Diesel fuel needed to restart farming
Phyar Pon cyclone victims fear food shortage
Authorities sell farmers donated tractors
Writer Zaw Thet Htway arrested
International celebrations for Daw Suu's birthday
ILO to take a more active role in cyclone reconstruction
Tuesday, 17 June 2008
Blogger Nay Phone Latt being reinvestigated
Phanida - Mizzima
16 June 2008, Chiang Mai – The Burmese military junta authorities are reinvestigating blogger Ko Nay Phone Latt who has been in custody for about five months.
He was interrogated twice without being produced in court soon after Cyclone Nargis lashed Burma and again yesterday for his blog.
Liverpool fan Burmese blogger Nay Phone Latt. The Burmese military junta authorities are re-investigating blogger Nay Phone Latt who has been in notorious Insein jail for about five months.
"He was interrogated inside the prison. He said he was interrogated twice. He was asked about his blog and if he had a pseudonym. They said that some writers post their articles and news under pseudonyms while some use their own names such as Sayama (former lecturer) May Nyein and Dr. Lunn Swe. They asked him if they knew them," Daw Aye Than, his mother who visited him in prison today, told Mizzima.
"It's strange that he was being questioned again and again. I think they are trying to frame him and charge him in court with a crime he didn't commit. As far as I know, he's never sent any news outside," she added.
The blogger Ko Nay Phone Latt was arrested on January 29 this year and the authorities lodged a case against him under section 32(b) of the Video Act.
His defence counsel U Aung Thein submitted an application to the Insein prison authorities to get power of attorney from his client and sought permission to meet him.
A source in the Ministry of Home Affairs confirmed that Ko Nay Phone Latt was questioned again and the authorities wanted information regarding anonymous blogs posted from Burma, Mizzima has learnt.
A special meeting of Special Branch police officers was held recently in Rangoon and crackdowns against pro-democracy activists followed soon after.
"We have to submit an application to the prison authorities. We never got a chance to meet him. We applied after seeing the statement posted on the notice board suggesting he would be permitted to meet his counsel. I will represent him in court and meet him when it is permitted which is usually on working days," U Aung Thein said.
"He was charged under the Video Act section 32(b). I think the authorities are interrogating him only for his blog. But he has not been produced in court. It seems the authorities are trying to frame him in another case as their first case under section 32(b) of the Video Act does not hold much water. He was first charged under this section just to keep him in custody. The authorities could find only a video disc of 'Ahnyeint' (variety dance show) performed in Singapore when he was taken away from his home", Daw Aye Than added.
16 June 2008, Chiang Mai – The Burmese military junta authorities are reinvestigating blogger Ko Nay Phone Latt who has been in custody for about five months.
He was interrogated twice without being produced in court soon after Cyclone Nargis lashed Burma and again yesterday for his blog.
Liverpool fan Burmese blogger Nay Phone Latt. The Burmese military junta authorities are re-investigating blogger Nay Phone Latt who has been in notorious Insein jail for about five months.
"He was interrogated inside the prison. He said he was interrogated twice. He was asked about his blog and if he had a pseudonym. They said that some writers post their articles and news under pseudonyms while some use their own names such as Sayama (former lecturer) May Nyein and Dr. Lunn Swe. They asked him if they knew them," Daw Aye Than, his mother who visited him in prison today, told Mizzima.
"It's strange that he was being questioned again and again. I think they are trying to frame him and charge him in court with a crime he didn't commit. As far as I know, he's never sent any news outside," she added.
The blogger Ko Nay Phone Latt was arrested on January 29 this year and the authorities lodged a case against him under section 32(b) of the Video Act.
His defence counsel U Aung Thein submitted an application to the Insein prison authorities to get power of attorney from his client and sought permission to meet him.
A source in the Ministry of Home Affairs confirmed that Ko Nay Phone Latt was questioned again and the authorities wanted information regarding anonymous blogs posted from Burma, Mizzima has learnt.
A special meeting of Special Branch police officers was held recently in Rangoon and crackdowns against pro-democracy activists followed soon after.
"We have to submit an application to the prison authorities. We never got a chance to meet him. We applied after seeing the statement posted on the notice board suggesting he would be permitted to meet his counsel. I will represent him in court and meet him when it is permitted which is usually on working days," U Aung Thein said.
"He was charged under the Video Act section 32(b). I think the authorities are interrogating him only for his blog. But he has not been produced in court. It seems the authorities are trying to frame him in another case as their first case under section 32(b) of the Video Act does not hold much water. He was first charged under this section just to keep him in custody. The authorities could find only a video disc of 'Ahnyeint' (variety dance show) performed in Singapore when he was taken away from his home", Daw Aye Than added.
Twilight of the Idle Regime
By SAW HTUN
The Irrawaddy News
I lived in a military compound during my youth, when my father was an army officer and Burma was still ruled by the Burmese Socialist Party Program under Gen Ne Win.
In the final years of the Ne Win regime, two incidents occurred which I can still remember very distinctly. One was a storm warning that put everyone in the small-town base where we lived on alert. When the storm hit, soldiers were ordered to patrol the town to come to the assistance of any who might need it. This included not only government officials, but also people living in surrounding villages.
The other episode involved a major fire which destroyed several buildings and threatened many lives. Soldiers were promptly sent to prevent looting and to save children and the elderly from the conflagration. They also quickly tore down thatched roofs to prevent the fire from spreading uncontrollably.
As dramatic as these events were, however, they don’t compare to the night of May 2-3, when Cyclone Nargis tore through Rangoon. Fortunately, my family and I live in a flat about half-way up a tall building, so we were safe from danger. But after we put our children to bed, my wife and I spent a sleepless night, on constant watch like two soldiers who did not want to miss the battle raging all around us.
Outside we saw taxis and small cars driving with great care, as if they were clinging to the asphalt for all they were worth. Sheets of corrugated zinc flew through the air like paper. We even saw a few foolish people trying to walk in the streets, struggling against the incredibly powerful wind and rain. We worried ceaselessly about our friends and relatives in other parts of the city.
The next day, I was even more surprised by what I saw—or rather, by what I did not see.
Rangoon looked like a battleground, with trees toppled everywhere. Roads were impassable, and the city was at a standstill. The only signs of life were Buddhist monks—some of them helped by youths in their distinctive hip-hop garb—cutting the massive trunks and branches with handsaws to make them easier to clear from the roads.
Instinctively, I looked for soldiers, who were never in short supply in military-ruled Burma (whereas monks have been noticeably less visible in Rangoon since last September, when they dared to challenge the ruling regime’s authority). But they were nowhere to be seen.
Where were the soldiers? Some people suggested that they were waiting for orders from the generals. But I knew from experience that orders from on high were not required in these circumstances. Any commanding officer could have put his men to work. After all, the natural response to a natural disaster is action, not paralysis.
Personally, I suspected that the soldiers were reluctant to show themselves because they believed that the cyclone had been sent as punishment for their actions last September, when they mistreated and killed Buddhist monks. Many ordinary Burmese had suggested as much, half in jest, but perhaps the soldiers really believed it and were afraid to face the wrath the nature.
Meanwhile, we started to hear horrific stories coming from the Irrawaddy delta, which was much more severely affected by the cyclone than Rangoon. We received this news via the BBC and VOA: Local radio stations and the state-run television station were silent on the impact of the disaster in the delta. Like many other people in Rangoon, we started to think about ways to help.
When it came time to take action, we followed the example of the ’88 Generation Students group, which initiated last year’s protests by boycotting public transport after the government suddenly raised fuel prices and bus fares. Like them, we decided to bypass the government’s belated relief efforts (which came only after thousands of cyclone victims had needlessly perished in the crucial days after the cyclone hit). Instead, we entrusted our donations to monks, who had worked side by side with us as we tried to bring our lives back to normal.
It was not until two days after the cyclone struck that the soldiers finally made an appearance on the streets of Rangoon. Young captains commandeered the municipal government’s heaviest equipment to remove trees from the roads. They even used these machines to move small branches, in a show of their immense efforts to help the people.
Then Prime Minister Gen Thein Sein was named “president of the national committee for natural disaster mitigation.” It was all very impressive.
Of course, this was also the week before the referendum, when the generals were giving us a chance to vote for their constitution. With the aftermath of a major disaster on our hands, however, no one had any interest in the referendum, the outcome of which was decided in advance, in any case.
But we were surprised that the regime didn’t at least try to win support by making a serious effort to help the people in the delta. Apparently, it didn’t matter much what voters thought, since “victory” was already in the bag.
Meanwhile, in neighbouring China, a major earthquake struck, and the world witnessed a dramatically different response to a deadly disaster. It is ironic that in China, where the ruling Communist Party does not even pretend to be democratic, the authorities paid far greater attention to public opinion than the generals in Burma, who were trying to make everyone believe that they were steering the country towards democracy.
It is also ironic that, at a time when they were trying to impose a new constitution on the country, the regime showed its disdain for rule of law by illegally extending Aung San Suu Kyi’s house arrest.
This was not only another slap in the face of Burmese voters, but also another lost public relations opportunity. Suu Kyi’s sentence ended the same weekend that international donors were in Rangoon, ready to pledge generously to relief and reconstruction efforts in the delta. Snr-Gen Than Shwe wanted $11 billion in aid, no strings attached. But he was unwilling to show good faith by honouring a previous promise to the international community that he would negotiate directly with Suu Kyi to achieve national reconciliation.
Burma under its current rulers makes the Ne Win era seem almost a model of competence and efficiency. If there is any consolation to be drawn from this experience, it is that the junta has shown its weakness, and sown the seeds of its future downfall.
With the military hiding from its own shadow, and the people defiantly taking the initiative, the ruling generals must be having many sleepless nights. If they doze off again, they may one day wake up to find that they are the casualties of a crisis of their own making.
The Irrawaddy News
I lived in a military compound during my youth, when my father was an army officer and Burma was still ruled by the Burmese Socialist Party Program under Gen Ne Win.
In the final years of the Ne Win regime, two incidents occurred which I can still remember very distinctly. One was a storm warning that put everyone in the small-town base where we lived on alert. When the storm hit, soldiers were ordered to patrol the town to come to the assistance of any who might need it. This included not only government officials, but also people living in surrounding villages.
The other episode involved a major fire which destroyed several buildings and threatened many lives. Soldiers were promptly sent to prevent looting and to save children and the elderly from the conflagration. They also quickly tore down thatched roofs to prevent the fire from spreading uncontrollably.
As dramatic as these events were, however, they don’t compare to the night of May 2-3, when Cyclone Nargis tore through Rangoon. Fortunately, my family and I live in a flat about half-way up a tall building, so we were safe from danger. But after we put our children to bed, my wife and I spent a sleepless night, on constant watch like two soldiers who did not want to miss the battle raging all around us.
Outside we saw taxis and small cars driving with great care, as if they were clinging to the asphalt for all they were worth. Sheets of corrugated zinc flew through the air like paper. We even saw a few foolish people trying to walk in the streets, struggling against the incredibly powerful wind and rain. We worried ceaselessly about our friends and relatives in other parts of the city.
The next day, I was even more surprised by what I saw—or rather, by what I did not see.
Rangoon looked like a battleground, with trees toppled everywhere. Roads were impassable, and the city was at a standstill. The only signs of life were Buddhist monks—some of them helped by youths in their distinctive hip-hop garb—cutting the massive trunks and branches with handsaws to make them easier to clear from the roads.
Instinctively, I looked for soldiers, who were never in short supply in military-ruled Burma (whereas monks have been noticeably less visible in Rangoon since last September, when they dared to challenge the ruling regime’s authority). But they were nowhere to be seen.
Where were the soldiers? Some people suggested that they were waiting for orders from the generals. But I knew from experience that orders from on high were not required in these circumstances. Any commanding officer could have put his men to work. After all, the natural response to a natural disaster is action, not paralysis.
Personally, I suspected that the soldiers were reluctant to show themselves because they believed that the cyclone had been sent as punishment for their actions last September, when they mistreated and killed Buddhist monks. Many ordinary Burmese had suggested as much, half in jest, but perhaps the soldiers really believed it and were afraid to face the wrath the nature.
Meanwhile, we started to hear horrific stories coming from the Irrawaddy delta, which was much more severely affected by the cyclone than Rangoon. We received this news via the BBC and VOA: Local radio stations and the state-run television station were silent on the impact of the disaster in the delta. Like many other people in Rangoon, we started to think about ways to help.
When it came time to take action, we followed the example of the ’88 Generation Students group, which initiated last year’s protests by boycotting public transport after the government suddenly raised fuel prices and bus fares. Like them, we decided to bypass the government’s belated relief efforts (which came only after thousands of cyclone victims had needlessly perished in the crucial days after the cyclone hit). Instead, we entrusted our donations to monks, who had worked side by side with us as we tried to bring our lives back to normal.
It was not until two days after the cyclone struck that the soldiers finally made an appearance on the streets of Rangoon. Young captains commandeered the municipal government’s heaviest equipment to remove trees from the roads. They even used these machines to move small branches, in a show of their immense efforts to help the people.
Then Prime Minister Gen Thein Sein was named “president of the national committee for natural disaster mitigation.” It was all very impressive.
Of course, this was also the week before the referendum, when the generals were giving us a chance to vote for their constitution. With the aftermath of a major disaster on our hands, however, no one had any interest in the referendum, the outcome of which was decided in advance, in any case.
But we were surprised that the regime didn’t at least try to win support by making a serious effort to help the people in the delta. Apparently, it didn’t matter much what voters thought, since “victory” was already in the bag.
Meanwhile, in neighbouring China, a major earthquake struck, and the world witnessed a dramatically different response to a deadly disaster. It is ironic that in China, where the ruling Communist Party does not even pretend to be democratic, the authorities paid far greater attention to public opinion than the generals in Burma, who were trying to make everyone believe that they were steering the country towards democracy.
It is also ironic that, at a time when they were trying to impose a new constitution on the country, the regime showed its disdain for rule of law by illegally extending Aung San Suu Kyi’s house arrest.
This was not only another slap in the face of Burmese voters, but also another lost public relations opportunity. Suu Kyi’s sentence ended the same weekend that international donors were in Rangoon, ready to pledge generously to relief and reconstruction efforts in the delta. Snr-Gen Than Shwe wanted $11 billion in aid, no strings attached. But he was unwilling to show good faith by honouring a previous promise to the international community that he would negotiate directly with Suu Kyi to achieve national reconciliation.
Burma under its current rulers makes the Ne Win era seem almost a model of competence and efficiency. If there is any consolation to be drawn from this experience, it is that the junta has shown its weakness, and sown the seeds of its future downfall.
With the military hiding from its own shadow, and the people defiantly taking the initiative, the ruling generals must be having many sleepless nights. If they doze off again, they may one day wake up to find that they are the casualties of a crisis of their own making.
Rumors of New Catastrophe Sweep Rangoon
By MIN LWIN
The Irrawaddy News
Now all hope of humanitarian intervention in Burma’s cyclone-devastated regions has vanished, rumors of another imminent natural catastrophe are sweeping Rangoon.
In the weeks following the cyclone, as US, British and French ships loaded with aid stood ready in international waters off Burma, many were certain that the three Western powers would decide to launch unilateral relief operations. Rumors spread widely that help was on its way.
Those rumors came to nothing. Now, others have replaced them. The most fanciful relates that three senior monks, Myaungmya Sayadaw, Bassein Sayadaw and Hlaing Tharyar Sayadaw, dreamt that another catastrophe, either another big storm or an earthquake, would strike the country, and that floodwater would reach Rangoon’s revered Shwedagon Pagoda.
A nurse at Rangoon Western Hospital said: “Everyone is talking with fear about another big storm.”
One resident said the rumor was causing a lot of uncertainty in Rangoon, where memories of last month’s cyclone were still vivid.
Shortly after the cyclone hit on May 2, the regime’s mouthpiece, The New Light of Myanmar, accused unnamed Western countries of being responsible for the rumors then circulating within Burma.
Dr Than Tun, the late influential historian and outspoken critic of the military junta, once wrote that Burmese oral history related that Sri Ksetra, an early Burmese capital, fell when rumors caused mass panic and hysteria.
The current rumors have also been fuelled by official forecasts of squalls in the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal, with rain and winds reaching 50 miles (80 kilometers) an hour along the Mon and Tenasserim coasts.
The Irrawaddy News
Now all hope of humanitarian intervention in Burma’s cyclone-devastated regions has vanished, rumors of another imminent natural catastrophe are sweeping Rangoon.
In the weeks following the cyclone, as US, British and French ships loaded with aid stood ready in international waters off Burma, many were certain that the three Western powers would decide to launch unilateral relief operations. Rumors spread widely that help was on its way.
Those rumors came to nothing. Now, others have replaced them. The most fanciful relates that three senior monks, Myaungmya Sayadaw, Bassein Sayadaw and Hlaing Tharyar Sayadaw, dreamt that another catastrophe, either another big storm or an earthquake, would strike the country, and that floodwater would reach Rangoon’s revered Shwedagon Pagoda.
A nurse at Rangoon Western Hospital said: “Everyone is talking with fear about another big storm.”
One resident said the rumor was causing a lot of uncertainty in Rangoon, where memories of last month’s cyclone were still vivid.
Shortly after the cyclone hit on May 2, the regime’s mouthpiece, The New Light of Myanmar, accused unnamed Western countries of being responsible for the rumors then circulating within Burma.
Dr Than Tun, the late influential historian and outspoken critic of the military junta, once wrote that Burmese oral history related that Sri Ksetra, an early Burmese capital, fell when rumors caused mass panic and hysteria.
The current rumors have also been fuelled by official forecasts of squalls in the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal, with rain and winds reaching 50 miles (80 kilometers) an hour along the Mon and Tenasserim coasts.
Student activists helping Nargis victims arrested
New Delhi: The Burmese military junta authorities detained at least three members of 88 Generation Students last Thursday.
Three senior members, one man and three women- Myet Thu, Yin Yin Wai and Tin Tin Cho who were into cyclone relief efforts and aid distribution were arrested while they were sitting in a teashop in Maynigone, Rangoon.
"They were in a tea shop waiting to discuss aid with monks when unknown people came and said they were representatives of the monks and took them away. They have disappeared," said a relative of Yin Yin Wai who requested anonymity. The relatives do not know their whereabouts.
The Special Branch of the police which has been after the dissidents had searched the house of those detained at least twice and asked their family members about the lists relating to cyclone aid distribution in Irrawaddy and Rangoon division.
"Around 15 officials including the police searched twice on June 14 and 15 and they asked us where the aid funds were and demanded to see the ledger," she said.
The 88 Generation Students have formed a team which is called Myitta Paung Ku. It has distributed aid at least six times to cyclone survivors.
"They searched the entire house and took some newspaper pictures of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The second time they asked for the laptop," said another family member.
88 Generation Students are known to be supporters of the opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Their top leaders are being detained in jails after the mass uprising in August last year.
Meanwhile, an NGO staffer told Mizzima that the police are patrolling around their office in Inyamyaeing Streets in Rangoon. His organisation is distributing aid in Irrawaddy delta.
The junta arrested a well know comedian Zarganar (tweezers in Burmese) on June 4 and former First Eleven weekly journal Editor Zaw Thet Htwe last Friday. They were both distributing relief material in Irrawaddy delta.
Relief Web
Three senior members, one man and three women- Myet Thu, Yin Yin Wai and Tin Tin Cho who were into cyclone relief efforts and aid distribution were arrested while they were sitting in a teashop in Maynigone, Rangoon.
"They were in a tea shop waiting to discuss aid with monks when unknown people came and said they were representatives of the monks and took them away. They have disappeared," said a relative of Yin Yin Wai who requested anonymity. The relatives do not know their whereabouts.
The Special Branch of the police which has been after the dissidents had searched the house of those detained at least twice and asked their family members about the lists relating to cyclone aid distribution in Irrawaddy and Rangoon division.
"Around 15 officials including the police searched twice on June 14 and 15 and they asked us where the aid funds were and demanded to see the ledger," she said.
The 88 Generation Students have formed a team which is called Myitta Paung Ku. It has distributed aid at least six times to cyclone survivors.
"They searched the entire house and took some newspaper pictures of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The second time they asked for the laptop," said another family member.
88 Generation Students are known to be supporters of the opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Their top leaders are being detained in jails after the mass uprising in August last year.
Meanwhile, an NGO staffer told Mizzima that the police are patrolling around their office in Inyamyaeing Streets in Rangoon. His organisation is distributing aid in Irrawaddy delta.
The junta arrested a well know comedian Zarganar (tweezers in Burmese) on June 4 and former First Eleven weekly journal Editor Zaw Thet Htwe last Friday. They were both distributing relief material in Irrawaddy delta.
Relief Web
Call for release of magazine chief editor and blogger held for distributing aid to cyclone victims - Zaw Thet Htwe
Reporters Without Borders and the Burma Media Association condemn the arrest of Love Journal chief editor Zaw Thet Htwe on 13 June for assisting in the distribution of food and clothes in areas hit by Cyclone Nargis. While editor of the sports magazine First Eleven Journal in 2003, he was arrested, tortured and sentenced to death, and then pardoned by the supreme court.
‘Zaw Thet Htwe is a respected journalist who was moved by the woes of his compatriots after the cyclone,’ the two organisations said. ‘Banned by the military government’s censorship from writing openly about the tragedy in his magazine, he decided to act. We urge UN secretary-general Ban Ki-Moon to intercede with the Burmese authorities so that civilians distributing aid should no longer be treated as criminals, and so that the Burmese and international media should be allowed to operate freely in the cyclone-hit areas.’
At least eight journalists and one blogger are currently in prison in Burma.
Zaw Thet Htwe was arrested by members of the military police while with his seriously-ill mother in the central city of Minbu on 13 June. The police searched his home in Rangoon yesterday. His wife, fellow journalist Ma Khine Cho, told Democratic Voice of Burma, an exile radio station, that the police confiscated his mobile, phone, computer and various documents.
Like the comedian and blogger known as Zarganar, Zaw Thet Htwe had been helping to channel relief to the victims of the Cyclone Nargis. Zarganar was arrested on 4 June after talking to the foreign news media about the slowness of the relief efforts being organised by the military government.
A Rangoon-based journalist reported that the authorities have stepped up control of cameras in the delta region. Equipment has been seized from the home of private individuals for fear that it could be used to film or photograph victims.
A military court sentenced Zaw Thet Htwe and eight other people for ‘high treason’ on 28 November 2003. The real reason for Zaw Thet Htwe’s arrest was the success of his football magazine and its independent line. The supreme court commuted his sentence to three years in prison on 12 May 2004 and he was finally released from Insein prison in January 2005.
Blogger Nay Phone Latt has meanwhile been transferred from cell No. 7 to cell No. 3 in Insein prison’s Building 1. During a recent interrogation session, the police threatened to bring other charges against him, in addition to the charge of possessing banned DVDs.
Relief Web
‘Zaw Thet Htwe is a respected journalist who was moved by the woes of his compatriots after the cyclone,’ the two organisations said. ‘Banned by the military government’s censorship from writing openly about the tragedy in his magazine, he decided to act. We urge UN secretary-general Ban Ki-Moon to intercede with the Burmese authorities so that civilians distributing aid should no longer be treated as criminals, and so that the Burmese and international media should be allowed to operate freely in the cyclone-hit areas.’
At least eight journalists and one blogger are currently in prison in Burma.
Zaw Thet Htwe was arrested by members of the military police while with his seriously-ill mother in the central city of Minbu on 13 June. The police searched his home in Rangoon yesterday. His wife, fellow journalist Ma Khine Cho, told Democratic Voice of Burma, an exile radio station, that the police confiscated his mobile, phone, computer and various documents.
Like the comedian and blogger known as Zarganar, Zaw Thet Htwe had been helping to channel relief to the victims of the Cyclone Nargis. Zarganar was arrested on 4 June after talking to the foreign news media about the slowness of the relief efforts being organised by the military government.
A Rangoon-based journalist reported that the authorities have stepped up control of cameras in the delta region. Equipment has been seized from the home of private individuals for fear that it could be used to film or photograph victims.
A military court sentenced Zaw Thet Htwe and eight other people for ‘high treason’ on 28 November 2003. The real reason for Zaw Thet Htwe’s arrest was the success of his football magazine and its independent line. The supreme court commuted his sentence to three years in prison on 12 May 2004 and he was finally released from Insein prison in January 2005.
Blogger Nay Phone Latt has meanwhile been transferred from cell No. 7 to cell No. 3 in Insein prison’s Building 1. During a recent interrogation session, the police threatened to bring other charges against him, in addition to the charge of possessing banned DVDs.
Relief Web
Burma cyclone impacting world food supply; forced evictions make post-cyclone hell worse
World Tribune
The military officers who have run the Burmese (Myanmar) economy for the past half century has little to show for their efforts. Endowed with vast raw materials and agricultural resources — the latter made Burma in colonial times the world’s No. 1 rice exporter — the economy has fallen to almost subsistence levels.
The effects of Cyclone Nargis in early May have not only added new misery for the country’s 50 million people but have negated rice exports needed by neighboring countries and contributing to the global food crisis. The storm hit hardest in Burma’s main rice-growing region in the isolated Irrawaddy Delta, where some 2 million people were driven from their homes and farmland.
Now comes word from human rights organizations that the military is driving displaced villagers from temporary camps set up in the continuing heavy monsoon rains, and is attempting to get them back on their salt water-logged fields to begin the recuperation of the paddy.
Human rights groups say that forced evictions — involving churches, monasteries, schools and other public buildings — are putting lives at risk and flouting international principles of humanitarian relief. Amnesty International reports 30 cases since May 19 of forcible removals of thousands of people who sought temporary shelter.
The force of the storm was so great that local stocks of food were destroyed. The few foreign refugee workers the regime has permitted to enter have described heart-rending stories of many displaced villagers trying to capture a few grains of rice out of inundated areas filled with decaying human corpses and animal carcasses.
The regime has permitted only minimal outside aid. And much of that, apparently, has been diverted to the military itself. Four American naval vessels that happened to be in the region on exercises when the storm struck waited for several weeks before gaining permission to enter the Delta area with small boats carrying water, emergency food and emergency items. The generals apparently fear exposure to foreign aid would strengthen opposition forces and their leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, daughter of a founding father of the post-colonial nation and political prisoner for more than a decade.
Humanitarian organizations, including the UN World Food Program, were operating in Burma before the cyclone struck, providing food aid to half a million people in the country where one in three children are chronically malnourished. The fear now is that the damage to the area known as the country's "rice bowl" will make a bad situation a lot worse.
Burma’s plight is already impacting world food supplies. The World Food program said that it was not yet known whether Burma would be able to meet its commitments to supply Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. If Burmese exports disappear — as now seems possible — the domino effect on Asia neighbors would be fierce. The International Rice Research Institute warned that, with the year’s second harvest imminent, weather patterns in Asia would come under unprecedented scrutiny: the freak damage caused by the cyclone will now exacerbate that.
The price of rice had already trebled across Asia this year, hitting a record $25.07 per 100 pounds on April 24. Some local market prices have risen tenfold in the past year. Several governments — including those of China and India — responded by imposing export bans. Rice is currently trading around $20.96 per 100 pounds.
If the worst conditions prevail, Burma, with a rickety food economy and impoverished population, could become a net importer of rice.
The military officers who have run the Burmese (Myanmar) economy for the past half century has little to show for their efforts. Endowed with vast raw materials and agricultural resources — the latter made Burma in colonial times the world’s No. 1 rice exporter — the economy has fallen to almost subsistence levels.
The effects of Cyclone Nargis in early May have not only added new misery for the country’s 50 million people but have negated rice exports needed by neighboring countries and contributing to the global food crisis. The storm hit hardest in Burma’s main rice-growing region in the isolated Irrawaddy Delta, where some 2 million people were driven from their homes and farmland.
Now comes word from human rights organizations that the military is driving displaced villagers from temporary camps set up in the continuing heavy monsoon rains, and is attempting to get them back on their salt water-logged fields to begin the recuperation of the paddy.
Human rights groups say that forced evictions — involving churches, monasteries, schools and other public buildings — are putting lives at risk and flouting international principles of humanitarian relief. Amnesty International reports 30 cases since May 19 of forcible removals of thousands of people who sought temporary shelter.
The force of the storm was so great that local stocks of food were destroyed. The few foreign refugee workers the regime has permitted to enter have described heart-rending stories of many displaced villagers trying to capture a few grains of rice out of inundated areas filled with decaying human corpses and animal carcasses.
The regime has permitted only minimal outside aid. And much of that, apparently, has been diverted to the military itself. Four American naval vessels that happened to be in the region on exercises when the storm struck waited for several weeks before gaining permission to enter the Delta area with small boats carrying water, emergency food and emergency items. The generals apparently fear exposure to foreign aid would strengthen opposition forces and their leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, daughter of a founding father of the post-colonial nation and political prisoner for more than a decade.
Humanitarian organizations, including the UN World Food Program, were operating in Burma before the cyclone struck, providing food aid to half a million people in the country where one in three children are chronically malnourished. The fear now is that the damage to the area known as the country's "rice bowl" will make a bad situation a lot worse.
Burma’s plight is already impacting world food supplies. The World Food program said that it was not yet known whether Burma would be able to meet its commitments to supply Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. If Burmese exports disappear — as now seems possible — the domino effect on Asia neighbors would be fierce. The International Rice Research Institute warned that, with the year’s second harvest imminent, weather patterns in Asia would come under unprecedented scrutiny: the freak damage caused by the cyclone will now exacerbate that.
The price of rice had already trebled across Asia this year, hitting a record $25.07 per 100 pounds on April 24. Some local market prices have risen tenfold in the past year. Several governments — including those of China and India — responded by imposing export bans. Rice is currently trading around $20.96 per 100 pounds.
If the worst conditions prevail, Burma, with a rickety food economy and impoverished population, could become a net importer of rice.
Myanmar Cyclone Survivors Left Without Shelter, Aid Workers Say
By Paul Tighe
June 17 (Bloomberg) -- More than 75 percent of people needing shelter after Myanmar's cyclone are without tarpaulins for emergency protection six weeks after the storm devastated the southern Irrawaddy River Delta, aid workers said.
``There are still people who need a roof over their head,'' John Sparrow of the International Federation of the Red Cross said yesterday after returning from the delta, according to the United Nations IRIN news service. ``They are resilient, and they are doing the best they can for themselves, but it isn't enough.''
Only 22 percent of people in need have been given protective materials by international agencies, the IFRC said. The UN estimates that only 160,000 households have received some form of emergency shelter such as plastic sheeting.
The UN is trying to aid more than 2.4 million people affected by the May 2-3 storm. The military junta in the country formerly known as Burma is still complicating the relief effort by imposing restrictions on international aid workers, such as limiting their visits to the delta to two to three days at a time, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a statement yesterday.
Aid agencies have yet to establish how many homes were destroyed when Tropical Cyclone Nargis caused a tidal surge to sweep 35 kilometers (22 miles) inland through the delta, Myanmar's main rice-growing region.
Assessment Team
A team of 250 people from UN agencies is now visiting 30 of the worst-hit townships and plans to have an assessment completed by June 24, according to IRIN.
``We are struggling generally in terms of information flow,'' IRIN cited Graham Eastmond, the Bangkok-based coordinator of Emergency Shelter Cluster, which groups relief agencies, as saying yesterday. As many as 480,000 families may need some shelter materials, the ESC estimates.
Supplies of tarpaulins are hampered by a shortage caused by the relief effort needed for survivors of the May 12 earthquake in China's Sichuan province that killed more than 69,000 people and affected 3.3 million people in the region.
The UN's appeal for Myanmar was 62 percent funded as of yesterday, OCHA said in a statement. More access to the delta region by international aid workers is needed to bring relief to the worst-hit areas, it said.
``The quality and availability of water remains a major health concern,'' it said in its latest report yesterday.
A shortage of funds may affect food, shelter and medicines reaching the region in coming weeks, the UN said last week. Survivors will probably need food aid for a year because Nargis destroyed fields, preventing planting, Paul Risley, a WFP spokesman, said in Bangkok last week.
To contact the reporter on this story: Paul Tighe in Sydney at ptighe@bloomberg.net.
June 17 (Bloomberg) -- More than 75 percent of people needing shelter after Myanmar's cyclone are without tarpaulins for emergency protection six weeks after the storm devastated the southern Irrawaddy River Delta, aid workers said.
``There are still people who need a roof over their head,'' John Sparrow of the International Federation of the Red Cross said yesterday after returning from the delta, according to the United Nations IRIN news service. ``They are resilient, and they are doing the best they can for themselves, but it isn't enough.''
Only 22 percent of people in need have been given protective materials by international agencies, the IFRC said. The UN estimates that only 160,000 households have received some form of emergency shelter such as plastic sheeting.
The UN is trying to aid more than 2.4 million people affected by the May 2-3 storm. The military junta in the country formerly known as Burma is still complicating the relief effort by imposing restrictions on international aid workers, such as limiting their visits to the delta to two to three days at a time, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a statement yesterday.
Aid agencies have yet to establish how many homes were destroyed when Tropical Cyclone Nargis caused a tidal surge to sweep 35 kilometers (22 miles) inland through the delta, Myanmar's main rice-growing region.
Assessment Team
A team of 250 people from UN agencies is now visiting 30 of the worst-hit townships and plans to have an assessment completed by June 24, according to IRIN.
``We are struggling generally in terms of information flow,'' IRIN cited Graham Eastmond, the Bangkok-based coordinator of Emergency Shelter Cluster, which groups relief agencies, as saying yesterday. As many as 480,000 families may need some shelter materials, the ESC estimates.
Supplies of tarpaulins are hampered by a shortage caused by the relief effort needed for survivors of the May 12 earthquake in China's Sichuan province that killed more than 69,000 people and affected 3.3 million people in the region.
The UN's appeal for Myanmar was 62 percent funded as of yesterday, OCHA said in a statement. More access to the delta region by international aid workers is needed to bring relief to the worst-hit areas, it said.
``The quality and availability of water remains a major health concern,'' it said in its latest report yesterday.
A shortage of funds may affect food, shelter and medicines reaching the region in coming weeks, the UN said last week. Survivors will probably need food aid for a year because Nargis destroyed fields, preventing planting, Paul Risley, a WFP spokesman, said in Bangkok last week.
To contact the reporter on this story: Paul Tighe in Sydney at ptighe@bloomberg.net.
Myanmar: Cyclone Nargis OCHA Situation Report No. 32
SITUATION OVERVIEW
1. Cyclone Nargis struck Myanmar on 2 and 3 May 2008, making landfall in the Ayeyarwady Division and hitting the former capital, Yangon. 37 townships were significantly affected by the cyclone. Current estimates suggest that 2.4 million people were affected. 1.3 million people are estimated to have been reached so far by International NGOs, the Red Cross and the UN. Official figures put the number of dead or missing at more than 130,000.
2. A Tripartite Core Group (TCG), consisting of high-level representatives of the Government of Myanmar, ASEAN and the UN, was established at a donor conference in Yangon on 25 May to oversee the coordination of relief assistance. The group’s fifth meeting took place in Yangon on 14 June. The ASEAN Secretary-General, Dr. Surin Pitsuwan, visited Yangon on 14 June. The Secretary-General met with TCG partners, PONJA management teams (see below) and Government representatives.
3. A joint relief and early recovery assessment (Post-Nargis Joint Assessment/PONJA) is underway. The assessment involves humanitarian needs (Village Tract Assessment/VTA) and damage components (Damage and Loss Assessment/DaLA). Field surveys involving some 250 assessment personnel are taking place in 30 of the worst-affected townships between 10 and 19 June. As of 16 June 32 VTA teams have covered 84 out of 128 assessment ‘quadrants’ in Bogale, Labutta, Pathein, Pyapon, Wakema and Yangon.
4. New Government guidelines for international organizations providing assistance in cyclone-affected areas were introduced on 10 June. UN agencies and NGOs report difficulties with requests for visas and travel authorizations carried out in accordance with the new guidelines, with many line ministries not provided with instructions to expedite requests. More than 200 visas have been issued to UN staff as of 15 June. Most of the visas issued have been single entry visas for two weeks. Extensions are currently being approved in approximately 7-10 days. Close to 150 international operational UN staff have been to the affected areas as of 15 June, and at least five international UN staff have now been given permission to be based for up to 3 months in the field.
NATIONAL RESPONSE
5. The Xinhua news service reports that the Myanmar Engineers' Society (MES) and the Geological Science Society (GSS) are planning to build cyclone shelters in 500 vulnerable villages. The total cost of the project is estimated to be at least US$15 million. Designs are reportedly being developed by MES and sample shelters will initially be constructed in Ayeyarwady division.
6. IFRC reports that the Myanmar Red Cross Society (MRCS), working with the IFRC and the ICRC, has reached more than 250,000 beneficiaries with water, food and other relief items as of 9 June. More than 189,950 of these beneficiaries are located in the Ayeyarwady delta. Approximately 10,000 people per day are being reached.
INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE
7. The following information is provided by the clusters, which meet regularly to coordinate the humanitarian response of national and international NGOs, the Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement and UN agencies. For more detailed up-to-date information relating to cluster activities please visit the Humanitarian Information Centre (HIC) website: http://myanmar.humanitarianinfo.org.
Relief Web
1. Cyclone Nargis struck Myanmar on 2 and 3 May 2008, making landfall in the Ayeyarwady Division and hitting the former capital, Yangon. 37 townships were significantly affected by the cyclone. Current estimates suggest that 2.4 million people were affected. 1.3 million people are estimated to have been reached so far by International NGOs, the Red Cross and the UN. Official figures put the number of dead or missing at more than 130,000.
2. A Tripartite Core Group (TCG), consisting of high-level representatives of the Government of Myanmar, ASEAN and the UN, was established at a donor conference in Yangon on 25 May to oversee the coordination of relief assistance. The group’s fifth meeting took place in Yangon on 14 June. The ASEAN Secretary-General, Dr. Surin Pitsuwan, visited Yangon on 14 June. The Secretary-General met with TCG partners, PONJA management teams (see below) and Government representatives.
3. A joint relief and early recovery assessment (Post-Nargis Joint Assessment/PONJA) is underway. The assessment involves humanitarian needs (Village Tract Assessment/VTA) and damage components (Damage and Loss Assessment/DaLA). Field surveys involving some 250 assessment personnel are taking place in 30 of the worst-affected townships between 10 and 19 June. As of 16 June 32 VTA teams have covered 84 out of 128 assessment ‘quadrants’ in Bogale, Labutta, Pathein, Pyapon, Wakema and Yangon.
4. New Government guidelines for international organizations providing assistance in cyclone-affected areas were introduced on 10 June. UN agencies and NGOs report difficulties with requests for visas and travel authorizations carried out in accordance with the new guidelines, with many line ministries not provided with instructions to expedite requests. More than 200 visas have been issued to UN staff as of 15 June. Most of the visas issued have been single entry visas for two weeks. Extensions are currently being approved in approximately 7-10 days. Close to 150 international operational UN staff have been to the affected areas as of 15 June, and at least five international UN staff have now been given permission to be based for up to 3 months in the field.
NATIONAL RESPONSE
5. The Xinhua news service reports that the Myanmar Engineers' Society (MES) and the Geological Science Society (GSS) are planning to build cyclone shelters in 500 vulnerable villages. The total cost of the project is estimated to be at least US$15 million. Designs are reportedly being developed by MES and sample shelters will initially be constructed in Ayeyarwady division.
6. IFRC reports that the Myanmar Red Cross Society (MRCS), working with the IFRC and the ICRC, has reached more than 250,000 beneficiaries with water, food and other relief items as of 9 June. More than 189,950 of these beneficiaries are located in the Ayeyarwady delta. Approximately 10,000 people per day are being reached.
INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE
7. The following information is provided by the clusters, which meet regularly to coordinate the humanitarian response of national and international NGOs, the Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement and UN agencies. For more detailed up-to-date information relating to cluster activities please visit the Humanitarian Information Centre (HIC) website: http://myanmar.humanitarianinfo.org.
Relief Web
Myanmar rice farmers get tillers to replace buffalo, but don't know how to use them
KYUNG GWIN, Myanmar (IHT): Farmer Zaw Naing was puzzled as he stared at the brand new, unassembled tilling machine — equipment not seen in most of Myanmar's rice belt before the deadly cyclone.
Thousands of the tillers, donated by international and private aid donors, have been brought in to replace the water buffalo that once plowed the rice paddies but were killed by Cyclone Nargis on May 2-3.
The plan is for farmers in the devastated Irrawaddy delta to rebuild their livelihoods and begin producing the rice that feeds this impoverished country.
But time is running out
The rice planting season should have started by early June, when farmers here typically plow their fields with water buffalo and prepare to plant new seeds for the October harvest. The delta produces most of Myanmar's rice, and without immediate help, food security will be seriously threatened, international experts have warned.
The Agriculture Ministry has said 13,600 power tillers are needed to replace more than 280,000 cattle that died in the storm.
Some farmers say they have been lucky enough to receive the new machines but need to reassemble them since the tillers were shipped in several pieces.
"We don't know how to put it together. We have to wait for a mechanic to come," Zaw Naing said on a recent afternoon in the delta village of Kyaung Gwin as he unwrapped the plastic cover of the Chinese-made machine's red engine. He watched as a neighbor tugged at the machine's parts and pulled its gear shifts.
Most farmers in the delta have not managed to get a mechanical tiller. But once they do, they face further challenges: farmers can't afford the diesel fuel to power the machines and don't know how to operate them.
"I don't know how to use this machine. We only used buffalo in the past," said Zaw Naing, who lost his home in the cyclone as well as the 10 water buffalo that plowed his fields.
He has been told by local authorities to share the tiller with five other farmers in his village, which is south of the town of Labutta in one of the hardest hit areas. The cyclone killed some 78,000 people and left 56,000 more missing.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said in an assessment last week the delta normally produces about 60 percent of Myanmar's rice and the outlook for this year's crop is "very uncertain" after the storm flooded paddy fields with sea water, damaged irrigation systems and destroyed seed supplies.
"Little to no actual progress has been made to restore or rehabilitate damaged lands and infrastructure," the report said. "Farmers are yet to be supplied with sufficient food, viable seed, tools, livestock or replacement mechanical tillers and fuel."
Myanmar's Agriculture Ministry says it is sending experts to train farmers and will send 140,000 baskets of salt-resistant rice seed — the equivalent of 2,900 tons — to the delta, a fraction of what is needed.
Once the world's top producer, Myanmar has seen rice exports drop from nearly 4 million tons to about 40,000 tons last year, after four decades of military rule and disastrous economic policies. Its exports are so small these days that few expect the cyclone will have any impact on world rice prices; the people of Myanmar consume most of the rice the country produces.
U.N. Undersecretary-General Noeleen Heyzer issued an urgent plea Friday for donations of 1 million gallons (3.8 million liters) of diesel fuel to help farmers run the tillers.
Myanmar's agriculture minister, Maj. Gen. Htay Oo, told Heyzer the fuel is needed to run some 5,000 tillers donated by Thailand, China and other countries. Private donors and aid agencies have contributed additional machines.
"The window of opportunity is very short," said Heyzer, the senior U.N. official in Asia. After the planting season ends in July, it will be too late, she said, warning of "disastrous consequences for food security in Myanmar."
The sense of urgency — and frustration — was shared by rice farmer Tin Yein, whose wife, five farm hands and eight buffalo were killed in the cyclone. He spent a whole day recently lined up with 200 other farmers in Labutta, where dozens of donated tillers were being stored in a government warehouse waiting to be distributed.
"I didn't get one today, but maybe I will get it tomorrow," said Tin Yein, sitting at a tea shop in town after a day of dealing with red tape. Farmers applying for the mechanical tillers must be accompanied by their village headmen, said Tin Yein, and his local official arrived too late to process the request that day.
"Normally, planting season starts May 15. I'm already a month late," said the farmer, who has 70 acres (28 hectares) of land. Each harvest produced about 30,000 baskets of rice, enough to feed his family and bring in some US$9,000 a year in income.
Tin Yein wonders how he'll afford to use the mechanical tiller. He says he'll need to hire eight men and a boat to transport the machine to his village, about an hour away and accessible only by narrow waterways.
Each machine uses 2 gallons (8 liters) of diesel per acre and government rations restrict each person to 5 gallons (19 liters) of fuel every few days. Fuel is available on the black market but for twice the official price of US$2.70 per gallon.
"I have no money for diesel because every day I struggle just to buy food," Tin Yein said. "I'm not hopeful of planting before the rainy season is over."
Thousands of the tillers, donated by international and private aid donors, have been brought in to replace the water buffalo that once plowed the rice paddies but were killed by Cyclone Nargis on May 2-3.
The plan is for farmers in the devastated Irrawaddy delta to rebuild their livelihoods and begin producing the rice that feeds this impoverished country.
But time is running out
The rice planting season should have started by early June, when farmers here typically plow their fields with water buffalo and prepare to plant new seeds for the October harvest. The delta produces most of Myanmar's rice, and without immediate help, food security will be seriously threatened, international experts have warned.
The Agriculture Ministry has said 13,600 power tillers are needed to replace more than 280,000 cattle that died in the storm.
Some farmers say they have been lucky enough to receive the new machines but need to reassemble them since the tillers were shipped in several pieces.
"We don't know how to put it together. We have to wait for a mechanic to come," Zaw Naing said on a recent afternoon in the delta village of Kyaung Gwin as he unwrapped the plastic cover of the Chinese-made machine's red engine. He watched as a neighbor tugged at the machine's parts and pulled its gear shifts.
Most farmers in the delta have not managed to get a mechanical tiller. But once they do, they face further challenges: farmers can't afford the diesel fuel to power the machines and don't know how to operate them.
"I don't know how to use this machine. We only used buffalo in the past," said Zaw Naing, who lost his home in the cyclone as well as the 10 water buffalo that plowed his fields.
He has been told by local authorities to share the tiller with five other farmers in his village, which is south of the town of Labutta in one of the hardest hit areas. The cyclone killed some 78,000 people and left 56,000 more missing.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said in an assessment last week the delta normally produces about 60 percent of Myanmar's rice and the outlook for this year's crop is "very uncertain" after the storm flooded paddy fields with sea water, damaged irrigation systems and destroyed seed supplies.
"Little to no actual progress has been made to restore or rehabilitate damaged lands and infrastructure," the report said. "Farmers are yet to be supplied with sufficient food, viable seed, tools, livestock or replacement mechanical tillers and fuel."
Myanmar's Agriculture Ministry says it is sending experts to train farmers and will send 140,000 baskets of salt-resistant rice seed — the equivalent of 2,900 tons — to the delta, a fraction of what is needed.
Once the world's top producer, Myanmar has seen rice exports drop from nearly 4 million tons to about 40,000 tons last year, after four decades of military rule and disastrous economic policies. Its exports are so small these days that few expect the cyclone will have any impact on world rice prices; the people of Myanmar consume most of the rice the country produces.
U.N. Undersecretary-General Noeleen Heyzer issued an urgent plea Friday for donations of 1 million gallons (3.8 million liters) of diesel fuel to help farmers run the tillers.
Myanmar's agriculture minister, Maj. Gen. Htay Oo, told Heyzer the fuel is needed to run some 5,000 tillers donated by Thailand, China and other countries. Private donors and aid agencies have contributed additional machines.
"The window of opportunity is very short," said Heyzer, the senior U.N. official in Asia. After the planting season ends in July, it will be too late, she said, warning of "disastrous consequences for food security in Myanmar."
The sense of urgency — and frustration — was shared by rice farmer Tin Yein, whose wife, five farm hands and eight buffalo were killed in the cyclone. He spent a whole day recently lined up with 200 other farmers in Labutta, where dozens of donated tillers were being stored in a government warehouse waiting to be distributed.
"I didn't get one today, but maybe I will get it tomorrow," said Tin Yein, sitting at a tea shop in town after a day of dealing with red tape. Farmers applying for the mechanical tillers must be accompanied by their village headmen, said Tin Yein, and his local official arrived too late to process the request that day.
"Normally, planting season starts May 15. I'm already a month late," said the farmer, who has 70 acres (28 hectares) of land. Each harvest produced about 30,000 baskets of rice, enough to feed his family and bring in some US$9,000 a year in income.
Tin Yein wonders how he'll afford to use the mechanical tiller. He says he'll need to hire eight men and a boat to transport the machine to his village, about an hour away and accessible only by narrow waterways.
Each machine uses 2 gallons (8 liters) of diesel per acre and government rations restrict each person to 5 gallons (19 liters) of fuel every few days. Fuel is available on the black market but for twice the official price of US$2.70 per gallon.
"I have no money for diesel because every day I struggle just to buy food," Tin Yein said. "I'm not hopeful of planting before the rainy season is over."
Monday, 16 June 2008
Who in China Is Happy?
In an increasingly diverse and divided China, experts cite a new key distinction: those who are burdened by the expectations of others, and those who follow their own paths.
HONG KONG—Two decades of breakneck economic growth have left Chinese society divided against itself, into rich and poor, urban and rural, old and young, with implications for the happiness of individuals and the country as a whole.
She Jixiang of the Yunnan Mental Health Center was one of the earliest Chinese psychoanalysts and psychotherapists, as China under the late reformer Deng Xiaoping emerged from Maoist isolationism and the chaos of the Cultural Revolution (1966-76).
He said that while he saw no particular reason why having more money should necessarily lead to greater happiness and satisfaction, his many years of clinical experience have shown that richer people do feel happier than poor people in China.
"I think there's a difference between rich and poor, and countryside and city. If we are talking about what sort of people we get as patients, I think there are more poor people, actually," She said.
"They are naturally going to have more worries and anxieties as a result of the requirements that life puts upon them."
High property prices, healthcare costs, and school and university fees are all economic factors that increase the amount of pressure on the individual and affect overall happiness, She added.
Impatience cited
A Beijing-based psychologist surnamed Ning said Chinese people's overall happiness has been affected in recent years by widespread impatience, an approach to goal-setting entirely geared to material wealth, and a need to compete and compare well with others.
"Most Chinese people today are focused on money, wealth, material gain," Ning said. "They think that as long as they can achieve that then everything will be fine. They get their entire sense of life satisfaction from economic success right now."
"If that goes, they have nothing to fall back on," he said.
Rural-urban divide
A major schism in Chinese society now exists between the booming high-tech cities of China's eastern seaboard and the underdeveloped rural hinterland.
Recent studies of depression and suicide in China have revealed a unique social pattern: China is the only country in which the suicide rate for females is higher than for males.
Around 90 percent of Chinese women who end their own lives live in the countryside, where they have ready access to poisonous pesticides, and where, says She, they are oppressed under traditional family structures.
"I think one of the best indicators of happiness levels in the countryside as compared with the city is in the suicide rate, which is much higher in the countryside than it is in urban areas," She said.
But he added that if people are able to break out of rural life and venture into the big cities in search of work, further psychological problems await them.
"Someone who has grown up in the country and who has never been to the big city will, I believe, actually be a bit happier than their urban counterpart," he said. "There are not so many requirements attached to rural life. You don't need much to get by. They are more satisfied because there is less of a gap between what they desire and what they have."
"But when those same people go to the cities, they see rich people everywhere, and this boosts their expectations and desire for material gain and enjoyment of life. But someone from the countryside is unlikely to be able to realize such desires, which is a very painful state, and after that happiness becomes very elusive for them," he added.
Officials are satisfied
If rural women are the least happy people in China, then a series of recent surveys has shown government officials—the most empowered people in Chinese society—at the top of surveys of life satisfaction and well-being.
A poll in September 2007 for the Chinese-language Health magazine found that civil servants make up the happiest sector of Chinese society, followed by teachers and independent professionals.
And a recent Chinese Academy of Social Sciences survey found that government officials are the happiest, followed by intellectuals and upwardly mobile professionals including private entrepreneurs, independent professionals, and management-grade workers in foreign-invested companies.
Why are Chinese officials so happy?
"Well, political power is certainly a factor," She said. "But there are a lot of other benefits to the position, including opportunities for their children and access to resources that other people don't have."
In Western countries, doctors and lawyers are highly paid, he said. In China, this is also true, but professional standards are still struggling to meet the social challenges of the market economy.
"There is now a crisis of trust in Chinese society," She said. "The basic trust between people has been eroded. There is something of a crisis too between doctors and their patients...Sure, the salary is quite high, but doctors are not a very happy bunch of people."
Generation gap
Another major form of stress and social division, according to a number of interviewees, is China's generation gap: the difference in attitude between people born and raised in an era of cradle-to-grave socialism, and their children, who must make their way in today's highly competitive labor market.
While parents said they often struggled to find enough money to educate their children to give them the best possible start in life, in keeping with traditional Chinese values, children are increasingly at odds with their parents' world view.
China's young people, according to Ning, pursue goals of greater freedom, while their parents' generation is still influenced by traditional mores that dictate what direction they think their sons and daughters should take in life.
Ms. Wu, a white-collar worker in Beijing, said she rarely discussed career matters with her parents because of a gap in understanding between the generations. "I don't tend to talk to my parents about a problem at work because they are very unlikely to know how to handle it. I find it is better to sort it out by myself," she said.
Pressure on children
Meanwhile, the obsession with competition and success is already taking a psychological toll on the young and straining family relationships, She said.
"There are a lot of middle-income families putting too much pressure on their children, who go off the rails," he said.
"We are talking about the families of teachers, workers, policemen. Especially teachers. All the way through the kids' high-school years, the parents are pushing them to work harder and achieve more, and finally the kids can't take it any more and they start to have psychological problems."
Guo Xue'an, a laid-off worker from Yichun in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang, waved goodbye to his young son, who can't find a job in his hometown and is off to the booming south to find work.
"We don't ask much in order to be happy," Guo said. "We want to be able to support ourselves in life. We want our kids to get a bit of education. That's enough...if our children can't get an education, then how can they live?" he said.
Yang Yushu, the proprietor of a privately owned restaurant in Beijing, agreed. "The two biggest problems faced by ordinary people in China these days is what to do if they get sick, and where to send their kids to school," he said.
Dreams of others
Meanwhile, psychologist Ning said the Chinese tendency to live one's entire life according to the goals and expectations of other people doesn't always lead to happiness.
"There are many aspects to happiness. One shouldn't impose too many fixed expectations on life. That way, if things aren't going very well for you in one area, often there is an opportunity to compensate in another area," he said, urging young people to resist sacrificing too much of themselves to conform to collective demands.
"Or you can take the chance to broaden your direction in life, and to deepen your understanding of what it means to be human. This is a much more complete realization of one's needs as an individual. Life is not just about material success, nor even just about feeling happy. There are many more aspects to it than that," he said.
Original reporting in Mandarin by Bai Fan. Mandarin service director: Jennifer Chou. Translated and written for the Web in English by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Sarah Jackson-Han.
Radio Free Asia
Editor aiding cyclone victims arrested by Junta
By Wai Sann - Mizzima News
15 June 2008
The Burmese military junta continues to harass and detain people and despite odds have gone out of their way to help victims of Cyclone Nargis. In its latest instance of intolerance it arrested a journalist on Friday, who had been helping survivors.
Zaw Thet Htwe, the former editor of a weekly sports journal was arrested in his home town, Minbu, according to a close relative according to a close relative who refused to be quoted by his name.
"They [local authorities] came and arrested him and blocked mobile phone connection," he said.
Zaw Thet Htwe was visiting his native town after delivering some kitchen utensils for cyclone victims in the Irrawaddy Delta.
No official reason has been given by the authorities. Nevertheless, Zaw Thet Htwe's arrest is thought to have a link with Zarganar's arrest last week.
The well-known outspoken comedian was arrested after his team was caught supplying food and shelter to cyclone victims. The authorities confiscated relief money along with the VCDs of records of his team's activities in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis.
It is not the first time that Zaw Thet Htwe has been arrested on November 2003 . He was charged with sending reports to the International Labour Organization and sentenced to life imprisonment. However, the Supreme Court quashed the sentence later against him due to pressure from the ILO.
Till date, it is not known where he has been taken. His home in Rangoon was reportedly stormed by the special police and his phone connection was also cut off.
Some reports said he was being detained in an interrogation camp in Rangoon after being transferred from Minbu Township.
15 June 2008
The Burmese military junta continues to harass and detain people and despite odds have gone out of their way to help victims of Cyclone Nargis. In its latest instance of intolerance it arrested a journalist on Friday, who had been helping survivors.
Zaw Thet Htwe, the former editor of a weekly sports journal was arrested in his home town, Minbu, according to a close relative according to a close relative who refused to be quoted by his name.
"They [local authorities] came and arrested him and blocked mobile phone connection," he said.
Zaw Thet Htwe was visiting his native town after delivering some kitchen utensils for cyclone victims in the Irrawaddy Delta.
No official reason has been given by the authorities. Nevertheless, Zaw Thet Htwe's arrest is thought to have a link with Zarganar's arrest last week.
The well-known outspoken comedian was arrested after his team was caught supplying food and shelter to cyclone victims. The authorities confiscated relief money along with the VCDs of records of his team's activities in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis.
It is not the first time that Zaw Thet Htwe has been arrested on November 2003 . He was charged with sending reports to the International Labour Organization and sentenced to life imprisonment. However, the Supreme Court quashed the sentence later against him due to pressure from the ILO.
Till date, it is not known where he has been taken. His home in Rangoon was reportedly stormed by the special police and his phone connection was also cut off.
Some reports said he was being detained in an interrogation camp in Rangoon after being transferred from Minbu Township.
Red Cross welcomes special cyclone support
Australian Red Cross CEO Robert Tickner today warmly welcomed a special contribution by the Government of South Australia to aid victims of Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar(Burma).
Mr Tickner also acknowledged the generous support of the Australian community while recognising the South Australian government's special donation of $200,000 to aid victims of the disaster cyclone.
'We sincerely appreciate this strong financial contribution from South Australian Premier Mike Rann,' Mr Tickner said.
Mr Tickner said the Government of South Australia showed 'very timely humanitarian spirit' in helping meet the massive needs in the recovery efforts for families and communities affected by the cyclone.
'This special contribution will help extend a hand to people who survived the original cyclone trauma but are now extremely vulnerable. It recognises that, as neighbours, we are able to help in times of dire need.'
Mr Tickner said there was a desperate requirement for basic shelter as well as access to clean water and first aid in the country.
Over the last few days, Red Cross flights have managed to reach the Yangon region carrying over 35 tonnes of shelter materials and supplies.
Red Cross officials estimate that by Friday (16 May) a total of 180 tonnes of Red Cross aid will have arrived in Myanmar.
Mr Tickner praised the work of Myanmar Red Cross aid workers and volunteers currently distributing life-saving relief items to affected families including drinking water, clothing, food and emergency shelter.
The Myanmar Red Cross network covers the country with key branches in the most affected areas with more than 19,000 staff and volunteers able to help in areas including first aid and relief activities.
To donate to the Myanmar Cyclone Nargis Appeal 2008:
- make an online donation
- phone 1800 811 700
- send a cheque or money order to PO Box 2957, Melbourne, 8060
- at any branch of the Commonwealth bank
Donations to the Myanmar Cyclone Nargis Appeal 2008 will:
- support the relief and recovery needs of households and communities affected by Cyclone Nargis, including clean water, emergency shelter and household items
- send specialist aid workers to assist in the Red Cross response
- assist Myanmar Red Cross in preparing and responding to this and future emergencies
Australian Red Cross will deduct no more than 10% of any donation for an international Appeal to cover its appeal costs.
Should the funds raised exceed the amount required to meet the immediate and longer term needs of the people in the affected areas, Australian Red Cross will direct the excess funds to other emergency preparedness and response initiatives in the Asia Pacific region.
Available for interview:
Or for further information:
Lachlan Quick, National media coordinator
m: 0412 912 378
Relief Web
Mr Tickner also acknowledged the generous support of the Australian community while recognising the South Australian government's special donation of $200,000 to aid victims of the disaster cyclone.
'We sincerely appreciate this strong financial contribution from South Australian Premier Mike Rann,' Mr Tickner said.
Mr Tickner said the Government of South Australia showed 'very timely humanitarian spirit' in helping meet the massive needs in the recovery efforts for families and communities affected by the cyclone.
'This special contribution will help extend a hand to people who survived the original cyclone trauma but are now extremely vulnerable. It recognises that, as neighbours, we are able to help in times of dire need.'
Mr Tickner said there was a desperate requirement for basic shelter as well as access to clean water and first aid in the country.
Over the last few days, Red Cross flights have managed to reach the Yangon region carrying over 35 tonnes of shelter materials and supplies.
Red Cross officials estimate that by Friday (16 May) a total of 180 tonnes of Red Cross aid will have arrived in Myanmar.
Mr Tickner praised the work of Myanmar Red Cross aid workers and volunteers currently distributing life-saving relief items to affected families including drinking water, clothing, food and emergency shelter.
The Myanmar Red Cross network covers the country with key branches in the most affected areas with more than 19,000 staff and volunteers able to help in areas including first aid and relief activities.
To donate to the Myanmar Cyclone Nargis Appeal 2008:
- make an online donation
- phone 1800 811 700
- send a cheque or money order to PO Box 2957, Melbourne, 8060
- at any branch of the Commonwealth bank
Donations to the Myanmar Cyclone Nargis Appeal 2008 will:
- support the relief and recovery needs of households and communities affected by Cyclone Nargis, including clean water, emergency shelter and household items
- send specialist aid workers to assist in the Red Cross response
- assist Myanmar Red Cross in preparing and responding to this and future emergencies
Australian Red Cross will deduct no more than 10% of any donation for an international Appeal to cover its appeal costs.
Should the funds raised exceed the amount required to meet the immediate and longer term needs of the people in the affected areas, Australian Red Cross will direct the excess funds to other emergency preparedness and response initiatives in the Asia Pacific region.
Available for interview:
Or for further information:
Lachlan Quick, National media coordinator
m: 0412 912 378
Relief Web
Damage from dams
Editor - Sunday's San Francisco Chronicle aptly illustrated the problems inherent in large dam projects with its coverage of the planned Salween dams in Burma and the Xalalá Dam in Guatemala ("Villagers fear dams are bid to grab control of land," June 8).
The problems in Burma and Guatemala are sadly emblematic of most, if not all, of the large dam projects now being undertaken around the world.
While expanding their authority, government officials and dam builders invariably pay little heed to the future of the people to be displaced from their homelands. The benefits of leaving rivers undammed - such as preserving traditional livelihoods and cultures, aquatic ecosystems and maintaining free-flowing rivers - are rarely considered.
The real beneficiaries of these dams are not the displaced or even the general population of the nations involved. In Burma, the profits are likely to go to the military junta rather than to the local people. In Guatemala, the real beneficiaries of the Xalalá Dam will be the U.S. corporation AES (if it wins the project contract) and other foreign companies, as well as the banks whose loans generate revenue in interest payments.
The Chronicle is to be congratulated for pointing out the risks and dangers of rampant dam building. The United States has learned painful lessons from damming our own rivers and today far more dams are being decommissioned than built in this country. Perhaps the United States, for once, can set a good international example by encouraging dam decommissioning and discouraging the development of destructive large dam projects.
TIM KINGSTON, International Rivers, Berkeley
San Francisco Gate
The problems in Burma and Guatemala are sadly emblematic of most, if not all, of the large dam projects now being undertaken around the world.
While expanding their authority, government officials and dam builders invariably pay little heed to the future of the people to be displaced from their homelands. The benefits of leaving rivers undammed - such as preserving traditional livelihoods and cultures, aquatic ecosystems and maintaining free-flowing rivers - are rarely considered.
The real beneficiaries of these dams are not the displaced or even the general population of the nations involved. In Burma, the profits are likely to go to the military junta rather than to the local people. In Guatemala, the real beneficiaries of the Xalalá Dam will be the U.S. corporation AES (if it wins the project contract) and other foreign companies, as well as the banks whose loans generate revenue in interest payments.
The Chronicle is to be congratulated for pointing out the risks and dangers of rampant dam building. The United States has learned painful lessons from damming our own rivers and today far more dams are being decommissioned than built in this country. Perhaps the United States, for once, can set a good international example by encouraging dam decommissioning and discouraging the development of destructive large dam projects.
TIM KINGSTON, International Rivers, Berkeley
San Francisco Gate
NDPCC member inspects rehabilitation tasks in Ngapudaw Township
Yangon, 13 June - Member of the National Disaster Preparedness Central Committee Minister for Mines Brig-Gen Ohn Myint met with commanding officer of local battalion and those in-charge of construction companies, officials and USDA members at the control office of Pyinkhayein village, Ayeyawady Division in Ngapudaw Township on 9 June and gave instructions on rehabilitation tasks of storm-hit villages, progress in repairing schools, arrival of power-tillers and agricultural equipment and health matter.
Source: Relief Web
Source: Relief Web
Dodging the Junta
by Suzy Khimm
(TNR) - Over a month after Cyclone Nargis devastated Burma's southern coast, the country's ruling junta continues to restrict international efforts to assist the disaster's victims, so domestic ad-hoc groups are taking the lead in funneling aid through back channels. The organization of these impromptu relief efforts speaks to the surprising resilience of civil society in a brutally repressive environment, showing how, despite the junta's stranglehold on Burmese society, grassroots networks and alliances have emerged within the country.
Though the junta has attempted to commandeer every level of the relief effort--backed by its legions of foot soldiers in the army and police--some local groups have found detours around the blockades, helped by ground-level officials willing to look the other way. On a Wednesday afternoon last month, a group of volunteers visited a makeshift shelter in Shwebaukan, an area in the outlying districts of Rangoon. Inside a government school--the only concrete building in the neighborhood--500 homeless cyclone victims were huddled, "being threatened by the local army guy [who was saying] that they could not stay there for long," according to a Western expatriate who accompanied the group. The military man turned out to be a member of Suan Aa Shin, the local "brute force" contingent. Two days later, the victims were evicted from the school, left to patch together lean-to shacks from the wreckage of ruined huts.
Despite the clampdown, no one stopped volunteers from returning to the area the next weekend to pass out rice, beans, and oral rehydration solution to the evicted residents. The volunteers were able to do their work because they had an established history with area leaders. Before the cyclone, they had worked on educational activities in the neighborhood, building local ties. "Local authorities are in many ways our biggest allies," said Beth Jones, program director of the Foundation for the People of Burma (FPB), a U.S.-based humanitarian group funding some of these grassroots relief efforts. "They sit on these [township] councils, participate in military activities on occasion. But there are people who have hearts and minds, concern for their fellow citizens. They're the smokescreens between the small civic groups and the higher-ups who don't want any of this going on, on the ground."
Since coming to power in 1962, Burma's junta has maintained an unyielding grip on the country's politics, media outlets, schools, public gatherings, and commercial industries. Over the past decade, however, it has conceded limited opportunities for humanitarian and educational activities to take place. Alongside a small number of international NGOs, a loose network of local advocates and community leaders has conducted public health campaigns, cultural programs, and religious activities. The regime has maintained a harsh and capricious attitude toward these civic groups, frequently cutting off access and closely monitoring their members. But their work has been provisionally tolerated, if not openly embraced, so long as the groups steer clear of politics.
Burma's monks have frequently served as the first point of contact for any grassroots-level initiative (along with their Christian and Muslim counterparts in ethnic minority communities). Among the first to be seen clearing trees after the cyclone, the monks have joined in supporting the ad-hoc relief effort. Despite the crackdown on monasteries following last year's mass demonstrations, a number of powerful local abbots have leveraged their ties with government officials to pave the way for distributions of food, clean water, and medicine, one volunteer in Rangoon reported.
Within a week of the cyclone, a coalition of local religious leaders, ethnic minority groups, student unions, labor organizers, and artists distributed aid to some 4,000 victims and quickly expanded ongoing relief to over 70,000 people. The volunteers described the junta's attempt to intensify its control of aid handouts, confiscating supplies and cutting off access to the devastated southern Delta region. International aid groups may be easy marks, but local volunteers and civic groups have also been targeted. FPB has received ongoing reports of interference by military personnel and police. Outside one of the makeshift refugee camps in Rangoon's satellite communities, "a soldier informed us that we could not give supplies to the shelter, and should instead give the money and food to a local government official," a local volunteer said in a statement released last month by the FPB. In another instance, an armed official confiscated the notebooks of local volunteers who were trying to create a census of the dead, Jones says.
In response, the ad hoc coalition has continued aid delivery under the cover of night--at times quite literally. On Saturday, May 10, one team attempted to bring clean water and medical supplies to a small hospital in one of the devastated towns beyond Rangoon. (The organizers declined to specify the exact location.) The hospital, one of the few operating in the region, had victims with broken bones and gangrenous-looking wounds waiting in a line that stretched past the doors. None had received treatment within in a week's time. The medical director tried to hurry the volunteers away, saying "You can't do it right now, you can't do it right now or they will take it away--please come back after dark," the group reported. Later that evening, the volunteers snuck back into the hospital to drop off the supplies.
Burma's civic groups and community leaders have spent years learning how to maneuver around such crushing restraints. "They have faced controls on their movements, on goods and money, on their general freedom for so long, they have learned how to rely on some of these backdoor and relationship systems," said Jones. "They know how to get things done in this environment." Because most foreign aid workers still face visa blockades and are prohibited from entering the hardest-hit regions, the coalition has recruited local doctors and nurses to tend to victims. Only a modest flow of aid from abroad has been allowed into the country, so the volunteers rely on well-connected businessmen to procure chlorine tablets and temporary toilets from local suppliers. Low-level military officers helped secure access to the Irrawaddy Delta, the epicenter of the disaster. And the civic groups have turned to blogs and fundraising newsletters to convince potential donors that their contributions won't go straight into the hands of the junta.
Given the magnitude of the devastation, however, even the most enterprising and resourceful grassroots efforts can only go so far. By the government's count, 134,000 people have died or are missing, and the U.N. says that 2.5 million are still in need of aid. The logistical hurdles of reaching the entire Delta region are beyond the scope of any small-scale operation. But though their reach may be limited, the ability of civic groups to persist with their work is evidence that the junta's control is less than total, according to Bridget Welsh, a Southeast Asia expert at Johns Hopkins University. "The fact that they let them have a space, that they have let people act, shows that [officials] on the ground believe the military is not capable of addressing the issues," She says. Such cooperation between local officials and organizers "serves to build trust and networks that bridge divides in the community that the military foster to hold onto power."
In the long run, these kinds of internal networks and linkages are key to any hope for a more open society. As Joshua Kurlantzick argued on this site, neither popular revolt nor international condemnation has led the junta to budge in the past. Over the past month, the generals have acted true to form, limiting foreign aid for fear that "destructive elements" will undermine their grip on the state. By working outside of official channels to deliver humanitarian relief, domestic civic groups have created unlikely alliances within Burma's highly militarized and stratified society: between monks and low-level officials, Delta villagers and city residents, community organizers and military cronies. However precarious these relationships, their potential impact should not be discounted. For ultimately, some analysts say, the catalyst for long-term reform will have to come from within the regime's ruling cadre itself--prompted not only by internal discontent among officers, but also by sympathy for other factions of Burmese society. "The military's mid-level officers would need to see that people are all are suffering, the same as them," says U Win Min, a Burmese exile and political analyst based in Thailand.
In the meantime, the recent disaster has created some small opportunities for Burma's fragile civil society to reconcile with the army. In the cyclone's aftermath, "[the military] even neglect their own," an expatriate in Rangoon said by email last month. "As I passed some soldiers cutting trees yesterday, I asked if they'd eaten breakfast. Of course not! So, I went back home to get them some bread."
Suzy Khimm is a writer based in New York.
An ad hoc grassroots aid network in Burma
has had some success working
around the country's repressive leaders.
has had some success working
around the country's repressive leaders.
(TNR) - Over a month after Cyclone Nargis devastated Burma's southern coast, the country's ruling junta continues to restrict international efforts to assist the disaster's victims, so domestic ad-hoc groups are taking the lead in funneling aid through back channels. The organization of these impromptu relief efforts speaks to the surprising resilience of civil society in a brutally repressive environment, showing how, despite the junta's stranglehold on Burmese society, grassroots networks and alliances have emerged within the country.
Though the junta has attempted to commandeer every level of the relief effort--backed by its legions of foot soldiers in the army and police--some local groups have found detours around the blockades, helped by ground-level officials willing to look the other way. On a Wednesday afternoon last month, a group of volunteers visited a makeshift shelter in Shwebaukan, an area in the outlying districts of Rangoon. Inside a government school--the only concrete building in the neighborhood--500 homeless cyclone victims were huddled, "being threatened by the local army guy [who was saying] that they could not stay there for long," according to a Western expatriate who accompanied the group. The military man turned out to be a member of Suan Aa Shin, the local "brute force" contingent. Two days later, the victims were evicted from the school, left to patch together lean-to shacks from the wreckage of ruined huts.
Despite the clampdown, no one stopped volunteers from returning to the area the next weekend to pass out rice, beans, and oral rehydration solution to the evicted residents. The volunteers were able to do their work because they had an established history with area leaders. Before the cyclone, they had worked on educational activities in the neighborhood, building local ties. "Local authorities are in many ways our biggest allies," said Beth Jones, program director of the Foundation for the People of Burma (FPB), a U.S.-based humanitarian group funding some of these grassroots relief efforts. "They sit on these [township] councils, participate in military activities on occasion. But there are people who have hearts and minds, concern for their fellow citizens. They're the smokescreens between the small civic groups and the higher-ups who don't want any of this going on, on the ground."
Since coming to power in 1962, Burma's junta has maintained an unyielding grip on the country's politics, media outlets, schools, public gatherings, and commercial industries. Over the past decade, however, it has conceded limited opportunities for humanitarian and educational activities to take place. Alongside a small number of international NGOs, a loose network of local advocates and community leaders has conducted public health campaigns, cultural programs, and religious activities. The regime has maintained a harsh and capricious attitude toward these civic groups, frequently cutting off access and closely monitoring their members. But their work has been provisionally tolerated, if not openly embraced, so long as the groups steer clear of politics.
Burma's monks have frequently served as the first point of contact for any grassroots-level initiative (along with their Christian and Muslim counterparts in ethnic minority communities). Among the first to be seen clearing trees after the cyclone, the monks have joined in supporting the ad-hoc relief effort. Despite the crackdown on monasteries following last year's mass demonstrations, a number of powerful local abbots have leveraged their ties with government officials to pave the way for distributions of food, clean water, and medicine, one volunteer in Rangoon reported.
Within a week of the cyclone, a coalition of local religious leaders, ethnic minority groups, student unions, labor organizers, and artists distributed aid to some 4,000 victims and quickly expanded ongoing relief to over 70,000 people. The volunteers described the junta's attempt to intensify its control of aid handouts, confiscating supplies and cutting off access to the devastated southern Delta region. International aid groups may be easy marks, but local volunteers and civic groups have also been targeted. FPB has received ongoing reports of interference by military personnel and police. Outside one of the makeshift refugee camps in Rangoon's satellite communities, "a soldier informed us that we could not give supplies to the shelter, and should instead give the money and food to a local government official," a local volunteer said in a statement released last month by the FPB. In another instance, an armed official confiscated the notebooks of local volunteers who were trying to create a census of the dead, Jones says.
In response, the ad hoc coalition has continued aid delivery under the cover of night--at times quite literally. On Saturday, May 10, one team attempted to bring clean water and medical supplies to a small hospital in one of the devastated towns beyond Rangoon. (The organizers declined to specify the exact location.) The hospital, one of the few operating in the region, had victims with broken bones and gangrenous-looking wounds waiting in a line that stretched past the doors. None had received treatment within in a week's time. The medical director tried to hurry the volunteers away, saying "You can't do it right now, you can't do it right now or they will take it away--please come back after dark," the group reported. Later that evening, the volunteers snuck back into the hospital to drop off the supplies.
Burma's civic groups and community leaders have spent years learning how to maneuver around such crushing restraints. "They have faced controls on their movements, on goods and money, on their general freedom for so long, they have learned how to rely on some of these backdoor and relationship systems," said Jones. "They know how to get things done in this environment." Because most foreign aid workers still face visa blockades and are prohibited from entering the hardest-hit regions, the coalition has recruited local doctors and nurses to tend to victims. Only a modest flow of aid from abroad has been allowed into the country, so the volunteers rely on well-connected businessmen to procure chlorine tablets and temporary toilets from local suppliers. Low-level military officers helped secure access to the Irrawaddy Delta, the epicenter of the disaster. And the civic groups have turned to blogs and fundraising newsletters to convince potential donors that their contributions won't go straight into the hands of the junta.
Given the magnitude of the devastation, however, even the most enterprising and resourceful grassroots efforts can only go so far. By the government's count, 134,000 people have died or are missing, and the U.N. says that 2.5 million are still in need of aid. The logistical hurdles of reaching the entire Delta region are beyond the scope of any small-scale operation. But though their reach may be limited, the ability of civic groups to persist with their work is evidence that the junta's control is less than total, according to Bridget Welsh, a Southeast Asia expert at Johns Hopkins University. "The fact that they let them have a space, that they have let people act, shows that [officials] on the ground believe the military is not capable of addressing the issues," She says. Such cooperation between local officials and organizers "serves to build trust and networks that bridge divides in the community that the military foster to hold onto power."
In the long run, these kinds of internal networks and linkages are key to any hope for a more open society. As Joshua Kurlantzick argued on this site, neither popular revolt nor international condemnation has led the junta to budge in the past. Over the past month, the generals have acted true to form, limiting foreign aid for fear that "destructive elements" will undermine their grip on the state. By working outside of official channels to deliver humanitarian relief, domestic civic groups have created unlikely alliances within Burma's highly militarized and stratified society: between monks and low-level officials, Delta villagers and city residents, community organizers and military cronies. However precarious these relationships, their potential impact should not be discounted. For ultimately, some analysts say, the catalyst for long-term reform will have to come from within the regime's ruling cadre itself--prompted not only by internal discontent among officers, but also by sympathy for other factions of Burmese society. "The military's mid-level officers would need to see that people are all are suffering, the same as them," says U Win Min, a Burmese exile and political analyst based in Thailand.
In the meantime, the recent disaster has created some small opportunities for Burma's fragile civil society to reconcile with the army. In the cyclone's aftermath, "[the military] even neglect their own," an expatriate in Rangoon said by email last month. "As I passed some soldiers cutting trees yesterday, I asked if they'd eaten breakfast. Of course not! So, I went back home to get them some bread."
Suzy Khimm is a writer based in New York.
Sunday, 15 June 2008
Obstacles to EU-Asean FTA
By Supalak Ganjanakhundee
The Nation
June 13, 2008
A free-trade agreement between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the European Union is unlikely to take shape soon because of the big discrepancies between Asean members and political problems in Burma, said visiting Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht.
The blocs announced their vision for a free-trade agreement in 2005 but negotiations could not be concluded easily, he said. The Asean ministerial meeting in Singapore next month, which the EU will join as a dialogue partner, would not reach any common ground, he added.
De Gucht said there were big discrepancies between the economies of the 10 Asean members. Burma, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam lag behind more advanced economies such as Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia. "Therefore you cannot argue that there is a homogenous bloc of Asean countries, which means you need many rules and provisions adapted to meet various national conditions," he told a gathering of the business community in Bangkok on Wednesday.
Another major obstacle for the pact is political problems in military-ruled Burma, he added.
A political stalemate arose two decades ago in Burma due to suppression of democratic movements and human rights. The most recent suppression occurred last September when the junta launched a military crackdown on street protests led by Buddhist monks that left at least 31 dead.
The EU is foremost in imposing economic sanctions against the junta.
"There are many EU member states that doubt they can come to an agreement with Asean unless there are some signs of evolution in Burma and political change there," De Gucht said.
A report on Asean-EU economic relations by Britain's Glyn Ford, submitted to the European Parliament last month, suggested that the EU human rights in the partnership and cooperation agreement prior to the conclusion of a free-trade agreement. To that extent, Burma could not be included in any deal.
The Nation
June 13, 2008
A free-trade agreement between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the European Union is unlikely to take shape soon because of the big discrepancies between Asean members and political problems in Burma, said visiting Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht.
The blocs announced their vision for a free-trade agreement in 2005 but negotiations could not be concluded easily, he said. The Asean ministerial meeting in Singapore next month, which the EU will join as a dialogue partner, would not reach any common ground, he added.
De Gucht said there were big discrepancies between the economies of the 10 Asean members. Burma, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam lag behind more advanced economies such as Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia. "Therefore you cannot argue that there is a homogenous bloc of Asean countries, which means you need many rules and provisions adapted to meet various national conditions," he told a gathering of the business community in Bangkok on Wednesday.
Another major obstacle for the pact is political problems in military-ruled Burma, he added.
A political stalemate arose two decades ago in Burma due to suppression of democratic movements and human rights. The most recent suppression occurred last September when the junta launched a military crackdown on street protests led by Buddhist monks that left at least 31 dead.
The EU is foremost in imposing economic sanctions against the junta.
"There are many EU member states that doubt they can come to an agreement with Asean unless there are some signs of evolution in Burma and political change there," De Gucht said.
A report on Asean-EU economic relations by Britain's Glyn Ford, submitted to the European Parliament last month, suggested that the EU human rights in the partnership and cooperation agreement prior to the conclusion of a free-trade agreement. To that extent, Burma could not be included in any deal.
OPINION: There’s a Little Bit of the Burmese General in All of Us
Lita Davidson; May 23, 2008
While the western world looks with disgust at Burma’s military, who pride themselves more on their self imposed isolation than on saving the lives of their people, the response of citizens and governments in Asia to the crisis unfolding in their region has been modest. There is very little in the way of a sense of urgency in the Asian media or in regional political bodies responding to the cyclone, nor of comment on Burma’s intransigence. Compared to reactions in the west, by Asian standards, the cyclone is a small matter indeed.
On the surface, Asia’s citizens do not appear to exhibit the same intensity of compassion on what approach to take in their media as we do in the west. In the west there is an outpouring of discourse on Burma; in Asia, this subject is fleeting. With the exception of the Burmese in exile, Thai English language news and anomalies, such as an unidentified Singaporean millionaire who on a whim donated 50,000 then quickly donated another 50,000 to the cyclone relief effort, comments from the Asian international community and general interest about the situation in Burma is meek. Stories which are printed about the situation tend to be only descriptive and come across as an everyday occurrence.
In Asia, any Asian nation that undergoes conflict, human tragedy, poverty, war or humanitarian crisis, such as the ongoing civil war in Sri Lanka and the murderous political transition in Nepal and East Timor among others, does not garner much attention or bring on much collective spirit as would be expected from among the most powerful players, including the more advanced countries of South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, and Japan, who potentially could change the dire situation given their massive economic clout.
With the exception of the Thai English language newspapers that generate lively debate among mostly ‘farang’ or western foreigners in Thailand, protests or critical analysis on situations or even knowledge about what is going on in other countries are mostly submissive and inward looking, rarely directed outward at the international level toward other countries. With the exception of individual scholars, such as, among others, Korea’s Kim Dae Jung and Basil Fernando from the Asian Human Rights Commission in Hong Kong, people within Asia, don’t really care or even know about what is going on.
Upon closer scrutiny however, individual people in Asia do feel deep compassion when they see starving and dead children just as we do in the west, but tend to keep their thoughts private and are rarely given the chance to take action or voice their opinions in a robust way on international affairs. This writer has witnessed intense debate on how to tackle poverty and conflict, but like us, feel powerless to do anything about it. Generally, people in Asia come under close scrutiny by their governments and society; group and worker meetings take place every week in most Asian societies, their behavior is monitored by coworkers and their superiors and they are exhausted after working long hours. On average, most people in Asia work longer hours than people in the west. Freedom to do as you please is not encouraged in Asia; they are socialized to succeed at all costs.
One is also humbled on learning how Asia’s political scene for many decades was shaped by western influence in which leaders were advised to do away with agitators wanting equal rights and higher wages during the Cold War, a situation repeating itself with respect to China who wants to keep their doors open to western and Asian companies and who are reluctant to reform their exploitative wage labour system so as to suit the business interests of foreign investment.
In truth, the mild response in Asian media is due to the propensity of Asian leaders to refrain from judging each other too closely, fearing that each will be held accountable for their own weaknesses, which is inconceivable, if not an uncomfortable situation for most Asian leaders. Democratic will is further weakened by the educational system in which children are brought up to not question their instructor or an authority figure, they are taught to obey, listen and produce, and applying critical thinking or a different point of view on a subject is not part of their culture, not yet anyway.
A student expressing his or her opinion may be punished severely, although this situation may be changing as governments realize that critical and imaginative analysis are the basics of innovation needed to further develop their economies. While opening up and building relationships based on cooperation with neigbhours, as demonstrated recently when China visited Japan last week, is a step in the right direction to working collectively as a group, rather than against each other.
Burma and other similar countries might as well be on another planet or in a different part of the world. People in Asia may comment they have undergone much worse catastrophes. Why should we help them? We pulled ourselves out of poverty, why should we go to their aid? Even though many have achieved a modern standard of living, there is still a great fear that one day they will fall back on hard times and staying ahead of the game is foremost on their minds.
Most are concerned about their own country’s economy and compete with each other fiercely to maintain an edge over the other, being second place to another Asian country is unthinkable, like losing a soccer match. In South Korea the outbreak of Avian bird flu has been on the front page for over 3 weeks amid rising inflation and fuel prices, and the slowing down of the economy is more of a concern. Scant mention is made of Burma and the damage inflicted by the cyclone is not as vigorously pursued in the press as it is in the west.
The Association of Southeast Nations does not appear to take as seriously the massive operation that is needed to deal with the catastrophe and shows little sign of collective will on the implication of thousands of Burmese facing starvation and disease due to the Burmese generals’ paranoia to let in foreign workers. The cyclone is mentioned briefly in small paragraphs on their website, whereas in the west, it is seen on all government and regional websites with explicit detail and moral analysis; in most Asian newspapers, very little detail about the situation is reported.
The western press and many western citizens learn about Burma including its people, the environment, and the ongoing aid effort through their local newspapers that generates a lot of public opinion among the editorial boards. It’s a shame that Asian governments do not promote more moral discourse on what goes on in other Asian countries and compete more on democratic and humanitarian principles, not just economic ones; perhaps it is their history and their leaders, but their educational system can also explain some of their silence.
As commented by a Korean in the Korean Times, “Why should we criticize Burma when we fail to even criticize atrocities committed in North Korea?” Asian media is vigorously censored and does not encourage moral discourse; however, people can wholeheartedly think and are very opinionated about their governments and what happens in other parts of the world, surprisingly even more so than us in the west, but the term ‘constructive criticism’ is a concept not quite accepted by Asian governments who do not encourage it in any positive way.
Are Asian people morally inferior? Disasters and large scale humanitarian crises have occurred in recent living memory over local and international wars in Asia in which people were powerless against dictators and roving bands of invading armies bent on rape, pillage and murder. Each Asian country has endured untold miseries while the slaughter of millions across Asia such as in South Korea, China, Indonesia, Cambodia, and Vietnam; for much of the 20th century these countries faced enormous upheaval which occurred right under our noses for many years while we in turn remained silent and culpable in their destruction.
In comparing the west and the east as most Asian and Western diplomats tend to do nowadays when it comes to the rapid pace of economic modernization in Asia, in particular, Singaporean and Malaysia diplomats, one can cite western atrocities committed in the name of religion, progress and nation. There are several horrific examples, many of which are untold; much of the 20th century was a nightmare for people in Asia, crimes and wars committed by western nations, no one is innocent.
In a recent BBC interview, Singaporean diplomat Kishore Mahbubani commented that the west can learn a lot from the east in competing, as being a model for growth. Yes, that’s true, but the east can learn from the west in promoting discourse on moral values in ensuring protection of people who can also contribute. Governments in Asia, especially from the more developed countries, need to exercise more leadership and to work collectively to address serious problems that affect the economic performance of Asian countries. Have not these diplomats realized the potential of Burma’s people who can contribute to Asia?
Kaowao News
While the western world looks with disgust at Burma’s military, who pride themselves more on their self imposed isolation than on saving the lives of their people, the response of citizens and governments in Asia to the crisis unfolding in their region has been modest. There is very little in the way of a sense of urgency in the Asian media or in regional political bodies responding to the cyclone, nor of comment on Burma’s intransigence. Compared to reactions in the west, by Asian standards, the cyclone is a small matter indeed.
On the surface, Asia’s citizens do not appear to exhibit the same intensity of compassion on what approach to take in their media as we do in the west. In the west there is an outpouring of discourse on Burma; in Asia, this subject is fleeting. With the exception of the Burmese in exile, Thai English language news and anomalies, such as an unidentified Singaporean millionaire who on a whim donated 50,000 then quickly donated another 50,000 to the cyclone relief effort, comments from the Asian international community and general interest about the situation in Burma is meek. Stories which are printed about the situation tend to be only descriptive and come across as an everyday occurrence.
In Asia, any Asian nation that undergoes conflict, human tragedy, poverty, war or humanitarian crisis, such as the ongoing civil war in Sri Lanka and the murderous political transition in Nepal and East Timor among others, does not garner much attention or bring on much collective spirit as would be expected from among the most powerful players, including the more advanced countries of South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, and Japan, who potentially could change the dire situation given their massive economic clout.
With the exception of the Thai English language newspapers that generate lively debate among mostly ‘farang’ or western foreigners in Thailand, protests or critical analysis on situations or even knowledge about what is going on in other countries are mostly submissive and inward looking, rarely directed outward at the international level toward other countries. With the exception of individual scholars, such as, among others, Korea’s Kim Dae Jung and Basil Fernando from the Asian Human Rights Commission in Hong Kong, people within Asia, don’t really care or even know about what is going on.
Upon closer scrutiny however, individual people in Asia do feel deep compassion when they see starving and dead children just as we do in the west, but tend to keep their thoughts private and are rarely given the chance to take action or voice their opinions in a robust way on international affairs. This writer has witnessed intense debate on how to tackle poverty and conflict, but like us, feel powerless to do anything about it. Generally, people in Asia come under close scrutiny by their governments and society; group and worker meetings take place every week in most Asian societies, their behavior is monitored by coworkers and their superiors and they are exhausted after working long hours. On average, most people in Asia work longer hours than people in the west. Freedom to do as you please is not encouraged in Asia; they are socialized to succeed at all costs.
One is also humbled on learning how Asia’s political scene for many decades was shaped by western influence in which leaders were advised to do away with agitators wanting equal rights and higher wages during the Cold War, a situation repeating itself with respect to China who wants to keep their doors open to western and Asian companies and who are reluctant to reform their exploitative wage labour system so as to suit the business interests of foreign investment.
In truth, the mild response in Asian media is due to the propensity of Asian leaders to refrain from judging each other too closely, fearing that each will be held accountable for their own weaknesses, which is inconceivable, if not an uncomfortable situation for most Asian leaders. Democratic will is further weakened by the educational system in which children are brought up to not question their instructor or an authority figure, they are taught to obey, listen and produce, and applying critical thinking or a different point of view on a subject is not part of their culture, not yet anyway.
A student expressing his or her opinion may be punished severely, although this situation may be changing as governments realize that critical and imaginative analysis are the basics of innovation needed to further develop their economies. While opening up and building relationships based on cooperation with neigbhours, as demonstrated recently when China visited Japan last week, is a step in the right direction to working collectively as a group, rather than against each other.
Burma and other similar countries might as well be on another planet or in a different part of the world. People in Asia may comment they have undergone much worse catastrophes. Why should we help them? We pulled ourselves out of poverty, why should we go to their aid? Even though many have achieved a modern standard of living, there is still a great fear that one day they will fall back on hard times and staying ahead of the game is foremost on their minds.
Most are concerned about their own country’s economy and compete with each other fiercely to maintain an edge over the other, being second place to another Asian country is unthinkable, like losing a soccer match. In South Korea the outbreak of Avian bird flu has been on the front page for over 3 weeks amid rising inflation and fuel prices, and the slowing down of the economy is more of a concern. Scant mention is made of Burma and the damage inflicted by the cyclone is not as vigorously pursued in the press as it is in the west.
The Association of Southeast Nations does not appear to take as seriously the massive operation that is needed to deal with the catastrophe and shows little sign of collective will on the implication of thousands of Burmese facing starvation and disease due to the Burmese generals’ paranoia to let in foreign workers. The cyclone is mentioned briefly in small paragraphs on their website, whereas in the west, it is seen on all government and regional websites with explicit detail and moral analysis; in most Asian newspapers, very little detail about the situation is reported.
The western press and many western citizens learn about Burma including its people, the environment, and the ongoing aid effort through their local newspapers that generates a lot of public opinion among the editorial boards. It’s a shame that Asian governments do not promote more moral discourse on what goes on in other Asian countries and compete more on democratic and humanitarian principles, not just economic ones; perhaps it is their history and their leaders, but their educational system can also explain some of their silence.
As commented by a Korean in the Korean Times, “Why should we criticize Burma when we fail to even criticize atrocities committed in North Korea?” Asian media is vigorously censored and does not encourage moral discourse; however, people can wholeheartedly think and are very opinionated about their governments and what happens in other parts of the world, surprisingly even more so than us in the west, but the term ‘constructive criticism’ is a concept not quite accepted by Asian governments who do not encourage it in any positive way.
Are Asian people morally inferior? Disasters and large scale humanitarian crises have occurred in recent living memory over local and international wars in Asia in which people were powerless against dictators and roving bands of invading armies bent on rape, pillage and murder. Each Asian country has endured untold miseries while the slaughter of millions across Asia such as in South Korea, China, Indonesia, Cambodia, and Vietnam; for much of the 20th century these countries faced enormous upheaval which occurred right under our noses for many years while we in turn remained silent and culpable in their destruction.
In comparing the west and the east as most Asian and Western diplomats tend to do nowadays when it comes to the rapid pace of economic modernization in Asia, in particular, Singaporean and Malaysia diplomats, one can cite western atrocities committed in the name of religion, progress and nation. There are several horrific examples, many of which are untold; much of the 20th century was a nightmare for people in Asia, crimes and wars committed by western nations, no one is innocent.
In a recent BBC interview, Singaporean diplomat Kishore Mahbubani commented that the west can learn a lot from the east in competing, as being a model for growth. Yes, that’s true, but the east can learn from the west in promoting discourse on moral values in ensuring protection of people who can also contribute. Governments in Asia, especially from the more developed countries, need to exercise more leadership and to work collectively to address serious problems that affect the economic performance of Asian countries. Have not these diplomats realized the potential of Burma’s people who can contribute to Asia?
Kaowao News
Deep South Referendum Bombing Suspects Resurface
Asohn Vi / Kaowao; June 9, 2008
Two men suspected of setting and exploding a bomb previously believed to have been tortured to death, have resurfaced in a southern town in Mon state. According to their relatives, they now remain detained at the town’s police station.
Nai Cheem Mon (Show Tun), a former New Mon State Party (NMSP) medic and Nai Kyaw Tun were arrested after being forced to admit to the bombing during the May 10th referendum in Yin Dein (Yan Dein) village, southern Ye and were allegedly tortured with electric shock by the Army troops of Infantry Battalion (IB) No.31 based in Khaw Zar subtown. Most villagers believed they had died as a result of torture as nothing had been seen or heard from them since that time. Death as a result of torture is not uncommon in Mon state.
When the Burmese regime heard that most people in Yin Dein village planned to register a vote against the constitutional referendum, they positioned themselves in the area on May 10th; on the same day a bomb exploded near the school where the vote took place. After the explosion the military called all people suspected of planting the bomb to plead their case and eventually arrested two villagers after finding they possessed a VCD about the Saffron Revolution.
According to his wife, Mi San Aye, although Nai Cheem Mon insisted he wasn’t involved in the bombing, authorities ignored all pleas and instead detained him and subjected him to torture. Rather than hope for exemption, Mi San Aye had also assumed her husband had died as a result of torture, and so was surprised when she was recently able to meet with him. After seeing her husband for the first time in almost one month she stated that although there were no bruises evident, his speech was slurred and at times incoherent, possibly as a result of repeated electric shocks.
In a similar case the head villager of Yin Ye village, a neighboring village of Yin Dein, together with his three partners were arrested on May 28th and 30th and tortured until close to death by the town authority Infantry Battalion (IB) No.30. Their alleged crime was supporting Mon rebel groups in fundraising. All four men were given an internment on June 3rd after prominent people in their village acted as guarantors for them. The condition of their release is similar to parole; “They have to report and sign into the IB No.31 every week, confirming that they are at the village and registering their activities over the past week,” said a Yin Ye villager.
These cases are widely known throughout the Mon community around the world and have led to a strong call for both the Mon ceasefire groups and Mon rebel groups to work on a resolution.
Banya Htaw Weang, an overseas Mon community leader from America, urged and encouraged overseas Mon using the e-communication tool of Monnet, commenting, “I would like to urge the NMSP and the Hongsawatoi Restoration Party to find a solution on how to get along with each other and protect our people instead of going in different directions and allowing personal problems to become the priority. This is the time to work together.”
Many Mon believe a combined approach is required, as cases of unexplained detention and significant use of torture on Mon people increases.
Two men suspected of setting and exploding a bomb previously believed to have been tortured to death, have resurfaced in a southern town in Mon state. According to their relatives, they now remain detained at the town’s police station.
Nai Cheem Mon (Show Tun), a former New Mon State Party (NMSP) medic and Nai Kyaw Tun were arrested after being forced to admit to the bombing during the May 10th referendum in Yin Dein (Yan Dein) village, southern Ye and were allegedly tortured with electric shock by the Army troops of Infantry Battalion (IB) No.31 based in Khaw Zar subtown. Most villagers believed they had died as a result of torture as nothing had been seen or heard from them since that time. Death as a result of torture is not uncommon in Mon state.
When the Burmese regime heard that most people in Yin Dein village planned to register a vote against the constitutional referendum, they positioned themselves in the area on May 10th; on the same day a bomb exploded near the school where the vote took place. After the explosion the military called all people suspected of planting the bomb to plead their case and eventually arrested two villagers after finding they possessed a VCD about the Saffron Revolution.
According to his wife, Mi San Aye, although Nai Cheem Mon insisted he wasn’t involved in the bombing, authorities ignored all pleas and instead detained him and subjected him to torture. Rather than hope for exemption, Mi San Aye had also assumed her husband had died as a result of torture, and so was surprised when she was recently able to meet with him. After seeing her husband for the first time in almost one month she stated that although there were no bruises evident, his speech was slurred and at times incoherent, possibly as a result of repeated electric shocks.
In a similar case the head villager of Yin Ye village, a neighboring village of Yin Dein, together with his three partners were arrested on May 28th and 30th and tortured until close to death by the town authority Infantry Battalion (IB) No.30. Their alleged crime was supporting Mon rebel groups in fundraising. All four men were given an internment on June 3rd after prominent people in their village acted as guarantors for them. The condition of their release is similar to parole; “They have to report and sign into the IB No.31 every week, confirming that they are at the village and registering their activities over the past week,” said a Yin Ye villager.
These cases are widely known throughout the Mon community around the world and have led to a strong call for both the Mon ceasefire groups and Mon rebel groups to work on a resolution.
Banya Htaw Weang, an overseas Mon community leader from America, urged and encouraged overseas Mon using the e-communication tool of Monnet, commenting, “I would like to urge the NMSP and the Hongsawatoi Restoration Party to find a solution on how to get along with each other and protect our people instead of going in different directions and allowing personal problems to become the priority. This is the time to work together.”
Many Mon believe a combined approach is required, as cases of unexplained detention and significant use of torture on Mon people increases.
Burmese force collects paddy seeds for cyclone victims
(Kaladan Press) 14 June 2008 - Maungdaw, Arakan State:
Burma's border security force, Nasaka, collected paddy seeds for seedlings for the cyclone victims, from Maungdaw and Buthidaung Townships last week, according to villagers.
The Nasaka has collected 3 kgs of paddy seeds per acre from the farmers of Maungdaw and Buthidaung Townships, in Arakan State.
They have also collected Kyat 5,000 to Kyat 10,000 per family from Buthidaung and Maungdaw Townships according to the economic standing of the family.
The Nasaka has also collected 6 to 10 cattle from one village across Maungdaw Buthidaung Townships for the cyclone victims, a village elder said on condition of anonymity.
For farmers of the Irrawaddy Delta, it is necessary to sow seeds by the end of June or else, the country's rice production would decline. Farmers have to replant their seedlings and care for them with fertilizers before the end of August, according to sources.
The cyclone could probably turn Burma-- a rice exporting nation into an importer of rice. Stocks of food have been destroyed; seeds have been damaged, while all other assets have been swept away.
Planting the next rice crop on time is very important. Farmers do not have the capital to replace the seeds, livestock and tools needed to start replanting rice in the next few months.
The Irrawaddy Delta produces almost two-thirds of Burma's rice output.
Earlier, on May 25, the Nasaka collected one kg of rice per acre, two cattle per village and 5,500 Tan (one Tan= 40.91 litre) of paddy per village for cyclone Nargis victims from villagers of Maungdaw Township.
Burma's border security force, Nasaka, collected paddy seeds for seedlings for the cyclone victims, from Maungdaw and Buthidaung Townships last week, according to villagers.
The Nasaka has collected 3 kgs of paddy seeds per acre from the farmers of Maungdaw and Buthidaung Townships, in Arakan State.
They have also collected Kyat 5,000 to Kyat 10,000 per family from Buthidaung and Maungdaw Townships according to the economic standing of the family.
The Nasaka has also collected 6 to 10 cattle from one village across Maungdaw Buthidaung Townships for the cyclone victims, a village elder said on condition of anonymity.
For farmers of the Irrawaddy Delta, it is necessary to sow seeds by the end of June or else, the country's rice production would decline. Farmers have to replant their seedlings and care for them with fertilizers before the end of August, according to sources.
The cyclone could probably turn Burma-- a rice exporting nation into an importer of rice. Stocks of food have been destroyed; seeds have been damaged, while all other assets have been swept away.
Planting the next rice crop on time is very important. Farmers do not have the capital to replace the seeds, livestock and tools needed to start replanting rice in the next few months.
The Irrawaddy Delta produces almost two-thirds of Burma's rice output.
Earlier, on May 25, the Nasaka collected one kg of rice per acre, two cattle per village and 5,500 Tan (one Tan= 40.91 litre) of paddy per village for cyclone Nargis victims from villagers of Maungdaw Township.
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