YANGON (Reuters) - Army-ruled Myanmar has finished writing a new constitution, to be put to a May referendum, which gives the military the "leading political role" in the future state, official media said on Tuesday.
"I hereby declare that the draft of the state constitution has been approved by this commission," Chief Justice Aung Toe, chairman of the military-appointed drafting commission, was quoted as saying on state-controlled MRTV.
He said the commission had followed the basic principles adopted last year by a National Convention, also appointed by the military, which took more than 14 years to complete its work.
"In drafting the constitution, the commission adhered strictly to the six objectives, including giving the Tatmadaw (the military) the leading political role in the future state," he said. The armed forces have ruled the former Burma since 1962.
He did not give more details of the charter, but previous state media reports suggest the army commander-in-chief will be the most powerful figure in the country, able to appoint key ministers and assume power "in times of emergency".
It also gives the military a quarter of seats in parliament and a veto over decisions made by legislators.
Aung Toe urged the 54 commission members to campaign for the charter, the country's third since it won independence from Britain in 1948.
A firm date for the referendum has not been announced.
The opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), which won a 1990 election only to be denied power by the military, said on Monday the charter "will worsen the political, economic and social crises being faced in the country".
The NLD boycotted the National Convention because of the continued house arrest of its leader, Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who has spent more than 12 of the past 18 years under some form of detention.
The United States says the referendum will be a sham conducted in a "pervasive climate of fear".
Dissident groups are already campaigning for a "no" vote, saying the charter is an attempt to legitimize the generals' grip on power after 46 years of military rule.
The junta has accused pro-democracy and dissident groups of trying to tear the country apart, and urged the public to back its "road map to democracy".
(Reporting by Aung Hla Tun; editing by Darren Schuettler and Andrew Roche)
Wednesday, 20 February 2008
Myanmar bars Suu Kyi from elections under new charter
By Hla Hla Htay
Yahoo News - AFP
YANGON, Feb 20, 2008 (AFP) - Aung San Suu Kyi will not be allowed to run for election under Myanmar's proposed constitution, which has now been drafted ahead of a referendum in May, the military government said Tuesday.
The junta says the referendum -- if approved -- will clear the way for democratic elections in 2010, the first since Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party scored a landslide victory in 1990 polls.
The junta never recognised the result and late Tuesday on state television announced that a special commission had finished the final draft of the charter.
Foreign Minister Nyan Win told a regional gathering in Singapore that the document would bar Aung San Suu Kyi from running because she had been married to a foreigner.
Her party denounced his remarks as "unjust," saying the military appeared to be making plans for the elections before knowing the outcome of the referendum.
"There is not yet a law to govern the elections which are to be held in 2010. It's unjust for the authorities to talk in advance about the elections," NLD spokesman Nyan Win told AFP.
Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo said his Myanmar counterpart had explicitly told a gathering of regional ministers that Aung San Suu Kyi would not be allowed to run because she married Michael Aris, a British citizen who died of cancer in Britain in 1999.
They have two children who are also British nationals.
"He (Nyan Win) was quite clear that in the new constitution, a Myanmar citizen who has a foreign husband, who has children not citizens of Myanmar would be disqualified as was of the 1974 constitution," Yeo said.
Nyan Win made the remarks during a dinner cruise off Singapore's waters involving Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) foreign ministers.
Yeo said the foreign ministers expressed their views that the exclusion was "not (in) keeping with the times" and "that certainly such a provision would be very odd in any other country in ASEAN."
But Yeo also said "it is their own country, that is their own history and what can we do about it?"
Myanmar's current junta scrapped the 1974 charter when it seized power in 1988, crushing a pro-democracy uprising as soldiers opened fire on protesters and killed at least 3,000 people.
Two years later, the regime organised elections that the NLD won. The junta ignored the result and instead has kept Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest for 12 of the past 18 years.
The NLD had warned Monday that in order to achieve democracy, Myanmar's rulers must first respect their victory in the 1990 elections.
Myanmar still has not released the final version of its proposed charter, but the head of the drafting commission, Supreme Court chief justice Aung Toe, indicated in state media that not many changes had been made from guidelines already made public.
In addition to barring Aung San Suu Kyi from office, those guidelines imposed stiff limits on the activities of political parties and reserved one quarter of seats in parliament for serving military officers.
The regime announced its timetable for elections amid mounting international pressure over its crackdown on peaceful demonstrations led by Buddhist monks in September, when the United Nations says at least 31 people were killed.
A group of Nobel laureates called Wednesday for an arms embargo against Myanmar, dismissing elections planned for 2010 as flawed if Aung San Suu Kyi is barred.
The seven laureates, including Tibet's exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama and South Africa's anti-apartheid cleric Desmond Tutu, said the junta should face sanctions for its crackdown on monks.
Myanmar's generals have ignored calls to free Aung San Suu Kyi and open a political dialogue, instead sticking to their own "road map," which critics say will enshrine the military's rule.
The UN special envoy for Myanmar, Ibrahim Gambari, has visited Myanmar twice since September in a bid to open talks between Aung San Suu Kyi and the military.
The junta had told him that he would not be allowed to return to the country until April 15, but Gambari said Tuesday in Beijing that he expected to be allowed to return to the country "way before" then.
Yahoo News - AFP
YANGON, Feb 20, 2008 (AFP) - Aung San Suu Kyi will not be allowed to run for election under Myanmar's proposed constitution, which has now been drafted ahead of a referendum in May, the military government said Tuesday.
The junta says the referendum -- if approved -- will clear the way for democratic elections in 2010, the first since Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party scored a landslide victory in 1990 polls.
The junta never recognised the result and late Tuesday on state television announced that a special commission had finished the final draft of the charter.
Foreign Minister Nyan Win told a regional gathering in Singapore that the document would bar Aung San Suu Kyi from running because she had been married to a foreigner.
Her party denounced his remarks as "unjust," saying the military appeared to be making plans for the elections before knowing the outcome of the referendum.
"There is not yet a law to govern the elections which are to be held in 2010. It's unjust for the authorities to talk in advance about the elections," NLD spokesman Nyan Win told AFP.
Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo said his Myanmar counterpart had explicitly told a gathering of regional ministers that Aung San Suu Kyi would not be allowed to run because she married Michael Aris, a British citizen who died of cancer in Britain in 1999.
They have two children who are also British nationals.
"He (Nyan Win) was quite clear that in the new constitution, a Myanmar citizen who has a foreign husband, who has children not citizens of Myanmar would be disqualified as was of the 1974 constitution," Yeo said.
Nyan Win made the remarks during a dinner cruise off Singapore's waters involving Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) foreign ministers.
Yeo said the foreign ministers expressed their views that the exclusion was "not (in) keeping with the times" and "that certainly such a provision would be very odd in any other country in ASEAN."
But Yeo also said "it is their own country, that is their own history and what can we do about it?"
Myanmar's current junta scrapped the 1974 charter when it seized power in 1988, crushing a pro-democracy uprising as soldiers opened fire on protesters and killed at least 3,000 people.
Two years later, the regime organised elections that the NLD won. The junta ignored the result and instead has kept Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest for 12 of the past 18 years.
The NLD had warned Monday that in order to achieve democracy, Myanmar's rulers must first respect their victory in the 1990 elections.
Myanmar still has not released the final version of its proposed charter, but the head of the drafting commission, Supreme Court chief justice Aung Toe, indicated in state media that not many changes had been made from guidelines already made public.
In addition to barring Aung San Suu Kyi from office, those guidelines imposed stiff limits on the activities of political parties and reserved one quarter of seats in parliament for serving military officers.
The regime announced its timetable for elections amid mounting international pressure over its crackdown on peaceful demonstrations led by Buddhist monks in September, when the United Nations says at least 31 people were killed.
A group of Nobel laureates called Wednesday for an arms embargo against Myanmar, dismissing elections planned for 2010 as flawed if Aung San Suu Kyi is barred.
The seven laureates, including Tibet's exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama and South Africa's anti-apartheid cleric Desmond Tutu, said the junta should face sanctions for its crackdown on monks.
Myanmar's generals have ignored calls to free Aung San Suu Kyi and open a political dialogue, instead sticking to their own "road map," which critics say will enshrine the military's rule.
The UN special envoy for Myanmar, Ibrahim Gambari, has visited Myanmar twice since September in a bid to open talks between Aung San Suu Kyi and the military.
The junta had told him that he would not be allowed to return to the country until April 15, but Gambari said Tuesday in Beijing that he expected to be allowed to return to the country "way before" then.
Nobel laureates call for arms embargo on Myanmar
Monsters & Critics
February 19, 2008 - New York - A group of nine Nobel Peace Prize winners on Tuesday urged the UN Security Council to impose an arms embargo on Myanmar as a consequence of its military crackdown of Buddhist-led pro-democracy demonstrations last year.
The group said in a statement that the military government has since October, 2007, carried out a 'nationwide dragnet, arresting and torturing thousands of dissidents.'
It appealed to the 15-nation council in New York to 'take action quickly on measures that will prevent the sale of arms to the Burmese military, including a ban on banking transactions targeting top Burmese leaders, as well as state and private entities that support the government's weapons trade.'
The statement was signed by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Dalai Lama, Shirin Ebadi, Adolfo Perez Esquivel, Mairead Maguire, Rogoberta Menchu Tum, Elie Wiesel, Betty Williams and Jody Williams.
Myanmar's main opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, who won a Nobel Peace Prize for fighting for democracy in the early 1990s, has been under house arrest for more than a decade. The UN has been calling the military government to release her and other political prisoners.
Tens of thousands of people in Myanmar, formerly Burma, took to the streets last fall first to protest the high living costs in the impoverished nation. The protests turned to demand democracy and personal freedoms, which were crushed by the government.
February 19, 2008 - New York - A group of nine Nobel Peace Prize winners on Tuesday urged the UN Security Council to impose an arms embargo on Myanmar as a consequence of its military crackdown of Buddhist-led pro-democracy demonstrations last year.
The group said in a statement that the military government has since October, 2007, carried out a 'nationwide dragnet, arresting and torturing thousands of dissidents.'
It appealed to the 15-nation council in New York to 'take action quickly on measures that will prevent the sale of arms to the Burmese military, including a ban on banking transactions targeting top Burmese leaders, as well as state and private entities that support the government's weapons trade.'
The statement was signed by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Dalai Lama, Shirin Ebadi, Adolfo Perez Esquivel, Mairead Maguire, Rogoberta Menchu Tum, Elie Wiesel, Betty Williams and Jody Williams.
Myanmar's main opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, who won a Nobel Peace Prize for fighting for democracy in the early 1990s, has been under house arrest for more than a decade. The UN has been calling the military government to release her and other political prisoners.
Tens of thousands of people in Myanmar, formerly Burma, took to the streets last fall first to protest the high living costs in the impoverished nation. The protests turned to demand democracy and personal freedoms, which were crushed by the government.
Weaving Democracy: Thai-Burmese Peace Building
By Suriyasai Katasila
Rationale
Social and political unrest and lack of democracy in Myanmar (Burma) have caused people of Myanmar (Burma) particularly ethnic minorities along Thai-Burma border got effect from political violation, human rights violation to those ethnicities result to people refuge and migrate to seek sanctuary in Thailand both legally and illegally.
Although Thai government has alleviated the human rights violation problem at some stage, but it's still very difficult because some people take advantage of refugees by taking them to work illegally in many forms until there is human trafficking which increase and expend human violation.
It is essential for involving organizations to find urgent measure to support victims and affected people and long term measure especially building understanding between Thai and Burmese people for incorporate in solving problem and not mistrust each others.
Due to above reason, the Committee for Democracy Campaign and Institute for Civil Society Development has collaborated with other partners who working on human rights and development organize a charity concert "Weaving Democracy: Thai-Burmese Peace Building" to raise fund for campaign activities on human rights and democracy in Myanmar (Burma) and to cure violation situation in Burma in long run.
Objectives:
** To make good thing together for His Royal Highness Majesty in regard to his 80th birthday. So all ethnic minorities can present their loyal to him.
** To raise fund for organizations working on human rights and development.
** To make understanding between all ethnic groups.
** To raise awareness of Thai and Burmese on the problem of human rights violation and democracy struggle.
Host Organizations:
** CDC by Dr Cynthia Maung
** Institute for Civil Society Development
** Friend of People
** Artist for Life Songs Networks
** Campaign For Popular Democracy
** Campaign Committee for Human Rights
** Thailand Watch Foundation
Rationale
Social and political unrest and lack of democracy in Myanmar (Burma) have caused people of Myanmar (Burma) particularly ethnic minorities along Thai-Burma border got effect from political violation, human rights violation to those ethnicities result to people refuge and migrate to seek sanctuary in Thailand both legally and illegally.
Although Thai government has alleviated the human rights violation problem at some stage, but it's still very difficult because some people take advantage of refugees by taking them to work illegally in many forms until there is human trafficking which increase and expend human violation.
It is essential for involving organizations to find urgent measure to support victims and affected people and long term measure especially building understanding between Thai and Burmese people for incorporate in solving problem and not mistrust each others.
Due to above reason, the Committee for Democracy Campaign and Institute for Civil Society Development has collaborated with other partners who working on human rights and development organize a charity concert "Weaving Democracy: Thai-Burmese Peace Building" to raise fund for campaign activities on human rights and democracy in Myanmar (Burma) and to cure violation situation in Burma in long run.
Objectives:
** To make good thing together for His Royal Highness Majesty in regard to his 80th birthday. So all ethnic minorities can present their loyal to him.
** To raise fund for organizations working on human rights and development.
** To make understanding between all ethnic groups.
** To raise awareness of Thai and Burmese on the problem of human rights violation and democracy struggle.
Host Organizations:
** CDC by Dr Cynthia Maung
** Institute for Civil Society Development
** Friend of People
** Artist for Life Songs Networks
** Campaign For Popular Democracy
** Campaign Committee for Human Rights
** Thailand Watch Foundation
Tuesday, 19 February 2008
Announcement of Mon National Council on the SPDC’s Constitutional Referendum
February 19, 2008
Military Regime announced on February 9, 2008, that it is going to hold a referendum in May 2008 on the state constitution, made by SPDC, which would enshrines the legitimate power of Military to play a major role in party politic and to lead the country in the future.
Why SPDC tries so hard, after it had cracked down the uprising of Buddhist monks, to make such announcement; it is vividly clear that it wants to thwart the pressure of the Democratic Forces around the world and the will of Burmese people which demands an immediate change towards to a Democratic Society by through meaningful dialogue between SPDC and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
Mon National Council sees this Constitutional Referendum as a dirty trick played by SPDC which desperately tries to push Burmese people into a dilemma position where there is no choice for Burmese people except to dance along with the dirty tune played by it.
If Burmese people are going to cast their votes against the constitution which is made by SPDC , SPDC is quite happy with the result because it enables SPDC to take time, may be ten years or more, to reconvene the so called National Convention for rewriting a new constitution while SPDC is still on the throne of power, or if the Burmese people choose to cast their votes in favor of the constitution the outcome of that would mean that the Burmese people are willingly accepting and recognizing the legitimate power of Military to play a major role in their party politic and to lead their country in the future.
Mon National Council strongly condemns this constitutional referendum as a dirty trick of SPDC and MNC also would like to advise Mon People as well as all nationalities of Burma to demonstrate their objection by all means towards such kind of constitutional referendum immediately before SPDC could really carry out its dirty plan which would shove the nation into a catastrophe and at the same time to put more pressure upon the SPDC to respect the will of Burmese People which demand a meaningful tripartite dialogue.
Mon National Council strongly urges SPDC to abandon its dirty trick at once and to go into meaningful dialogue with sincere intention without any delay with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and democratic forces in order to make a real change and a concrete step which could lead to a democratic society.
Down with the SPDC’s dirty trick!
Min Aung Myint
Secretary (Human Rights Affairs)
Mon National Council
Military Regime announced on February 9, 2008, that it is going to hold a referendum in May 2008 on the state constitution, made by SPDC, which would enshrines the legitimate power of Military to play a major role in party politic and to lead the country in the future.
Why SPDC tries so hard, after it had cracked down the uprising of Buddhist monks, to make such announcement; it is vividly clear that it wants to thwart the pressure of the Democratic Forces around the world and the will of Burmese people which demands an immediate change towards to a Democratic Society by through meaningful dialogue between SPDC and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
Mon National Council sees this Constitutional Referendum as a dirty trick played by SPDC which desperately tries to push Burmese people into a dilemma position where there is no choice for Burmese people except to dance along with the dirty tune played by it.
If Burmese people are going to cast their votes against the constitution which is made by SPDC , SPDC is quite happy with the result because it enables SPDC to take time, may be ten years or more, to reconvene the so called National Convention for rewriting a new constitution while SPDC is still on the throne of power, or if the Burmese people choose to cast their votes in favor of the constitution the outcome of that would mean that the Burmese people are willingly accepting and recognizing the legitimate power of Military to play a major role in their party politic and to lead their country in the future.
Mon National Council strongly condemns this constitutional referendum as a dirty trick of SPDC and MNC also would like to advise Mon People as well as all nationalities of Burma to demonstrate their objection by all means towards such kind of constitutional referendum immediately before SPDC could really carry out its dirty plan which would shove the nation into a catastrophe and at the same time to put more pressure upon the SPDC to respect the will of Burmese People which demand a meaningful tripartite dialogue.
Mon National Council strongly urges SPDC to abandon its dirty trick at once and to go into meaningful dialogue with sincere intention without any delay with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and democratic forces in order to make a real change and a concrete step which could lead to a democratic society.
Down with the SPDC’s dirty trick!
Min Aung Myint
Secretary (Human Rights Affairs)
Mon National Council
Ethnic ceasefire group condemns junta's constitutional process
By Loa Htaw, IMNA
February 19, 2008 - Burmese ethnic ceasefire group, the New Mon State Party (NMSP) has condemned the Burmese (Myanmar) military government's constitutional process where the regime announced holding of referendum in May and elections in 2010.
The NMSP said they condemn the process after the regime announced the referendum and election timetable on February 9.
"We do not support the constitution where people's representatives have not been involved and which does not guarantee ethnic rights and a federal government," said NMSP spoke person Nai Ong Manye.
Australia based Mon National Council (MNC) also announced today that it strongly condemns the constitutional referendum.
The MNC advised Mon people as well as all nationalities of Burma to demonstrate their objection by all means against such a constitutional referendum immediately before the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) could really carry out its dirty plan which would shove the nation into a catastrophe. And at the same time to put more pressure on the SPDC to respect the will of Burmese people who demand a meaningful tripartite dialogue, the statement said.
The MNC sees the constitutional referendum as a dirty trick played by SPDC which is desperately trying to push Burmese people into a dilemma where there is no choice for them except to dance to the dirty tune played by it, the statement added.
Recently, the Mon political party in Burma, the Mon National Democratic Front (MNDF) which contested the Burma 1990 election also requested Mon people to ignore the Burmese junta's constitutional referendum and election.
MNDF leaders said the ensuing referendum and election is just to prolong and extend the junta's life and to keep clinging to power.
The NMSP believes Burma's political problems can only be solved through a tripartite dialogue which includes the Burmese military government, the ethnic and opposition political parties, said Nai Ong Manye.
The NMSP reached a ceasefire with the Burmese government in 1995 to solve political problems across the table.
"We do not want the ceasefire to break and keep requesting the government to hold tripartite dialogue," he said.
In 2004 the party attended the National Convention (NC) along with other ethnic ceasefire groups and requested the government to change its laws included in the draft constitution of the NC and to guarantee clauses based on a federal system.
However the government rejected the demands and since than the NMSP stopped sending representatives to the NC and only attended as observers. "It means we do not support the NC, constitution and referendum," said Nai Ong Manye.
The government announced holding of a referendum and elections proving that they do not care for the people, opposition leaders, ethnic leaders and the international community, he said.
Both MNDF and NMSP represent Mon people in Burma. The MNDF contest the elections in 1990 and it was banned by the SLORC in 1992 while NMSP agreed to a ceasefire in 1995.
February 19, 2008 - Burmese ethnic ceasefire group, the New Mon State Party (NMSP) has condemned the Burmese (Myanmar) military government's constitutional process where the regime announced holding of referendum in May and elections in 2010.
The NMSP said they condemn the process after the regime announced the referendum and election timetable on February 9.
"We do not support the constitution where people's representatives have not been involved and which does not guarantee ethnic rights and a federal government," said NMSP spoke person Nai Ong Manye.
Australia based Mon National Council (MNC) also announced today that it strongly condemns the constitutional referendum.
The MNC advised Mon people as well as all nationalities of Burma to demonstrate their objection by all means against such a constitutional referendum immediately before the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) could really carry out its dirty plan which would shove the nation into a catastrophe. And at the same time to put more pressure on the SPDC to respect the will of Burmese people who demand a meaningful tripartite dialogue, the statement said.
The MNC sees the constitutional referendum as a dirty trick played by SPDC which is desperately trying to push Burmese people into a dilemma where there is no choice for them except to dance to the dirty tune played by it, the statement added.
Recently, the Mon political party in Burma, the Mon National Democratic Front (MNDF) which contested the Burma 1990 election also requested Mon people to ignore the Burmese junta's constitutional referendum and election.
MNDF leaders said the ensuing referendum and election is just to prolong and extend the junta's life and to keep clinging to power.
The NMSP believes Burma's political problems can only be solved through a tripartite dialogue which includes the Burmese military government, the ethnic and opposition political parties, said Nai Ong Manye.
The NMSP reached a ceasefire with the Burmese government in 1995 to solve political problems across the table.
"We do not want the ceasefire to break and keep requesting the government to hold tripartite dialogue," he said.
In 2004 the party attended the National Convention (NC) along with other ethnic ceasefire groups and requested the government to change its laws included in the draft constitution of the NC and to guarantee clauses based on a federal system.
However the government rejected the demands and since than the NMSP stopped sending representatives to the NC and only attended as observers. "It means we do not support the NC, constitution and referendum," said Nai Ong Manye.
The government announced holding of a referendum and elections proving that they do not care for the people, opposition leaders, ethnic leaders and the international community, he said.
Both MNDF and NMSP represent Mon people in Burma. The MNDF contest the elections in 1990 and it was banned by the SLORC in 1992 while NMSP agreed to a ceasefire in 1995.
Being refugees in Malaysia increasingly unsafe
February 19, 2008 - The life of Burmese refugees in Malaysia is becoming increasingly unsafe threatened as they are by the RELA, the so called people's volunteer corps officially recognized by the Malaysian Ministry of Home Affairs, said Mr. Tangbau Kam Li, a leader of the Kuala Lampur based Kachin Development Organization (KDO).
Two Kachin women were arrested by RELA, in Kotaraya in central Kuala Lumpur city on February 17, 2008 while they were waiting for a bus to go back home.
Mrs. Kai Htang (43), recognized by United Nations High Commissioner for refugees (UNHCR) as a refugee along with her four year old daughter with polio, and Mrs. Htu Mai (45) with her one and-a-half year old daughter are now detained along with their daughters in Semenyih detention camp. There is no further information regarding the two Kachin women and their two children, said Kam Li.
Even though Malaysia is a signatory to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CDAW) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), women and children continue to be arrested and detained in the detention camps in the country, Kam Li added.
Source: Kachin News
Two Kachin women were arrested by RELA, in Kotaraya in central Kuala Lumpur city on February 17, 2008 while they were waiting for a bus to go back home.
Mrs. Kai Htang (43), recognized by United Nations High Commissioner for refugees (UNHCR) as a refugee along with her four year old daughter with polio, and Mrs. Htu Mai (45) with her one and-a-half year old daughter are now detained along with their daughters in Semenyih detention camp. There is no further information regarding the two Kachin women and their two children, said Kam Li.
Even though Malaysia is a signatory to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CDAW) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), women and children continue to be arrested and detained in the detention camps in the country, Kam Li added.
Source: Kachin News
Boycott the junta, Monk killers
Original post : Ko Htike's Blog
Translated by Nay Chi U
An Appeal By The Public Movement Organizing Committee
Reference : 2/2008 SCMM
Date : 18-02-2008
To The General Public
Under the military rulers we, the general public are getting poorer everyday and the poverty net that surrounds us is just bigger and wider. By contrast, a handful of the military generals, and their families and friends, are getting extremely wealthy, that they can hardly find enough banks to keep all the money they have extorted from the people of Burma.
While repeatedly shouting out loud that they are encouraging a market economy system, the military group are in practice using the Burmese economy as their own market and selling of the counties’ resources for their own benefit. As a result the public, from individual road sellers to small and medium business owners and all other employed workers have to struggle to survive while it is impossible to live and work in a straightforward way as they are forced to pay huge taxes, forced donations and contributions, fines and penalty payments.
Our country’s important businesses and all natural resources are under the control of the military group, where they can sign contracts, permit or license at will, allowing them to steal the nations wealth that is they almost choke on it. Meanwhile we, the public, have to work from dawn till dusk, simply to survive.
Our country’s health, education and social services are also some of the worst in the world. Virtually none of the money stolen from the public, and none of the vast income from the sale of our country’s natural resources are spent on public services. The money goes either to the small ruling junta, family and followers, or to buy more lethal weapons which they can use to intimidate, repress and kill its own monks and citizens. Any public services built with the minimal funds used are for cosmetic effect only, for duping the international media, but what benefit do we actually get? Aren’t we all paying ourselves for health, education, social and all other services? We are like captive zoo animals, used by the junta to gain international aid, through our poverty and suffering, from which the corrupt authorities cut all the flesh for their own consumption, and laugh in the face of the public as they throw them the bones.
Whenever the country’s suffering and poverty is referred to the junta always blame it on the international economic sanctions. The international community has repeatedly offered immediate help and support if they start to make changes in the political and economical situation of the country which the junta repeatedly refuses at the cost of continued public starvation.
Their one real policy is to maintain their control over everything in the country. In such a situation, every investment, all support and aid, pumps money into the junta’s own bank accounts, while the public remains poor.
Intimidation and bullying of vulnerable civilians has become a casual regular practice all the way down from the central to the lower level authorities, where we are being controlled by fear– ludicrously unreasonable laws, arbitrary orders and the grossly punitive prison sentences.
If we continue to put up with the abuse, bullying and repression, our off-springs will also become the slaves to the junta’s obnoxious offspring. We must work to improve our own children’s future. Our reply to the junta must be directed at replacing their violent and grossly evil selfishness with fairness and peace. We must defend ourselves from the lethal power of the juntas’ endless weaponry through the power of the people.
We must now boycott the junta’s own businesses.
That way
• We are systematically helping to reclaim our own rights and economy which has been stolen from us.
• We are protecting and defending our own rights and benefits,
• We are peacefully and lawfully answering the bullies instead of just tamely complying and suffering,
• We are staging the silent mass protest and demonstration, which reflects public solidarity,
• We are helping to stop the arrest, torture and killing of the monks, nuns, students, civilians and ethnic groups.
……..We must all participate …….
• This is an obligation for all of us Burmese who are denied all human rights,
• This is to secure the continued existence of our society into the future,
• This is our National movement.
To start to resolve all the issues and problems which beset our country, including poverty, the SPDC military junta must engage in meetings with public leaders including the ethnic groups and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. This is the only way that the country will be able to find peace and in time, to develop.
We will be maintaining these economic sanctions and boycotts until genuine discussions begin to find a clear resolution to our daily struggle with the problems of basic subsistence, maintaining health and gaining an education.
In solidarity and union, we will march forward together until we achieve these absolutely essential goals.
The Public Movement Organizing Committee
1 All Burma Monks Alliance (ABMA)
2 United Groups of Ethnic Youths
3 All Burma Federation of Students Union
4 8888 Generation Students
5 Peace loving Muslim Organization
6 Generation Wave (New Blood Youth Organization)
7 Lawyers Union
8 Poets Union
9 New Generation Journalists Union
10 Public Activities Development Committee (Mandalay)
11 Public Activities Development Committee (Rangoon)
12 Writers and Artists Group
Translated by Nay Chi U
An Appeal By The Public Movement Organizing Committee
Reference : 2/2008 SCMM
Date : 18-02-2008
To The General Public
Under the military rulers we, the general public are getting poorer everyday and the poverty net that surrounds us is just bigger and wider. By contrast, a handful of the military generals, and their families and friends, are getting extremely wealthy, that they can hardly find enough banks to keep all the money they have extorted from the people of Burma.
While repeatedly shouting out loud that they are encouraging a market economy system, the military group are in practice using the Burmese economy as their own market and selling of the counties’ resources for their own benefit. As a result the public, from individual road sellers to small and medium business owners and all other employed workers have to struggle to survive while it is impossible to live and work in a straightforward way as they are forced to pay huge taxes, forced donations and contributions, fines and penalty payments.
Our country’s important businesses and all natural resources are under the control of the military group, where they can sign contracts, permit or license at will, allowing them to steal the nations wealth that is they almost choke on it. Meanwhile we, the public, have to work from dawn till dusk, simply to survive.
Our country’s health, education and social services are also some of the worst in the world. Virtually none of the money stolen from the public, and none of the vast income from the sale of our country’s natural resources are spent on public services. The money goes either to the small ruling junta, family and followers, or to buy more lethal weapons which they can use to intimidate, repress and kill its own monks and citizens. Any public services built with the minimal funds used are for cosmetic effect only, for duping the international media, but what benefit do we actually get? Aren’t we all paying ourselves for health, education, social and all other services? We are like captive zoo animals, used by the junta to gain international aid, through our poverty and suffering, from which the corrupt authorities cut all the flesh for their own consumption, and laugh in the face of the public as they throw them the bones.
Whenever the country’s suffering and poverty is referred to the junta always blame it on the international economic sanctions. The international community has repeatedly offered immediate help and support if they start to make changes in the political and economical situation of the country which the junta repeatedly refuses at the cost of continued public starvation.
Their one real policy is to maintain their control over everything in the country. In such a situation, every investment, all support and aid, pumps money into the junta’s own bank accounts, while the public remains poor.
Intimidation and bullying of vulnerable civilians has become a casual regular practice all the way down from the central to the lower level authorities, where we are being controlled by fear– ludicrously unreasonable laws, arbitrary orders and the grossly punitive prison sentences.
If we continue to put up with the abuse, bullying and repression, our off-springs will also become the slaves to the junta’s obnoxious offspring. We must work to improve our own children’s future. Our reply to the junta must be directed at replacing their violent and grossly evil selfishness with fairness and peace. We must defend ourselves from the lethal power of the juntas’ endless weaponry through the power of the people.
We must now boycott the junta’s own businesses.
That way
• We are systematically helping to reclaim our own rights and economy which has been stolen from us.
• We are protecting and defending our own rights and benefits,
• We are peacefully and lawfully answering the bullies instead of just tamely complying and suffering,
• We are staging the silent mass protest and demonstration, which reflects public solidarity,
• We are helping to stop the arrest, torture and killing of the monks, nuns, students, civilians and ethnic groups.
……..We must all participate …….
• This is an obligation for all of us Burmese who are denied all human rights,
• This is to secure the continued existence of our society into the future,
• This is our National movement.
To start to resolve all the issues and problems which beset our country, including poverty, the SPDC military junta must engage in meetings with public leaders including the ethnic groups and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. This is the only way that the country will be able to find peace and in time, to develop.
We will be maintaining these economic sanctions and boycotts until genuine discussions begin to find a clear resolution to our daily struggle with the problems of basic subsistence, maintaining health and gaining an education.
In solidarity and union, we will march forward together until we achieve these absolutely essential goals.
The Public Movement Organizing Committee
1 All Burma Monks Alliance (ABMA)
2 United Groups of Ethnic Youths
3 All Burma Federation of Students Union
4 8888 Generation Students
5 Peace loving Muslim Organization
6 Generation Wave (New Blood Youth Organization)
7 Lawyers Union
8 Poets Union
9 New Generation Journalists Union
10 Public Activities Development Committee (Mandalay)
11 Public Activities Development Committee (Rangoon)
12 Writers and Artists Group
Businesses Owned And Run By The Military Junta
BOYCOTT THE JUNTA, MONK KILLERS
Original post : Ko Htike's Blog
Translated by Nay Chi U
A list of businesses owned and run by military junta’s top generals, their families and sycophants.
Reference : 2/2008, Appendix A
Date : 18 01 2008
1) Aung Barlay Lottery, owned by the Junta
2) Htoo Trading Company’s Businesses, owned by Tay Za, Than Shwe’s Finance Adviser
3) Hlyat Tapyet Journal, owned by Myat Khine
4) Mandalay Nan Myint Journal, owned by USDA , Mandalay
5) London Cigarette, owned by U Pine Co Ltd
6) Myanmar Beer & Dagon Beer, owned by U Pine Co Ltd
7) Samsung Electronic, AA Pharmac and Sunday Mart all owned by General Ye Myint’s son Aung Zaw Ye Myint and family
8) Queen Star Computer Company, owned by General Maung Aye’s daughter Nanda Aye
9) J Doughnut, owned by Supreme General Than Shwe’s son Kyaing Than Shwe and group
10) Shwe Man Thu and Taw Win, Long Distance Coaches and Cars, owned by U Pine, Bandoo La Company
11) Korea Daewoo Products, owned by Daewoo Company which buit a Weapons Factory for the junta
12) Luxury Products from China (China is selling weapons and other intelligence technique to junta, interfering in the UN Security Council’s decision to help the people of Burma and politically supporting the military junta that brutally crushes any democratic and human rights movement.)
Notification To General Public
A) The citizens of Burma have been intimidated and repressed by the junta’s generals and their sycophants, who have total control of the country’s economic and humanitarian situation. To help restore some power to the public and help restore democracy to our country, we must start by boycotting the businesses owned and run by the military junta group and its followers.
B) Please be a responsible citizen and inform the public of any other businesses owned and run by the military group to the nearest media so that we are all aware.
The Public Movement Organizing Committee
Original post : Ko Htike's Blog
Translated by Nay Chi U
A list of businesses owned and run by military junta’s top generals, their families and sycophants.
Reference : 2/2008, Appendix A
Date : 18 01 2008
1) Aung Barlay Lottery, owned by the Junta
2) Htoo Trading Company’s Businesses, owned by Tay Za, Than Shwe’s Finance Adviser
3) Hlyat Tapyet Journal, owned by Myat Khine
4) Mandalay Nan Myint Journal, owned by USDA , Mandalay
5) London Cigarette, owned by U Pine Co Ltd
6) Myanmar Beer & Dagon Beer, owned by U Pine Co Ltd
7) Samsung Electronic, AA Pharmac and Sunday Mart all owned by General Ye Myint’s son Aung Zaw Ye Myint and family
8) Queen Star Computer Company, owned by General Maung Aye’s daughter Nanda Aye
9) J Doughnut, owned by Supreme General Than Shwe’s son Kyaing Than Shwe and group
10) Shwe Man Thu and Taw Win, Long Distance Coaches and Cars, owned by U Pine, Bandoo La Company
11) Korea Daewoo Products, owned by Daewoo Company which buit a Weapons Factory for the junta
12) Luxury Products from China (China is selling weapons and other intelligence technique to junta, interfering in the UN Security Council’s decision to help the people of Burma and politically supporting the military junta that brutally crushes any democratic and human rights movement.)
Notification To General Public
A) The citizens of Burma have been intimidated and repressed by the junta’s generals and their sycophants, who have total control of the country’s economic and humanitarian situation. To help restore some power to the public and help restore democracy to our country, we must start by boycotting the businesses owned and run by the military junta group and its followers.
B) Please be a responsible citizen and inform the public of any other businesses owned and run by the military group to the nearest media so that we are all aware.
The Public Movement Organizing Committee
NLD rejects Burmese junta's referendum and election plan
Maung Dee
February 18, 2008 - The National League for Democracy Burma's main opposition political party today, in an official statement, rejected the junta's referendum and election plans, saying it will not lead to democratic reforms but is just another tactic to prolong military rule in Burma.
NLD spokesperson U Thein Nyunt said, "We do not believe that there will be a free and fair referendum and election, because the junta has a tradition of breaking its promises including its promise on the 1990 election. So, we think this is only a violation of human rights and democracy."
The NLD's statement, read out to Mizzima over telephone, is the first official response on the ruling junta's plan. The junta on February 9 announced that it will hold a referendum in May and followed by a general election in 2010.
Holding a referendum on the draft constitution, which is written without the participation of peoples' representatives, only shows it is not heading for democratic reforms but will shower bigger political and social problems in the country, the statement said.
Besides, holding another election without rectifying the 1990 election results only proves that the junta disregards the peoples' popular desire and will do it again, the statement said.
"The NLD, therefore, does not believe that the ensuing referendum will be justly conducted," added the statement.
"If the government genuinely wants to resolve the political crisis in Burma, they should respect the will of the people and the constitution must reflect the peoples will," Thein Nyunt said.
Burma has been ruled by military dictators for nearly half a century, since general Ne Win seized power in a military coup in 1962. Burma once rich in mineral resources and known as the 'rice bowl' of Southeast Asia has gone through severe economic deterioration under the military dictator's economic mismanagement.
The plummeting economic situation forces a majority of the Burmese people to live under the poverty line. The dire living condition of the people brought hundreds, if not thousands, to march on the streets in September last year, when the junta suddenly hiked fuel prices in August, which hit the people hard.
But, the military regime, which has a tradition of coming down heavily on any anti-government protests, brutally cracked down on the demonstrators led by Buddhist monks, killing at least 31 people and arresting thousands, according to the United Nations.
As a cover up to the crackdown, the junta appointed a liaison officer, Aung Kyi, to mediate between detained opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and junta supremo Than Shwe. It is being viewed as a move to fool the international community as well as the Burmese people that the junta is kick starting a process of political reform.
However, after the fifth round of talks, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said her discussions with Aung Kyi yielded no hope for the reconciliation process and that she is dissatisfied with the talks.
Not long after the Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's statement, the junta on February 9 declared that it will hold a referendum on the constitution, which took 14 years to lay down the guidelines in a national convention, and to hold election in 2010.
Critics, however, slam the junta's announcement as yet another tactic to prolong its rule in the country.
"In order to aim for democratic reforms, the junta must first respect the peoples' will and reflect them in the constitution," Thein Nyunt said.
Source: Mizzima News
February 18, 2008 - The National League for Democracy Burma's main opposition political party today, in an official statement, rejected the junta's referendum and election plans, saying it will not lead to democratic reforms but is just another tactic to prolong military rule in Burma.
NLD spokesperson U Thein Nyunt said, "We do not believe that there will be a free and fair referendum and election, because the junta has a tradition of breaking its promises including its promise on the 1990 election. So, we think this is only a violation of human rights and democracy."
The NLD's statement, read out to Mizzima over telephone, is the first official response on the ruling junta's plan. The junta on February 9 announced that it will hold a referendum in May and followed by a general election in 2010.
Holding a referendum on the draft constitution, which is written without the participation of peoples' representatives, only shows it is not heading for democratic reforms but will shower bigger political and social problems in the country, the statement said.
Besides, holding another election without rectifying the 1990 election results only proves that the junta disregards the peoples' popular desire and will do it again, the statement said.
"The NLD, therefore, does not believe that the ensuing referendum will be justly conducted," added the statement.
"If the government genuinely wants to resolve the political crisis in Burma, they should respect the will of the people and the constitution must reflect the peoples will," Thein Nyunt said.
Burma has been ruled by military dictators for nearly half a century, since general Ne Win seized power in a military coup in 1962. Burma once rich in mineral resources and known as the 'rice bowl' of Southeast Asia has gone through severe economic deterioration under the military dictator's economic mismanagement.
The plummeting economic situation forces a majority of the Burmese people to live under the poverty line. The dire living condition of the people brought hundreds, if not thousands, to march on the streets in September last year, when the junta suddenly hiked fuel prices in August, which hit the people hard.
But, the military regime, which has a tradition of coming down heavily on any anti-government protests, brutally cracked down on the demonstrators led by Buddhist monks, killing at least 31 people and arresting thousands, according to the United Nations.
As a cover up to the crackdown, the junta appointed a liaison officer, Aung Kyi, to mediate between detained opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and junta supremo Than Shwe. It is being viewed as a move to fool the international community as well as the Burmese people that the junta is kick starting a process of political reform.
However, after the fifth round of talks, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said her discussions with Aung Kyi yielded no hope for the reconciliation process and that she is dissatisfied with the talks.
Not long after the Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's statement, the junta on February 9 declared that it will hold a referendum on the constitution, which took 14 years to lay down the guidelines in a national convention, and to hold election in 2010.
Critics, however, slam the junta's announcement as yet another tactic to prolong its rule in the country.
"In order to aim for democratic reforms, the junta must first respect the peoples' will and reflect them in the constitution," Thein Nyunt said.
Source: Mizzima News
Activists Call for Economic Boycott
Phanida
Mizzima News
February 19, 2008
Chiang Mai - The Mass Movement Committee issued a statement yesterday calling for an economic boycott against government owned economic enterprises under the slogan 'Boycott the brutal junta who killed monks'.
The list of business interests targeted for sanctions includes the government lottery, Htoo Trading Companies, London Cigarettes, Myanmar Beer, Dagon Beer and Korea's Daewoo Company.
"The junta ignored the will and desire of the people and international community by drafting their constitution unilaterally, and now they are seeking approval for this undemocratic constitution by holding a referendum. So we urge everyone to boycott all their economic enterprises along with the companies of their cronies," said Ko Soe Tun, a member of the 88 generation students.
"We will boycott only government run economic enterprises. The junta misuses all revenue from their economic enterprises, buying arms used in suppressing the people's movement and killing monks. So we appeal to everyone not to buy food from their shops and not to use the products produced by these companies," Ko Tayza of Rangoon's Mass Movement Committee said.
Key industries and lucrative businesses are commonly monopolized by the ruling junta and its cronies while much of the population of Burma confronts unbearable economic hardships.
"Our country is facing a general crisis. The people called on the government to resolve these economic, social and political crises. But these calls fell on the deaf ears of the generals. The people are struggling hard for their daily livelihood while the families of the generals are enjoying a lavish lifestyle. The people are suffering from a blatant violation of human rights and injustice," Ko Tun Myint Aung, from 88 generation students, told Mizzima.
The Mass Movement Committee's statement claims: "We will not cease our economic boycott until the junta meets our demand of resolving the crises of the country – livelihood, economics, health and education – through genuine dialogue."
"I'd like to urge all people to join the economic boycott called by the 88 generation students and Mass Movement Committee. If the junta prospers they will use their wealth in the suppression of the people's movement," commented Ashin Pyinyarwuntah of the All Burma Monks Alliance.
"Therefore I'd like to urge all the people to join hands with the Mass Movement Committee and unanimously boycott the government run economic enterprises and businesses," he continued.
The Mass Movement Committee is comprised of twelve civil societies and was formed in the wake of the September 2007 Saffron Revolution.
Mizzima News
February 19, 2008
Chiang Mai - The Mass Movement Committee issued a statement yesterday calling for an economic boycott against government owned economic enterprises under the slogan 'Boycott the brutal junta who killed monks'.
The list of business interests targeted for sanctions includes the government lottery, Htoo Trading Companies, London Cigarettes, Myanmar Beer, Dagon Beer and Korea's Daewoo Company.
"The junta ignored the will and desire of the people and international community by drafting their constitution unilaterally, and now they are seeking approval for this undemocratic constitution by holding a referendum. So we urge everyone to boycott all their economic enterprises along with the companies of their cronies," said Ko Soe Tun, a member of the 88 generation students.
"We will boycott only government run economic enterprises. The junta misuses all revenue from their economic enterprises, buying arms used in suppressing the people's movement and killing monks. So we appeal to everyone not to buy food from their shops and not to use the products produced by these companies," Ko Tayza of Rangoon's Mass Movement Committee said.
Key industries and lucrative businesses are commonly monopolized by the ruling junta and its cronies while much of the population of Burma confronts unbearable economic hardships.
"Our country is facing a general crisis. The people called on the government to resolve these economic, social and political crises. But these calls fell on the deaf ears of the generals. The people are struggling hard for their daily livelihood while the families of the generals are enjoying a lavish lifestyle. The people are suffering from a blatant violation of human rights and injustice," Ko Tun Myint Aung, from 88 generation students, told Mizzima.
The Mass Movement Committee's statement claims: "We will not cease our economic boycott until the junta meets our demand of resolving the crises of the country – livelihood, economics, health and education – through genuine dialogue."
"I'd like to urge all people to join the economic boycott called by the 88 generation students and Mass Movement Committee. If the junta prospers they will use their wealth in the suppression of the people's movement," commented Ashin Pyinyarwuntah of the All Burma Monks Alliance.
"Therefore I'd like to urge all the people to join hands with the Mass Movement Committee and unanimously boycott the government run economic enterprises and businesses," he continued.
The Mass Movement Committee is comprised of twelve civil societies and was formed in the wake of the September 2007 Saffron Revolution.
SPDC likely masterminded assassination: KNU
Than Htaik Oo
Mizzima News
February 19, 2008
Chiang Mai - A Karen National Union (KNU) official says that the SPDC might be the mastermind behind the killing of its General Secretary, Pado Mahn Sha.
Two unknown gunmen shot the KNU General Secretary dead at point blank range at his residence in Mae Sot on February 14th at approximately 4:30 p.m. (Thai time). KNU Headquarters Spokesman Pado David Taw speculates that the junta could be responsible.
"According to our sources the junta might be behind this plot, hiring the hit men to kill our General Secretary," he said.
The funeral for Pado Mahn Sha was held yesterday at about 9 a.m. at a KNU controlled area inside Burma but near the Thai border. The ceremony was attended by over 2,000 people, including ethnic dignitaries and leaders from various revolutionary forces.
The funeral was pushed up one day due to the early arrival of his daughters and security reasons, KNU official David Taw revealed. The KNU had received a tip-off of the apparent firing of heavy arms in the region by the Burmese Army and the breakaway Democratic Karen Buddhist Army.
Major Tu Tu Lay, the former Joint General Secretary (1), replaced the slain leader and Joint General Secretary (2), Pado David Tharkapaw, assumed the post of Joint General Secretary (1).
Mizzima News
February 19, 2008
Chiang Mai - A Karen National Union (KNU) official says that the SPDC might be the mastermind behind the killing of its General Secretary, Pado Mahn Sha.
Two unknown gunmen shot the KNU General Secretary dead at point blank range at his residence in Mae Sot on February 14th at approximately 4:30 p.m. (Thai time). KNU Headquarters Spokesman Pado David Taw speculates that the junta could be responsible.
"According to our sources the junta might be behind this plot, hiring the hit men to kill our General Secretary," he said.
The funeral for Pado Mahn Sha was held yesterday at about 9 a.m. at a KNU controlled area inside Burma but near the Thai border. The ceremony was attended by over 2,000 people, including ethnic dignitaries and leaders from various revolutionary forces.
The funeral was pushed up one day due to the early arrival of his daughters and security reasons, KNU official David Taw revealed. The KNU had received a tip-off of the apparent firing of heavy arms in the region by the Burmese Army and the breakaway Democratic Karen Buddhist Army.
Major Tu Tu Lay, the former Joint General Secretary (1), replaced the slain leader and Joint General Secretary (2), Pado David Tharkapaw, assumed the post of Joint General Secretary (1).
Monday, 18 February 2008
Burma’s estimated population is 53 Millions
By Sit Mone
Blogger’s thought...
February 15, 2008 - Military Junta could rule Burma because they have the guns and they have destroyed the Rule of Law.
Burmese people are victimized because they do not have guns and there is No Law and Order to Protect them.
My beloved fellow Burmese, this is the time that each and every one of us should take the role of leadership.
Do not wait for our leaders as most of them are in Jails, serving the never ending sentences. Some of them were killed. Some of them were missing in action. Some of them were in hiding.
However, this is the new era in Burmese politics where the people from all layers of Burmese society, took part on the way to Freedom of Burma.
Naw Ohn Hla, Su Su Nwe, U Ohn Than, they are examples of ordinary Burmese who have decided to rise up against the Evil Regime.
New idea of Starling Theory has been floating in Internet, given example of people of Taung gok.
Starlings are birds with swarm intelligence. That is the ability of animal groups-such as this flock of starlings-to shift shape as one, even when they have no leader, reflects the genius of collective behavior-something scientists are now tapping to solve human problems.
Social and political groups have already adopted crude swarm tactics.
Taung Gok is a very remote and small town in Rakhine State near Than Dwe ( Sandway).
They do not have prominent leaders to lead them but their action of defiance have sustained for several months after Saffron Revolution.
There were news of new Starlings of Burma almost every day. From Nyaung Oo, Rangoon, to Kachin State. It was sporadic however seems to be sustained action by independent people who have decided to take a leading role.
We all Burmese are ThakinMyo, so take a role as a leader. I would like to end my post with General Aung San’s famous speech
“No man, however great, can alone set the wheels of history in motion, unless he has the active support and co-operation of a whole people. No doubt individuals have played brilliant roles in history, but then it is evident that history is not made by a few individuals only.
I have already mentioned to you above how history develops as the cumulative creation of generations of men responding to the demands of ever growing logical events. I am well aware that there is such a great craving in man for heroism and the heroic, and that hero worship forms not a small motif in his complex. I am also aware that, unless man believes in his own heroism and the heroism of others, he cannot achieve much or great things. We must, however, take proper care that we do not make a fetish of this cult of hero-worship, for then we will turn ourselves into votaries of false gods and prophets. And we have had more than enough of such false gods and prophets for this trouble-ridden world.”
Blogger’s thought...
February 15, 2008 - Military Junta could rule Burma because they have the guns and they have destroyed the Rule of Law.
Burmese people are victimized because they do not have guns and there is No Law and Order to Protect them.
My beloved fellow Burmese, this is the time that each and every one of us should take the role of leadership.
Do not wait for our leaders as most of them are in Jails, serving the never ending sentences. Some of them were killed. Some of them were missing in action. Some of them were in hiding.
However, this is the new era in Burmese politics where the people from all layers of Burmese society, took part on the way to Freedom of Burma.
Naw Ohn Hla, Su Su Nwe, U Ohn Than, they are examples of ordinary Burmese who have decided to rise up against the Evil Regime.
New idea of Starling Theory has been floating in Internet, given example of people of Taung gok.
Starlings are birds with swarm intelligence. That is the ability of animal groups-such as this flock of starlings-to shift shape as one, even when they have no leader, reflects the genius of collective behavior-something scientists are now tapping to solve human problems.
Social and political groups have already adopted crude swarm tactics.
Taung Gok is a very remote and small town in Rakhine State near Than Dwe ( Sandway).
They do not have prominent leaders to lead them but their action of defiance have sustained for several months after Saffron Revolution.
There were news of new Starlings of Burma almost every day. From Nyaung Oo, Rangoon, to Kachin State. It was sporadic however seems to be sustained action by independent people who have decided to take a leading role.
We all Burmese are ThakinMyo, so take a role as a leader. I would like to end my post with General Aung San’s famous speech
“No man, however great, can alone set the wheels of history in motion, unless he has the active support and co-operation of a whole people. No doubt individuals have played brilliant roles in history, but then it is evident that history is not made by a few individuals only.
I have already mentioned to you above how history develops as the cumulative creation of generations of men responding to the demands of ever growing logical events. I am well aware that there is such a great craving in man for heroism and the heroic, and that hero worship forms not a small motif in his complex. I am also aware that, unless man believes in his own heroism and the heroism of others, he cannot achieve much or great things. We must, however, take proper care that we do not make a fetish of this cult of hero-worship, for then we will turn ourselves into votaries of false gods and prophets. And we have had more than enough of such false gods and prophets for this trouble-ridden world.”
Burmese exiled activists complete draft constitution
Reporting by Maung Too - DVB
Feb 15, 2008 – As the Burmese government announces a May referendum on its draft constitution, Burmese democracy activists in exile say that they have completed an alternative constitution.
The Federal Constitution Drafting and Coordination Committee said today that it had adopted the second draft of its constitution for the “Federal Republic of the Union of Burma”.
The committee now intends to put its draft before the people of Burma for discussion and feedback.
Hkun Okker, secretary-general of the National Democratic Front and deputy chairperson of the FCDCC negotiating committee, said that there were important differences between this constitution and the junta’s draft.
“The obvious difference between the SPDC’s policy on the constitution and ours is that the SPDC constitution says the military should control politics in the country, whereas we aim to bring in a system of government that is run by civilians elected in accordance with democratic principles,” Hkun Okker said.
Hkun Okker said that the FCDCC constitution would also give equal status to all states and divisions in Burma.
“In the SPDC constitution, there are distinctions made between states and divisions, but we believe this kind of discrimination is not necessary in a true federal union,” he said.
Hkun Okker said the committee now hoped to raise awareness of the constitution among Burmese people.
“We are going to conduct workshops, forums and educational projects to help Burmese people decide clearly whether the government’s national referendum is right or wrong,” he said.
“Burma’s political problems have been drawn out for decades due to the lack of a strong and balanced constitutional system, which has led to civil wars and people sinking deeper into poverty,” Hkun Okker said.
“So now we are trying to develop a constitutional system that is liked and accepted by the people of Burma.”
The FCDCC was formed on 19 April 2005 and is made up of members of the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma, the National Council of the Union of Burma, the National Democratic Front, the United Nationalities League for Democracy, the Women’s League of Burma, the Nationalities Youth Forum and the Students and Youth Congress of Burma.
Feb 15, 2008 – As the Burmese government announces a May referendum on its draft constitution, Burmese democracy activists in exile say that they have completed an alternative constitution.
The Federal Constitution Drafting and Coordination Committee said today that it had adopted the second draft of its constitution for the “Federal Republic of the Union of Burma”.
The committee now intends to put its draft before the people of Burma for discussion and feedback.
Hkun Okker, secretary-general of the National Democratic Front and deputy chairperson of the FCDCC negotiating committee, said that there were important differences between this constitution and the junta’s draft.
“The obvious difference between the SPDC’s policy on the constitution and ours is that the SPDC constitution says the military should control politics in the country, whereas we aim to bring in a system of government that is run by civilians elected in accordance with democratic principles,” Hkun Okker said.
Hkun Okker said that the FCDCC constitution would also give equal status to all states and divisions in Burma.
“In the SPDC constitution, there are distinctions made between states and divisions, but we believe this kind of discrimination is not necessary in a true federal union,” he said.
Hkun Okker said the committee now hoped to raise awareness of the constitution among Burmese people.
“We are going to conduct workshops, forums and educational projects to help Burmese people decide clearly whether the government’s national referendum is right or wrong,” he said.
“Burma’s political problems have been drawn out for decades due to the lack of a strong and balanced constitutional system, which has led to civil wars and people sinking deeper into poverty,” Hkun Okker said.
“So now we are trying to develop a constitutional system that is liked and accepted by the people of Burma.”
The FCDCC was formed on 19 April 2005 and is made up of members of the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma, the National Council of the Union of Burma, the National Democratic Front, the United Nationalities League for Democracy, the Women’s League of Burma, the Nationalities Youth Forum and the Students and Youth Congress of Burma.
Myanmar allows octogenarian prisoner a heart checkup
February 17, 2008 - Yangon - Myanmar's ruling junta on Sunday allowed a heart specialist to make a house call on political prisoner Tin Oo, 81, who has been under detention in his Yangon home for almost four years, sources said. Tin Oo, vice chairman of the National League for Democracy (NLD) opposition party, requested a medical checkup shortly after authorities sentenced him to another year under house arrest starting February 13, political activists said.
On Sunday, Doctor San Lwin, a heart specialist, visited Tin Oo at his Yangon home. The diagnosis on Tin Oo's health was not announced.
Tin Oo, a former army officer once involved in a foiled coup against former military strongman Ne Win, is the second most powerful opposition figure in Myanmar, also known as Burma, after Aung San Suu Kyi, who heads the NLD.
Both Suu Kyi and Tin Oo have been under house arrest since May, 2003, after they led an NLD tour of the Myanmar countryside that was ended by an attack on their convoy by army-backed thugs, who beat the two opposition leaders and killed several of their followers.
It is rumoured that Suu Kyi and Tin Oo will remain under house detention until a few months before the next general election, now scheduled for an unknown date in 2010. The NLD won the last general election of 1990 by a landslide.
Suu Kyi, the daughter of Myanmar independence hero Aung San, was under house arrest during the 1990 polls, which she was barred from contesting because of her status then as the wife of a foreigner, her late husband Michael Aris, a British Oxford professor.
Source: Earth Times
On Sunday, Doctor San Lwin, a heart specialist, visited Tin Oo at his Yangon home. The diagnosis on Tin Oo's health was not announced.
Tin Oo, a former army officer once involved in a foiled coup against former military strongman Ne Win, is the second most powerful opposition figure in Myanmar, also known as Burma, after Aung San Suu Kyi, who heads the NLD.
Both Suu Kyi and Tin Oo have been under house arrest since May, 2003, after they led an NLD tour of the Myanmar countryside that was ended by an attack on their convoy by army-backed thugs, who beat the two opposition leaders and killed several of their followers.
It is rumoured that Suu Kyi and Tin Oo will remain under house detention until a few months before the next general election, now scheduled for an unknown date in 2010. The NLD won the last general election of 1990 by a landslide.
Suu Kyi, the daughter of Myanmar independence hero Aung San, was under house arrest during the 1990 polls, which she was barred from contesting because of her status then as the wife of a foreigner, her late husband Michael Aris, a British Oxford professor.
Source: Earth Times
Mizos concerned over influx of Burmese refugees
February 18, 2008 - The influx of Burmese into Mizoram, a northeastern state in India continues unabated. More and more refugees from Burma are likely to come into the state, because of political instability in military ruled Burma, according to the Young Mizo Association (YMA).
YMA in a seminar on "Burmese Refugees Migrants in Mizoram" held on February 16 expressed sympathy and understanding over the plight of unrecognized refugees from Burma living in Mizoram. It plans to discuss the refugee issue in its monthly meeting.
The seminar was jointly organized by YMA and Zo Human Right Global Network (ZHRGN). It was held in the YMA hall in Aizawl, capital of Mizoram state.
"We, YMA, understand the plight of Burmese refugees in the state because of political instability in Burma. We, therefore, are planning to have an agenda on Burmese refugees at the monthly meeting in the future," Lalbiakzuala, Assistant Secretary of Central Young Mizo Association (CYMA) said.
At present, there are over 80,000 unrecognized refugees from Burma living in Mizoram.
YMA also said that Burmese people in Mizoram needed to be convinced that by living within the legal framework (without committing any crime), they can live peacefully in the state.
The YMA statement also cited that there are some Burmese who fled to India in fear of Burmese regime's suppression and human rights abuse. Some were also said to have arrived because of food scarcity and economic crisis in Burma.
The YMA in its seminar blamed the Mizoram state government for failing to fully implement the guidelines for regulating entry of Burmese tribals into Mizoram which had increased the influx of refugees from Burma to Mizoram.
The YMA also supported the Indian government's 'Look East' policy which includes Indo-Burma development projects such as the Kaladan project. These projects will benefit the people from both countries.
However, pro-democracy activists from Burma in Mizoram felt that the projects will increase forced labour and human rights abuse in Burma. – Khonumthung.
Source: Khonumthung News
YMA in a seminar on "Burmese Refugees Migrants in Mizoram" held on February 16 expressed sympathy and understanding over the plight of unrecognized refugees from Burma living in Mizoram. It plans to discuss the refugee issue in its monthly meeting.
The seminar was jointly organized by YMA and Zo Human Right Global Network (ZHRGN). It was held in the YMA hall in Aizawl, capital of Mizoram state.
"We, YMA, understand the plight of Burmese refugees in the state because of political instability in Burma. We, therefore, are planning to have an agenda on Burmese refugees at the monthly meeting in the future," Lalbiakzuala, Assistant Secretary of Central Young Mizo Association (CYMA) said.
At present, there are over 80,000 unrecognized refugees from Burma living in Mizoram.
YMA also said that Burmese people in Mizoram needed to be convinced that by living within the legal framework (without committing any crime), they can live peacefully in the state.
The YMA statement also cited that there are some Burmese who fled to India in fear of Burmese regime's suppression and human rights abuse. Some were also said to have arrived because of food scarcity and economic crisis in Burma.
The YMA in its seminar blamed the Mizoram state government for failing to fully implement the guidelines for regulating entry of Burmese tribals into Mizoram which had increased the influx of refugees from Burma to Mizoram.
The YMA also supported the Indian government's 'Look East' policy which includes Indo-Burma development projects such as the Kaladan project. These projects will benefit the people from both countries.
However, pro-democracy activists from Burma in Mizoram felt that the projects will increase forced labour and human rights abuse in Burma. – Khonumthung.
Source: Khonumthung News
Sittwe Students Protest Bus Fair Increase
February 18, 2008 - About 50 students in Sittwe staged a demonstration on 13 February after authorities doubled their school bus fare, reports a student from Sittwe.
He said, "We went to the university by foot on that day to show our feelings about the increased bus fare, and about 50 students joined in the demonstration."
During the walk, many streets were blocked after trafficked stopped due to the students' demonstration.
The news of the demonstration spread quickly in the state capital; high authorities came to the students on the street and requested they stop their demonstration. They promised the bus fare would be reduced promptly.
"We stopped our demonstration after the authority promised to reduce the bus fare within a short period of time," the student said.
The school bus fare was reduced suddenly from 100 kyat back to 50 kyat soon after the student demonstration arose in the streets of Sittwe.
The authority also attempted to increase the school bus fare last year but later reduced it back to normal because many students opposing the fare increase staged similar demonstrations in the streets.
Source: Narinjara News
He said, "We went to the university by foot on that day to show our feelings about the increased bus fare, and about 50 students joined in the demonstration."
During the walk, many streets were blocked after trafficked stopped due to the students' demonstration.
The news of the demonstration spread quickly in the state capital; high authorities came to the students on the street and requested they stop their demonstration. They promised the bus fare would be reduced promptly.
"We stopped our demonstration after the authority promised to reduce the bus fare within a short period of time," the student said.
The school bus fare was reduced suddenly from 100 kyat back to 50 kyat soon after the student demonstration arose in the streets of Sittwe.
The authority also attempted to increase the school bus fare last year but later reduced it back to normal because many students opposing the fare increase staged similar demonstrations in the streets.
Source: Narinjara News
Russians arrive in Phakant much before mining agreement
February 18, 2008 - A team of Russian mineral inspectors are in Phakant (Hpakan) in Kachin State, northern Burma since last year much before the two countries signed an agreement last week for exploration of gold and associated minerals in Phakant areas, the state media said.
Eyewitnesses told KNG they have seen several Russian mineral inspectors camping and working in Tarmakhan areas for over a year. Both locals and visitors are strictly forbidden from entering the area.
"I believe Russians arrived in Tarmakhan for Uranium. Uranium exploration started in the Tarmakhan and Hongpa areas during Prime Minister U Nu's tenure. But, the exploration was stopped because of civil war between the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and successive Burmese ruling juntas," a local geologist told KNG.
Last year, a Russian mineral inspector in Tarmakhan fell ill and died at the government hospital in Phakant Township, local eyewitnesses and hospital sources said.
Source: KNG
Eyewitnesses told KNG they have seen several Russian mineral inspectors camping and working in Tarmakhan areas for over a year. Both locals and visitors are strictly forbidden from entering the area.
"I believe Russians arrived in Tarmakhan for Uranium. Uranium exploration started in the Tarmakhan and Hongpa areas during Prime Minister U Nu's tenure. But, the exploration was stopped because of civil war between the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and successive Burmese ruling juntas," a local geologist told KNG.
Last year, a Russian mineral inspector in Tarmakhan fell ill and died at the government hospital in Phakant Township, local eyewitnesses and hospital sources said.
Source: KNG
Sunday, 17 February 2008
Kachin student activist confined in KIO headquarters
By Kachin
february 16, 2008 - A Kachin student activist has been kept under surveillance and confined for over a week in a controlled area on the Sino-Burma border by Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) for making a comment on the Burmese ruling junta's National Convention (NC), local sources said.
Kyang Ying has been kept in the Alen Bum military base of KIO headquarters in Laiza since February 6. He is allowed to travel within Laiza controlled areas but not outside Laiza, KIO insiders told KNG.
KIO officials said Mr. Kyang Ying has not been allowed to go back to his home in Myitkyina Township, capital of Kachin State because the KIO is keeping him under protection and guarding him from being chased by the junta's security agents in Myitkyina.
However, the KIO's explanation was contradicted today by family members of Kyang Ying in Jan Mai Kawng quarter in Myitkyina. They told KNG, "No police and security agents of the ruling junta in the township had visited and asked them anything so far".
Source: Kachin News
february 16, 2008 - A Kachin student activist has been kept under surveillance and confined for over a week in a controlled area on the Sino-Burma border by Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) for making a comment on the Burmese ruling junta's National Convention (NC), local sources said.
Kyang Ying has been kept in the Alen Bum military base of KIO headquarters in Laiza since February 6. He is allowed to travel within Laiza controlled areas but not outside Laiza, KIO insiders told KNG.
KIO officials said Mr. Kyang Ying has not been allowed to go back to his home in Myitkyina Township, capital of Kachin State because the KIO is keeping him under protection and guarding him from being chased by the junta's security agents in Myitkyina.
However, the KIO's explanation was contradicted today by family members of Kyang Ying in Jan Mai Kawng quarter in Myitkyina. They told KNG, "No police and security agents of the ruling junta in the township had visited and asked them anything so far".
Source: Kachin News
How to Stop Human Rights Violations against Rohingyas
By - Ahmedur Rahman Farooq
February 17, 2008 - The Rohingya community of Arakan, Burma is one of the most down-trodden ethnic minorities of the world.They are victim of political oppression, economic exploitation, cultural slavery and communal violence in their ancestral land Arakan where they have been living centuries after centuries.
Arakan which is a land of one of the most fertile regions in Asia with great variety of unexplored resources, has turned into a land of bloods and tears since the beginning of the 20th century where the Rohingyas have been groaning under the crushing wheels of either state sponsored terrorists or the religious fanatics decades after decades.
Restoration of Democracy in Burma:
There is no denying the fact that it is the lack of democratic atmosphere which has closed all the doors for the restoration of human rights of Rohingyas. Despite the continuous outcries of the international peace loving community to restore peace and democracy in Burma, the military regime has been continuously playing game to defuse the international outrage and to trample the people of Burma under the military boots for an indefinite period. Refusing to hand over power to the overwhelmingly elected representatives of the people of Burma during the General Election of 1990, detaining the national icon of democracy, peace and liberty, Daw Aung San Suu Kyie and all other popular leaders of democratic movement and ethnic minorities years after years and brutally cracking down all anti military protests, the Generals have demonstrated the world that there is no words like "human rights" in their vocabulary and they have no interest to learn what democracy or civil liberty means. So, the restoration of democracy in Burma is a precondition to stop human rights violations against the Rohingyas.
Restoration of Citizenship of Rohingyas:
Nevertheless, as a part of groundwork for any sort of human rights violations against Rohingyas under the aegis of law, the most notorious action which the military rulers have done is the amendment to the country's Citizenship Law in 1982 which has reduced the Rohingyas to the status of a Stateless Gypsy Community of the world, depriving them of citizenship and making them illegal immigrants in their ancestral motherland where they have been living for centuries having a long history, a language, a heritage, a culture and a tradition of their own that they had built up in their motherland through the ages of existence which can be traced back to the 7th Century.
Under the aegis of this notorious law, the military rulers have adopted all sorts of mechanism to turn Arakan into a "Rohingyaless" land through the series of genocidal operations and all other sorts of human rights violations. Through this act, the military regime has incited racism, xenophobia, inequality, intolerance and discrimination against the Rohingya, depriving them of their fundamental rights to citizenship, movement, education, job, marriage, property, healthcare and other civic liberty. So, in order to restore human rights of Rohingyas, it is the foremost need for the government of Burma to annul the black amendment of citizenship law of 1982 and to sign and ratify the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness and to remove all the obstacles in the way to let the Rohingyas enjoy the right to citizenship as well as for all their children who were born in exile as both documented or undocumented refugees.
Restoration of Communal Harmony in Arakan:
Another heinous tactics that the military rulers have been engaged in since the military take over of Gen. Ne Win in 1962 to exterminate Rohingyas from Arakan, is to fuel extreme communal frenzy among the Rakhines and Rohingyas in Arakan. The people of Arakan who had been once living in peace and perfect amity, have to witness many often recurrent phenomenon of communal violence, social anarchy and widespread unrest goaded by the despotic military rulers.
Today, Arakan is a land of communal enmity and hatred which has reached at such a scale that the Rohingyas can hardly pass through the Rakhine localities. The movement of Rohingyas from one place to another by buses, launches or steamers is always full of risks and hazards. Thousands of highly Rohingya educated personalities have fallen victims of assassination at the hands of a section of the Rakhine communalists. In fact, it is the military regime which has turned the land into an earthly hell where tens of thousands of innocent human beings are being offered as the requiem of the communal conflagration with a notion "Kill a Rohingya first if a cobra and a Rohingya are found together". So, without restoration of communal harmony between the two sister communities of Arakan, the Rohingyas and Rakhines, any effort to stop human rights violations against the Rohingyas, is bound to end in debacle. Peace can prevail in Arakan only when these two communities will be able to create an atmosphere where they can live in peaceful coexistence like two petals of a flower.
Presence of International Agencies in Arakan:
However, in Arakan which has been tormented decades after decades by the military rulers during the long 46 years of Reign of Terror, the matter of restoration of human rights of Rohingyas can not be imagined without the presence of monitoring agencies of international bodies including the UNHCR and ILO who must have full access to each and every corner of Arakan to see for themselves what is going on on the people of Arakan as well as the Rohingyas. They must have full freedom to carry out their international mandate and also to monitor all the situations which have been going on in reality.
Furthermore, the authorities must abrogate all black laws which serve as the tools for the violations of human rights against the civilians including the Rohingyas and they must fully comply with the UN Declaration of Human Rights and other covenants like Health ICESCR (International Covenant of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights) where as per Article 12.1: everyone has the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, Shelter ICCPR (International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights) where as per Article 12.1: everyone lawfully within the territory of a State shall, within that territory, have the right to liberty of movement and freedom to choose his residence and Livelihood ICESCR where as per Article 6.1: everyone has the right to work, which includes the right of everyone to the opportunity to gain his living by work which he freely chooses or accepts, and will take appropriate steps to safeguard this right.
Most importantly, the authority must abolish the practice of forced labor in compliance with the 1930 International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention on Forced Labor and as per the recommendation of the ILO, the government must repeal the sections of the Village and Towns Acts that legally sanctions the conscription of labor. The government also must protect the Children's rights in accordance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1991.Children must not be forced to work under any circumstances and they must abrogate all written or unwritten rules which stand as the stumbling block for Rohingya students to get education. They must give up all practices which compel Rohingyas to go gradually away from their ethnic culture, heritage as well as language. All Rohingya students must have their right to retain their own Rohingya name and no Rohingya student will be compelled to adopt a Burmese name which, in fact, has been serving as a tool for the military rulers in their way to Burmanization.
Presence of NGOs in Arakan:
Arakan which has turned out to be a land of restlessness, antagonism, discrimination, persecution, anarchy and disappointment during the long military rule and where the peace-loving people pass their life in utmost grief and distress, fear and frustration, the voice of restoration of human rights of Rohingyas can be a far cry there, if the NGOs are not allowed to work for alleviation of sufferings of all the hapless people including the Rohingyas.
It is the NGOs which can heal at least some level of scars caused by despotic rule over the decades pushing tens of thousands of innocent men, women and children towards disasters. Through their grassroot level activities, the NGOs can play a significant role in changing the life of the distressed human beings from the wounds caused by the systemic oppression, socio-economic and political exploitation and social anarchy as well as the havocs of the communal violence.
The NGOs can play a major role in restoration of human rights of Rohingyas if they are allowed to work in Arakan through multidimensional programmes like emergency relief, food security and agriculture, infrastructure and health and education. Under the emergency relief programme, the NGOs can concentrate to the internally displaced Rohingyas. They can pay special attention and concentration to reduce mortality and morbidity and help the distressed people to return to normalcy and let them understand the fact that human rights are not the mercy of a state and that as per Vienna Conference on Human Rights in 1993 which clearly states that "States declare that human rights are the legitimate concern of the international community", human rights obligations are voluntarily confirmed obligations of states or nations towards populations within their jurisdiction, and this obligates States or nations to have consistent efforts and strive towards a complete spectrum of human rights - starting from an effective 'right to health,' within the availability of States resources to the absolute prohibition of torture.
Presence of human rights groups in Arakan:
Another important aspect for the restoration of human rights of Rohingyas is to allow different human rights organizations to be present in Arakan where human rights violations have turned out to be a common phenomenon during the decades long military rule.
In fact, Human Rights and Human Survival are inalienably linked. In concrete terms, the endurance of the society is a human right. But this basic human right to live with peace and security, liberty and equality and prosperity cannot be rejuvenated by any govemment faced with all those factors which endanger the peaceful living of human society. Violence can be termed as one sort of violation of norms of human behaviour recognised by all civilised people of the world. By spreading violence and panic among people, it hits the very roots of democracy. So every society cherishing the democratic way of life is bound to fight any sort of violence and cause panic. Therefore, the implementation of human rights had come to be acknowledged internationally as a major concern and essential in the development of not only the individual but also the nation and, ultimately the world.
So, there can be no meaningful improvement in the restoration of human rights of Rohingyas without the presence of human rights organizations in Arakan who can serve as the watchdogs of all sorts of violations of human rights, whether that violation comes from government, from terrorists, from criminals, or from self-appointed messiahs operating under the cover of politics or religion.
Presence of News Media in Arakan:
Robert Heinlein said, secrecy is the beginning of tyranny. It is the news media which mainly bring most of the secrets to the surface. A journalist witnesses an incident, films it and releases it and thus opens the eye of people, organizations and governments as well as the international community through his report, his video and other online technologies about the human rights violations and thus, he brings a change in the society and in a nation.
The news media play an immense role in the restoration of human rights of a community or a nation. It has an unimaginable power to organize the "people power" against any injustice and tyranny and build a culture of freedom. Moreover, the role that the broadcast media plays in changing the face of a society is beyond description. Because of satellite links which now enable broadcast news organizations to originate live programming from any part of the globe, the entire world is becoming one "global village" as Marshall McLuhan said or as the famous line of Shakespeare "all the world's a stage".
Nevertheless, in a country which the military rulers have turned into a secret state of terror where human rights are constantly violated and where the guns of the army point out the way of life of the people, the voice for the presence of human rights groups or news media organizations in Arakan is a far cry. It is only a democratic atmosphere which can pave the way to stop human rights violations against Rohingyas and bring an end to the chapter of genocide and ethnic cleansing operations against them.
Ahmedur Rahman Farooq, Chairman, Rohingya Human Rights Council (RHRC).
Source: Asian Tribune
February 17, 2008 - The Rohingya community of Arakan, Burma is one of the most down-trodden ethnic minorities of the world.They are victim of political oppression, economic exploitation, cultural slavery and communal violence in their ancestral land Arakan where they have been living centuries after centuries.
Arakan which is a land of one of the most fertile regions in Asia with great variety of unexplored resources, has turned into a land of bloods and tears since the beginning of the 20th century where the Rohingyas have been groaning under the crushing wheels of either state sponsored terrorists or the religious fanatics decades after decades.
Restoration of Democracy in Burma:
There is no denying the fact that it is the lack of democratic atmosphere which has closed all the doors for the restoration of human rights of Rohingyas. Despite the continuous outcries of the international peace loving community to restore peace and democracy in Burma, the military regime has been continuously playing game to defuse the international outrage and to trample the people of Burma under the military boots for an indefinite period. Refusing to hand over power to the overwhelmingly elected representatives of the people of Burma during the General Election of 1990, detaining the national icon of democracy, peace and liberty, Daw Aung San Suu Kyie and all other popular leaders of democratic movement and ethnic minorities years after years and brutally cracking down all anti military protests, the Generals have demonstrated the world that there is no words like "human rights" in their vocabulary and they have no interest to learn what democracy or civil liberty means. So, the restoration of democracy in Burma is a precondition to stop human rights violations against the Rohingyas.
Restoration of Citizenship of Rohingyas:
Nevertheless, as a part of groundwork for any sort of human rights violations against Rohingyas under the aegis of law, the most notorious action which the military rulers have done is the amendment to the country's Citizenship Law in 1982 which has reduced the Rohingyas to the status of a Stateless Gypsy Community of the world, depriving them of citizenship and making them illegal immigrants in their ancestral motherland where they have been living for centuries having a long history, a language, a heritage, a culture and a tradition of their own that they had built up in their motherland through the ages of existence which can be traced back to the 7th Century.
Under the aegis of this notorious law, the military rulers have adopted all sorts of mechanism to turn Arakan into a "Rohingyaless" land through the series of genocidal operations and all other sorts of human rights violations. Through this act, the military regime has incited racism, xenophobia, inequality, intolerance and discrimination against the Rohingya, depriving them of their fundamental rights to citizenship, movement, education, job, marriage, property, healthcare and other civic liberty. So, in order to restore human rights of Rohingyas, it is the foremost need for the government of Burma to annul the black amendment of citizenship law of 1982 and to sign and ratify the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness and to remove all the obstacles in the way to let the Rohingyas enjoy the right to citizenship as well as for all their children who were born in exile as both documented or undocumented refugees.
Restoration of Communal Harmony in Arakan:
Another heinous tactics that the military rulers have been engaged in since the military take over of Gen. Ne Win in 1962 to exterminate Rohingyas from Arakan, is to fuel extreme communal frenzy among the Rakhines and Rohingyas in Arakan. The people of Arakan who had been once living in peace and perfect amity, have to witness many often recurrent phenomenon of communal violence, social anarchy and widespread unrest goaded by the despotic military rulers.
Today, Arakan is a land of communal enmity and hatred which has reached at such a scale that the Rohingyas can hardly pass through the Rakhine localities. The movement of Rohingyas from one place to another by buses, launches or steamers is always full of risks and hazards. Thousands of highly Rohingya educated personalities have fallen victims of assassination at the hands of a section of the Rakhine communalists. In fact, it is the military regime which has turned the land into an earthly hell where tens of thousands of innocent human beings are being offered as the requiem of the communal conflagration with a notion "Kill a Rohingya first if a cobra and a Rohingya are found together". So, without restoration of communal harmony between the two sister communities of Arakan, the Rohingyas and Rakhines, any effort to stop human rights violations against the Rohingyas, is bound to end in debacle. Peace can prevail in Arakan only when these two communities will be able to create an atmosphere where they can live in peaceful coexistence like two petals of a flower.
Presence of International Agencies in Arakan:
However, in Arakan which has been tormented decades after decades by the military rulers during the long 46 years of Reign of Terror, the matter of restoration of human rights of Rohingyas can not be imagined without the presence of monitoring agencies of international bodies including the UNHCR and ILO who must have full access to each and every corner of Arakan to see for themselves what is going on on the people of Arakan as well as the Rohingyas. They must have full freedom to carry out their international mandate and also to monitor all the situations which have been going on in reality.
Furthermore, the authorities must abrogate all black laws which serve as the tools for the violations of human rights against the civilians including the Rohingyas and they must fully comply with the UN Declaration of Human Rights and other covenants like Health ICESCR (International Covenant of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights) where as per Article 12.1: everyone has the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, Shelter ICCPR (International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights) where as per Article 12.1: everyone lawfully within the territory of a State shall, within that territory, have the right to liberty of movement and freedom to choose his residence and Livelihood ICESCR where as per Article 6.1: everyone has the right to work, which includes the right of everyone to the opportunity to gain his living by work which he freely chooses or accepts, and will take appropriate steps to safeguard this right.
Most importantly, the authority must abolish the practice of forced labor in compliance with the 1930 International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention on Forced Labor and as per the recommendation of the ILO, the government must repeal the sections of the Village and Towns Acts that legally sanctions the conscription of labor. The government also must protect the Children's rights in accordance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1991.Children must not be forced to work under any circumstances and they must abrogate all written or unwritten rules which stand as the stumbling block for Rohingya students to get education. They must give up all practices which compel Rohingyas to go gradually away from their ethnic culture, heritage as well as language. All Rohingya students must have their right to retain their own Rohingya name and no Rohingya student will be compelled to adopt a Burmese name which, in fact, has been serving as a tool for the military rulers in their way to Burmanization.
Presence of NGOs in Arakan:
Arakan which has turned out to be a land of restlessness, antagonism, discrimination, persecution, anarchy and disappointment during the long military rule and where the peace-loving people pass their life in utmost grief and distress, fear and frustration, the voice of restoration of human rights of Rohingyas can be a far cry there, if the NGOs are not allowed to work for alleviation of sufferings of all the hapless people including the Rohingyas.
It is the NGOs which can heal at least some level of scars caused by despotic rule over the decades pushing tens of thousands of innocent men, women and children towards disasters. Through their grassroot level activities, the NGOs can play a significant role in changing the life of the distressed human beings from the wounds caused by the systemic oppression, socio-economic and political exploitation and social anarchy as well as the havocs of the communal violence.
The NGOs can play a major role in restoration of human rights of Rohingyas if they are allowed to work in Arakan through multidimensional programmes like emergency relief, food security and agriculture, infrastructure and health and education. Under the emergency relief programme, the NGOs can concentrate to the internally displaced Rohingyas. They can pay special attention and concentration to reduce mortality and morbidity and help the distressed people to return to normalcy and let them understand the fact that human rights are not the mercy of a state and that as per Vienna Conference on Human Rights in 1993 which clearly states that "States declare that human rights are the legitimate concern of the international community", human rights obligations are voluntarily confirmed obligations of states or nations towards populations within their jurisdiction, and this obligates States or nations to have consistent efforts and strive towards a complete spectrum of human rights - starting from an effective 'right to health,' within the availability of States resources to the absolute prohibition of torture.
Presence of human rights groups in Arakan:
Another important aspect for the restoration of human rights of Rohingyas is to allow different human rights organizations to be present in Arakan where human rights violations have turned out to be a common phenomenon during the decades long military rule.
In fact, Human Rights and Human Survival are inalienably linked. In concrete terms, the endurance of the society is a human right. But this basic human right to live with peace and security, liberty and equality and prosperity cannot be rejuvenated by any govemment faced with all those factors which endanger the peaceful living of human society. Violence can be termed as one sort of violation of norms of human behaviour recognised by all civilised people of the world. By spreading violence and panic among people, it hits the very roots of democracy. So every society cherishing the democratic way of life is bound to fight any sort of violence and cause panic. Therefore, the implementation of human rights had come to be acknowledged internationally as a major concern and essential in the development of not only the individual but also the nation and, ultimately the world.
So, there can be no meaningful improvement in the restoration of human rights of Rohingyas without the presence of human rights organizations in Arakan who can serve as the watchdogs of all sorts of violations of human rights, whether that violation comes from government, from terrorists, from criminals, or from self-appointed messiahs operating under the cover of politics or religion.
Presence of News Media in Arakan:
Robert Heinlein said, secrecy is the beginning of tyranny. It is the news media which mainly bring most of the secrets to the surface. A journalist witnesses an incident, films it and releases it and thus opens the eye of people, organizations and governments as well as the international community through his report, his video and other online technologies about the human rights violations and thus, he brings a change in the society and in a nation.
The news media play an immense role in the restoration of human rights of a community or a nation. It has an unimaginable power to organize the "people power" against any injustice and tyranny and build a culture of freedom. Moreover, the role that the broadcast media plays in changing the face of a society is beyond description. Because of satellite links which now enable broadcast news organizations to originate live programming from any part of the globe, the entire world is becoming one "global village" as Marshall McLuhan said or as the famous line of Shakespeare "all the world's a stage".
Nevertheless, in a country which the military rulers have turned into a secret state of terror where human rights are constantly violated and where the guns of the army point out the way of life of the people, the voice for the presence of human rights groups or news media organizations in Arakan is a far cry. It is only a democratic atmosphere which can pave the way to stop human rights violations against Rohingyas and bring an end to the chapter of genocide and ethnic cleansing operations against them.
Ahmedur Rahman Farooq, Chairman, Rohingya Human Rights Council (RHRC).
Source: Asian Tribune
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)