UN chief hails release of Myanmar dissidents
Fri Sep 18, 7:19 pm ET
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) – UN chief Ban Ki-moon welcomed Friday the release of a batch of political prisoners in Myanmar but urged the junta to free those still being held, including democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.
"The Secretary-General welcomes the release of a limited number of political prisoners as part of a larger amnesty," Ban's spokeswoman Michele Montas said.
Earlier Friday, Myanmar authorities freed two journalists who helped victims of last year's Cyclone Nargis and released several opposition activists as part of an amnesty for more than 7,000 prisoners, according to witnesses.
One of the freed journalists was Eint Khaing Oo, 28, who was arrested in 2008. This year she became the first recipient of an award set up in memory of a Japanese video reporter who was killed in monk-led protests in 2007.
The other journalist was Kyaw Kyaw Thant, who was arrested with her as they took a group of survivors of the May 2008 cyclone to the United Nations head offices in Yangon.
Nargis killed around 138,000 people and left thousands more homeless after battering southwestern Myanmar. The military regime's slow response to the disaster drew international criticism.
Ban renewed his call to Myanmar's rulers "to ensure the release of remaining political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi, as a necessary step towards a credible process of national reconciliation and democratic transition."
The UN secretary general, who visited Myanmar in July, has repeatedly pressed for the release of the opposition leader and other political prisoners.
The 64-year-old Suu Kyi was found guilty in July of breaching the terms of her house arrest after John Yettaw, an eccentric US former military veteran, swam to her lakeside villa in May and stayed there for two days.
Myanmar junta leader Than Shwe commuted Suu Kyi's sentence to 18 months under house arrest, but this would still rule her out of elections due to be held next year.
Suu Kyi has been confined for 14 of the past 20 years, ever since the military regime refused to recognize her National League for Democracy's landslide victory in the last elections held in 1990.
Fri Sep 18, 7:19 pm ET
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) – UN chief Ban Ki-moon welcomed Friday the release of a batch of political prisoners in Myanmar but urged the junta to free those still being held, including democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.
"The Secretary-General welcomes the release of a limited number of political prisoners as part of a larger amnesty," Ban's spokeswoman Michele Montas said.
Earlier Friday, Myanmar authorities freed two journalists who helped victims of last year's Cyclone Nargis and released several opposition activists as part of an amnesty for more than 7,000 prisoners, according to witnesses.
One of the freed journalists was Eint Khaing Oo, 28, who was arrested in 2008. This year she became the first recipient of an award set up in memory of a Japanese video reporter who was killed in monk-led protests in 2007.
The other journalist was Kyaw Kyaw Thant, who was arrested with her as they took a group of survivors of the May 2008 cyclone to the United Nations head offices in Yangon.
Nargis killed around 138,000 people and left thousands more homeless after battering southwestern Myanmar. The military regime's slow response to the disaster drew international criticism.
Ban renewed his call to Myanmar's rulers "to ensure the release of remaining political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi, as a necessary step towards a credible process of national reconciliation and democratic transition."
The UN secretary general, who visited Myanmar in July, has repeatedly pressed for the release of the opposition leader and other political prisoners.
The 64-year-old Suu Kyi was found guilty in July of breaching the terms of her house arrest after John Yettaw, an eccentric US former military veteran, swam to her lakeside villa in May and stayed there for two days.
Myanmar junta leader Than Shwe commuted Suu Kyi's sentence to 18 months under house arrest, but this would still rule her out of elections due to be held next year.
Suu Kyi has been confined for 14 of the past 20 years, ever since the military regime refused to recognize her National League for Democracy's landslide victory in the last elections held in 1990.
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Myanmar's Suu Kyi to hear appeal result in October
by Hla Hla Htay – Fri Sep 18, 1:10 pm ET
YANGON (AFP) – A Myanmar court will rule next month on Aung San Suu Kyi's appeal against her extended house arrest, lawyers said Friday, as the junta released several activists amid growing foreign pressure.
Judges will announce on October 2 whether they will uphold the pro-democracy icon's conviction over an incident in which an American man swam to her house, earning her an extra 18 months detention.
The 64-year-old Nobel Peace laureate was denied permission to attend court on Friday as government and defence lawyers gave their final arguments in the appeal against the internationally condemned verdict.
"We are expecting her unconditional release," Suu Kyi's lawyer Nyan Win said after the hearing at Yangon divisional court, confirming that it would hand down its judgment on October 2 at 10am (0430 GMT).
Myanmar's iron-fisted generals have kept the frail Suu Kyi locked up for 14 of the past 20 years. Her National League for Democracy (NLD) won the country's last elections in 1990 but the regime refused to acknowledge the result.
Her extended house arrest now keeps her off the scene for elections promised by the regime some time in 2010, adding to widespread criticism that the polls are a sham designed to legitimise the junta's grip on power.
The trial court at Yangon's notorious Insein prison originally sentenced her to three years of hard labour but junta chief Than Shwe reduced the sentence to 18 months of house arrest.
Two female assistants living with Suu Kyi received the same sentence and have also appealed.
John Yettaw, the eccentric American who triggered the debacle by swimming to her lakeside mansion in May, was sentenced to seven years hard labour but the regime freed him last month following a visit by US Senator Jim Webb.
On Thursday the junta freed two journalists who helped victims of devastating Cyclone Nargis in 2008. Authorities also released several NLD activists as part of an amnesty for more than 7,000 prisoners.
One of the freed journalists was Eint Khaing Oo, 28, who earlier this year became the first recipient of an award set up in memory of a Japanese video reporter who was killed in monk-led protests in Myanmar in 2007.
"I am happy that I am free. I will continue working as a journalist," Eint Khaing Oo, who worked for the Myanmar-based journal Ecovision, told reporters after she was released from Insein Prison.
The other journalist was Kyaw Kyaw Thant, who was arrested at the same time as her after they took a group of survivors of the May 2008 cyclone to the United Nations head offices in Yangon.
Both were mentioned in a Human Rights Watch report published on Wednesday which said that the number of political prisoners in Myanmar had doubled to more than 2,200 in the two years since the protest crackdown.
Nargis killed around 138,000 people and left thousands more homeless after battering southwestern Myanmar. The military regime's slow response to the disaster drew international criticism.
Also freed on Friday was leading NLD member Nine Nine, who won a seat in the 1990 elections. He was serving a 21-year sentence and had been in jail since September 2000.
"I will continue to be a politician," said Nine Nine. "I will join the NLD again because I will always be an NLD member."
Another leading member of the NLD, Than Than Htay, was also freed.
Myanmar's director general of prisons, Zaw Win, said the regime had announced the amnesty as it was the 21st anniversary of a military coup that followed the crushing of a 1988 student-led pro-democracy uprising.
He said that the prisoners were freed so they could take part next year's polls.
"The government will hold the elections in 2010 so we have released them to take part in the elections according to the rights of the citizens," he told reporters.
by Hla Hla Htay – Fri Sep 18, 1:10 pm ET
YANGON (AFP) – A Myanmar court will rule next month on Aung San Suu Kyi's appeal against her extended house arrest, lawyers said Friday, as the junta released several activists amid growing foreign pressure.
Judges will announce on October 2 whether they will uphold the pro-democracy icon's conviction over an incident in which an American man swam to her house, earning her an extra 18 months detention.
The 64-year-old Nobel Peace laureate was denied permission to attend court on Friday as government and defence lawyers gave their final arguments in the appeal against the internationally condemned verdict.
"We are expecting her unconditional release," Suu Kyi's lawyer Nyan Win said after the hearing at Yangon divisional court, confirming that it would hand down its judgment on October 2 at 10am (0430 GMT).
Myanmar's iron-fisted generals have kept the frail Suu Kyi locked up for 14 of the past 20 years. Her National League for Democracy (NLD) won the country's last elections in 1990 but the regime refused to acknowledge the result.
Her extended house arrest now keeps her off the scene for elections promised by the regime some time in 2010, adding to widespread criticism that the polls are a sham designed to legitimise the junta's grip on power.
The trial court at Yangon's notorious Insein prison originally sentenced her to three years of hard labour but junta chief Than Shwe reduced the sentence to 18 months of house arrest.
Two female assistants living with Suu Kyi received the same sentence and have also appealed.
John Yettaw, the eccentric American who triggered the debacle by swimming to her lakeside mansion in May, was sentenced to seven years hard labour but the regime freed him last month following a visit by US Senator Jim Webb.
On Thursday the junta freed two journalists who helped victims of devastating Cyclone Nargis in 2008. Authorities also released several NLD activists as part of an amnesty for more than 7,000 prisoners.
One of the freed journalists was Eint Khaing Oo, 28, who earlier this year became the first recipient of an award set up in memory of a Japanese video reporter who was killed in monk-led protests in Myanmar in 2007.
"I am happy that I am free. I will continue working as a journalist," Eint Khaing Oo, who worked for the Myanmar-based journal Ecovision, told reporters after she was released from Insein Prison.
The other journalist was Kyaw Kyaw Thant, who was arrested at the same time as her after they took a group of survivors of the May 2008 cyclone to the United Nations head offices in Yangon.
Both were mentioned in a Human Rights Watch report published on Wednesday which said that the number of political prisoners in Myanmar had doubled to more than 2,200 in the two years since the protest crackdown.
Nargis killed around 138,000 people and left thousands more homeless after battering southwestern Myanmar. The military regime's slow response to the disaster drew international criticism.
Also freed on Friday was leading NLD member Nine Nine, who won a seat in the 1990 elections. He was serving a 21-year sentence and had been in jail since September 2000.
"I will continue to be a politician," said Nine Nine. "I will join the NLD again because I will always be an NLD member."
Another leading member of the NLD, Than Than Htay, was also freed.
Myanmar's director general of prisons, Zaw Win, said the regime had announced the amnesty as it was the 21st anniversary of a military coup that followed the crushing of a 1988 student-led pro-democracy uprising.
He said that the prisoners were freed so they could take part next year's polls.
"The government will hold the elections in 2010 so we have released them to take part in the elections according to the rights of the citizens," he told reporters.
********************************************************************
That sinking feeling: world's deltas subsiding, says study
Sun Sep 20, 3:28 pm ET
PARIS (AFP) – Two-thirds of the world's major deltas, home to nearly half a billion people, are caught in the scissors of sinking land and rising seas, according to a study published Sunday.
The new findings, based on satellite images, show that 85 percent of the 33 largest delta regions experienced severe flooding over the past decade, affecting 260,000 square kilometres (100,000 square miles).
Delta land vulnerable to serious flooding could expand by 50 percent this century if ocean levels increase as expected under moderate climate change scenarios, the study projects.
Worst hit will be Asia, but heavily populated and farmed deltas on every continent except Australia and Antarctica are in peril, it says.
On a five-tier scale, three of the eleven deltas in the highest-risk category are in China: the Yellow River delta in the north, the Yangtze River delta near Shanghai, and the Pearl River Delta next to Guangzhou.
The Nile in Egypt, the Chao Phraya in Thailand and the Rhone River delta in France are also in the top tier of danger.
Just below these in vulnerability are seven other highly-populated deltas, including the Ganges in Bangladesh, the Irrawaddy in Myanmar (Burma), the Mekong in Vietnam and the Mississippi in the United States.
These flood plains and others all face a double-barrelled threat, reports the study, published in the journal Nature Geoscience.
On the one side, a range of human activity -- especially over the last half-century -- has caused many delta regions to subside.
Without human interference, deltas naturally accumulate sediment as rivers swell and spread over vast areas of land.
But upstream damming and river diversions have held back the layers that would normally build up.
Intensive subsurface mining has also contributed mightily to the problem, notes the study, led by James Syvitski of the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research at the University of Colorado.
The Chao Phraya delta, for example, has sunk 50 to 150 millimetres (two to six inches) per year as a result of groundwater withdrawal, while a 3.7-metre (12-foot) subsidence of the Po Delta in Italy during the 20th century was due to methane mining.
Indeed, oil and gas mining contribute to so-called "accelerated compaction" in many of the most vulnerable deltas, according to the study, the first to analyse a decade's worth of global daily satellite images.
The other major threat is rising sea levels driven by global warming.
In a landmark report in 2007, the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicted oceans would rise by 18-59 centimetres (7.2 and 23.6 inches) by 2100.
More recent studies that take into account the impact of melting icesheets in Greenland and Antarctica have revised that estimate upwards to at least a metre (39 inches) by century's end.
The already devastating impact of such increases will be amplified by more intense storms and hurricanes, along with the loss of natural barriers such as mangroves.
In the Irrawaddy delta the coastal surge caused by Cyclone Nargis last year flooded an area up to six metres (20 feet) above sea level, leaving 138,000 people dead or missing.
"All trends point to ever-increasing areas of deltas sinking below mean sea level," the researchers concluded.
"It remains alarming how often deltas flood, whether from land or from sea, and the trends seems to be worsening."
Sun Sep 20, 3:28 pm ET
PARIS (AFP) – Two-thirds of the world's major deltas, home to nearly half a billion people, are caught in the scissors of sinking land and rising seas, according to a study published Sunday.
The new findings, based on satellite images, show that 85 percent of the 33 largest delta regions experienced severe flooding over the past decade, affecting 260,000 square kilometres (100,000 square miles).
Delta land vulnerable to serious flooding could expand by 50 percent this century if ocean levels increase as expected under moderate climate change scenarios, the study projects.
Worst hit will be Asia, but heavily populated and farmed deltas on every continent except Australia and Antarctica are in peril, it says.
On a five-tier scale, three of the eleven deltas in the highest-risk category are in China: the Yellow River delta in the north, the Yangtze River delta near Shanghai, and the Pearl River Delta next to Guangzhou.
The Nile in Egypt, the Chao Phraya in Thailand and the Rhone River delta in France are also in the top tier of danger.
Just below these in vulnerability are seven other highly-populated deltas, including the Ganges in Bangladesh, the Irrawaddy in Myanmar (Burma), the Mekong in Vietnam and the Mississippi in the United States.
These flood plains and others all face a double-barrelled threat, reports the study, published in the journal Nature Geoscience.
On the one side, a range of human activity -- especially over the last half-century -- has caused many delta regions to subside.
Without human interference, deltas naturally accumulate sediment as rivers swell and spread over vast areas of land.
But upstream damming and river diversions have held back the layers that would normally build up.
Intensive subsurface mining has also contributed mightily to the problem, notes the study, led by James Syvitski of the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research at the University of Colorado.
The Chao Phraya delta, for example, has sunk 50 to 150 millimetres (two to six inches) per year as a result of groundwater withdrawal, while a 3.7-metre (12-foot) subsidence of the Po Delta in Italy during the 20th century was due to methane mining.
Indeed, oil and gas mining contribute to so-called "accelerated compaction" in many of the most vulnerable deltas, according to the study, the first to analyse a decade's worth of global daily satellite images.
The other major threat is rising sea levels driven by global warming.
In a landmark report in 2007, the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicted oceans would rise by 18-59 centimetres (7.2 and 23.6 inches) by 2100.
More recent studies that take into account the impact of melting icesheets in Greenland and Antarctica have revised that estimate upwards to at least a metre (39 inches) by century's end.
The already devastating impact of such increases will be amplified by more intense storms and hurricanes, along with the loss of natural barriers such as mangroves.
In the Irrawaddy delta the coastal surge caused by Cyclone Nargis last year flooded an area up to six metres (20 feet) above sea level, leaving 138,000 people dead or missing.
"All trends point to ever-increasing areas of deltas sinking below mean sea level," the researchers concluded.
"It remains alarming how often deltas flood, whether from land or from sea, and the trends seems to be worsening."
********************************************************************
Flood, landslide destroy villages, plantations near Myanmar new capital
www.chinaview.cn 2009-09-21 20:58:03
YANGON, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- Floods and landslides due to waterfall from tributary streams on mountains, triggered by climate change, have destroyed some 15 small villages and over 800hectares of crop plantations located on the mountain in the east of Nay Pyi Taw (Pyinmana), Myanmar's new capital, the local Weekly Eleven reported Monday.
There were 600 households in these villages, the authorities confirmed, saying that the area has been declared as a dangerous zone and local inhabitants have been displaced to safer places to prevent further disaster.
Relief and resettlement measures have been carried out by local authorities in cooperation with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Myanmar Red Cross and Immigration Department.
The loss and damage are estimated at about 720,000 U.S. dollars, the authorities said.
In early July this year, a night-to-dawn landslide, which occurred on the right bank of Phakant-Lonkhin road in Phakant, Myanmar's northern Kachin state, destroyed some small huts on the bank, killing 24 people including 13 women and injuring one person, according to an earlier report.
Moreover, a two-day continuous rainfall in June also caused a landslide in Kawthoung, southern Myanmar's Tanintharyi division, leaving four people dead.
In May, heavy rainfall also flooded the northern Mandalay division, leaving one person missing and many villagers displaced to safe areas.
www.chinaview.cn 2009-09-21 20:58:03
YANGON, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- Floods and landslides due to waterfall from tributary streams on mountains, triggered by climate change, have destroyed some 15 small villages and over 800hectares of crop plantations located on the mountain in the east of Nay Pyi Taw (Pyinmana), Myanmar's new capital, the local Weekly Eleven reported Monday.
There were 600 households in these villages, the authorities confirmed, saying that the area has been declared as a dangerous zone and local inhabitants have been displaced to safer places to prevent further disaster.
Relief and resettlement measures have been carried out by local authorities in cooperation with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Myanmar Red Cross and Immigration Department.
The loss and damage are estimated at about 720,000 U.S. dollars, the authorities said.
In early July this year, a night-to-dawn landslide, which occurred on the right bank of Phakant-Lonkhin road in Phakant, Myanmar's northern Kachin state, destroyed some small huts on the bank, killing 24 people including 13 women and injuring one person, according to an earlier report.
Moreover, a two-day continuous rainfall in June also caused a landslide in Kawthoung, southern Myanmar's Tanintharyi division, leaving four people dead.
In May, heavy rainfall also flooded the northern Mandalay division, leaving one person missing and many villagers displaced to safe areas.
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Daily News & Analysis
China-Myanmar conflict gives India an opportunity
Seema Guha / DNA, Monday, September 21, 2009 2:30 IST
New Delhi: China may have stood like a rock behind Myanmar for the past 20 years while the rest of the world treated it like a pariah, vetoing UN resolutions against the military regime, providing it arms and billions of dollars to develop infrastructure, and thus allowing the isolated country to cock a snook at the international community. But now, cracks are appearing in that relationship, which, analysts say, can benefit New Delhi if exploited well, particularly since India already has more than a toehold in Myanmar.
The overwhelming Chinese presence had rung alarm bells in some quarters of the Myanmar military establishment. General Than Shwe, a smart tactician, believes his country cannot afford to put all its eggs in the China basket and wants India and other countries to come in with major developmental projects.
The recent release of the American citizen who swam across to Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's home is an indication that the bamboo curtain is lifting inch by inch. There is hope in Yangon that the new Barack Obama administration in the US would be less sanctimonious and gradually open up to Myanmar. The Americans are saying nothing publicly but the visit of US senator Jim Webb in August, when he called the sanctions against Myanmar "overwhelmingly counterproductive", gives room for hope.
Yangon's problems with China in recent months in the border areas, where ethnic Chinese have clashed with the Myanmar army, have led to fresh tension.
The Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) in Kokang, an ethnic Chinese region in the northern Shan state bordering China, has been under attack by the army which wants all its tribes in the north east of the country, allowed by a China-brokered peace agreement in 1989, to integrate into Myanmar's forces and become border guards.
The junta demanded the ethnic armies become militias under the control of the armed forces. Fearing the loss of autonomy and business, major groups rejected the junta's demand.
Refusing to take no for an answer, government forces attacked and defeated Karen rebels in June. And the junta launched an assault on MNDAA, triggering an exodus of over 30,000 refugees, including Chinese citizens doing business in Kokang, across the border into Nansan county. Beijing called on the military government to restore order in the border area and unprecedentedly, to "protect the safety and legal rights of Chinese citizens in Myanmar".
The situation in Kokang has stabilised and Chinese authorities are encouraging refugee return. But the simmering differences have come to the surface.
India, which has changed its policy towards Myanmar since the early 1990s, can become a game-changer in the country if it plays its cards well. China flies in its own labour to work on sites funded by Beijing and small China towns have sprung up in many areas of Myanmar. It is the same story in Africa where the Chinese aid, while appreciated, has also alarmed many.
This is something Yangon is uneasy about and New Delhi can make good use of. But despite promises of major development projects, the Indian bureaucracy is lethargic and moves at a snail's pace. If India wants to be a game-changer in Myanmar, it needs to quickly get its act together.
Seema Guha / DNA, Monday, September 21, 2009 2:30 IST
New Delhi: China may have stood like a rock behind Myanmar for the past 20 years while the rest of the world treated it like a pariah, vetoing UN resolutions against the military regime, providing it arms and billions of dollars to develop infrastructure, and thus allowing the isolated country to cock a snook at the international community. But now, cracks are appearing in that relationship, which, analysts say, can benefit New Delhi if exploited well, particularly since India already has more than a toehold in Myanmar.
The overwhelming Chinese presence had rung alarm bells in some quarters of the Myanmar military establishment. General Than Shwe, a smart tactician, believes his country cannot afford to put all its eggs in the China basket and wants India and other countries to come in with major developmental projects.
The recent release of the American citizen who swam across to Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's home is an indication that the bamboo curtain is lifting inch by inch. There is hope in Yangon that the new Barack Obama administration in the US would be less sanctimonious and gradually open up to Myanmar. The Americans are saying nothing publicly but the visit of US senator Jim Webb in August, when he called the sanctions against Myanmar "overwhelmingly counterproductive", gives room for hope.
Yangon's problems with China in recent months in the border areas, where ethnic Chinese have clashed with the Myanmar army, have led to fresh tension.
The Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) in Kokang, an ethnic Chinese region in the northern Shan state bordering China, has been under attack by the army which wants all its tribes in the north east of the country, allowed by a China-brokered peace agreement in 1989, to integrate into Myanmar's forces and become border guards.
The junta demanded the ethnic armies become militias under the control of the armed forces. Fearing the loss of autonomy and business, major groups rejected the junta's demand.
Refusing to take no for an answer, government forces attacked and defeated Karen rebels in June. And the junta launched an assault on MNDAA, triggering an exodus of over 30,000 refugees, including Chinese citizens doing business in Kokang, across the border into Nansan county. Beijing called on the military government to restore order in the border area and unprecedentedly, to "protect the safety and legal rights of Chinese citizens in Myanmar".
The situation in Kokang has stabilised and Chinese authorities are encouraging refugee return. But the simmering differences have come to the surface.
India, which has changed its policy towards Myanmar since the early 1990s, can become a game-changer in the country if it plays its cards well. China flies in its own labour to work on sites funded by Beijing and small China towns have sprung up in many areas of Myanmar. It is the same story in Africa where the Chinese aid, while appreciated, has also alarmed many.
This is something Yangon is uneasy about and New Delhi can make good use of. But despite promises of major development projects, the Indian bureaucracy is lethargic and moves at a snail's pace. If India wants to be a game-changer in Myanmar, it needs to quickly get its act together.
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The Providence Journal - U2 think big at Gillette Stadium
01:00 AM EDT on Tuesday, September 22, 2009
BY RICK MASSIMO, Journal Pop Music Writer
FOXBORO, Mass. –– U2 doesn’t work small.
The Irish rock legends brought their U2 360 Tour to Gillette Stadium for the first of two shows Sunday night, and it’s tempting to simply review the stage.
Since it was impossible to ignore, it’s as good a place as any to start.
The gargantuan structure, which took four days to build, resembled nothing so much as a four-legged spider with light-green skin and orange polka dots. Its legs contained dozens of speakers; smoke billowed from various portals. Above the band was a huge cylindrical screen that could project or be projected upon, and which expanded to nearly reach the stage later in the show.
A 360-degree catwalk surrounded the round stage, with movable ramps connecting the two, allowing band members to stroll pretty much wherever they wanted (guitarist The Edge was further freed up by a headset microphone and a technician adjusting his guitar sounds, rather than using footpedals). Larry Mullen’s drum riser also revolved.
They displayed ambition in their set list as well, starting off with four songs from this year’s No Line On The Horizon disc and returning to it several more times in the two-hour show.
Mullen came out first to kick off the rolling, tumbling “Breathe,” a triplet rhythm with vocalist Bono spitting out rapid-fire verses alternating with slow, lazy choruses. After the midtempo title track, they finally charged out of the gate with “Get On Your Boots” and moved on to the stately “Magnificent,” with its slide-guitar solo from The Edge.
They finally dipped into the back catalog with “Mysterious Ways” (showcasing bassist Adam Clayton’s Memphis-soul chops) and the straight-up shout of “Beautiful Day” (with a quote from “Blackbird” by Bono over the coda, one of several of his trademark nods to other songs during the night).
The set mellowed out about midway through, with an affecting, acoustic, Bono-and-Edge-only “Stuck In a Moment (You Can’t Get Out Of),” with sweet falsetto vocal in the coda from The Edge; the keyboard-driven “The Unforgettable Fire” and the uplifting “City of Blinding Lights.”
Even with all the technical whiz-bangery, several moments, such as the full-on rock of “Vertigo” and the gorgeous ballad “One,” as well as the encores, saw virtually no visual trickery.
New or old material, high-tech production or no, the template has remained the same over the decades –– slow-moving chord changes with a rock-solid beat from Mullen, fast-strumming guitar from The Edge that alternates between chiming and jagged, and of course to-the-back-row vocal dramatics from the leather-lunged Bono.
They also don’t think small when it comes to statements, and there was no shortage of those, mostly from Bono, whether shouting out to Marvin Minsky, author of the artificial-intelligence book Conscious Machines, or encouraging “freedom in the streets of Iran” before “Sunday Bloody Sunday” (with visual backdrops recalling that conflict, including a wash of green light) and freedom for Burmese dissident Aung San Suu Kyi before “Walk On,” complete with fans marching onto the catwalk while holding masks of her face.
They even threw in an inspirational video from Archbishop Desmond Tutu before “One” and a snippet of Maya Angelou’s “A Brave and Startling Truth” before the encores, which started with “Ultraviolet,” going back to the Achtung Baby album, and “With Or Without You,” both performed with Bono swinging from a hanging mike wearing a suit festooned with tiny red lights and with a lit-up disco ball luminescing from the top of the 150-foot stage during the latter.
The mournful, organ-led “Moment of Surrender,” again from No Line, closed it out - seemingly incongruous for a stadium rock concert, but in keeping with the big-hearted humanitarian theme of the show.
01:00 AM EDT on Tuesday, September 22, 2009
BY RICK MASSIMO, Journal Pop Music Writer
FOXBORO, Mass. –– U2 doesn’t work small.
The Irish rock legends brought their U2 360 Tour to Gillette Stadium for the first of two shows Sunday night, and it’s tempting to simply review the stage.
Since it was impossible to ignore, it’s as good a place as any to start.
The gargantuan structure, which took four days to build, resembled nothing so much as a four-legged spider with light-green skin and orange polka dots. Its legs contained dozens of speakers; smoke billowed from various portals. Above the band was a huge cylindrical screen that could project or be projected upon, and which expanded to nearly reach the stage later in the show.
A 360-degree catwalk surrounded the round stage, with movable ramps connecting the two, allowing band members to stroll pretty much wherever they wanted (guitarist The Edge was further freed up by a headset microphone and a technician adjusting his guitar sounds, rather than using footpedals). Larry Mullen’s drum riser also revolved.
They displayed ambition in their set list as well, starting off with four songs from this year’s No Line On The Horizon disc and returning to it several more times in the two-hour show.
Mullen came out first to kick off the rolling, tumbling “Breathe,” a triplet rhythm with vocalist Bono spitting out rapid-fire verses alternating with slow, lazy choruses. After the midtempo title track, they finally charged out of the gate with “Get On Your Boots” and moved on to the stately “Magnificent,” with its slide-guitar solo from The Edge.
They finally dipped into the back catalog with “Mysterious Ways” (showcasing bassist Adam Clayton’s Memphis-soul chops) and the straight-up shout of “Beautiful Day” (with a quote from “Blackbird” by Bono over the coda, one of several of his trademark nods to other songs during the night).
The set mellowed out about midway through, with an affecting, acoustic, Bono-and-Edge-only “Stuck In a Moment (You Can’t Get Out Of),” with sweet falsetto vocal in the coda from The Edge; the keyboard-driven “The Unforgettable Fire” and the uplifting “City of Blinding Lights.”
Even with all the technical whiz-bangery, several moments, such as the full-on rock of “Vertigo” and the gorgeous ballad “One,” as well as the encores, saw virtually no visual trickery.
New or old material, high-tech production or no, the template has remained the same over the decades –– slow-moving chord changes with a rock-solid beat from Mullen, fast-strumming guitar from The Edge that alternates between chiming and jagged, and of course to-the-back-row vocal dramatics from the leather-lunged Bono.
They also don’t think small when it comes to statements, and there was no shortage of those, mostly from Bono, whether shouting out to Marvin Minsky, author of the artificial-intelligence book Conscious Machines, or encouraging “freedom in the streets of Iran” before “Sunday Bloody Sunday” (with visual backdrops recalling that conflict, including a wash of green light) and freedom for Burmese dissident Aung San Suu Kyi before “Walk On,” complete with fans marching onto the catwalk while holding masks of her face.
They even threw in an inspirational video from Archbishop Desmond Tutu before “One” and a snippet of Maya Angelou’s “A Brave and Startling Truth” before the encores, which started with “Ultraviolet,” going back to the Achtung Baby album, and “With Or Without You,” both performed with Bono swinging from a hanging mike wearing a suit festooned with tiny red lights and with a lit-up disco ball luminescing from the top of the 150-foot stage during the latter.
The mournful, organ-led “Moment of Surrender,” again from No Line, closed it out - seemingly incongruous for a stadium rock concert, but in keeping with the big-hearted humanitarian theme of the show.
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National Public Radio
As U.N. Assembles, U.S. Seeks New Role
by Michele Kelemen
September 21, 2009
President Obama is likely to be well received at the annual gathering of world leaders this week for the U.N. General Assembly session. The Obama administration has been making efforts to engage with the U.N. after years of sometimes turbulent relations under the Bush administration.
When world leaders gather in New York this week for the U.N. General Assembly session, President Obama is likely to be well received. After years of sometimes prickly
relations between the U.S. and the United Nations during the Bush era, the Obama administration has been trying to mend fences with the world body.
The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, says the United States has paid a price for stiff-arming the institution.
"Many countries viewed the United States as being more inclined to act unilaterally and not to seek common solutions to shared global problems. The Obama administration is changing that approach rather dramatically — both in principle and practice — because we understand that the nature of the challenges we face in the 21st century are fundamentally global," Rice told NPR.
Rice says the U.N. is the only truly global forum and she's been working hard on issues like nuclear proliferation in North Korea and Iran and violence in Congo and Somalia.
The Obama administration has joined the U.N.'s Human Rights Council, reversing a decision by the Bush administration. The council, created in 2006, lacked credibility in the eyes of critics, including the Bush administration, after countries with dismal rights records such as Sudan and Zimbabwe were allowed to join.
Critics also say the council devotes too much attention to alleged rights abuses by Israel, while failing to focus on places such as Darfur and Sri Lanka.
Rolling Up Its Sleeves
Rice has described the council as a poster child for what ails the U.N. But she says it is important for the United States to engage with the rights council.
"The Obama administration thinks it's vitally important for the United States to roll up its sleeves and engage to push back against the hostile rhetoric and hostile actions that have been often directed by the Human Rights Council at Israel, to focus the work of the human rights council on the most egregious human rights abuses in places like Burma, Zimbabwe and Sudan," Rice says.
But Kim Holmes, who handled U.N. affairs at the State Department during the Bush administration, says there are so many human rights violators on the 47-member council that the numbers are stacked against the U.S.
He and other critics are concerned that by joining the council, the Obama administration may end up legitimizing it.
"The onus is now on them to produce something and to make that rejoining worthwhile," says Holmes, now a scholar at the conservative Heritage Foundation. "At the end of the day, you have to ask yourself — what difference does it make for the U.S.?
Holmes says the Obama administration is working off what he describes as a false premise that U.S. challenges at the U.N. were the result of the Bush administration's unilateral approach.
"The real problem is that we have fundamental disagreements with some of these countries like Iran and North Korea and that is true whether it is Obama or Bush in the White House," Holmes says.
A Struggle Ahead
The Obama administration will face some of the same dynamics in the U.N. Security Council that the Bush administration did, according to David Bosco, author of Five to Rule Them All: The U.N. Security Council and the Making of the Modern World . He says the Obama administration will still struggle to get Russia and China on board for tougher sanctions and he's worried the U.S. could get frustrated.
"Those who are most favorable to the institution and most ideologically inclined to work through the institution can be disillusioned sometimes even more quickly than others," Bosco says.
A new feature this year at the U.N. is a special Security Council meeting on nuclear nonproliferation, to be led by President Obama. Bosco says that the draft resolution the U.S. is circulating shows that the Obama administration is trying to address the concerns of some member states: that the U.N. is riddled with inequalities.
"They are trying to acknowledge that by talking about the responsibility of the nuclear powers to really take seriously negotiations to restrain — and hopefully eliminate — their own nuclear arsenal. So again, this is part of the changed atmospherics — a willingness to acknowledge the feelings that there are double standards in the international system," he says.
It will be the first time a U.S. president has chaired the Security Council.
"So it will be a historic session and we are very much looking forward to the outcome of that session giving concrete impetus to other very important upcoming negotiations," Rice says.
That includes the nonproliferation treaty review conference next year — "the president's own summit which he's called in Washington next March to deal with the problem of lose nuclear material," Rice notes.
The Security Council meeting could be awkward though, because Libya is currently a member and Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi is making his U.N. debut this year, 40 years after taking office.
Rice says that this is just a fact of life for big U.N. meetings and the president will stay focused on his agenda.
As U.N. Assembles, U.S. Seeks New Role
by Michele Kelemen
September 21, 2009
President Obama is likely to be well received at the annual gathering of world leaders this week for the U.N. General Assembly session. The Obama administration has been making efforts to engage with the U.N. after years of sometimes turbulent relations under the Bush administration.
When world leaders gather in New York this week for the U.N. General Assembly session, President Obama is likely to be well received. After years of sometimes prickly
relations between the U.S. and the United Nations during the Bush era, the Obama administration has been trying to mend fences with the world body.
The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, says the United States has paid a price for stiff-arming the institution.
"Many countries viewed the United States as being more inclined to act unilaterally and not to seek common solutions to shared global problems. The Obama administration is changing that approach rather dramatically — both in principle and practice — because we understand that the nature of the challenges we face in the 21st century are fundamentally global," Rice told NPR.
Rice says the U.N. is the only truly global forum and she's been working hard on issues like nuclear proliferation in North Korea and Iran and violence in Congo and Somalia.
The Obama administration has joined the U.N.'s Human Rights Council, reversing a decision by the Bush administration. The council, created in 2006, lacked credibility in the eyes of critics, including the Bush administration, after countries with dismal rights records such as Sudan and Zimbabwe were allowed to join.
Critics also say the council devotes too much attention to alleged rights abuses by Israel, while failing to focus on places such as Darfur and Sri Lanka.
Rolling Up Its Sleeves
Rice has described the council as a poster child for what ails the U.N. But she says it is important for the United States to engage with the rights council.
"The Obama administration thinks it's vitally important for the United States to roll up its sleeves and engage to push back against the hostile rhetoric and hostile actions that have been often directed by the Human Rights Council at Israel, to focus the work of the human rights council on the most egregious human rights abuses in places like Burma, Zimbabwe and Sudan," Rice says.
But Kim Holmes, who handled U.N. affairs at the State Department during the Bush administration, says there are so many human rights violators on the 47-member council that the numbers are stacked against the U.S.
He and other critics are concerned that by joining the council, the Obama administration may end up legitimizing it.
"The onus is now on them to produce something and to make that rejoining worthwhile," says Holmes, now a scholar at the conservative Heritage Foundation. "At the end of the day, you have to ask yourself — what difference does it make for the U.S.?
Holmes says the Obama administration is working off what he describes as a false premise that U.S. challenges at the U.N. were the result of the Bush administration's unilateral approach.
"The real problem is that we have fundamental disagreements with some of these countries like Iran and North Korea and that is true whether it is Obama or Bush in the White House," Holmes says.
A Struggle Ahead
The Obama administration will face some of the same dynamics in the U.N. Security Council that the Bush administration did, according to David Bosco, author of Five to Rule Them All: The U.N. Security Council and the Making of the Modern World . He says the Obama administration will still struggle to get Russia and China on board for tougher sanctions and he's worried the U.S. could get frustrated.
"Those who are most favorable to the institution and most ideologically inclined to work through the institution can be disillusioned sometimes even more quickly than others," Bosco says.
A new feature this year at the U.N. is a special Security Council meeting on nuclear nonproliferation, to be led by President Obama. Bosco says that the draft resolution the U.S. is circulating shows that the Obama administration is trying to address the concerns of some member states: that the U.N. is riddled with inequalities.
"They are trying to acknowledge that by talking about the responsibility of the nuclear powers to really take seriously negotiations to restrain — and hopefully eliminate — their own nuclear arsenal. So again, this is part of the changed atmospherics — a willingness to acknowledge the feelings that there are double standards in the international system," he says.
It will be the first time a U.S. president has chaired the Security Council.
"So it will be a historic session and we are very much looking forward to the outcome of that session giving concrete impetus to other very important upcoming negotiations," Rice says.
That includes the nonproliferation treaty review conference next year — "the president's own summit which he's called in Washington next March to deal with the problem of lose nuclear material," Rice notes.
The Security Council meeting could be awkward though, because Libya is currently a member and Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi is making his U.N. debut this year, 40 years after taking office.
Rice says that this is just a fact of life for big U.N. meetings and the president will stay focused on his agenda.
********************************************************************
Sep 20, 2009
The Straits Times - Suu Kyi has low blood pressure
YANGON - the doctor of detained Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi says she is suffering from low blood pressure, after examining her for the first time since she was returned to house arrest last month.
Suu Kyi's lawyer and party spokesman Nyan Win said Dr. Tin Myo Win and his assistant were allowed to visit her house Sunday.
'The doctor said Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's health is generally good but she's suffering from low blood pressure,' said Nyan Win.
'Daw' is a term of respect used for older women.
Nyan Win said the doctor assumed that her low blood pressure was due to an inadequate diet.
A Myanmar court on Aug. 11 found Suu Kyi, 64, guilty of violating the terms of her previous period of house arrest by sheltering an uninvited American visitor. Her sentence of three years in prison with hard labor was reduced to 18 months of new house arrest by military junta leader Senior Gen. Than Shwe.
Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has been detained for about 14 of the past 20 years for her nonviolent political activities, but this year was the first time she faced criminal charges. She suffered from dehydration and low blood pressure as well as muscle cramps in May after her arrest.
Sunday's visit was the first time that Suu Kyi's personal physician has been allowed to see her since she was sent back to her lakeside home after her conviction.
Tin Myo Win is one of the very few people allowed access to Suu Kyi under the rigid terms of her confinement. He was detained for questioning by authorities in May after the American man was arrested for sneaking into her closely guarded home.
Asked if Tin Myo Win will now be allowed to give Suu Kyi medical checkups on a regular basis, Nyan Win said he hoped so, 'but it's not clear yet when and how often the doctor can visit her.'
The Straits Times - Suu Kyi has low blood pressure
YANGON - the doctor of detained Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi says she is suffering from low blood pressure, after examining her for the first time since she was returned to house arrest last month.
Suu Kyi's lawyer and party spokesman Nyan Win said Dr. Tin Myo Win and his assistant were allowed to visit her house Sunday.
'The doctor said Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's health is generally good but she's suffering from low blood pressure,' said Nyan Win.
'Daw' is a term of respect used for older women.
Nyan Win said the doctor assumed that her low blood pressure was due to an inadequate diet.
A Myanmar court on Aug. 11 found Suu Kyi, 64, guilty of violating the terms of her previous period of house arrest by sheltering an uninvited American visitor. Her sentence of three years in prison with hard labor was reduced to 18 months of new house arrest by military junta leader Senior Gen. Than Shwe.
Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has been detained for about 14 of the past 20 years for her nonviolent political activities, but this year was the first time she faced criminal charges. She suffered from dehydration and low blood pressure as well as muscle cramps in May after her arrest.
Sunday's visit was the first time that Suu Kyi's personal physician has been allowed to see her since she was sent back to her lakeside home after her conviction.
Tin Myo Win is one of the very few people allowed access to Suu Kyi under the rigid terms of her confinement. He was detained for questioning by authorities in May after the American man was arrested for sneaking into her closely guarded home.
Asked if Tin Myo Win will now be allowed to give Suu Kyi medical checkups on a regular basis, Nyan Win said he hoped so, 'but it's not clear yet when and how often the doctor can visit her.'
********************************************************************
Tuesday September 22 2009
The Malaysian Insider - Guard dies of injuries inflicted by robbers
BUKIT MERTAJAM, Sept 21 — An elderly security guard has died of head injuries after he was beaten up by four robbers at a fish factory in Tanjung Berembang, Nibong Tebal, early yesterday, police said today.
Penang police deputy chief Datuk Tun Hisan Tun Hamzah said the guard, identified as Abu Bakar, died at about 6.30am. He said a fellow guard, a 30-year-old Myanmar national, was also beaten up by the robbers who fled with a lorry-load of birds’ nests valued at RM100,000.
“Police found the lorry about two kilometres from the factory,” he told reporters at the Seberang Perai Tengah police headquarters, here.
Tun Hisan said police arrested a 26-year-old suspect at a house in Taman Permai, Parit Buntar, Perak at about 11am.
They also found a fake pistol and a mask, apparently used by the suspect in robberies, he added.
Tun Hisan also said police were looking for one Lim Choon Beng, 26, of Mukim Dua Samagagah, Permatang Pauh, to help in the investigation into several robberies and snatch thefts in Seberang Perai.
Anyone with information can contact the Seberang Perai Tengah police headquarters at 04-538 2222 or any police station.
The Malaysian Insider - Guard dies of injuries inflicted by robbers
BUKIT MERTAJAM, Sept 21 — An elderly security guard has died of head injuries after he was beaten up by four robbers at a fish factory in Tanjung Berembang, Nibong Tebal, early yesterday, police said today.
Penang police deputy chief Datuk Tun Hisan Tun Hamzah said the guard, identified as Abu Bakar, died at about 6.30am. He said a fellow guard, a 30-year-old Myanmar national, was also beaten up by the robbers who fled with a lorry-load of birds’ nests valued at RM100,000.
“Police found the lorry about two kilometres from the factory,” he told reporters at the Seberang Perai Tengah police headquarters, here.
Tun Hisan said police arrested a 26-year-old suspect at a house in Taman Permai, Parit Buntar, Perak at about 11am.
They also found a fake pistol and a mask, apparently used by the suspect in robberies, he added.
Tun Hisan also said police were looking for one Lim Choon Beng, 26, of Mukim Dua Samagagah, Permatang Pauh, to help in the investigation into several robberies and snatch thefts in Seberang Perai.
Anyone with information can contact the Seberang Perai Tengah police headquarters at 04-538 2222 or any police station.
********************************************************************
The Financial Times - Burmese junta aims to win hearts and minds
By Amy Kazmin in Auk Chang, Burma
Published: September 20 2009 23:14
Shortly before rice planting began this season, about 120 men, women and youngsters in the village of Auk Chang were recruited by Burma’s Union Solidarity and Development Association to build a two-storey replacement for a dilapidated school.
For their month of gruelling physical labour under the blazing sun, the villagers received breakfast, coffee and tea each day, but no money.
“This is the off season. They have nothing to do so they are volunteering,” declared a local USDA official. “Their children will use the school.” Nearby, villagers dug trenches for the school’s foundation, surrounded by fluttering red banners crediting the USDA for donating the steel frame and bricks for the new building.
It was a classic exercise of political campaigning, junta-style.
With Burma’s military regime due to hold parliamentary elections next year, the generals have been working frenetically to ensure the polls deliver a legislature sympathetic to their interests. They are desperate to avoid a repeat of 1990, when the opposition National League for Democracy shocked them with its landslide victory.
Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel laureate leader of the NLD, which was never permitted to take power, is likely to miss the legislative campaign after being sentenced in August to 18 months’ house arrest for allowing an American intruder to shelter in her bungalow. Many other political dissidents are in prison, under sentences as long as 65 years, for their roles in mass protests in 2007 after a sharp rise in fuel prices.
But keeping prominent critics confined will not be sufficient for the regime’s strategic aims. The generals must also ensure the elections offer voters the semblance of choice from an array of diverse candidates so they can claim legitimacy for the polls to their own population and the international community.
“They will tell [UN Secretary-general] Ban Ki-moon, or other Asian allies, ‘We have an inclusive electoral process,’ ” says Maung Zarni, research fellow on Burma at the London School of Economics.
To that end, the generals are recruiting prominent local businessmen, ethnic leaders, civil servants and respected community figures with no record of active opposition to the regime to run as candidates.
“They want credible people they can control,” says one local businessman.
With a quarter of the seats in the new parliament reserved for military appointees and with the assumption the army will find plenty of pliable candidates, the generals are not adverse to playing wild cards either: analysts say the junta has even approached some former and current political prisoners as potential candidates to lend credibility to the contest.
Yet the real key to the generals’ strategy is the USDA. Formed in 1993, the USDA is run by the regime’s top generals, who portray it as a genuine popular social movement, with 24m members and 15,000 offices, penetrating even remote rural villages. But most Burmese view the association as little more than the long arm of the regime.
When campaigning starts, many of the USDA’s top and mid-ranking leaders are expected to enter the field. So the organisation has launched a big effort to build schools, health clinics and other facilities in rural areas, hoping displays of largesse will translate into popularity for those it backs.
“They want something in the form of the popular vote, and they are bribing people by going to different communities with cash and promising to repair schools and hospitals,” says Mr Zarni. “They are doing this using people’s money – state allocated cash.”
Despite the generals’ machinations, a western diplomat says the military-controlled process could evolve in unexpected directions and that hand-picked candidates could turn out to be not as docile as expected.
“It is going to shake the glass up a bit,” says the diplomat.
“It will create new structures which are toothless at the beginning, but may gain teeth over time.”
While Burmese have few illusions about the so-called “disciplined democracy” their rulers are offering, some still hope for improved, more rational governance, after five decades of erratic military rule.
Social organisation used to mobilise the masses
Burma’s military regime created the Union Solidarity and Development Association in 1993 to mobilise the population behind it after the shock defeat of the pro-military National Unity party three years earlier.
Registered as a social organisation, the ostensibly apolitical USDA claims more than 24m members, including civil servants, business people, students and factory workers, though many are believed to join out of compulsion to keep jobs, remain in business, or retain other privileges such as university enrolment.
With Than Shwe, senior general and the junta chief, as its primary patron, the USDA is thought to have extensive business interests, while also receiving direct state support to carry out its mission.
The junta has sought to raise the USDA’s profile as a social welfare group, letting it play a highly visible role in the relief effort after Cyclone Nargis last year, and trying to find partners for it among foreign non-governmental organisations operating in the country.
The group has its headquarters in a huge, new Rangoon building and has 15,000 branches nationwide,
USDA-mobilised thugs have been blamed for violent attacks on dissidents, incidents the regime has dismissed as spontaneous outbursts of popular anger.
The USDA is also used to mobilise the public for mass rallies supporting regime programmes, denouncing critics and in support of last year’s constitutional referendum, which controversially went ahead days after the devastating cyclone.
By Amy Kazmin in Auk Chang, Burma
Published: September 20 2009 23:14
Shortly before rice planting began this season, about 120 men, women and youngsters in the village of Auk Chang were recruited by Burma’s Union Solidarity and Development Association to build a two-storey replacement for a dilapidated school.
For their month of gruelling physical labour under the blazing sun, the villagers received breakfast, coffee and tea each day, but no money.
“This is the off season. They have nothing to do so they are volunteering,” declared a local USDA official. “Their children will use the school.” Nearby, villagers dug trenches for the school’s foundation, surrounded by fluttering red banners crediting the USDA for donating the steel frame and bricks for the new building.
It was a classic exercise of political campaigning, junta-style.
With Burma’s military regime due to hold parliamentary elections next year, the generals have been working frenetically to ensure the polls deliver a legislature sympathetic to their interests. They are desperate to avoid a repeat of 1990, when the opposition National League for Democracy shocked them with its landslide victory.
Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel laureate leader of the NLD, which was never permitted to take power, is likely to miss the legislative campaign after being sentenced in August to 18 months’ house arrest for allowing an American intruder to shelter in her bungalow. Many other political dissidents are in prison, under sentences as long as 65 years, for their roles in mass protests in 2007 after a sharp rise in fuel prices.
But keeping prominent critics confined will not be sufficient for the regime’s strategic aims. The generals must also ensure the elections offer voters the semblance of choice from an array of diverse candidates so they can claim legitimacy for the polls to their own population and the international community.
“They will tell [UN Secretary-general] Ban Ki-moon, or other Asian allies, ‘We have an inclusive electoral process,’ ” says Maung Zarni, research fellow on Burma at the London School of Economics.
To that end, the generals are recruiting prominent local businessmen, ethnic leaders, civil servants and respected community figures with no record of active opposition to the regime to run as candidates.
“They want credible people they can control,” says one local businessman.
With a quarter of the seats in the new parliament reserved for military appointees and with the assumption the army will find plenty of pliable candidates, the generals are not adverse to playing wild cards either: analysts say the junta has even approached some former and current political prisoners as potential candidates to lend credibility to the contest.
Yet the real key to the generals’ strategy is the USDA. Formed in 1993, the USDA is run by the regime’s top generals, who portray it as a genuine popular social movement, with 24m members and 15,000 offices, penetrating even remote rural villages. But most Burmese view the association as little more than the long arm of the regime.
When campaigning starts, many of the USDA’s top and mid-ranking leaders are expected to enter the field. So the organisation has launched a big effort to build schools, health clinics and other facilities in rural areas, hoping displays of largesse will translate into popularity for those it backs.
“They want something in the form of the popular vote, and they are bribing people by going to different communities with cash and promising to repair schools and hospitals,” says Mr Zarni. “They are doing this using people’s money – state allocated cash.”
Despite the generals’ machinations, a western diplomat says the military-controlled process could evolve in unexpected directions and that hand-picked candidates could turn out to be not as docile as expected.
“It is going to shake the glass up a bit,” says the diplomat.
“It will create new structures which are toothless at the beginning, but may gain teeth over time.”
While Burmese have few illusions about the so-called “disciplined democracy” their rulers are offering, some still hope for improved, more rational governance, after five decades of erratic military rule.
Social organisation used to mobilise the masses
Burma’s military regime created the Union Solidarity and Development Association in 1993 to mobilise the population behind it after the shock defeat of the pro-military National Unity party three years earlier.
Registered as a social organisation, the ostensibly apolitical USDA claims more than 24m members, including civil servants, business people, students and factory workers, though many are believed to join out of compulsion to keep jobs, remain in business, or retain other privileges such as university enrolment.
With Than Shwe, senior general and the junta chief, as its primary patron, the USDA is thought to have extensive business interests, while also receiving direct state support to carry out its mission.
The junta has sought to raise the USDA’s profile as a social welfare group, letting it play a highly visible role in the relief effort after Cyclone Nargis last year, and trying to find partners for it among foreign non-governmental organisations operating in the country.
The group has its headquarters in a huge, new Rangoon building and has 15,000 branches nationwide,
USDA-mobilised thugs have been blamed for violent attacks on dissidents, incidents the regime has dismissed as spontaneous outbursts of popular anger.
The USDA is also used to mobilise the public for mass rallies supporting regime programmes, denouncing critics and in support of last year’s constitutional referendum, which controversially went ahead days after the devastating cyclone.
********************************************************************
Sunday Business Post - Democracy in Burma being ‘damaged’ by US
20 September 2009 By Simon Roughneen in Penang
Senior members of Burma’s National league for Democracy (NLD) - the party led by Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and which won the country’s last election in 1990 - have criticised US initiatives in Burma.
Following a visit to Burma (now known as Myanmar) last month, US Democrat Senator Jim Webb said it was his ‘‘impression’’ that Suu Kyi was open to new ideas about sanctions - a suggestion which her lawyer disputed. U Win Tin, a senior NLD figure who spent more than 20 years in jail in Burma, wrote in the Washington Post that Webb’s visit and subsequent pronouncements were ‘‘damaging to our democracy movement’’.
A Burmese court last month sentenced Suu Kyi to three years in prison with hard labour for breach of her house arrest terms. This was commuted to 18 months’ house arrest by military leader Senior General Than Shwe.
Her offence was to ‘host’ American John Yettaw, who swam across the lake next to Suu Kyi’s Rangoon home in May, and was arrested by Burmese police on his return two days later. The sentence means that Suu Kyi will still be under house arrest when Burma stages elections next year.
Those elections will take place under a new constitution, approved in a referendum held days after Cyclone Nargis killed around 135,000 Burmese in May 2008.The constitution earmarks a quarter of the parliament’s seats for the army, and many retired military are forming political parties to contest the remaining seats.
The NLD and groups representing Burma’s 135 minorities have not decided whether to contest the elections, which they say give a civilian veneer to the army, which has ruled Burma since 1962.
During his visit, Webb met Shwe and Suu Kyi, and secured the release of Yettaw, but could not persuade the junta to free Suu Kyi or the country’s 2,200 political prisoners. These are among conditions laid down by the US for a relaxation of Clinton and Bush-era sanctions, renewed by Obama last July.
Supporters of the sanctions say pressure should be put on countries such as Thailand and Singapore to support the US moves. Burma earns around US$3 billion a year from gas sales to Thailand, and banks the proceeds in Singapore.
Burma Action Ireland will stage a public demonstration at O’Connell Bridge, Dublin, from 4.30pm tomorrow to mark the second anniversary of Burma’s ‘Saffron Revolution
20 September 2009 By Simon Roughneen in Penang
Senior members of Burma’s National league for Democracy (NLD) - the party led by Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and which won the country’s last election in 1990 - have criticised US initiatives in Burma.
Following a visit to Burma (now known as Myanmar) last month, US Democrat Senator Jim Webb said it was his ‘‘impression’’ that Suu Kyi was open to new ideas about sanctions - a suggestion which her lawyer disputed. U Win Tin, a senior NLD figure who spent more than 20 years in jail in Burma, wrote in the Washington Post that Webb’s visit and subsequent pronouncements were ‘‘damaging to our democracy movement’’.
A Burmese court last month sentenced Suu Kyi to three years in prison with hard labour for breach of her house arrest terms. This was commuted to 18 months’ house arrest by military leader Senior General Than Shwe.
Her offence was to ‘host’ American John Yettaw, who swam across the lake next to Suu Kyi’s Rangoon home in May, and was arrested by Burmese police on his return two days later. The sentence means that Suu Kyi will still be under house arrest when Burma stages elections next year.
Those elections will take place under a new constitution, approved in a referendum held days after Cyclone Nargis killed around 135,000 Burmese in May 2008.The constitution earmarks a quarter of the parliament’s seats for the army, and many retired military are forming political parties to contest the remaining seats.
The NLD and groups representing Burma’s 135 minorities have not decided whether to contest the elections, which they say give a civilian veneer to the army, which has ruled Burma since 1962.
During his visit, Webb met Shwe and Suu Kyi, and secured the release of Yettaw, but could not persuade the junta to free Suu Kyi or the country’s 2,200 political prisoners. These are among conditions laid down by the US for a relaxation of Clinton and Bush-era sanctions, renewed by Obama last July.
Supporters of the sanctions say pressure should be put on countries such as Thailand and Singapore to support the US moves. Burma earns around US$3 billion a year from gas sales to Thailand, and banks the proceeds in Singapore.
Burma Action Ireland will stage a public demonstration at O’Connell Bridge, Dublin, from 4.30pm tomorrow to mark the second anniversary of Burma’s ‘Saffron Revolution
********************************************************************
Saturday September 19, 2009
The Star Online - Holding on by a hair
By KEE HUA CHEE
Myanmar has some of the world’s mo st pricel ess Buddhist treasures, including the incredible, gravity-defying Golden Rock atop Mt Kyaikt iyo.
Getting to Myanmar’s Buddhist attraction, the Golden Rock, is no stroll in the park as it involves a five-hour drive from Yangon. But the journey by bus is pleasant enough as we take in scenes of white egrets catching frogs in green rice fields with golden stupas in the distance and mountains further yonder.
The Golden Rock is 1,100m above sea level, meaning your coach will have to stop at the Kin Pun base camp because of the steep slopes ahead. From Kin Pun, it’s another 10km to the peak of Mt Kyaiktiyo, and this is where the fun begins — tourists, locals and monks alike have no choice but to take the open-deck lorries that ply the route at irregular intervals.
The well-worn vehicles have seen better days and may look like they could fall apart any minute but like the Golden Rock, they are apparently resilient. Each can carry 43 passengers, a feat made possible by squeezing them like sardines six per row.
Luggage and bags are thrown into iron containers jutting from the back. Seats next to the driver cost extra since — unlike the arrangement at the back — they provide shelter from the elements.
“The lorries are not allowed to have roofs and there are two checkpoints where guards count the number of passengers to prevent over-loading. As a result, the safety record is perfect as there have been no accidents,” explains my guide Winn Aye.
Nice to know.
Passengers have to wait till the lorry is full before it departs to maximise returns. I did not dare look at the tyre threads but they gripped the ground well enough to carry us without a hitch. The 10km trip is reminiscent of the road to Genting Highlands but there were a few drastically steep inclines and several hairpin bends that made me close my eyes and think of the Buddha.
Finally, we reached a point where even the sturdy lorry could go no further, and the Golden Rock was still 1km away! There was no choice but to resort to foot power — yours or someone else’s!
Depending on your level of fitness, the hike should take 25 to 45 minutes but I decided to take the easy way out — being carried up by four Burmese men! This could well be the only place where you can enjoy the strange, other worldly thrill of being carried like a king or a queen in a makeshift sedan consisting of two long bamboo poles carried by two men in front and two at the back.
The ride is very comfortable but you do feel sorry for your carriers who heave and puff with the exertion and are forced to move the pole from one shoulder to the next at regular intervals. The cost of this return ride is US$20 (RM70) — US$4 (RM14) each for the four men and $4 for the co-ordinating agency.
The men are forced to take at least one (or two if you are overweight!) stop, which, conveniently enough, is in front of a stall whose operator will cajole you into buying them Coke or Red Bull.
You’re not obliged to do so, but if you do, each can will cost you US$3 (RM10.50). You will also notice that your four carriers do not drink but just pocket the can. They will resell them back to the vendor for US$1 (RM3.50).
Hey, they deserve this and more for such backbreaking, hard labour.
Like most tourists, I paid them an extra US$20 and bought them four cans of drink in order to improve my karma, lest I come back in my next life as one of them.
Your suitcases are carried separately by a porter with a large rattan basket on his back. The sight of a scrawny, wiry teenager carrying your luggage like a backpack is also sobering, and you will be happy to pay US$8 (RM28).
Golden miracle
Your destination atop the mountain could not be more spectacular — a single, huge granite boulder perching precariously at the very edge of a cliff! The Golden Rock looks as if it could roll down the mountain if you so much as huffed. But considering that earthquakes are not alien to Myanmar, this 50ft (15m) high boulder is a pure miracle, especially with the 5.5m stupa on the top.
Legend has it that the rock is held in place by a single strand of the Buddha’s hair!
It is said that the Buddha, on one of his visits to earth after attaining Nirvana, gave a hair strand to Thaik Tha, a holy man, in the 11th century. Another version says the hermit met the Buddha when he was alive in 500 BC, and that Thaik Tha kept the Buddha’s hair inside his hair knot.
The hair kept the hermit alive for 1,500 years but he eventually yearned for release. Thaik Tha gave the hair to his godson King Tissa with the instruction that it be enshrined atop a boulder in the shape of the hermit’s head. As Thaik Tha removed the Buddha’s hair from his bun, he aged rapidly and died within minutes.
King Tissa, the son of a zagwi (magical being) and the Dragon Princess, asked his mother to send giant rocks from the seabed on a flying ship to the mountain top. One of them proved ideal as it was shaped like the dome of Thaik Tha’s head. Using magical incantations, King Tissa placed the rock at the edge and secured it by putting the Buddha’s hair on the top beneath a small stupa.
This became the Golden Rock while the ship carrying the rocks was transformed into stone and remains today at the entrance.
The stone entrance does indeed have a ship’s silhouette, though at 3m long it must have been some ship to be able to carry the rock.
“Er, it has shrunk in size over the ages,” the guide explains, pointing to many similar looking boulders scattered in the vicinity.
“These were the rocks rejected by the king!” exclaims Winn Aye.
Scientists have discovered that these rocks originated from the seabed. They ended up on the mountain slopes due to volcanic activities, geological upheavals and tectonic plate movements, but, of course, the locals know better!
Incredibly, the base on which the Golden Rock rests is not attached to the mountain side as assumed but is separated from it by around 1m. This can clearly be seen from the viewing platform below.
“The Golden Rock actually rests on top of a narrow pinnacle which already shows signs of cracking!” says Winn Aye, pointing to several dark, ominous lines. “But the Buddha’s hair will guarantee the rock stays like this for eternity.”
The Golden Rock is not made of solid gold despite its colour because its shine is due to the thick layers of gold leaf pasted on by worshippers.
I touched and pushed the rock. Woah. Was it my imagination or did it wobble ever so slightly? I stopped lest I ended up committing the ultimate sin of sending the Golden Rock tumbling 3,400ft (1,036m) into the valley below!
Walking on the small platform was a feat as I was in perpetual fear of slipping and falling off the cliff. This is not the place for vertigo sufferers.
Call me a superstitious fool but I’m convinced that it really is a single strand of the Buddha’s hair that is preventing the boulder from rolling down the mountain. From whichever angle one looks, the rock appears as if it’s in the midst of falling.
It is said that a menstruating woman would undo everything, hence women are forbidden from touching the Golden Rock.
Whether pre-teen or wizened old dame, no females are allowed entry. Several armed guards at the entrance make sure no feisty woman attempts the forbidden.
It’s not very Buddhist but there you go . . .
The Star Online - Holding on by a hair
By KEE HUA CHEE
Myanmar has some of the world’s mo st pricel ess Buddhist treasures, including the incredible, gravity-defying Golden Rock atop Mt Kyaikt iyo.
Getting to Myanmar’s Buddhist attraction, the Golden Rock, is no stroll in the park as it involves a five-hour drive from Yangon. But the journey by bus is pleasant enough as we take in scenes of white egrets catching frogs in green rice fields with golden stupas in the distance and mountains further yonder.
The Golden Rock is 1,100m above sea level, meaning your coach will have to stop at the Kin Pun base camp because of the steep slopes ahead. From Kin Pun, it’s another 10km to the peak of Mt Kyaiktiyo, and this is where the fun begins — tourists, locals and monks alike have no choice but to take the open-deck lorries that ply the route at irregular intervals.
The well-worn vehicles have seen better days and may look like they could fall apart any minute but like the Golden Rock, they are apparently resilient. Each can carry 43 passengers, a feat made possible by squeezing them like sardines six per row.
Luggage and bags are thrown into iron containers jutting from the back. Seats next to the driver cost extra since — unlike the arrangement at the back — they provide shelter from the elements.
“The lorries are not allowed to have roofs and there are two checkpoints where guards count the number of passengers to prevent over-loading. As a result, the safety record is perfect as there have been no accidents,” explains my guide Winn Aye.
Nice to know.
Passengers have to wait till the lorry is full before it departs to maximise returns. I did not dare look at the tyre threads but they gripped the ground well enough to carry us without a hitch. The 10km trip is reminiscent of the road to Genting Highlands but there were a few drastically steep inclines and several hairpin bends that made me close my eyes and think of the Buddha.
Finally, we reached a point where even the sturdy lorry could go no further, and the Golden Rock was still 1km away! There was no choice but to resort to foot power — yours or someone else’s!
Depending on your level of fitness, the hike should take 25 to 45 minutes but I decided to take the easy way out — being carried up by four Burmese men! This could well be the only place where you can enjoy the strange, other worldly thrill of being carried like a king or a queen in a makeshift sedan consisting of two long bamboo poles carried by two men in front and two at the back.
The ride is very comfortable but you do feel sorry for your carriers who heave and puff with the exertion and are forced to move the pole from one shoulder to the next at regular intervals. The cost of this return ride is US$20 (RM70) — US$4 (RM14) each for the four men and $4 for the co-ordinating agency.
The men are forced to take at least one (or two if you are overweight!) stop, which, conveniently enough, is in front of a stall whose operator will cajole you into buying them Coke or Red Bull.
You’re not obliged to do so, but if you do, each can will cost you US$3 (RM10.50). You will also notice that your four carriers do not drink but just pocket the can. They will resell them back to the vendor for US$1 (RM3.50).
Hey, they deserve this and more for such backbreaking, hard labour.
Like most tourists, I paid them an extra US$20 and bought them four cans of drink in order to improve my karma, lest I come back in my next life as one of them.
Your suitcases are carried separately by a porter with a large rattan basket on his back. The sight of a scrawny, wiry teenager carrying your luggage like a backpack is also sobering, and you will be happy to pay US$8 (RM28).
Golden miracle
Your destination atop the mountain could not be more spectacular — a single, huge granite boulder perching precariously at the very edge of a cliff! The Golden Rock looks as if it could roll down the mountain if you so much as huffed. But considering that earthquakes are not alien to Myanmar, this 50ft (15m) high boulder is a pure miracle, especially with the 5.5m stupa on the top.
Legend has it that the rock is held in place by a single strand of the Buddha’s hair!
It is said that the Buddha, on one of his visits to earth after attaining Nirvana, gave a hair strand to Thaik Tha, a holy man, in the 11th century. Another version says the hermit met the Buddha when he was alive in 500 BC, and that Thaik Tha kept the Buddha’s hair inside his hair knot.
The hair kept the hermit alive for 1,500 years but he eventually yearned for release. Thaik Tha gave the hair to his godson King Tissa with the instruction that it be enshrined atop a boulder in the shape of the hermit’s head. As Thaik Tha removed the Buddha’s hair from his bun, he aged rapidly and died within minutes.
King Tissa, the son of a zagwi (magical being) and the Dragon Princess, asked his mother to send giant rocks from the seabed on a flying ship to the mountain top. One of them proved ideal as it was shaped like the dome of Thaik Tha’s head. Using magical incantations, King Tissa placed the rock at the edge and secured it by putting the Buddha’s hair on the top beneath a small stupa.
This became the Golden Rock while the ship carrying the rocks was transformed into stone and remains today at the entrance.
The stone entrance does indeed have a ship’s silhouette, though at 3m long it must have been some ship to be able to carry the rock.
“Er, it has shrunk in size over the ages,” the guide explains, pointing to many similar looking boulders scattered in the vicinity.
“These were the rocks rejected by the king!” exclaims Winn Aye.
Scientists have discovered that these rocks originated from the seabed. They ended up on the mountain slopes due to volcanic activities, geological upheavals and tectonic plate movements, but, of course, the locals know better!
Incredibly, the base on which the Golden Rock rests is not attached to the mountain side as assumed but is separated from it by around 1m. This can clearly be seen from the viewing platform below.
“The Golden Rock actually rests on top of a narrow pinnacle which already shows signs of cracking!” says Winn Aye, pointing to several dark, ominous lines. “But the Buddha’s hair will guarantee the rock stays like this for eternity.”
The Golden Rock is not made of solid gold despite its colour because its shine is due to the thick layers of gold leaf pasted on by worshippers.
I touched and pushed the rock. Woah. Was it my imagination or did it wobble ever so slightly? I stopped lest I ended up committing the ultimate sin of sending the Golden Rock tumbling 3,400ft (1,036m) into the valley below!
Walking on the small platform was a feat as I was in perpetual fear of slipping and falling off the cliff. This is not the place for vertigo sufferers.
Call me a superstitious fool but I’m convinced that it really is a single strand of the Buddha’s hair that is preventing the boulder from rolling down the mountain. From whichever angle one looks, the rock appears as if it’s in the midst of falling.
It is said that a menstruating woman would undo everything, hence women are forbidden from touching the Golden Rock.
Whether pre-teen or wizened old dame, no females are allowed entry. Several armed guards at the entrance make sure no feisty woman attempts the forbidden.
It’s not very Buddhist but there you go . . .
********************************************************************
The Nation - Asean leaders play it safe
By Supalak Ganjanakhundee
Published on September 22, 2009
It appears as if Asean leaders are not comfortable with the idea of meeting dissidents or activists during the late October summit in Cha Am/Hua Hin because they have asked for a list of civic groups prior to the meeting.
The leaders are scheduled to meet with representatives of Parliament, youth and civil society from Asean countries on October 23 - the first day of the summit, according to Vitavas Srivihok, director of the Foreign Ministry Asean Affairs Department.
Names of people waiting to meet the leaders need to be submitted through the Foreign Ministry of each country long before the meeting kicks off, he said.
Thailand, as the host country, wants to set up a meeting between civic representatives and Asean leaders to make the grouping look like a people-participating organisation.
However, the move to turn Asean into a people-centred organisation failed at the earlier summit in February because prime ministers from Burma and Cambodia refused to meet two civil representatives.
The Burmese and Cambodian nationals, who worked for non-government organisations, were denied audience because they were not recognised by the authorities. Instead, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya met the two outside the meeting venue to control damage.
In a move to make sure the upcoming 15th Asean summit goes smoothly, groups have been told to submit a list of names for advance consideration, Vitavas said.
"The leaders want to find out about the representatives from their respective countries before meeting them," he said. "Previously the names had arrived at short notice and some leaders were too surprised to see them. In some cases, it is understandable that the leaders might be reluctant to sit in the same room as dissidents."
At the summit, taking place from October 23 to 25, Asean leaders will also be meeting their counterparts from six Asia-Pacific countries. All leaders have confirmed their participation and the government will invoke the Internal Security Law again to ensure everyone's safety, Vitavas said.
By Supalak Ganjanakhundee
Published on September 22, 2009
It appears as if Asean leaders are not comfortable with the idea of meeting dissidents or activists during the late October summit in Cha Am/Hua Hin because they have asked for a list of civic groups prior to the meeting.
The leaders are scheduled to meet with representatives of Parliament, youth and civil society from Asean countries on October 23 - the first day of the summit, according to Vitavas Srivihok, director of the Foreign Ministry Asean Affairs Department.
Names of people waiting to meet the leaders need to be submitted through the Foreign Ministry of each country long before the meeting kicks off, he said.
Thailand, as the host country, wants to set up a meeting between civic representatives and Asean leaders to make the grouping look like a people-participating organisation.
However, the move to turn Asean into a people-centred organisation failed at the earlier summit in February because prime ministers from Burma and Cambodia refused to meet two civil representatives.
The Burmese and Cambodian nationals, who worked for non-government organisations, were denied audience because they were not recognised by the authorities. Instead, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya met the two outside the meeting venue to control damage.
In a move to make sure the upcoming 15th Asean summit goes smoothly, groups have been told to submit a list of names for advance consideration, Vitavas said.
"The leaders want to find out about the representatives from their respective countries before meeting them," he said. "Previously the names had arrived at short notice and some leaders were too surprised to see them. In some cases, it is understandable that the leaders might be reluctant to sit in the same room as dissidents."
At the summit, taking place from October 23 to 25, Asean leaders will also be meeting their counterparts from six Asia-Pacific countries. All leaders have confirmed their participation and the government will invoke the Internal Security Law again to ensure everyone's safety, Vitavas said.
********************************************************************
Mizzima News - US embassy official meets detained citizen in Burma
by Mungpi
Monday, 21 September 2009 15:24
New Delhi (Mizzima) – The US embassy in Rangoon has received consular access to detained citizen, Kyaw Zaw Lwin, on Sunday, weeks after he was arrested.
“The U.S. embassy received consular access to detained American citizen Kyaw Zaw Lwin on Sunday, September 20, 2009,” Drake Weisert, Assistant Public Affairs Officer, at the US embassy in Rangoon told Mizzima.
Weisert on Monday confirmed that Burmese authorities arrested and detained Kyaw Zaw Lwin, when he arrived in Rangoon’s Mingaladon airport on September 3.
“At Mr. Lwin’s request, we have notified his family about his arrest,” said Weisert, but did not mention where the Burmese-born-American is being detained.
Kyaw Zaw Lwin, who has a valid Burmese visa and US passport, flew into Rangoon on a TG flight from Bangkok.
He was a student activist during Burma’s 1988 popular uprising and fled to Thailand to escape the military crackdown on protesters. Later he was resettled in the US and has been living in Washington DC, where he was naturalized as a US citizen.
His sister and mother are serving a jail term for their role in the ‘Saffron Revolution’, where monks led thousands of protesters on the streets of Rangoon in September 2007.
Kyaw Zaw Lwin’s sister, Thet Thet Aung (35), was sentenced to 65 years in prison, while his mother is serving a five-year prison term.
by Mungpi
Monday, 21 September 2009 15:24
New Delhi (Mizzima) – The US embassy in Rangoon has received consular access to detained citizen, Kyaw Zaw Lwin, on Sunday, weeks after he was arrested.
“The U.S. embassy received consular access to detained American citizen Kyaw Zaw Lwin on Sunday, September 20, 2009,” Drake Weisert, Assistant Public Affairs Officer, at the US embassy in Rangoon told Mizzima.
Weisert on Monday confirmed that Burmese authorities arrested and detained Kyaw Zaw Lwin, when he arrived in Rangoon’s Mingaladon airport on September 3.
“At Mr. Lwin’s request, we have notified his family about his arrest,” said Weisert, but did not mention where the Burmese-born-American is being detained.
Kyaw Zaw Lwin, who has a valid Burmese visa and US passport, flew into Rangoon on a TG flight from Bangkok.
He was a student activist during Burma’s 1988 popular uprising and fled to Thailand to escape the military crackdown on protesters. Later he was resettled in the US and has been living in Washington DC, where he was naturalized as a US citizen.
His sister and mother are serving a jail term for their role in the ‘Saffron Revolution’, where monks led thousands of protesters on the streets of Rangoon in September 2007.
Kyaw Zaw Lwin’s sister, Thet Thet Aung (35), was sentenced to 65 years in prison, while his mother is serving a five-year prison term.
********************************************************************
Mizzima News - NLD requests meeting with detained leaders
Monday, 21 September 2009 21:13
New Delhi (Mizzima) - Members of the central executive committee of Burma’s major opposition – the National League for Democracy – have requested for permission from the junta to meet detained party leaders to discuss party matters.
Ohn Kyaing, a member of the NLD Information Committee, told Mizzima on Monday that the party had submitted a letter of request addressed to the junta supremo Snr. Gen Than Shwe asking for permission to meet Aung San Suu Kyi and Tin Oo.
“As we are at a critical juncture, we [NLD] need to take important decisions regarding our future activities. So we have requested Snr Gen Than Shwe to allow us to meet Aung San Suu Kyi and U Tin Oo,” Ohn Kyaing said.
The letter, according to Ohn Kyaing, was submitted on September 16, but the authorities are yet to respond.
Party General Secretary Aung San Suu Kyi and Vice-Chairman Tin Oo, are both under detention. While the Nobel Peace Laureate is serving an 18-month suspended sentence, handed down recently, Tin Oo has been under house arrest since May 2003, following an attack by a junta-backed mob in upper Burma’s Depayin town, during a political tour.
Though the NLD has not officially announced its intention to contest the forthcoming 2010 general elections, in recent months, its youth members across the country are said to be reorganizing.
In May, following a nation-wide party conference, the NLD released the “Shwegondine declaration”, stating it is willing to contest the elections but on the condition that the junta revise the 2008 constitution, release political prisoners including Aung San Suu Kyi, kick-start a process of dialogue and recognize the 1990 election results.
Last week, the junta announced amnesty for 7,114 prisoners, of which opposition sources confirmed the release of over 100 political prisoners so far.
However, a central executive member of the NLD, Win Tin, said those freed are too few and it is not significant, as it is a gesture to ease international pressure.
He urged the junta to release all political prisoners saying “Releasing all political prisoners is just part of the solution and is not the solution in itself. In Burma, we have many problems that need to be addressed and political prisoners are a part of it.”
Reporting by Myint Maung
Monday, 21 September 2009 21:13
New Delhi (Mizzima) - Members of the central executive committee of Burma’s major opposition – the National League for Democracy – have requested for permission from the junta to meet detained party leaders to discuss party matters.
Ohn Kyaing, a member of the NLD Information Committee, told Mizzima on Monday that the party had submitted a letter of request addressed to the junta supremo Snr. Gen Than Shwe asking for permission to meet Aung San Suu Kyi and Tin Oo.
“As we are at a critical juncture, we [NLD] need to take important decisions regarding our future activities. So we have requested Snr Gen Than Shwe to allow us to meet Aung San Suu Kyi and U Tin Oo,” Ohn Kyaing said.
The letter, according to Ohn Kyaing, was submitted on September 16, but the authorities are yet to respond.
Party General Secretary Aung San Suu Kyi and Vice-Chairman Tin Oo, are both under detention. While the Nobel Peace Laureate is serving an 18-month suspended sentence, handed down recently, Tin Oo has been under house arrest since May 2003, following an attack by a junta-backed mob in upper Burma’s Depayin town, during a political tour.
Though the NLD has not officially announced its intention to contest the forthcoming 2010 general elections, in recent months, its youth members across the country are said to be reorganizing.
In May, following a nation-wide party conference, the NLD released the “Shwegondine declaration”, stating it is willing to contest the elections but on the condition that the junta revise the 2008 constitution, release political prisoners including Aung San Suu Kyi, kick-start a process of dialogue and recognize the 1990 election results.
Last week, the junta announced amnesty for 7,114 prisoners, of which opposition sources confirmed the release of over 100 political prisoners so far.
However, a central executive member of the NLD, Win Tin, said those freed are too few and it is not significant, as it is a gesture to ease international pressure.
He urged the junta to release all political prisoners saying “Releasing all political prisoners is just part of the solution and is not the solution in itself. In Burma, we have many problems that need to be addressed and political prisoners are a part of it.”
Reporting by Myint Maung
********************************************************************
Mizzima News - Junta’s amnesty: showcase or Real?
by Salai Pi Pi
Monday, 21 September 2009 22:38
New Delhi (Mizzima) – The junta’s most recent amnesty to over 7000 prisoners has triggered myriad speculations with some believing it is another attempt at mollifying the international community, even as the Burmese Prime Minister attends the United Nations’ General Assembly in New York.
Win Tin, a Central Executive Committee member of National League for Democracy (NLD) on Monday said, the junta had granted amnesty to political prisoners in an attempt to appease the international community before the Burmese Premier Thein Sein’s trip to New York.
“I think the amnesty is just a show to ease international pressure before the Burmese Prime Minister Thein Sein goes to the United Nations’ General Assembly,” Win Tin said.
Thein Sein is planning to travel to New York to attend this year’s UN General Assembly.
The Burmese regime on 17 September 2009 announced amnesty for 7,114 prisoners on humanitarian grounds, which came after the release of prisoners including a handful of political prisoners, in the amnesty in September 2008 and February this year.
"The government on humanitarian ground and in consideration of their families, terminated the prison terms of 7,114 prisoners on 17 September 2009 from their respective prisons across the country in order to enable them to serve the interests of the regions, their own and the State after realizing the government's compassion and goodwill," Burma’s state-run TV on Thursday announced.
While the exact number of prisoners released is yet to be known, the Thailand-based Assistance Association of Political Prisoners (Burma) said, so far, 126 political prisoners were among the freed.
Tate Naing, Secretary of the AAPP-B said the amnesty is possibly in fulfillment of the promise made by Than Swe, the Burmese Ambassador to the UN, to the Security Council in July. During a briefing, after the UN Chief’s visit to Burma, Than Swe told members of the Security Council that his government is planning to free prisoners in order to allow them to participate in the election to be held in 2010.
“The amnesty could be a move to fulfill the promise that the junta made to the UNSC on the release of prisoners to allow them to participate in the forthcoming 2010 election,” said Tate Naing.
Burma’s military government has persistently denied having political prisoners in the country. But opposition sources said the release this time could include as many as 250 political prisoners.
But Larry Jagan, journalist specializing on Burma, said the amnesty could be just a part of the junta’s roadmap to democracy, and did not view it as the junta’s move to mollify the international community.
According to Jagan, Than Shwe, junta supremo, does not seem to care about international pressure but is focussed on pushing the regime’s planned elections next year, which is part of its roadmap to democracy.
He said amnesty for prisoners have been planned as early as the former Intelligence chief Khin Nyunt’s era. Khin Nyunt, who was serving as Prime Minister and Chief of Military Intelligence (MI) was purged in 2004.
The former UN special envoy, Razali Ismail, was told by Khin Nyunt during their discussions earlier that there would be amnesty for prisoners in the run-up to the 2010 elections, Jagan said.
“During the discussion, there was an agreement that there will a mass amnesty for political prisoners,” Jagan told Mizzima.
But Jagan also said, the amnesty could merely be a response by Senior General Than Shwe to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who during his visit to the country in July demanded substantial release of political prisoners.
“This could be fulfilling the promise Than Shwe made to Ban Ki-moon when he was there. He promised that there will be substantial release of political prisoners,” Jagan added.
The UN Chief on Friday, partially welcomed the junta’s release of a few political prisoners but reiterated his call for the release of more, including Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
“He reiterated his call to the Myanmar [Burmese] authorities to take further steps to ensure the release of the remaining political prisoners, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, as a necessary step towards a credible process of national reconciliation and democratic transition,” Ban’s spokesperson said in a statement.
by Salai Pi Pi
Monday, 21 September 2009 22:38
New Delhi (Mizzima) – The junta’s most recent amnesty to over 7000 prisoners has triggered myriad speculations with some believing it is another attempt at mollifying the international community, even as the Burmese Prime Minister attends the United Nations’ General Assembly in New York.
Win Tin, a Central Executive Committee member of National League for Democracy (NLD) on Monday said, the junta had granted amnesty to political prisoners in an attempt to appease the international community before the Burmese Premier Thein Sein’s trip to New York.
“I think the amnesty is just a show to ease international pressure before the Burmese Prime Minister Thein Sein goes to the United Nations’ General Assembly,” Win Tin said.
Thein Sein is planning to travel to New York to attend this year’s UN General Assembly.
The Burmese regime on 17 September 2009 announced amnesty for 7,114 prisoners on humanitarian grounds, which came after the release of prisoners including a handful of political prisoners, in the amnesty in September 2008 and February this year.
"The government on humanitarian ground and in consideration of their families, terminated the prison terms of 7,114 prisoners on 17 September 2009 from their respective prisons across the country in order to enable them to serve the interests of the regions, their own and the State after realizing the government's compassion and goodwill," Burma’s state-run TV on Thursday announced.
While the exact number of prisoners released is yet to be known, the Thailand-based Assistance Association of Political Prisoners (Burma) said, so far, 126 political prisoners were among the freed.
Tate Naing, Secretary of the AAPP-B said the amnesty is possibly in fulfillment of the promise made by Than Swe, the Burmese Ambassador to the UN, to the Security Council in July. During a briefing, after the UN Chief’s visit to Burma, Than Swe told members of the Security Council that his government is planning to free prisoners in order to allow them to participate in the election to be held in 2010.
“The amnesty could be a move to fulfill the promise that the junta made to the UNSC on the release of prisoners to allow them to participate in the forthcoming 2010 election,” said Tate Naing.
Burma’s military government has persistently denied having political prisoners in the country. But opposition sources said the release this time could include as many as 250 political prisoners.
But Larry Jagan, journalist specializing on Burma, said the amnesty could be just a part of the junta’s roadmap to democracy, and did not view it as the junta’s move to mollify the international community.
According to Jagan, Than Shwe, junta supremo, does not seem to care about international pressure but is focussed on pushing the regime’s planned elections next year, which is part of its roadmap to democracy.
He said amnesty for prisoners have been planned as early as the former Intelligence chief Khin Nyunt’s era. Khin Nyunt, who was serving as Prime Minister and Chief of Military Intelligence (MI) was purged in 2004.
The former UN special envoy, Razali Ismail, was told by Khin Nyunt during their discussions earlier that there would be amnesty for prisoners in the run-up to the 2010 elections, Jagan said.
“During the discussion, there was an agreement that there will a mass amnesty for political prisoners,” Jagan told Mizzima.
But Jagan also said, the amnesty could merely be a response by Senior General Than Shwe to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who during his visit to the country in July demanded substantial release of political prisoners.
“This could be fulfilling the promise Than Shwe made to Ban Ki-moon when he was there. He promised that there will be substantial release of political prisoners,” Jagan added.
The UN Chief on Friday, partially welcomed the junta’s release of a few political prisoners but reiterated his call for the release of more, including Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
“He reiterated his call to the Myanmar [Burmese] authorities to take further steps to ensure the release of the remaining political prisoners, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, as a necessary step towards a credible process of national reconciliation and democratic transition,” Ban’s spokesperson said in a statement.
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The Irrawaddy - Army General Arrested Following Kokang Offensive
By WAI MOE, Monday, September 21, 2009
Brig-Gen Win Maung, the commander of the Regional Operation Command based in Laogai, was arrested in early September for his failure to detain Kokang leader Peng Jaisheng and his brothers, according to military sources.
Sources said he was arrested shortly after clashes between government troops and the armed militia supporting Peng Jaisheng.
Lt-Gen Min Aung Hlaing, the chief of the Bureau of Special Operations-2 (BSO) which oversees troops in the Northeast, East and Triangle Regional Military Commands, was believed to have ordered the arrest.
The BSO-2 chief, the former commander of the Triangle Regional Command, supervised the operation against the Kokang militia, known as the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army.
Brig-Gen Hla Myint of the Northeast Regional Military Command has replaced Win Maung as chief of the Regional Operation Command in Laogai, which has 10 battalions.
“The junta expected a better preemptory strike and the arrest of Peng Jaisheng and his close aides,” a source said.
Government troops seized the Kokang capital of Laogai on Aug. 24 after determining that the Kokang had one of the weakest positions of ethnic groups along the Sino-Burmese border.
The junta deployed about 20 battalions in the Kokang operation. Following skirmishes, more than 1,500 Kokang militia crossed the border and handed over their arms to Chinese officials on August 29.
Border sources now estimate about 60 government soldiers and police, including one lieutenant colonel, were killed in the fighting, and more than 100 government personnel were injured.
During the 20 years of ethnic cease-fire agreements, many cease-fire groups such as the United Wa State Army (UWSA) have increased their military readiness. The UWSA now has at least 20,000 troops including an artillery brigade and anti-aircraft weapons.
Analysts note that the government has also benefited from the cease-fire agreements in many ways, such as the construction of roads into insurgent areas. An academic thesis in June 2009 from the US Naval Postgraduate School in California also noted that the government’s policy on illegal drugs can be considered a success in terms of its counter insurgency strategy, since the drug trade has been as a source of funds for ethnic cease-fire groups.
By WAI MOE, Monday, September 21, 2009
Brig-Gen Win Maung, the commander of the Regional Operation Command based in Laogai, was arrested in early September for his failure to detain Kokang leader Peng Jaisheng and his brothers, according to military sources.
Sources said he was arrested shortly after clashes between government troops and the armed militia supporting Peng Jaisheng.
Lt-Gen Min Aung Hlaing, the chief of the Bureau of Special Operations-2 (BSO) which oversees troops in the Northeast, East and Triangle Regional Military Commands, was believed to have ordered the arrest.
The BSO-2 chief, the former commander of the Triangle Regional Command, supervised the operation against the Kokang militia, known as the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army.
Brig-Gen Hla Myint of the Northeast Regional Military Command has replaced Win Maung as chief of the Regional Operation Command in Laogai, which has 10 battalions.
“The junta expected a better preemptory strike and the arrest of Peng Jaisheng and his close aides,” a source said.
Government troops seized the Kokang capital of Laogai on Aug. 24 after determining that the Kokang had one of the weakest positions of ethnic groups along the Sino-Burmese border.
The junta deployed about 20 battalions in the Kokang operation. Following skirmishes, more than 1,500 Kokang militia crossed the border and handed over their arms to Chinese officials on August 29.
Border sources now estimate about 60 government soldiers and police, including one lieutenant colonel, were killed in the fighting, and more than 100 government personnel were injured.
During the 20 years of ethnic cease-fire agreements, many cease-fire groups such as the United Wa State Army (UWSA) have increased their military readiness. The UWSA now has at least 20,000 troops including an artillery brigade and anti-aircraft weapons.
Analysts note that the government has also benefited from the cease-fire agreements in many ways, such as the construction of roads into insurgent areas. An academic thesis in June 2009 from the US Naval Postgraduate School in California also noted that the government’s policy on illegal drugs can be considered a success in terms of its counter insurgency strategy, since the drug trade has been as a source of funds for ethnic cease-fire groups.
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The Irrawaddy - Release of Prisoners a Token Gesture
By SAW YAN NAING, Monday, September 21, 2009
Last week, the Burmese military regime announced it was granting amnesty to 7,114 prisoners. But among the thousands of hardened criminals was no more than a handful of political prisoners—127 to be precise. And among that group, no major players were released.
Looking back at the junta’s policy of granting amnesty over the years, we can see that political prisoners are always a very small minority of those released.
In 2004, out of 14,318 prisoners freed in an amnesty, 60 were political dissidents. In 2005, however, a sizeable proportion of those released—341 out of 400—were political prisoners.
After 2005, the percentages returned to normal: in 2007, only 20 political detainees out of 8,585 convicted prisoners were released; in 2008, nine out of 9,002; and in February this year, just 31 political prisoners were released along with 6,293 convicted criminals.
Indeed, the actual number of political prisoners released under the amnesties can never be independently confirmed—the figure is usually exaggerated and, in some cases, according to former senior intelligence officers, the numbers are related to the junta leaders’ obsession with astrology and numerology.
On top of the regime’s refusal to release leading political dissidents is the blatant timing of amnesties to coincide with outside events.
In February 2009, the junta announced an amnesty for prisoners just after UN Human Rights Rapporteur Tomas Ojea Quintana left Burma following an official visit.
This month, the Burmese prison authorities declared that about 250 political detainees would be among 7,114 freed detainees.
This announcement came three days before Prime Minister Gen Thein Sein flew to New York to attend the UN General Assembly. Another indication of the regime’s current leaning is that it usually sends foreign ministers to New York.
As the regime prepares for the election in 2010, its leaders are taking steps to convince the UN and the international community about the merits of their “road map to a disciplined democracy,” including, of course, the “democratic” process they are undertaking via the 2010 election.
Bo Kyi, the joint secretary of Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma), said that the regime only released prisoners with the aim of easing international pressure. However, he said, key dissident leaders such as Aung San Suu Kyi, Min Ko Naing and ethnic Shan leader Khun Htun Oo remained in detention.
A member of the underground All Burma Federation of Student Unions, Aung Tun, who was released after serving 11 years in prison, said that the regime only released political prisoners whenever it was facing an international crisis.
Commenting on the junta’s recent amnesty, Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, repeated his call for the Burmese government to take further steps to ensure the release of the remaining 2,100 political prisoners, including Suu Kyi, as a necessary step toward a credible process of national reconciliation and democratic transition.
As part of the recent amnesty, 127 political prisoners have been released, including four monks, four journalists and one lawyer. Observers note that the junta mainly freed those who were charged under certain criminal codes, including 5(j) of the Emergency Provisions Act, and Section 17/1 of the Illegal Organization Act.
It has been confirmed by sources that Burmese intelligence officers who have been detained since the removal of intelligence chief Gen Khin Nyunt were among those released on Friday.
Bodaw Than Hla, the former chief astrologer to Khin Nyunt, was released, and The Irrawaddy also learnt that Maj Myo Nyunt Aung, a former intelligence officer, was among those freed from Mandalay Prison.
Several former intelligence officers, most of whom were charged under Section 5(j) of the Emergency Provisions Act, were also released. But high-ranking officials charged with treason remain imprisoned.
Debbie Stothard, the coordinator of the Alternative Asean Network (Altsean) said, “This is a common trick of the SPDC [State Peace and Development Council], to release political prisoners when there is a lot of international pressure. But, the problem is that they keep re-arresting them in the future.
So, we have to be very clear that these political prisoners are released unconditionally,” she said.
Some observers also pointed out that the junta deliberately ignored the major issue of releasing Aung San Suu Kyi and ethnic political leaders. They said that the regime wanted to keep Suu Kyi out of the picture ahead the 2010 election.
“Of course, for the individual political prisoners and their families, they are happy that they [the prisoners] are released. But for the future of the country, the SPDC should release all the political prisoners, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the ethnic leaders,” said Stothard.
A veteran journalist based in Rangoon said that the release is very welcome news for family members who were waiting to see their loved ones. “They are unjustly charged and detained,” he said.
When asked whether the move will win hearts and minds in the international community, the senior reporter replied bluntly that only the governments in the West, Asean and the UN “will be fooled into welcoming the regime’s gestures, because they are naïve.”
While the Burmese regime holds more than 2,000 political prisoners, it shows no sign of loosening its grip. Meanwhile, a crackdown on dissidents is continuing.
Last week, seven Burmese activists and five Buddhist monks were detained in Myingyan Township in Mandalay by Burmese military authorities.
As Buddhist monks called for peaceful marches in the coming weeks, the regime increased its security around Rangoon.
Many of the political prisoners who have been released vowed to continue to fight injustice even though they were locked up for years.
It seems no matter how often the regime offers amnesties, Burma’s jails will never be empty of political dissidents.
By SAW YAN NAING, Monday, September 21, 2009
Last week, the Burmese military regime announced it was granting amnesty to 7,114 prisoners. But among the thousands of hardened criminals was no more than a handful of political prisoners—127 to be precise. And among that group, no major players were released.
Looking back at the junta’s policy of granting amnesty over the years, we can see that political prisoners are always a very small minority of those released.
In 2004, out of 14,318 prisoners freed in an amnesty, 60 were political dissidents. In 2005, however, a sizeable proportion of those released—341 out of 400—were political prisoners.
After 2005, the percentages returned to normal: in 2007, only 20 political detainees out of 8,585 convicted prisoners were released; in 2008, nine out of 9,002; and in February this year, just 31 political prisoners were released along with 6,293 convicted criminals.
Indeed, the actual number of political prisoners released under the amnesties can never be independently confirmed—the figure is usually exaggerated and, in some cases, according to former senior intelligence officers, the numbers are related to the junta leaders’ obsession with astrology and numerology.
On top of the regime’s refusal to release leading political dissidents is the blatant timing of amnesties to coincide with outside events.
In February 2009, the junta announced an amnesty for prisoners just after UN Human Rights Rapporteur Tomas Ojea Quintana left Burma following an official visit.
This month, the Burmese prison authorities declared that about 250 political detainees would be among 7,114 freed detainees.
This announcement came three days before Prime Minister Gen Thein Sein flew to New York to attend the UN General Assembly. Another indication of the regime’s current leaning is that it usually sends foreign ministers to New York.
As the regime prepares for the election in 2010, its leaders are taking steps to convince the UN and the international community about the merits of their “road map to a disciplined democracy,” including, of course, the “democratic” process they are undertaking via the 2010 election.
Bo Kyi, the joint secretary of Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma), said that the regime only released prisoners with the aim of easing international pressure. However, he said, key dissident leaders such as Aung San Suu Kyi, Min Ko Naing and ethnic Shan leader Khun Htun Oo remained in detention.
A member of the underground All Burma Federation of Student Unions, Aung Tun, who was released after serving 11 years in prison, said that the regime only released political prisoners whenever it was facing an international crisis.
Commenting on the junta’s recent amnesty, Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, repeated his call for the Burmese government to take further steps to ensure the release of the remaining 2,100 political prisoners, including Suu Kyi, as a necessary step toward a credible process of national reconciliation and democratic transition.
As part of the recent amnesty, 127 political prisoners have been released, including four monks, four journalists and one lawyer. Observers note that the junta mainly freed those who were charged under certain criminal codes, including 5(j) of the Emergency Provisions Act, and Section 17/1 of the Illegal Organization Act.
It has been confirmed by sources that Burmese intelligence officers who have been detained since the removal of intelligence chief Gen Khin Nyunt were among those released on Friday.
Bodaw Than Hla, the former chief astrologer to Khin Nyunt, was released, and The Irrawaddy also learnt that Maj Myo Nyunt Aung, a former intelligence officer, was among those freed from Mandalay Prison.
Several former intelligence officers, most of whom were charged under Section 5(j) of the Emergency Provisions Act, were also released. But high-ranking officials charged with treason remain imprisoned.
Debbie Stothard, the coordinator of the Alternative Asean Network (Altsean) said, “This is a common trick of the SPDC [State Peace and Development Council], to release political prisoners when there is a lot of international pressure. But, the problem is that they keep re-arresting them in the future.
So, we have to be very clear that these political prisoners are released unconditionally,” she said.
Some observers also pointed out that the junta deliberately ignored the major issue of releasing Aung San Suu Kyi and ethnic political leaders. They said that the regime wanted to keep Suu Kyi out of the picture ahead the 2010 election.
“Of course, for the individual political prisoners and their families, they are happy that they [the prisoners] are released. But for the future of the country, the SPDC should release all the political prisoners, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the ethnic leaders,” said Stothard.
A veteran journalist based in Rangoon said that the release is very welcome news for family members who were waiting to see their loved ones. “They are unjustly charged and detained,” he said.
When asked whether the move will win hearts and minds in the international community, the senior reporter replied bluntly that only the governments in the West, Asean and the UN “will be fooled into welcoming the regime’s gestures, because they are naïve.”
While the Burmese regime holds more than 2,000 political prisoners, it shows no sign of loosening its grip. Meanwhile, a crackdown on dissidents is continuing.
Last week, seven Burmese activists and five Buddhist monks were detained in Myingyan Township in Mandalay by Burmese military authorities.
As Buddhist monks called for peaceful marches in the coming weeks, the regime increased its security around Rangoon.
Many of the political prisoners who have been released vowed to continue to fight injustice even though they were locked up for years.
It seems no matter how often the regime offers amnesties, Burma’s jails will never be empty of political dissidents.
********************************************************************
The Irrawaddy - One Disaster after Another
By SOE LWIN, Monday, September 21, 2009
PYAPON, Irrawaddy delta — Ko Aung sighed heavily as he looked at the destroyed paddy plants in his field.
"It’s just one disaster after another," said the 35-year-old farmer from Thameinhtaw Village, Pyapon Township, slowly shaking his head.
Last year, he lost all his buffaloes to Cyclone Nargis, and could only cultivate half of his paddy fields because he did not have enough fertilizer and agricultural equipment.
But this year he had greater expectations for his harvest.
“I really needed my fields to grow well this year," said the farmer, who owns 15 acres of rice paddies.
However, after an infestation of rats, nearly one-third of his paddy fields were destroyed and with it, much of his hope for the coming year.
There are thousands of cyclone-affected farmers like Ko Aung whose fields are being ravaged by plagues of rats across the Irrawaddy delta, an area renowned as the rice bowl of Burma.
The delta’s rich agricultural soil and crops were devastated on May 2-3 last year by a cyclone that killed nearly 140,000 people and affected more than 2 million.
Now, in a bid to curb the infestation of rats in the region, the Plant Protection Department & Myanmar Agricultural Service office has introduced a “1,000 Rat Tails Program,” instructing each affected village to kill 1,000 rats per week.
Farmers must kill the rats, which they catch mainly with traps, and cut the tails off. They then submit the rats’ tails to the local office where they are paid 100 kyat (US $0.10) per tail.
However, the scourge remains. The rats have been continuously destroying paddy plants throughout the rainy season.
Normally, rats flock to rice paddies when the paddy ripens. However, this year, rats have been ravaging the plants since they were seedlings.
A frustrated farmer from Mayan Village in Kunyangone Township—one of hardest-hit areas— said half his paddy fields have already been destroyed by rats.
Many experienced farmers say that they can each catch between 10 and 20 rats every week, but their crops still get eaten.
Some agricultural experts believe the rat population has exploded due to a decline in the number of snakes.
“Farmers should have the help of snakes in controlling the number of rats,” one agricultural expert said. “Having snakes in the fields to ward off rats is the natural way, and the best for long term.”
In Chin State, rats destroyed more than 80 percent of crops in some villages in 2006-08 after an explosion of the rat population caused by the flowering of a nutritious bamboo fruit, an event that only occurs every 50 years.
The rats fed on the fruit, but ravaged farmers’ crops once the fruit was finished.
A recent report by the Chin Human Rights Organization estimates that thousands of people in Chin State now face a famine and potential starvation due to the rat infestation.
By SOE LWIN, Monday, September 21, 2009
PYAPON, Irrawaddy delta — Ko Aung sighed heavily as he looked at the destroyed paddy plants in his field.
"It’s just one disaster after another," said the 35-year-old farmer from Thameinhtaw Village, Pyapon Township, slowly shaking his head.
Last year, he lost all his buffaloes to Cyclone Nargis, and could only cultivate half of his paddy fields because he did not have enough fertilizer and agricultural equipment.
But this year he had greater expectations for his harvest.
“I really needed my fields to grow well this year," said the farmer, who owns 15 acres of rice paddies.
However, after an infestation of rats, nearly one-third of his paddy fields were destroyed and with it, much of his hope for the coming year.
There are thousands of cyclone-affected farmers like Ko Aung whose fields are being ravaged by plagues of rats across the Irrawaddy delta, an area renowned as the rice bowl of Burma.
The delta’s rich agricultural soil and crops were devastated on May 2-3 last year by a cyclone that killed nearly 140,000 people and affected more than 2 million.
Now, in a bid to curb the infestation of rats in the region, the Plant Protection Department & Myanmar Agricultural Service office has introduced a “1,000 Rat Tails Program,” instructing each affected village to kill 1,000 rats per week.
Farmers must kill the rats, which they catch mainly with traps, and cut the tails off. They then submit the rats’ tails to the local office where they are paid 100 kyat (US $0.10) per tail.
However, the scourge remains. The rats have been continuously destroying paddy plants throughout the rainy season.
Normally, rats flock to rice paddies when the paddy ripens. However, this year, rats have been ravaging the plants since they were seedlings.
A frustrated farmer from Mayan Village in Kunyangone Township—one of hardest-hit areas— said half his paddy fields have already been destroyed by rats.
Many experienced farmers say that they can each catch between 10 and 20 rats every week, but their crops still get eaten.
Some agricultural experts believe the rat population has exploded due to a decline in the number of snakes.
“Farmers should have the help of snakes in controlling the number of rats,” one agricultural expert said. “Having snakes in the fields to ward off rats is the natural way, and the best for long term.”
In Chin State, rats destroyed more than 80 percent of crops in some villages in 2006-08 after an explosion of the rat population caused by the flowering of a nutritious bamboo fruit, an event that only occurs every 50 years.
The rats fed on the fruit, but ravaged farmers’ crops once the fruit was finished.
A recent report by the Chin Human Rights Organization estimates that thousands of people in Chin State now face a famine and potential starvation due to the rat infestation.
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Riot training given to Rangoon civilians
Sept 21, 2009 (DVB)–Riot training is being offered by local authorities to hundreds of jobless men in Burma’s former capital of Rangoon, a resident of the city said yesterday.
Around 1500 people in more than 10 townships surrounding Rangoon are being offered the training in government-run school compounds, according to the resident.
“The police and the fire brigade are providing the training to about 10 to 15 people in every ward; around 150 in total in every township,” said the Rangoon resident, adding that the 1500 kyat ($US1.50) offered for the training has attracted many unemployed people.
Meanwhile, locals in central Burma’s Magwe division have said authorities are providing basic combat training in villages, demanding at least three people from every village take part.
A local in Myothit township said that training is being conducted in the town’s sports grounds.
“There are 53 villages in the area and authorities are demanding three people from every village to attend,” he said. “The training is being conducted by the fire brigade.”
A similar activity was reported in Bago division’s Zeegone township earlier this month, with riot training being provided for members of the junta proxy group, Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA).
Training was also given to voluntary fire brigade and local Myanmar Red Cross Society members at military grounds.
It is so far unclear why the training is being offered, although there is speculation that it could be in preparation for the elections next year.
It also coincides with the anniversary of the September 2007 monk-led uprising, at a time when the Burmese government is tightening security in fear of another series of protests.
Reporting by Min Lwin
Sept 21, 2009 (DVB)–Riot training is being offered by local authorities to hundreds of jobless men in Burma’s former capital of Rangoon, a resident of the city said yesterday.
Around 1500 people in more than 10 townships surrounding Rangoon are being offered the training in government-run school compounds, according to the resident.
“The police and the fire brigade are providing the training to about 10 to 15 people in every ward; around 150 in total in every township,” said the Rangoon resident, adding that the 1500 kyat ($US1.50) offered for the training has attracted many unemployed people.
Meanwhile, locals in central Burma’s Magwe division have said authorities are providing basic combat training in villages, demanding at least three people from every village take part.
A local in Myothit township said that training is being conducted in the town’s sports grounds.
“There are 53 villages in the area and authorities are demanding three people from every village to attend,” he said. “The training is being conducted by the fire brigade.”
A similar activity was reported in Bago division’s Zeegone township earlier this month, with riot training being provided for members of the junta proxy group, Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA).
Training was also given to voluntary fire brigade and local Myanmar Red Cross Society members at military grounds.
It is so far unclear why the training is being offered, although there is speculation that it could be in preparation for the elections next year.
It also coincides with the anniversary of the September 2007 monk-led uprising, at a time when the Burmese government is tightening security in fear of another series of protests.
Reporting by Min Lwin
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Stray army bullet hits woman
Sept 21, 2009 (DVB)–A young woman hit by a stray army bullet last week whilst working on her farm in central Burma has reportedly been forced to claim responsibility, according to locals in her town.
The lady, identified as 24-year-old Tin Nay Zar Linn, was shot in the knee by army troops training at a nearby field east of Bago division’s Thayawaddy town on 18 September.
“There were a lot of people shooting at the same time in the training so we can’t tell whose bullet it actually was,” said an army official, adding that “the situation has now been taken care of”.
A local man who was denied access to the hospital said that the bullet had pierced straight through her knee.
“Apparently the battalion’s commander accompanied by other officials came to see the girl in hospital and made her sign a statement claiming it was her own fault,” he said.
The army officer told DVB that he was unaware of whether any compensation was granted to the woman.
“I don’t know anything about the compensation as it was handled by the battalion commander and other officials,” he said.
Security has been tightened around Thayawaddy General Hospital, with officials reportedly seeking to block any information about the incident getting out.
The army infantry has since issued a warning to locals not to go within a five-mile radius of where the training is taking place.
Reporting by Naw Noreen
Sept 21, 2009 (DVB)–A young woman hit by a stray army bullet last week whilst working on her farm in central Burma has reportedly been forced to claim responsibility, according to locals in her town.
The lady, identified as 24-year-old Tin Nay Zar Linn, was shot in the knee by army troops training at a nearby field east of Bago division’s Thayawaddy town on 18 September.
“There were a lot of people shooting at the same time in the training so we can’t tell whose bullet it actually was,” said an army official, adding that “the situation has now been taken care of”.
A local man who was denied access to the hospital said that the bullet had pierced straight through her knee.
“Apparently the battalion’s commander accompanied by other officials came to see the girl in hospital and made her sign a statement claiming it was her own fault,” he said.
The army officer told DVB that he was unaware of whether any compensation was granted to the woman.
“I don’t know anything about the compensation as it was handled by the battalion commander and other officials,” he said.
Security has been tightened around Thayawaddy General Hospital, with officials reportedly seeking to block any information about the incident getting out.
The army infantry has since issued a warning to locals not to go within a five-mile radius of where the training is taking place.
Reporting by Naw Noreen
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