By MIN LWIN
The Irrawaddy News
A BBC radio report that a daughter of Burmese junta leader Snr-Gen Than Shwe went shopping for gold worth more than US $80,000 is a hot topic of discussion these days at teashop tables in Mandalay.
The London-based BBC’s Burmese service reported that an unnamed daughter of Than Shwe visited the Aung Tharmarde gold shop on Mandalay’s 22nd Street and bought gold worth 100 million kyat ($80,645).
“People were shocked to hear about the extravagance,” said a Mandalay gold dealer. “I’d like to ask her where the money came from when most Burmese people are poor and some are starving.”
The report reignited anger over the extravagance of the marriage in July 2006 of one of Than Shwe’s daughters, Thandar, who draped herself in the precious metal when she married Maj Zaw Phyo Win. The bridal pair were showered with expensive gifts estimated to have cost the equivalent of $50 million.
One Rangoon gold dealer suggested that Than Shwe’s family wanted to invest in the precious metal at a time when the price of bullion had dropped.
Showing posts with label moral. Show all posts
Showing posts with label moral. Show all posts
Thursday, 30 October 2008
Friday, 3 October 2008
Trade Trumps Human Rights
By WILLIAM BOOT
OCTOBER, 2008 - VOLUME 16 NO.10
The Irrawaddy News
Many countries have shown more interest in trading with Asean than in taking Burma’s generals to task for trampling on citizens’ basic rights
BANGKOK — THE more pressing needs of economic growth in East Asia appear to be overriding the issue of pressuring the Burmese military junta to reform.
Economic giants China and India are on the verge of finalizing free trade agreements (FTAs) with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), to which Burma belongs, while both Australia and New Zealand have just formed closer trade pacts with the bloc.
None of these countries’ governments has raised a murmur of disquiet with Asean about deals which could benefit a regime widely reviled and sanctioned by many Western countries.
The pacts—just signed or expected to be finalized by the end of this year—will give the Burmese regime and the supportive domestic monopoly businesses which operate under its banner unfettered access to a combined market of around 2.8 billion people.
“With this prospect in sight there is little wonder that the Burmese ruling generals pay little heed to the financial and trade sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union,” said a trade official at a European embassy in Bangkok, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
The US and the EU both recently tightened sanctions in a bid to persuade the generals to promote democratic reforms in the wake of last year’s street protests, which were violently suppressed by security forces.
Asean pursues a policy of noninterference in the political affairs of member states, even though the 10-country organization has declared ambitions to emulate the EU by 2015—copying Europe’s single market, unfettered labor movement and human rights code.
Asean’s code is currently being formulated, but the Burmese regime has already signaled it will not tolerate any outside interference on issues of rights and pro-democracy politics.
Ironically, it is the EU which is baulking at Asean hopes to reach an FTA between the two blocs.
Primary conditions for countries joining the EU include democratic institutions, an independent judiciary and adherence to human rights arbitrated by the European Court of Justice.
While Asean concluded deals with Australia and New Zealand and trade negotiations progressed with India, the group’s secretary-general, Surin Pitsuwan, admitted that similar negotiations with the EU had become “most challenging.”
“Because of the diversity on both sides, the two sides are working very hard trying to find some common ground to move forward,” he said.
In keeping with the lack of frankness within Asean, Surin refused to specify what the “diversity” of opinion is.
But the European embassy official who spoke to The Irrawaddy was in no doubt what it meant: “The EU is trying, without much success, to persuade Asean to put pressure on the Burmese military to reform.”
One of Southeast Asia’s leading observers and analysts of Asean, Singapore Institute of International Affairs Chairman Simon Tay, told The Irrawaddy he believed it could be possible for the two sides to agree on an FTA, albeit one without Burma.
“There is a precedent for this in the Asean-Korea FTA, where the rest signed without Thailand. The draft Asean Charter also sets out the Asean minus X formula for economic agreements,” Tay said.
“The question is one of political will on both sides. In the Thai-Korea case, there were substantial differences between the two on economic-trade issues. Here, it is a political-human rights difference.
“Economically, Myanmar [Burma] would be of little concern to the EU. Indeed, there would be opportunities for Myanmar to develop and for the EU to benefit from its resource base. But there are often mixed questions, for example illegal logging, allegations of forced labor to build infrastructure, etc.”
The latest batch of outside trade pacts with Asean has not gone through without some opposition, however.
In New Zealand, the pro-worker Alliance Party sharply criticized the Wellington government for signing a trade agreement which included Burma.
It heightened the likelihood that New Zealanders would end up buying commodities “produced by slave labor in Myanmar,” said the party in a statement.
The Asean-New Zealand FTA was a “model of how free trade and free markets can operate more successfully without democracy, trade unions or basic humanity,” the Alliance Party concluded.
But the New Zealand government has described the Asean deal as “critical to New Zealand’s longer-term strategic engagement”—a sentiment echoed by Australia’s Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
“Some criticize Asean for being insufficiently activist. I argue that this criticism is misplaced because it fails to appreciate that Asean’s great success has been to avoid conflict among member states and allow economic progress unimpeded,” Rudd said in a recent speech in Singapore.
In any case, he visualizes a much bigger entity than Asean in calling for an Asia-Pacific Community.
Final agreement on FTA deals with China and India are expected to be signed at the Asean leaders’ summit scheduled for Bangkok in December.
China has become Burma’s third-largest individual trading partner, after Thailand and Singapore. Unwilling to miss out on Burma’s natural resources, India has also stepped up commercial deals with the generals.
As if to underline its indifference towards trade sanctions by Europe and North America, the Burmese junta is steadily expanding business ties not only with neighbors large and small, but also with other countries well beyond Southeast Asia where human rights do not figure in decision-making. The latest are Kuwait and North Korea.
Although the EU’s trade with Burma has shrunk because of sanctions, the European Community is an important market for Asean as a whole.
“If the overall deal is not so sweet, and the EU gets on a moral high horse, I can see that Asean unity will be evoked,” said Tay. “Seeing who blinks will become a game, which, while intriguing, would do little to deal with the real issues.”
OCTOBER, 2008 - VOLUME 16 NO.10
The Irrawaddy News
Many countries have shown more interest in trading with Asean than in taking Burma’s generals to task for trampling on citizens’ basic rights
BANGKOK — THE more pressing needs of economic growth in East Asia appear to be overriding the issue of pressuring the Burmese military junta to reform.
Economic giants China and India are on the verge of finalizing free trade agreements (FTAs) with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), to which Burma belongs, while both Australia and New Zealand have just formed closer trade pacts with the bloc.
None of these countries’ governments has raised a murmur of disquiet with Asean about deals which could benefit a regime widely reviled and sanctioned by many Western countries.
The pacts—just signed or expected to be finalized by the end of this year—will give the Burmese regime and the supportive domestic monopoly businesses which operate under its banner unfettered access to a combined market of around 2.8 billion people.
“With this prospect in sight there is little wonder that the Burmese ruling generals pay little heed to the financial and trade sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union,” said a trade official at a European embassy in Bangkok, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
The US and the EU both recently tightened sanctions in a bid to persuade the generals to promote democratic reforms in the wake of last year’s street protests, which were violently suppressed by security forces.
Asean pursues a policy of noninterference in the political affairs of member states, even though the 10-country organization has declared ambitions to emulate the EU by 2015—copying Europe’s single market, unfettered labor movement and human rights code.
Asean’s code is currently being formulated, but the Burmese regime has already signaled it will not tolerate any outside interference on issues of rights and pro-democracy politics.
Ironically, it is the EU which is baulking at Asean hopes to reach an FTA between the two blocs.
Primary conditions for countries joining the EU include democratic institutions, an independent judiciary and adherence to human rights arbitrated by the European Court of Justice.
While Asean concluded deals with Australia and New Zealand and trade negotiations progressed with India, the group’s secretary-general, Surin Pitsuwan, admitted that similar negotiations with the EU had become “most challenging.”
“Because of the diversity on both sides, the two sides are working very hard trying to find some common ground to move forward,” he said.
In keeping with the lack of frankness within Asean, Surin refused to specify what the “diversity” of opinion is.
But the European embassy official who spoke to The Irrawaddy was in no doubt what it meant: “The EU is trying, without much success, to persuade Asean to put pressure on the Burmese military to reform.”
One of Southeast Asia’s leading observers and analysts of Asean, Singapore Institute of International Affairs Chairman Simon Tay, told The Irrawaddy he believed it could be possible for the two sides to agree on an FTA, albeit one without Burma.
“There is a precedent for this in the Asean-Korea FTA, where the rest signed without Thailand. The draft Asean Charter also sets out the Asean minus X formula for economic agreements,” Tay said.
“The question is one of political will on both sides. In the Thai-Korea case, there were substantial differences between the two on economic-trade issues. Here, it is a political-human rights difference.
“Economically, Myanmar [Burma] would be of little concern to the EU. Indeed, there would be opportunities for Myanmar to develop and for the EU to benefit from its resource base. But there are often mixed questions, for example illegal logging, allegations of forced labor to build infrastructure, etc.”
The latest batch of outside trade pacts with Asean has not gone through without some opposition, however.
In New Zealand, the pro-worker Alliance Party sharply criticized the Wellington government for signing a trade agreement which included Burma.
It heightened the likelihood that New Zealanders would end up buying commodities “produced by slave labor in Myanmar,” said the party in a statement.
The Asean-New Zealand FTA was a “model of how free trade and free markets can operate more successfully without democracy, trade unions or basic humanity,” the Alliance Party concluded.
But the New Zealand government has described the Asean deal as “critical to New Zealand’s longer-term strategic engagement”—a sentiment echoed by Australia’s Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
“Some criticize Asean for being insufficiently activist. I argue that this criticism is misplaced because it fails to appreciate that Asean’s great success has been to avoid conflict among member states and allow economic progress unimpeded,” Rudd said in a recent speech in Singapore.
In any case, he visualizes a much bigger entity than Asean in calling for an Asia-Pacific Community.
Final agreement on FTA deals with China and India are expected to be signed at the Asean leaders’ summit scheduled for Bangkok in December.
China has become Burma’s third-largest individual trading partner, after Thailand and Singapore. Unwilling to miss out on Burma’s natural resources, India has also stepped up commercial deals with the generals.
As if to underline its indifference towards trade sanctions by Europe and North America, the Burmese junta is steadily expanding business ties not only with neighbors large and small, but also with other countries well beyond Southeast Asia where human rights do not figure in decision-making. The latest are Kuwait and North Korea.
Although the EU’s trade with Burma has shrunk because of sanctions, the European Community is an important market for Asean as a whole.
“If the overall deal is not so sweet, and the EU gets on a moral high horse, I can see that Asean unity will be evoked,” said Tay. “Seeing who blinks will become a game, which, while intriguing, would do little to deal with the real issues.”
For Greener Pastures
OCTOBER, 2008 - VOLUME 16 NO.10
The Irrawaddy News
With few opportunities at home, many young Burmese look overseas for work. But before migrants can earn a dollar abroad they have to face queues, fees, bribes and sometimes danger
RANGOON — EARLY each morning a crowd of young men and women gathers in front of an imposing building on Pansodan Street in central Rangoon.
They look nervous, and they sweat in the heat as they huddle together waiting for the door to open. Security guards scold them for pushing and shout at them to be patient.
This could be a scene outside a charity foundation, with hapless refugees struggling to get their hands on food rations.
In fact, the building is Burma’s passport office. And the teeming crowd is made up of people who have come to Rangoon from across the country to try to get a passport so they can go abroad and work.
“About 1,000 people swarm outside our building every morning from Monday to Friday,” an officer at the Myanmar Passport Issuing Office told The Irrawaddy.
Most of the applicants are between 18 and 38—about two-thirds are male. Currently, the passport office is issuing some 8,000 to 10,000 Burmese passports per month, with an average waiting time of 40 days.
The anxious crowd at the passport office is yet another reminder of the dire socio-economic crisis in Burma.
With unemployment rife, the cost of living rising and few doors of opportunity open, Burmese have been leaving the country in droves over the past few years. A migrant labor organization based in Thailand estimates that as much as 10 percent of Burma’s 55 million population is now working abroad.
Burma was already an economic basket case before August 2007 when a 100 to 500 percent hike in the retail price of fuel pushed inflation even higher. The cost of basic household commodities and staple foods leapt in price and sparked last year’s anti-government uprising with Buddhist monks leading the calls for political and economic change.
But their pleas fell on deaf ears.
Then, on May 2-3, Cyclone Nargis wrought havoc on the rice-producing Irrawaddy delta, killing thousands, uprooting families and causing widespread food shortages. An exodus to work overseas followed.
“Most of the young people in my village have gone to Malaysia,” 32-year-old Hla Soe told The Irrawaddy. He said that he and 10 others from the village of Kone Gyi in Magwe Division had come to Rangoon to apply for passports. They planned to join their fellow villagers working in a factory in Malaysia.
Hla Soe said that their village was rich in groundnuts, sesame, beans and pulses, but without farm hands to work the fields much arable land had gone fallow.
Almost every laborer had left the area—the average daily wage of 1,500 to 2,000 kyat (US $1.20-1.60) being insufficient for survival, even in the fertile plains of central Burma.
“I will sell my house to finance a trip to Malaysia,” Hla Soe said. “I think most of the people who go there earn good money. Some of them can send home as much as 100,000 kyat ($80) a month!”
As the family breadwinner, Hla Soe said he is ready to go abroad as soon as he gets a passport. However, that process is fraught with exorbitant fees and frustrations.
“We’ll each have to pay at least 1.15 million kyat ($920) to an employment agency for arranging jobs and the trip to Malaysia,” said one of Hla Soe’s friends from Kone Gyi.
“My mother sold her farm to pay for my expenses,” he added. “I’ve already spent almost 100,000 kyat ($80) in the past 12 days.”
Kone Gyi is not the only village that has lost much of its workforce. Hundred of thousands of workers, from rural areas as well as urban districts, are now leaving the country—not with dreams of adventure and wealth, but just to earn enough to help their families survive.
The employment agencies in Rangoon welcome them with open arms.
According to several sources, the overseas employment agencies charge applicants 1.2 million kyat ($960) to arrange jobs and flights to Malaysia; 3.2 million kyat ($2,560) to Singapore; 1.2 million kyat ($960) to the United Arab Emirates; and as much as $11,000 to Japan—the fees reflect the amount of money migrants can expect to earn in each country.
In fact, because the export of Burmese labor is so lucrative, more than 100 private employment agencies have sprouted up in Rangoon alone.
However, even the entrepreneurs who run these employment agencies say they, in turn, are subjected to inflated fees and bureaucracy.
An agent in Kyauktada Township in central Rangoon, who spoke to The Irrawaddy on condition of anonymity, said: “If you want to set up an employment agency, you must first submit an application to the National Planning and Economic Development Ministry. If you get a license, you must then apply for another permit, this time from the Ministry of Labor.
“If you are granted a license to operate an agency, you have to pay an initial fee of 5 million kyat ($4,000) to the Labor Ministry. In total, you must spend about 20 to 25 million kyat ($16-$20,000) in office costs and bureaucratic expenses, including bribes to officials, to get started.”
All the licenses must be extended annually and hundreds of thousands of kyat in taxes have to paid to secure extensions, the agent said.
According to the manager of an employment agency in Tamwe Township, the only way to run a profitable business is to manipulate the accounts.
“The agency gets taxed for each worker it sends abroad,” he said. “If we subcontract 100 people, we write down seven in our books.”
Never far behind in the ways of manipulation and fraud, the Labor Ministry issued an order on June 6, 2008, stating that each overseas employment agency must account for no fewer than 300 workers per year. If not, its licenses would be revoked.
The Burmese junta benefits not only from charging these agencies fees and taxes, but has also set up its own overseas employment centers to take advantage of the mass migration.
Sources in Burma’s former capital said that two prominent government-run agencies, Shwe Innwa and Myanma Mahn, have been given monopolies to supply labor to markets in certain countries.
“If a worker wants to go to South Korea to work, he or she must register with the Shwe Innwa agency,” the executive director of a private agency said. “Shwe Innwa has an agreement with the South Korean Labor Ministry guaranteeing 2,000 Burmese workers a year.”
Not only are employment agencies taxed by the regime, but the workers themselves may have to pay tax into the Burmese government’s coffers, even though they are working for foreign employers and may be subject to pay tax in the host country too.
“If someone goes to Malaysia, they have to pay 50,000 kyat ($40) tax per month to the Burmese Labor Ministry,” a businessman close to the department said, adding that the tax was substantially higher for workers going to Japan and Singapore.
Burmese workers who cannot afford these costs often cross into neighboring countries illegally. An estimated 300 Burmese migrant workers are smuggled into Thailand every day.
Burma’s economic woes have been a boon to human traffickers, according to sources at the Thai-Burmese border.
Many travel to Thailand independently, simply walking through border crossings at Three Pagodas Pass, Mae Sai or Ranong. The most popular crossing point is the bridge to the Thai black market haven of Mae Sot, which is separated from the neighboring Burmese town of Myawaddy by the Moei River.
Migrants have easy access to Mae Sot because so many Burmese and Thais routinely cross the bridge to buy and sell goods on either side of the border. It costs 1,000 kyat ($0.80) to enter Thailand.
Nevertheless, many Burmese migrants wade through the river or paddle across on inflated inner tubes to avoid paying the fee.
Burma watchers estimate that many more migrants have gone to Thailand this year because of the destruction wrought by Cyclone Nargis.
“Normally, very few Burmese come to Thailand during the rainy season,” said Nai Lawi Mon, an ethnic Mon living in Sangkhlaburi. “But this year we are seeing a lot of people coming.”
It is estimated that there are more than one million Burmese migrants now living and working in Thailand, around half of whom are registered with the Thai Ministry of Labor.
The perils of illegal migration were highlighted in April when 54 Burmese migrants suffocated to death while being transported in a container truck from Ranong, near the southern Burmese border town of Kawthaung, to the Thai resort island of Phuket.
Although the tragedy prompted officials to step up efforts to stem the flow of illegal migrants into Thailand, Burmese laborers continue to make the trip, desperate to find jobs to support themselves and their families.
Those who travel through Thailand to find work in Malaysia or Singapore do so at great personal risk. There are numerous checkpoints along the way and migrants who get caught are often subjected to harassment, imprisonment and deportation.
While Thai officials appear to be doing little to prevent illegal immigration, the Burmese authorities have been carrying out a crackdown on their side of the border. A few months ago, a human trafficking ring was busted in Kawthaung.
Nevertheless, despite knowing the risks and hardships, more and more young Burmese are looking overseas for work.
A 23-year-old graduate of Dagon University in Rangoon found that his bachelor’s degree offered him few opportunities in his homeland. Eventually, he swallowed his pride and went to Malaysia to work in a factory.
“If I relied on my bachelor’s degree, I could starve,” he said. “At least I can feed myself here, working as a slave.”
Overseas jobs are not limited to men—recently more women have resorted to seeking work in foreign countries. Most head for Thailand and Malaysia and find themselves working in garment factories, assembling cell phones or sewing. In Malaysia, migrants can expect to earn 18 ringgit ($5.30) for a full day’s work.
Thandar Aung works in Singapore. She is one of an estimated 170,000 foreign maids in the country. A graduate of Rangoon University, Thandar said that maids in Singapore have to work seven days a week.
“My first employers didn’t even allow me to make a phone call,” she said. “They treated me like a slave. I worked 14 hours a day for $139 a month.” (JEG's: generous SP pays maids $0.33/hr - that is being fair and morally honest)
Inevitably, Burmese workers will continue to be exploited in foreign countries. However, as long as people are unable to earn a living in their own country, a percentage—mostly younger workers—will be drawn abroad. The subsequent brain drain and lack of labor at home will only add to Burma’s economic woes.
Additional reporting by Lawi Weng, Min Lwin and Yeni.
The Irrawaddy News
With few opportunities at home, many young Burmese look overseas for work. But before migrants can earn a dollar abroad they have to face queues, fees, bribes and sometimes danger
RANGOON — EARLY each morning a crowd of young men and women gathers in front of an imposing building on Pansodan Street in central Rangoon.
They look nervous, and they sweat in the heat as they huddle together waiting for the door to open. Security guards scold them for pushing and shout at them to be patient.
This could be a scene outside a charity foundation, with hapless refugees struggling to get their hands on food rations.
In fact, the building is Burma’s passport office. And the teeming crowd is made up of people who have come to Rangoon from across the country to try to get a passport so they can go abroad and work.
“About 1,000 people swarm outside our building every morning from Monday to Friday,” an officer at the Myanmar Passport Issuing Office told The Irrawaddy.
Most of the applicants are between 18 and 38—about two-thirds are male. Currently, the passport office is issuing some 8,000 to 10,000 Burmese passports per month, with an average waiting time of 40 days.
The anxious crowd at the passport office is yet another reminder of the dire socio-economic crisis in Burma.
With unemployment rife, the cost of living rising and few doors of opportunity open, Burmese have been leaving the country in droves over the past few years. A migrant labor organization based in Thailand estimates that as much as 10 percent of Burma’s 55 million population is now working abroad.
Burma was already an economic basket case before August 2007 when a 100 to 500 percent hike in the retail price of fuel pushed inflation even higher. The cost of basic household commodities and staple foods leapt in price and sparked last year’s anti-government uprising with Buddhist monks leading the calls for political and economic change.
But their pleas fell on deaf ears.
Then, on May 2-3, Cyclone Nargis wrought havoc on the rice-producing Irrawaddy delta, killing thousands, uprooting families and causing widespread food shortages. An exodus to work overseas followed.
“Most of the young people in my village have gone to Malaysia,” 32-year-old Hla Soe told The Irrawaddy. He said that he and 10 others from the village of Kone Gyi in Magwe Division had come to Rangoon to apply for passports. They planned to join their fellow villagers working in a factory in Malaysia.
Hla Soe said that their village was rich in groundnuts, sesame, beans and pulses, but without farm hands to work the fields much arable land had gone fallow.
Almost every laborer had left the area—the average daily wage of 1,500 to 2,000 kyat (US $1.20-1.60) being insufficient for survival, even in the fertile plains of central Burma.
“I will sell my house to finance a trip to Malaysia,” Hla Soe said. “I think most of the people who go there earn good money. Some of them can send home as much as 100,000 kyat ($80) a month!”
As the family breadwinner, Hla Soe said he is ready to go abroad as soon as he gets a passport. However, that process is fraught with exorbitant fees and frustrations.
“We’ll each have to pay at least 1.15 million kyat ($920) to an employment agency for arranging jobs and the trip to Malaysia,” said one of Hla Soe’s friends from Kone Gyi.
“My mother sold her farm to pay for my expenses,” he added. “I’ve already spent almost 100,000 kyat ($80) in the past 12 days.”
Kone Gyi is not the only village that has lost much of its workforce. Hundred of thousands of workers, from rural areas as well as urban districts, are now leaving the country—not with dreams of adventure and wealth, but just to earn enough to help their families survive.
The employment agencies in Rangoon welcome them with open arms.
According to several sources, the overseas employment agencies charge applicants 1.2 million kyat ($960) to arrange jobs and flights to Malaysia; 3.2 million kyat ($2,560) to Singapore; 1.2 million kyat ($960) to the United Arab Emirates; and as much as $11,000 to Japan—the fees reflect the amount of money migrants can expect to earn in each country.
In fact, because the export of Burmese labor is so lucrative, more than 100 private employment agencies have sprouted up in Rangoon alone.
However, even the entrepreneurs who run these employment agencies say they, in turn, are subjected to inflated fees and bureaucracy.
An agent in Kyauktada Township in central Rangoon, who spoke to The Irrawaddy on condition of anonymity, said: “If you want to set up an employment agency, you must first submit an application to the National Planning and Economic Development Ministry. If you get a license, you must then apply for another permit, this time from the Ministry of Labor.
“If you are granted a license to operate an agency, you have to pay an initial fee of 5 million kyat ($4,000) to the Labor Ministry. In total, you must spend about 20 to 25 million kyat ($16-$20,000) in office costs and bureaucratic expenses, including bribes to officials, to get started.”
All the licenses must be extended annually and hundreds of thousands of kyat in taxes have to paid to secure extensions, the agent said.
According to the manager of an employment agency in Tamwe Township, the only way to run a profitable business is to manipulate the accounts.
“The agency gets taxed for each worker it sends abroad,” he said. “If we subcontract 100 people, we write down seven in our books.”
Never far behind in the ways of manipulation and fraud, the Labor Ministry issued an order on June 6, 2008, stating that each overseas employment agency must account for no fewer than 300 workers per year. If not, its licenses would be revoked.
The Burmese junta benefits not only from charging these agencies fees and taxes, but has also set up its own overseas employment centers to take advantage of the mass migration.
Sources in Burma’s former capital said that two prominent government-run agencies, Shwe Innwa and Myanma Mahn, have been given monopolies to supply labor to markets in certain countries.
“If a worker wants to go to South Korea to work, he or she must register with the Shwe Innwa agency,” the executive director of a private agency said. “Shwe Innwa has an agreement with the South Korean Labor Ministry guaranteeing 2,000 Burmese workers a year.”
Not only are employment agencies taxed by the regime, but the workers themselves may have to pay tax into the Burmese government’s coffers, even though they are working for foreign employers and may be subject to pay tax in the host country too.
“If someone goes to Malaysia, they have to pay 50,000 kyat ($40) tax per month to the Burmese Labor Ministry,” a businessman close to the department said, adding that the tax was substantially higher for workers going to Japan and Singapore.
Burmese workers who cannot afford these costs often cross into neighboring countries illegally. An estimated 300 Burmese migrant workers are smuggled into Thailand every day.
Burma’s economic woes have been a boon to human traffickers, according to sources at the Thai-Burmese border.
Many travel to Thailand independently, simply walking through border crossings at Three Pagodas Pass, Mae Sai or Ranong. The most popular crossing point is the bridge to the Thai black market haven of Mae Sot, which is separated from the neighboring Burmese town of Myawaddy by the Moei River.
Migrants have easy access to Mae Sot because so many Burmese and Thais routinely cross the bridge to buy and sell goods on either side of the border. It costs 1,000 kyat ($0.80) to enter Thailand.
Nevertheless, many Burmese migrants wade through the river or paddle across on inflated inner tubes to avoid paying the fee.
Burma watchers estimate that many more migrants have gone to Thailand this year because of the destruction wrought by Cyclone Nargis.
“Normally, very few Burmese come to Thailand during the rainy season,” said Nai Lawi Mon, an ethnic Mon living in Sangkhlaburi. “But this year we are seeing a lot of people coming.”
It is estimated that there are more than one million Burmese migrants now living and working in Thailand, around half of whom are registered with the Thai Ministry of Labor.
The perils of illegal migration were highlighted in April when 54 Burmese migrants suffocated to death while being transported in a container truck from Ranong, near the southern Burmese border town of Kawthaung, to the Thai resort island of Phuket.
Although the tragedy prompted officials to step up efforts to stem the flow of illegal migrants into Thailand, Burmese laborers continue to make the trip, desperate to find jobs to support themselves and their families.
Those who travel through Thailand to find work in Malaysia or Singapore do so at great personal risk. There are numerous checkpoints along the way and migrants who get caught are often subjected to harassment, imprisonment and deportation.
While Thai officials appear to be doing little to prevent illegal immigration, the Burmese authorities have been carrying out a crackdown on their side of the border. A few months ago, a human trafficking ring was busted in Kawthaung.
Nevertheless, despite knowing the risks and hardships, more and more young Burmese are looking overseas for work.
A 23-year-old graduate of Dagon University in Rangoon found that his bachelor’s degree offered him few opportunities in his homeland. Eventually, he swallowed his pride and went to Malaysia to work in a factory.
“If I relied on my bachelor’s degree, I could starve,” he said. “At least I can feed myself here, working as a slave.”
Overseas jobs are not limited to men—recently more women have resorted to seeking work in foreign countries. Most head for Thailand and Malaysia and find themselves working in garment factories, assembling cell phones or sewing. In Malaysia, migrants can expect to earn 18 ringgit ($5.30) for a full day’s work.
Thandar Aung works in Singapore. She is one of an estimated 170,000 foreign maids in the country. A graduate of Rangoon University, Thandar said that maids in Singapore have to work seven days a week.
“My first employers didn’t even allow me to make a phone call,” she said. “They treated me like a slave. I worked 14 hours a day for $139 a month.” (JEG's: generous SP pays maids $0.33/hr - that is being fair and morally honest)
Inevitably, Burmese workers will continue to be exploited in foreign countries. However, as long as people are unable to earn a living in their own country, a percentage—mostly younger workers—will be drawn abroad. The subsequent brain drain and lack of labor at home will only add to Burma’s economic woes.
Additional reporting by Lawi Weng, Min Lwin and Yeni.
Veteran NLD MP Arrested - Ohn Kyaing
By MIN LWINThe Irrawaddy News
Ohn Kyaing, a veteran Burmese journalist and elected MP who has already spent almost 15 years in prison for political activity, was arrested by the Special Intelligence Police Unit at 10 p.m. On Wednesday night at his home in Rangoon, according to a National League for Democracy (NLD) spokesman.
Ohn Kyaing, 64, is also the chairman of the NLD Cyclone Relief Committee and a member of the party’s organizing committee in Mandalay.
“We knew he was involved in cyclone relief activities,” said Nyan Win, a spokesman for the NLD. “But we don’t know why he was arrested.”
According to the NLD spokesman, Ohn Kyaing became actively involved in relief efforts for survivors of Cyclone Nargis, which swept the Irrawaddy delta on May 2-3, destroying homes and villages, and killing at least 134,000 people.
Ohn Kyaing graduated in journalism in 1972 and worked as the assistant editor then editor of Kyehmom (“The Mirror”), followed by positions at national newspapers Hanthawaddy and Botathang. He wrote under different pen names, such as Maung Chit Phwe, Aung Wint and Aung Tint.
Standing for the NLD in Mandalay in the 1990 election, Ohn Kyaing won a parliamentary seat in the party’s landslide victory. However, the Burmese military regime refused to recognize the result of the election.
Ohn Kyaing was imprisoned in September 1990 and sentenced to 17 years imprisonment for “writing and distributing seditious pamphlets and threatening state security.”
He was released on January 3, 2005, from Toungoo prison.
The Burmese military authorities have recently arrested several well-known social activists who were involved in relief efforts after Cyclone Nargis, including comedian Zarganar, journalist Zaw Thet Htwe and the chief editor of the Myanmar Tribune weekly journal, Aung Kyaw San.
Monk Escapes from Lantalang Prison
By SAW YAN NAING
The Irrawaddy News
Photo: Ashin Pannasiri
A 28-year-old Burmese Buddhist monk, Ashin Pannasiri, has successfully escaped from Lantalang Prison in Chin State and arrived in Delhi, India, after 13 days.
Ashin Pannasiri said he climbed over two barbwire fences at about 1 am on September 16, when two security guards slept.
“When I climbed the posts, my hands and legs were scraped by barbwire. It was very painful, but I didn’t care about that,” he said. “I only cared about my life.”
In the days following his escape, he traveled alone and was unsure where the roads led. He survived by eating vegetables and fruit.
“I ate fruit wherever I found it the jungle, and I drank water from streams,” he said.
The monk crossed crossed into India at the Mizoram border. During the trip, he said he avoided local residents around Mizoram, fearing arrest and punishment.
“When they [local residents] saw me, they followed me,” he said. “I was afraid of them because I heard that strangers there can be killed or seriously punished if arrested.
Burmese authorities began searching for Ashin Pannasiri in late 2007 during the time of the civil uprising because of his close relationship with leading pro-democracy monks, including monk U Gambira, who is now in Insein Prison in Rangoon.
Ashin Pannasiri was affiliated with Yangon Monastery Maha Koe Su Taik in Pyigyitagun Township in Mandalay Division. When he learned he was wanted by authorities, he said he moved north to Monywa Township in Sagaing Division to escape arrest.
However, he was arrested on October 18, 2007, at an Internet shop in Monywa Township.
He said he was tortured by authorities, both physically and mentally, during interrogation.
“They [authorities] interrogated me from 18 through 20 October. They first asked me to stand up and squat repeatedly. They tied my hands behind my back and pushed and kicked me. They beat my face with an army boot when they asked each question.”
“Finally, I couldn’t control my mind, and there was no option for me. I thought about suicide,” he said.
On October 24, 2007, he was sent to Monywa Prison in Sagaing Division where he spent seven months. On January 18, 2008, he was sentenced to three years imprisonment. Authorities charged him with multiple offenses, including possession of illegal foreign currency.
In mid-May 2008, he was moved to Kale Prison in Sagaing Division where he spent a few weeks before being sent to Lantalang Prison.
On September 15, the day before he escaped from Lantalang, he was again questioned by authorities. He said that following the interrogation, he realized he would be sent back to Kale Prison with “double punishment,” convincing him he had no option but to try to escape.
Ashin Pannasiri is now staying with friends in Dehli. He said he plans to continue to struggle for freedom and peace in Burma while in exile.
“I want to urge all monks inside and outside Burma to fight against ah-dhamma (injustice) and maintain the dhamma (justice) policy,” he said.
The Irrawaddy News
Photo: Ashin PannasiriA 28-year-old Burmese Buddhist monk, Ashin Pannasiri, has successfully escaped from Lantalang Prison in Chin State and arrived in Delhi, India, after 13 days.
Ashin Pannasiri said he climbed over two barbwire fences at about 1 am on September 16, when two security guards slept.
“When I climbed the posts, my hands and legs were scraped by barbwire. It was very painful, but I didn’t care about that,” he said. “I only cared about my life.”
In the days following his escape, he traveled alone and was unsure where the roads led. He survived by eating vegetables and fruit.
“I ate fruit wherever I found it the jungle, and I drank water from streams,” he said.
The monk crossed crossed into India at the Mizoram border. During the trip, he said he avoided local residents around Mizoram, fearing arrest and punishment.
“When they [local residents] saw me, they followed me,” he said. “I was afraid of them because I heard that strangers there can be killed or seriously punished if arrested.
Burmese authorities began searching for Ashin Pannasiri in late 2007 during the time of the civil uprising because of his close relationship with leading pro-democracy monks, including monk U Gambira, who is now in Insein Prison in Rangoon.
Ashin Pannasiri was affiliated with Yangon Monastery Maha Koe Su Taik in Pyigyitagun Township in Mandalay Division. When he learned he was wanted by authorities, he said he moved north to Monywa Township in Sagaing Division to escape arrest.
However, he was arrested on October 18, 2007, at an Internet shop in Monywa Township.
He said he was tortured by authorities, both physically and mentally, during interrogation.
“They [authorities] interrogated me from 18 through 20 October. They first asked me to stand up and squat repeatedly. They tied my hands behind my back and pushed and kicked me. They beat my face with an army boot when they asked each question.”
“Finally, I couldn’t control my mind, and there was no option for me. I thought about suicide,” he said.
On October 24, 2007, he was sent to Monywa Prison in Sagaing Division where he spent seven months. On January 18, 2008, he was sentenced to three years imprisonment. Authorities charged him with multiple offenses, including possession of illegal foreign currency.
In mid-May 2008, he was moved to Kale Prison in Sagaing Division where he spent a few weeks before being sent to Lantalang Prison.
On September 15, the day before he escaped from Lantalang, he was again questioned by authorities. He said that following the interrogation, he realized he would be sent back to Kale Prison with “double punishment,” convincing him he had no option but to try to escape.
Ashin Pannasiri is now staying with friends in Dehli. He said he plans to continue to struggle for freedom and peace in Burma while in exile.
“I want to urge all monks inside and outside Burma to fight against ah-dhamma (injustice) and maintain the dhamma (justice) policy,” he said.
Thursday, 2 October 2008
Living under duress in Kachin State
by Shyamal Sarkar - KNG
30 September 2008
The Burmese military junta seems to have singled out Kachin State for some harsh treatment, one reason for which could be the daring level of dissidence among the student community, which has been repeatedly troubling the regime through poster campaigns, right under the very noses of junta officials.
The dissident students owing allegiance to the All Kachin Students Union (AKSU) have on a number of occasions in the past year put up posters demanding the ouster of the military dictators, freeing political prisoners, demanding a tripartite dialogue, putting a halt to environment unfriendly projects in the state, self determination rights among other demands, which are not new. Not just posters, activists are known to take to the streets either early in the morning or late at night and spray paint walls of government buildings, schools, colleges, markets and other key places making the same demands. The posters were put up despite the high alert in the township sounded by the junta since August.
The periodic movement carried out with precision has had junta officials including the police running from pillar to post trying to tear down the posters or white washing the spray painted walls, lest residents start getting ideas and join the angry students in their campaign against the junta.
The posting of a new Commander in the Northern Command, Maj-Gen Soe Win, who has taken charge of Kachin State, seems to have been done with a brief from the junta brass to come down on dissident activity with a heavy hand and keep people of the state on a leash.
He has gone about his mission with gusto, not uncommon among enthusiastic military officers of the regime. In the wake of students pasting anti-regime posters to denounce the 20th anniversary of the coup in the country on September 18, the Commander imposed night curfew in Myitkyina the capital of Kachin State from 10 p.m. to teach people a lesson. Then the harassment followed.
The police began rounding up people on the streets even before 10 p.m. before the curfew came into force. The idea was to create panic among people. To further hurt residents, the arrested began to be fined heavily to the tune of Kyat 10,000, equivalent to US $ 8. Shops were ordered to down shutters by 9 p.m. The police was taken to task by the Commander because they were unable to prevent activists from putting up posters.
In an effort to nab dissidents and check their activities the Military Affairs Security Unit (Sa-Ya-Pha) was told by the Commander to offer a reward of 100,000 Kyat equivalent to US $ 84 to anyone providing information about activists.
The form of harassment since the new Commander took over has been varied, but all are intent to keep people in the state under the thumb of the junta.
For instance, of a sudden junta officials began searching guest houses and hotels and started making arbitrary arrests of people they suspected. The police in Myitkyina began checking hotels which did not report overnight guests to the authorities. The hotels which allow prostitutes to operate came especially under the scanner. Prostitutes and guests were hauled away to police stations charged and detained. The prostitutes were released later. Even couples dating in parks or on roadsides were not spared.
People in Kachin state as such have been living on the edge. Suddenly the junta authorities decided that subscribers would have to shell out the costs of changing numbers of landline telephones in Myitkyina. The order issued stated that telephones starting with the code number 25 would be changed to 20 and subscribers would have to pay over 550,000 Kyat equivalent to US $ 464 each by September 30 to the State Telecommunication Office in the township.
The reason behind the change in number had to do with disruptions on landline telephones starting with the code number 25 being operated with China-made Telephone Service Operating Machines. These had to be replaced with a new Israel manufactured Telephone Service Operating Machines. Normally, the expense ought to be borne by the telephone department but here subscribers were fleeced, in all probability to save on government revenue or pocket the funds meant for the change.
From whichever angle one views the activities of the junta in Kachin State it is apparent that the people are at the receiving end and left holding the wrong end of the stick.
The Township Municipal Office in Myitkyina has been collecting increasing municipal taxes from residents but they are not getting the desired services whereas army officials do. While residents and shops and establishment owners pay enhanced tax for garbage collection, the civic body accords priority to the junta's Northern Command military headquarters in the township. Despite increased taxes the municipality has done nothing to enhance its fleet of garbage trucks. Only three trucks are in working condition.
Laws are flexible and used to suit the needs of the junta authorities. Without notice traffic police began seizing Chinese manufactured motorcycle rickshaws (three wheelers) called the Tong-bee-car in Myitkyina. All this while the traffic police have been levying a charge of 3,000 Kyat equivalent to US $ 2.5 on drivers operating unlicensed three wheelers. In a town where all three wheelers are unlicensed the very act of seizing them becomes meaningless because there are no provisions to provide a license.
It is such repression that has students up in arms and recently led to an instance where a traffic policeman was thrashed by irate people when the police was seizing unlicensed motorcycles in Myitkyina. The Township Land Transportation Department (Ka-Nya-Na) announced it would issue license for motorcycles till the end of October. But most unlicensed motorcycle owners are not even remotely interested because of the high fees pegged by the junta.
The high handedness of the junta continues in Kachin State despite the areas being under the control of the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO), which boasts an armed wing. The KIO, which has a ceasefire agreement with the junta, has always appeased the regime given the business ventures it operates courtesy the regime and the wealth it enjoys. Of late, after supporting the junta's referendum on the draft constitution, the KIO seems to be toeing the regime's line even more vehemently.
30 September 2008
The Burmese military junta seems to have singled out Kachin State for some harsh treatment, one reason for which could be the daring level of dissidence among the student community, which has been repeatedly troubling the regime through poster campaigns, right under the very noses of junta officials.
The dissident students owing allegiance to the All Kachin Students Union (AKSU) have on a number of occasions in the past year put up posters demanding the ouster of the military dictators, freeing political prisoners, demanding a tripartite dialogue, putting a halt to environment unfriendly projects in the state, self determination rights among other demands, which are not new. Not just posters, activists are known to take to the streets either early in the morning or late at night and spray paint walls of government buildings, schools, colleges, markets and other key places making the same demands. The posters were put up despite the high alert in the township sounded by the junta since August.
The periodic movement carried out with precision has had junta officials including the police running from pillar to post trying to tear down the posters or white washing the spray painted walls, lest residents start getting ideas and join the angry students in their campaign against the junta.
The posting of a new Commander in the Northern Command, Maj-Gen Soe Win, who has taken charge of Kachin State, seems to have been done with a brief from the junta brass to come down on dissident activity with a heavy hand and keep people of the state on a leash.
He has gone about his mission with gusto, not uncommon among enthusiastic military officers of the regime. In the wake of students pasting anti-regime posters to denounce the 20th anniversary of the coup in the country on September 18, the Commander imposed night curfew in Myitkyina the capital of Kachin State from 10 p.m. to teach people a lesson. Then the harassment followed.
The police began rounding up people on the streets even before 10 p.m. before the curfew came into force. The idea was to create panic among people. To further hurt residents, the arrested began to be fined heavily to the tune of Kyat 10,000, equivalent to US $ 8. Shops were ordered to down shutters by 9 p.m. The police was taken to task by the Commander because they were unable to prevent activists from putting up posters.
In an effort to nab dissidents and check their activities the Military Affairs Security Unit (Sa-Ya-Pha) was told by the Commander to offer a reward of 100,000 Kyat equivalent to US $ 84 to anyone providing information about activists.
The form of harassment since the new Commander took over has been varied, but all are intent to keep people in the state under the thumb of the junta.
For instance, of a sudden junta officials began searching guest houses and hotels and started making arbitrary arrests of people they suspected. The police in Myitkyina began checking hotels which did not report overnight guests to the authorities. The hotels which allow prostitutes to operate came especially under the scanner. Prostitutes and guests were hauled away to police stations charged and detained. The prostitutes were released later. Even couples dating in parks or on roadsides were not spared.
People in Kachin state as such have been living on the edge. Suddenly the junta authorities decided that subscribers would have to shell out the costs of changing numbers of landline telephones in Myitkyina. The order issued stated that telephones starting with the code number 25 would be changed to 20 and subscribers would have to pay over 550,000 Kyat equivalent to US $ 464 each by September 30 to the State Telecommunication Office in the township.
The reason behind the change in number had to do with disruptions on landline telephones starting with the code number 25 being operated with China-made Telephone Service Operating Machines. These had to be replaced with a new Israel manufactured Telephone Service Operating Machines. Normally, the expense ought to be borne by the telephone department but here subscribers were fleeced, in all probability to save on government revenue or pocket the funds meant for the change.
From whichever angle one views the activities of the junta in Kachin State it is apparent that the people are at the receiving end and left holding the wrong end of the stick.
The Township Municipal Office in Myitkyina has been collecting increasing municipal taxes from residents but they are not getting the desired services whereas army officials do. While residents and shops and establishment owners pay enhanced tax for garbage collection, the civic body accords priority to the junta's Northern Command military headquarters in the township. Despite increased taxes the municipality has done nothing to enhance its fleet of garbage trucks. Only three trucks are in working condition.
Laws are flexible and used to suit the needs of the junta authorities. Without notice traffic police began seizing Chinese manufactured motorcycle rickshaws (three wheelers) called the Tong-bee-car in Myitkyina. All this while the traffic police have been levying a charge of 3,000 Kyat equivalent to US $ 2.5 on drivers operating unlicensed three wheelers. In a town where all three wheelers are unlicensed the very act of seizing them becomes meaningless because there are no provisions to provide a license.
It is such repression that has students up in arms and recently led to an instance where a traffic policeman was thrashed by irate people when the police was seizing unlicensed motorcycles in Myitkyina. The Township Land Transportation Department (Ka-Nya-Na) announced it would issue license for motorcycles till the end of October. But most unlicensed motorcycle owners are not even remotely interested because of the high fees pegged by the junta.
The high handedness of the junta continues in Kachin State despite the areas being under the control of the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO), which boasts an armed wing. The KIO, which has a ceasefire agreement with the junta, has always appeased the regime given the business ventures it operates courtesy the regime and the wealth it enjoys. Of late, after supporting the junta's referendum on the draft constitution, the KIO seems to be toeing the regime's line even more vehemently.
Burma’s ethnic Kachin woman gang raped, no action yet
Despite international pressure and condemnation, the Burmese military junta is still avoiding taking action against rapists in Kachin State, northern Burma.There was an instance of rape again in Kachin State in Loiije Township. A married woman, Sumlut Roi Ji (33) was gang raped by two Burmese construction workers, U Thein Tun Lyin (40) and U Thein Myint Swe (29) from Loije on September 21. But no action has been taken yet, a resident said.
According to a resident, Sumlut Roi Ji, who has a four-year old child, was going back home from their farm which is on the way from Bhamo to Loije. The workers followed Sumlut Roi Ji and gang raped her near Win Hkam village.
The two workers threatened Sumlut Roi Ji with a knife and gagged her. The incident occurred at around 3 pm, a resident added.
That evening, after the gang rape, the couple went to the junta’s Loije police station to register a complaint. The police arrested the rapists on September 22 and detained them at the Loije police station, a resident close to Sumlut Roi Ji told KNG.
Meanwhile, Sumlut Roi Ji's family is upset because though two weeks have passed the authorities still have not taken any action on the rapists. They feel the police are trying to hush up the case, he added.
However, now Loije's Kachin Literature and Culture organization has sent a letter to the authorities in Kachin State to take action on the rapists.
According to a resident, this is the first instance of the gang rape in Loije. Residents have urged the authorities to ensure that there is no recurrence.
On July 27, a Kachin schoolgirl, Nhkum Hkawn Din (15) was gang raped and killed by Burmese Army soldiers in Bhamo District in Kachin State, northern Burma.
Bus drivers’ licences revoked by Dala authorities
Oct 1, 2008 (DVB)–Authorities in Rangoon’s Dala township have revoked the licences of private bus drivers whom they accuse of suspending their services to mark Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s birthday on 19 June.
The move has affected main and back-up drivers of air-conditioned buses on the Twante-Rangoon route.
Relatives of the drivers told DVB that they had only decided to suspend their services temporarily because the poor conditions of the roads meant that they could not make any profit from the 200-kyat bus fare per passenger.
But authorities became suspicious because the day they suspended the Rangoon-Twante service coincided with the birthday of detained pro-democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
The service was eventually resumed after three months due to popular demand.
But the drivers' licences have still not been returned to them, making it difficult for them to earn a living.
"Their driving licences have been confiscated completely. They are not allowed to make a living from it," a relative said.
The bus fare was recently raised to 300 kyat due to the poor condition of the roads but there were no complaints from passengers, who understood the difficulties for drivers.
"The road to Twante is full of potholes and the journey is arduous,” the relative said.
“When Twante market caught fire recently, fire engines had to come from Rangoon but by the time they got here the market had burnt down completely."
There are around 30 private buses operating on the Rangoon-Twante route.
Reporting by Nam Kham Kaew
The move has affected main and back-up drivers of air-conditioned buses on the Twante-Rangoon route.
Relatives of the drivers told DVB that they had only decided to suspend their services temporarily because the poor conditions of the roads meant that they could not make any profit from the 200-kyat bus fare per passenger.
But authorities became suspicious because the day they suspended the Rangoon-Twante service coincided with the birthday of detained pro-democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
The service was eventually resumed after three months due to popular demand.
But the drivers' licences have still not been returned to them, making it difficult for them to earn a living.
"Their driving licences have been confiscated completely. They are not allowed to make a living from it," a relative said.
The bus fare was recently raised to 300 kyat due to the poor condition of the roads but there were no complaints from passengers, who understood the difficulties for drivers.
"The road to Twante is full of potholes and the journey is arduous,” the relative said.
“When Twante market caught fire recently, fire engines had to come from Rangoon but by the time they got here the market had burnt down completely."
There are around 30 private buses operating on the Rangoon-Twante route.
Reporting by Nam Kham Kaew
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