Thai army says Myanmar refugees' return halted
AP - Saturday, February 6
BANGKOK (AP) – The Thai army said that the planned return of more than 100 ethnic Karen refugees to military-run Myanmar _ opposed by rights groups as dangerous _ was halted Friday.
Col. Noppadol Watcharajitbaworn, the local military commander in the Thai province of Tak where the refugees are sheltering, said the group of 30 families who planned to go back Friday changed their minds after talking with representatives from Western embassies, the U.N. and non-governmental organizations.
Critics of the move had said the army was pressuring the refugees to return, even though their village area is believed to be infested with land mines due to Myanmar's war with ethnic insurgents.
The Karen Women Organization and other groups had said that Thailand planned to send back 1,700 Karen from two temporary camps in Tak province by Feb. 15.
Thailand denies any deadline and says they will not be sent back against their will.
Noppadol said 12 refugees had gone back to their village in Myanmar Friday morning before the embassy and U.N. officials arrived, but said they had then come back again, and that such movement back and forth was normal as people repaired their homes and tended their livestock.
"When the refugees don't want to go back, we have to let them stay, but if it's their will to go back to their hometown, we will assist them as much as we can," he said.
The Karen Women Organization delivered Friday an open letter to the Thai government co-signed by 75 Thai and Myanmar social action groups, calling for any repatriation plans to be suspended.
A London-based human rights group, Christian Solidarity Worldwide, has said the refugees could face abuses, including forced labor and rape, if they go back.
Myanmar has faced ethnic rebellions along its borders since the country, then called Burma, became independent in 1948. The Karen insurgent group, the Karen National Union, has been fighting for more than 60 years for greater autonomy from Myanmar's central government, but its strength has dwindled over the past decade due to army offensives and divisions within its ranks. Critics accuse the Myanmar government of brutality against civilians in its insurgency campaigns.
There are about 160,000 long-staying refugees staying at Thai camps along the border with Myanmar.
AP - Saturday, February 6
BANGKOK (AP) – The Thai army said that the planned return of more than 100 ethnic Karen refugees to military-run Myanmar _ opposed by rights groups as dangerous _ was halted Friday.
Col. Noppadol Watcharajitbaworn, the local military commander in the Thai province of Tak where the refugees are sheltering, said the group of 30 families who planned to go back Friday changed their minds after talking with representatives from Western embassies, the U.N. and non-governmental organizations.
Critics of the move had said the army was pressuring the refugees to return, even though their village area is believed to be infested with land mines due to Myanmar's war with ethnic insurgents.
The Karen Women Organization and other groups had said that Thailand planned to send back 1,700 Karen from two temporary camps in Tak province by Feb. 15.
Thailand denies any deadline and says they will not be sent back against their will.
Noppadol said 12 refugees had gone back to their village in Myanmar Friday morning before the embassy and U.N. officials arrived, but said they had then come back again, and that such movement back and forth was normal as people repaired their homes and tended their livestock.
"When the refugees don't want to go back, we have to let them stay, but if it's their will to go back to their hometown, we will assist them as much as we can," he said.
The Karen Women Organization delivered Friday an open letter to the Thai government co-signed by 75 Thai and Myanmar social action groups, calling for any repatriation plans to be suspended.
A London-based human rights group, Christian Solidarity Worldwide, has said the refugees could face abuses, including forced labor and rape, if they go back.
Myanmar has faced ethnic rebellions along its borders since the country, then called Burma, became independent in 1948. The Karen insurgent group, the Karen National Union, has been fighting for more than 60 years for greater autonomy from Myanmar's central government, but its strength has dwindled over the past decade due to army offensives and divisions within its ranks. Critics accuse the Myanmar government of brutality against civilians in its insurgency campaigns.
There are about 160,000 long-staying refugees staying at Thai camps along the border with Myanmar.
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EarthTimes - Thailand says Karens to be returned to Myanmar on voluntary basis
Posted : Fri, 05 Feb 2010 07:56:14 GMT
Bangkok - The Thai government and military on Friday insisted that 1,700 refugees from the Karen ethnic minority would only be repatriated to neighbouring Myanmar on a voluntary basis.
The repatriation was halted at midday Friday after Thai human rights and civil society groups protested the allegedly forced deportation on the Thai-Myanmar border.
"This morning, three Karen families returned to Myanmar, or 12 people, but the military decided they would not allow any more to leave until the Karens have talked to NGOs and verified that they want to return," said Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Thani Thongpakdi.
The refugees were among 3,000 who fled to Thailand's Tha Song Yang district on the border in June to escape fighting between separatist rebels with the Karen National Union and the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, which is an ally of Myanmar's ruling junta.
Thailand's Third Army Region initially announced plans to return all 1,700 Karen refugees to Myanmar by February 15 but has now changed its tune.
"We are making a list of those that have volunteered to return," Third Army Region spokesman Colonel Surachet Thanyawhet said.
"In the beginning, there were 3,000 here, and half have already returned home voluntarily," he said. "Now it is mostly women and children left behind, and we will take full consideration of their safety before they can return."
The Karen are an ethnic minority people indigenous to eastern Myanmar. Rebels in the Karen National Union have been fighting Myanmar's central governments for an autonomous Karen State since 1949, making it one of the world's oldest insurgencies.
Thailand recently faced criticism for another repatriation. On December 28, the government forcibly sent back 4,500 ethnic Hmong who had been living in detention centres in north-eastern Thailand for more than four years to communist Laos, it neighbour to the north.
Hmong were recruited as a guerrilla force by the US military in its so-called "secret war" against communism in Laos in the 1960s and '70s. The United States lost, and the Hmong were persecuted and hunted down after Laos went communist in 1975.
About 100,000 fled to neighbouring Thailand, from which they sought resettlement in the US and other Western countries.
Posted : Fri, 05 Feb 2010 07:56:14 GMT
Bangkok - The Thai government and military on Friday insisted that 1,700 refugees from the Karen ethnic minority would only be repatriated to neighbouring Myanmar on a voluntary basis.
The repatriation was halted at midday Friday after Thai human rights and civil society groups protested the allegedly forced deportation on the Thai-Myanmar border.
"This morning, three Karen families returned to Myanmar, or 12 people, but the military decided they would not allow any more to leave until the Karens have talked to NGOs and verified that they want to return," said Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Thani Thongpakdi.
The refugees were among 3,000 who fled to Thailand's Tha Song Yang district on the border in June to escape fighting between separatist rebels with the Karen National Union and the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, which is an ally of Myanmar's ruling junta.
Thailand's Third Army Region initially announced plans to return all 1,700 Karen refugees to Myanmar by February 15 but has now changed its tune.
"We are making a list of those that have volunteered to return," Third Army Region spokesman Colonel Surachet Thanyawhet said.
"In the beginning, there were 3,000 here, and half have already returned home voluntarily," he said. "Now it is mostly women and children left behind, and we will take full consideration of their safety before they can return."
The Karen are an ethnic minority people indigenous to eastern Myanmar. Rebels in the Karen National Union have been fighting Myanmar's central governments for an autonomous Karen State since 1949, making it one of the world's oldest insurgencies.
Thailand recently faced criticism for another repatriation. On December 28, the government forcibly sent back 4,500 ethnic Hmong who had been living in detention centres in north-eastern Thailand for more than four years to communist Laos, it neighbour to the north.
Hmong were recruited as a guerrilla force by the US military in its so-called "secret war" against communism in Laos in the 1960s and '70s. The United States lost, and the Hmong were persecuted and hunted down after Laos went communist in 1975.
About 100,000 fled to neighbouring Thailand, from which they sought resettlement in the US and other Western countries.
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Feb 5, 2010
Straits Times - Lawmakers appeal on Karen
WASHINGTON - US LAWMAKERS on Thursday implored Thailand not to deport thousands of ethnic Karen villagers back to military-ruled Myanmar, saying they were at grave risk of human rights abuses.
Around 4,000 villagers escaped to Thailand in June when the regime stepped up its campaign against the Karen rebels, one of the few ethnic insurgent groups yet to sign a peace deal in the nation formerly known as Burma.
Twenty-seven US lawmakers sent a letter to Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva urging Thailand not to repatriate the Karen, with reports saying the operation could begin imminently.
'If forced to return, these refugees will suffer horrific human rights abuses,' said the letter led by Representative Joseph Crowley, a Democrat from New York. 'They will undoubtedly be subject to forced labor, executions, torture and mutilations, forced recruitment as soldiers, including child soldiers, and theft and extortion, making their survival very difficult.'
While praising Thailand for taking on the burden of settling tens of thousands of refugees, the lawmakers warned of repercussions for forced repatriation. 'Historically, Thailand has developed a reputation as a country that provides refuge to those fleeing serious persecution, but actions like this will undermine and tarnish this reputation,' the letter said.
The appeal comes weeks after Thailand defied appeals by the United States, European Union and United Nations and sent thousands of members of the Hmong community to Laos. Hmong activists said that the group risked persecution in Laos, but Thailand said they were illegal economic migrants. -- AFP
Straits Times - Lawmakers appeal on Karen
WASHINGTON - US LAWMAKERS on Thursday implored Thailand not to deport thousands of ethnic Karen villagers back to military-ruled Myanmar, saying they were at grave risk of human rights abuses.
Around 4,000 villagers escaped to Thailand in June when the regime stepped up its campaign against the Karen rebels, one of the few ethnic insurgent groups yet to sign a peace deal in the nation formerly known as Burma.
Twenty-seven US lawmakers sent a letter to Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva urging Thailand not to repatriate the Karen, with reports saying the operation could begin imminently.
'If forced to return, these refugees will suffer horrific human rights abuses,' said the letter led by Representative Joseph Crowley, a Democrat from New York. 'They will undoubtedly be subject to forced labor, executions, torture and mutilations, forced recruitment as soldiers, including child soldiers, and theft and extortion, making their survival very difficult.'
While praising Thailand for taking on the burden of settling tens of thousands of refugees, the lawmakers warned of repercussions for forced repatriation. 'Historically, Thailand has developed a reputation as a country that provides refuge to those fleeing serious persecution, but actions like this will undermine and tarnish this reputation,' the letter said.
The appeal comes weeks after Thailand defied appeals by the United States, European Union and United Nations and sent thousands of members of the Hmong community to Laos. Hmong activists said that the group risked persecution in Laos, but Thailand said they were illegal economic migrants. -- AFP
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Korean Central News Agency
Kim Jong Il's Birthday Celebrated in Guinea and Myanmar
Pyongyang, February 4 (KCNA) -- A joint seminar on General Secretary Kim Jong Il's work "Socialism Is a Science" was held in Guinea and a meeting and a film show in Myanmar on Jan. 27 and 28 to celebrate his birthday.
Speeches were made there.
Riyad Chaloub, chairman of the Guinean National Committee for the Study of the Juche Idea, said it was clearly proved through the publication of the work "Socialism Is a Science" that the socialist cause is the just cause of the popular masses' independence and humankind's advance toward socialism is the irresistible law governing the development of history.
Abdoulaye Conte, chief of the Guinean Group for the Study of Kimjongilism, said that the DPRK's is a most advantageous and powerful socialism enjoying unquestionable support and confidence from the people as it is based on the Juche-oriented standpoint and attitude toward the popular masses.
Abdoulaye Diallo, chairman of the Guinean Society for the Study of the Juche Literary Idea, stressed that the feats of Kim Jong Il who has defended the socialist cause will shine forever in history.
The secretary general of the Union Solidarity and Development Association of Myanmar lauded the leadership exploits of Kim Jong Il, saying that he glorified 2009 as a year of great changes to be specially recorded in the history of Korea and is making ceaseless journey of field guidance to various fields of the national economy from the very start of 2010.
Appreciated at the film show was Korean film "Fireworks for a Thriving Nation".
Kim Jong Il's Birthday Celebrated in Guinea and Myanmar
Pyongyang, February 4 (KCNA) -- A joint seminar on General Secretary Kim Jong Il's work "Socialism Is a Science" was held in Guinea and a meeting and a film show in Myanmar on Jan. 27 and 28 to celebrate his birthday.
Speeches were made there.
Riyad Chaloub, chairman of the Guinean National Committee for the Study of the Juche Idea, said it was clearly proved through the publication of the work "Socialism Is a Science" that the socialist cause is the just cause of the popular masses' independence and humankind's advance toward socialism is the irresistible law governing the development of history.
Abdoulaye Conte, chief of the Guinean Group for the Study of Kimjongilism, said that the DPRK's is a most advantageous and powerful socialism enjoying unquestionable support and confidence from the people as it is based on the Juche-oriented standpoint and attitude toward the popular masses.
Abdoulaye Diallo, chairman of the Guinean Society for the Study of the Juche Literary Idea, stressed that the feats of Kim Jong Il who has defended the socialist cause will shine forever in history.
The secretary general of the Union Solidarity and Development Association of Myanmar lauded the leadership exploits of Kim Jong Il, saying that he glorified 2009 as a year of great changes to be specially recorded in the history of Korea and is making ceaseless journey of field guidance to various fields of the national economy from the very start of 2010.
Appreciated at the film show was Korean film "Fireworks for a Thriving Nation".
*************************************************************
India Today - N Korea role in Myanmar N-plot?
Dipanjan Roy Chaudhury New Delhi, February 5, 2010
Will India have to contend with another nucleararmed neighbour? A recent report by the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) suggests that Myanmar's military junta is nursing nuclear ambitions and has tapped North Korea to realise them.
The reasons for these aspirations aren't hard to guess.
The generals who rule the country are under pressure from the international community to restore civilian rule.
Their lesson from the politics of North Korea and Iran, and the experience of Saddam Hussein's Iraq is that the best way to neutralise foreign intervention is to possess a nuclear weapon.
The ISIS has published photographs of what it claims is construction work on a possible nuclear reactor site near Mandalay.
The ISIS report, published a week ago, was written by leading proliferation experts David Albright and Paul Brannan.
The document focuses on the Myanmarese junta's clandestine dealings with North Korea and its apparent efforts to mislead overseas suppliers on its attempts to obtain nuclear technology.
The reports is titled ' Burma: A nuclear wannabe; suspicious links to North Korea; high- tech procurements and enigmatic facilities'. It says: " For several years, suspicions have swirled about the nuclear intentions of Burma's secretive military dictatorship… Certain equipment, which could be used in a nuclear or missile programme, went to isolated Burmese manufacturing compounds of unknown purpose." The report tempers these findings with the proviso that there is no concrete evidence that Myanmar is building secret nuclear reactors or fuel cycle facilities.
However, it states that because Myanmar is buying a wide variety of suspicious dual- use goods, governments and companies need to be more vigilant in examining the country's inquiries or requests for equipment. In the past, Myanmar has harboured nuclear ambitions in a more open manner. In 2007, it signed an MoU with the Russian atomic energy agency to establish a nuclear studies centre, build a 10- megawatt nuclear research reactor for peaceful purposes and train several hundred technicians in its operation.
The ISIS report claims that Myanmar's military cooperation with North Korea has increased over the past several years. It states that the reported presence of officials from North Korean company Namchongang Trading - the UN Security Council has imposed sanctions on it - in Myanmar is proof of their collaboration.
But there is no definite evidence that Korea is supplying Myanmar a nuclear reactor.
The document assumes significance in the context of the global nuclear security summit in Washington in April, where India will be represented by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The summit will provide an opportunity to discuss practical ways to block illicit trade in nuclear materials. New Delhi is concerned over nuclear proliferation by neighbouring Pakistan as well as North Korea and Iran.
Experts in India are, however, sceptical about such reports emanating from Washington. " While the junta may have such intentions, it is not yet clear whether they are trying to develop a nuclear power plant or making weapons," says Dr Udai Bhanu Singh of the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses. Sources in the Indian embassy in Yangon also say they have no proof about Myanmar's nuclear facilities.
STIRRING THE NUCLEAR POT
A report by US proliferation experts says the junta in Myanmar is building a nuclear reactor at a site near Mandalay with North Korea's help. However, there's no foolproof evidence.
Dipanjan Roy Chaudhury New Delhi, February 5, 2010
Will India have to contend with another nucleararmed neighbour? A recent report by the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) suggests that Myanmar's military junta is nursing nuclear ambitions and has tapped North Korea to realise them.
The reasons for these aspirations aren't hard to guess.
The generals who rule the country are under pressure from the international community to restore civilian rule.
Their lesson from the politics of North Korea and Iran, and the experience of Saddam Hussein's Iraq is that the best way to neutralise foreign intervention is to possess a nuclear weapon.
The ISIS has published photographs of what it claims is construction work on a possible nuclear reactor site near Mandalay.
The ISIS report, published a week ago, was written by leading proliferation experts David Albright and Paul Brannan.
The document focuses on the Myanmarese junta's clandestine dealings with North Korea and its apparent efforts to mislead overseas suppliers on its attempts to obtain nuclear technology.
The reports is titled ' Burma: A nuclear wannabe; suspicious links to North Korea; high- tech procurements and enigmatic facilities'. It says: " For several years, suspicions have swirled about the nuclear intentions of Burma's secretive military dictatorship… Certain equipment, which could be used in a nuclear or missile programme, went to isolated Burmese manufacturing compounds of unknown purpose." The report tempers these findings with the proviso that there is no concrete evidence that Myanmar is building secret nuclear reactors or fuel cycle facilities.
However, it states that because Myanmar is buying a wide variety of suspicious dual- use goods, governments and companies need to be more vigilant in examining the country's inquiries or requests for equipment. In the past, Myanmar has harboured nuclear ambitions in a more open manner. In 2007, it signed an MoU with the Russian atomic energy agency to establish a nuclear studies centre, build a 10- megawatt nuclear research reactor for peaceful purposes and train several hundred technicians in its operation.
The ISIS report claims that Myanmar's military cooperation with North Korea has increased over the past several years. It states that the reported presence of officials from North Korean company Namchongang Trading - the UN Security Council has imposed sanctions on it - in Myanmar is proof of their collaboration.
But there is no definite evidence that Korea is supplying Myanmar a nuclear reactor.
The document assumes significance in the context of the global nuclear security summit in Washington in April, where India will be represented by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The summit will provide an opportunity to discuss practical ways to block illicit trade in nuclear materials. New Delhi is concerned over nuclear proliferation by neighbouring Pakistan as well as North Korea and Iran.
Experts in India are, however, sceptical about such reports emanating from Washington. " While the junta may have such intentions, it is not yet clear whether they are trying to develop a nuclear power plant or making weapons," says Dr Udai Bhanu Singh of the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses. Sources in the Indian embassy in Yangon also say they have no proof about Myanmar's nuclear facilities.
STIRRING THE NUCLEAR POT
A report by US proliferation experts says the junta in Myanmar is building a nuclear reactor at a site near Mandalay with North Korea's help. However, there's no foolproof evidence.
*************************************************************
The Jakarta Post - SBY orders envoys to attract more foreign investment
Lilian Budianto, Jakarta | Fri, 02/05/2010 9:47 AM |
Indonesian diplomacy should aim to attract more foreign investment to help reach economic growth of 7 percent in 2014, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told around 200 Indonesian envoys.
This growth level would help the country create more jobs and prosperity, Yudhoyono said when opening a week-long meeting involving around 200 of Indonesia’s ambassadors, consul generals and diplomats at the State Palace in Jakarta on Thursday.
“Our funding sources, either from the government or [the domestic] private sector, are only half of what we need to reach the target,” he said.
He said as Jakarta needed Rp 2,000 trillion (US$200 billion) of investment a year to support the target economic growth of 7 percent, envoys should look into establishing partnerships with the Middle
East, China, Europe or the US for investment.
With his popularity declining over a controversial local bank bailout, observers said Yudhoyono had to jolt the quality of his presidency by realizing campaign promises, including the economic growth of 7 percent by 2014 and creating more jobs in Indonesia during his term.
Experts said that the country’s economic growth would be stagnant, and instead of creating jobs, the economy could not absorb new job seekers, thus accelerating the unemployment level, now standing at 10 million people.
However, some critics doubted whether envoys had the training and capability to undertake such a daunting task.
“How can they do that?” Rizal Sukma of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies inquired.
In a separate meeting with ambassadors, Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said that Indonesia’s foreign policy should also be directed at contributing to world peace, promoting interfaith dialogue, securing food, energy and water availability, and solving and climate change issues.
He added Indonesia would continue to spearhead the enforcement of human rights, not only in Southeast Asia but worldwide, through experience sharing and workshop forums to increase the capacity of stakeholders.
“Indonesia will not dictate to countries in its efforts to transform rights enforcement in ASEAN and beyond.
We believe that change should come from within the country,” he said.
The statement can be interpreted to mean Indonesia will support ASEAN’s traditional norm of non-interference, even when a member country, such as Myanmar, violated human rights principles, observers said.
They also expressed fear that the country would weaken its push for democratization in Myanmar.
Indonesia has been said to believe ASEAN is integral to upholding human rights principles, and championed the birth of the group’s human rights commission.
Previously, Indonesia pledged to highlight rights in ASEAN after local and international groups shunned the group’s human rights commission as a toothless body.
Jakarta said that it would ensure that in the next five years, the rights body would have a protection mandate to punish perpetrators.
Marty said that Indonesia would continue to push forward the demand for reform at the UN Security Council, which includes the addition of permanent members, because it no longer “reflected the present political constellation”.
He said Indonesia would look into the possibility of sitting as a permanent member once the reform process concluded.
“Once this reform process is over, Indonesia will seek to ensure that it plays a role commensurate with its standing in the world,” he said.
He said if the effort to create new permanent member seats failed, Indonesia would push for the creation of semipermanent member seats that would have longer terms than the current non-permanent member’s two-year term.
Lilian Budianto, Jakarta | Fri, 02/05/2010 9:47 AM |
Indonesian diplomacy should aim to attract more foreign investment to help reach economic growth of 7 percent in 2014, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told around 200 Indonesian envoys.
This growth level would help the country create more jobs and prosperity, Yudhoyono said when opening a week-long meeting involving around 200 of Indonesia’s ambassadors, consul generals and diplomats at the State Palace in Jakarta on Thursday.
“Our funding sources, either from the government or [the domestic] private sector, are only half of what we need to reach the target,” he said.
He said as Jakarta needed Rp 2,000 trillion (US$200 billion) of investment a year to support the target economic growth of 7 percent, envoys should look into establishing partnerships with the Middle
East, China, Europe or the US for investment.
With his popularity declining over a controversial local bank bailout, observers said Yudhoyono had to jolt the quality of his presidency by realizing campaign promises, including the economic growth of 7 percent by 2014 and creating more jobs in Indonesia during his term.
Experts said that the country’s economic growth would be stagnant, and instead of creating jobs, the economy could not absorb new job seekers, thus accelerating the unemployment level, now standing at 10 million people.
However, some critics doubted whether envoys had the training and capability to undertake such a daunting task.
“How can they do that?” Rizal Sukma of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies inquired.
In a separate meeting with ambassadors, Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said that Indonesia’s foreign policy should also be directed at contributing to world peace, promoting interfaith dialogue, securing food, energy and water availability, and solving and climate change issues.
He added Indonesia would continue to spearhead the enforcement of human rights, not only in Southeast Asia but worldwide, through experience sharing and workshop forums to increase the capacity of stakeholders.
“Indonesia will not dictate to countries in its efforts to transform rights enforcement in ASEAN and beyond.
We believe that change should come from within the country,” he said.
The statement can be interpreted to mean Indonesia will support ASEAN’s traditional norm of non-interference, even when a member country, such as Myanmar, violated human rights principles, observers said.
They also expressed fear that the country would weaken its push for democratization in Myanmar.
Indonesia has been said to believe ASEAN is integral to upholding human rights principles, and championed the birth of the group’s human rights commission.
Previously, Indonesia pledged to highlight rights in ASEAN after local and international groups shunned the group’s human rights commission as a toothless body.
Jakarta said that it would ensure that in the next five years, the rights body would have a protection mandate to punish perpetrators.
Marty said that Indonesia would continue to push forward the demand for reform at the UN Security Council, which includes the addition of permanent members, because it no longer “reflected the present political constellation”.
He said Indonesia would look into the possibility of sitting as a permanent member once the reform process concluded.
“Once this reform process is over, Indonesia will seek to ensure that it plays a role commensurate with its standing in the world,” he said.
He said if the effort to create new permanent member seats failed, Indonesia would push for the creation of semipermanent member seats that would have longer terms than the current non-permanent member’s two-year term.
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MLive.com - Wrestlers travel long and dangerous road from Burma to Middleville
By Steve Vedder | The Grand Rapids Press
February 05, 2010, 9:30AM
MIDDLEVILLE -- When Mang Ling told friends he intended to wrestle, they immediately envisioned him slipping between the ropes, dusting off his sleeper hold and putting the hurt on Captain Charisma.
Considering Ling's history, that guess would be significantly closer to the truth than where Ling has wound up.
While his friends thought he meant he was signing on with World Wrestling Entertainment, the 19-year-old sophomore actually is on the Middleville wrestling team.
"I tell people that I wrestle and they freak out," Ling said. "They're like, 'Whaaaat, the WWE?'"
You can't blame Ling's friends for their surprise. One of three refugees on Middleville's team who hail from Burma, now called the Union of Myanmar, Ling has overcome the loss of both parents, worked as an electrician to support himself at 15, had a brush with one of the countless warring factions in Burma and survived a perilous boat trip to Thailand to land on his feet in West Michigan.
Trojan teammates Steven Cung Bik, who at 20-3 has the best record of any 145-pounder in the OK Gold Conference, and Van Thang, who has a 19-10 record as a 119-pounder, have similar stories as Ling, a 112-pounder who is called "Steve" by teammates.
All three were separated from their parents in Burma in their early teens and barely supported themselves through a variety of odd jobs before undertaking a dangerous journey to bordering Thailand and then to Malaysia, where they made contact with Bethany Christian Services. The agency helped settle them in Middleville.
The only time the three had watched wrestling before joining the Trojans varsity team was seeing the WWE on television.
Now, each of them has a chance to win a league title at Saturday's conference meet at Catholic Central.
The trio's unlikely story of fleeing a hard life in Burma to landing in an American high school is nothing short of amazing, said Middleville wrestling coach Tom Fletke, also a counselor at the school. The youngsters' friends at Middleville encouraged them to try wrestling, Fletke showed them a film of Olympic wrestlers and their natural athletic ability quickly took its course.
Fletke said the trio has more than made up for a lack of wrestling technique with advantages in physical strength, plus incredible mental toughness and a willingness to learn.
"They had no clue about wrestling. They're like cats -- powerful. Their technique just isn't that good, but they have this driving force to be better," Fletke said.
Wanting a better life drove them from Burma, a poor country of 50 million people located in southeast Asia. Known to most of the world as Myanmar since 1989, Burma is split by ethnic tensions and has been ruled by the military since a 1962 coup. Life there, Thang said, is hard for everyone, let alone parent-less teens.
"There are no jobs which pay money," Thang said. "It's hard to feed yourself when you're young and can't do anything.
"You don't choose your job. You do anything you can find."
Ling was separated from his parents by the military, for which he eventually ran errands. The military also hunted Bik's father, chasing him to India. In an attempt to get his father to return, the police threatened to jail Bik, whose first job at 12 was as an equipment packer.
Thang was a farmer and then a cook before he fled to neighboring Thailand.
The three teens, all of whom have physical scars from their life in Burma, tell the same harrowing tale of fleeing to Thailand. All were packed tightly into a boat and covered with a plastic tarp to avoid detection by authorities on the four-day trip to Thailand. There, they trekked through a pitch-black, snake-infested jungle for miles, with little food and in constant fear of being discovered and sent to jail by police.
"I was really scared. Sometimes, I would cry. I didn't like the jungle," Bik said. "When they say run, you run."
Once in Thailand, the three made contact with Bethany Christian Services. Thang and Ling, who enrolled at Middleville in 2008, live with host family Scott and Lynn Pierce. Bik, now in his third year at Middleville, lives with the Chad and Joanna Seeber family.
Fletke said he is amazed at what the teens have accomplished on the mat with little wrestling experience. He said the primary driving force among the three is identical. All have become good wrestlers because their culture equates a loss with letting their teammates down. Driven by that fear, the three will go to great lengths to improve as wrestlers.
"You have to give 100 percent and do anything you have to do to win," said Bik, who dresses up at other Middleville sporting events as the school mascot. "You keep fighting with everything you have. If that doesn't work, I'll practice more and not get down on myself.
"In our country, when you play a sport, you're part of a team. You look at yourself as (needing to be) better than anyone else. But if you lose, you have to work harder."
By Steve Vedder | The Grand Rapids Press
February 05, 2010, 9:30AM
MIDDLEVILLE -- When Mang Ling told friends he intended to wrestle, they immediately envisioned him slipping between the ropes, dusting off his sleeper hold and putting the hurt on Captain Charisma.
Considering Ling's history, that guess would be significantly closer to the truth than where Ling has wound up.
While his friends thought he meant he was signing on with World Wrestling Entertainment, the 19-year-old sophomore actually is on the Middleville wrestling team.
"I tell people that I wrestle and they freak out," Ling said. "They're like, 'Whaaaat, the WWE?'"
You can't blame Ling's friends for their surprise. One of three refugees on Middleville's team who hail from Burma, now called the Union of Myanmar, Ling has overcome the loss of both parents, worked as an electrician to support himself at 15, had a brush with one of the countless warring factions in Burma and survived a perilous boat trip to Thailand to land on his feet in West Michigan.
Trojan teammates Steven Cung Bik, who at 20-3 has the best record of any 145-pounder in the OK Gold Conference, and Van Thang, who has a 19-10 record as a 119-pounder, have similar stories as Ling, a 112-pounder who is called "Steve" by teammates.
All three were separated from their parents in Burma in their early teens and barely supported themselves through a variety of odd jobs before undertaking a dangerous journey to bordering Thailand and then to Malaysia, where they made contact with Bethany Christian Services. The agency helped settle them in Middleville.
The only time the three had watched wrestling before joining the Trojans varsity team was seeing the WWE on television.
Now, each of them has a chance to win a league title at Saturday's conference meet at Catholic Central.
The trio's unlikely story of fleeing a hard life in Burma to landing in an American high school is nothing short of amazing, said Middleville wrestling coach Tom Fletke, also a counselor at the school. The youngsters' friends at Middleville encouraged them to try wrestling, Fletke showed them a film of Olympic wrestlers and their natural athletic ability quickly took its course.
Fletke said the trio has more than made up for a lack of wrestling technique with advantages in physical strength, plus incredible mental toughness and a willingness to learn.
"They had no clue about wrestling. They're like cats -- powerful. Their technique just isn't that good, but they have this driving force to be better," Fletke said.
Wanting a better life drove them from Burma, a poor country of 50 million people located in southeast Asia. Known to most of the world as Myanmar since 1989, Burma is split by ethnic tensions and has been ruled by the military since a 1962 coup. Life there, Thang said, is hard for everyone, let alone parent-less teens.
"There are no jobs which pay money," Thang said. "It's hard to feed yourself when you're young and can't do anything.
"You don't choose your job. You do anything you can find."
Ling was separated from his parents by the military, for which he eventually ran errands. The military also hunted Bik's father, chasing him to India. In an attempt to get his father to return, the police threatened to jail Bik, whose first job at 12 was as an equipment packer.
Thang was a farmer and then a cook before he fled to neighboring Thailand.
The three teens, all of whom have physical scars from their life in Burma, tell the same harrowing tale of fleeing to Thailand. All were packed tightly into a boat and covered with a plastic tarp to avoid detection by authorities on the four-day trip to Thailand. There, they trekked through a pitch-black, snake-infested jungle for miles, with little food and in constant fear of being discovered and sent to jail by police.
"I was really scared. Sometimes, I would cry. I didn't like the jungle," Bik said. "When they say run, you run."
Once in Thailand, the three made contact with Bethany Christian Services. Thang and Ling, who enrolled at Middleville in 2008, live with host family Scott and Lynn Pierce. Bik, now in his third year at Middleville, lives with the Chad and Joanna Seeber family.
Fletke said he is amazed at what the teens have accomplished on the mat with little wrestling experience. He said the primary driving force among the three is identical. All have become good wrestlers because their culture equates a loss with letting their teammates down. Driven by that fear, the three will go to great lengths to improve as wrestlers.
"You have to give 100 percent and do anything you have to do to win," said Bik, who dresses up at other Middleville sporting events as the school mascot. "You keep fighting with everything you have. If that doesn't work, I'll practice more and not get down on myself.
"In our country, when you play a sport, you're part of a team. You look at yourself as (needing to be) better than anyone else. But if you lose, you have to work harder."
*************************************************************
International Herald Tribune - A U.S. Citizen’s Curious Journey to a Myanmar Jail
By THOMAS FULLER
Published: February 5, 2010
BANGKOK — At last count there were more than 2,100 political prisoners in Myanmar, according to human rights groups that track the opaque workings of the penal system in the military-run country. Among them is the unusual case of Nyi Nyi Aung, a naturalized U.S. citizen who gave up a 9-to-5 job in the relative comfort of the suburbs of Washington to campaign for democracy in his native Myanmar.
On Wednesday, a court in Myanmar is scheduled to announce a verdict on charges of forgery, possession of undeclared foreign currency and failure to renounce his Myanmar citizenship when he became a U.S. citizen. He faces 12 years’ imprisonment.
For the administration of President Barack Obama, the case comes at an awkward time, complicating U.S. efforts to try to engage the military government after years of minimal contacts between the two countries.
But beyond the politics of the case is the personal journey of Mr. Nyi Nyi Aung from teenage dissident in Myanmar to exile in the United States and finally what some describe as his curious decision — others call it bold — to travel back to Myanmar last September despite public warnings by the ruling junta that he was a wanted man for his anti-government activities.
Mr. Nyi Nyi Aung had spent the past several years campaigning for democracy in Myanmar from Thailand and the United States, and his work had caught the attention of the junta, which mentioned his name in the official media.
He had made four previous visits to Myanmar since becoming a U.S. citizen in 2002. Each time, including for his current visit, he obtained a visa from the Myanmar government, according to his lawyers. But the September trip appears to have been the first time he visited Myanmar after the junta publicly singled him out for inciting unrest.
“If any of us had known he was returning, we would have stopped him,” said Aung Din, an acquaintance who is the executive director of the U.S. Campaign for Burma in Washington, an organization that promotes human rights and the end of military rule in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma.
Mr. Nyi Nyi Aung kept his trip secret from his fiancée and most of his friends. The few people he told tried to dissuade him from going, friends say. They speculate that what made Mr. Nyi Nyi Aung fly to Myanmar was the health of his mother, Daw San San Tin, who has thyroid cancer and is also a political prisoner, serving five years for her involvement in the Buddhist monk-led uprising in 2007, which was brutally suppressed.
“He felt guilty for his mother’s arrest,” said Bo Kyi, the co-founder of Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a group that tracks the plights of jailed dissidents in Myanmar and organizes aid for them and their families. “In his heart, maybe he was suffering a lot.”
Using his U.S. passport, Mr. Nyi Nyi Aung may have hoped that he could visit his mother, who is being held in a remote prison in central Myanmar.
Human rights campaigners complain that Washington has not done enough to fight what they say are bogus charges against Mr. Nyi Nyi Aung.
“Activists are frustrated by the lack of noise from the U.S, government when he is a U.S. citizen,” Elaine Pearson, deputy director at Human Rights Watch, an organization based in the United States that follows the cases of dissidents in Myanmar.
His arrest and detention, she said, has had a chilling effect on the Myanmar’s exile community. “Certainly those with friends and relatives inside will think twice before attempting to quietly visit Burma again,” she said.
Members of Congress and the consular affairs section of the U.S. State Department have been doing a “wonderful job” pressing for his release, said Wa Wa Kyaw, Mr. Nyi Nyi Aung’s fiancée, who works as a nurse in Maryland. But like others involved with the case, Ms. Wa Wa Kyaw laments that higher-level members of the Obama administration have not issued public pleas for his release.
Mr. Nyi Nyi Aung flew to Yangon, Myanmar’s main city, on Sept. 3 and was detained soon after landing in what friends say appears to have been a trap.
The Myanmar authorities initially charged Mr. Nyi Nyi Aung with violating an internal security law. The New Light of Myanmar, the government’s mouthpiece, accused him of creating unrest within the country and plotting “internal riots and sabotage.”
Those charges were dropped without explanation in October, and prosecutors announced the current charges.
Lawyers for Mr. Nyi Nyi Aung rejected all of the charges. They said he did not possess a forged identity card, he was arrested before clearing customs and thus never had the opportunity to declare any foreign currency, and the Myanmar Embassy in Washington never instructed Mr. Nyi Nyi Aung to renounce his Myanmar citizenship.
Mr. Nyi Nyi Aung, who is also known as Kyaw Zaw Lwin, began his activism young. He fled Myanmar more than two decades ago after the seminal pro-democracy uprising in 1988. Only 18 years old at the time, he helped organize high school students. He fled with many other organizers when the military began a crackdown.
He traveled to the United States in 1993 as a refugee, obtained a computer science degree there and worked as a technician at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
But he was restless, said Ms. Wa Wa Kyaw, his fiancée.
“He really, really wants to do everything for freedom and democracy in Burma,” she said.
Mr. Nyi Nyi Aung shuttled between Maryland and Mae Sot, Thailand, a border town where many Myanmar exiles are based.
The family had no involvement in politics before the 1988 uprising, according to Mr. Nyi Nyi Aung’s brother, Ko Ko Aung. But their role as organizers of the demonstrations that came close to toppling the military-led government two decades ago and their subsequent pro-democracy activities have splintered the family. Mr. Ko Ko Aung is in exile in Thailand. Two cousins are serving prison terms for their involvement in the 2007 uprising, one of whom, Thet Thet Aung, was sentenced to 65 years.
Their mother, San San Tin, is serving her five-year term in the remote town of Meiktila, several hundred kilometers north of Yangon.
Mr. Ko Ko Aung said he does not know whether her cancer has progressed or is life-threatening. “She hasn’t received any treatment in jail,” he said.
By THOMAS FULLER
Published: February 5, 2010
BANGKOK — At last count there were more than 2,100 political prisoners in Myanmar, according to human rights groups that track the opaque workings of the penal system in the military-run country. Among them is the unusual case of Nyi Nyi Aung, a naturalized U.S. citizen who gave up a 9-to-5 job in the relative comfort of the suburbs of Washington to campaign for democracy in his native Myanmar.
On Wednesday, a court in Myanmar is scheduled to announce a verdict on charges of forgery, possession of undeclared foreign currency and failure to renounce his Myanmar citizenship when he became a U.S. citizen. He faces 12 years’ imprisonment.
For the administration of President Barack Obama, the case comes at an awkward time, complicating U.S. efforts to try to engage the military government after years of minimal contacts between the two countries.
But beyond the politics of the case is the personal journey of Mr. Nyi Nyi Aung from teenage dissident in Myanmar to exile in the United States and finally what some describe as his curious decision — others call it bold — to travel back to Myanmar last September despite public warnings by the ruling junta that he was a wanted man for his anti-government activities.
Mr. Nyi Nyi Aung had spent the past several years campaigning for democracy in Myanmar from Thailand and the United States, and his work had caught the attention of the junta, which mentioned his name in the official media.
He had made four previous visits to Myanmar since becoming a U.S. citizen in 2002. Each time, including for his current visit, he obtained a visa from the Myanmar government, according to his lawyers. But the September trip appears to have been the first time he visited Myanmar after the junta publicly singled him out for inciting unrest.
“If any of us had known he was returning, we would have stopped him,” said Aung Din, an acquaintance who is the executive director of the U.S. Campaign for Burma in Washington, an organization that promotes human rights and the end of military rule in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma.
Mr. Nyi Nyi Aung kept his trip secret from his fiancée and most of his friends. The few people he told tried to dissuade him from going, friends say. They speculate that what made Mr. Nyi Nyi Aung fly to Myanmar was the health of his mother, Daw San San Tin, who has thyroid cancer and is also a political prisoner, serving five years for her involvement in the Buddhist monk-led uprising in 2007, which was brutally suppressed.
“He felt guilty for his mother’s arrest,” said Bo Kyi, the co-founder of Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a group that tracks the plights of jailed dissidents in Myanmar and organizes aid for them and their families. “In his heart, maybe he was suffering a lot.”
Using his U.S. passport, Mr. Nyi Nyi Aung may have hoped that he could visit his mother, who is being held in a remote prison in central Myanmar.
Human rights campaigners complain that Washington has not done enough to fight what they say are bogus charges against Mr. Nyi Nyi Aung.
“Activists are frustrated by the lack of noise from the U.S, government when he is a U.S. citizen,” Elaine Pearson, deputy director at Human Rights Watch, an organization based in the United States that follows the cases of dissidents in Myanmar.
His arrest and detention, she said, has had a chilling effect on the Myanmar’s exile community. “Certainly those with friends and relatives inside will think twice before attempting to quietly visit Burma again,” she said.
Members of Congress and the consular affairs section of the U.S. State Department have been doing a “wonderful job” pressing for his release, said Wa Wa Kyaw, Mr. Nyi Nyi Aung’s fiancée, who works as a nurse in Maryland. But like others involved with the case, Ms. Wa Wa Kyaw laments that higher-level members of the Obama administration have not issued public pleas for his release.
Mr. Nyi Nyi Aung flew to Yangon, Myanmar’s main city, on Sept. 3 and was detained soon after landing in what friends say appears to have been a trap.
The Myanmar authorities initially charged Mr. Nyi Nyi Aung with violating an internal security law. The New Light of Myanmar, the government’s mouthpiece, accused him of creating unrest within the country and plotting “internal riots and sabotage.”
Those charges were dropped without explanation in October, and prosecutors announced the current charges.
Lawyers for Mr. Nyi Nyi Aung rejected all of the charges. They said he did not possess a forged identity card, he was arrested before clearing customs and thus never had the opportunity to declare any foreign currency, and the Myanmar Embassy in Washington never instructed Mr. Nyi Nyi Aung to renounce his Myanmar citizenship.
Mr. Nyi Nyi Aung, who is also known as Kyaw Zaw Lwin, began his activism young. He fled Myanmar more than two decades ago after the seminal pro-democracy uprising in 1988. Only 18 years old at the time, he helped organize high school students. He fled with many other organizers when the military began a crackdown.
He traveled to the United States in 1993 as a refugee, obtained a computer science degree there and worked as a technician at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
But he was restless, said Ms. Wa Wa Kyaw, his fiancée.
“He really, really wants to do everything for freedom and democracy in Burma,” she said.
Mr. Nyi Nyi Aung shuttled between Maryland and Mae Sot, Thailand, a border town where many Myanmar exiles are based.
The family had no involvement in politics before the 1988 uprising, according to Mr. Nyi Nyi Aung’s brother, Ko Ko Aung. But their role as organizers of the demonstrations that came close to toppling the military-led government two decades ago and their subsequent pro-democracy activities have splintered the family. Mr. Ko Ko Aung is in exile in Thailand. Two cousins are serving prison terms for their involvement in the 2007 uprising, one of whom, Thet Thet Aung, was sentenced to 65 years.
Their mother, San San Tin, is serving her five-year term in the remote town of Meiktila, several hundred kilometers north of Yangon.
Mr. Ko Ko Aung said he does not know whether her cancer has progressed or is life-threatening. “She hasn’t received any treatment in jail,” he said.
*************************************************************
ReliefWeb - Myanmar: A sound night's sleep
Source: International Federation of Red Cross And Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)
Date: 05 Feb 2010
by Nant Nay Zar Tun, Reporting Officer, Myanmar Red Cross Society
Almost two years after Cyclone Nargis, the Ayeyarwady delta is gradually recovering. Major challenges remain and survivors are still struggling, but thousands of families have received new houses, villages have been restored and now have improved water supplies. Farmers have received fertilizer and tools, and fishermen have received boats.
Schools and health centres are being constructed and numerous training sessions on health and disaster preparedness have been conducted.
The recovery operation is well underway and some of the new innovative approaches used can now serve as examples for other operations, not least because of the involvement of affected communities.
The nightmare of Cyclone Nargis and the miserable days and nights that followed are a thing of the past for Ko Kyaw Win Naing and his family.
The cyclone which struck Myanmar in early May 2008, destroyed their home forcing him, his pregnant wife and four children to seek shelter in a school. Nargis left 84,500 people dead and 53,800 missing, and an additional 2.4 million people, mainly in the Ayeyarwady delta, severely affected, according to the United Nations.
Today, Ko Kyaw Win Naing and his family enjoy a sound and dry night's sleep in their new home in Thone Kyaing village in the delta, thanks to the Myanmar Red Cross Society's household shelter project.
Their new home was built in early July 2009. It was constructed by local carpenters and Ko Kyaw Win Naing himself, under the supervision of shelter technicians and field assistants attached to the Red Cross office in Maubin township where Thone Kyaing village is located.
Protection from the rain
Ko Kyaw Win Naing, his wife Ma Ni Ni Mar, and their now five children are among 416 families from across the Maubin township selected for the Red Cross household shelter project. Households which had not yet received or been able to rebuild a new home were selected for this project.
Ma Ni Ni Mar and the children also helped out with small tasks during the construction. Their new home is made of wood, poles, bamboo, bamboo matting, coir ropes and dani (palm).
"Our home protects us during heavy rains and even the baby sleeps soundly", says Ko Kyaw Win Naing, adding that he would not have been able to construct it alone, having a meager income as a casual labourer.
All he could do in the aftermath of Nargis was to build a simple hut using the debris from his old home which had collapsed during the cyclone. The family then moved from the school where they had sought refuge, into the hut.
"But we were miserable. It was uncomfortable for us as there were seven of us. When it rained, almost everything got wet and the children cried and could not sleep". Their new home, he says, has made such a difference.
Schools and more
The shelter project aims to provide new houses to 15,000 families across 11 townships. It also includes the construction of Red Cross posts for a variety of uses by communities and Red Cross volunteers as well as schools and rural health centres, and repairs to community buildings damaged by the cyclone.
Assistance is also being provided to affected communities through other programmes under the Nargis Operation. These include livelihoods projects such as fertilizer
distribution for paddy farmers and sharing innovative agricultural methods and techniques with them; the cash-for-work programme for villagers participating in the rehabilitation of community infrastructure damaged by the cyclone; and community-based health and first aid projects such as training villagers to increase health awareness through the promotion of first aid and hygiene, as well as disease prevention initiatives.
Red Cross has also provided psychosocial support to schools, individuals and whole communities with the aim of helping survivors to overcome the stress and trauma they have experienced since the cyclone.
Other support includes establishment and rehabilitation of water and sanitation facilities, as well as disaster preparedness which will help the communities respond better to a possible new disaster.
Nant Nay Zar Tun is a reporting officer with the Myanmar Red Cross Society's hub office in Maubin township, in the Ayeyarwady Delta. The office is one of nine hubs set up to complement pre-existing Red Cross township structures in the implementation of the three-year Cyclone Nargis relief and recovery operation. For more information on the operation, visit http://www.ifrc.org/docs/appeals/08/MDRMM00226.pdf.
Source: International Federation of Red Cross And Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)
Date: 05 Feb 2010
by Nant Nay Zar Tun, Reporting Officer, Myanmar Red Cross Society
Almost two years after Cyclone Nargis, the Ayeyarwady delta is gradually recovering. Major challenges remain and survivors are still struggling, but thousands of families have received new houses, villages have been restored and now have improved water supplies. Farmers have received fertilizer and tools, and fishermen have received boats.
Schools and health centres are being constructed and numerous training sessions on health and disaster preparedness have been conducted.
The recovery operation is well underway and some of the new innovative approaches used can now serve as examples for other operations, not least because of the involvement of affected communities.
The nightmare of Cyclone Nargis and the miserable days and nights that followed are a thing of the past for Ko Kyaw Win Naing and his family.
The cyclone which struck Myanmar in early May 2008, destroyed their home forcing him, his pregnant wife and four children to seek shelter in a school. Nargis left 84,500 people dead and 53,800 missing, and an additional 2.4 million people, mainly in the Ayeyarwady delta, severely affected, according to the United Nations.
Today, Ko Kyaw Win Naing and his family enjoy a sound and dry night's sleep in their new home in Thone Kyaing village in the delta, thanks to the Myanmar Red Cross Society's household shelter project.
Their new home was built in early July 2009. It was constructed by local carpenters and Ko Kyaw Win Naing himself, under the supervision of shelter technicians and field assistants attached to the Red Cross office in Maubin township where Thone Kyaing village is located.
Protection from the rain
Ko Kyaw Win Naing, his wife Ma Ni Ni Mar, and their now five children are among 416 families from across the Maubin township selected for the Red Cross household shelter project. Households which had not yet received or been able to rebuild a new home were selected for this project.
Ma Ni Ni Mar and the children also helped out with small tasks during the construction. Their new home is made of wood, poles, bamboo, bamboo matting, coir ropes and dani (palm).
"Our home protects us during heavy rains and even the baby sleeps soundly", says Ko Kyaw Win Naing, adding that he would not have been able to construct it alone, having a meager income as a casual labourer.
All he could do in the aftermath of Nargis was to build a simple hut using the debris from his old home which had collapsed during the cyclone. The family then moved from the school where they had sought refuge, into the hut.
"But we were miserable. It was uncomfortable for us as there were seven of us. When it rained, almost everything got wet and the children cried and could not sleep". Their new home, he says, has made such a difference.
Schools and more
The shelter project aims to provide new houses to 15,000 families across 11 townships. It also includes the construction of Red Cross posts for a variety of uses by communities and Red Cross volunteers as well as schools and rural health centres, and repairs to community buildings damaged by the cyclone.
Assistance is also being provided to affected communities through other programmes under the Nargis Operation. These include livelihoods projects such as fertilizer
distribution for paddy farmers and sharing innovative agricultural methods and techniques with them; the cash-for-work programme for villagers participating in the rehabilitation of community infrastructure damaged by the cyclone; and community-based health and first aid projects such as training villagers to increase health awareness through the promotion of first aid and hygiene, as well as disease prevention initiatives.
Red Cross has also provided psychosocial support to schools, individuals and whole communities with the aim of helping survivors to overcome the stress and trauma they have experienced since the cyclone.
Other support includes establishment and rehabilitation of water and sanitation facilities, as well as disaster preparedness which will help the communities respond better to a possible new disaster.
Nant Nay Zar Tun is a reporting officer with the Myanmar Red Cross Society's hub office in Maubin township, in the Ayeyarwady Delta. The office is one of nine hubs set up to complement pre-existing Red Cross township structures in the implementation of the three-year Cyclone Nargis relief and recovery operation. For more information on the operation, visit http://www.ifrc.org/docs/appeals/08/MDRMM00226.pdf.
*************************************************************
RIGHTS: This Time Around, Thailand Targets Karen Refugees
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK, Feb 5, 2010 (IPS) - Thailand’s attempt to repatriate over 3,000 ethnic Karens who fled the conflict in military-ruled Burma last year has triggered strong local and international objections, including from 27 members of the United States Congress.
"We urgently request that you halt the repatriation of refugees back to Burma’s conflict zone and continue to offer them protection in Thailand," stated the Feb. 4 letter by the bi-partisan group of U.S. legislators to Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.
"If forced to return, these refugees will suffer horrific human rights abuses," added the letter, whose signatories included Rep. Howard Berman, chairman of the committee on foreign affairs. "They will undoubtedly be subject to forced labour, executions, torture and mutilations, forced recruitment as soldiers, and theft and extortion, making their survival very difficult."
By Friday afternoon, Bangkok appeared to have caved in to some of this pressure, including the cries of concern from the Bangkok-based Lawyers’ Council of Thailand and the Karen Women Organisation (KWO).
"Because of concerns raised, we have decided to temporarily halt the process," Thani Thongphakdi, deputy spokesman of the Thai foreign ministry, told IPS. "We have asked those who want to return to do so voluntarily, and today 12 Karens from three families went back."
However, Bangkok views the ground realities in the Karen areas of Burma, or Myanmar, as it is officially known, differently from how the U.S. legislators and the KWO do. "Since the fighting on the other side of the border has stopped, we felt it is safe for them to return," Thani revealed.
The temporary suspension of the Karen repatriation has done little to ease their anxiety, said Blooming Night Zan, joint secretary of the KWO, which is based in the north-eastern Thai town of Mae Hong Son. "The people are really scared. They fear they will be sent back soon."
Part of such fear of return stems from the treacherous route the refugees will have to walk through once they enter Burma. "The fighting may be over, but there are a lot of landmines," Zan said during an IPS interview. "Five people from the area have been injured by landmine explosions in recent months. One of them was a pregnant woman, (who was injured) in January this year."
The flight of the Karen refugees from eastern Burma in June last year followed a round of fighting between Burmese troops and the Karen National Union, a rebel group that has been waging a separatist struggle for six decades.
The over 3,000 refugees who entered Thailand in 2009 added to the estimated 120,000 refugees, most of them Karen, who had been living in camps on the Thai side of the border for over two decades.
The ongoing conflicts in Burma is also behind the estimated 540,000 internally displaced people who have sought refuge in forests and mountains after fleeing attacks, including the burning of villages, by the Burmese army.
Little of this, however, appears to concern Thailand’s powerful International Security Operations Command (ISOC), a Cold War relic that was resurrected with new powers by Bangkok’s last junta, which came to power following a September 2006 coup and ruled till January 2008.
Among the powers of ISOC is to determine the country’s border policies with its four neighbours – Burma, Cambodia, Laos and Malaysia. Permission for refugees from neighbouring countries to remain in Thailand or not is one of the powers of this institution, where the country’s powerful army chief hold sway.
"Thailand’s border policy has been placed in the hands of the military through ISOC," said Sunai Phasuk, the Thai researcher of Human Rights Watch (HRW), the New York-based global rights lobby. "The military’s interpretation of refugee policy is very narrow and not in compliance with international law and humanitarian standards.
"The military will open the country’s borders if people are fleeing conflict," Sunai confirmed in an IPS interview. "But they don’t care if people are fleeing human rights violations, political persecution, religion persecution and oppression."
Such increasing militarisation of Thailand’s border policy was brought into relief in late December last year, when some 4,300 ethnic Hmong who had fled conflict in Laos were deported in a military-style operation.
That deportation, which also provoked howls of protest from the international community, did not trigger a policy rethink by the one-year-old Abhisit administration, which came to power as a result of political deals shaped by the Thai military rather than through a popular mandate.
Bangkok dismissed criticism of being cold towards refugees by reminding the world of its impressive record of hospitality since the 1970s, when tens of thousands of refugees from the U.S. war in Indo-China fled to Thailand for safety. The South-east Asian country has, in fact, been home to some 1.5 million refugees over nearly four decades.
But until the powerful ISOC was resurrected, refugee policy was shaped by the prime minister’s office, the foreign ministry, the military and the national security council. "It was a delicate balance between these four that ensured a sense of checks and balances on refugee policy," a highly placed Thai source said on condition of anonymity.
The first signs of a more military twist to refugee policy under ISOC emerged with Thailand’s treatment of the Rohingyas, a Muslim ethnic minority fleeing persecution in western Burma. "It started after the coup when the military started to define the Rohingyas as a national security threat," the Thai source added. "They were linked to the insurgency in southern Thailand because the insurgents happen to be Muslims."
ISOC’s attitude towards the Rohingya refugees gave the Abhisit administration its first black eye soon after it came into office. The military was exposed in the international media of forcing back to sea boatloads of Rohingya refugees.
"ISOC has two clear policies about the Rohingya refugees," said Sunai of HRW. "They should be intercepted before entering Thai territorial waters, but if they do, they should be arrested and detained."
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK, Feb 5, 2010 (IPS) - Thailand’s attempt to repatriate over 3,000 ethnic Karens who fled the conflict in military-ruled Burma last year has triggered strong local and international objections, including from 27 members of the United States Congress.
"We urgently request that you halt the repatriation of refugees back to Burma’s conflict zone and continue to offer them protection in Thailand," stated the Feb. 4 letter by the bi-partisan group of U.S. legislators to Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.
"If forced to return, these refugees will suffer horrific human rights abuses," added the letter, whose signatories included Rep. Howard Berman, chairman of the committee on foreign affairs. "They will undoubtedly be subject to forced labour, executions, torture and mutilations, forced recruitment as soldiers, and theft and extortion, making their survival very difficult."
By Friday afternoon, Bangkok appeared to have caved in to some of this pressure, including the cries of concern from the Bangkok-based Lawyers’ Council of Thailand and the Karen Women Organisation (KWO).
"Because of concerns raised, we have decided to temporarily halt the process," Thani Thongphakdi, deputy spokesman of the Thai foreign ministry, told IPS. "We have asked those who want to return to do so voluntarily, and today 12 Karens from three families went back."
However, Bangkok views the ground realities in the Karen areas of Burma, or Myanmar, as it is officially known, differently from how the U.S. legislators and the KWO do. "Since the fighting on the other side of the border has stopped, we felt it is safe for them to return," Thani revealed.
The temporary suspension of the Karen repatriation has done little to ease their anxiety, said Blooming Night Zan, joint secretary of the KWO, which is based in the north-eastern Thai town of Mae Hong Son. "The people are really scared. They fear they will be sent back soon."
Part of such fear of return stems from the treacherous route the refugees will have to walk through once they enter Burma. "The fighting may be over, but there are a lot of landmines," Zan said during an IPS interview. "Five people from the area have been injured by landmine explosions in recent months. One of them was a pregnant woman, (who was injured) in January this year."
The flight of the Karen refugees from eastern Burma in June last year followed a round of fighting between Burmese troops and the Karen National Union, a rebel group that has been waging a separatist struggle for six decades.
The over 3,000 refugees who entered Thailand in 2009 added to the estimated 120,000 refugees, most of them Karen, who had been living in camps on the Thai side of the border for over two decades.
The ongoing conflicts in Burma is also behind the estimated 540,000 internally displaced people who have sought refuge in forests and mountains after fleeing attacks, including the burning of villages, by the Burmese army.
Little of this, however, appears to concern Thailand’s powerful International Security Operations Command (ISOC), a Cold War relic that was resurrected with new powers by Bangkok’s last junta, which came to power following a September 2006 coup and ruled till January 2008.
Among the powers of ISOC is to determine the country’s border policies with its four neighbours – Burma, Cambodia, Laos and Malaysia. Permission for refugees from neighbouring countries to remain in Thailand or not is one of the powers of this institution, where the country’s powerful army chief hold sway.
"Thailand’s border policy has been placed in the hands of the military through ISOC," said Sunai Phasuk, the Thai researcher of Human Rights Watch (HRW), the New York-based global rights lobby. "The military’s interpretation of refugee policy is very narrow and not in compliance with international law and humanitarian standards.
"The military will open the country’s borders if people are fleeing conflict," Sunai confirmed in an IPS interview. "But they don’t care if people are fleeing human rights violations, political persecution, religion persecution and oppression."
Such increasing militarisation of Thailand’s border policy was brought into relief in late December last year, when some 4,300 ethnic Hmong who had fled conflict in Laos were deported in a military-style operation.
That deportation, which also provoked howls of protest from the international community, did not trigger a policy rethink by the one-year-old Abhisit administration, which came to power as a result of political deals shaped by the Thai military rather than through a popular mandate.
Bangkok dismissed criticism of being cold towards refugees by reminding the world of its impressive record of hospitality since the 1970s, when tens of thousands of refugees from the U.S. war in Indo-China fled to Thailand for safety. The South-east Asian country has, in fact, been home to some 1.5 million refugees over nearly four decades.
But until the powerful ISOC was resurrected, refugee policy was shaped by the prime minister’s office, the foreign ministry, the military and the national security council. "It was a delicate balance between these four that ensured a sense of checks and balances on refugee policy," a highly placed Thai source said on condition of anonymity.
The first signs of a more military twist to refugee policy under ISOC emerged with Thailand’s treatment of the Rohingyas, a Muslim ethnic minority fleeing persecution in western Burma. "It started after the coup when the military started to define the Rohingyas as a national security threat," the Thai source added. "They were linked to the insurgency in southern Thailand because the insurgents happen to be Muslims."
ISOC’s attitude towards the Rohingya refugees gave the Abhisit administration its first black eye soon after it came into office. The military was exposed in the international media of forcing back to sea boatloads of Rohingya refugees.
"ISOC has two clear policies about the Rohingya refugees," said Sunai of HRW. "They should be intercepted before entering Thai territorial waters, but if they do, they should be arrested and detained."
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People's Daily Online - Myanmar privatization move gets momentum
14:24, February 05, 2010
Myanmar's privatization move has been getting momentum with the Privatization Commission announcing auctioning of 110 more state enterprises this year under its privatization plan laid down 15 years ago.
The sale includes factories, warehouses and cinemas owned by 11 ministries and government departments.
These state enterprises to be sold out are scattered mainly in Yangon, Mandalay, Ayeyawaddy and Bago divisions and Rakhine state.
Closing date for the auction is set for Feb. 26 this year.
In a bid to turn the state-owned enterprises into more effective ones under its market-oriented economic policy, Myanmar introduced the privatization plan in 1995 which has been implemented through auctioning and leasing or establishing joint ventures with local and foreign investors.
The privatization plan also covers those enterprises nationalized in the 1960s.
The Myanmar authorities declared early this month privatization of some port terminals' handling business, offering at least three port terminals in Yangon for private enterprises to tender.
In addition, the Myanmar government planned to privatize all the state-run gas stations in the country by March 31.
Meanwhile, the Fuel Importers and Distributors Association has been formed to take over fuel trade formerly run by the state.
The move will pave way for free trade of petrol and diesel, putting an end to a system of buying fuel with ration book under restricted quota.
Moreover, the Myanmar government has awarded contracts to seven private companies to upgrade a highway connecting the two biggest cities of Yangon and Mandalay.
The 707-kilometer highway will be built under a build, operate and transfer (BOT) system by the seven companies. (Source: Xinhua)
14:24, February 05, 2010
Myanmar's privatization move has been getting momentum with the Privatization Commission announcing auctioning of 110 more state enterprises this year under its privatization plan laid down 15 years ago.
The sale includes factories, warehouses and cinemas owned by 11 ministries and government departments.
These state enterprises to be sold out are scattered mainly in Yangon, Mandalay, Ayeyawaddy and Bago divisions and Rakhine state.
Closing date for the auction is set for Feb. 26 this year.
In a bid to turn the state-owned enterprises into more effective ones under its market-oriented economic policy, Myanmar introduced the privatization plan in 1995 which has been implemented through auctioning and leasing or establishing joint ventures with local and foreign investors.
The privatization plan also covers those enterprises nationalized in the 1960s.
The Myanmar authorities declared early this month privatization of some port terminals' handling business, offering at least three port terminals in Yangon for private enterprises to tender.
In addition, the Myanmar government planned to privatize all the state-run gas stations in the country by March 31.
Meanwhile, the Fuel Importers and Distributors Association has been formed to take over fuel trade formerly run by the state.
The move will pave way for free trade of petrol and diesel, putting an end to a system of buying fuel with ration book under restricted quota.
Moreover, the Myanmar government has awarded contracts to seven private companies to upgrade a highway connecting the two biggest cities of Yangon and Mandalay.
The 707-kilometer highway will be built under a build, operate and transfer (BOT) system by the seven companies. (Source: Xinhua)
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Asian Tribune - Women Organization condemns Burmese regime’s renewed token opium eradication in the Northern Shan State
Fri, 2010-02-05 02:51 — editor
Since last week, it was reported that the military regime has launched fresh token poppy eradication campaigns in Namkham and Mantong townships of Northern Shan State, once again leaving most opium farms intact in exchange for massive bribes.
Palaung Women’s Organization in a statement pointed out that immediately after the launch of PWO’s report “Poisoned Hills,” exposing the surge in opium cultivation in these government-controlled areas, military helicopters were seen circling poppy fields near Namkham on January 28. The next day, about 100 troops, police and other local authorities, led by officers of Light Infantry Battalion 144 were sent to destroy poppy fields in the hills south of Namkham town.
The statement further added that, “ the fresh eradication campaign has again left most opium fields untouched. Pro-junta militia leader “Pansay” Kyaw Myint, who controls most of the drug-growing villages in the Namkham area, negotiated payment of bribes totalling 100 million Kyat (about US$100,000) to the military not to destroy the opium crop, which is currently being harvested.
“ A drug eradication team led by commander Zaw Htun of Infantry Battalion 130, comprised of troops and local militia, has also been searching out poppy fields in Mantong township since the end of January, and collecting bribes from opium farmers. Those unable to pay have been arrested, and some young men forcibly recruited into the Burma Army.
“ 'This shows clearly the systemic nature of the drug problem in Burma,' said Lway Nway Hnoung of PWO. 'Even in the full glare of international publicity, the regime’s troops are not prepared to give up their massive income from drugs'.
“ The PWO strongly condemns these showcase opium eradication campaigns by the Burmese military regime, and urges the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to take action over this. We also reiterate the urgent need for political reform and an end to the regime’s militarization policies in order to seriously address the drug problem in Burma," Palaung Women’s Organization in a press statement.
Fri, 2010-02-05 02:51 — editor
Since last week, it was reported that the military regime has launched fresh token poppy eradication campaigns in Namkham and Mantong townships of Northern Shan State, once again leaving most opium farms intact in exchange for massive bribes.
Palaung Women’s Organization in a statement pointed out that immediately after the launch of PWO’s report “Poisoned Hills,” exposing the surge in opium cultivation in these government-controlled areas, military helicopters were seen circling poppy fields near Namkham on January 28. The next day, about 100 troops, police and other local authorities, led by officers of Light Infantry Battalion 144 were sent to destroy poppy fields in the hills south of Namkham town.
The statement further added that, “ the fresh eradication campaign has again left most opium fields untouched. Pro-junta militia leader “Pansay” Kyaw Myint, who controls most of the drug-growing villages in the Namkham area, negotiated payment of bribes totalling 100 million Kyat (about US$100,000) to the military not to destroy the opium crop, which is currently being harvested.
“ A drug eradication team led by commander Zaw Htun of Infantry Battalion 130, comprised of troops and local militia, has also been searching out poppy fields in Mantong township since the end of January, and collecting bribes from opium farmers. Those unable to pay have been arrested, and some young men forcibly recruited into the Burma Army.
“ 'This shows clearly the systemic nature of the drug problem in Burma,' said Lway Nway Hnoung of PWO. 'Even in the full glare of international publicity, the regime’s troops are not prepared to give up their massive income from drugs'.
“ The PWO strongly condemns these showcase opium eradication campaigns by the Burmese military regime, and urges the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to take action over this. We also reiterate the urgent need for political reform and an end to the regime’s militarization policies in order to seriously address the drug problem in Burma," Palaung Women’s Organization in a press statement.
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Bangkok Post - Repatriation condemned
Published: 5/02/2010 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: News
Human rights groups want Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to call a halt to a military plan to repatriate 161 Karen refugees from Tak to Burma.
They claim the refugees will be in danger if they are returned to their homeland.
The military insists the refugees want to return home themselves.
More than 40 local and international human rights groups sent an open letter to Mr Abhisit yesterday asking him to stop the repatriation of Karen refugees from their shelters in Ban Nong Bua and Ban Mae Usutha in tambon Mae Usu of Tha Song Yang district.
The repatriation effort starts today and will run until Feb 15.
The groups say the refugees will be at risk in their homeland opposite Tak because the area contains landmines.
They have also asked the military to allow outside organisations to witness future repatriation efforts.
The activists will rally in front of Government House and in Tha Song Yang today to oppose the repatriation.
Blooming Night Zan of the Karen Women Organisation said landmines planted by soldiers during past battles had killed and injured five refugees who returned to Burma to look after their cattle.
A 13-year-old boy lost a leg last August and a pregnant woman lost a foot on Jan 18, she said.
Surapong Kongchantuk, of the Lawyers' Council of Thailand, said the 3rd Army chief was conducting the repatriation effort without consulting the National Security Council and was tarnishing the country's image.
He predicted the refugees would return to Thailand as victims of human traffickers.
Published: 5/02/2010 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: News
Human rights groups want Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to call a halt to a military plan to repatriate 161 Karen refugees from Tak to Burma.
They claim the refugees will be in danger if they are returned to their homeland.
The military insists the refugees want to return home themselves.
More than 40 local and international human rights groups sent an open letter to Mr Abhisit yesterday asking him to stop the repatriation of Karen refugees from their shelters in Ban Nong Bua and Ban Mae Usutha in tambon Mae Usu of Tha Song Yang district.
The repatriation effort starts today and will run until Feb 15.
The groups say the refugees will be at risk in their homeland opposite Tak because the area contains landmines.
They have also asked the military to allow outside organisations to witness future repatriation efforts.
The activists will rally in front of Government House and in Tha Song Yang today to oppose the repatriation.
Blooming Night Zan of the Karen Women Organisation said landmines planted by soldiers during past battles had killed and injured five refugees who returned to Burma to look after their cattle.
A 13-year-old boy lost a leg last August and a pregnant woman lost a foot on Jan 18, she said.
Surapong Kongchantuk, of the Lawyers' Council of Thailand, said the 3rd Army chief was conducting the repatriation effort without consulting the National Security Council and was tarnishing the country's image.
He predicted the refugees would return to Thailand as victims of human traffickers.
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Bangkok Post - Karen being repatriated as planned
Published: 5/02/2010 at 02:08 PM
Online news: Breakingnews
The military is beginning the repatriation of 161 Karen refugees from Tak back to Burma as planned, despite a protest by human rights groups, Col Noppadol Vacharachitbovorn said on Friday.
The commander of the 35th Rangers Task Force Regiment said he had instructed his troops help the Karen refugees move across the Moei river, which divides Thailand and Burma, to a Burmese village opposite Ban Nong Bua and Ban Mae Usuthae in tambon Mae Usu of Tha Song Yang district.
He said the refugees wanted to return home because there had been no fighting between Burmese troops and minority groups on the Burmese side of the river for some time.
More than 3,000 Karen fled the fighting across the Moei river to Ban Nong Bua and Ban Mae Usutha on June 2 last year.
About 1,500 of them had already returned to their home country voluntarity and the rest would gradually be repatriated, Col Noppadol said.
About 40 local and international human rights groups on Thursday sent an open letter to Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva asking him to stop the repatriation of the Karen refugees.
They said the refugees would be at risk in their home village because of landmines.
Published: 5/02/2010 at 02:08 PM
Online news: Breakingnews
The military is beginning the repatriation of 161 Karen refugees from Tak back to Burma as planned, despite a protest by human rights groups, Col Noppadol Vacharachitbovorn said on Friday.
The commander of the 35th Rangers Task Force Regiment said he had instructed his troops help the Karen refugees move across the Moei river, which divides Thailand and Burma, to a Burmese village opposite Ban Nong Bua and Ban Mae Usuthae in tambon Mae Usu of Tha Song Yang district.
He said the refugees wanted to return home because there had been no fighting between Burmese troops and minority groups on the Burmese side of the river for some time.
More than 3,000 Karen fled the fighting across the Moei river to Ban Nong Bua and Ban Mae Usutha on June 2 last year.
About 1,500 of them had already returned to their home country voluntarity and the rest would gradually be repatriated, Col Noppadol said.
About 40 local and international human rights groups on Thursday sent an open letter to Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva asking him to stop the repatriation of the Karen refugees.
They said the refugees would be at risk in their home village because of landmines.
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The Nation - PM says gov has no policy to force back Burmese refugees
February 6, 2010 : Last updated 04:22 pm
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said Friday that his government has no policy to forcefully repatriate ethnic Karen refugees on the Thai soil along the Thai-Burmese border.
He was commenting on a call by Congressman Joseph Crowley for the Thai government to halt the repatriation of ethnic Karen refugees to a dangerous conflict zone in eastern Burma.
"The government does have a policy to repatriate the Karen people in the area yet," Abhisit said.
February 6, 2010 : Last updated 04:22 pm
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said Friday that his government has no policy to forcefully repatriate ethnic Karen refugees on the Thai soil along the Thai-Burmese border.
He was commenting on a call by Congressman Joseph Crowley for the Thai government to halt the repatriation of ethnic Karen refugees to a dangerous conflict zone in eastern Burma.
"The government does have a policy to repatriate the Karen people in the area yet," Abhisit said.
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02/05/2010 13:55
THAILAND – MYANMAR
AsiaNews.it - Burmese junta profits at the expense of 1.3 million migrant workers in Thailand
by Weena Kowitwanij
The two governments agree to clarify the procedures for registration of Burmese people in Thailand. The Burmese junta has so far claimed the withdrawal of the documentation at home to monitor illegal departures from the country. Threats to the families of workers who must pay bribes of up to 2 thousand dollars for the issuance of a certificate. By 28 February, the migrants must prove their citizenship, under penalty of expulsion from the country.
Bangkok (AsiaNews) - Negotiations between the Thai government and the Burmese junta are underway to allow more than 1.3 million migrant workers from Myanmar to prove their citizenship to Thai authorities by the 28th February. This is to avoid deportation and abuses by the Burmese junta, which to date has profited from the situation forcing migrants to pay up to 2 thousand dollars in bribes for issuing a certificate.
"It is up to the employer to register staff at district offices," said Jirasak Sukhonchart, Director General of the Thai Department of Employment during his recent meeting with the Burmese consul in Bangkok. "According to our sources – he continues - the Burmese authorities are threatening the families of migrants and forcing them to pay large sums of money for issuing certificates." He says he contacted the government offices in person, explaining the facts as reported by migrants in order to avoid further abuse.
In July 2009, Thailand asked all foreign workers to certify their citizenship before 28 February 2010. This is to monitor the situation inside the country, where in addition to the Burmese approximately 780 thousand Laotian and 620 thousand Cambodians work.
For citizens of Myanmar the certification process has never been clear. To date, only 20 thousand workers have proven their citizenship. The agreements between the two countries so far have planned the issuing of a certificate of citizenship for migrant workers in Thailand by the Burmese government. But officials of the junta are demanding the documents be withdrawn at home instead of delegating the procedure to the embassy. This is to be able to verify the number of people who fled the country illegally and force them to pay an additional fee. Another problem is the granting of citizenship to children of foreign workers born in Thailand. Their registration depends on that of their parents and neither the Thai government nor Myanmar want to recognize their status as citizens.
THAILAND – MYANMAR
AsiaNews.it - Burmese junta profits at the expense of 1.3 million migrant workers in Thailand
by Weena Kowitwanij
The two governments agree to clarify the procedures for registration of Burmese people in Thailand. The Burmese junta has so far claimed the withdrawal of the documentation at home to monitor illegal departures from the country. Threats to the families of workers who must pay bribes of up to 2 thousand dollars for the issuance of a certificate. By 28 February, the migrants must prove their citizenship, under penalty of expulsion from the country.
Bangkok (AsiaNews) - Negotiations between the Thai government and the Burmese junta are underway to allow more than 1.3 million migrant workers from Myanmar to prove their citizenship to Thai authorities by the 28th February. This is to avoid deportation and abuses by the Burmese junta, which to date has profited from the situation forcing migrants to pay up to 2 thousand dollars in bribes for issuing a certificate.
"It is up to the employer to register staff at district offices," said Jirasak Sukhonchart, Director General of the Thai Department of Employment during his recent meeting with the Burmese consul in Bangkok. "According to our sources – he continues - the Burmese authorities are threatening the families of migrants and forcing them to pay large sums of money for issuing certificates." He says he contacted the government offices in person, explaining the facts as reported by migrants in order to avoid further abuse.
In July 2009, Thailand asked all foreign workers to certify their citizenship before 28 February 2010. This is to monitor the situation inside the country, where in addition to the Burmese approximately 780 thousand Laotian and 620 thousand Cambodians work.
For citizens of Myanmar the certification process has never been clear. To date, only 20 thousand workers have proven their citizenship. The agreements between the two countries so far have planned the issuing of a certificate of citizenship for migrant workers in Thailand by the Burmese government. But officials of the junta are demanding the documents be withdrawn at home instead of delegating the procedure to the embassy. This is to be able to verify the number of people who fled the country illegally and force them to pay an additional fee. Another problem is the granting of citizenship to children of foreign workers born in Thailand. Their registration depends on that of their parents and neither the Thai government nor Myanmar want to recognize their status as citizens.
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The New Straits Times - Two Malaysians sentenced to death for drug trafficking
2010/02/05
SINGAPORE: Two Malaysians, including a woman, were sentenced to death yesterday for drug trafficking.
Pang Siew Fum, 54 and Cheong Chun Yin, 26, were arrested by the city-state's Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) officers on June 16, 2008 after they were found to be trafficking a total of 7.7kg of diamorphine.
Local media reported today that Cheong arrived at Changi Airport on a SilkAir flight from Myanmar carrying a black trolley luggage bag.
He later met Pang at Terminal 2 and handed her the bag in the carpark before he left in a taxi while Pang drove to Toa Payoh. CNB officers who had been tailing the pair subsequently arrested them.
About 2.7kg of diamorphine was found in the black bag, and at Pang's house, officers found another two luggage bags containing about 5kg of diamorphine.
Pang claimed she thought the bag from Cheong contained precious stones and Buddha pendants, while Cheong claimed he thought the bags contained gold bars.
2010/02/05
SINGAPORE: Two Malaysians, including a woman, were sentenced to death yesterday for drug trafficking.
Pang Siew Fum, 54 and Cheong Chun Yin, 26, were arrested by the city-state's Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) officers on June 16, 2008 after they were found to be trafficking a total of 7.7kg of diamorphine.
Local media reported today that Cheong arrived at Changi Airport on a SilkAir flight from Myanmar carrying a black trolley luggage bag.
He later met Pang at Terminal 2 and handed her the bag in the carpark before he left in a taxi while Pang drove to Toa Payoh. CNB officers who had been tailing the pair subsequently arrested them.
About 2.7kg of diamorphine was found in the black bag, and at Pang's house, officers found another two luggage bags containing about 5kg of diamorphine.
Pang claimed she thought the bag from Cheong contained precious stones and Buddha pendants, while Cheong claimed he thought the bags contained gold bars.
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The New Straits Times - Man held for molest of child
2010/02/04
CAMERON HIGHLANDS: A Myanmar couple had a shock when they found out their 4-year-old daughter was molested while in the care of a friend.
The incident allegedly happened on Monday when the friend, also a Myanmar, babysat the girl for the couple. When the couple brought their child home, she cried and complained of pain in her private parts.
They brought her to Sultanah Hajah Kalsom Hospital, here where a doctor discovered that her private parts were torn and believed it could have been caused by a hard object.
The doctor lodged a police report and referred the girl to Ipoh Hospital.
District police chief Deputy Superintendent Wan Zahari Wan Busu said police picked up the 38-year-old suspect on Tuesday.
2010/02/04
CAMERON HIGHLANDS: A Myanmar couple had a shock when they found out their 4-year-old daughter was molested while in the care of a friend.
The incident allegedly happened on Monday when the friend, also a Myanmar, babysat the girl for the couple. When the couple brought their child home, she cried and complained of pain in her private parts.
They brought her to Sultanah Hajah Kalsom Hospital, here where a doctor discovered that her private parts were torn and believed it could have been caused by a hard object.
The doctor lodged a police report and referred the girl to Ipoh Hospital.
District police chief Deputy Superintendent Wan Zahari Wan Busu said police picked up the 38-year-old suspect on Tuesday.
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The Irrawaddy - Suu Kyi, Brother in Court over House Dispute
By THE ASSOCAITED PRESS - Friday, February 5, 2010
RANGOON — A lawyer for Burma's detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi says a court in Rangoon will hear testimony next week on a dispute between the detained opposition leader and her brother over efforts to renovate her lakeside home.
Suu Kyi was forced to suspend repairs on her house in December after her estranged brother Aung San Oo lodged his objections. Her brother, an American citizen, has long fought for partial ownership of the home and its nearly 2-acre (1-hectare) plot.
The dilapidated, two-story home serves as an unofficial prison for the Nobel Peace Prize winner, who stays there under house arrest. She has been detained 14 of the past 20 years.
Suu Kyi's lawyer Nyan Win said the Rangoon Division Court has agreed to hear the case Feb. 10.
By THE ASSOCAITED PRESS - Friday, February 5, 2010
RANGOON — A lawyer for Burma's detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi says a court in Rangoon will hear testimony next week on a dispute between the detained opposition leader and her brother over efforts to renovate her lakeside home.
Suu Kyi was forced to suspend repairs on her house in December after her estranged brother Aung San Oo lodged his objections. Her brother, an American citizen, has long fought for partial ownership of the home and its nearly 2-acre (1-hectare) plot.
The dilapidated, two-story home serves as an unofficial prison for the Nobel Peace Prize winner, who stays there under house arrest. She has been detained 14 of the past 20 years.
Suu Kyi's lawyer Nyan Win said the Rangoon Division Court has agreed to hear the case Feb. 10.
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Rangoon alone boasts over 3,000 massage parlours
Friday, 05 February 2010 21:21 Myo Thein
Rangoon (Mizzima) – Rangoon alone boasts between 3,000 to 3,500 illegal massage parlours, according to a senior police officer from the Rangoon Division Police Commander’s Office.
There are over 2,000 massage parlours in 10 townships so there are at least 3,000 such parlours in the entire Rangoon Division, a police officer of the rank of Pol. Maj. said on condition of anonymity.
“Police statistics reveal there were at least 2,500 massage parlours in Rangoon Division in 2008. Now there must be at least 3,000 to 3,500. Six downtown suburban townships including Ahlone, Sanchaung, Tamwe, Pazundaung, and Minglataungnyunt have the maximum number of parlours. These townships account for about 2,000 parlours,” he told Mizzima.
Most of these illegal massage parlours are in Pazundaung, Tamwe, Minglataungnyunt and Sanchaung Townships with an average of at least 300 parlours in each, the police estimate.
A Rangoon based advocate views the mushroom growth of illegal massage parlours in Rangoon as a result of lax legal control.
“There is only a Prostitution Law to tackle such proliferation but there is no specific law for parlours. So the accused are usually charged under section 188 of this law, which stipulates violation of order by authorities. Those who urinate on the roadside can be charged under this section, where the maximum penalty is one month’s imprisonment. Women are exempted. They can be fined a maximum of Kyat 1, 000,” the advocate said.
Owners or those running the parlours can be given a maximum of one month in prison if charged under section 188 and the property can be impounded.
Weaknesses in the legal framework and lucrative profits make this illegal business grow, the advocate said.
“My uncle once worked on a massage parlour case. It could be reopened while they were still facing trial. The owner said the time to break even for a parlour was only six months no matter what the investment. The owners give handsome salary to the managers of the parlours as they are used as scapegoats when raids and arrests take place,” the advocate added.
Other than some licensed physiotherapy clinics, all massage parlours are violating the law, other legal experts said.
Small massage parlours under the guise of ‘beauty saloons’ are found elsewhere in Rangoon. Many big massage parlours with investment of tens of millions of Kyats exist with staff strength of 50 to 70 women workers and 20 to 40 male masseurs. Customers from all walks of life visit the big massage parlours.
“Some provide satisfactory service equipped as they are with good interior decoration. Famous actors and actresses always visit a massage parlour near our home. Sometimes foreign tourists visit these high quality massage parlours in groups,” a local resident of Lanmadaw Township said.
The local Ward and Township Peace and Development Council (TPDC), police and military intelligence units take monthly protection money and levy from the massage parlours depending on their size at rates varying from Kyat 500,000 to 3-4 million. There is a growing trend of opening massage parlours and brothels under the guise of parlours.
“It is easy to distinguish between genuine and bogus massage parlours. The youths say this is massage and this is massoot. The bogus massage parlours never run their business in the same place for long. You can see many ‘beauty saloon’ signs elsewhere in downtown Rangoon. Eight to nine out of 10 are massage parlours,” a member of Ward level TPDC from Latha Township said.
“The massage parlour business was set in motion by military intelligence, whose personnel opened such parlours in their area of control. During the crackdown on the military intelligence units, the massage parlour business was hit for a short while. Then there was a boom after 2005-2006,” he said.
An editor of a Rangoon based journal said, “Some massage centres really provide good service. Some legally opened physiotherapy clinics are run by blind physiotherapists trained in Japanese techniques. If the government issues official business licenses with stringent rules and regulations to these parlours and collect taxes legally, the problem of co-existence of legal and illegal massage businesses can be resolved. Moreover the protection money and levy collected by police will have to go to the government coffers also. And then women masseurs can get legal protection and their grievances can be redressed legally”.
Friday, 05 February 2010 21:21 Myo Thein
Rangoon (Mizzima) – Rangoon alone boasts between 3,000 to 3,500 illegal massage parlours, according to a senior police officer from the Rangoon Division Police Commander’s Office.
There are over 2,000 massage parlours in 10 townships so there are at least 3,000 such parlours in the entire Rangoon Division, a police officer of the rank of Pol. Maj. said on condition of anonymity.
“Police statistics reveal there were at least 2,500 massage parlours in Rangoon Division in 2008. Now there must be at least 3,000 to 3,500. Six downtown suburban townships including Ahlone, Sanchaung, Tamwe, Pazundaung, and Minglataungnyunt have the maximum number of parlours. These townships account for about 2,000 parlours,” he told Mizzima.
Most of these illegal massage parlours are in Pazundaung, Tamwe, Minglataungnyunt and Sanchaung Townships with an average of at least 300 parlours in each, the police estimate.
A Rangoon based advocate views the mushroom growth of illegal massage parlours in Rangoon as a result of lax legal control.
“There is only a Prostitution Law to tackle such proliferation but there is no specific law for parlours. So the accused are usually charged under section 188 of this law, which stipulates violation of order by authorities. Those who urinate on the roadside can be charged under this section, where the maximum penalty is one month’s imprisonment. Women are exempted. They can be fined a maximum of Kyat 1, 000,” the advocate said.
Owners or those running the parlours can be given a maximum of one month in prison if charged under section 188 and the property can be impounded.
Weaknesses in the legal framework and lucrative profits make this illegal business grow, the advocate said.
“My uncle once worked on a massage parlour case. It could be reopened while they were still facing trial. The owner said the time to break even for a parlour was only six months no matter what the investment. The owners give handsome salary to the managers of the parlours as they are used as scapegoats when raids and arrests take place,” the advocate added.
Other than some licensed physiotherapy clinics, all massage parlours are violating the law, other legal experts said.
Small massage parlours under the guise of ‘beauty saloons’ are found elsewhere in Rangoon. Many big massage parlours with investment of tens of millions of Kyats exist with staff strength of 50 to 70 women workers and 20 to 40 male masseurs. Customers from all walks of life visit the big massage parlours.
“Some provide satisfactory service equipped as they are with good interior decoration. Famous actors and actresses always visit a massage parlour near our home. Sometimes foreign tourists visit these high quality massage parlours in groups,” a local resident of Lanmadaw Township said.
The local Ward and Township Peace and Development Council (TPDC), police and military intelligence units take monthly protection money and levy from the massage parlours depending on their size at rates varying from Kyat 500,000 to 3-4 million. There is a growing trend of opening massage parlours and brothels under the guise of parlours.
“It is easy to distinguish between genuine and bogus massage parlours. The youths say this is massage and this is massoot. The bogus massage parlours never run their business in the same place for long. You can see many ‘beauty saloon’ signs elsewhere in downtown Rangoon. Eight to nine out of 10 are massage parlours,” a member of Ward level TPDC from Latha Township said.
“The massage parlour business was set in motion by military intelligence, whose personnel opened such parlours in their area of control. During the crackdown on the military intelligence units, the massage parlour business was hit for a short while. Then there was a boom after 2005-2006,” he said.
An editor of a Rangoon based journal said, “Some massage centres really provide good service. Some legally opened physiotherapy clinics are run by blind physiotherapists trained in Japanese techniques. If the government issues official business licenses with stringent rules and regulations to these parlours and collect taxes legally, the problem of co-existence of legal and illegal massage businesses can be resolved. Moreover the protection money and levy collected by police will have to go to the government coffers also. And then women masseurs can get legal protection and their grievances can be redressed legally”.
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KIO continues to oppose BGF
Friday, 05 February 2010 21:54 Myo Gyi
Ruili (Mizzima) – An adamant Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), continuing to oppose conversion of its armed wing the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) into the Border Guard Force (BGF) said, while marking the 49th Kachin Resistance Day, today that it would continue to demand ethnic rights.
In his address sent to the Kachin Resistance Day celebrations held in Laiza in Kachin State this morning, KIO Chiarman U Zau Hara said that they wanted ethnic rights as envisaged in the historic Panlong Agreement, which was the key to establishing a Union during the independence struggle.
“Our organization is not for money and not for killing people. We are still into revolutionary struggle for self-determination rights agreed to in the Panlong Agreement long ago but which remain unfulfilled till today. If the junta is adamant about the BGF, we will reiterate our demands based on the Panlong Agreement,” a KIO administrative official who attended the ceremony told Mizzima.
The junta has been pressurizing all ethnic armed ceasefire groups to transform their troops into the BGF. The KIO on its part has had parleys with Burmese Army brass on this contentious issue 11 times till the end of last month but there has been no breakthrough. Amidst the impasse, the KIO Chairman has reiterated the outfit’s position rejecting the BGF in his address today.
The Kachin Resistance Day held in Laiza was on a small scale and attended by 500 guests.
“According to the ceremony agenda, KIO Forest and Agricultural Minister Col. Nau San read out the Chairman’s speech. Then Home Minister Chieftain Dwe Li Sa expounded on the speech. After which the list of enlisted personnel with over 10 to 40 years service was read out,” a KIO officer said.
Most KIO central committee members did not attend today’s ceremony. The sports meet was slated for the afternoon and entertainment programmes for the evening, it is learnt.
The 49th Kachin Resistance Day is being held on a grand scale in areas controlled by KIA’s 1st Brigade in Suanprabon Township, Kachin State from February 3 to 6. It is learnt that the junta’s representatives were not invited to the ceremony held today.
KIO reached a ceasefire agreement with the junta in February 1994. It is the only outfit in Kachin State which is still rejecting the regime’s BGF proposal.
There are three ethnic armed Kachin ceasefire groups in Kachin State. Of which, the New Democratic Army – Kachin (NDA-K) led by U Sakhon Teng Yin agreed to transform its troops to BGF. Another, KIO breakaway faction led by U Lazan Awng Wah, based in La Wah Yan village, Wai Mau Township, has converted its troops into a people’s militia toeing the junta’s line.
Each BGF battalion will have 326 personnel of which 30 will be from the Burmese Army and will be under its control. The salaries will be disbursed to all the personnel by the central government.
Friday, 05 February 2010 21:54 Myo Gyi
Ruili (Mizzima) – An adamant Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), continuing to oppose conversion of its armed wing the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) into the Border Guard Force (BGF) said, while marking the 49th Kachin Resistance Day, today that it would continue to demand ethnic rights.
In his address sent to the Kachin Resistance Day celebrations held in Laiza in Kachin State this morning, KIO Chiarman U Zau Hara said that they wanted ethnic rights as envisaged in the historic Panlong Agreement, which was the key to establishing a Union during the independence struggle.
“Our organization is not for money and not for killing people. We are still into revolutionary struggle for self-determination rights agreed to in the Panlong Agreement long ago but which remain unfulfilled till today. If the junta is adamant about the BGF, we will reiterate our demands based on the Panlong Agreement,” a KIO administrative official who attended the ceremony told Mizzima.
The junta has been pressurizing all ethnic armed ceasefire groups to transform their troops into the BGF. The KIO on its part has had parleys with Burmese Army brass on this contentious issue 11 times till the end of last month but there has been no breakthrough. Amidst the impasse, the KIO Chairman has reiterated the outfit’s position rejecting the BGF in his address today.
The Kachin Resistance Day held in Laiza was on a small scale and attended by 500 guests.
“According to the ceremony agenda, KIO Forest and Agricultural Minister Col. Nau San read out the Chairman’s speech. Then Home Minister Chieftain Dwe Li Sa expounded on the speech. After which the list of enlisted personnel with over 10 to 40 years service was read out,” a KIO officer said.
Most KIO central committee members did not attend today’s ceremony. The sports meet was slated for the afternoon and entertainment programmes for the evening, it is learnt.
The 49th Kachin Resistance Day is being held on a grand scale in areas controlled by KIA’s 1st Brigade in Suanprabon Township, Kachin State from February 3 to 6. It is learnt that the junta’s representatives were not invited to the ceremony held today.
KIO reached a ceasefire agreement with the junta in February 1994. It is the only outfit in Kachin State which is still rejecting the regime’s BGF proposal.
There are three ethnic armed Kachin ceasefire groups in Kachin State. Of which, the New Democratic Army – Kachin (NDA-K) led by U Sakhon Teng Yin agreed to transform its troops to BGF. Another, KIO breakaway faction led by U Lazan Awng Wah, based in La Wah Yan village, Wai Mau Township, has converted its troops into a people’s militia toeing the junta’s line.
Each BGF battalion will have 326 personnel of which 30 will be from the Burmese Army and will be under its control. The salaries will be disbursed to all the personnel by the central government.
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