Myanmar's Suu Kyi briefly admitted to hospital: official
Sun Apr 11, 4:18 pm ET
YANGON (AFP) – Detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi was admitted to hospital briefly on Sunday over concerns about her heart, a Myanmar official said.
"Suu Kyi was taken to Yangon General Hospital to check her heart condition for about 45 minutes," the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
He said she returned to her lakeside house, where she is held under house arrest, on Sunday night. Another official confirmed she left the hospital, but neither could give further details.
Suu Kyi's lawyer Nyan Win said he was as yet unaware of the visit, which is thought to be her first to hospital since 2003, although the 64-year-old has monthly medical check ups by a doctor at her home.
In May, her National League for Democracy (NLD) party said it was "very concerned" for her health while she was detained in the notorious Yangon prison, facing trial over an
incident in which an American man swam to her home.
The Nobel peace laureate, who has been locked up for 14 of the past 20 years, had suffered health scares in previous months.
On Wednesday she welcomed her party's decision to boycott upcoming elections in the military-ruled nation, according to Nyan Win.
Sun Apr 11, 4:18 pm ET
YANGON (AFP) – Detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi was admitted to hospital briefly on Sunday over concerns about her heart, a Myanmar official said.
"Suu Kyi was taken to Yangon General Hospital to check her heart condition for about 45 minutes," the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
He said she returned to her lakeside house, where she is held under house arrest, on Sunday night. Another official confirmed she left the hospital, but neither could give further details.
Suu Kyi's lawyer Nyan Win said he was as yet unaware of the visit, which is thought to be her first to hospital since 2003, although the 64-year-old has monthly medical check ups by a doctor at her home.
In May, her National League for Democracy (NLD) party said it was "very concerned" for her health while she was detained in the notorious Yangon prison, facing trial over an
incident in which an American man swam to her home.
The Nobel peace laureate, who has been locked up for 14 of the past 20 years, had suffered health scares in previous months.
On Wednesday she welcomed her party's decision to boycott upcoming elections in the military-ruled nation, according to Nyan Win.
**********************************************************
Challenges ahead for visions of an ASEAN community
by Ian Timberlake – Sun Apr 11, 2:44 am ET
HANOI (AFP) – Street vendor Ta Thi Huong has never heard of the "ASEAN Community" which Southeast Asian leaders spent two days last week trying to refine.
"ASEAN? I don't know what it is," says Huong, 40, who wears a traditional conical bamboo hat as she sells apricots on the streets of the Vietnamese capital Hanoi. "What community?"
Making the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meaningful for the region's 590 million citizens is one of the bloc's challenges but observers say the vision faces even more fundamental issues.
Analysts say it is weighed down by wide development gaps within the region, entrenched domestic interests and the perennial distraction of Myanmar's failure to embrace democracy.
Focused on economic issues for most of its existence, ASEAN's 10 members in 2008 adopted a charter committing them to tighter links.
The group aims to form by 2015 a "community" based on free trade, common democratic ideals, and shared social goals including a common identity.
Senior government officials admit that progress has been greatest in the economic sphere, while the political and social "pillars" of their community need strengthening.
"It's easy to have a harmonisation of interests on the economic sphere," said Christopher Roberts, an expert in Asian politics and security at the University of Canberra.
But he said that creating a cohesive community was a task better carried out over decades and that the 2015 goal was unrealistic.
Political, security and human rights issues are "the real point of contention" between the very diverse group of countries, Roberts said.
ASEAN's membership ranges from communist Vietnam and Laos -- one of Asia's poorest nations -- to the Westernised city-state of Singapore, the absolute monarchy of Brunei and the vibrant democracy of Indonesia.
Other members are Thailand, Cambodia, the Philippines, Malaysia and military-ruled Myanmar.
An ASEAN summit in Vietnam's capital Hanoi which ended Friday was again overshadowed by Myanmar, and by protests in Bangkok which prevented Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva from attending.
Thailand's long-running political drama is among the domestic issues within ASEAN nations which are distracting it from moving forward collectively, analysts say.
The group has been divided over how to respond to Myanmar, which is under United States and European Union sanctions.
But on Friday it urged Myanmar to ensure that this year's planned elections, which have been boycotted by the opposition, are fair and include all parties.
"You talk of a community, it means that there must be some degree of commonality within the region but as you know ASEAN is made up of countries of varying nature," said Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa.
"Economically less so, but certainly in the political area, we have different political systems working in our neighbourhood."
He said that should not be a problem as long as everyone is committed to the same universal principles including human rights and democracy.
At their summit, foreign ministers fleshed out their vision of a rules-based regional community by signing a protocol to help member nations resolve conflicts.
Scarred by wars in the 1960s and 1970s, Southeast Asian nations have largely lived peacefully together for at least two decades, but smaller-scale conflicts and sovereignty disputes persist.
Cambodia and Thailand have been locked in nationalist tensions and a troop standoff over a disputed temple on their border since July 2008. Soldiers have died on both sides.
Although ASEAN has helped the region avoid war and has allowed its members to get to know each other better, it "has not been really effective" on bilateral issues like the Thai-Cambodia dispute, said Pavin Chachavalpongpun from the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore.
"It it comes down to national interest, some members, they are not willing to rely on ASEAN... so at the end of the day the term 'community' is rather superficial," he said.
Ahead of the summit, ASEAN took another step towards building the social aspect of its community with the inauguration of a commission to address the rights of women and children.
Natalegawa, who says the ASEAN Community cannot be fairly compared with the much longer-established European Union, said one of group's challenges is how to make a difference in ordinary people's lives.
If it can do that, Huong, the Hanoi apricot seller, will take notice.
"I will like it if it makes our country better," she said, laughing.
by Ian Timberlake – Sun Apr 11, 2:44 am ET
HANOI (AFP) – Street vendor Ta Thi Huong has never heard of the "ASEAN Community" which Southeast Asian leaders spent two days last week trying to refine.
"ASEAN? I don't know what it is," says Huong, 40, who wears a traditional conical bamboo hat as she sells apricots on the streets of the Vietnamese capital Hanoi. "What community?"
Making the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meaningful for the region's 590 million citizens is one of the bloc's challenges but observers say the vision faces even more fundamental issues.
Analysts say it is weighed down by wide development gaps within the region, entrenched domestic interests and the perennial distraction of Myanmar's failure to embrace democracy.
Focused on economic issues for most of its existence, ASEAN's 10 members in 2008 adopted a charter committing them to tighter links.
The group aims to form by 2015 a "community" based on free trade, common democratic ideals, and shared social goals including a common identity.
Senior government officials admit that progress has been greatest in the economic sphere, while the political and social "pillars" of their community need strengthening.
"It's easy to have a harmonisation of interests on the economic sphere," said Christopher Roberts, an expert in Asian politics and security at the University of Canberra.
But he said that creating a cohesive community was a task better carried out over decades and that the 2015 goal was unrealistic.
Political, security and human rights issues are "the real point of contention" between the very diverse group of countries, Roberts said.
ASEAN's membership ranges from communist Vietnam and Laos -- one of Asia's poorest nations -- to the Westernised city-state of Singapore, the absolute monarchy of Brunei and the vibrant democracy of Indonesia.
Other members are Thailand, Cambodia, the Philippines, Malaysia and military-ruled Myanmar.
An ASEAN summit in Vietnam's capital Hanoi which ended Friday was again overshadowed by Myanmar, and by protests in Bangkok which prevented Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva from attending.
Thailand's long-running political drama is among the domestic issues within ASEAN nations which are distracting it from moving forward collectively, analysts say.
The group has been divided over how to respond to Myanmar, which is under United States and European Union sanctions.
But on Friday it urged Myanmar to ensure that this year's planned elections, which have been boycotted by the opposition, are fair and include all parties.
"You talk of a community, it means that there must be some degree of commonality within the region but as you know ASEAN is made up of countries of varying nature," said Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa.
"Economically less so, but certainly in the political area, we have different political systems working in our neighbourhood."
He said that should not be a problem as long as everyone is committed to the same universal principles including human rights and democracy.
At their summit, foreign ministers fleshed out their vision of a rules-based regional community by signing a protocol to help member nations resolve conflicts.
Scarred by wars in the 1960s and 1970s, Southeast Asian nations have largely lived peacefully together for at least two decades, but smaller-scale conflicts and sovereignty disputes persist.
Cambodia and Thailand have been locked in nationalist tensions and a troop standoff over a disputed temple on their border since July 2008. Soldiers have died on both sides.
Although ASEAN has helped the region avoid war and has allowed its members to get to know each other better, it "has not been really effective" on bilateral issues like the Thai-Cambodia dispute, said Pavin Chachavalpongpun from the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore.
"It it comes down to national interest, some members, they are not willing to rely on ASEAN... so at the end of the day the term 'community' is rather superficial," he said.
Ahead of the summit, ASEAN took another step towards building the social aspect of its community with the inauguration of a commission to address the rights of women and children.
Natalegawa, who says the ASEAN Community cannot be fairly compared with the much longer-established European Union, said one of group's challenges is how to make a difference in ordinary people's lives.
If it can do that, Huong, the Hanoi apricot seller, will take notice.
"I will like it if it makes our country better," she said, laughing.
**********************************************************
19 parties registered so far for Myanmar vote
AP - Saturday, April 10
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) – Myanmar state media reports that 19 parties have so far registered for this year's elections _ the first to be held in two decades.
The Election Commission said Friday that the parties include three out of 10 already existing parties and 16 new parties _ most of them supported by the ruling junta.
The 60-day deadline for registration ends May 6. The remaining seven existing parties must register by then or be dissolved.
Detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League Democracy is among the seven, having decided to boycott the vote. The party says the junta's electoral laws are unfair and would bar Suu Kyi from running.
The election date has not been announced.
The NLD won elections in 1990 but was barred from taking power.
AP - Saturday, April 10
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) – Myanmar state media reports that 19 parties have so far registered for this year's elections _ the first to be held in two decades.
The Election Commission said Friday that the parties include three out of 10 already existing parties and 16 new parties _ most of them supported by the ruling junta.
The 60-day deadline for registration ends May 6. The remaining seven existing parties must register by then or be dissolved.
Detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League Democracy is among the seven, having decided to boycott the vote. The party says the junta's electoral laws are unfair and would bar Suu Kyi from running.
The election date has not been announced.
The NLD won elections in 1990 but was barred from taking power.
**********************************************************
The Asahi Shimbun - Editorial: Myanmar election a total farce
2010/04/12
It seems the military junta in Myanmar (Burma) will not listen to anything the opposition says, and has every intention of rushing into the planned general election as things stand. This is no time for the administration of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama to be sitting idly by.
The election will be the first in two decades, but Myanmar's largest opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), has announced it would boycott the poll.
This is mainly because democracy movement leader Aung San Suu Kyi is not allowed to take part in the election.
The opposition party said it made a voluntary decision in response to Suu Kyi's call, but in reality it was the military junta that drove the party to such a state.
The military regime banned the electoral participation of those married to foreign nationals, or those being imprisoned. Even if she were to be released from house arrest, it is now impossible for Suu Kyi to take part in the general election.
The NLD's boycott must have been just what the junta wanted. The junta's plan seems to be to create many pro-junta parties that include "opposition groups" by early May, the deadline for party registration. Under that scenario, the junta would easily win the general election expected in October.
Of course, such a general election will be nothing more than a complete farce.
The junta fears that if a free election is held with the NLD participating, there will be a nationwide popular revolt against the military dictatorship. The fact that the junta is so afraid of such an outcome is tantamount to a confession of just how empty and vacuous its power actually is.
To begin with, the rules of this general election are full of holes. In the two houses of the bicameral legislature, a quarter each of the seats are to be given to members of the military. And the president, chosen by the legislature, must effectively be from the military ranks, past or present.
If the military regime truly seeks stability and prosperity of its country, then it should immediately resume dialogue with Suu Kyi and open the path toward the NLD's participation in the general election. The NLD is also in danger of disbanding. We hope the party will reconsider its future strategy.
That is why pressure from the international community will be even more important.
During the Cold War, Western countries supported even dictatorships as long as they claimed to be "anti-communist." Now that this ideology-based, East-West bloc conflict has dissipated, the international community should stop turning a blind eye toward the unreasonable behavior of a dictatorial regime.
Still, there remain countries that support the junta. China is highly responsible in this regard. It is increasing its support of the Myanmar junta with things like the construction of natural gas pipelines.
If China seeks to gain political influence commensurate with its rising economic presence in the international community, it should not be helping to prolong the lifespan of the junta.
With far more vigor than Liberal Democratic Party-led governments, the Hatoyama administration has demanded Myanmar hold fair and free elections, but with no results. The administration needs to take stronger action, such as intensifying talks with Southeast Asian countries and China, or actually sending Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada there.
A sham general election will only drive the country further away from democracy. For the 50 million people whose liberty has been stripped by the junta, such an outcome will be just too cruel.
2010/04/12
It seems the military junta in Myanmar (Burma) will not listen to anything the opposition says, and has every intention of rushing into the planned general election as things stand. This is no time for the administration of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama to be sitting idly by.
The election will be the first in two decades, but Myanmar's largest opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), has announced it would boycott the poll.
This is mainly because democracy movement leader Aung San Suu Kyi is not allowed to take part in the election.
The opposition party said it made a voluntary decision in response to Suu Kyi's call, but in reality it was the military junta that drove the party to such a state.
The military regime banned the electoral participation of those married to foreign nationals, or those being imprisoned. Even if she were to be released from house arrest, it is now impossible for Suu Kyi to take part in the general election.
The NLD's boycott must have been just what the junta wanted. The junta's plan seems to be to create many pro-junta parties that include "opposition groups" by early May, the deadline for party registration. Under that scenario, the junta would easily win the general election expected in October.
Of course, such a general election will be nothing more than a complete farce.
The junta fears that if a free election is held with the NLD participating, there will be a nationwide popular revolt against the military dictatorship. The fact that the junta is so afraid of such an outcome is tantamount to a confession of just how empty and vacuous its power actually is.
To begin with, the rules of this general election are full of holes. In the two houses of the bicameral legislature, a quarter each of the seats are to be given to members of the military. And the president, chosen by the legislature, must effectively be from the military ranks, past or present.
If the military regime truly seeks stability and prosperity of its country, then it should immediately resume dialogue with Suu Kyi and open the path toward the NLD's participation in the general election. The NLD is also in danger of disbanding. We hope the party will reconsider its future strategy.
That is why pressure from the international community will be even more important.
During the Cold War, Western countries supported even dictatorships as long as they claimed to be "anti-communist." Now that this ideology-based, East-West bloc conflict has dissipated, the international community should stop turning a blind eye toward the unreasonable behavior of a dictatorial regime.
Still, there remain countries that support the junta. China is highly responsible in this regard. It is increasing its support of the Myanmar junta with things like the construction of natural gas pipelines.
If China seeks to gain political influence commensurate with its rising economic presence in the international community, it should not be helping to prolong the lifespan of the junta.
With far more vigor than Liberal Democratic Party-led governments, the Hatoyama administration has demanded Myanmar hold fair and free elections, but with no results. The administration needs to take stronger action, such as intensifying talks with Southeast Asian countries and China, or actually sending Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada there.
A sham general election will only drive the country further away from democracy. For the 50 million people whose liberty has been stripped by the junta, such an outcome will be just too cruel.
**********************************************************
SOUTH-EAST ASIA: Leaders Take Softly, Softly Approach to Burma
By Larry Jagan
HANOI, Apr 10, 2010 (IPS) - South-east Asian leaders did not push Burma’s junta too hard at their just- finished annual summit, hoping that a more subtle approach would nudge it to make sure the elections planned for later this year are credible.
The 10-country Association of South-east Asian Nations (ASEAN) took this approach despite international concern about the election, which the main opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), has decided to boycott.
"Quiet diplomacy works much better," Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa told IPS on the sidelines of the Apr. 8-9 summit here in the Vietnamese capital. "In private we can be more frank and forceful, without them appearing to be under pressure," he said.
In the past, Burma’s regime complained about Thailand’s ‘megaphone diplomacy’ when former Thai Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai tried to encourage political change during the era of former military intelligence chief and prime minister Khin Nyunt.
After Khin Nyunt was toppled in October 2004, the junta has been extremely loath to openly discuss political developments even with its Asian allies.
But several countries in ASEAN – especially Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand - are intent on pressing the regime, at least privately, to make sure the election does not embarrass the regional grouping that has continually defended the junta publicly.
"We continue to remind the Myanmar government of their promises to hold elections which are internationally acceptable," said Natalegawa.
While Burma was high on the agenda at the informal and private sessions of the annual ASEAN summit, the group’s official statement made only a passing reference to Burma and the polls. The vote is expected to be in October or November, but the date has not yet been formally announced.
"We underscored the importance of national reconciliation in Myanmar (Burma) and the holding of the general election in a free, fair and inclusive manner, thus contributing to Myanmar's stability and development," said the ASEAN Chairman’s statement at the end of the summit.
"The elections should be free and democratic, with the participation of all parties involved, and lead to real national reconciliation," Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, who chaired the summit, told journalists at the final press conference. "This would help stabilise the country, creating a base for economic development."
This is the mildest ASEAN statement for nearly a decade, avoiding mention of the NLD or Aung San Suu Kyi. Burma was also allowed to get off relatively unscathed as the proceedings were overshadowed by the political problems engulfing Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, who could not even come to the summit.
This suited the Vietnamese, who were at pains to make sure that the reference to Burma was as mild as possible, according to diplomats at the summit who spoke on condition of anonymity.
"Vietnam is not interested in the politics. They simply see Burma as an investment opportunity," said a Vietnamese journalist. A sign of this is the newly opened direct air link between Hanoi and Moulmein.
It is unlikely to be a coincidence that the Vietnamese prime minister visited Burma shortly before the summit. Hanoi is keen to woo Burma away from its main supporter Beijing, and has been advising its leaders to engage Washington.
Burma is at a crucial juncture and Indonesia has offered its help and experience to it, said Indonesia’s Natalegawa. Indonesia itself has only recently gone through this painful process and can sympathise with Burma, he said, referring to its transition to democracy after the 1998 downfall of the dictator Suharto.
"Our first democratic elections in 1999 were far from perfect. We too had seats reserved for the military in parliament," he reflected. "But each election since has been better and better. The transition to democracy is a process, and what Myanmar is doing is starting the long journey to democracy with these elections."
"The coming months will be critical months for Myanmar," Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo told journalists at the summit. "But in the end, what happens in Myanmar is for the Myanmar people to decide. We are outsiders... we hope that they would make progress quickly."
"We hope these elections will provide a mechanism for true national reconciliation," ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan said in an interview. "And we are ready to offer assistance, help and support."
The junta has shunned the idea of international observers or monitors. "Obviously an election, as we had in Indonesia in 1999, is more ideal if it can be experienced by foreign friends," Natalegawa told IPS.
In 1999, Indonesia allowed monitors to observe its first free election after the Suharto era. "But we should avoid the use of monitors or observers," he said. "The idea of having someone experience the election is more useful."
But ASEAN leaders are well aware that they have very little influence on the regime. "We are not in a position to punish Myanmar," said Yeo. "If China and India remain engaged with Myanmar, then we have to."
But the leaders may also be getting tired of the regime’s unwillingness to open. "All we were told by the Burmese Prime Minister Thein Sein was that there would be elections this year, the five laws controlling the process have been published, and the political parties are now registering," Surin said.
When the Election Commission has completed preparations, it will announce the poll date, Surin said. "We were given no other details." He mused: "On the Myanmar issue, we just have to have patience.
By Larry Jagan
HANOI, Apr 10, 2010 (IPS) - South-east Asian leaders did not push Burma’s junta too hard at their just- finished annual summit, hoping that a more subtle approach would nudge it to make sure the elections planned for later this year are credible.
The 10-country Association of South-east Asian Nations (ASEAN) took this approach despite international concern about the election, which the main opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), has decided to boycott.
"Quiet diplomacy works much better," Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa told IPS on the sidelines of the Apr. 8-9 summit here in the Vietnamese capital. "In private we can be more frank and forceful, without them appearing to be under pressure," he said.
In the past, Burma’s regime complained about Thailand’s ‘megaphone diplomacy’ when former Thai Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai tried to encourage political change during the era of former military intelligence chief and prime minister Khin Nyunt.
After Khin Nyunt was toppled in October 2004, the junta has been extremely loath to openly discuss political developments even with its Asian allies.
But several countries in ASEAN – especially Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand - are intent on pressing the regime, at least privately, to make sure the election does not embarrass the regional grouping that has continually defended the junta publicly.
"We continue to remind the Myanmar government of their promises to hold elections which are internationally acceptable," said Natalegawa.
While Burma was high on the agenda at the informal and private sessions of the annual ASEAN summit, the group’s official statement made only a passing reference to Burma and the polls. The vote is expected to be in October or November, but the date has not yet been formally announced.
"We underscored the importance of national reconciliation in Myanmar (Burma) and the holding of the general election in a free, fair and inclusive manner, thus contributing to Myanmar's stability and development," said the ASEAN Chairman’s statement at the end of the summit.
"The elections should be free and democratic, with the participation of all parties involved, and lead to real national reconciliation," Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, who chaired the summit, told journalists at the final press conference. "This would help stabilise the country, creating a base for economic development."
This is the mildest ASEAN statement for nearly a decade, avoiding mention of the NLD or Aung San Suu Kyi. Burma was also allowed to get off relatively unscathed as the proceedings were overshadowed by the political problems engulfing Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, who could not even come to the summit.
This suited the Vietnamese, who were at pains to make sure that the reference to Burma was as mild as possible, according to diplomats at the summit who spoke on condition of anonymity.
"Vietnam is not interested in the politics. They simply see Burma as an investment opportunity," said a Vietnamese journalist. A sign of this is the newly opened direct air link between Hanoi and Moulmein.
It is unlikely to be a coincidence that the Vietnamese prime minister visited Burma shortly before the summit. Hanoi is keen to woo Burma away from its main supporter Beijing, and has been advising its leaders to engage Washington.
Burma is at a crucial juncture and Indonesia has offered its help and experience to it, said Indonesia’s Natalegawa. Indonesia itself has only recently gone through this painful process and can sympathise with Burma, he said, referring to its transition to democracy after the 1998 downfall of the dictator Suharto.
"Our first democratic elections in 1999 were far from perfect. We too had seats reserved for the military in parliament," he reflected. "But each election since has been better and better. The transition to democracy is a process, and what Myanmar is doing is starting the long journey to democracy with these elections."
"The coming months will be critical months for Myanmar," Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo told journalists at the summit. "But in the end, what happens in Myanmar is for the Myanmar people to decide. We are outsiders... we hope that they would make progress quickly."
"We hope these elections will provide a mechanism for true national reconciliation," ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan said in an interview. "And we are ready to offer assistance, help and support."
The junta has shunned the idea of international observers or monitors. "Obviously an election, as we had in Indonesia in 1999, is more ideal if it can be experienced by foreign friends," Natalegawa told IPS.
In 1999, Indonesia allowed monitors to observe its first free election after the Suharto era. "But we should avoid the use of monitors or observers," he said. "The idea of having someone experience the election is more useful."
But ASEAN leaders are well aware that they have very little influence on the regime. "We are not in a position to punish Myanmar," said Yeo. "If China and India remain engaged with Myanmar, then we have to."
But the leaders may also be getting tired of the regime’s unwillingness to open. "All we were told by the Burmese Prime Minister Thein Sein was that there would be elections this year, the five laws controlling the process have been published, and the political parties are now registering," Surin said.
When the Election Commission has completed preparations, it will announce the poll date, Surin said. "We were given no other details." He mused: "On the Myanmar issue, we just have to have patience.
**********************************************************
RI reminds Myanmar of need to hold tranparent elections
Saturday, April 10, 2010 10:56 WIB |
Hanoi (ANTARA News) - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said ASEAN, including Indonesia, was hoping Myanmar`s upcoming general elections would proceed in a transparent and credible way because only then would the polls be good for the country.
"ASEAN`s and my colleagues` position are quite the same as Indonesia`s (namely) the elections in Myanmar must be credible, transparent and involve all parties, and in line with the norms and rules of democratic elections," he said when explaining the results of the ASEAN summit here on Friday.
He said at the summit, Myanmar Prime Minister, Thein Sein had explained about the development and situation in his country and his country`s readiness to conduct general elections this year.
President Yudhoyono said he also underlined the importance of ensuring smooth elections in Myanmar.
He said many countries from Europe as well as the US and others had often asked for suggestions from Indonesia regarding the best way to ensure a smooth process of democratization in Myanmar.
Yudhoyono said Indonesia`s views conveyed in various forums were valuable inputs. "Indonesia thinks it would be better for us to encourage, support and help Myanmar to ensure the democratization process will run smoothly rather than punishing that country with an embargo and sanctions which can be unproductive," he said.
Indonesia, he said, directly or indirectly had asked Myanmar to conduct democratization through general elections which must be carried out as had been promised so that "the world will believe what it has promised, (they will be) done with a highest degree of transparency."
The President said he had conveyed Indonesia`s wish to the Myanmarese prime minister during talks.
Regarding the possibility of raising the press freedom issue in ASEAN member countries, President Yudhoyono said Indonesia kept appealing for the implementation of democratic values, protection of human rights and law enforcement.
"However there are limits to it," he said.
The President said Indonesia was holding a Bali Democracy Forum every year.
"I think we need to include the issue in the agenda of the forum," he said.
President Yudhoyono also expressed the need to encourage interaction between journalist communities from one country with another.
Saturday, April 10, 2010 10:56 WIB |
Hanoi (ANTARA News) - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said ASEAN, including Indonesia, was hoping Myanmar`s upcoming general elections would proceed in a transparent and credible way because only then would the polls be good for the country.
"ASEAN`s and my colleagues` position are quite the same as Indonesia`s (namely) the elections in Myanmar must be credible, transparent and involve all parties, and in line with the norms and rules of democratic elections," he said when explaining the results of the ASEAN summit here on Friday.
He said at the summit, Myanmar Prime Minister, Thein Sein had explained about the development and situation in his country and his country`s readiness to conduct general elections this year.
President Yudhoyono said he also underlined the importance of ensuring smooth elections in Myanmar.
He said many countries from Europe as well as the US and others had often asked for suggestions from Indonesia regarding the best way to ensure a smooth process of democratization in Myanmar.
Yudhoyono said Indonesia`s views conveyed in various forums were valuable inputs. "Indonesia thinks it would be better for us to encourage, support and help Myanmar to ensure the democratization process will run smoothly rather than punishing that country with an embargo and sanctions which can be unproductive," he said.
Indonesia, he said, directly or indirectly had asked Myanmar to conduct democratization through general elections which must be carried out as had been promised so that "the world will believe what it has promised, (they will be) done with a highest degree of transparency."
The President said he had conveyed Indonesia`s wish to the Myanmarese prime minister during talks.
Regarding the possibility of raising the press freedom issue in ASEAN member countries, President Yudhoyono said Indonesia kept appealing for the implementation of democratic values, protection of human rights and law enforcement.
"However there are limits to it," he said.
The President said Indonesia was holding a Bali Democracy Forum every year.
"I think we need to include the issue in the agenda of the forum," he said.
President Yudhoyono also expressed the need to encourage interaction between journalist communities from one country with another.
**********************************************************
Korea Herald - Myanmar refugee and activist to receive kidney transplant
2010-04-12 21:45
By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldm.com)
It was in 1996 when Win Myint Oo, a 42-year-old activist from Myanmar, entered Korea to seek political asylum.
Then a student at the University of Yangon, he had participated in the democratic movement against the country’s military dictatorship in 1988.
Working at a furniture-manufacturing factory in Gyeonggi Province, he continued supporting pro-democracy activities in Myanmar and other countries.
In 2002, however, he had to start another long battle – with kidney failure. Despite his doctor’s advice that he should avoid overwork and stress, he could not stop working for his country and people.
With his condition getting worse in 2005, it turned out that a kidney transplantation was the only hope.
In addition to the huge cost of 20 million won for the surgery, his legal status prevented him from inviting organ donors from Myanmar.
He finally obtained refugee status in 2008 and the Myanmarese community here along with support centers for migrant workers started fundraising.
While only half the cost was collected through donations, the National Health Insurance Cooperation recently decided to pay the rest of the money.
On Sunday, the state-run agency held a health-checkup event in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, for some 400 migrant workers and their families. There was Win, accompanied by his younger sister Win Win Swe, 38, who will give him one of her kidneys.
“I’m very thankful. I have received dialysis three times a week since 2005. I have always stayed at home,” he said fluently in Korean.
“I didn’t want my family in Myanmar, especially my married sisters, to worry about me. When I asked for help from them, they agreed to come here without hesitation.”
His sister said she has no fear and worry about giving her organ. “I just hope my brother to get healthier,” she said.
“Win is a leading figure in the Myanmarese community here. He helps migrant workers from other countries as well as those from Myanmar,” said Kim Jung-won, a Korean activist at the Bucheon Migrant Worker’s House. The center helped him receive the government funding.
“Win was very lucky. Because most of them are low-income factory workers, migrant workers find it difficult to shoulder the high medical costs. Many of them are not treated promptly,” Kim said.
When they stay here illegally, the situation they face becomes more miserable, Kim added.
Because undocumented workers cannot expect any help from their employers, they face medical costs that are three to four times more expensive.
“Most common are cutting accidents at work. Even though early treatment is essential, hospitals hesitate to admit illegal workers,” he said.
According to the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency, a total of 14,419 foreign workers have been injured in the past three years. Of them, 305 died.
The number of such accidents amounted to 5,231 last year, a 31.8 percent increase from 2007, the agency said.
If the remaining examinations are completed as planned, Win should receive the transplant surgery early next month.
“I want to go back to work as soon as possible. I’ll continue my fight for the democracy of my home country. I will do anything that I can do to help more migrant workers in need,” he said.
2010-04-12 21:45
By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldm.com)
It was in 1996 when Win Myint Oo, a 42-year-old activist from Myanmar, entered Korea to seek political asylum.
Then a student at the University of Yangon, he had participated in the democratic movement against the country’s military dictatorship in 1988.
Working at a furniture-manufacturing factory in Gyeonggi Province, he continued supporting pro-democracy activities in Myanmar and other countries.
In 2002, however, he had to start another long battle – with kidney failure. Despite his doctor’s advice that he should avoid overwork and stress, he could not stop working for his country and people.
With his condition getting worse in 2005, it turned out that a kidney transplantation was the only hope.
In addition to the huge cost of 20 million won for the surgery, his legal status prevented him from inviting organ donors from Myanmar.
He finally obtained refugee status in 2008 and the Myanmarese community here along with support centers for migrant workers started fundraising.
While only half the cost was collected through donations, the National Health Insurance Cooperation recently decided to pay the rest of the money.
On Sunday, the state-run agency held a health-checkup event in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, for some 400 migrant workers and their families. There was Win, accompanied by his younger sister Win Win Swe, 38, who will give him one of her kidneys.
“I’m very thankful. I have received dialysis three times a week since 2005. I have always stayed at home,” he said fluently in Korean.
“I didn’t want my family in Myanmar, especially my married sisters, to worry about me. When I asked for help from them, they agreed to come here without hesitation.”
His sister said she has no fear and worry about giving her organ. “I just hope my brother to get healthier,” she said.
“Win is a leading figure in the Myanmarese community here. He helps migrant workers from other countries as well as those from Myanmar,” said Kim Jung-won, a Korean activist at the Bucheon Migrant Worker’s House. The center helped him receive the government funding.
“Win was very lucky. Because most of them are low-income factory workers, migrant workers find it difficult to shoulder the high medical costs. Many of them are not treated promptly,” Kim said.
When they stay here illegally, the situation they face becomes more miserable, Kim added.
Because undocumented workers cannot expect any help from their employers, they face medical costs that are three to four times more expensive.
“Most common are cutting accidents at work. Even though early treatment is essential, hospitals hesitate to admit illegal workers,” he said.
According to the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency, a total of 14,419 foreign workers have been injured in the past three years. Of them, 305 died.
The number of such accidents amounted to 5,231 last year, a 31.8 percent increase from 2007, the agency said.
If the remaining examinations are completed as planned, Win should receive the transplant surgery early next month.
“I want to go back to work as soon as possible. I’ll continue my fight for the democracy of my home country. I will do anything that I can do to help more migrant workers in need,” he said.
**********************************************************
San Jose Mercury News - Paduang: Tradition or exploitation?
By Amit K. Paley
Washington Post
Posted: 04/11/2010 12:01:00 AM PDT
You can see almost anything in the world if you pay enough. So I was startled when a well-respected trekking company in northern Thailand refused my request to travel to a nearby village of a tribe called the Padaung.
"PLEASE DO NOT SUPPORT THIS VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS!" the company wrote me in an e-mail.
Nothing is simple when it comes to the Padaung.
The Padaung people, commonly known as the long-necked women, are refugees from Myanmar (also known as Burma) who are famous for their giraffelike appearance, which is caused by brass rings coiled around their necks. Although it looks like the coils thrust their necks upward, the elongation is actually caused by the weight of the rings crushing their collarbones down. Ever since I glimpsed the Padaung as a child in my grandfather's National Geographics, I had wanted to see these curious women, who suffer painful disfigurement to emerge as graceful beauties.
But I had not known about the raging debate over the ethics of visiting this tribe.
Some trekking companies and human rights groups consider the Padaung villages, which stretch across northern Thailand, to be "human zoos" that exploit the women. There have even been reports that some of the Padaung are prisoners held captive in the villages by businessmen.
"Disgraceful stuff!" Annette Kunigagon, the owner of Eagle House Eco-sensitive Tours, wrote me in an e-mail. "We have been running culturally and environmentally friendly treks for 22 years and have never run treks to visit this tribal group as we would consider this exploitation as they have no rights. It is an easy trip to 'make' money out of, but this is not our interest!"
Would my visit encourage slavery by paying money to human traffickers? Or would I be able to sound the alarm if I saw real human rights violations? I ultimately concluded that if the villages really were so deplorable, my ability to write about them might ultimately help the Padaung more than harm them. I decided to go.
Debating a dilemma
Almost any traveler who has ventured into nature or the developing world has to grapple with such moral dilemmas. My entire trek through northern Thailand presented an unusually rapid succession of ethically ambiguous views of traditional culture and, in some cases, traditions continued perhaps solely for the sake of tourist dollars.
I was in the middle of a monthlong grand tour of Southeast Asia and had set aside time for a two-day trek to see the Padaung and other hill-tribe villages near Chiang Mai, the second-largest city in Thailand. After several weeks of being rebuffed, I eventually found a Chiang Mai company that would take me on a two-day trek to see the Padaung and four other hill tribes; the trip also included a journey on an elephant, a bamboo rafting excursion and an overnight stay in a village.
So that's how I found myself on a 90-degree July day on the outskirts of a jungle in Chiang Dao, about 30 miles south of the Myanmar-Thailand border. There was lush vegetation and fields of corn as far as the eye could see. After plowing through dense brush, we arrived at our first village: the home of the Karen tribe, which is also originally from Burma.
What exotic sights did we see? Several women in T-shirts and shorts cutting thin strips of wood to make baskets. "They don't like to wear their costumes," my guide, Jakrapan Saengpayom, told me.
We next headed to see a village of the Lisu, a tribe originally from Tibet that wears heavy, multicolored fabrics, and then the Akha, a tribe traced in origins to Mongolia and famed for their headwear of silver jewelry. Several villagers there wore traditional costumes, but most did not.
Tradition or tourism?
It was only when we arrived late that afternoon at a Palaung village that we saw women wearing traditional garb, including dozens of rattan rings that circle their waists. (Elaborate get-ups or anatomical distortions seem to be required for women; the men wear essentially Thai clothes.)
Nae Naheng, 52, the matriarch of the family in whose house I spent the night, said the Palaung believe that women used to be angels in the past world, and that male hunters used rattan rings to catch them and bring them to Earth. Women are never supposed to remove the rings. Naheng said she only briefly takes off the rings in the shower.
"Once I took them off when I was young, and I felt sick and very sad," she said. "If you do not wear the rings, your soul will get ill and you can die."
But one member of the 300-person village does not feel that way. Joy Thaijun, 28, was wearing shorts and a T-shirt when I saw her. This annoyed my guide, who said that if the villagers stop wearing traditional costumes, tourists will stop coming to visit them.
"She is a lazy Palaung!" he said jokingly.
Embarrassed, Thaijun put on her costume and immediately tried to sell me some trinkets and handicrafts. After politely refusing, I asked her why she did not wear the costume.
"I am part of a new generation, and I do not like it. It is hot and uncomfortable," she said. But she noted that she might have to because the chief is considering forcing everyone to wear the costume. "If the chief orders us, we will do it."
The chief of the village, a 52-year-old named Nanta Asung, told me that Thaijun was the only woman in the village who did not wear traditional dress and that her choice was unacceptable. "If you are Palaung, you have to wear the costume of the Palaung," he said while chopping pork for dinner. "This is a must. A must!"
Asung said they must wear the dress because of tradition, but he also spoke excitedly about its appeal to tourists and noted that half of the village's income of $30,000 a year comes from tourism. That night an Australian family was paying $15 to sleep in his hut.
Regal swans
The next morning I scrambled up on an elephant for an hourlong ride that left me sore all over and an hourlong trip down the Ping River on a bamboo raft held together by strips of rubber tire.
Eventually, we arrived at our main destination, the village of the long-necked women. It was off a dirt road, and a man at a booth in the front charged us 300 Thai baht (about $9) a person to enter.
It didn't look like a village at all. We were ushered into a 50-square-yard collection of shacks where two dozen Padaung women sat and sewed or tried to sell their wares. There were no men in sight and only a handful of tourists during my two-hour visit.
The women were as breathtaking as I imagined. Their heads seem to float ethereally over their bodies. In person they looked less like giraffes than swans, regal and elegant.
But, of course, this was done by crushing and deforming their bodies. Did the Padaung women want to wear those enormous coils?
"We're not allowed to take it off because of our tradition," said Malao, a 33-year-old who, like most Padaung women, has only one name. She takes off the rings once a year to clean the brass and her neck, but that's it. "If I take it off for a long time, it is uncomfortable. My head aches, and I feel like my neck can't support my head."
Young girls typically start wearing about 3 1/2 pounds of brass coil around their necks and keep adding weight until they have more than 11 pounds. They also wear coils on their legs.
The women said the rings were painful when they were young but don't hurt now at all, and they said they experience no health problems associated with wearing them.
None of the Padaung I spoke to knew of any story or reason for wearing the rings. It was just a tradition, they said. (Other sources say the origin of the tradition is a Padaung legend that the rings protected children from being killed by tigers, which tend to attack at the neck.)
"Why do we wear the rings?" said Mamombee, 52, whose neck seemed particularly elongated. "We do it to put on a show for the foreigners and tourists!" I couldn't tell if she was joking.
No real choice
There were no guards around, and it did not look to me as if anyone would physically stop the women from leaving. When I asked how they had arrived at this village, they said a man named U Dee, whom they referred to as "the middleman," first began bringing Padaung to the spot about three years ago. There are now about 50 families there.
Some families said they were paid about $45 a month; others were given a sack of rice. One orphan girl said she was not paid at all. All the women and girls tried to raise extra money by selling trinkets or charging money to be photographed.
The women do not leave the one-acre village. Groceries and other supplies are brought in by motorcycle every day.
"We have to stay with the middleman," Mamombee said. "If I leave, he might call immigration." Does she want to escape? "I have no choice. If we leave, we will be arrested," she said.
Their only option is to stay or pay U Dee money to be returned to Myanmar. But after pausing, she added: "I would much rather be here than in Burma." Myanmar is an authoritarian state led by a military junta and among the poorest countries in the world. None of the Padaung I spoke with wished to return there, but several expressed a desire for more freedom of movement.
"I want to go out and see things, see the market, see the people," said Maya, 11, who escaped from Myanmar three years ago. "But I cannot."
U Dee could not be reached for comment and did not respond to a message left for him at the village. But Helen "Lee" Jayu, a Lisu shopkeeper from the same tribe as U Dee, said that all the Padaung are in Thailand under U Dee's patronage and that there are no problems as long as no one leaves the area.
So is it unethical to visit the long-necked women? It is clearly true that money spent to visit them supports an artificial village from which they essentially cannot leave. On the other hand, many of them appeared to prefer living in virtual confinement rather than a repressive country plagued by abject poverty and hunger.
The final stop on the visit was an orchid and butterfly farm outside Chiang Dao. The delicate, multicolored creatures would occasionally launch into the air, flying up, up, up until they hit the mesh cages of the farm. Then the butterflies would flutter down to one of the artificial stands and spread their wings. I watched as tourists gaped and snapped pictures of their natural beauty.
By Amit K. Paley
Washington Post
Posted: 04/11/2010 12:01:00 AM PDT
You can see almost anything in the world if you pay enough. So I was startled when a well-respected trekking company in northern Thailand refused my request to travel to a nearby village of a tribe called the Padaung.
"PLEASE DO NOT SUPPORT THIS VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS!" the company wrote me in an e-mail.
Nothing is simple when it comes to the Padaung.
The Padaung people, commonly known as the long-necked women, are refugees from Myanmar (also known as Burma) who are famous for their giraffelike appearance, which is caused by brass rings coiled around their necks. Although it looks like the coils thrust their necks upward, the elongation is actually caused by the weight of the rings crushing their collarbones down. Ever since I glimpsed the Padaung as a child in my grandfather's National Geographics, I had wanted to see these curious women, who suffer painful disfigurement to emerge as graceful beauties.
But I had not known about the raging debate over the ethics of visiting this tribe.
Some trekking companies and human rights groups consider the Padaung villages, which stretch across northern Thailand, to be "human zoos" that exploit the women. There have even been reports that some of the Padaung are prisoners held captive in the villages by businessmen.
"Disgraceful stuff!" Annette Kunigagon, the owner of Eagle House Eco-sensitive Tours, wrote me in an e-mail. "We have been running culturally and environmentally friendly treks for 22 years and have never run treks to visit this tribal group as we would consider this exploitation as they have no rights. It is an easy trip to 'make' money out of, but this is not our interest!"
Would my visit encourage slavery by paying money to human traffickers? Or would I be able to sound the alarm if I saw real human rights violations? I ultimately concluded that if the villages really were so deplorable, my ability to write about them might ultimately help the Padaung more than harm them. I decided to go.
Debating a dilemma
Almost any traveler who has ventured into nature or the developing world has to grapple with such moral dilemmas. My entire trek through northern Thailand presented an unusually rapid succession of ethically ambiguous views of traditional culture and, in some cases, traditions continued perhaps solely for the sake of tourist dollars.
I was in the middle of a monthlong grand tour of Southeast Asia and had set aside time for a two-day trek to see the Padaung and other hill-tribe villages near Chiang Mai, the second-largest city in Thailand. After several weeks of being rebuffed, I eventually found a Chiang Mai company that would take me on a two-day trek to see the Padaung and four other hill tribes; the trip also included a journey on an elephant, a bamboo rafting excursion and an overnight stay in a village.
So that's how I found myself on a 90-degree July day on the outskirts of a jungle in Chiang Dao, about 30 miles south of the Myanmar-Thailand border. There was lush vegetation and fields of corn as far as the eye could see. After plowing through dense brush, we arrived at our first village: the home of the Karen tribe, which is also originally from Burma.
What exotic sights did we see? Several women in T-shirts and shorts cutting thin strips of wood to make baskets. "They don't like to wear their costumes," my guide, Jakrapan Saengpayom, told me.
We next headed to see a village of the Lisu, a tribe originally from Tibet that wears heavy, multicolored fabrics, and then the Akha, a tribe traced in origins to Mongolia and famed for their headwear of silver jewelry. Several villagers there wore traditional costumes, but most did not.
Tradition or tourism?
It was only when we arrived late that afternoon at a Palaung village that we saw women wearing traditional garb, including dozens of rattan rings that circle their waists. (Elaborate get-ups or anatomical distortions seem to be required for women; the men wear essentially Thai clothes.)
Nae Naheng, 52, the matriarch of the family in whose house I spent the night, said the Palaung believe that women used to be angels in the past world, and that male hunters used rattan rings to catch them and bring them to Earth. Women are never supposed to remove the rings. Naheng said she only briefly takes off the rings in the shower.
"Once I took them off when I was young, and I felt sick and very sad," she said. "If you do not wear the rings, your soul will get ill and you can die."
But one member of the 300-person village does not feel that way. Joy Thaijun, 28, was wearing shorts and a T-shirt when I saw her. This annoyed my guide, who said that if the villagers stop wearing traditional costumes, tourists will stop coming to visit them.
"She is a lazy Palaung!" he said jokingly.
Embarrassed, Thaijun put on her costume and immediately tried to sell me some trinkets and handicrafts. After politely refusing, I asked her why she did not wear the costume.
"I am part of a new generation, and I do not like it. It is hot and uncomfortable," she said. But she noted that she might have to because the chief is considering forcing everyone to wear the costume. "If the chief orders us, we will do it."
The chief of the village, a 52-year-old named Nanta Asung, told me that Thaijun was the only woman in the village who did not wear traditional dress and that her choice was unacceptable. "If you are Palaung, you have to wear the costume of the Palaung," he said while chopping pork for dinner. "This is a must. A must!"
Asung said they must wear the dress because of tradition, but he also spoke excitedly about its appeal to tourists and noted that half of the village's income of $30,000 a year comes from tourism. That night an Australian family was paying $15 to sleep in his hut.
Regal swans
The next morning I scrambled up on an elephant for an hourlong ride that left me sore all over and an hourlong trip down the Ping River on a bamboo raft held together by strips of rubber tire.
Eventually, we arrived at our main destination, the village of the long-necked women. It was off a dirt road, and a man at a booth in the front charged us 300 Thai baht (about $9) a person to enter.
It didn't look like a village at all. We were ushered into a 50-square-yard collection of shacks where two dozen Padaung women sat and sewed or tried to sell their wares. There were no men in sight and only a handful of tourists during my two-hour visit.
The women were as breathtaking as I imagined. Their heads seem to float ethereally over their bodies. In person they looked less like giraffes than swans, regal and elegant.
But, of course, this was done by crushing and deforming their bodies. Did the Padaung women want to wear those enormous coils?
"We're not allowed to take it off because of our tradition," said Malao, a 33-year-old who, like most Padaung women, has only one name. She takes off the rings once a year to clean the brass and her neck, but that's it. "If I take it off for a long time, it is uncomfortable. My head aches, and I feel like my neck can't support my head."
Young girls typically start wearing about 3 1/2 pounds of brass coil around their necks and keep adding weight until they have more than 11 pounds. They also wear coils on their legs.
The women said the rings were painful when they were young but don't hurt now at all, and they said they experience no health problems associated with wearing them.
None of the Padaung I spoke to knew of any story or reason for wearing the rings. It was just a tradition, they said. (Other sources say the origin of the tradition is a Padaung legend that the rings protected children from being killed by tigers, which tend to attack at the neck.)
"Why do we wear the rings?" said Mamombee, 52, whose neck seemed particularly elongated. "We do it to put on a show for the foreigners and tourists!" I couldn't tell if she was joking.
No real choice
There were no guards around, and it did not look to me as if anyone would physically stop the women from leaving. When I asked how they had arrived at this village, they said a man named U Dee, whom they referred to as "the middleman," first began bringing Padaung to the spot about three years ago. There are now about 50 families there.
Some families said they were paid about $45 a month; others were given a sack of rice. One orphan girl said she was not paid at all. All the women and girls tried to raise extra money by selling trinkets or charging money to be photographed.
The women do not leave the one-acre village. Groceries and other supplies are brought in by motorcycle every day.
"We have to stay with the middleman," Mamombee said. "If I leave, he might call immigration." Does she want to escape? "I have no choice. If we leave, we will be arrested," she said.
Their only option is to stay or pay U Dee money to be returned to Myanmar. But after pausing, she added: "I would much rather be here than in Burma." Myanmar is an authoritarian state led by a military junta and among the poorest countries in the world. None of the Padaung I spoke with wished to return there, but several expressed a desire for more freedom of movement.
"I want to go out and see things, see the market, see the people," said Maya, 11, who escaped from Myanmar three years ago. "But I cannot."
U Dee could not be reached for comment and did not respond to a message left for him at the village. But Helen "Lee" Jayu, a Lisu shopkeeper from the same tribe as U Dee, said that all the Padaung are in Thailand under U Dee's patronage and that there are no problems as long as no one leaves the area.
So is it unethical to visit the long-necked women? It is clearly true that money spent to visit them supports an artificial village from which they essentially cannot leave. On the other hand, many of them appeared to prefer living in virtual confinement rather than a repressive country plagued by abject poverty and hunger.
The final stop on the visit was an orchid and butterfly farm outside Chiang Dao. The delicate, multicolored creatures would occasionally launch into the air, flying up, up, up until they hit the mesh cages of the farm. Then the butterflies would flutter down to one of the artificial stands and spread their wings. I watched as tourists gaped and snapped pictures of their natural beauty.
**********************************************************
E-Pao.net News - Flushing out UGs from Myanmar; Yangon seeks Delhi's aid
Source: The Sangai Express / Agencies
New Delhi, April 11 2010: Action against Indian insurgents in its territory will be initiated only after receiving military assistance from India, Myanmar's Ambassador to India U Kyi Thein said on Saturday.
"We have informed India of our requirements to help us in fighting against the insurgents," the Ambassador said.
He, however, refused to divulge details about the kind of assistance it had sought from India.
"India has agreed to provide us our military requirements, but I cannot share with you our requirements," Thein told a news agency in Shillong.
Thein, who was here to attend an international seminar on 'From Landlocked to Landlinked: North East India in BIMSTEC' at North Eastern Hill University in Meghalaya, further said: "We also shared the same problem (insurgency) like India.
This problem will be sorted once India meet our requirements" .
There are at least 15 insurgents' camps operating from Myanmar soil, fighting either for an autonomous or independent homeland in Manipur, Nagaland and Assam.
Myanmar shares some 1,643 km long border between them.
The Centre has been requesting Yangon to take action against the rebels which include Manipur-based United National Liberation Front, People's Liberation Army (PLA), Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup, People's Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak; Assam-based United Liberation Front of Asom and both the warring factions of National Socialist Council of Nagaland operating from Sagaing division and the Chin State of Myanmar.
Thein, however, made it clear that the problem of insurgency across the India-Myanmar border can be sorted out through infrastructure development.
"We (India-Bangladesh) now plan to develop infrastructure in the border with special emphasis on enhancing connectivity," the Ambassador informed.
Source: The Sangai Express / Agencies
New Delhi, April 11 2010: Action against Indian insurgents in its territory will be initiated only after receiving military assistance from India, Myanmar's Ambassador to India U Kyi Thein said on Saturday.
"We have informed India of our requirements to help us in fighting against the insurgents," the Ambassador said.
He, however, refused to divulge details about the kind of assistance it had sought from India.
"India has agreed to provide us our military requirements, but I cannot share with you our requirements," Thein told a news agency in Shillong.
Thein, who was here to attend an international seminar on 'From Landlocked to Landlinked: North East India in BIMSTEC' at North Eastern Hill University in Meghalaya, further said: "We also shared the same problem (insurgency) like India.
This problem will be sorted once India meet our requirements" .
There are at least 15 insurgents' camps operating from Myanmar soil, fighting either for an autonomous or independent homeland in Manipur, Nagaland and Assam.
Myanmar shares some 1,643 km long border between them.
The Centre has been requesting Yangon to take action against the rebels which include Manipur-based United National Liberation Front, People's Liberation Army (PLA), Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup, People's Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak; Assam-based United Liberation Front of Asom and both the warring factions of National Socialist Council of Nagaland operating from Sagaing division and the Chin State of Myanmar.
Thein, however, made it clear that the problem of insurgency across the India-Myanmar border can be sorted out through infrastructure development.
"We (India-Bangladesh) now plan to develop infrastructure in the border with special emphasis on enhancing connectivity," the Ambassador informed.
**********************************************************
Myanmar’s KIA helping northeast rebels to create bases in China
April 11th, 2010 SindhToday
Itanagar, April 11 (IANS) Arunachal Pradesh Sunday sounded a maximum security alert following reports that cadres of an influential Myanmarese guerrilla group have infiltrated into the region to create a safe-corridor for northeast India’s separatist groups to set up bases in China.
Arunachal Pradesh Home Minister Tako Dabi told IANS that there were definite intelligence inputs about ethnic guerrillas of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) from adjoining Myanmar infiltrating into the state’s Changlang district in recent weeks.
“It could be possible that the KIA rebels are here to forge links with various militant groups active in the northeast and then help create a corridor through Myanmar to set up bases in China,” the home minister said.
The KIA is the military arm of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), a political group of ethnic Kachins in northern Myanmar and stretching up to Yunnan province in China.
The KIA formed in 1961 in response to a military coup in Myanmar led by General Ne Win, who attempted to consolidate Myanmarese control over regions on the periphery of the state which were home to various ethnic groups.
Originally the KIA fought for independence, but now the official KIO policy goal is for autonomy within a federal union of Myanmar.
“We have already launched a military operation to drive out the KIA rebels, although we don’t have any immediate information of them setting up bases in our state,” Dabi said.
The home minister said the KIA controls large part of northern Myanmar – a region where up to a half-a-dozen Indian separatist groups from the restive northeast have well entrenched bases under KIA’s direct patronage.
“We are trying to ascertain facts about which northeast India militant group is the KIA trying to becoming thick with by entering Arunachal Pradesh. It could be that the KIA was planning to help northeast militant groups in exchange for huge sums of money to fund their own rebel campaign,” Dabi said.
Changlang district in eastern Arunachal Pradesh adjoins Myanmar with the two countries separated by an unfenced border.
“We cannot allow the KIA to stay here for long as it could have dangerous ramifications in the long run as Arunachal Pradesh does not have any home grown terror groups, but the state is becoming a hot bed of imported terror groups.
“We are also trying to find out if the KIA is trying to become close with the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) to help them shift bases to Myanmar and China,” the home minister said.
The NDFB is an outlawed rebel army fighting for an independent homeland for the Bodo tribe in Assam state.
The home minister said two of Assam’s main militant groups, the NDFB and the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), besides two other influential separatist groups from adjoining Nagaland – the Isak-Muivah faction and the S.S. Khaplang group of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland, have presence in Arunachal Pradesh.
“The two NSCN factions have bases or presence in Chalang and Tirap districts, while the ULFA have some temporary set ups in Tirap, Lohit, and Changlang districts, and the NDFB is active in East and West Siang districts,” Dabi said.
April 11th, 2010 SindhToday
Itanagar, April 11 (IANS) Arunachal Pradesh Sunday sounded a maximum security alert following reports that cadres of an influential Myanmarese guerrilla group have infiltrated into the region to create a safe-corridor for northeast India’s separatist groups to set up bases in China.
Arunachal Pradesh Home Minister Tako Dabi told IANS that there were definite intelligence inputs about ethnic guerrillas of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) from adjoining Myanmar infiltrating into the state’s Changlang district in recent weeks.
“It could be possible that the KIA rebels are here to forge links with various militant groups active in the northeast and then help create a corridor through Myanmar to set up bases in China,” the home minister said.
The KIA is the military arm of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), a political group of ethnic Kachins in northern Myanmar and stretching up to Yunnan province in China.
The KIA formed in 1961 in response to a military coup in Myanmar led by General Ne Win, who attempted to consolidate Myanmarese control over regions on the periphery of the state which were home to various ethnic groups.
Originally the KIA fought for independence, but now the official KIO policy goal is for autonomy within a federal union of Myanmar.
“We have already launched a military operation to drive out the KIA rebels, although we don’t have any immediate information of them setting up bases in our state,” Dabi said.
The home minister said the KIA controls large part of northern Myanmar – a region where up to a half-a-dozen Indian separatist groups from the restive northeast have well entrenched bases under KIA’s direct patronage.
“We are trying to ascertain facts about which northeast India militant group is the KIA trying to becoming thick with by entering Arunachal Pradesh. It could be that the KIA was planning to help northeast militant groups in exchange for huge sums of money to fund their own rebel campaign,” Dabi said.
Changlang district in eastern Arunachal Pradesh adjoins Myanmar with the two countries separated by an unfenced border.
“We cannot allow the KIA to stay here for long as it could have dangerous ramifications in the long run as Arunachal Pradesh does not have any home grown terror groups, but the state is becoming a hot bed of imported terror groups.
“We are also trying to find out if the KIA is trying to become close with the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) to help them shift bases to Myanmar and China,” the home minister said.
The NDFB is an outlawed rebel army fighting for an independent homeland for the Bodo tribe in Assam state.
The home minister said two of Assam’s main militant groups, the NDFB and the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), besides two other influential separatist groups from adjoining Nagaland – the Isak-Muivah faction and the S.S. Khaplang group of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland, have presence in Arunachal Pradesh.
“The two NSCN factions have bases or presence in Chalang and Tirap districts, while the ULFA have some temporary set ups in Tirap, Lohit, and Changlang districts, and the NDFB is active in East and West Siang districts,” Dabi said.
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Assam Tribune - Myanmar seeks Indian military assistance
Raju Das
SHILLONG, April 10 – Myanmar has requested India for military assistance for coordinated strikes against North East militants holed up in that country.
Myanmar’s Ambassador to India, U Kyi Thein said Myanmar has made a request to India during the last Foreign Secretary level meeting between the two countries at Naypyidaw, Myanmar, for military assistance.
“India and Myanmar need to work together and India have agreed to provide our military requirement to fight insurgents,” the Ambassador to India told The Assam Tribune.
He, however, did not give specifics about the kind of military assistance Myanmar has sought only reiterating the request for the “requirement” has been made.
The beleaguered military Junta have its own share of insurgency problem with outfits like Kachin Independent Army (KIA) and Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) operating in different parts of that country.
Thein said once India provides Myanmar with the “requirement a coordinated military operation” against militants would begin.
The Myanmar Ambassador did not elaborate if the coordinated strikes against militants would also include fighting the Myanmarese militants, especially the KIA having close links with the NSCN (IM and K), ULFA and several Manipur-based outfits.
“We also have militancy problem and we understand India’s concerns and wanted this problem to be sorted out. We have always stated to the Indian Government that Myanmar would not allow its soil to be used by militants,” Thein added.
Militancy, Thein added, stems from poor socio-economic opportunities and both India and Myanmar must work together to provide social justice to its population, especially those residing along the remote Indo-Myanmar border.
“Poverty and lack of education is encouraging militancy. We (India-Myanmar) need to work out together to solve these issues,” he said at the sidelines of the international BIMSTEC seminar here.
Myanmar’s policy, he added, is now to develop infrastructure in the border with special emphasis on developing connectivity. “There is the need to extend the railway line from Jiribam, Manipur to the nearest rail network in Myanmar,” he added.
Raju Das
SHILLONG, April 10 – Myanmar has requested India for military assistance for coordinated strikes against North East militants holed up in that country.
Myanmar’s Ambassador to India, U Kyi Thein said Myanmar has made a request to India during the last Foreign Secretary level meeting between the two countries at Naypyidaw, Myanmar, for military assistance.
“India and Myanmar need to work together and India have agreed to provide our military requirement to fight insurgents,” the Ambassador to India told The Assam Tribune.
He, however, did not give specifics about the kind of military assistance Myanmar has sought only reiterating the request for the “requirement” has been made.
The beleaguered military Junta have its own share of insurgency problem with outfits like Kachin Independent Army (KIA) and Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) operating in different parts of that country.
Thein said once India provides Myanmar with the “requirement a coordinated military operation” against militants would begin.
The Myanmar Ambassador did not elaborate if the coordinated strikes against militants would also include fighting the Myanmarese militants, especially the KIA having close links with the NSCN (IM and K), ULFA and several Manipur-based outfits.
“We also have militancy problem and we understand India’s concerns and wanted this problem to be sorted out. We have always stated to the Indian Government that Myanmar would not allow its soil to be used by militants,” Thein added.
Militancy, Thein added, stems from poor socio-economic opportunities and both India and Myanmar must work together to provide social justice to its population, especially those residing along the remote Indo-Myanmar border.
“Poverty and lack of education is encouraging militancy. We (India-Myanmar) need to work out together to solve these issues,” he said at the sidelines of the international BIMSTEC seminar here.
Myanmar’s policy, he added, is now to develop infrastructure in the border with special emphasis on developing connectivity. “There is the need to extend the railway line from Jiribam, Manipur to the nearest rail network in Myanmar,” he added.
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Zee News - B'desh rejects UN plea to register Myanmarese as refugees
Updated on Saturday, April 10, 2010, 22:22 IST Tags:Bangladesh, UN, refugees
Dhaka: Bangladesh on Saturday rejected a UN demand seeking registration of lakhs of "undocumented" Myanmarese nationals as refugees and sought their immediate repatriation to Myanmar.
"We have clearly told UNHCR that it is not possible to enlist them as refugees," Foreign Secretary Mohamed Mijarul Quayes said here adding the UN body was asked to deal with the registered 28,000 Rohingya refugees alone.
He said there were clear differences in the status of the 28,000 registered Myanmar refugees at two makeshift camps in southeastern Cox's bazaar and the few lakhs of undocumented nationals of its junta ruled East Asian neighbour under the UNHCR supervision.
"Let us be clear, they must go back home beyond the interference of the UN organisation," Quayes said, adding that Dhaka also asked UNHCR to put in its efforts to create a "congenial" living atmosphere in Myanmar for repatriation.
Officials said the "undocumented" Myanmar nationals were living in makeshift camps in different areas of the southeastern Cox?s Bazar district bordering Myanmar, while the international law could not treat them as refugees as their were migration was driven by "economic interests".
Bangladesh took a lenient stance on the stay of the illegal Myanmar nationals in its territory as it overlooked their income generating activities and offered them health services "instead of forcing them to stay in concentration camps as done by several countries in such cases."
The foreign secretary's comments came days after UNHCR reportedly insisted that an estimated four lakh of Myanmar nationals mostly belonging to minority Muslim Rohingya community be registered as refugees for their repatriation along with the 28,000 enlisted ones under the UN supervision.
According to recent media reports Saudi Arabia offered financial support for the for supply of food grains and other essential commodities to the Myanmar nationals in Bangladesh through UNHCR while the United States proposed funding for both the registered and unregistered Rohingyas living in Bangladesh.
The foreign office earlier said that besides the registered ones, several lakhs of Myanmar nationals intruded Bangladesh and were spreading in numbers, whom it tended to call as "illegal economic migrants".
Dhaka last month sought to use good office of China, a crucial ally of Myanmar, for the settlement of the Rohingya issue as foreign minster Dipu Moni held a meeting with her counterpart Yang Jiechi in Beijing.
Myanmar in December last year had agreed to immediately take back some 9,000 Rohingya refugees out of over 28,000 registered ones. It agreed for the same as their identities were confirmed through their verification as the two countries held the foreign secretary level talks in Dhaka when the refugee issued topped the agenda of the consultation.
Quayes earlier said Myanmar "in principle" was not unwilling to take them back after verification and also agreed to "put the process in place or their repatriation".
Law minister Barrister Shafique Ahmed recently said the number of unregistered Myanmar nationals could be around four lakh while "they are making a social problem here".
The foreign minister earlier said despite its severe resource constants, Bangladesh so far did a good job in providing basic needs to them for decades but ?they appeared to be a heavy burden on Bangladesh economically, socially environmentally and also in terms of law and order issues?.
Some 260,000 Muslim refugees belonging to Muslim Rohingya ethnic minority group fled their country to take refuge in neighbouring Bangladesh amid reported repression by the Myanmar junta in 1991 while the exodus took place in massive scales in two subsequent phases.
The Myanmar authorities agreed to take back its nationals under a United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) brokered agreement in mid-1992 though some of the repatriated refugees had sneaked back into Bangladesh.
But the repatriation process virtually remained stalled for years reportedly for apparent reluctance on the part of the Myanmar, causing protracted refuge of several thousand Rohingyas while their numbers multiplied.
Foreign ministry and overseas employment ministry officials earlier alleged many Rohingyas at different times went to different Middle Eastern countries identifying them as Bangladeshis and causing problems for genuine expatriate Bangladeshis with their "illegal activities".
"Bangladesh gave shelter to Rohingya refugees from Myanmar on humanitarian ground but the unregistered Rohingyas are spreading to different areas ever since putting extra burden on Bangladesh's limited resources and causing various social problems," Food Minister Abdur Razzak also said recently.
Updated on Saturday, April 10, 2010, 22:22 IST Tags:Bangladesh, UN, refugees
Dhaka: Bangladesh on Saturday rejected a UN demand seeking registration of lakhs of "undocumented" Myanmarese nationals as refugees and sought their immediate repatriation to Myanmar.
"We have clearly told UNHCR that it is not possible to enlist them as refugees," Foreign Secretary Mohamed Mijarul Quayes said here adding the UN body was asked to deal with the registered 28,000 Rohingya refugees alone.
He said there were clear differences in the status of the 28,000 registered Myanmar refugees at two makeshift camps in southeastern Cox's bazaar and the few lakhs of undocumented nationals of its junta ruled East Asian neighbour under the UNHCR supervision.
"Let us be clear, they must go back home beyond the interference of the UN organisation," Quayes said, adding that Dhaka also asked UNHCR to put in its efforts to create a "congenial" living atmosphere in Myanmar for repatriation.
Officials said the "undocumented" Myanmar nationals were living in makeshift camps in different areas of the southeastern Cox?s Bazar district bordering Myanmar, while the international law could not treat them as refugees as their were migration was driven by "economic interests".
Bangladesh took a lenient stance on the stay of the illegal Myanmar nationals in its territory as it overlooked their income generating activities and offered them health services "instead of forcing them to stay in concentration camps as done by several countries in such cases."
The foreign secretary's comments came days after UNHCR reportedly insisted that an estimated four lakh of Myanmar nationals mostly belonging to minority Muslim Rohingya community be registered as refugees for their repatriation along with the 28,000 enlisted ones under the UN supervision.
According to recent media reports Saudi Arabia offered financial support for the for supply of food grains and other essential commodities to the Myanmar nationals in Bangladesh through UNHCR while the United States proposed funding for both the registered and unregistered Rohingyas living in Bangladesh.
The foreign office earlier said that besides the registered ones, several lakhs of Myanmar nationals intruded Bangladesh and were spreading in numbers, whom it tended to call as "illegal economic migrants".
Dhaka last month sought to use good office of China, a crucial ally of Myanmar, for the settlement of the Rohingya issue as foreign minster Dipu Moni held a meeting with her counterpart Yang Jiechi in Beijing.
Myanmar in December last year had agreed to immediately take back some 9,000 Rohingya refugees out of over 28,000 registered ones. It agreed for the same as their identities were confirmed through their verification as the two countries held the foreign secretary level talks in Dhaka when the refugee issued topped the agenda of the consultation.
Quayes earlier said Myanmar "in principle" was not unwilling to take them back after verification and also agreed to "put the process in place or their repatriation".
Law minister Barrister Shafique Ahmed recently said the number of unregistered Myanmar nationals could be around four lakh while "they are making a social problem here".
The foreign minister earlier said despite its severe resource constants, Bangladesh so far did a good job in providing basic needs to them for decades but ?they appeared to be a heavy burden on Bangladesh economically, socially environmentally and also in terms of law and order issues?.
Some 260,000 Muslim refugees belonging to Muslim Rohingya ethnic minority group fled their country to take refuge in neighbouring Bangladesh amid reported repression by the Myanmar junta in 1991 while the exodus took place in massive scales in two subsequent phases.
The Myanmar authorities agreed to take back its nationals under a United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) brokered agreement in mid-1992 though some of the repatriated refugees had sneaked back into Bangladesh.
But the repatriation process virtually remained stalled for years reportedly for apparent reluctance on the part of the Myanmar, causing protracted refuge of several thousand Rohingyas while their numbers multiplied.
Foreign ministry and overseas employment ministry officials earlier alleged many Rohingyas at different times went to different Middle Eastern countries identifying them as Bangladeshis and causing problems for genuine expatriate Bangladeshis with their "illegal activities".
"Bangladesh gave shelter to Rohingya refugees from Myanmar on humanitarian ground but the unregistered Rohingyas are spreading to different areas ever since putting extra burden on Bangladesh's limited resources and causing various social problems," Food Minister Abdur Razzak also said recently.
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Myanmar’s displaced children suffer trauma, extreme poverty – report
ethiopianreview.com | April 10th, 2010 at 4:39 am
Children in military-ruled Myanmar are routinely caught up in attacks by the army and forced from their homes to live in dire conditions, a report by humanitarian groups says.
The report by the Free Burma Rangers (FBR), a Christian group that helps refugees inside Myanmar, and Christian aid agency Partners Relief & Development describes a military raid on several villages in Nyaunglebin District in eastern Myanmar’s Karen State in January, which displaced over 1,000 villagers including hundreds of children.
An ethnic Karen FBR relief worker, who goes by the name Monkey, said children are both victims of violence and witnesses to atrocities.
“I’ve met children whose parents and grandparents were killed in front of their eyes by soldiers from the Burma Army and they themselves got hurt,” said Monkey, who regularly visits conflict areas in northern Karen state, where the Karen National Union (KNU), one of the country’s biggest armed ethnic groups, has been fighting the government for greater autonomy for six decades.
“There’s poverty and trouble everywhere, but these children are undergoing things they shouldn’t have to,” Monkey added. “They are always worried and haunted by thoughts that the army is going to attack them any time.”
Tens of thousands of children have been forced to flee their homes with little warning and face a future of uncertainty and insecurity, the report says.
“They are inordinately affected by the rampant poverty, inadequate schools and poor healthcare that exist in Burma,” it notes, referring to the country by its former name, adding that displaced children live in “particularly extreme and appalling conditions”.
Chronic malnutrition is common, and many die from treatable diseases such as diarrhoea and malaria, the report says.
ELECTIONS
The report focuses on eastern Myanmar where aid workers say close to half a million people are uprooted – around half the country’s internal refugees. Economic repression and human rights violations are key causes of displacement, the research says.
Comprehensive data on Myanmar’s uprooted people is notoriously hard to find, due to their frequent movement, a lack of access and the cyclical nature of the displacement.
The report estimates that, in line with the general population, around a third of the displaced are children under 18 years old. Some activists, however, say the number could be twice as high.
“There are under-nourished children. There are children who are already 15 but they’ve only been to school for two years of their life. It is for children like these that we produced this report,” said FBR worker Monkey.
The report calls on the U.N. Security Council to refer Myanmar to the International Criminal Court, and urges donors to increase humanitarian funding.
Aid workers have expressed concern about a rise in refugees crossing into neighbouring Thailand and China ahead of Myanmar’s first parliamentary elections in two decades this year.
The regime wants ethnic groups to take part in the ballot, as their support would help the junta claim the country is fully behind its elections.
David Eubank, a relief worker with FBR, thinks this is unlikely. “People in the conflict areas we work in think it’s completely irrelevant what’s going to happen in the elections, that the Burma Army will rig them and no matter what happens, they will be under attack,” he told AlertNet.
“Their only hope can be the elections might draw soldiers away from the ethnic areas to control their own population and give them some breathing space.”
ethiopianreview.com | April 10th, 2010 at 4:39 am
Children in military-ruled Myanmar are routinely caught up in attacks by the army and forced from their homes to live in dire conditions, a report by humanitarian groups says.
The report by the Free Burma Rangers (FBR), a Christian group that helps refugees inside Myanmar, and Christian aid agency Partners Relief & Development describes a military raid on several villages in Nyaunglebin District in eastern Myanmar’s Karen State in January, which displaced over 1,000 villagers including hundreds of children.
An ethnic Karen FBR relief worker, who goes by the name Monkey, said children are both victims of violence and witnesses to atrocities.
“I’ve met children whose parents and grandparents were killed in front of their eyes by soldiers from the Burma Army and they themselves got hurt,” said Monkey, who regularly visits conflict areas in northern Karen state, where the Karen National Union (KNU), one of the country’s biggest armed ethnic groups, has been fighting the government for greater autonomy for six decades.
“There’s poverty and trouble everywhere, but these children are undergoing things they shouldn’t have to,” Monkey added. “They are always worried and haunted by thoughts that the army is going to attack them any time.”
Tens of thousands of children have been forced to flee their homes with little warning and face a future of uncertainty and insecurity, the report says.
“They are inordinately affected by the rampant poverty, inadequate schools and poor healthcare that exist in Burma,” it notes, referring to the country by its former name, adding that displaced children live in “particularly extreme and appalling conditions”.
Chronic malnutrition is common, and many die from treatable diseases such as diarrhoea and malaria, the report says.
ELECTIONS
The report focuses on eastern Myanmar where aid workers say close to half a million people are uprooted – around half the country’s internal refugees. Economic repression and human rights violations are key causes of displacement, the research says.
Comprehensive data on Myanmar’s uprooted people is notoriously hard to find, due to their frequent movement, a lack of access and the cyclical nature of the displacement.
The report estimates that, in line with the general population, around a third of the displaced are children under 18 years old. Some activists, however, say the number could be twice as high.
“There are under-nourished children. There are children who are already 15 but they’ve only been to school for two years of their life. It is for children like these that we produced this report,” said FBR worker Monkey.
The report calls on the U.N. Security Council to refer Myanmar to the International Criminal Court, and urges donors to increase humanitarian funding.
Aid workers have expressed concern about a rise in refugees crossing into neighbouring Thailand and China ahead of Myanmar’s first parliamentary elections in two decades this year.
The regime wants ethnic groups to take part in the ballot, as their support would help the junta claim the country is fully behind its elections.
David Eubank, a relief worker with FBR, thinks this is unlikely. “People in the conflict areas we work in think it’s completely irrelevant what’s going to happen in the elections, that the Burma Army will rig them and no matter what happens, they will be under attack,” he told AlertNet.
“Their only hope can be the elections might draw soldiers away from the ethnic areas to control their own population and give them some breathing space.”
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Myanmar to build 400-km-long railroads in 2010-11
English.news.cn 2010-04-12 19:23:41
YANGON, April 12 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar's rail transport authorities have planned to construct 400-kilometer-long new railroads across nation in the present 2010-11 fiscal year which began this month, the local Weekly Eleven reported Monday.
In the new railroad projects, aimed at providing smooth and secure transport to the public, high-quality materials will be used in the construction for life-long duration, it said.
Meanwhile, since last year, the Ministry of Rail Transportation has been implementing nine other railroad projects which extend over 2,200 kilometers long in total.
These railroad projects, linking south with north and east with west of the country, lie in Bago , Ayeyawaddy , Tanintharyi, Magway, Sagaing and Yangon divisions, Rakhine, Kachin and Shan states and the cost is estimated at about 132 billion kyats (over 130 million U.S. dollars), an earlier report said.
According to official statistics, over the past 21 years, the length of railroads and rail tracks in Myanmar has respectively extended up to 5,031.29 km and 6,549.26 km, increasing 59 percent and 46 percent.
There were 3,162.16 km of railroads and 4,470.17 km rail tracks nationwide before 1988 and the state-run Myanmar Railways has built 1,868 km of new railroads and 2,079 km of rail tracks in the whole country since 1988.
The passenger trains has increased to 379 from 229 and freight trains to 18 from 17, the figures indicate.
There are 805 railway stations in the whole country now, an increase of 318 from before 1988 when there were only 487.
Statistics also reveal that the number of passengers rail- transported in the country in a day stood at more than 100,000.
English.news.cn 2010-04-12 19:23:41
YANGON, April 12 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar's rail transport authorities have planned to construct 400-kilometer-long new railroads across nation in the present 2010-11 fiscal year which began this month, the local Weekly Eleven reported Monday.
In the new railroad projects, aimed at providing smooth and secure transport to the public, high-quality materials will be used in the construction for life-long duration, it said.
Meanwhile, since last year, the Ministry of Rail Transportation has been implementing nine other railroad projects which extend over 2,200 kilometers long in total.
These railroad projects, linking south with north and east with west of the country, lie in Bago , Ayeyawaddy , Tanintharyi, Magway, Sagaing and Yangon divisions, Rakhine, Kachin and Shan states and the cost is estimated at about 132 billion kyats (over 130 million U.S. dollars), an earlier report said.
According to official statistics, over the past 21 years, the length of railroads and rail tracks in Myanmar has respectively extended up to 5,031.29 km and 6,549.26 km, increasing 59 percent and 46 percent.
There were 3,162.16 km of railroads and 4,470.17 km rail tracks nationwide before 1988 and the state-run Myanmar Railways has built 1,868 km of new railroads and 2,079 km of rail tracks in the whole country since 1988.
The passenger trains has increased to 379 from 229 and freight trains to 18 from 17, the figures indicate.
There are 805 railway stations in the whole country now, an increase of 318 from before 1988 when there were only 487.
Statistics also reveal that the number of passengers rail- transported in the country in a day stood at more than 100,000.
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AllAfrica.com - Nigeria: Illegal Bunkering - JTF to Hand Over Nabbed Myanmar National to EFCC
Samuel Oyadongha
12 April 2010
Yenagoa — The Joint Task Force, code-named Operation Restore Hope, says it will hand over a Myanmar national arrested on board a vessel involved in oil bunkering off the Atlantic coast of Brass, Bayelsa State, to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, for prosecution.
The embattled foreigner, identified as Mr. Minzaw Tinmaungyaw, was nabbed aboard the seized vessel owned by a Greek firm, Blossom SA, allegedly loaded with 800 metric tonnes of crude oil stolen from a facility operated by Nigerian Agip Oil Company, NAOC.
Though the arrested foreigner confirmed the illegal loading of the crude oil, he denied any involvement in the act, saying he was only a passenger on board the seized vessel.
Aside the Myanmaris who was apprehended by men of the Joint Task Force on board the vessel, known as M.T Glory, other members of the crew reportedly dived into the sea and escaped to evade arrest on sighting securitymen.
It was learnt that the seized vessel was a courier to a larger vessel with over 25 crew of Myanmar nationals on board, moored outside Nigeria's territorial waters, waiting to receive the stolen crude oil for onward delivery to the international market.
The vessel, according to a security source, was intercepted at about midnight 31 March 2010 by men of the Joint Task Force along the Lagosgbene community of Brass in Brass local government area of the state.
A Nigerian linked with the seized vessel and his cohorts were said to have offered N2 million for the release of the suspect and the vessel, which was rebuffed.
The authorities were said to be on the trail of those involved in the attempted bribe.
The coordinator of the Joint Media Centre of the JTF, Lt. Col. Timothy Antigha, who confirmed the incident to newsmen, said the arrest has further shown the resolve of the Federal Government to put a stop to cases of illegal bunkering activities along its territorial waters.
Though he said the vessel had the capacity to load over 2,000 metric tones of crude oil, over 800 metric tones had been loaded before it was intercepted.
"All we have done is to conclude our report on the arrest and it will be forwarded to the appropriate authority for further action," he said.
Antigha noted that the JTF will also hand over the arrested vessel to the EFCC for investigation and prosecution of the suspects.
Samuel Oyadongha
12 April 2010
Yenagoa — The Joint Task Force, code-named Operation Restore Hope, says it will hand over a Myanmar national arrested on board a vessel involved in oil bunkering off the Atlantic coast of Brass, Bayelsa State, to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, for prosecution.
The embattled foreigner, identified as Mr. Minzaw Tinmaungyaw, was nabbed aboard the seized vessel owned by a Greek firm, Blossom SA, allegedly loaded with 800 metric tonnes of crude oil stolen from a facility operated by Nigerian Agip Oil Company, NAOC.
Though the arrested foreigner confirmed the illegal loading of the crude oil, he denied any involvement in the act, saying he was only a passenger on board the seized vessel.
Aside the Myanmaris who was apprehended by men of the Joint Task Force on board the vessel, known as M.T Glory, other members of the crew reportedly dived into the sea and escaped to evade arrest on sighting securitymen.
It was learnt that the seized vessel was a courier to a larger vessel with over 25 crew of Myanmar nationals on board, moored outside Nigeria's territorial waters, waiting to receive the stolen crude oil for onward delivery to the international market.
The vessel, according to a security source, was intercepted at about midnight 31 March 2010 by men of the Joint Task Force along the Lagosgbene community of Brass in Brass local government area of the state.
A Nigerian linked with the seized vessel and his cohorts were said to have offered N2 million for the release of the suspect and the vessel, which was rebuffed.
The authorities were said to be on the trail of those involved in the attempted bribe.
The coordinator of the Joint Media Centre of the JTF, Lt. Col. Timothy Antigha, who confirmed the incident to newsmen, said the arrest has further shown the resolve of the Federal Government to put a stop to cases of illegal bunkering activities along its territorial waters.
Though he said the vessel had the capacity to load over 2,000 metric tones of crude oil, over 800 metric tones had been loaded before it was intercepted.
"All we have done is to conclude our report on the arrest and it will be forwarded to the appropriate authority for further action," he said.
Antigha noted that the JTF will also hand over the arrested vessel to the EFCC for investigation and prosecution of the suspects.
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Scoop - On Sale in Burma: Fake Viagra & Endangered Animals
Monday, 13 April 2009, 12:59 pm
On Sale in Burma: Fake Viagra, Saddam Hussein Cards, and Endangered Animals
by Richard S. Ehrlich
TACHILEK, Burma -- Fake Viagra, America's anti-Saddam Hussein playing cards, Marlboros stuffed with Burmese tobacco, and the skulls and skins of endangered animals are just some of the hustles in this squalid, corrupt, suspicious border town.
Buddhist monks, wrapped in sacred saffron-colored robes, flock here from monasteries in Thailand to stock up on cheap counterfeit movie videos and freshly ripped music discs, brought in from China, Burma's northern neighbor.
Foreigners from all over the world trickle into this tattered town's bazaar in eastern Burma, a country also known as Myanmar, to buy well-made faux designer fashions from small, brightly-lit, modern boutiques.
Pirated name-brand accessories, such as Christian Dior sunglasses, are hawked in nearby street stalls.
Uninhibited outdoor displays offer entire pelts from endangered clouded spotted leopards and other animals.
Monkey skulls, bear paws, and a variety of claws, internal organs and blood-infused potions are also publicly on sale, alongside Buddhist and animist talismans and icons.
Burmese men, women and children -- each wearing a chest-high, square plastic basket held by a cloth strap around their neck -- roam the crowded lanes, demanding people
buy their pills, cigarettes, knives, lighters, and erotic videos.
Their Viagra and Cialis medicine packets are professionally labeled, but officials throughout Asia warn that such privately sold pills are worthless or dangerous counterfeits.
Their cigarettes include cartons of Marlboros, Camels, Kents, and other famous brands, but customers say the cigarettes have been painstakingly emptied and restuffed with harsh, inferior, Burmese tobacco.
Bizarrely, the street sellers' baskets also offer new decks of playing cards featuring photographs of Iraq's late dictator Saddam Hussein and his regime's officials.
The playing cards became famous when Americans distributed them in Iraq during the US military invasion, as hand-sized wanted posters.
Here in Tachilek, the decks are labeled in broken English: "Issued by Intelligence Agency of United States of America," and adorned with a US flag and American Eagle seal.
The Ace of Spades, titled: "Saddam Husayn Al-Tikriti, President," is displayed face up in the basket, for customers interested in haggling.
DVDs featuring nude women are also offered in the baskets, alongside Zippo lighters and big pocket knives.
Viagra and Cialis medicine packets are professionally labeled, but officials warn that such privately sold pills are worthless or dangerous counterfeits.
Tachilek is a small town, and most foreign visitors come to shop for its dubious products, though Buddhist temples, a casino, and other sites attract some sightseers.
To enter Burma, foreigners arrive from Mae Sai town, located on the northernmost tip of Thailand.
After passing through both countries' small, cramped, immigration and customs buildings, they walk across a short, two-lane bridge spanning a narrow, polluted river, which forms part of the Thai-Burma border.
Located in what could be a lucrative cross-roads for import and export businesses, Tachilek is mostly a cluster of wooden shanties, bleak tea stalls, a dismal commercial district, and a garishly expensive golf course and hotel complex.
One of Tachilek's few tourist sites is a building where a group of minority Padaung tribal women are displayed.
The females, known as "long-necked women," reveal how they wear spiraling brass coils around their neck, giving them a giraffe-like appearance.
Burma is the largest country in mainland Southeast Asia.
But it has been strangled for decades by U.S.-led international sanctions, which are part of Washington's unsuccessful bid to force regime change, amid hopes that democracy may flourish.
TACHILEK, Burma -- This sign, with squiggles of mold from humid tropical weather, appears at the entrance of a building where a group of minority Padaung tribal women are displayed. Tourists pay to see how they wear coils of brass rings around their neck, giving their necks an elongated appearance.
As a result of the economic and political stalemate, and the regime's brutal repression, most Burmese are impoverished and live in despair.
Money is so scarce that many Buddhist novices and monks disobey their religion's discipline and openly beg for alms, instead of silently and passively awaiting possible donations.
The military regime however struts atop a pyramid of wealth, and exploits Burma's natural resources, underpaid workers, and neighboring countries which are willing to break the boycotts.
*************
Richard S Ehrlich is a Bangkok-based journalist who has reported news from Asia since 1978. He is co-author of "Hello My Big Big Honey!", a non-fiction book of investigative journalism, and his web page is http://www.geocities.com/asia_correspondent
Monday, 13 April 2009, 12:59 pm
On Sale in Burma: Fake Viagra, Saddam Hussein Cards, and Endangered Animals
by Richard S. Ehrlich
TACHILEK, Burma -- Fake Viagra, America's anti-Saddam Hussein playing cards, Marlboros stuffed with Burmese tobacco, and the skulls and skins of endangered animals are just some of the hustles in this squalid, corrupt, suspicious border town.
Buddhist monks, wrapped in sacred saffron-colored robes, flock here from monasteries in Thailand to stock up on cheap counterfeit movie videos and freshly ripped music discs, brought in from China, Burma's northern neighbor.
Foreigners from all over the world trickle into this tattered town's bazaar in eastern Burma, a country also known as Myanmar, to buy well-made faux designer fashions from small, brightly-lit, modern boutiques.
Pirated name-brand accessories, such as Christian Dior sunglasses, are hawked in nearby street stalls.
Uninhibited outdoor displays offer entire pelts from endangered clouded spotted leopards and other animals.
Monkey skulls, bear paws, and a variety of claws, internal organs and blood-infused potions are also publicly on sale, alongside Buddhist and animist talismans and icons.
Burmese men, women and children -- each wearing a chest-high, square plastic basket held by a cloth strap around their neck -- roam the crowded lanes, demanding people
buy their pills, cigarettes, knives, lighters, and erotic videos.
Their Viagra and Cialis medicine packets are professionally labeled, but officials throughout Asia warn that such privately sold pills are worthless or dangerous counterfeits.
Their cigarettes include cartons of Marlboros, Camels, Kents, and other famous brands, but customers say the cigarettes have been painstakingly emptied and restuffed with harsh, inferior, Burmese tobacco.
Bizarrely, the street sellers' baskets also offer new decks of playing cards featuring photographs of Iraq's late dictator Saddam Hussein and his regime's officials.
The playing cards became famous when Americans distributed them in Iraq during the US military invasion, as hand-sized wanted posters.
Here in Tachilek, the decks are labeled in broken English: "Issued by Intelligence Agency of United States of America," and adorned with a US flag and American Eagle seal.
The Ace of Spades, titled: "Saddam Husayn Al-Tikriti, President," is displayed face up in the basket, for customers interested in haggling.
DVDs featuring nude women are also offered in the baskets, alongside Zippo lighters and big pocket knives.
Viagra and Cialis medicine packets are professionally labeled, but officials warn that such privately sold pills are worthless or dangerous counterfeits.
Tachilek is a small town, and most foreign visitors come to shop for its dubious products, though Buddhist temples, a casino, and other sites attract some sightseers.
To enter Burma, foreigners arrive from Mae Sai town, located on the northernmost tip of Thailand.
After passing through both countries' small, cramped, immigration and customs buildings, they walk across a short, two-lane bridge spanning a narrow, polluted river, which forms part of the Thai-Burma border.
Located in what could be a lucrative cross-roads for import and export businesses, Tachilek is mostly a cluster of wooden shanties, bleak tea stalls, a dismal commercial district, and a garishly expensive golf course and hotel complex.
One of Tachilek's few tourist sites is a building where a group of minority Padaung tribal women are displayed.
The females, known as "long-necked women," reveal how they wear spiraling brass coils around their neck, giving them a giraffe-like appearance.
Burma is the largest country in mainland Southeast Asia.
But it has been strangled for decades by U.S.-led international sanctions, which are part of Washington's unsuccessful bid to force regime change, amid hopes that democracy may flourish.
TACHILEK, Burma -- This sign, with squiggles of mold from humid tropical weather, appears at the entrance of a building where a group of minority Padaung tribal women are displayed. Tourists pay to see how they wear coils of brass rings around their neck, giving their necks an elongated appearance.
As a result of the economic and political stalemate, and the regime's brutal repression, most Burmese are impoverished and live in despair.
Money is so scarce that many Buddhist novices and monks disobey their religion's discipline and openly beg for alms, instead of silently and passively awaiting possible donations.
The military regime however struts atop a pyramid of wealth, and exploits Burma's natural resources, underpaid workers, and neighboring countries which are willing to break the boycotts.
*************
Richard S Ehrlich is a Bangkok-based journalist who has reported news from Asia since 1978. He is co-author of "Hello My Big Big Honey!", a non-fiction book of investigative journalism, and his web page is http://www.geocities.com/asia_correspondent
**********************************************************
Burmese group escapes asylum-seeker application freeze
Paige Taylor
From: The Australian
April 12, 2010 12:00AM
THE fastest-growing ethnic group inside Christmas Island's Immigration Detention Centre -- the Rohingyas, a Muslim minority group of western Burma -- is not affected by the Rudd government's asylum freeze.
While Afghans and Sri Lankans have effectively no chance of a new life in Australia in the short term, the Rohingyas are not on the Rudd government's banned list and as a result many more of the group are expected to risk their lives to make it to Australia in the coming months. "People say there are five or seven boats (of Rohingya) in Indonesia wanting to come," one Rohingya detainee told The Australian.
"Maybe they got arrested or exploited by an agent, or they're preparing for better weather."
But there was concern at the freeze because none of the Rohingya who have arrived at Christmas Island since last September has been granted visas.
"Rohingya can't get visas, so we don't know what will happen to us next," one of the detainees told The Australian.
There were just six Rohingya in detention on Christmas Island last September, but the number has since climbed to 64.
A Muslim minority group of western Burma, almost 250,000 Rohingya fled into neighbouring Bangladesh in the 1990s to escape persecution.
Eight Rohingya who spent 14 months on Nauru in 2006 and 2007 are thought to be the last to receive visas from the Australian government.
Their lawyer, Refugee Immigration and Legal Centre co-ordinator David Manne, said it was clear the Rohingya were among the most persecuted people in the world. "As a group, they have been subject to the most brutal, vicious and pervasive cruelty or human rights harm imaginable," he said. "The Burmese government has refused to recognise their citizenship. They have effectively been condemned to statelessness in their own country and they have been subjected to systematic and sustained cruelty for many decades, including slavery, forced porterage, rape, torture and land confiscation."
According to the UNHCR, the many Rohingya living in exile in Malaysia are targeted by immigration authorities and RELA, a volunteer corps charged with arresting illegal migrants.
There had been a sharp increase in arrests, detentions and deportations of refugees in recent years, including UNHCR registration card holders.
Getting on to an asylum boat to Australia was very difficult for Rohingya until recent years, according to one of the Rohingya who made it out of Malaysia then Indonesia in a boat late last year, and is now being processed on Christmas Island.
"I was trying since two years ago but only recently could I get on a boat," he said. The man said Rohingya were worried that their claims for asylum were taking so long to process. He said he had been told by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship that the delay was caused by a holdup with his security check.
He predicted this would continue to be a problem for Rohingya who had lived in Malaysia.
Last year, the Australian government granted 1131 visas to people who arrived by boat. Of those, 854 were Afghans, 112 were Sri Lankans and 84 were Iraqis.
This year, 820 visas have been granted, mostly to Afghans, Sri Lankans and Iraqis.
Paige Taylor
From: The Australian
April 12, 2010 12:00AM
THE fastest-growing ethnic group inside Christmas Island's Immigration Detention Centre -- the Rohingyas, a Muslim minority group of western Burma -- is not affected by the Rudd government's asylum freeze.
While Afghans and Sri Lankans have effectively no chance of a new life in Australia in the short term, the Rohingyas are not on the Rudd government's banned list and as a result many more of the group are expected to risk their lives to make it to Australia in the coming months. "People say there are five or seven boats (of Rohingya) in Indonesia wanting to come," one Rohingya detainee told The Australian.
"Maybe they got arrested or exploited by an agent, or they're preparing for better weather."
But there was concern at the freeze because none of the Rohingya who have arrived at Christmas Island since last September has been granted visas.
"Rohingya can't get visas, so we don't know what will happen to us next," one of the detainees told The Australian.
There were just six Rohingya in detention on Christmas Island last September, but the number has since climbed to 64.
A Muslim minority group of western Burma, almost 250,000 Rohingya fled into neighbouring Bangladesh in the 1990s to escape persecution.
Eight Rohingya who spent 14 months on Nauru in 2006 and 2007 are thought to be the last to receive visas from the Australian government.
Their lawyer, Refugee Immigration and Legal Centre co-ordinator David Manne, said it was clear the Rohingya were among the most persecuted people in the world. "As a group, they have been subject to the most brutal, vicious and pervasive cruelty or human rights harm imaginable," he said. "The Burmese government has refused to recognise their citizenship. They have effectively been condemned to statelessness in their own country and they have been subjected to systematic and sustained cruelty for many decades, including slavery, forced porterage, rape, torture and land confiscation."
According to the UNHCR, the many Rohingya living in exile in Malaysia are targeted by immigration authorities and RELA, a volunteer corps charged with arresting illegal migrants.
There had been a sharp increase in arrests, detentions and deportations of refugees in recent years, including UNHCR registration card holders.
Getting on to an asylum boat to Australia was very difficult for Rohingya until recent years, according to one of the Rohingya who made it out of Malaysia then Indonesia in a boat late last year, and is now being processed on Christmas Island.
"I was trying since two years ago but only recently could I get on a boat," he said. The man said Rohingya were worried that their claims for asylum were taking so long to process. He said he had been told by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship that the delay was caused by a holdup with his security check.
He predicted this would continue to be a problem for Rohingya who had lived in Malaysia.
Last year, the Australian government granted 1131 visas to people who arrived by boat. Of those, 854 were Afghans, 112 were Sri Lankans and 84 were Iraqis.
This year, 820 visas have been granted, mostly to Afghans, Sri Lankans and Iraqis.
**********************************************************
Bangkok Post - Smuggled yaba seized on border
Published: 12/04/2010 at 12:41 PM
Online news: Breakingnews
Soldiers of the Pha Muang Task Force on Monday seized about 400,000 methamphetamine pills, or yaba, smuggled across the border from Burma, in Mae Sai district of Chiang Rai.
The seizure was announced at a press conference by Chiang Rai governor Sumeth Saengnimnuan and Maj-Gen Sawat Krataithong, director of the Narcotics Suppression Centre in the North.
The governor said that soldiers on patrol along the Ruak stream near Pa Daeng villalge in tambon Ko Chang spotted four men crossing the stream, each carrying a green fertiliser bag. The men left the bags in a corn field and fled back across the border after seeing the soldiers.
The soldiers found the drugs in the four bags.
Published: 12/04/2010 at 12:41 PM
Online news: Breakingnews
Soldiers of the Pha Muang Task Force on Monday seized about 400,000 methamphetamine pills, or yaba, smuggled across the border from Burma, in Mae Sai district of Chiang Rai.
The seizure was announced at a press conference by Chiang Rai governor Sumeth Saengnimnuan and Maj-Gen Sawat Krataithong, director of the Narcotics Suppression Centre in the North.
The governor said that soldiers on patrol along the Ruak stream near Pa Daeng villalge in tambon Ko Chang spotted four men crossing the stream, each carrying a green fertiliser bag. The men left the bags in a corn field and fled back across the border after seeing the soldiers.
The soldiers found the drugs in the four bags.
**********************************************************
Bangkok Post - The world's rice bowl
Burma's decline in the 1960s opened the door for Thailand to become the world's biggest rice exporter, a position it continues to hold today
Published: 10/04/2010 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: News
Major political changes that accompanied the seizure of power by Ne Win in 1962 significantly weakened the rice exports of Burma, the world leader at the time, but accelerated the performance of its long-time arch-rival, Thailand.
A report by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation in April 1965 revealed that Thailand had replaced Burma as the biggest rice exporter in a market of 7.8 million tonnes traded globally in 1964.
In that year, Thailand earned about 4.4 billion baht from shipments of 1.89 million tonnes of rice, which was a world record at that time, declared a Bangkok Post headline on May 10, 1965.
The rice export revenue - together with income from other major items including teak, rubber and tin - brought substantial foreign currency into Thailand. The trend persisted until the country's export structure began to change in the early 1980s and industrial products - textiles and garments, electronics and computer parts - became major contributors.
Rice is a staple food in many countries in Asia and some of the richest cultivation sites are in the Chao Phraya River Basin in Thailand, and the Irrawaddy Delta.
Burma, known as the rice bowl of the world, had enjoyed the leading role in the rice export industry for years until the country opted for socialism in 1962 after strongman General Ne Win overthrew the elected civilian government of Prime Minister U Nu.
It exported about 1.4 million tonnes in 1964 but the volume declined sharply to a mere 540,000 tonnes after five years of political change.
Domestic tension and war in Southeast Asia throughout the 1960s and 1970s also limited rice exports of other major rice producers, Vietnam and Cambodia in particular.
The Vietnam war reduced annual rice exports of the country to only 2,000 tonnes in 1973 and 1974 from the peak of 230,000 tonnes sold in 1963. Cambodia's rice exports had been sluggish and plunged to zero for nearly a decade after the Khmer Rouge took over the country.
Thailand maintained its role as the world's biggest seller but with some new competitors, notably the US, which posed stiff competition on price.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs called the US the direct competitor of Thailand in the European market, especially in Britain where American rice cost one pound sterling a tonne less than Thai rice.
But the popularity of Thai rice continued to rise, with the Middle East and African markets emerging as big buyers and offsetting the drop in sales to Europe.
Thailand's new role as the global rice champion became a source of great pride at a time when attention was focused on regional political tensions and anti-communist propaganda from the government under the control of the National Revolutionary Council led by Field Marshal Thanom Kittikachorn.
The agriculture sector was given significant emphasis in the first National Economic and Social Development Plan, introduced in 1961, and the second phase from 1964 to 1966.
Thanom had stated in the national plans a goal to support the growing and expansion area of rice as well as other cash crops, hoping to drive gross domestic product from the farm sector to 24.78 billion baht, part of the total GDP of 72.7 billion baht in 1965.
Export earnings from rice at the time were 4.4 billion baht, or about 2,000 baht a tonne. The crop was highly lucrative when one considers per capita national income at the time was 2,400 baht a year. The government further encouraged the crop by promoting plans to grow rice twice a year.
About 50,000 rai were designated for a second crop in 1964 and the area expanded to 300,000 rai a year later. Today second-crop planting covers 9 million rai out of a total of 57 million rai of rice fields.
Along with the government support, overseas Chinese merchants played an important role in Thailand's rice industry. Several Chinese rice traders, including Wang Lee, had established business in the early Rattanakosin era on the bank of the Chao Phraya River close to the capital. They largely influenced the development of the modern rice business Thailand knows today.
Korbsook Iamsuri, president of the Thai Rice Exporters Association, said that while external circumstances, such as Burma's drift towards isolationism, benefited Thai rice exports, strong cooperation among parties in the business also helped the trade.
The Siam Rice Association was formed in 1918 by a rice merchant, Ngow Pek Ngam, with the objective to be a centre for local rice merchants. Later on, members extended to cover Bangkok rice millers and exporters along the Chao Phraya River.
The industry was dominated by overseas Chinese who had established operations on Song Wat Road, a narrow street on the riverbank in Chinatown, which is still a landmark of the country's rice export industry.
Mrs Korbsook said that for decades overseas Chinese had shipped in goods from Hong Kong and sent back rice loaded in Bangkok.
"Those who worked on board ships, like my grandpa, had upgraded to become exporters and resided at Song Wat or nearby areas, which is still the hub of many big exporters such as Huay Chuan Rice, Nanaphan and Chaiyaporn Rice," she said.
Today, the industry is steered by the Thai Rice Exporters Association, and the volume of exports reached 9 million tonnes in 2009 fetching more than 180 billion baht in revenue.
The association now groups 191 exporters who control more than 90% of the country's total rice exports.
"With support from the authorities, the association played a crucial role in pushing export shipments to surpass those of Burma and the cooperation remained strong, which has helped keep Thailand as the world's biggest rice exporter," said Mrs Korbsook, the first female president of the association.
Cooperation with the government has included overseas trips to explore new markets and has been successful in helping the industry expand sales to 130 countries.
Campaigns such as the Thailand Hom Mali Rice Contest and the Thailand Rice Convention are major activities that have raised the profile of Thai rice in the global market, she said.
Although Thai rice exports have increased by one million tonnes every four or five years, potential to expand the market in recent years has been limited because of intense competition from Vietnam. Vietnam exported about 6 million tonnes of rice in 2008, up from 4.6 million the year before, and became the second largest in world rice exports in terms of volume.
In recent years, even Burma has become more active again in the rice business, especially this year as the military-ruled country cautiously opens up to the world ahead of a general election due later in 2010.
Burma had exported about 30,000 to 40,000 tonnes a year in 2005 and 2006, but the amount surged to 500,000 tonnes in 2008.
"Local millers, traders and exporters in Burma have been upbeat about improving the industry," said Pramote Vanichanont, the honorary president of the Thai Rice Mills Association.
They have sought cooperation from foreign investors including Thais in rice business, either in milling, exporting, and technologies for producing better-quality strains, according to Mr Pramote, who met with Burmese rice industry leaders last year.
The improvements, if successful, could revive the former rice bowl of the world but there would still be a long way to go for Burma to reclaim its top place, Thai traders observe.
"Most importantly, the return of Burma could substantially reduce poverty among Burmese farmers," said one trader.
Burma's decline in the 1960s opened the door for Thailand to become the world's biggest rice exporter, a position it continues to hold today
Published: 10/04/2010 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: News
Major political changes that accompanied the seizure of power by Ne Win in 1962 significantly weakened the rice exports of Burma, the world leader at the time, but accelerated the performance of its long-time arch-rival, Thailand.
A report by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation in April 1965 revealed that Thailand had replaced Burma as the biggest rice exporter in a market of 7.8 million tonnes traded globally in 1964.
In that year, Thailand earned about 4.4 billion baht from shipments of 1.89 million tonnes of rice, which was a world record at that time, declared a Bangkok Post headline on May 10, 1965.
The rice export revenue - together with income from other major items including teak, rubber and tin - brought substantial foreign currency into Thailand. The trend persisted until the country's export structure began to change in the early 1980s and industrial products - textiles and garments, electronics and computer parts - became major contributors.
Rice is a staple food in many countries in Asia and some of the richest cultivation sites are in the Chao Phraya River Basin in Thailand, and the Irrawaddy Delta.
Burma, known as the rice bowl of the world, had enjoyed the leading role in the rice export industry for years until the country opted for socialism in 1962 after strongman General Ne Win overthrew the elected civilian government of Prime Minister U Nu.
It exported about 1.4 million tonnes in 1964 but the volume declined sharply to a mere 540,000 tonnes after five years of political change.
Domestic tension and war in Southeast Asia throughout the 1960s and 1970s also limited rice exports of other major rice producers, Vietnam and Cambodia in particular.
The Vietnam war reduced annual rice exports of the country to only 2,000 tonnes in 1973 and 1974 from the peak of 230,000 tonnes sold in 1963. Cambodia's rice exports had been sluggish and plunged to zero for nearly a decade after the Khmer Rouge took over the country.
Thailand maintained its role as the world's biggest seller but with some new competitors, notably the US, which posed stiff competition on price.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs called the US the direct competitor of Thailand in the European market, especially in Britain where American rice cost one pound sterling a tonne less than Thai rice.
But the popularity of Thai rice continued to rise, with the Middle East and African markets emerging as big buyers and offsetting the drop in sales to Europe.
Thailand's new role as the global rice champion became a source of great pride at a time when attention was focused on regional political tensions and anti-communist propaganda from the government under the control of the National Revolutionary Council led by Field Marshal Thanom Kittikachorn.
The agriculture sector was given significant emphasis in the first National Economic and Social Development Plan, introduced in 1961, and the second phase from 1964 to 1966.
Thanom had stated in the national plans a goal to support the growing and expansion area of rice as well as other cash crops, hoping to drive gross domestic product from the farm sector to 24.78 billion baht, part of the total GDP of 72.7 billion baht in 1965.
Export earnings from rice at the time were 4.4 billion baht, or about 2,000 baht a tonne. The crop was highly lucrative when one considers per capita national income at the time was 2,400 baht a year. The government further encouraged the crop by promoting plans to grow rice twice a year.
About 50,000 rai were designated for a second crop in 1964 and the area expanded to 300,000 rai a year later. Today second-crop planting covers 9 million rai out of a total of 57 million rai of rice fields.
Along with the government support, overseas Chinese merchants played an important role in Thailand's rice industry. Several Chinese rice traders, including Wang Lee, had established business in the early Rattanakosin era on the bank of the Chao Phraya River close to the capital. They largely influenced the development of the modern rice business Thailand knows today.
Korbsook Iamsuri, president of the Thai Rice Exporters Association, said that while external circumstances, such as Burma's drift towards isolationism, benefited Thai rice exports, strong cooperation among parties in the business also helped the trade.
The Siam Rice Association was formed in 1918 by a rice merchant, Ngow Pek Ngam, with the objective to be a centre for local rice merchants. Later on, members extended to cover Bangkok rice millers and exporters along the Chao Phraya River.
The industry was dominated by overseas Chinese who had established operations on Song Wat Road, a narrow street on the riverbank in Chinatown, which is still a landmark of the country's rice export industry.
Mrs Korbsook said that for decades overseas Chinese had shipped in goods from Hong Kong and sent back rice loaded in Bangkok.
"Those who worked on board ships, like my grandpa, had upgraded to become exporters and resided at Song Wat or nearby areas, which is still the hub of many big exporters such as Huay Chuan Rice, Nanaphan and Chaiyaporn Rice," she said.
Today, the industry is steered by the Thai Rice Exporters Association, and the volume of exports reached 9 million tonnes in 2009 fetching more than 180 billion baht in revenue.
The association now groups 191 exporters who control more than 90% of the country's total rice exports.
"With support from the authorities, the association played a crucial role in pushing export shipments to surpass those of Burma and the cooperation remained strong, which has helped keep Thailand as the world's biggest rice exporter," said Mrs Korbsook, the first female president of the association.
Cooperation with the government has included overseas trips to explore new markets and has been successful in helping the industry expand sales to 130 countries.
Campaigns such as the Thailand Hom Mali Rice Contest and the Thailand Rice Convention are major activities that have raised the profile of Thai rice in the global market, she said.
Although Thai rice exports have increased by one million tonnes every four or five years, potential to expand the market in recent years has been limited because of intense competition from Vietnam. Vietnam exported about 6 million tonnes of rice in 2008, up from 4.6 million the year before, and became the second largest in world rice exports in terms of volume.
In recent years, even Burma has become more active again in the rice business, especially this year as the military-ruled country cautiously opens up to the world ahead of a general election due later in 2010.
Burma had exported about 30,000 to 40,000 tonnes a year in 2005 and 2006, but the amount surged to 500,000 tonnes in 2008.
"Local millers, traders and exporters in Burma have been upbeat about improving the industry," said Pramote Vanichanont, the honorary president of the Thai Rice Mills Association.
They have sought cooperation from foreign investors including Thais in rice business, either in milling, exporting, and technologies for producing better-quality strains, according to Mr Pramote, who met with Burmese rice industry leaders last year.
The improvements, if successful, could revive the former rice bowl of the world but there would still be a long way to go for Burma to reclaim its top place, Thai traders observe.
"Most importantly, the return of Burma could substantially reduce poverty among Burmese farmers," said one trader.
**********************************************************
Doctor visits Suu Kyi twice in eight days
Saturday, 10 April 2010 15:37 Myint Maung
New Delhi (Mizzima) – Burmese democracy icon and Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, was medically examined by her family doctor on Thursday for the second time in eight days.
The doctor’s visit was confirmed by NLD spokespersons and her lawyers, who said she may be suffering from low blood pressure and gastric problems.
Dr. Tin Myo Win her family physician was allowed by the junta authorities to examine her on Thursday, her lawyer Kyi Win told Mizzima. The doctor is permitted to visit the National League for Democracy General Secretary on the first Thursday of each month.
“When we met her last Wednesday and discussed matters we didn’t think that she was ill. But she told us she felt dizzy and had low blood pressure. We informed the authorities about her health. They in turn informed her family doctor. We have heard Dr. Tin Myo Win examined her but we are not aware of the details,” Kyi Win said.
NLD leaders said that the doctor carried an ECG machine to her house on Thursday.
“We have heard about her medical checkup. Her family doctor took an ECG machine for a checkup. We don’t know her detailed health situation,” NLD vice-chairman Tin Oo said.
“I heard Aung San Suu Kyi was suffering from a gastric problem and is on medicine. Maybe the side effect of the medicine was making her dizzy. I too have heard Dr Tin Myo Win took an ECG machine to her home,” NLD CEC member Win Tin said.
“Aung San Suu Kyi is a sparse eater. So, she could have developed gastric and had to take medicines. But, I think her illness is not serious,” he added.
Mizzima was unable to reach Dr Tin Myo Win for details of his visit to Aung San Suu Kyi.
Last year May, an American citizen John William Yetttaw swam across the Inya Lake and entered her home illegally. She was sentenced to three years in prison for flouting her detention laws. But, junta supremo Senior General Than Shwe reduced it to 18 months of house arrest by an executive order.
Saturday, 10 April 2010 15:37 Myint Maung
New Delhi (Mizzima) – Burmese democracy icon and Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, was medically examined by her family doctor on Thursday for the second time in eight days.
The doctor’s visit was confirmed by NLD spokespersons and her lawyers, who said she may be suffering from low blood pressure and gastric problems.
Dr. Tin Myo Win her family physician was allowed by the junta authorities to examine her on Thursday, her lawyer Kyi Win told Mizzima. The doctor is permitted to visit the National League for Democracy General Secretary on the first Thursday of each month.
“When we met her last Wednesday and discussed matters we didn’t think that she was ill. But she told us she felt dizzy and had low blood pressure. We informed the authorities about her health. They in turn informed her family doctor. We have heard Dr. Tin Myo Win examined her but we are not aware of the details,” Kyi Win said.
NLD leaders said that the doctor carried an ECG machine to her house on Thursday.
“We have heard about her medical checkup. Her family doctor took an ECG machine for a checkup. We don’t know her detailed health situation,” NLD vice-chairman Tin Oo said.
“I heard Aung San Suu Kyi was suffering from a gastric problem and is on medicine. Maybe the side effect of the medicine was making her dizzy. I too have heard Dr Tin Myo Win took an ECG machine to her home,” NLD CEC member Win Tin said.
“Aung San Suu Kyi is a sparse eater. So, she could have developed gastric and had to take medicines. But, I think her illness is not serious,” he added.
Mizzima was unable to reach Dr Tin Myo Win for details of his visit to Aung San Suu Kyi.
Last year May, an American citizen John William Yetttaw swam across the Inya Lake and entered her home illegally. She was sentenced to three years in prison for flouting her detention laws. But, junta supremo Senior General Than Shwe reduced it to 18 months of house arrest by an executive order.
**********************************************************
The Irrawaddy - Landmine Victims Find Solace at Mae La
By ALEX ELLGEE - Saturday, April 10, 2010
As the last rays of sun beam through the wooden wall, the choir assembles in the hut. Without delay, the men bellow out the first verse of a Karen song.
One member of the choir tilts his head back, seemingly fully engrossed in the sounds around him while another raises his amputated arm to his ear. The back row breaks off into a harmony filling the room with melancholic songs of freedom and hope for their people.
They have been brought together by a love of music, but this is not your average choir. These men have formed a bond as a result of their near-fatal encounters with landmines.
“In my village, I had never seen a blind man or a person without a limb, so when I lost my sight I felt like such an outsider and lost all hope,” said Has Ka Tarai, who at 15 years of age, is the youngest member of the choir.
When he was 12, Burmese government forces stormed his village, deep in Karen State, burning down all the homes. He and his mother fled to the jungle where they hid for days till they thought it would be safe to return.
As they walked up the hill to the village, Has Ka Tarai recalls being excited to return home. Suddenly he was knocked to the ground; he had hit a landmine with a knife he was playing with.
He says he remembers feeling a pain in his eyes, something he compares to ants eating out his eyeballs. He remembers the sound of his mother shouting and crying. He was blinded and lost much of his hearing.
It has been well documented that the Burmese army often leaves landmines outside villages they raid in order to deter people from returning to their homes. By doing so, they are able to control more territory and leave a psychological scar on the jungle communities who reject their rule.
For two months, Has Ka Tarai’s eyes went untreated until a Free Burma Ranger medic came to the village. Seeing how severe his condition was, the medic took him all the way to Chiang Mai in Thailand. Has Ka Tasrai was told he would never see again.
He didn’t want to go back to his village, fearing for his life. Instead, he was offered a chance to stay at “Care Villa,” a foundation set up in 2000 by the Karen Handicap Welfare Association to look after landmine victims at Mae La Refugee Camp in Thailand.
Not only have many of the residents at Care Villa lost limbs, but many have lost their sight as well. Basic daily activities can be extremely difficult for them. Before coming to Care Villa, many of them stayed with friends or family who were unable to help satisfactorily. Many say they fell into heavy depression.
“They feel like such a burden on their friends and families because they can’t do anything to help around the house. They get lonely and depressed. Some get suicidal,” Saw Ler Lay Kler, the director of Care Villa, told The Irrawaddy as he sat on a wooden veranda looking over the cramped huts which make up the refugee camp.
Care Villa clinic has four carers who look after the 18 men and one woman who live there. Until recently their living conditions were desperate: they had to sleep on the floor under a leaking roof.
However, their situation has recently gotr much better, they say. An organization called Worldwide Impact donated beds and rebuilt their roof. Dutch relief organization ZOA has initiated a paid employment program for them—three days a week agricultural work—which gives them some pocket money. The residents also make handicrafts which they sell around the camp, and have lessons in yoga.
But what they appear bto enjoy most is singing. They practice almost every day, either formally as a choir or with Has Ka Tarai playing his guitar.
“Although we do many activities, my favorite is singing in the choir. It helps to give me strength and hope,” said Has Ka Tarai.
The choir has gained a notable reputation in the border region and has been invited to sing at churches up and down the border. Because all 19 are devout Christians, singing in the bible school is a major part of their lives.
Religion has long been cited as one of the major factors fueling the fight between the Karen rebel KNLA and the Burmese military junta, which is allied with the Buddhist Karen army, the DKBA. Being vastly outnumbered, the KNLA has long depended on landmines for their survival.
Thirty-two-year-old Pa Ko is a former KNLA soldier who lost both his arms and sight during an attack on the KNLA's seventh brigade by Burmese troops. While he was trying to defuse a landmine which the SPDC had laid, it exploded in his face, leaving him feeling helpless for years.
Despite his injuries, he said he still doesn’t condemn the KNLA using landmines.
“In Karen State, the people suffer from so much oppression by the SPDC. We try to fight back, but we are so few, compared to their army. We need to use landmines for our defence,” he told The Irrawaddy, scratching his closed eye with his stump of an arm.
International activists and NGOs have condemned the KNLA’s use of landmines, citing the substantial injuries that civilians have incurred along the Thai-Burmese border.
In response to International Landmine Day, leaders of Burma's main opposition party, the National League for Democracy, called on the SPDC and all ethnic armies to stop using landmines. They voiced their concern about the growing number of civilians being injured by landmines and stated that if they were in power they would sign an international agreement forbidding their use.
But Pa Ko says it isn't an option.
“If we have peace and justice in Karen State, then we would not have to use them. We have to defend ourselves till we have freedom,” he said.
The sentiment appeared to be shared by all the members of the group.
As the sun disappears behind the mountain which looms over Mae La, the choir finishes their song and heads to the dining room. Some of the group, who were minutes before singing with such pride, are unable to feed themselves and require the carers to help them.
Commenting on his difficult living conditions, one of the residents said; “I can’t eat by myself, but at least I am not alone—I have my brothers to sing with.”
By ALEX ELLGEE - Saturday, April 10, 2010
As the last rays of sun beam through the wooden wall, the choir assembles in the hut. Without delay, the men bellow out the first verse of a Karen song.
One member of the choir tilts his head back, seemingly fully engrossed in the sounds around him while another raises his amputated arm to his ear. The back row breaks off into a harmony filling the room with melancholic songs of freedom and hope for their people.
They have been brought together by a love of music, but this is not your average choir. These men have formed a bond as a result of their near-fatal encounters with landmines.
“In my village, I had never seen a blind man or a person without a limb, so when I lost my sight I felt like such an outsider and lost all hope,” said Has Ka Tarai, who at 15 years of age, is the youngest member of the choir.
When he was 12, Burmese government forces stormed his village, deep in Karen State, burning down all the homes. He and his mother fled to the jungle where they hid for days till they thought it would be safe to return.
As they walked up the hill to the village, Has Ka Tarai recalls being excited to return home. Suddenly he was knocked to the ground; he had hit a landmine with a knife he was playing with.
He says he remembers feeling a pain in his eyes, something he compares to ants eating out his eyeballs. He remembers the sound of his mother shouting and crying. He was blinded and lost much of his hearing.
It has been well documented that the Burmese army often leaves landmines outside villages they raid in order to deter people from returning to their homes. By doing so, they are able to control more territory and leave a psychological scar on the jungle communities who reject their rule.
For two months, Has Ka Tarai’s eyes went untreated until a Free Burma Ranger medic came to the village. Seeing how severe his condition was, the medic took him all the way to Chiang Mai in Thailand. Has Ka Tasrai was told he would never see again.
He didn’t want to go back to his village, fearing for his life. Instead, he was offered a chance to stay at “Care Villa,” a foundation set up in 2000 by the Karen Handicap Welfare Association to look after landmine victims at Mae La Refugee Camp in Thailand.
Not only have many of the residents at Care Villa lost limbs, but many have lost their sight as well. Basic daily activities can be extremely difficult for them. Before coming to Care Villa, many of them stayed with friends or family who were unable to help satisfactorily. Many say they fell into heavy depression.
“They feel like such a burden on their friends and families because they can’t do anything to help around the house. They get lonely and depressed. Some get suicidal,” Saw Ler Lay Kler, the director of Care Villa, told The Irrawaddy as he sat on a wooden veranda looking over the cramped huts which make up the refugee camp.
Care Villa clinic has four carers who look after the 18 men and one woman who live there. Until recently their living conditions were desperate: they had to sleep on the floor under a leaking roof.
However, their situation has recently gotr much better, they say. An organization called Worldwide Impact donated beds and rebuilt their roof. Dutch relief organization ZOA has initiated a paid employment program for them—three days a week agricultural work—which gives them some pocket money. The residents also make handicrafts which they sell around the camp, and have lessons in yoga.
But what they appear bto enjoy most is singing. They practice almost every day, either formally as a choir or with Has Ka Tarai playing his guitar.
“Although we do many activities, my favorite is singing in the choir. It helps to give me strength and hope,” said Has Ka Tarai.
The choir has gained a notable reputation in the border region and has been invited to sing at churches up and down the border. Because all 19 are devout Christians, singing in the bible school is a major part of their lives.
Religion has long been cited as one of the major factors fueling the fight between the Karen rebel KNLA and the Burmese military junta, which is allied with the Buddhist Karen army, the DKBA. Being vastly outnumbered, the KNLA has long depended on landmines for their survival.
Thirty-two-year-old Pa Ko is a former KNLA soldier who lost both his arms and sight during an attack on the KNLA's seventh brigade by Burmese troops. While he was trying to defuse a landmine which the SPDC had laid, it exploded in his face, leaving him feeling helpless for years.
Despite his injuries, he said he still doesn’t condemn the KNLA using landmines.
“In Karen State, the people suffer from so much oppression by the SPDC. We try to fight back, but we are so few, compared to their army. We need to use landmines for our defence,” he told The Irrawaddy, scratching his closed eye with his stump of an arm.
International activists and NGOs have condemned the KNLA’s use of landmines, citing the substantial injuries that civilians have incurred along the Thai-Burmese border.
In response to International Landmine Day, leaders of Burma's main opposition party, the National League for Democracy, called on the SPDC and all ethnic armies to stop using landmines. They voiced their concern about the growing number of civilians being injured by landmines and stated that if they were in power they would sign an international agreement forbidding their use.
But Pa Ko says it isn't an option.
“If we have peace and justice in Karen State, then we would not have to use them. We have to defend ourselves till we have freedom,” he said.
The sentiment appeared to be shared by all the members of the group.
As the sun disappears behind the mountain which looms over Mae La, the choir finishes their song and heads to the dining room. Some of the group, who were minutes before singing with such pride, are unable to feed themselves and require the carers to help them.
Commenting on his difficult living conditions, one of the residents said; “I can’t eat by myself, but at least I am not alone—I have my brothers to sing with.”
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