battalion 589, who are based on a hill near Don Zayit village, set up a checkpoint beside a creek and demanded a fee from all passing boats and passengers.
"They have been asking for money, wood and bamboo from everyone who wants to go past the checkpoint," the villager said.
"They have also been abducting local villagers who have gone into the jungle to cut bamboo and making them work as porters to deliver rations to their frontline camp in nearby Win Phyu Taung," he said.
"They said we could choose not to go into the woods and cut bamboo if we don't want to work as porters."
The villager said the military often beat up porters if they failed to do their work satisfactorily.
"The villagers don't mind paying money or giving bamboo to them but they are afraid of being forced to work as porters for the military and now everyone has stopped going into the woods," he said.
The villager said locals had not reported the matter to senior authorities because they were afraid of repercussions from the troops.
Reporting by Naw Say Phaw
A local villager said troops from the State Peace and Development Council Light Infantry Battalion 589, who are based on a hill near Don Zayit village, set up a checkpoint beside a creek and demanded a fee from all passing boats and passengers.
"They have been asking for money, wood and bamboo from everyone who wants to go past the checkpoint," the villager said.
"They have also been abducting local villagers who have gone into the jungle to cut bamboo and making them work as porters to deliver rations to their frontline camp in nearby Win Phyu Taung," he said.
"They said we could choose not to go into the woods and cut bamboo if we don't want to work as porters."
The villager said the military often beat up porters if they failed to do their work satisfactorily.
"The villagers don't mind paying money or giving bamboo to them but they are afraid of being forced to work as porters for the military and now everyone has stopped going into the woods," he said.
The villager said locals had not reported the matter to senior authorities because they were afraid of repercussions from the troops.
Reporting by Naw Say Phaw
8888 spirit - Editorial
Mizzima News
02 August 2008
The popular 1988 uprising will be 20 years old this August. The Burmese people have not yet enjoyed the benefits of democracy though they marched through a hail of bullets armed with their resolute will to achieve democracy.
The departed souls of those who were killed on the streets while they were protesting peacefully are still drifting nowhere. Some forgetful people pretend to be saviours and are saying, "This is not good, do as I say".
Anyway the '8888 uprising' was not in vain. It highlighted the injustices existing and showed the real way out and ensured the end of 'evil'. We cannot blame anybody for not achieving victory even after 20 years. It is of great pride and glory to see the flame of the 8888 spirit still burning brightly.
The strong vitality of this spirit, under repeated attempts to extinguish it with loaded guns and bayonets is the victory of 'good'. The perpetrators wished this spirit to die but they failed.
The people were fed up and began despising the one-party dictatorial rule under the banner of the then 'Burma Socialist Programme Party' (BSPP) after suffering for a long time. The people followed the leadership of daring students and youths and expressed their will and desire until the uprising reached its climax on 8th August 1988. The ruling party BSPP finally collapsed despite its monopolistic power and backing by the junta. It is not a spontaneous development, achieved only after a lot of sacrifices by the students and people.
After that, free and fair general elections were held in May 1990 for the first time in modern Burmese history. The Burmese people got the chance of exposure to the outside world to some extent from a totally isolated situation where they were blindfolded and gagged. The current developments are the fruits of the 8888 uprising. Human history would not have developed to this stage if everyone thought, "Nothing will be achieved even if I do it", the indifferent thinking.
There are many challenges ahead. But we should not forget there will always be opportunities to cope with all these challenges by seeing the exemplary role of the 8888 uprising.
02 August 2008
The popular 1988 uprising will be 20 years old this August. The Burmese people have not yet enjoyed the benefits of democracy though they marched through a hail of bullets armed with their resolute will to achieve democracy.
The departed souls of those who were killed on the streets while they were protesting peacefully are still drifting nowhere. Some forgetful people pretend to be saviours and are saying, "This is not good, do as I say".
Anyway the '8888 uprising' was not in vain. It highlighted the injustices existing and showed the real way out and ensured the end of 'evil'. We cannot blame anybody for not achieving victory even after 20 years. It is of great pride and glory to see the flame of the 8888 spirit still burning brightly.
The strong vitality of this spirit, under repeated attempts to extinguish it with loaded guns and bayonets is the victory of 'good'. The perpetrators wished this spirit to die but they failed.
The people were fed up and began despising the one-party dictatorial rule under the banner of the then 'Burma Socialist Programme Party' (BSPP) after suffering for a long time. The people followed the leadership of daring students and youths and expressed their will and desire until the uprising reached its climax on 8th August 1988. The ruling party BSPP finally collapsed despite its monopolistic power and backing by the junta. It is not a spontaneous development, achieved only after a lot of sacrifices by the students and people.
After that, free and fair general elections were held in May 1990 for the first time in modern Burmese history. The Burmese people got the chance of exposure to the outside world to some extent from a totally isolated situation where they were blindfolded and gagged. The current developments are the fruits of the 8888 uprising. Human history would not have developed to this stage if everyone thought, "Nothing will be achieved even if I do it", the indifferent thinking.
There are many challenges ahead. But we should not forget there will always be opportunities to cope with all these challenges by seeing the exemplary role of the 8888 uprising.
Myanmar aid scheme sows new fears among cyclone survivors
BOGALAY, Myanmar (Khaleej-AFP)- Myanmar's military regime is giving desperately needed aid to cyclone survivors on credit, requiring them to pay back to the government any assistance offered, officials said.
The secretive military last week officially allowed local journalists to visit the disaster zone for the first time since Cyclone Nargis slammed into the country on May 2.
During the tour, local officials laid out their system for delivering aid to farmers in the hardest-hit parts of the Irrawaddy Delta, where entire villages were washed away by the storm that left more than 138,000 people dead or missing.
The officials insisted that government aid had allowed for farmers to plant their fields and for fishermen to return to their boats -- but insisted that the cyclone victims would have to reimburse the regime for the aid received.
"If everything is free of charge, its value is very low. If something must be paid back, then they try their best to do it. This is the system," one senior official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. (JEG's: the junta is charging the victims for our generosity and profiting from it - dandy...)
"The government will distribute everything for them through a payback system. Otherwise, controlling the aid will be very difficult," he said.
About 2.4 million people are struggling to piece together their lives after the storm, according to UN estimates.
Farmers have no choice but to accept the loans, but say they don't know how they will ever repay them.
"We have received power tillers and diesel on credit from the government. Even then, we still need more help to get bank loans so that we will have cash to hire field hands," said Kyi Win, 57, a farm owner in Sat San village outside Bogalay.
But local officials insisted that farmers were ready to start surviving on their own.
"The World Food Programme is delivering rice for villagers. Even if they stop delivering rice, villagers can feed themselves with their own income," said Zaw Myo Nyunt, a local official in Sat San.
The official assessment differs markedly with opinions expressed away from the military's ears, as well as with assessments by UN officials, who have warned that many farmers were not able to plant their crops this year.
Over the last two weeks, many farmers in the delta told AFP that as much as one-third of the region's cropland could lie idle -- simply because so many farmers died that no one is left to tend the fields.
Others who have received aid and tried to plant their fields say that as much as half the donated rice plants did not sprout, while draught cattle brought in from mountainous parts of Myanmar have not adapted to the delta's marshy lowlands.
"If the UN cannot deliver rice and stops their assistance to us, we will be in trouble. We have no income now as our employers are finding it difficult to start their farming," said Moe Wah, a 24-year-old farm worker.
"I have no job now and am relying on rice aid from the WFP. All of us need jobs urgently to resume our lives. We lost everything in the cyclone," she said.
It's not just the farmers questioning Myanmar's official aid system.
Construction companies have donated (???) more than 100 new wooden homes in Sat San and the nearby village of Kyaine Chaung Gyi, but the people living there have been given no deed to the property nor any indication of how long they will be allowed to use the homes. (JEG's: pure show only... what's in it for the junta)
The secretive military last week officially allowed local journalists to visit the disaster zone for the first time since Cyclone Nargis slammed into the country on May 2.
During the tour, local officials laid out their system for delivering aid to farmers in the hardest-hit parts of the Irrawaddy Delta, where entire villages were washed away by the storm that left more than 138,000 people dead or missing.
The officials insisted that government aid had allowed for farmers to plant their fields and for fishermen to return to their boats -- but insisted that the cyclone victims would have to reimburse the regime for the aid received.
"If everything is free of charge, its value is very low. If something must be paid back, then they try their best to do it. This is the system," one senior official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. (JEG's: the junta is charging the victims for our generosity and profiting from it - dandy...)
"The government will distribute everything for them through a payback system. Otherwise, controlling the aid will be very difficult," he said.
About 2.4 million people are struggling to piece together their lives after the storm, according to UN estimates.
Farmers have no choice but to accept the loans, but say they don't know how they will ever repay them.
"We have received power tillers and diesel on credit from the government. Even then, we still need more help to get bank loans so that we will have cash to hire field hands," said Kyi Win, 57, a farm owner in Sat San village outside Bogalay.
But local officials insisted that farmers were ready to start surviving on their own.
"The World Food Programme is delivering rice for villagers. Even if they stop delivering rice, villagers can feed themselves with their own income," said Zaw Myo Nyunt, a local official in Sat San.
The official assessment differs markedly with opinions expressed away from the military's ears, as well as with assessments by UN officials, who have warned that many farmers were not able to plant their crops this year.
Over the last two weeks, many farmers in the delta told AFP that as much as one-third of the region's cropland could lie idle -- simply because so many farmers died that no one is left to tend the fields.
Others who have received aid and tried to plant their fields say that as much as half the donated rice plants did not sprout, while draught cattle brought in from mountainous parts of Myanmar have not adapted to the delta's marshy lowlands.
"If the UN cannot deliver rice and stops their assistance to us, we will be in trouble. We have no income now as our employers are finding it difficult to start their farming," said Moe Wah, a 24-year-old farm worker.
"I have no job now and am relying on rice aid from the WFP. All of us need jobs urgently to resume our lives. We lost everything in the cyclone," she said.
It's not just the farmers questioning Myanmar's official aid system.
Construction companies have donated (???) more than 100 new wooden homes in Sat San and the nearby village of Kyaine Chaung Gyi, but the people living there have been given no deed to the property nor any indication of how long they will be allowed to use the homes. (JEG's: pure show only... what's in it for the junta)
Quote on Trust and Friendship
"In prison, you know who your real friends are;
you learn the meaning of 'friend.'
We shared everything we had:
our food and all our knowledge."
--Former Burmese political dissident
you learn the meaning of 'friend.'
We shared everything we had:
our food and all our knowledge."
--Former Burmese political dissident
Burma's Prisons a Caldron of Protest Fury
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, August 3, 2008
RANGOON -- The promise of Burma's future begins in its prisons.
Inside, dissidents detained by the military junta tapped out messages on water pipes and listened to them echo from one cell to the next. They spelled words by knocking on walls, each series of sounds a letter of the alphabet. Sometimes they bribed guards with cigarettes to pass along coded messages in necklaces made of pebbles and strings of plastic bags.
Former Burmese political detainees say they found countless ways to communicate, defying their isolation and a system that was designed to break their will. For many, life behind the walls instead became a rite of passage toward political maturity.
"Prison happens to be the longest-running political seminar in Burma," said a scholar and political activist who spent 15 years behind bars for writings that were deemed subversive to the junta. "You could say things there that you couldn't outside, and we observed anniversaries that we couldn't in normal life."
Human rights groups say more than 1,800 political detainees languish long-term in about 20 prisons and labor camps in Burma, also called Myanmar. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a Burmese rights group based in Thailand, has documented "endemic" torture in them. Countless more people have disappeared altogether or been locked up for shorter stints.
The International Committee of the Red Cross had been monitoring conditions in centers across the country for six years. But in late 2005, the junta cut off its observers' access. The group's last attempt to engage the junta, on June 15, has yet to receive a positive response, said Christian Brunner, ICRC's Asia region head.
In the Red Cross's absence, indignities to political and criminal detainees remain manifold, according to recently released prisoners, outside observers and a prison lawyer.
They are beaten with bamboo canes. Their flesh is torn by iron rods that are rolled up and down their shins. They are forced to crawl over broken glass or sharpened gravel; deprived of sleep or water; shackled in painful positions; trapped in cells too small for them to stand upright; and surrounded by barking dogs. Others spend years in solitary confinement.
Some have died under the strain, and some have slipped into insanity.
Yet dissidents have often emerged unbroken, hardier or more pragmatic in their beliefs and more resolute that change will come from their actions. Time behind bars can be a vindication of their struggles, they said. Once through, they feel they have nothing else to fear -- and often return straight to activism.
For some, an ordinary life is forever elusive. "I want to live out of water, but I can't get on the shore," said a member of a new clandestine opposition group, the 88 Generation Students, explaining why its founders felt compelled to turn again to politics within weeks of their release after nearly two decades in and out of prison.
Now in their 40s, most of the group's founders were first rounded up as hotheaded university students who helped steer a failed pro-democracy uprising in 1988. Bound for professions in medicine, engineering or law, many never graduated. The prisons became their university.
"In '88, our generation didn't know anything about politics," said a Rangoon teacher jailed for five years in the aftermath of the uprising. He was 21 when he was arrested. "We cared [only] about brutal repression. We saw it with our own eyes and heard it with our own ears."
Under a tarpaulin canopy at an empty tea shop one recent afternoon, he lighted his second cigarette in minutes and paused to watch the smoke mingle with a monsoon downpour.
In prison, he said, "you know who your real friends are; you learn the meaning of 'friend.' We shared everything we had: our food and all our knowledge."
He and two prison mates tore apart an old English primer, the only book that one of them had managed to have smuggled inside. They took turns reading and hiding the pieces, burying them in the soil outside their cells. From the pages he learned to speak English.
In their cells or in snatched moments in the prison yards, they could encounter a spectrum of dissidents whom they might never otherwise have met -- or had a chance to clash with. "I remember in my first months in Insein Prison, some young political prisoners came to ask me to do something for them, because the communists were waiting to 'dye them pink,' " the scholar said.
It was in jail that a Rangoon University student, now 29, said he met elected members from the opposition National League for Democracy, ethnic leaders and members of countless dissident groups. "I saw the future of Burma in the prisons," he said.
He heard them fiercely arguing and saw them give up visions they had once held, he said. The divides were revelatory. Democracy in the country would come, he concluded, only with "a proper understanding of each other. To do that, we need to improve the education. . . . We need better spirituality, better tolerance and better compassion."
To counter the hopelessness, many detainees said they relied on meditation. For others, the only cure was a chance to fight again beyond prison walls.
"You can't even see the sky. No stars. No moon. No sun, " said Win Naing, 71, who was once part of the political party of U Nu, the prime minister deposed in a 1962 military coup. For years, Win Naing has led an unspecified number of national politicians in a loose, unofficial opposition group, because, he said, a democracy requires multiple parties.
But his detention last year risked all that. "I thought I wouldn't be released for 20 or 30 years. I was almost totally hopeless," he said. "If I get released, I thought, I shouldn't get involved in politics."
After 35 days of detention in Insein, Rangoon's most notorious prison, his release came as a total surprise. And within two months, with his health largely back to normal, he had taken up his activities again.
"In Burma there is a saying: You can't stop yourself from getting up and dancing when you hear the music," he said. "When I heard the music of politics, when many came to see me . . . things changed. I changed. I thought, what the heck."
Outside the walls, behind this former capital's surface scars of broken windowpanes and mildewed buildings choked with vegetation, the wounds of the detention system reach deep into Burmese society.
One recent evening, a university lecturer sat on the concrete floor of her living room, clutching a pillow to her stomach as if to draw solace from it. She talked of being racked by "mental torture," a mix of depression and anxiety from years spent anguishing over her imprisoned husband, an opposition politician.
And a teacher said he went for weeks with no news from a close colleague who was to fly out of the country on a prestigious foreign fellowship. It turned out that for having spontaneously joined thousands in street protests last September, he was hunted down by intelligence agents who caught him two months later. The colleague later turned up at Insein. Word from his mother was that he could no longer walk.
It is a system in which a lawyer fights a largely futile battle against bureaucracy, shuttling daily back and forth from a special tribunal at the prison to defend the rights of political detainees before a judge who generally will send them to prison regardless, often on a technicality.
In his Rangoon office, he rifled through a dusty tome that dated to the British colonial era to explain the terms under which 16 prominent dissidents, including the 88 leaders, have been held without trial since their arrest last August, he said.
Asked whether he had ever secured the release of a political detainee, he thought a moment, set down his cup of tea and related the lone incident of his 27-year career: accusations against a politician client turned out to be so outlandish that a 10-year sentence was revoked.
For being caught one night with an anti-government pamphlet, the once starry-eyed Rangoon University student served seven years. He was lucky, he said. For being caught with two pamphlets, friends netted double the sentence. He described enduring beatings, hours in shackles and weeks in solitary confinement. When he was transferred to another prison far upcountry, his mother never knew where he was.
Worst of all, he said, was his hunger for ideas. To feed his mind, he said, he sometimes used a piece of broken pottery to scrawl on the cold concrete, struggling to recall parts of beloved stories by British novelist Somerset Maugham.
Or he would bribe a criminal to bring him a prison-made cheroot, a cone-shaped cigarette. Then he'd slowly unpeel its leafy layers to reveal a thumb-size square of gluey state newspaper, and with it a snippet of information from the world outside his cell.
Now he smuggles reading material -- often about democracy -- to friends still inside.
Sometimes he returns from a prison visit with a poem. A poet he befriended recently wrote about the insanity of living within its walls:
Sunday, August 3, 2008
RANGOON -- The promise of Burma's future begins in its prisons.
Inside, dissidents detained by the military junta tapped out messages on water pipes and listened to them echo from one cell to the next. They spelled words by knocking on walls, each series of sounds a letter of the alphabet. Sometimes they bribed guards with cigarettes to pass along coded messages in necklaces made of pebbles and strings of plastic bags.
Former Burmese political detainees say they found countless ways to communicate, defying their isolation and a system that was designed to break their will. For many, life behind the walls instead became a rite of passage toward political maturity.
"Prison happens to be the longest-running political seminar in Burma," said a scholar and political activist who spent 15 years behind bars for writings that were deemed subversive to the junta. "You could say things there that you couldn't outside, and we observed anniversaries that we couldn't in normal life."
Human rights groups say more than 1,800 political detainees languish long-term in about 20 prisons and labor camps in Burma, also called Myanmar. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a Burmese rights group based in Thailand, has documented "endemic" torture in them. Countless more people have disappeared altogether or been locked up for shorter stints.
The International Committee of the Red Cross had been monitoring conditions in centers across the country for six years. But in late 2005, the junta cut off its observers' access. The group's last attempt to engage the junta, on June 15, has yet to receive a positive response, said Christian Brunner, ICRC's Asia region head.
In the Red Cross's absence, indignities to political and criminal detainees remain manifold, according to recently released prisoners, outside observers and a prison lawyer.
They are beaten with bamboo canes. Their flesh is torn by iron rods that are rolled up and down their shins. They are forced to crawl over broken glass or sharpened gravel; deprived of sleep or water; shackled in painful positions; trapped in cells too small for them to stand upright; and surrounded by barking dogs. Others spend years in solitary confinement.
Some have died under the strain, and some have slipped into insanity.
Yet dissidents have often emerged unbroken, hardier or more pragmatic in their beliefs and more resolute that change will come from their actions. Time behind bars can be a vindication of their struggles, they said. Once through, they feel they have nothing else to fear -- and often return straight to activism.
For some, an ordinary life is forever elusive. "I want to live out of water, but I can't get on the shore," said a member of a new clandestine opposition group, the 88 Generation Students, explaining why its founders felt compelled to turn again to politics within weeks of their release after nearly two decades in and out of prison.
Now in their 40s, most of the group's founders were first rounded up as hotheaded university students who helped steer a failed pro-democracy uprising in 1988. Bound for professions in medicine, engineering or law, many never graduated. The prisons became their university.
"In '88, our generation didn't know anything about politics," said a Rangoon teacher jailed for five years in the aftermath of the uprising. He was 21 when he was arrested. "We cared [only] about brutal repression. We saw it with our own eyes and heard it with our own ears."
Under a tarpaulin canopy at an empty tea shop one recent afternoon, he lighted his second cigarette in minutes and paused to watch the smoke mingle with a monsoon downpour.
In prison, he said, "you know who your real friends are; you learn the meaning of 'friend.' We shared everything we had: our food and all our knowledge."
He and two prison mates tore apart an old English primer, the only book that one of them had managed to have smuggled inside. They took turns reading and hiding the pieces, burying them in the soil outside their cells. From the pages he learned to speak English.
In their cells or in snatched moments in the prison yards, they could encounter a spectrum of dissidents whom they might never otherwise have met -- or had a chance to clash with. "I remember in my first months in Insein Prison, some young political prisoners came to ask me to do something for them, because the communists were waiting to 'dye them pink,' " the scholar said.
It was in jail that a Rangoon University student, now 29, said he met elected members from the opposition National League for Democracy, ethnic leaders and members of countless dissident groups. "I saw the future of Burma in the prisons," he said.
He heard them fiercely arguing and saw them give up visions they had once held, he said. The divides were revelatory. Democracy in the country would come, he concluded, only with "a proper understanding of each other. To do that, we need to improve the education. . . . We need better spirituality, better tolerance and better compassion."
To counter the hopelessness, many detainees said they relied on meditation. For others, the only cure was a chance to fight again beyond prison walls.
"You can't even see the sky. No stars. No moon. No sun, " said Win Naing, 71, who was once part of the political party of U Nu, the prime minister deposed in a 1962 military coup. For years, Win Naing has led an unspecified number of national politicians in a loose, unofficial opposition group, because, he said, a democracy requires multiple parties.
But his detention last year risked all that. "I thought I wouldn't be released for 20 or 30 years. I was almost totally hopeless," he said. "If I get released, I thought, I shouldn't get involved in politics."
After 35 days of detention in Insein, Rangoon's most notorious prison, his release came as a total surprise. And within two months, with his health largely back to normal, he had taken up his activities again.
"In Burma there is a saying: You can't stop yourself from getting up and dancing when you hear the music," he said. "When I heard the music of politics, when many came to see me . . . things changed. I changed. I thought, what the heck."
Outside the walls, behind this former capital's surface scars of broken windowpanes and mildewed buildings choked with vegetation, the wounds of the detention system reach deep into Burmese society.
One recent evening, a university lecturer sat on the concrete floor of her living room, clutching a pillow to her stomach as if to draw solace from it. She talked of being racked by "mental torture," a mix of depression and anxiety from years spent anguishing over her imprisoned husband, an opposition politician.
And a teacher said he went for weeks with no news from a close colleague who was to fly out of the country on a prestigious foreign fellowship. It turned out that for having spontaneously joined thousands in street protests last September, he was hunted down by intelligence agents who caught him two months later. The colleague later turned up at Insein. Word from his mother was that he could no longer walk.
It is a system in which a lawyer fights a largely futile battle against bureaucracy, shuttling daily back and forth from a special tribunal at the prison to defend the rights of political detainees before a judge who generally will send them to prison regardless, often on a technicality.
In his Rangoon office, he rifled through a dusty tome that dated to the British colonial era to explain the terms under which 16 prominent dissidents, including the 88 leaders, have been held without trial since their arrest last August, he said.
Asked whether he had ever secured the release of a political detainee, he thought a moment, set down his cup of tea and related the lone incident of his 27-year career: accusations against a politician client turned out to be so outlandish that a 10-year sentence was revoked.
For being caught one night with an anti-government pamphlet, the once starry-eyed Rangoon University student served seven years. He was lucky, he said. For being caught with two pamphlets, friends netted double the sentence. He described enduring beatings, hours in shackles and weeks in solitary confinement. When he was transferred to another prison far upcountry, his mother never knew where he was.
Worst of all, he said, was his hunger for ideas. To feed his mind, he said, he sometimes used a piece of broken pottery to scrawl on the cold concrete, struggling to recall parts of beloved stories by British novelist Somerset Maugham.
Or he would bribe a criminal to bring him a prison-made cheroot, a cone-shaped cigarette. Then he'd slowly unpeel its leafy layers to reveal a thumb-size square of gluey state newspaper, and with it a snippet of information from the world outside his cell.
Now he smuggles reading material -- often about democracy -- to friends still inside.
Sometimes he returns from a prison visit with a poem. A poet he befriended recently wrote about the insanity of living within its walls:
The white color of the moonlight,
Sticking like a sword inside that very wall,
Will make the demand
For the rest of your life to be numb to thoughts,
For your sorrows to swell,
For your philosophy to be always aching.
Sticking like a sword inside that very wall,
Will make the demand
For the rest of your life to be numb to thoughts,
For your sorrows to swell,
For your philosophy to be always aching.
Saturday, 2 August 2008
Bush and Burma
By AUNG ZAW
The Irrawaddy News
US President George W Bush has never been to Burma, and he once called the country’s detained Nobel Peace Prize laureate “Aung Suu San Kyi,” drawing laughter from journalists at an APEC summit in Thailand.
He has since learned how to pronounce the name of Burma’s most famous pro-democracy leader; and thanks in large part to the tutelage of his wife, Laura Bush, who has taken a strong personal interest in Suu Kyi’s struggle on behalf of her people, he now knows a bit more about the problems of a remote country that he still declines to visit.
Next week, the president and first lady will be in Thailand to mark the 175th anniversary of bilateral ties with the Kingdom. While he is here, he will also meet with Burmese activists on the eve of the 20th anniversary of a nationwide pro-democracy uprising that was brutally crushed by the regime that still holds power in Burma.
The United States has always strongly supported the efforts of Burma’s people achieve freedom from military rule. The current administration has been no exception. Though often criticized at home and abroad for his foreign policy, Bush has won the respect of most Burmese for his firm stance on the repressive regime in Naypyidaw.
In 2003, the US introduced the Freedom and Democracy Act in response to a ruthless attack on Suu Kyi and her supporters in the central Burmese town of Depayin. In 2005, Bush identified Burma as one of the world’s “outposts of tyranny,” together with Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Zimbabwe and Belarus.
Last year, following the crackdown on the September uprising, he blasted the regime and tightened sanctions against the generals and their cronies. As a further sign of support, the US Congress awarded its highest civilian honor, the Congressional Gold Medal, to Suu Kyi last December. And just this week, Bush signed into law the Burma Jade Act, which restricts the import of precious stones from Burma and extends existing import sanctions.
Bush has often been faulted for his tendency to see complex issues in black and white. But while many condemn him for trying to impose his political vision on Iraq, few can argue that in the case of Burma, he has taken a genuinely principled stand that is perfectly consistent with reality.
The Burmese people are indeed fortunate to have the support of both Bush and his wife, Laura, who has been a real driving force in keeping Burma at the top of the world’s political agenda.
She has met with Burmese activists in Washington and New York on a number of occasions and held video teleconferences with prominent exiles. She has also participated in several roundtable discussions on Burma with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and his special envoy to Burma, Ibrahim Gambari.
When the Burmese regime crushed protests last year, she called Ban to discuss the situation—a rare move by an American first lady, and one that shows the depth of her concern for the fate of Burma’s people.
At the height of the crisis, she even called on Snr-Gen Than Shwe, the junta’s supreme leader, to step down. Instead, he moved to consolidate his position, more determined than ever to move forward with his road map to “disciplined democracy.”
In May of this year, it became evident just how much Than Shwe has staked on the ultimate success of this deeply flawed political process, which promises only a continuation of military rule under another guise.
On May 3, one week before a planned referendum on a military-drafted constitution, Burma was hit by its worst natural disaster in living memory. But Cyclone Nargis did not stop the junta going ahead with its rigged referendum, putting politics ahead of the lives of millions of people.
The American response to this disaster was markedly different from that of the rulers in Naypyidaw. The US moved quickly to temporarily suspend its sanctions against Burma so that it could assist in the relief effort, offering aid and the use of military aircraft to transport international emergency relief supplies into the country.
Humanitarian workers in Burma praised the Bush administration for its bold decision to send C-130 flights into Rangoon with relief items, setting aside politics for the sake of saving lives.
But when the USS Essex and other US naval ships withdrew from their positions near Burmese waters, after weeks of hopes that Bush would invoke the UN’s Responsibility to Protect and order them into the delta, many Burmese were more than a little disappointed.
This raises the most serious question about US support for Burma’s pro-democracy movement: Is there any real political will in the US to effect substantive change in Burma, or is Washington simply offering moral support to the victims of a heinous regime to burnish its image as a defender of freedom?
While some cynics say that Bush’s stance on Burma is merely a distraction from the troubling consequences of other facets of his foreign policy, others suggest that ultimately, the US is seeking to use Burma to “contain” China, which has become the Burmese regime’s most important ally.
These critics of US policy point to Washington’s overtures to Gen Ne Win soon after he seized power in 1962 as evidence that the US has never been particularly troubled by military rule in Burma or anywhere else when broader geopolitical interests were at stake.
Although Ne Win accepted an invitation to the White House, he never became close to Washington. Even substantial development aid and other support in the form of weapons and helicopters for Burma’s anti-narcotics efforts failed to bring Burma within America’s sphere of influence—something US leaders were desperate to achieve in a bid to counter Communist China’s regional ambitions.
But a great deal has changed since the days of the Cold War. China is no longer the “red threat” that it once was, but a country that has opened up to the world in ways that were almost unimaginable even two decades ago. The US has no interest in reversing this process, any more than it has a desire to see Burma sealed off and stagnating under the same regressive regime that has ruled since 1988.
As part of his visit to Asia next week, Bush will be in Beijing to attend the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympic Games on August 8. This will give him an opportunity to both celebrate China’s progress and to highlight the need for deeper changes, particularly regarding its attitude towards fundamental human rights.
By meeting with Burmese exiles the day before attending Beijing’s grand coming-out party, Bush is sending a reminder that August 8 is not only a day to recognize China’s achievements, but also an occasion to recall the unfulfilled aspirations of the Burmese people.
There is little more that the Burmese people can ask of Bush in the remaining months of his administration. And after eight years of unstinting support, which even the most skeptical Burmese activists have had to acknowledge as a major contribution to their cause, they can even learn to live with his occasional mangling of Burmese names.
The Irrawaddy News
US President George W Bush has never been to Burma, and he once called the country’s detained Nobel Peace Prize laureate “Aung Suu San Kyi,” drawing laughter from journalists at an APEC summit in Thailand.
He has since learned how to pronounce the name of Burma’s most famous pro-democracy leader; and thanks in large part to the tutelage of his wife, Laura Bush, who has taken a strong personal interest in Suu Kyi’s struggle on behalf of her people, he now knows a bit more about the problems of a remote country that he still declines to visit.
Next week, the president and first lady will be in Thailand to mark the 175th anniversary of bilateral ties with the Kingdom. While he is here, he will also meet with Burmese activists on the eve of the 20th anniversary of a nationwide pro-democracy uprising that was brutally crushed by the regime that still holds power in Burma.
The United States has always strongly supported the efforts of Burma’s people achieve freedom from military rule. The current administration has been no exception. Though often criticized at home and abroad for his foreign policy, Bush has won the respect of most Burmese for his firm stance on the repressive regime in Naypyidaw.
In 2003, the US introduced the Freedom and Democracy Act in response to a ruthless attack on Suu Kyi and her supporters in the central Burmese town of Depayin. In 2005, Bush identified Burma as one of the world’s “outposts of tyranny,” together with Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Zimbabwe and Belarus.
Last year, following the crackdown on the September uprising, he blasted the regime and tightened sanctions against the generals and their cronies. As a further sign of support, the US Congress awarded its highest civilian honor, the Congressional Gold Medal, to Suu Kyi last December. And just this week, Bush signed into law the Burma Jade Act, which restricts the import of precious stones from Burma and extends existing import sanctions.
Bush has often been faulted for his tendency to see complex issues in black and white. But while many condemn him for trying to impose his political vision on Iraq, few can argue that in the case of Burma, he has taken a genuinely principled stand that is perfectly consistent with reality.
The Burmese people are indeed fortunate to have the support of both Bush and his wife, Laura, who has been a real driving force in keeping Burma at the top of the world’s political agenda.
She has met with Burmese activists in Washington and New York on a number of occasions and held video teleconferences with prominent exiles. She has also participated in several roundtable discussions on Burma with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and his special envoy to Burma, Ibrahim Gambari.
When the Burmese regime crushed protests last year, she called Ban to discuss the situation—a rare move by an American first lady, and one that shows the depth of her concern for the fate of Burma’s people.
At the height of the crisis, she even called on Snr-Gen Than Shwe, the junta’s supreme leader, to step down. Instead, he moved to consolidate his position, more determined than ever to move forward with his road map to “disciplined democracy.”
In May of this year, it became evident just how much Than Shwe has staked on the ultimate success of this deeply flawed political process, which promises only a continuation of military rule under another guise.
On May 3, one week before a planned referendum on a military-drafted constitution, Burma was hit by its worst natural disaster in living memory. But Cyclone Nargis did not stop the junta going ahead with its rigged referendum, putting politics ahead of the lives of millions of people.
The American response to this disaster was markedly different from that of the rulers in Naypyidaw. The US moved quickly to temporarily suspend its sanctions against Burma so that it could assist in the relief effort, offering aid and the use of military aircraft to transport international emergency relief supplies into the country.
Humanitarian workers in Burma praised the Bush administration for its bold decision to send C-130 flights into Rangoon with relief items, setting aside politics for the sake of saving lives.
But when the USS Essex and other US naval ships withdrew from their positions near Burmese waters, after weeks of hopes that Bush would invoke the UN’s Responsibility to Protect and order them into the delta, many Burmese were more than a little disappointed.
This raises the most serious question about US support for Burma’s pro-democracy movement: Is there any real political will in the US to effect substantive change in Burma, or is Washington simply offering moral support to the victims of a heinous regime to burnish its image as a defender of freedom?
While some cynics say that Bush’s stance on Burma is merely a distraction from the troubling consequences of other facets of his foreign policy, others suggest that ultimately, the US is seeking to use Burma to “contain” China, which has become the Burmese regime’s most important ally.
These critics of US policy point to Washington’s overtures to Gen Ne Win soon after he seized power in 1962 as evidence that the US has never been particularly troubled by military rule in Burma or anywhere else when broader geopolitical interests were at stake.
Although Ne Win accepted an invitation to the White House, he never became close to Washington. Even substantial development aid and other support in the form of weapons and helicopters for Burma’s anti-narcotics efforts failed to bring Burma within America’s sphere of influence—something US leaders were desperate to achieve in a bid to counter Communist China’s regional ambitions.
But a great deal has changed since the days of the Cold War. China is no longer the “red threat” that it once was, but a country that has opened up to the world in ways that were almost unimaginable even two decades ago. The US has no interest in reversing this process, any more than it has a desire to see Burma sealed off and stagnating under the same regressive regime that has ruled since 1988.
As part of his visit to Asia next week, Bush will be in Beijing to attend the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympic Games on August 8. This will give him an opportunity to both celebrate China’s progress and to highlight the need for deeper changes, particularly regarding its attitude towards fundamental human rights.
By meeting with Burmese exiles the day before attending Beijing’s grand coming-out party, Bush is sending a reminder that August 8 is not only a day to recognize China’s achievements, but also an occasion to recall the unfulfilled aspirations of the Burmese people.
There is little more that the Burmese people can ask of Bush in the remaining months of his administration. And after eight years of unstinting support, which even the most skeptical Burmese activists have had to acknowledge as a major contribution to their cause, they can even learn to live with his occasional mangling of Burmese names.
Friday, 1 August 2008
'You could still see bodies floating about'
(Fileymercury) -Rev Jeff Hattan, who has previously been to Ghana, Nigeria, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, was originally due to visit Burma last November, but the trip was postponed following the monks' demonstrations.
Rev Hattan said: “After the cyclone, in one sense I wanted to go even more and stand with those people who had a hard enough life as it was. Life for everyone is hard, but for Christians it’s even more so.”
According to Christian organisations such as the charity Release International, which arranged the trip, the Burmese government ignored “whole groups of people” in the wake of the disaster – not least the mainly Christian communities, which have traditionally suffered.
Rev Hattan said: “There are people who have still had no help in re-building, food or clean water, and we were speaking to another Christian organisation that had been to another part of the Irrawaddy Delta where you could still see bodies floating about.
“We’re not a relief organisation, but we were giving rice to villagers, supplying building materials and everything needed to completely re-build a school for 140 children. We made up 1,364 children’s backpacks with uniforms and pencils and reading books, and we were supporting church leaders whose churches had spent just about all their money on helping others.
“There’s also a huge need for counselling, and we paid for 15 young Christians to attend counselling courses so they could work with people on a basic level. Sometimes it’s just about being there and talking to people – saying ‘you’re not alone’. You can’t comprehend what a boost it is for people to know you’ve come all that way.”
Rev Hattan said the persecution of the Christian population was more psychological than physical, but he had spoken to church leaders who had been imprisoned “on a whim”.
He added: “Burma hasn’t got a good record for human rights at the best of times, but the Government says to be Burmese is to be Buddhist. They say Christians have the ‘C-virus’ and put out that it must be eradicated by all and any means.
“There are ethnic groups that are 60 to 70 per cent Christian and they’re often the ones at the forefont of the pro-democracy movement, so to be part of those groups is to be automatically targeted.
“We spoke to church leaders who said they had regular visits by the authorities, sometimes two or three times a night, checking up on what they’re doing and who they’re with. Churches are routinely closed down and Christians are made to do jobs that are disgusting and live under the constant pressure of being harrassed or threatened.
“It also happens to Buddhist Burmese – it’s a country of intolerable suffering – but if you’re Christian it’s much worse.”
Rev Hattan said unlike other western visitors, his group was given a suprising amount of freedom to travel, partly because they were working with Burmese people who “knew what they were doing”.
He said: “We never felt we were in danger, but you were aware that people were encouraged to pass on to the Government anything that was unusual.
You’ve no idea if people are on the payroll of the Government – it’s like the old Soviet Union.”
l Release International, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, was originally formed to support Christians living in the old Communist world, but now operates in countries like Nigeria, Pakistan, Iraq, Sri Lanka and India where Christians may be persecuted by the Government, other religious groups or even drug barons – as in Colombia.
Rev Hattan has been involved with the charity for about 12 years and sometimes travels with his wife, Angie.
Rev Hattan said: “After the cyclone, in one sense I wanted to go even more and stand with those people who had a hard enough life as it was. Life for everyone is hard, but for Christians it’s even more so.”
According to Christian organisations such as the charity Release International, which arranged the trip, the Burmese government ignored “whole groups of people” in the wake of the disaster – not least the mainly Christian communities, which have traditionally suffered.
Rev Hattan said: “There are people who have still had no help in re-building, food or clean water, and we were speaking to another Christian organisation that had been to another part of the Irrawaddy Delta where you could still see bodies floating about.
“We’re not a relief organisation, but we were giving rice to villagers, supplying building materials and everything needed to completely re-build a school for 140 children. We made up 1,364 children’s backpacks with uniforms and pencils and reading books, and we were supporting church leaders whose churches had spent just about all their money on helping others.
“There’s also a huge need for counselling, and we paid for 15 young Christians to attend counselling courses so they could work with people on a basic level. Sometimes it’s just about being there and talking to people – saying ‘you’re not alone’. You can’t comprehend what a boost it is for people to know you’ve come all that way.”
Rev Hattan said the persecution of the Christian population was more psychological than physical, but he had spoken to church leaders who had been imprisoned “on a whim”.
He added: “Burma hasn’t got a good record for human rights at the best of times, but the Government says to be Burmese is to be Buddhist. They say Christians have the ‘C-virus’ and put out that it must be eradicated by all and any means.
“There are ethnic groups that are 60 to 70 per cent Christian and they’re often the ones at the forefont of the pro-democracy movement, so to be part of those groups is to be automatically targeted.
“We spoke to church leaders who said they had regular visits by the authorities, sometimes two or three times a night, checking up on what they’re doing and who they’re with. Churches are routinely closed down and Christians are made to do jobs that are disgusting and live under the constant pressure of being harrassed or threatened.
“It also happens to Buddhist Burmese – it’s a country of intolerable suffering – but if you’re Christian it’s much worse.”
Rev Hattan said unlike other western visitors, his group was given a suprising amount of freedom to travel, partly because they were working with Burmese people who “knew what they were doing”.
He said: “We never felt we were in danger, but you were aware that people were encouraged to pass on to the Government anything that was unusual.
You’ve no idea if people are on the payroll of the Government – it’s like the old Soviet Union.”
l Release International, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, was originally formed to support Christians living in the old Communist world, but now operates in countries like Nigeria, Pakistan, Iraq, Sri Lanka and India where Christians may be persecuted by the Government, other religious groups or even drug barons – as in Colombia.
Rev Hattan has been involved with the charity for about 12 years and sometimes travels with his wife, Angie.
Writers Play Cat-and-Mouse Game with State Censors
Rebound88-newsblaze.com
It was a love poem, cleared by Burmese censors, in which a brokenhearted man rejected by a fashion model thanked her for teaching him the meaning of love. But when the first letters of each line were read vertically, it said "General Than Shwe [the country's principal military ruler] is crazy with power."
On January 22, after news of the hidden message reached the authorities, poet Saw Wei was arrested. But, as far as the military junta was concerned, the damage already was done, because Saw Wei had breached Burma's notorious Press Scrutiny and Registration Board (PSRB) and successfully broadcast a message of political dissent.
Burma's writers, journalists and other intellectuals have been coping with state censorship since the country's colonial days, but intense and unpredictable scrutiny in place since 1962 under the military regime has spawned subtle literary traditions and brazen attempts at self-expression, according to a source who specializes in Burmese literature.
The specialist, who spoke to America.gov on condition of anonymity, said Burmese traditions of writing between the lines, using words with double meanings, and other cryptic styles help writers get material out to their information-starved countrymen despite state censorship.
"There's a lot of interest in words that sort of pack a punch without revealing too much, and I really see that as a whole literary tradition that's developed because of the long history of state control," the specialist said. "They say art is all about constraint, and I would say that's really true. There is this sort of cleverness of working with constraint."
Some literary change is reflected in the rise of magazines and journals (gya-neh) or weekly news tabloids as the main outlets for self-expression, rather than novels or short stories that are labor-intensive and difficult to publish.
Some Burmese intellectuals consider much of the country's post-modern literature "gibberish" because the prose lacks plot and the poetry is nonspecific, resembling a "word salad." But the specialist described the new Burmese literature as "one of the more extreme responses to censorship," because it allows a writer under investigation to claim the work has no real meaning. "It's kind of their way of bypassing the censorship system and then sort of communicating in some way."
One challenge all writers face is staying abreast of the state's ever-changing list of problematic topics.
"If the general gives a talk on teenage behavior, then your article in your journal or your magazine about teen fashions might get censored, even if there's nothing political in it. There are a lot of times that things that aren't political at all will get censored, and it's more like the censorship board is worried and so they start looking for meanings when maybe none are there at all," the specialist said.
Occasionally, writers and editors will be surprisingly open in their topics, and that tolerance for risk "is really an indicator of frustration."
The June 2008 issue of Cherry magazine featured a poem "De Pa Yin Ga," about heroic figures in Burma's history who were lost because their people were unfaithful to them. But the title also could refer to Depayin, the town where democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her supporters were attacked by a government-sponsored mob in a May 2003 incident that killed 70 people.
On June 30, Cherry's poetry editor, Htay Aung, was fired and the PSRB ordered the June issue - which already had sold out - recalled. The specialist expressed surprise that the poem was submitted, and also that it made it past the censors. Perhaps "someone on the censor board wanted the subversive poem to get through. I think a more likely explanation is that it just slipped through inadvertently." The sheer volume of material to be reviewed makes it "very difficult for censors to catch this sort of thing before printing," the specialist said. "It has to be found by readers."
Other examples:
. After Cyclone Nargis in May, a survivor unveiled a billboard reading, "We want food, not gold." In Burmese, shwe, means gold, a probable reference to General Than Shwe.
. During an October 2007 crackdown on pro-democracy protests, a state newspaper employee published a photo of a London demonstration against Burma's rulers, with a deliberately erroneous caption saying it was a protest against the war in Iraq.
. Early in 2007, an advertisement placed in a major Burmese newspaper for a fake Scandinavian travel agency contained the hidden message "Killer Than Shwe."
. In 1998, a printing error transposed a headline to the opposite page. As a result, the words "world's greatest liar" appeared over the Burmese ruler's photo.
. In 1995, the Burmese army's Yadanabon newspaper ran a personal ad wishing someone named "U Tin Maung Kyi" a happy anniversary. A backwards reading presents "Kyi Maung" and "Tin U," two senior pro-democracy leaders imprisoned at the time.
"There is a long tradition of hiding messages in this way," said the specialist who, after hearing about Saw Wei's poem, related how an anonymous writer used similar technique in 1978 to spell out "July 7" on a wall of Rangoon University - a reference to the day the army blew up the student union building in 1962.
Writers and intellectuals see themselves as the voice of the people and feel a strong sense of social responsibility despite being generally apolitical. That lends special significance to poet Aung Way's September 2007 call for other writers to support the pro-democracy movement led by Burmese monks. (See "Burma's Monks Have History of Democratic Protest ( http://www.america.gov/st/washfile-english/2007/September/20070925140940esnamfuak0.9778864.html ).")
"There's a tradition of respecting writers and intellectuals in Burma so when they put themselves on the line it gets attention. It's very similar to the monks stepping forward," the specialist said.
It was a love poem, cleared by Burmese censors, in which a brokenhearted man rejected by a fashion model thanked her for teaching him the meaning of love. But when the first letters of each line were read vertically, it said "General Than Shwe [the country's principal military ruler] is crazy with power."
On January 22, after news of the hidden message reached the authorities, poet Saw Wei was arrested. But, as far as the military junta was concerned, the damage already was done, because Saw Wei had breached Burma's notorious Press Scrutiny and Registration Board (PSRB) and successfully broadcast a message of political dissent.
Burma's writers, journalists and other intellectuals have been coping with state censorship since the country's colonial days, but intense and unpredictable scrutiny in place since 1962 under the military regime has spawned subtle literary traditions and brazen attempts at self-expression, according to a source who specializes in Burmese literature.
The specialist, who spoke to America.gov on condition of anonymity, said Burmese traditions of writing between the lines, using words with double meanings, and other cryptic styles help writers get material out to their information-starved countrymen despite state censorship.
"There's a lot of interest in words that sort of pack a punch without revealing too much, and I really see that as a whole literary tradition that's developed because of the long history of state control," the specialist said. "They say art is all about constraint, and I would say that's really true. There is this sort of cleverness of working with constraint."
Some literary change is reflected in the rise of magazines and journals (gya-neh) or weekly news tabloids as the main outlets for self-expression, rather than novels or short stories that are labor-intensive and difficult to publish.
Some Burmese intellectuals consider much of the country's post-modern literature "gibberish" because the prose lacks plot and the poetry is nonspecific, resembling a "word salad." But the specialist described the new Burmese literature as "one of the more extreme responses to censorship," because it allows a writer under investigation to claim the work has no real meaning. "It's kind of their way of bypassing the censorship system and then sort of communicating in some way."
One challenge all writers face is staying abreast of the state's ever-changing list of problematic topics.
"If the general gives a talk on teenage behavior, then your article in your journal or your magazine about teen fashions might get censored, even if there's nothing political in it. There are a lot of times that things that aren't political at all will get censored, and it's more like the censorship board is worried and so they start looking for meanings when maybe none are there at all," the specialist said.
Occasionally, writers and editors will be surprisingly open in their topics, and that tolerance for risk "is really an indicator of frustration."
The June 2008 issue of Cherry magazine featured a poem "De Pa Yin Ga," about heroic figures in Burma's history who were lost because their people were unfaithful to them. But the title also could refer to Depayin, the town where democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her supporters were attacked by a government-sponsored mob in a May 2003 incident that killed 70 people.
On June 30, Cherry's poetry editor, Htay Aung, was fired and the PSRB ordered the June issue - which already had sold out - recalled. The specialist expressed surprise that the poem was submitted, and also that it made it past the censors. Perhaps "someone on the censor board wanted the subversive poem to get through. I think a more likely explanation is that it just slipped through inadvertently." The sheer volume of material to be reviewed makes it "very difficult for censors to catch this sort of thing before printing," the specialist said. "It has to be found by readers."
Other examples:
. After Cyclone Nargis in May, a survivor unveiled a billboard reading, "We want food, not gold." In Burmese, shwe, means gold, a probable reference to General Than Shwe.
. During an October 2007 crackdown on pro-democracy protests, a state newspaper employee published a photo of a London demonstration against Burma's rulers, with a deliberately erroneous caption saying it was a protest against the war in Iraq.
. Early in 2007, an advertisement placed in a major Burmese newspaper for a fake Scandinavian travel agency contained the hidden message "Killer Than Shwe."
. In 1998, a printing error transposed a headline to the opposite page. As a result, the words "world's greatest liar" appeared over the Burmese ruler's photo.
. In 1995, the Burmese army's Yadanabon newspaper ran a personal ad wishing someone named "U Tin Maung Kyi" a happy anniversary. A backwards reading presents "Kyi Maung" and "Tin U," two senior pro-democracy leaders imprisoned at the time.
"There is a long tradition of hiding messages in this way," said the specialist who, after hearing about Saw Wei's poem, related how an anonymous writer used similar technique in 1978 to spell out "July 7" on a wall of Rangoon University - a reference to the day the army blew up the student union building in 1962.
Writers and intellectuals see themselves as the voice of the people and feel a strong sense of social responsibility despite being generally apolitical. That lends special significance to poet Aung Way's September 2007 call for other writers to support the pro-democracy movement led by Burmese monks. (See "Burma's Monks Have History of Democratic Protest ( http://www.america.gov/st/washfile-english/2007/September/20070925140940esnamfuak0.9778864.html ).")
"There's a tradition of respecting writers and intellectuals in Burma so when they put themselves on the line it gets attention. It's very similar to the monks stepping forward," the specialist said.
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