The Irrawaddy - COMMENTARY: USDP Illegal under Constitution
By HTET AUNG - Friday, May 14, 2010
“Justice and power must be brought together, so that whatever is just may be powerful, and whatever is powerful may be just,” said Blaise Pascal, a 17th-century French philosopher.
But in 21st-century Burma, justice and power are still poles apart. One of the main reasons for this is that the military junta's top legal experts interpret the law with the interests of the generals, not the people, in mind.
The most recent high-profile abuse of the law happened during the May 9-10 official visit of a US delegation led by Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell.
Asked by the delegation on whether the formation of a political party by the incumbent ministers was in accord with the law of the land, Thein Soe, the chairman of the Union Election Commission (EC) cunningly responded with two direct lies. Thein Soe is a former military judge advocate-general and later served as deputy chief justice of the Supreme Court. Junta supremo Snr-Gen Than Shwe recently appointed him head of the EC. His response was published by the state-run New Light of Myanmar on Wednesday.
He replied that indeed the move was legal and he presented the Americans with two reasons. First he said that the “present ministers’ formation of the Union Solidarity and Development Party [USDP] is in conformity with the law,” because “a provision says that state service personnel shall not be organized in political parties, [but] ministers are political posts, not state service personnel.”
Let's address that first point briefly. On what legal basis does Thein Soe interpret government ministers as not being state service personnel? I don’t know whether Kurt Campbell chose to shoot this question back at Thein Soe, but it really is a curious statement.
Lawyers who spoke to The Irrawaddy said that the legal text defining who is and who is not a civil servant in Burma is found in the Penal Code of the Union of Burma, which was issued in 1861 under British administration, and was last amended on April 27, 1963.
Chapter 2 of the Penal Code gives the legal explanations of the terms. Article 21 of this chapter reads: “Pyithu Wonhtan [public servant] means the following persons:” and it lists under sub-article (9) that this includes “government ministers.”
In the 2008 Constitution, the text uses the Burmese term “Naingant Wonhtan,” which can be directly translated as “state servant,” as opposed to “Pyithu Wonhtan.” However, there is no difference between the two.
Both Burmese expressions mean “Civil Servant” in the Myanmar-English Dictionary issued by the Department of the Myanmar Language Commission under the Ministry of Education.
Therefore, Prime Minister Thein Sein and his colleagues must be deemed as “Naingant Wonhtan” or “civil servants,” whichever way you look at it. In short, their participation in forming the USDP contradicts the law.
According to the New Light of Myanmar, Thein Soe then referred the US delegation to Article 444 (A) and 448 of the Constitution’s “Transitory Provisions” as evidence that the Constitution and Burmese law permitted the founding of the USDP by the military government.
So, let's take a look at these articles.
Article 444 (A) reads: “The Government that exists on the day this Constitution comes into operation shall continue to discharge the respective duties until the emergence of the new Government formed and assigned duties in accord with this Constitution.”
Article 448 reads: “All functioning Civil Services personnel of departmental organizations including the Defense Services under the State Peace and Development Council on the day this Constitution comes into operation, shall continue in their functions unless otherwise prescribed by the Government of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar.”
I reread these provisions as second and then a third time. But I still could not see the relevance of the articles to the foundation of the USDP.
The terms “Government,” “Civil Services personnel,” “Defense Services” and “State Peace and Development Council” are all used in these articles; however, they don’t directly refer to—and certainly cannot be interpreted to allude to—the EC chairman's claim that the prime minister is allowed by law to form his own political party.
Within the Constitution, there are two articles—Article 26 (a) and 121 (j)—that directly draw a line between the civil service and politics.
Article 26 (a) reads: “Civil Services personnel shall be free from party politics.”
Article 121 reads: “The following persons shall not be entitled to be elected as the Pyithu Hluttaw [People's Parliament] representatives: ...” and it goes on to list convicted criminals, persons of unsound mind, foreigners, etc. Sub-article (j) reads “Civil Services personnel.”
However, the Article 121 (j) contains a proviso: “The expression shall not be applied to Civil Services personnel including the Defense Services personnel selected and appointed in the Hluttaws and organizations formed under the Constitution.”
To me, the words “selected and appointed” stand out. It does not say “elected.” Therefore, the proviso clearly applies to military-appointed parliamentary representatives who will be selected and appointed by the Commander-in-Chief.
It cannot be applied, however, to the ministers who formed the USDP.
Thein Soe's comments were clearly unrepresentative of the truth. The 2008 Constitution—which the military junta spent over 14 years drafting into their own words—does not allow for an incumbent prime minister nor other government ministers to found a new political party.
The USDP is, in effect, illegal under Burmese law.
In the application process for political party registration, the representatives of each political party are required to sign a declaration that they will abide by the Constitution.
Article 6 (c) and 12 (a/4) of the Political Parties Registration Law, states that the EC has the right to disband any party that violates their declaration.
The EC has evidently chosen not to apply the law to the USDP.
And to make matters worse, the people of Burma have no legal mechanism, domestically or internationally, to seek justice.
Htet Aung is the chief reporter on The Irrawaddy election desk.
By HTET AUNG - Friday, May 14, 2010
“Justice and power must be brought together, so that whatever is just may be powerful, and whatever is powerful may be just,” said Blaise Pascal, a 17th-century French philosopher.
But in 21st-century Burma, justice and power are still poles apart. One of the main reasons for this is that the military junta's top legal experts interpret the law with the interests of the generals, not the people, in mind.
The most recent high-profile abuse of the law happened during the May 9-10 official visit of a US delegation led by Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell.
Asked by the delegation on whether the formation of a political party by the incumbent ministers was in accord with the law of the land, Thein Soe, the chairman of the Union Election Commission (EC) cunningly responded with two direct lies. Thein Soe is a former military judge advocate-general and later served as deputy chief justice of the Supreme Court. Junta supremo Snr-Gen Than Shwe recently appointed him head of the EC. His response was published by the state-run New Light of Myanmar on Wednesday.
He replied that indeed the move was legal and he presented the Americans with two reasons. First he said that the “present ministers’ formation of the Union Solidarity and Development Party [USDP] is in conformity with the law,” because “a provision says that state service personnel shall not be organized in political parties, [but] ministers are political posts, not state service personnel.”
Let's address that first point briefly. On what legal basis does Thein Soe interpret government ministers as not being state service personnel? I don’t know whether Kurt Campbell chose to shoot this question back at Thein Soe, but it really is a curious statement.
Lawyers who spoke to The Irrawaddy said that the legal text defining who is and who is not a civil servant in Burma is found in the Penal Code of the Union of Burma, which was issued in 1861 under British administration, and was last amended on April 27, 1963.
Chapter 2 of the Penal Code gives the legal explanations of the terms. Article 21 of this chapter reads: “Pyithu Wonhtan [public servant] means the following persons:” and it lists under sub-article (9) that this includes “government ministers.”
In the 2008 Constitution, the text uses the Burmese term “Naingant Wonhtan,” which can be directly translated as “state servant,” as opposed to “Pyithu Wonhtan.” However, there is no difference between the two.
Both Burmese expressions mean “Civil Servant” in the Myanmar-English Dictionary issued by the Department of the Myanmar Language Commission under the Ministry of Education.
Therefore, Prime Minister Thein Sein and his colleagues must be deemed as “Naingant Wonhtan” or “civil servants,” whichever way you look at it. In short, their participation in forming the USDP contradicts the law.
According to the New Light of Myanmar, Thein Soe then referred the US delegation to Article 444 (A) and 448 of the Constitution’s “Transitory Provisions” as evidence that the Constitution and Burmese law permitted the founding of the USDP by the military government.
So, let's take a look at these articles.
Article 444 (A) reads: “The Government that exists on the day this Constitution comes into operation shall continue to discharge the respective duties until the emergence of the new Government formed and assigned duties in accord with this Constitution.”
Article 448 reads: “All functioning Civil Services personnel of departmental organizations including the Defense Services under the State Peace and Development Council on the day this Constitution comes into operation, shall continue in their functions unless otherwise prescribed by the Government of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar.”
I reread these provisions as second and then a third time. But I still could not see the relevance of the articles to the foundation of the USDP.
The terms “Government,” “Civil Services personnel,” “Defense Services” and “State Peace and Development Council” are all used in these articles; however, they don’t directly refer to—and certainly cannot be interpreted to allude to—the EC chairman's claim that the prime minister is allowed by law to form his own political party.
Within the Constitution, there are two articles—Article 26 (a) and 121 (j)—that directly draw a line between the civil service and politics.
Article 26 (a) reads: “Civil Services personnel shall be free from party politics.”
Article 121 reads: “The following persons shall not be entitled to be elected as the Pyithu Hluttaw [People's Parliament] representatives: ...” and it goes on to list convicted criminals, persons of unsound mind, foreigners, etc. Sub-article (j) reads “Civil Services personnel.”
However, the Article 121 (j) contains a proviso: “The expression shall not be applied to Civil Services personnel including the Defense Services personnel selected and appointed in the Hluttaws and organizations formed under the Constitution.”
To me, the words “selected and appointed” stand out. It does not say “elected.” Therefore, the proviso clearly applies to military-appointed parliamentary representatives who will be selected and appointed by the Commander-in-Chief.
It cannot be applied, however, to the ministers who formed the USDP.
Thein Soe's comments were clearly unrepresentative of the truth. The 2008 Constitution—which the military junta spent over 14 years drafting into their own words—does not allow for an incumbent prime minister nor other government ministers to found a new political party.
The USDP is, in effect, illegal under Burmese law.
In the application process for political party registration, the representatives of each political party are required to sign a declaration that they will abide by the Constitution.
Article 6 (c) and 12 (a/4) of the Political Parties Registration Law, states that the EC has the right to disband any party that violates their declaration.
The EC has evidently chosen not to apply the law to the USDP.
And to make matters worse, the people of Burma have no legal mechanism, domestically or internationally, to seek justice.
Htet Aung is the chief reporter on The Irrawaddy election desk.
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Myanmar's Suu Kyi says US envoy's visit beneficial: lawyer
23 mins ago
YANGON (AFP) – Myanmar's detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi believes a recent visit by a top US diplomat to the military-ruled country was fruitful, her lawyer said Friday.
Suu Kyi "said it was very beneficial regarding Mr Kurt Campbell's visit," Nyan Win told reporters after meeting the Nobel Peace Prize laureate at her home earlier in the day.
"She said they had agreed on many things," he added.
Nyan Win said the 64-year-old pro-democracy icon was in good health and was allowed to meet the visiting US assistant secretary of state for more than one and half hours Monday at a government state guest house.
According to official sources, the two spent about 20 minutes talking in private outside, sheltering from the sun under an umbrella
The National League for Democracy (NLD) led by Suu Kyi was forcibly dissolved after refusing to meet a May 6 deadline to re-register as a political party -- a move that would have forced it to expel its own leader.
Campbell said after his talks with Suu Kyi and government officials that the United States was "profoundly disappointed" in the junta's preparations for upcoming elections and wanted "immediate steps" to address fears that they would lack legitimacy.
Under election legislation unveiled in March, anyone serving a prison term is banned from being a member of a political party and parties that fail to obey the rule will be abolished.
A faction within the now-defunct NLD has said it would form a new political party, to be called the National Democratic Force, to run in the election.
The move came amid signs of a split between older, hardline former NLD members and younger more moderate figures who opposed the boycott decision.
"Daw Suu said it's undemocratic if the minority did not obey the majority's decision," Nyan Win said. "Daw" is a term of respect in Myanmar.
The NLD won a landslide victory in 1990 elections but the junta never allowed it to take office.
23 mins ago
YANGON (AFP) – Myanmar's detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi believes a recent visit by a top US diplomat to the military-ruled country was fruitful, her lawyer said Friday.
Suu Kyi "said it was very beneficial regarding Mr Kurt Campbell's visit," Nyan Win told reporters after meeting the Nobel Peace Prize laureate at her home earlier in the day.
"She said they had agreed on many things," he added.
Nyan Win said the 64-year-old pro-democracy icon was in good health and was allowed to meet the visiting US assistant secretary of state for more than one and half hours Monday at a government state guest house.
According to official sources, the two spent about 20 minutes talking in private outside, sheltering from the sun under an umbrella
The National League for Democracy (NLD) led by Suu Kyi was forcibly dissolved after refusing to meet a May 6 deadline to re-register as a political party -- a move that would have forced it to expel its own leader.
Campbell said after his talks with Suu Kyi and government officials that the United States was "profoundly disappointed" in the junta's preparations for upcoming elections and wanted "immediate steps" to address fears that they would lack legitimacy.
Under election legislation unveiled in March, anyone serving a prison term is banned from being a member of a political party and parties that fail to obey the rule will be abolished.
A faction within the now-defunct NLD has said it would form a new political party, to be called the National Democratic Force, to run in the election.
The move came amid signs of a split between older, hardline former NLD members and younger more moderate figures who opposed the boycott decision.
"Daw Suu said it's undemocratic if the minority did not obey the majority's decision," Nyan Win said. "Daw" is a term of respect in Myanmar.
The NLD won a landslide victory in 1990 elections but the junta never allowed it to take office.
***************************************************
UN elects rights violators to Human Rights Council
By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press Writer – Thu May 13, 2:34 pm ET
UNITED NATIONS (AP) – Seven countries accused of human rights violations, including Libya, Angola and Malaysia, won seats on the U.N. Human Rights Council in an uncontested election Thursday.
The U.N. General Assembly approved all 14 candidates for the 14 seats on the 47-member council by wide margins despite campaigns by human rights groups to deny countries with poor rights records the minimum number of votes needed.
All 14 countries easily topped the 97 votes required from the 192-member world body. Libya, which currently holds the presidency of the General Assembly, received the lowest number of votes — 155 — while Angola got 170 and Malaysia 179.
In addition to these three countries, human rights groups criticized the poor rights records of Thailand, Uganda, Mauritania and Qatar which also won seats.
The seven other countries that won seats were Maldives, Ecuador, Guatemala, Spain, Switzerland, Moldova and Poland.
Iran withdrew from the race on April 23 after facing strong global opposition for severe human rights abuses including the government's crackdown on opposition supporters.
U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice said it was "notable ... that Iran's bid fell short."
Human rights groups and other non-governmental organizations also successfully opposed the election of Iran and Venezuela in 2006, Belarus in 2007, Sri Lanka in 2008, and Azerbaijan in 2009.
The 14 countries elected Thursday will serve three-year terms starting June 19 on the Geneva-based council, which was created in March 2006 to replace the U.N.'s widely discredited and highly politicized Human Rights Commission.
The council, however, has also been widely criticized for failing to change many of the commission's practices, including putting much more emphasis on Israel than on any other country.
The United States voted against the council's creation during the Bush administration but reversed its position and won a seat last year after President Barack Obama took office.
Rice cited "some progress" since the U.S. has been on the council, noting its approval of a "milestone" resolution on freedom of expression, its investigation of last year's massacre and rapes in Guinea, and adoption of stronger resolutions condemning rights violations in Congo, Myanmar, Somalia and Sudan.
"We remain committed to strengthening and reforming this council," Rice told reporters. "We hope that the new council's composition for the most part will provide us with partners — not all but most — with whom we can work constructively."
The NGO Coalition for an Effective Human Rights Council said the failure of U.N. regional groups to put forward competitive slates deprived the General Assembly of the opportunity to elect the most qualified countries.
"Those who want the council to improve have to commit themselves to competitive elections and be willing to compete themselves for a seat," said Peggy Hicks, global advocacy director for Human Rights Watch, a coalition member.
"Without competitive elections," she told AP, "we'll continue to see states that don't meet the qualifications set by the General Assembly getting seats like Libya, Angola and Malaysia."
Under the resolution that established the council, members are expected to "uphold the highest standards" of human rights and "fully cooperate" with it.
Hillel Neuer, executive director of Geneva-based UN Watch, which heads a coalition of 37 human rights organizations that campaigned for the U.S. and European Union to defeat Libya's candidacy, said that "by electing serial human rights violators, the U.N. violates its own criteria as well as common sense."
"Choosing Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi to judge others on human rights is a joke," Neuer said in a statement. "He'll use the position not to promote human rights but to shield his record of abuse, and those of his allies."
By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press Writer – Thu May 13, 2:34 pm ET
UNITED NATIONS (AP) – Seven countries accused of human rights violations, including Libya, Angola and Malaysia, won seats on the U.N. Human Rights Council in an uncontested election Thursday.
The U.N. General Assembly approved all 14 candidates for the 14 seats on the 47-member council by wide margins despite campaigns by human rights groups to deny countries with poor rights records the minimum number of votes needed.
All 14 countries easily topped the 97 votes required from the 192-member world body. Libya, which currently holds the presidency of the General Assembly, received the lowest number of votes — 155 — while Angola got 170 and Malaysia 179.
In addition to these three countries, human rights groups criticized the poor rights records of Thailand, Uganda, Mauritania and Qatar which also won seats.
The seven other countries that won seats were Maldives, Ecuador, Guatemala, Spain, Switzerland, Moldova and Poland.
Iran withdrew from the race on April 23 after facing strong global opposition for severe human rights abuses including the government's crackdown on opposition supporters.
U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice said it was "notable ... that Iran's bid fell short."
Human rights groups and other non-governmental organizations also successfully opposed the election of Iran and Venezuela in 2006, Belarus in 2007, Sri Lanka in 2008, and Azerbaijan in 2009.
The 14 countries elected Thursday will serve three-year terms starting June 19 on the Geneva-based council, which was created in March 2006 to replace the U.N.'s widely discredited and highly politicized Human Rights Commission.
The council, however, has also been widely criticized for failing to change many of the commission's practices, including putting much more emphasis on Israel than on any other country.
The United States voted against the council's creation during the Bush administration but reversed its position and won a seat last year after President Barack Obama took office.
Rice cited "some progress" since the U.S. has been on the council, noting its approval of a "milestone" resolution on freedom of expression, its investigation of last year's massacre and rapes in Guinea, and adoption of stronger resolutions condemning rights violations in Congo, Myanmar, Somalia and Sudan.
"We remain committed to strengthening and reforming this council," Rice told reporters. "We hope that the new council's composition for the most part will provide us with partners — not all but most — with whom we can work constructively."
The NGO Coalition for an Effective Human Rights Council said the failure of U.N. regional groups to put forward competitive slates deprived the General Assembly of the opportunity to elect the most qualified countries.
"Those who want the council to improve have to commit themselves to competitive elections and be willing to compete themselves for a seat," said Peggy Hicks, global advocacy director for Human Rights Watch, a coalition member.
"Without competitive elections," she told AP, "we'll continue to see states that don't meet the qualifications set by the General Assembly getting seats like Libya, Angola and Malaysia."
Under the resolution that established the council, members are expected to "uphold the highest standards" of human rights and "fully cooperate" with it.
Hillel Neuer, executive director of Geneva-based UN Watch, which heads a coalition of 37 human rights organizations that campaigned for the U.S. and European Union to defeat Libya's candidacy, said that "by electing serial human rights violators, the U.N. violates its own criteria as well as common sense."
"Choosing Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi to judge others on human rights is a joke," Neuer said in a statement. "He'll use the position not to promote human rights but to shield his record of abuse, and those of his allies."
***************************************************
Myanmar Apex Court Allows "Special Plea" For Suu Kyi
5/14/2010 12:51 AM ET
by RTT Staff Writer
(RTTNews) - The Supreme Court in military-ruled Myanmar has allowed the detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi to submit a "special appeal" for her unconditional release from house arrest in Yangon, after similar appeals lodged earlier were rejected twice by military courts.
According to her lawyers, the court has not set any date to hear arguments on the admissibility of the petition, expected to be the last opportunity to seek her release ahead of the junta-promised elections later this year.
Nyan Win, her political associate and lawyer, said Thursday from Yangon the petition was based on Suu Kyi's innocence and the prosecution's failure to produce clinching evidence during the trial last year.
The latest appeal came just days after Kurt Campbell, U.S. assistant secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, met with Suu Kyi in Yangon and expressed concern about election preparations in Myanmar, under military rule since 1962.
The Nobel Peace laureate was found "guilty" of violating the mandatory restrictions during her previous term of house arrest after an American national swam to her lakeside home without her knowledge. Upon her being sentenced to rigorous imprisonment, the junta changed that to a new term of house arrest.
Suu Kyi's current house arrest, which bars her from being either a member or leader of a political party, and the "undemocratic" 2008 Constitution, which would serve as the framework for these polls, has compelled her National League for Democracy (NLD) to opt out of the forthcoming elections.
Meanwhile, Htin Kyaw, a Burmese activist jailed for 12 years and six months for his lead role in the 2007 demonstrations in Yangon against spiraling essential commodity prices, supported the decision taken by Suu Kyi and the NLD not to contest the elections.
Myanmar, a member of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), has been under severe pressure from the other member-nations of the group for repeatedly denying the pro-democracy icon her political rights and for having kept her imprisoned for two decades on flimsy political charges.
5/14/2010 12:51 AM ET
by RTT Staff Writer
(RTTNews) - The Supreme Court in military-ruled Myanmar has allowed the detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi to submit a "special appeal" for her unconditional release from house arrest in Yangon, after similar appeals lodged earlier were rejected twice by military courts.
According to her lawyers, the court has not set any date to hear arguments on the admissibility of the petition, expected to be the last opportunity to seek her release ahead of the junta-promised elections later this year.
Nyan Win, her political associate and lawyer, said Thursday from Yangon the petition was based on Suu Kyi's innocence and the prosecution's failure to produce clinching evidence during the trial last year.
The latest appeal came just days after Kurt Campbell, U.S. assistant secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, met with Suu Kyi in Yangon and expressed concern about election preparations in Myanmar, under military rule since 1962.
The Nobel Peace laureate was found "guilty" of violating the mandatory restrictions during her previous term of house arrest after an American national swam to her lakeside home without her knowledge. Upon her being sentenced to rigorous imprisonment, the junta changed that to a new term of house arrest.
Suu Kyi's current house arrest, which bars her from being either a member or leader of a political party, and the "undemocratic" 2008 Constitution, which would serve as the framework for these polls, has compelled her National League for Democracy (NLD) to opt out of the forthcoming elections.
Meanwhile, Htin Kyaw, a Burmese activist jailed for 12 years and six months for his lead role in the 2007 demonstrations in Yangon against spiraling essential commodity prices, supported the decision taken by Suu Kyi and the NLD not to contest the elections.
Myanmar, a member of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), has been under severe pressure from the other member-nations of the group for repeatedly denying the pro-democracy icon her political rights and for having kept her imprisoned for two decades on flimsy political charges.
***************************************************
MAY 14, 2010
The Wall Street Journal - The Long Flight From Tyranny
Firsthand accounts of Burma's refugees, living difficult half-lives on a dangerous borderland
By PHILIP DELVES BROUGHTON
Reading about modern Burma can be an ordeal—like a journey into the abyss. The situation in this godforsaken country is so dire—and the result of such dunderheaded thuggery—that you wonder why you do it to yourself. On the upside, at least you're not living there.
The many refugees who live along the Thai-Burma border—would-be escapees from the miltary-socialist regime that has ruled in Burma since 1962—aren't quite living there either. But given their seemingly endless state of near statelessness, they may as well be. The refugees are victims of the Burmese government's war on political opponents and on ethnic groups within the country, notably the Karen, who have been fighting for autonomy ever since Burma was granted independence from Britain in 1948.
The Karen conflict has waxed and waned in intensity over the years, but the past couple of decades have been especially grim. The Burmese military has sought to purge the country of Karen using every debased tool at their disposal, from burning down villages to committing systematic rape.
As Mac McLelland writes in "For Us Surrender Is Out of the Question" (Soft Skull Press, 388 pages, $15.95), a sophistic argument continues over whether the government's purge constitutes genocide. "Or as my father put it when I tried to impress upon him the seriousness of the situation in Burma, 'but how does it compare to Sudan?' " She makes a convincing case that Burma and Sudan are not so far apart on the horror scale.
But Ms. McLelland has done more than write another broad catalog of misery. She has a tale to tell. She arrived in a Burmese refugee camp in northern Thailand in 2006 to teach English for a few weeks. A profane young bisexual from Ohio, she finds herself living with a group of prim, trim Karen men who spend their days monitoring Burmese atrocities and their nights competing in push-up contests. Quickly she discovers why the Far Eastern Economic Review dubbed the Karen "the world's most pleasant and civilized guerrilla group."
It is a fantastic clash of cultures, which Ms. McLelland describes with saucy relish. The men are initially resistant to her exuberance and warmth and then fascinated by it. She is in turn fascinated by their combination of naïveté and experience. They may not know about French kissing—preferring a form of kissing that involves a rub of the nose followed by a sharp sniff—but they can navigate their way through a jungle to evade the murderous Burmese army. Her writing is so vivid that you can almost smell the frying pork, the cigarettes and, alas, the overflowing latrines.
Ms. McLelland weaves into her tale a detailed, irreverent modern history of Burma that scythes through many of the arguments dictating the policy of other countries toward the Burmese government. Sanctions, she writes, may be well-intentioned, but they produce all kinds of unintended effects, such as forcing Burmese textile workers out of their jobs and into the sex industry. And while the West bleats, Asian countries—notably China, Singapore and South Korea—are more than happy to do business with Burma. As long as there is money to be made in Burma, she says, "there's unlikely to be a cohesive or constructive policy of international financial disengagement."
Ms. McLelland credits Condoleezza Rice who, as secretary of state, in 2006 opened the door for more Karen to leave the squalid camps in Thailand and emigrate to the U.S. They are grateful for the chance at a new life, Ms. McLelland notes; but they are also struggling to accept that their dream of returning home to an independent Karen state is fading.
Zoya Phan is a Karen who was born in a jungle village in 1980 but fled as a child to the Thai border camps. Her mother was a guerrilla soldier and her father a pro-democracy activist who was murdered at his home in Thailand in 2008, allegedly by the Burmese government. Ms. Phan was fortunate to receive an Open Society Institute scholarship that saved her from the refugee camps and allowed her to study in Bangkok and later England, where she now lives.
"Undaunted" (Free Press, 284 pages, $26) is an unremittingly wretched memoir of how Ms. Phan's family was chased from its home by the Burmese army into the refugee camps, where thousands of people have spent years with no way out, prey to the weather, violent guards and the constant fear of Burmese reprisals. If you have ever doubted the value of Western aid to such refugees, this book will change your mind. When everything was darkest for Ms. Phan, it was help from the West that gave her hope. As she writes: "I am one of the lucky ones. I am lucky I am still alive. I am lucky I haven't been raped. I am lucky that I am not still in a refugee camp with no work, no freedom. . . . I don't want you to feel sorry for me, I want you to feel angry, and I want you to do something about it."
Emma Larkin's "Everything Is Broken" (Penguin Press, 271 pages, $25.95) follows her 2005 book, "Finding George Orwell in Burma," an account of her journey through modern Burma searching for traces of Orwell's time there as a policeman in the 1920s. It's hard to find any shafts of light in this one. An American journalist who writes under a pseudonym, she returned to Burma in 2008 after the cyclone Nargis had killed nearly 140,000 people and devastated swaths of the country. She entered Burma as a tourist but managed to move from village to village meeting victims of the hurricane and of the government's inept response. Given how difficult it was for foreign governments and aid groups to penetrate Burma at the time, Ms. Larkin pulls off a formidable piece of reporting. She also does a good job of decoding the generals who run Burma, who seem driven by paranoia, mysticism and a firm belief in the jackboot as a cure-all.
Karen Connelly's "Burmese Lessons" (Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, 382 pages, $27.95) is a memoir of Ms. Connelly's affair with a Burmese resistant whom she meets on a reporting assignment to the Thai border in the mid-1990s. "Burmese Lessons" (which follows a superb novel by Ms. Connelly called "The Lizard Cage," about Burma's political prisoners) is a polished, literary memoir that includes, along the way, an account Burma's turbulent history. The book has a bit too much of the conscience-stricken Westerner swooning over the dark-skinned rebel, but Ms. Connelly is a hugely engaging writer. Burma itself—as Ms. Connelly well knows—is rather more complicated than one difficult love affair.
—Mr. Delves Broughton is the author of "Ahead of the Curve: Two Years at Harvard Business School."
The Wall Street Journal - The Long Flight From Tyranny
Firsthand accounts of Burma's refugees, living difficult half-lives on a dangerous borderland
By PHILIP DELVES BROUGHTON
Reading about modern Burma can be an ordeal—like a journey into the abyss. The situation in this godforsaken country is so dire—and the result of such dunderheaded thuggery—that you wonder why you do it to yourself. On the upside, at least you're not living there.
The many refugees who live along the Thai-Burma border—would-be escapees from the miltary-socialist regime that has ruled in Burma since 1962—aren't quite living there either. But given their seemingly endless state of near statelessness, they may as well be. The refugees are victims of the Burmese government's war on political opponents and on ethnic groups within the country, notably the Karen, who have been fighting for autonomy ever since Burma was granted independence from Britain in 1948.
The Karen conflict has waxed and waned in intensity over the years, but the past couple of decades have been especially grim. The Burmese military has sought to purge the country of Karen using every debased tool at their disposal, from burning down villages to committing systematic rape.
As Mac McLelland writes in "For Us Surrender Is Out of the Question" (Soft Skull Press, 388 pages, $15.95), a sophistic argument continues over whether the government's purge constitutes genocide. "Or as my father put it when I tried to impress upon him the seriousness of the situation in Burma, 'but how does it compare to Sudan?' " She makes a convincing case that Burma and Sudan are not so far apart on the horror scale.
But Ms. McLelland has done more than write another broad catalog of misery. She has a tale to tell. She arrived in a Burmese refugee camp in northern Thailand in 2006 to teach English for a few weeks. A profane young bisexual from Ohio, she finds herself living with a group of prim, trim Karen men who spend their days monitoring Burmese atrocities and their nights competing in push-up contests. Quickly she discovers why the Far Eastern Economic Review dubbed the Karen "the world's most pleasant and civilized guerrilla group."
It is a fantastic clash of cultures, which Ms. McLelland describes with saucy relish. The men are initially resistant to her exuberance and warmth and then fascinated by it. She is in turn fascinated by their combination of naïveté and experience. They may not know about French kissing—preferring a form of kissing that involves a rub of the nose followed by a sharp sniff—but they can navigate their way through a jungle to evade the murderous Burmese army. Her writing is so vivid that you can almost smell the frying pork, the cigarettes and, alas, the overflowing latrines.
Ms. McLelland weaves into her tale a detailed, irreverent modern history of Burma that scythes through many of the arguments dictating the policy of other countries toward the Burmese government. Sanctions, she writes, may be well-intentioned, but they produce all kinds of unintended effects, such as forcing Burmese textile workers out of their jobs and into the sex industry. And while the West bleats, Asian countries—notably China, Singapore and South Korea—are more than happy to do business with Burma. As long as there is money to be made in Burma, she says, "there's unlikely to be a cohesive or constructive policy of international financial disengagement."
Ms. McLelland credits Condoleezza Rice who, as secretary of state, in 2006 opened the door for more Karen to leave the squalid camps in Thailand and emigrate to the U.S. They are grateful for the chance at a new life, Ms. McLelland notes; but they are also struggling to accept that their dream of returning home to an independent Karen state is fading.
Zoya Phan is a Karen who was born in a jungle village in 1980 but fled as a child to the Thai border camps. Her mother was a guerrilla soldier and her father a pro-democracy activist who was murdered at his home in Thailand in 2008, allegedly by the Burmese government. Ms. Phan was fortunate to receive an Open Society Institute scholarship that saved her from the refugee camps and allowed her to study in Bangkok and later England, where she now lives.
"Undaunted" (Free Press, 284 pages, $26) is an unremittingly wretched memoir of how Ms. Phan's family was chased from its home by the Burmese army into the refugee camps, where thousands of people have spent years with no way out, prey to the weather, violent guards and the constant fear of Burmese reprisals. If you have ever doubted the value of Western aid to such refugees, this book will change your mind. When everything was darkest for Ms. Phan, it was help from the West that gave her hope. As she writes: "I am one of the lucky ones. I am lucky I am still alive. I am lucky I haven't been raped. I am lucky that I am not still in a refugee camp with no work, no freedom. . . . I don't want you to feel sorry for me, I want you to feel angry, and I want you to do something about it."
Emma Larkin's "Everything Is Broken" (Penguin Press, 271 pages, $25.95) follows her 2005 book, "Finding George Orwell in Burma," an account of her journey through modern Burma searching for traces of Orwell's time there as a policeman in the 1920s. It's hard to find any shafts of light in this one. An American journalist who writes under a pseudonym, she returned to Burma in 2008 after the cyclone Nargis had killed nearly 140,000 people and devastated swaths of the country. She entered Burma as a tourist but managed to move from village to village meeting victims of the hurricane and of the government's inept response. Given how difficult it was for foreign governments and aid groups to penetrate Burma at the time, Ms. Larkin pulls off a formidable piece of reporting. She also does a good job of decoding the generals who run Burma, who seem driven by paranoia, mysticism and a firm belief in the jackboot as a cure-all.
Karen Connelly's "Burmese Lessons" (Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, 382 pages, $27.95) is a memoir of Ms. Connelly's affair with a Burmese resistant whom she meets on a reporting assignment to the Thai border in the mid-1990s. "Burmese Lessons" (which follows a superb novel by Ms. Connelly called "The Lizard Cage," about Burma's political prisoners) is a polished, literary memoir that includes, along the way, an account Burma's turbulent history. The book has a bit too much of the conscience-stricken Westerner swooning over the dark-skinned rebel, but Ms. Connelly is a hugely engaging writer. Burma itself—as Ms. Connelly well knows—is rather more complicated than one difficult love affair.
—Mr. Delves Broughton is the author of "Ahead of the Curve: Two Years at Harvard Business School."
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The Daily Yomiuri - 'Burma VJ' gives silenced reporters voice
Atsuko Matsumoto / Daily Yomiuri Staff Writer
(May. 14, 2010)
In a world flooded with information, many of us take it for granted that we can find out just about anything through means such as the Internet. But in Myanmar, some people risk their lives to seek and provide information. Burma VJ, a documentary on Myanmar's video journalists proves it.
"They're not only fighting against weapons and unlimited violence: I used to say that in Burma, the state does not have a monopoly on violence--violence has got a monopoly on the state," Burma VJ scriptwriter Jan Krogsgaard tells The Daily Yomiuri in a recent interview in Tokyo.
The Danish filmmaker, who conceived the movie, says he became focused on Myanmar seven years ago and has since had a strong desire to help people living under the oppressive junta.
"The pragmatic part of it was that I could see there was a need to tell the story about Burma from a fresh, new angle." Krogsgaard says.
The documentary, which was directed by Krogsgaard's compatriot Anders Ostergaard, delves into how local video journalists have struggled to shoot footage that is rarely seen outside of the reclusive country. Some of the images captured on video cameras by citizen journalists have been aired as breaking news on the world's most influential TV stations.
Twelve hours of footage was originally collected around September 2007, when there was a series of uprisings there. The footage that appears in the 85-minute-film shows Buddhist monks taking to the streets and Japanese journalist Kenji Nagai being shot dead.
"They [news programs] inform people, but they don't touch people very much," Krogsgaard says, adding that he intended to make a movie that would be useful for years.
Yet, by participating in the movie, the lives of the video journalists could actually become much more difficult. Assuming the junta "knows everything about this movie," the Myanmar journalist narrating the film under the pseudonym Joshua can never go home, Krogsgaard says.
Further emphasizing how difficult the production was, Krogsgaard admitted that some of the footage had not really been taken by the video journalists. The film contains some recreations staged by the production team.
"It was a necessity to make the movie flow. Everything that has been recreated is [based on] pictures and stories we have confirmed several times...But I think we have legitimized what we've been doing by how the movie has been accepted around the world.
"It has reached both common ground and people at the top," he says. The Czech Republic used it to campaign for human rights when the country chaired the European Union. During its opening weekend in Britain, only Harry Potter bested it at the box office, while No. 10 Downing Street screened it--the first time a film has ever had that honor, he says.
Will the movie have the same impact on Japanese audiences? Krogsgaard strongly hopes so.
"This is [one of Japan's] neighbor[s]. It's like when you are walking on the street and you can see something is happening in your neighbor's house. Something bad is happening in there, but you just pass by. But one day, you must say, 'Hey, this is not good, what is happening in this house,'" he says.
At the beginning of the movie, narrator Joshua calmly says, "I feel the world is forgetting about us." Burma VJ is that cry of help from our neighbor.
The movie, in English and Burmese, opens Saturday. Theatre Image Forum in Shibuya, Tokyo, will show the movie with English subtitles on Fridays at 7 p.m.
Atsuko Matsumoto / Daily Yomiuri Staff Writer
(May. 14, 2010)
In a world flooded with information, many of us take it for granted that we can find out just about anything through means such as the Internet. But in Myanmar, some people risk their lives to seek and provide information. Burma VJ, a documentary on Myanmar's video journalists proves it.
"They're not only fighting against weapons and unlimited violence: I used to say that in Burma, the state does not have a monopoly on violence--violence has got a monopoly on the state," Burma VJ scriptwriter Jan Krogsgaard tells The Daily Yomiuri in a recent interview in Tokyo.
The Danish filmmaker, who conceived the movie, says he became focused on Myanmar seven years ago and has since had a strong desire to help people living under the oppressive junta.
"The pragmatic part of it was that I could see there was a need to tell the story about Burma from a fresh, new angle." Krogsgaard says.
The documentary, which was directed by Krogsgaard's compatriot Anders Ostergaard, delves into how local video journalists have struggled to shoot footage that is rarely seen outside of the reclusive country. Some of the images captured on video cameras by citizen journalists have been aired as breaking news on the world's most influential TV stations.
Twelve hours of footage was originally collected around September 2007, when there was a series of uprisings there. The footage that appears in the 85-minute-film shows Buddhist monks taking to the streets and Japanese journalist Kenji Nagai being shot dead.
"They [news programs] inform people, but they don't touch people very much," Krogsgaard says, adding that he intended to make a movie that would be useful for years.
Yet, by participating in the movie, the lives of the video journalists could actually become much more difficult. Assuming the junta "knows everything about this movie," the Myanmar journalist narrating the film under the pseudonym Joshua can never go home, Krogsgaard says.
Further emphasizing how difficult the production was, Krogsgaard admitted that some of the footage had not really been taken by the video journalists. The film contains some recreations staged by the production team.
"It was a necessity to make the movie flow. Everything that has been recreated is [based on] pictures and stories we have confirmed several times...But I think we have legitimized what we've been doing by how the movie has been accepted around the world.
"It has reached both common ground and people at the top," he says. The Czech Republic used it to campaign for human rights when the country chaired the European Union. During its opening weekend in Britain, only Harry Potter bested it at the box office, while No. 10 Downing Street screened it--the first time a film has ever had that honor, he says.
Will the movie have the same impact on Japanese audiences? Krogsgaard strongly hopes so.
"This is [one of Japan's] neighbor[s]. It's like when you are walking on the street and you can see something is happening in your neighbor's house. Something bad is happening in there, but you just pass by. But one day, you must say, 'Hey, this is not good, what is happening in this house,'" he says.
At the beginning of the movie, narrator Joshua calmly says, "I feel the world is forgetting about us." Burma VJ is that cry of help from our neighbor.
The movie, in English and Burmese, opens Saturday. Theatre Image Forum in Shibuya, Tokyo, will show the movie with English subtitles on Fridays at 7 p.m.
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The Hamilton Spectator - OPP will investigate refugee's mistaken arrest
Nicole O'Reilly
May 14, 2010
The OPP will conduct an investigation to find out what happened the night police stormed into Po La Hay's apartment and left the 58-year-old Karen refugee from Myanmar bloodied, bruised and terrified.
Police Chief Glenn De Caire asked the OPP to investigate after learning the Office of the Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD) would not be looking into the incident.
De Caire has maintained since the mistaken arrest last Tuesday that police would not conduct any investigation or take any action while a complaint was before the OIPRD.
But an official complaint was never actually filed with the agency that oversees public complaints against police in Ontario, said Hay's lawyer, Bob Munroe.
So how did police come to believe one had been filed?
A friend of Hay, who asked not to be identified, sent an e-mail expressing her concerns to the police services board Wednesday afternoon (a day after the incident).
That e-mail was forwarded to OIPRD, which in turn gave the complainant until May 17 to file an official complaint using the proper forms.
That complainant sent an e-mail to OIPRD yesterday saying no official complaint will be filed because Hay now has a lawyer handling the case.
Hamilton police spokesperson Catherine Martin said police were notified that there was a complaint but never received a copy of an official complaint document, which OIPRD is bound to provide.
She said the chief was notified through correspondence with OIPRD. He called OIPRD yesterday before making the OPP announcement.
It is not the OIPRD's policy to advise police of a complaint before it is made official.
Allison Hawkins, spokesperson for the OIPRD, said a chief of police is sent a copy of an official complaint and a copy of the letter sent to the complainant about how that complaint was screened.
Munroe has copies of all the e-mails and says he cannot understand why police waited a week to ask the OPP to investigate.
Even if there had been an official OIPRD complaint, the office's regulations do not preclude police from conducting a parallel internal investigation, he adds.
"Policemen know the importance of conducting prompt and thorough investigations," he said. "Here, investigation by the OPP appears to have been delayed for over a week for no good reason."
Munroe has requested police turn over evidence including the names, units and notebooks of the officers involved so that he "can level the playing field."
Police had not responded as of yesterday evening, he said.
Only after he has a clearer picture as to what happened will Munroe decide with his clients what action to take, he said. His firm Ross & McBride will conduct a thorough and quick investigation.
The chief has maintained the need for an independent, not internal, investigation.
This is not the first time OPP have been called in to investigate Hamilton police, including the probe into former Inspector Rick Wills that led to charges of stealing more than $57,000 from police coffers. His case is still before the courts.
Nicole O'Reilly
May 14, 2010
The OPP will conduct an investigation to find out what happened the night police stormed into Po La Hay's apartment and left the 58-year-old Karen refugee from Myanmar bloodied, bruised and terrified.
Police Chief Glenn De Caire asked the OPP to investigate after learning the Office of the Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD) would not be looking into the incident.
De Caire has maintained since the mistaken arrest last Tuesday that police would not conduct any investigation or take any action while a complaint was before the OIPRD.
But an official complaint was never actually filed with the agency that oversees public complaints against police in Ontario, said Hay's lawyer, Bob Munroe.
So how did police come to believe one had been filed?
A friend of Hay, who asked not to be identified, sent an e-mail expressing her concerns to the police services board Wednesday afternoon (a day after the incident).
That e-mail was forwarded to OIPRD, which in turn gave the complainant until May 17 to file an official complaint using the proper forms.
That complainant sent an e-mail to OIPRD yesterday saying no official complaint will be filed because Hay now has a lawyer handling the case.
Hamilton police spokesperson Catherine Martin said police were notified that there was a complaint but never received a copy of an official complaint document, which OIPRD is bound to provide.
She said the chief was notified through correspondence with OIPRD. He called OIPRD yesterday before making the OPP announcement.
It is not the OIPRD's policy to advise police of a complaint before it is made official.
Allison Hawkins, spokesperson for the OIPRD, said a chief of police is sent a copy of an official complaint and a copy of the letter sent to the complainant about how that complaint was screened.
Munroe has copies of all the e-mails and says he cannot understand why police waited a week to ask the OPP to investigate.
Even if there had been an official OIPRD complaint, the office's regulations do not preclude police from conducting a parallel internal investigation, he adds.
"Policemen know the importance of conducting prompt and thorough investigations," he said. "Here, investigation by the OPP appears to have been delayed for over a week for no good reason."
Munroe has requested police turn over evidence including the names, units and notebooks of the officers involved so that he "can level the playing field."
Police had not responded as of yesterday evening, he said.
Only after he has a clearer picture as to what happened will Munroe decide with his clients what action to take, he said. His firm Ross & McBride will conduct a thorough and quick investigation.
The chief has maintained the need for an independent, not internal, investigation.
This is not the first time OPP have been called in to investigate Hamilton police, including the probe into former Inspector Rick Wills that led to charges of stealing more than $57,000 from police coffers. His case is still before the courts.
***************************************************
Oneindia - Essar bags infrastructure construction project in Myanmar
Friday, May 14, 2010, 14:4 [IST]
New Delhi, May 14 (ANI): Engineering procurement and construction company Essar Projects Limited has signed a contract with the Ministry of External Affairs to build a multi-modal transit transport project in Myanmar, which includes two jetties, a port and cargo barges.
The project named 'Kaladan Multi Modal Transit Transport Project' involves construction of two jetties at Sittwe and Paletwa in Myanmar, dredging and construction of cargo barges, as well as the construction of a 120 kilometers-long road, to facilitate cargo movement along the river Kaladan.
The project was executed by the Central Government under an agreement between the two countries to ease the movement of goods from India to the northeastern states of the country.
"I am extremely delighted that today we could sign a contract with Essar, which has emerged successful in the bidding process, I think collectively it will be our endeavour to make sure that this project is implemented on time," said T. S. Tirumurti, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs.
The contract is worth Rs 3.42 billion and is to be executed within 36 months.
Essar officials said that they might consider of sub-contracting some of the jobs.
"We may - based on the credentials choose some sub-contractors," said V. K. Bhatt, Vice President (Operations), Essar Projects Ltd.
The project will offer an alternate access to the North -East and therefore is strategically important.
It would also in turn help Myanmar develop their infrastructure and port facilities for accelerated development of the country. (ANI)
Friday, May 14, 2010, 14:4 [IST]
New Delhi, May 14 (ANI): Engineering procurement and construction company Essar Projects Limited has signed a contract with the Ministry of External Affairs to build a multi-modal transit transport project in Myanmar, which includes two jetties, a port and cargo barges.
The project named 'Kaladan Multi Modal Transit Transport Project' involves construction of two jetties at Sittwe and Paletwa in Myanmar, dredging and construction of cargo barges, as well as the construction of a 120 kilometers-long road, to facilitate cargo movement along the river Kaladan.
The project was executed by the Central Government under an agreement between the two countries to ease the movement of goods from India to the northeastern states of the country.
"I am extremely delighted that today we could sign a contract with Essar, which has emerged successful in the bidding process, I think collectively it will be our endeavour to make sure that this project is implemented on time," said T. S. Tirumurti, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs.
The contract is worth Rs 3.42 billion and is to be executed within 36 months.
Essar officials said that they might consider of sub-contracting some of the jobs.
"We may - based on the credentials choose some sub-contractors," said V. K. Bhatt, Vice President (Operations), Essar Projects Ltd.
The project will offer an alternate access to the North -East and therefore is strategically important.
It would also in turn help Myanmar develop their infrastructure and port facilities for accelerated development of the country. (ANI)
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Hartford Courant - Cuba, Myanmar Want More Tourists
By LARRY HABEGGER - May 16, 2010
WORLD TRAVEL WATCH is a weekly report designed to help you make informed judgments. Because travel conditions can change overnight, always make your own inquiries. In the United States, contact the State Department via phone (888-407-4747 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 888-407-4747 end_of_the_skype_highlighting; 317-472-2328 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 317-472-2328 end_of_the_skype_highlighting; 202-647-5225 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 202-647-5225 end_of_the_skype_highlighting), fax (202-647-3000), or (travel.state.gov); abroad, check in with the nearest American embassy or consulate.
Cuba: Fidel loves baseball, but clearly he has not been a fan of golf because Cuba has only two courses, the other 10 eliminated by the revolution in 1959. That is going to change soon, however, because the tourism ministry announced a new policy to allow foreign companies to build new tourism facilities in Cuba, including at least 10 courses, marinas and other developments. The move is an effort to increase tourism revenue, which accounts for about 20 percent of Cuba's foreign-exchange income. And evidently betting on the eventual lifting of the 48-year-old U.S. embargo, officials have sanctioned the building of a huge marina, hoping to lure U.S. sailors.
Mexico: The U.S. State Department issued an updated travel warning that added three states to areas it recommends travelers avoid because of drug violence: Tamaulipas, parts of Sinaloa, and Michoacan. Michoacan is the wintering ground of North America's Monarch butterflies. The warning also cited recent drug violence near the Copper Canyon in Chihuahua, a popular tourist area with one of the world's most famous train routes.
Burma (Myanmar): Burma's military government began issuing visas on arrival May 1 at the international airports in Mandalay and Rangoon (Yangon). The 28-day visa costs $30 and eliminates the need for tourists and businesspeople to obtain visas from Burmese embassies abroad. The government reportedly made the decision to issue visas on arrival in an effort to increase tourism, which, along with economic development, has been hampered by more than two decades of political repression by hard-line military leaders.
India: An element of time travel is available in New Delhi as the city's Metro nears completion in time for the Commonwealth Games in October. The first section opened in 2002, and as new lines have gone into service, Delhi's residents have taken to it with pride. The time travel comes in when a visitor emerges from the clean, efficient and modern Metro to neighborhoods that reflect the Delhi of past centuries: chaotic, crowded, with sacred cows and saddhus wandering the narrow lanes. Both worlds represent today's Delhi, and both are embraced by the city's inhabitants.
Niger: The U.S. State Department warned against travel to the north of the country because of kidnapping threats against Westerners. A terrorist group linked to al-Qaida abducted a French national April 20 west of Agadez, and heavily armed men tried to kidnap U.S. embassy officials in November 2009 in Tahoua. The U.S. Embassy in Niamey considers the threats to be ongoing and restricts the travel of U.S. government personnel and official visitors north of the capital. Officials urge those who choose to travel to these northern areas to be extremely cautious.
•Larry Habegger is executive editor of the award-winning Travelers' Tales book series ( www.travelerstales.com), editor-in-chief of Triporati.com and is based in San Francisco.
By LARRY HABEGGER - May 16, 2010
WORLD TRAVEL WATCH is a weekly report designed to help you make informed judgments. Because travel conditions can change overnight, always make your own inquiries. In the United States, contact the State Department via phone (888-407-4747 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 888-407-4747 end_of_the_skype_highlighting; 317-472-2328 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 317-472-2328 end_of_the_skype_highlighting; 202-647-5225 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 202-647-5225 end_of_the_skype_highlighting), fax (202-647-3000), or (travel.state.gov); abroad, check in with the nearest American embassy or consulate.
Cuba: Fidel loves baseball, but clearly he has not been a fan of golf because Cuba has only two courses, the other 10 eliminated by the revolution in 1959. That is going to change soon, however, because the tourism ministry announced a new policy to allow foreign companies to build new tourism facilities in Cuba, including at least 10 courses, marinas and other developments. The move is an effort to increase tourism revenue, which accounts for about 20 percent of Cuba's foreign-exchange income. And evidently betting on the eventual lifting of the 48-year-old U.S. embargo, officials have sanctioned the building of a huge marina, hoping to lure U.S. sailors.
Mexico: The U.S. State Department issued an updated travel warning that added three states to areas it recommends travelers avoid because of drug violence: Tamaulipas, parts of Sinaloa, and Michoacan. Michoacan is the wintering ground of North America's Monarch butterflies. The warning also cited recent drug violence near the Copper Canyon in Chihuahua, a popular tourist area with one of the world's most famous train routes.
Burma (Myanmar): Burma's military government began issuing visas on arrival May 1 at the international airports in Mandalay and Rangoon (Yangon). The 28-day visa costs $30 and eliminates the need for tourists and businesspeople to obtain visas from Burmese embassies abroad. The government reportedly made the decision to issue visas on arrival in an effort to increase tourism, which, along with economic development, has been hampered by more than two decades of political repression by hard-line military leaders.
India: An element of time travel is available in New Delhi as the city's Metro nears completion in time for the Commonwealth Games in October. The first section opened in 2002, and as new lines have gone into service, Delhi's residents have taken to it with pride. The time travel comes in when a visitor emerges from the clean, efficient and modern Metro to neighborhoods that reflect the Delhi of past centuries: chaotic, crowded, with sacred cows and saddhus wandering the narrow lanes. Both worlds represent today's Delhi, and both are embraced by the city's inhabitants.
Niger: The U.S. State Department warned against travel to the north of the country because of kidnapping threats against Westerners. A terrorist group linked to al-Qaida abducted a French national April 20 west of Agadez, and heavily armed men tried to kidnap U.S. embassy officials in November 2009 in Tahoua. The U.S. Embassy in Niamey considers the threats to be ongoing and restricts the travel of U.S. government personnel and official visitors north of the capital. Officials urge those who choose to travel to these northern areas to be extremely cautious.
•Larry Habegger is executive editor of the award-winning Travelers' Tales book series ( www.travelerstales.com), editor-in-chief of Triporati.com and is based in San Francisco.
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The Irrawaddy - Suu Kyi Criticizes NDF Faction
By KO HTWE - Friday, May 14, 2010
Detained National League for Democracy (NLD) icon Aung San Suu Kyi said that the act of forming a new party by some of the NLD leaders is incompatible with the democratic process, according to her lawyer, Nyan Win, after meeting her on Friday.
Speaking with The Irrawaddy after his meeting, Nyan Win said, “The NLD's decision [not to register for the election] was agreed by all members, but there are still some who have taken matters into their own hands—something that is not compatible with the democratic process, according to Suu Kyi.”
Some leading members of NLD, who disagreed with the party's decision to boycott this year's general election, have founded a new political party, named the National Democratic Force (NDF),which will contest the polls.
Dr. Than Nyein, a former political prisoner and a member of the NLD, who is expected to lead the new party, said the NDF will be registered at the Election Commission sometime in the middle of this month, and will be headed by several members of the NLD.
Dr. Win Naing, Thein Nyunt, Sein Hla Oo and several others will join the new party, he said. Another prominent NLD leader, Khin Maung Swe, will serve as an adviser.
In 1990, when the NLD was divided on whether to contest the election, Suu Kyi's decision to participate broke the gridlock and resulted in the NLD gaining an unexpected landslide victory. However, the junta never acknowledged the results.
According to Nyan Win, Suu Kyi also said that many agreements regarding the election had been made with US Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell on Monday at a government guesthouse in Rangoon, but declined to give details.
The NLD automatically ceased to exist at midnight on May 6—the deadline for all existing political parties in Burma to register under the junta's election law. In March, the party decided against registering under what it called “unjust and unfair” election laws.
By KO HTWE - Friday, May 14, 2010
Detained National League for Democracy (NLD) icon Aung San Suu Kyi said that the act of forming a new party by some of the NLD leaders is incompatible with the democratic process, according to her lawyer, Nyan Win, after meeting her on Friday.
Speaking with The Irrawaddy after his meeting, Nyan Win said, “The NLD's decision [not to register for the election] was agreed by all members, but there are still some who have taken matters into their own hands—something that is not compatible with the democratic process, according to Suu Kyi.”
Some leading members of NLD, who disagreed with the party's decision to boycott this year's general election, have founded a new political party, named the National Democratic Force (NDF),which will contest the polls.
Dr. Than Nyein, a former political prisoner and a member of the NLD, who is expected to lead the new party, said the NDF will be registered at the Election Commission sometime in the middle of this month, and will be headed by several members of the NLD.
Dr. Win Naing, Thein Nyunt, Sein Hla Oo and several others will join the new party, he said. Another prominent NLD leader, Khin Maung Swe, will serve as an adviser.
In 1990, when the NLD was divided on whether to contest the election, Suu Kyi's decision to participate broke the gridlock and resulted in the NLD gaining an unexpected landslide victory. However, the junta never acknowledged the results.
According to Nyan Win, Suu Kyi also said that many agreements regarding the election had been made with US Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell on Monday at a government guesthouse in Rangoon, but declined to give details.
The NLD automatically ceased to exist at midnight on May 6—the deadline for all existing political parties in Burma to register under the junta's election law. In March, the party decided against registering under what it called “unjust and unfair” election laws.
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The Irrawaddy - Junta Idle As Water Crisis Deepens
By BA KAUNG - Friday, May 14, 2010
Local groups of Burmese people have started helping drought-stricken people, but the military remains inactive as ponds and rivers dry up in many parts of Burma due to high temperatures and the late monsoon.
“Today we are going to Kha Yan township in Rangoon division with 2500 gallons of water,” said actor Kyaw Thu of the leading Rangoon-based charity, Free Funeral Services Society (FFSS). “People there have no water to drink.”
FFSS gives free clinic and funeral services in the country's former capital and actively helped victims of cyclone Nargis in 2008.
Speaking with The Irrawaddy on Friday, an official from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Rangoon said the situation in some villages in the Irrawaddy Delta has now reached emergency levels.
“Village ponds have already dried up, and even if wells are dug, the water is salty as the villages are so close to the sea,” he said. “We cannot help because we have no mandate from the government to respond to this emergency and the government has no plan of action as yet.”
Residents in Dala, a town located on the southern bank of Rangoon river just across from the city, are also facing serious water shortages.
“We have no drinking water now. We can still fetch water from the wells in nearby monasteries, but we cannot drink it as it's only fit for bathing,” said a woman in the town.
Win Tun Sint, a Burmese engineer working in Singapore, has raised funds for volunteer groups helping alleviate water shortages in Burma. He said he and his friends have received nearly 5000 Singapore dollars and would transfer the money to Kyaw Thu's charity group.
“We are receiving donations from 20 dollars up to 1000 dollars, mostly from Burmese like myself who work abroad. Even Burmese working in Malaysia want to send us money, but they cannot since bank transfer fees would eat up their donation money.”
A local resident in Rangoon said he has received more than 300,000 Kyat (US $300) from his friends to buy water for the affected villages and towns. “I am going to buy water bottles and travel to those areas soon.”
Ordinary Burmese citizens contributed the main relief efforts in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis, while the military regime failed to take its own initiatives, even blocking international humanitarian organizations from responding to the crisis, according to a Human Rights Watch report this year.
Zafrin Chowdhury, the spokesperson from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in Rangoon, said the organization has reached 45 villages in Laputta and 39 villages in Bogalay—both areas in Irrawaddy Delta—and is supplying water.
“ We are working through vendors supplying water in small boats. This support will be expanded to more villages and bigger boats are going to be deployed as the needs arise.”
Temperatures in Rangoon, Pegu and Irrawaddy divisions and in central Burma in recent days have reached 30-year record highs of up to 45 degrees Celsius, according to recent official reports. During the first ten days of this month alone, a total of seven people died in Magwe and Mandalay divisions due to the high temperature, and more than 82 people were afflicted with diarrhea in Waw township in Pegu division, the state media reported.
“During our trips over the last few days to assess the situation, people came out expecting water to be handed out, but budget limitations make it difficult for us to reach far-away areas,” Kyaw Thu said.
“The government ignores us, but some people are now coming to donate drinking water to us. And I have to go and queue up for it tonight,” said a resident in Dala.
By BA KAUNG - Friday, May 14, 2010
Local groups of Burmese people have started helping drought-stricken people, but the military remains inactive as ponds and rivers dry up in many parts of Burma due to high temperatures and the late monsoon.
“Today we are going to Kha Yan township in Rangoon division with 2500 gallons of water,” said actor Kyaw Thu of the leading Rangoon-based charity, Free Funeral Services Society (FFSS). “People there have no water to drink.”
FFSS gives free clinic and funeral services in the country's former capital and actively helped victims of cyclone Nargis in 2008.
Speaking with The Irrawaddy on Friday, an official from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Rangoon said the situation in some villages in the Irrawaddy Delta has now reached emergency levels.
“Village ponds have already dried up, and even if wells are dug, the water is salty as the villages are so close to the sea,” he said. “We cannot help because we have no mandate from the government to respond to this emergency and the government has no plan of action as yet.”
Residents in Dala, a town located on the southern bank of Rangoon river just across from the city, are also facing serious water shortages.
“We have no drinking water now. We can still fetch water from the wells in nearby monasteries, but we cannot drink it as it's only fit for bathing,” said a woman in the town.
Win Tun Sint, a Burmese engineer working in Singapore, has raised funds for volunteer groups helping alleviate water shortages in Burma. He said he and his friends have received nearly 5000 Singapore dollars and would transfer the money to Kyaw Thu's charity group.
“We are receiving donations from 20 dollars up to 1000 dollars, mostly from Burmese like myself who work abroad. Even Burmese working in Malaysia want to send us money, but they cannot since bank transfer fees would eat up their donation money.”
A local resident in Rangoon said he has received more than 300,000 Kyat (US $300) from his friends to buy water for the affected villages and towns. “I am going to buy water bottles and travel to those areas soon.”
Ordinary Burmese citizens contributed the main relief efforts in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis, while the military regime failed to take its own initiatives, even blocking international humanitarian organizations from responding to the crisis, according to a Human Rights Watch report this year.
Zafrin Chowdhury, the spokesperson from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in Rangoon, said the organization has reached 45 villages in Laputta and 39 villages in Bogalay—both areas in Irrawaddy Delta—and is supplying water.
“ We are working through vendors supplying water in small boats. This support will be expanded to more villages and bigger boats are going to be deployed as the needs arise.”
Temperatures in Rangoon, Pegu and Irrawaddy divisions and in central Burma in recent days have reached 30-year record highs of up to 45 degrees Celsius, according to recent official reports. During the first ten days of this month alone, a total of seven people died in Magwe and Mandalay divisions due to the high temperature, and more than 82 people were afflicted with diarrhea in Waw township in Pegu division, the state media reported.
“During our trips over the last few days to assess the situation, people came out expecting water to be handed out, but budget limitations make it difficult for us to reach far-away areas,” Kyaw Thu said.
“The government ignores us, but some people are now coming to donate drinking water to us. And I have to go and queue up for it tonight,” said a resident in Dala.
***************************************************
The Irrawaddy - Artist Jane Birkin Tours Mae Sot
By ALEX ELLGEE - Friday, May 14, 2010
MAE SOT — Jane Birkin, the internationally acclaimed actress and musician who has been a Burma activist for over a decade, recently concluded a three-day trip to the Thai-Burma border in and around Mae Sot, where she visited several organizations in an effort to spread awareness of Burma related issues.
“It is not our tradition in France [where the English Birkin resides] to care about Burma, but I want to change that,” Birkin told The Irrawaddy while touring the Mae Tao clinic, to which she previously donated all profits from two concerts in New York and one in Washington.
“Most people do not even know where Burma is. But we can’t blind ourselves to the suffering inside Burma, so I want to spread awareness,” she said.
Birkin visited the clinic's delivery room, where she met with recently delivered triplets and spoke to the mothers of sick children, and the prosthetic department, where she met with landmine victims receiving new limbs that will enable them to walk.
One man told her he was looking for nuts when he lost his left leg, and she watched a boy of twenty-two make a plaster mold for the man's new leg.
“What I find particularly kind about this unique hospital is the fact that people have still kept tenderness towards their patients,” said Birkin.
“I noticed how the boy was making the plaster for the landmine victim, it was with the most infinite care. This is clearly a very kindly place, and somewhere I would take my own sick child and know they would be treated with humanity and kindness,” she said.
Birkin also spoke with the founder of the Mae Tao clinic, Dr Cynthia Maung. They discussed the activities of the clinic and the severe cuts in funding that the clinic faced last year.
“When you come to the clinic and hear about the lost funding, you know that it means those boys can’t have their legs, which cost 100 euros,” said Birkin.
“It’s my mission to go back and get people to donate money so the victims can walk and this hospital can continue its activities,” she said.
In the afternoon, Birkin visited Ashin Sopaka’s relocation site for children from Mae Sot’s rubbish dump, where families from Burma come to collect rubbish to be sold, and later visited the dump itself.
Birkin spoke with many residents of the dump, including a five-year-old boy from Burma. After asking Ashin Sopaka, a monk, how the rubbish is collected, Birkin began collecting rubbish for the little boy.
“They were very surprised that she started collecting the rubbish,” said Ashin Sopoka.
“She was very kind to them and really wanted to know about their lives—one boy told her how they have more food on the dump then they ever did in Burma.”
In Mae Sot, Birkin visited the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) and spoke with former political prisoners about their experiences in Burma.
“I am very happy Jane Birkin came to visit us,” Bo Kyi, the joint secretary of AAPP, told The Irrawaddy. “Now that she has learned about the political prisoner situation and how important the release of political prisoners is for the election, she can go back and tell her society and influence the French government.”
Birkin also met with the underground youth group Generation Wave in their safe house in Mae Sot. After meeting the youth, she said there was “nothing to be depressed about” because there are so many “courageous” people like Generation
Wave who are “littering the place with stickers and graffiti tags.”
She also visited Mae La refugee camp and spoke with migrant workers about the issues they face.
“I met with one lady who had fled Burma and left her child behind,” Birkin told reporters in a press conference in Mae Sot organized by Burma Partnership.
“Only by coming to Mae Sot and talking with local people and organizations can I truly understand why so many people are taking such dangers to travel to Thailand and more often than not are unable to return to Burma,” she said.
In 1999, Birkin was asked to stop in Rangoon on the way back from Japan and perform a concert. She accepted on the condition that she could meet Aung San Suu Kyi, and the meeting took place at the French Embassy after the concert.
Birkin told The Irrawaddy how Suu Kyi asked her to look after Win Tin, and to help to make sure sanctions affected the generals and not ordinary people in Burma.
Birkin has since dedicated her website to Suu Kyi and always mentions Suu Kyi in interviews and concerts.
Birkin has relentlessly campaigned against investments by the French oil company Total in Burma, and even met with French President Sarkozy to discuss the matter.
Birkin also joined protests in France outside the Burmese embassy in June 2003 and marched with monks during the Cannes film festival, where the film “Total Denial” was screened.
Ironically, just after Birkin's concert in Rangoon, the directors of Total's Burma operations requested a meeting with her.
“They say that if they weren't there then China would be there. But in my mind, there is not much difference,” said Birkin.
Birkin boycotts Total herself, and said, “We should all do something to boycott Total and Chevron, which are giving the generals money to strengthen their armies and potentially buy nuclear weapons from North Korea. In the end, only the Burmese people suffer.”
Isabelle Dubuis, the coordinator for Info Birmanie who accompanied Birkin on her tour of the Thai-Burma border, said, “In a recent report, Earth Rights International showed that in total, US $5 billion had been given by Total to the generals in Singaporean bank accounts.”
“All economic interests in Burma are a major hindrance for political transition inside Burma and need to be stopped immediately,” Dubuis said.
Jane Birkin began her career as an actress in England, where her breakthrough film “Blow Up” won the Palm d’Or award at the Cannes film festival in 1967. She later moved to France, where she became a successful musician and actor, ignited by her relationship with well known musician Serge Gainsborough.
By ALEX ELLGEE - Friday, May 14, 2010
MAE SOT — Jane Birkin, the internationally acclaimed actress and musician who has been a Burma activist for over a decade, recently concluded a three-day trip to the Thai-Burma border in and around Mae Sot, where she visited several organizations in an effort to spread awareness of Burma related issues.
“It is not our tradition in France [where the English Birkin resides] to care about Burma, but I want to change that,” Birkin told The Irrawaddy while touring the Mae Tao clinic, to which she previously donated all profits from two concerts in New York and one in Washington.
“Most people do not even know where Burma is. But we can’t blind ourselves to the suffering inside Burma, so I want to spread awareness,” she said.
Birkin visited the clinic's delivery room, where she met with recently delivered triplets and spoke to the mothers of sick children, and the prosthetic department, where she met with landmine victims receiving new limbs that will enable them to walk.
One man told her he was looking for nuts when he lost his left leg, and she watched a boy of twenty-two make a plaster mold for the man's new leg.
“What I find particularly kind about this unique hospital is the fact that people have still kept tenderness towards their patients,” said Birkin.
“I noticed how the boy was making the plaster for the landmine victim, it was with the most infinite care. This is clearly a very kindly place, and somewhere I would take my own sick child and know they would be treated with humanity and kindness,” she said.
Birkin also spoke with the founder of the Mae Tao clinic, Dr Cynthia Maung. They discussed the activities of the clinic and the severe cuts in funding that the clinic faced last year.
“When you come to the clinic and hear about the lost funding, you know that it means those boys can’t have their legs, which cost 100 euros,” said Birkin.
“It’s my mission to go back and get people to donate money so the victims can walk and this hospital can continue its activities,” she said.
In the afternoon, Birkin visited Ashin Sopaka’s relocation site for children from Mae Sot’s rubbish dump, where families from Burma come to collect rubbish to be sold, and later visited the dump itself.
Birkin spoke with many residents of the dump, including a five-year-old boy from Burma. After asking Ashin Sopaka, a monk, how the rubbish is collected, Birkin began collecting rubbish for the little boy.
“They were very surprised that she started collecting the rubbish,” said Ashin Sopoka.
“She was very kind to them and really wanted to know about their lives—one boy told her how they have more food on the dump then they ever did in Burma.”
In Mae Sot, Birkin visited the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) and spoke with former political prisoners about their experiences in Burma.
“I am very happy Jane Birkin came to visit us,” Bo Kyi, the joint secretary of AAPP, told The Irrawaddy. “Now that she has learned about the political prisoner situation and how important the release of political prisoners is for the election, she can go back and tell her society and influence the French government.”
Birkin also met with the underground youth group Generation Wave in their safe house in Mae Sot. After meeting the youth, she said there was “nothing to be depressed about” because there are so many “courageous” people like Generation
Wave who are “littering the place with stickers and graffiti tags.”
She also visited Mae La refugee camp and spoke with migrant workers about the issues they face.
“I met with one lady who had fled Burma and left her child behind,” Birkin told reporters in a press conference in Mae Sot organized by Burma Partnership.
“Only by coming to Mae Sot and talking with local people and organizations can I truly understand why so many people are taking such dangers to travel to Thailand and more often than not are unable to return to Burma,” she said.
In 1999, Birkin was asked to stop in Rangoon on the way back from Japan and perform a concert. She accepted on the condition that she could meet Aung San Suu Kyi, and the meeting took place at the French Embassy after the concert.
Birkin told The Irrawaddy how Suu Kyi asked her to look after Win Tin, and to help to make sure sanctions affected the generals and not ordinary people in Burma.
Birkin has since dedicated her website to Suu Kyi and always mentions Suu Kyi in interviews and concerts.
Birkin has relentlessly campaigned against investments by the French oil company Total in Burma, and even met with French President Sarkozy to discuss the matter.
Birkin also joined protests in France outside the Burmese embassy in June 2003 and marched with monks during the Cannes film festival, where the film “Total Denial” was screened.
Ironically, just after Birkin's concert in Rangoon, the directors of Total's Burma operations requested a meeting with her.
“They say that if they weren't there then China would be there. But in my mind, there is not much difference,” said Birkin.
Birkin boycotts Total herself, and said, “We should all do something to boycott Total and Chevron, which are giving the generals money to strengthen their armies and potentially buy nuclear weapons from North Korea. In the end, only the Burmese people suffer.”
Isabelle Dubuis, the coordinator for Info Birmanie who accompanied Birkin on her tour of the Thai-Burma border, said, “In a recent report, Earth Rights International showed that in total, US $5 billion had been given by Total to the generals in Singaporean bank accounts.”
“All economic interests in Burma are a major hindrance for political transition inside Burma and need to be stopped immediately,” Dubuis said.
Jane Birkin began her career as an actress in England, where her breakthrough film “Blow Up” won the Palm d’Or award at the Cannes film festival in 1967. She later moved to France, where she became a successful musician and actor, ignited by her relationship with well known musician Serge Gainsborough.
***************************************************
Jailed student leader has eye disease
Friday, 14 May 2010 17:06 Mizzima News
New Delhi (Mizzima) – Khantee prison political prisoner and student activist Di Nyein Lin is suffering from eye disease, his mother, who was permitted to see him on May 3, said.
A leader of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions’ activists during demonstrations led by Buddhist monks in 2007 known as the Saffron Revolution, Di Nyein Lin in 2008 was arrested by the junta and placed on a variety of charges, including one of “inducing crime against public tranquility”.
He was sentenced to a total of 15 years and six months in prison in November 2008, two weeks after his father, Zaw Zaw Min, became one of 23 members of the 88 Generation Students jailed for 65 years. His grandfather Saw Win was a member of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s now defunct National League for Democracy (NLD) party who died in prison about 12 years ago.
“He says his eyes hurt and that he can’t read books. We had ‘power’ glasses made for him but he still suffers from the pain,” Di Nyein Lin’s mother Htay Htay told Mizzima. “We thought he might have a bulbous growth on the end of his nose, but my son says his eyes still ache and he feels dizzy.”
During the Saffron Revolution, the students group was revamped. Di Nyein Lin was a final-year geology student at the University of West Rangoon in 2007. After the protests, he evaded arrest until he was caught in Rangoon in October 2008. The students carried on their crusade against the military dictatorship underground as the junta had banned student unions.
Friday, 14 May 2010 17:06 Mizzima News
New Delhi (Mizzima) – Khantee prison political prisoner and student activist Di Nyein Lin is suffering from eye disease, his mother, who was permitted to see him on May 3, said.
A leader of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions’ activists during demonstrations led by Buddhist monks in 2007 known as the Saffron Revolution, Di Nyein Lin in 2008 was arrested by the junta and placed on a variety of charges, including one of “inducing crime against public tranquility”.
He was sentenced to a total of 15 years and six months in prison in November 2008, two weeks after his father, Zaw Zaw Min, became one of 23 members of the 88 Generation Students jailed for 65 years. His grandfather Saw Win was a member of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s now defunct National League for Democracy (NLD) party who died in prison about 12 years ago.
“He says his eyes hurt and that he can’t read books. We had ‘power’ glasses made for him but he still suffers from the pain,” Di Nyein Lin’s mother Htay Htay told Mizzima. “We thought he might have a bulbous growth on the end of his nose, but my son says his eyes still ache and he feels dizzy.”
During the Saffron Revolution, the students group was revamped. Di Nyein Lin was a final-year geology student at the University of West Rangoon in 2007. After the protests, he evaded arrest until he was caught in Rangoon in October 2008. The students carried on their crusade against the military dictatorship underground as the junta had banned student unions.
***************************************************
Social workers blame authorities for ignoring water shortage
Thursday, 13 May 2010 22:35 Kyaw Kha
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Dysentery has joined the list of ills stemming from the water crisis in the lower and central regions of Burma, with social work groups in the affected states and divisions blaming authorities for failing to assist people facing severe water shortages in at least 180 villages.
Diarrhoeic outbreaks totalling 82 cases in one town in Pegu Division alone were reported as more than 70,000 people from an extra 40 villages in the division faced water shortages in their area, social workers groups said.
Reports early this week said more than 60 villages in the same division were suffering severe water shortages after record high temperatures across Burma had accelerated evaporation of ponds and reservoirs. Villagers in the townships of Pegu, Waw, Thanatpin, Kawa and Daik Oo, lack drinking water and water for hygiene needs as small dams have lain dry since the end of April.
“The number of villages reporting water shortages has now reached more than 100. If the government departments concerned had co-operated with social work groups, the number of such villages would not have reached such number,” a social worker told Mizzima. “Now Waw Township is facing the further problem of rampant diarrhoea.”
Though reports of the crisis have circulated since the end of last month, the news of “water distributed by local authorities and government departments to the people” under the “direction and administration of the government”, only just appeared in daily papers today, citing action claimed to have been taken on Monday.
Reports of health affects are also starting to emerge.
Eight-two cases of people suffering symptoms of dysentery were reported at Waw Township People’s Hospital between May 5 and 11, of which 27 were being treated as inpatients and 55 patients had been discharged, state-run news outlets reported.
National League for Democracy (NLD) Youth members from Pegu Division started a campaign to distribute drinking water on May 2 in affected villages and they were soon joined by local businessmen and social workers. Municipal, police and army officials followed with a separate water-distribution programme yesterday.
The water crisis is also being felt in lower Burma as wells and ponds in Rangoon and Irrawaddy divisions, and in Mon State, are empty or drying up.
More than 50,000 people from 60 villages in the Ahpaung and Balukyun townships of Mon State were facing similar drinking water shortages, a member of a social work group distributing water in Ahpaung reported.
“All villages in the plains area are facing water shortages. Unless Zinkyaik and Kywechan [townships] supply them with water regularly, this problem will be uncontrollable,” a social worker told Mizzima. “Local authorities said they could not yet provide assistance as they were waiting for directives from higher authorities.”
Dams for agricultural use in Mon State also dried up more than a month ago, leading farmers to suffer water shortages since the beginning of this month, reports said.
“The people living in Dala Township have to use Rangoon River water for bathing. Until today we have not yet received any assistance from those who rule our country”, a social worker from Dala in Rangoon Division told Mizzima.
About two thirds of Dala’s population and more than 30,000 people living in more than 20 villages have been in need of water for almost a month.
Social workers groups in Twante Township, and businessmen and villagers with excess water resources, were providing drinking water to the people of Dala through truck-borne deliveries.
Thursday, 13 May 2010 22:35 Kyaw Kha
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Dysentery has joined the list of ills stemming from the water crisis in the lower and central regions of Burma, with social work groups in the affected states and divisions blaming authorities for failing to assist people facing severe water shortages in at least 180 villages.
Diarrhoeic outbreaks totalling 82 cases in one town in Pegu Division alone were reported as more than 70,000 people from an extra 40 villages in the division faced water shortages in their area, social workers groups said.
Reports early this week said more than 60 villages in the same division were suffering severe water shortages after record high temperatures across Burma had accelerated evaporation of ponds and reservoirs. Villagers in the townships of Pegu, Waw, Thanatpin, Kawa and Daik Oo, lack drinking water and water for hygiene needs as small dams have lain dry since the end of April.
“The number of villages reporting water shortages has now reached more than 100. If the government departments concerned had co-operated with social work groups, the number of such villages would not have reached such number,” a social worker told Mizzima. “Now Waw Township is facing the further problem of rampant diarrhoea.”
Though reports of the crisis have circulated since the end of last month, the news of “water distributed by local authorities and government departments to the people” under the “direction and administration of the government”, only just appeared in daily papers today, citing action claimed to have been taken on Monday.
Reports of health affects are also starting to emerge.
Eight-two cases of people suffering symptoms of dysentery were reported at Waw Township People’s Hospital between May 5 and 11, of which 27 were being treated as inpatients and 55 patients had been discharged, state-run news outlets reported.
National League for Democracy (NLD) Youth members from Pegu Division started a campaign to distribute drinking water on May 2 in affected villages and they were soon joined by local businessmen and social workers. Municipal, police and army officials followed with a separate water-distribution programme yesterday.
The water crisis is also being felt in lower Burma as wells and ponds in Rangoon and Irrawaddy divisions, and in Mon State, are empty or drying up.
More than 50,000 people from 60 villages in the Ahpaung and Balukyun townships of Mon State were facing similar drinking water shortages, a member of a social work group distributing water in Ahpaung reported.
“All villages in the plains area are facing water shortages. Unless Zinkyaik and Kywechan [townships] supply them with water regularly, this problem will be uncontrollable,” a social worker told Mizzima. “Local authorities said they could not yet provide assistance as they were waiting for directives from higher authorities.”
Dams for agricultural use in Mon State also dried up more than a month ago, leading farmers to suffer water shortages since the beginning of this month, reports said.
“The people living in Dala Township have to use Rangoon River water for bathing. Until today we have not yet received any assistance from those who rule our country”, a social worker from Dala in Rangoon Division told Mizzima.
About two thirds of Dala’s population and more than 30,000 people living in more than 20 villages have been in need of water for almost a month.
Social workers groups in Twante Township, and businessmen and villagers with excess water resources, were providing drinking water to the people of Dala through truck-borne deliveries.
***************************************************
DVB News - UN rues Burma election monitor ban
By FRANCIS WADE
Published: 14 May 2010
The UN will continue to encourage the Burmese junta to open its borders to foreign election observers later this year “to inspire confidence” in the highly controversial polls.
Spokesperson Martin Nesirky also defended in a press conference yesterday the UN’s silence on the decision by the National League for Democracy (NLD) party to boycott the elections as a marker of respect for parties to “take their own decisions”.
The decision has led to the dissolution of the NLD, which until 6 May had been Burma’s main opposition party and the key political threat to the military government.
Recent murmurings from the Burmese junta appear to suggest that foreign election observers will not be allowed to monitor the elections. Thein Soe, the head of the Election Commission, said on Tuesday that “the nation has a lot of experience with elections. We do not need election watchdogs to come here.”
Although no official ban has been introduced, it is the second time a senior minister has made such comments: during an Armed Forces Day parade in March, junta chief Than Shwe said that during fragile transition periods when “countries with greater experience usually interfere and take advantage for their own interests… it is an absolute necessity to avoid relying on external powers.”
Little is known about the members of the Election Commission, bar its chief Thein Soe, who was vice chief justice of Burma’s supreme court and former military judge advocate general. Burma analyst Larry Jagan told DVB recently that the rest is made up of former military officers, judges, professors and a retired ambassador.
In a blunt statement yesterday by Philippines’ foreign secretary Alberto Romulo, he questioned whether there was really any point in sending monitors to Burma’s first elections in 20 years.
“In the first place that election is fraudulent and a farce so why bother [sending monitors]? It’s a game, like children playing games,” he told AP, adding it was his personal opinion, likely due to a policy of non-interference by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) bloc of which both Philippines and Burma are members.
By FRANCIS WADE
Published: 14 May 2010
The UN will continue to encourage the Burmese junta to open its borders to foreign election observers later this year “to inspire confidence” in the highly controversial polls.
Spokesperson Martin Nesirky also defended in a press conference yesterday the UN’s silence on the decision by the National League for Democracy (NLD) party to boycott the elections as a marker of respect for parties to “take their own decisions”.
The decision has led to the dissolution of the NLD, which until 6 May had been Burma’s main opposition party and the key political threat to the military government.
Recent murmurings from the Burmese junta appear to suggest that foreign election observers will not be allowed to monitor the elections. Thein Soe, the head of the Election Commission, said on Tuesday that “the nation has a lot of experience with elections. We do not need election watchdogs to come here.”
Although no official ban has been introduced, it is the second time a senior minister has made such comments: during an Armed Forces Day parade in March, junta chief Than Shwe said that during fragile transition periods when “countries with greater experience usually interfere and take advantage for their own interests… it is an absolute necessity to avoid relying on external powers.”
Little is known about the members of the Election Commission, bar its chief Thein Soe, who was vice chief justice of Burma’s supreme court and former military judge advocate general. Burma analyst Larry Jagan told DVB recently that the rest is made up of former military officers, judges, professors and a retired ambassador.
In a blunt statement yesterday by Philippines’ foreign secretary Alberto Romulo, he questioned whether there was really any point in sending monitors to Burma’s first elections in 20 years.
“In the first place that election is fraudulent and a farce so why bother [sending monitors]? It’s a game, like children playing games,” he told AP, adding it was his personal opinion, likely due to a policy of non-interference by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) bloc of which both Philippines and Burma are members.
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