8 Dead, 21 Missing in Kachin Ferry Disaster

By NYEIN NYEIN / THE IRRAWADDY| July 24, 2012 | 

 

At least eight persons died when an Irrawaddy River ferry sank in Bhamo, Kachin State, on Friday morning. Police said they have rescued 73 people, but an estimated 21 are still missing.

Four university football players who had been travelling to Kachin State capital Myitkyina for an inter-university tournament were among the missing. Htet Wai Soe, a university football player and a student union leader, and the coach Zaw Zaw Naing were among the eight bodies recovered, confirmed the player’s father.

The stricken ferry was named as the Mya Min Aung; local rescue services said the boat developed engine trouble around Bhamo, but was carried by rapid waters downstream on the Irrawaddy before sinking soon after.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Monday, a police officer in Bhamo said, “We had recovered eight bodies—two women and six men— by Sunday evening, and are continuing the search.
“The ferry is still underwater. We have not been able to pull it to the surface yet,” he added.

People living along Burma’s major rivers and in the vast southern delta region often travel and transport goods by boat because of the lower cost and the inaccessibility of many areas by road.

In March this year, a similar incident occurred in the Irrawaddy delta when a Pathein ferry overloaded with goods and more than 100 passengers sank near Ngaputaw Township, causing more than 20 deaths.
 

http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/9803 

Martyrs’ Day Ceremonies to be Opened to Public

By NYEIN NYEIN / THE IRRAWADDY| July 12, 2012 | 

 

For the first time in 50 years, the authorities in Burma have indicated that ordinary Burmese will be allowed to participate in ceremonies marking Martyrs’ Day, the anniversary of the assassination of independence leader Aung San and members of his cabinet on July 19, 1947.

In a sign of the shift, an article in the state-run Myanmar Ahlin newspaper announced on Wednesday that the Martyrs’ Monument in Meiktila, Mandalay Division, will be open next Thursday to members of the public who wish to lay wreaths in memory of the fallen national heroes.

The article also said that the site has undergone renovations, noting that it has been neglected for the past five decades. While it doesn’t say why this has been the case, the period of neglect coincides with Burma’s half-century of military rule that began with a coup by former dictator Gen Ne Win in 1962.

Prior to the army’s takeover, public participation in Martyrs’ Day ceremonies was the norm. Under Ne Win and his successors, however, ordinary citizens were barred from attending official events, although low-key private ceremonies were common in many parts of the country.

As is often the case in Burma, there has been no official announcement of plans to permit public events, but many groups in the country say they expect to be allowed to openly commemorate the occasion this year.

“We are planning to march to the Martyrs’ Mausoleum to lay wreaths for our national heroes,” said Mandalay resident Ko Ko Lay.

Even activists who were recently detained for planning events to mark another anniversary—Ne Win’s deadly crackdown on Rangoon University students on July 7, 1962, and the subsequent dynamiting of the Student Union building—believe they will be able to go ahead with plans to commemorate Martyrs’ Day.

“I think we can celebrate Martyrs’ Day with fewer restrictions than other events such as the 7th of July because it is an official day in Burma,” said Phyo Phyo Aung, the general secretary of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions’ organizing committee, who was taken into custody on July 6 and detained for 23 hours.

However, there were news reports on Wednesday that members of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) in Pegu were denied permission to hold a Martyrs’ Day ceremony just days after Burma’s Parliament  passed a law guaranteeing the right to protest and hold public gatherings. Under the  law, organizers must seek permission from local authorities and police five days in advance of the planned event.

This hasn’t, however, deterred others from planning events of their own.

“I don’t think we need to ask permission,” said Myint Maung, an NLD member in southern Burma’s Kawthaung Township. “We will go and lay wreaths in front of the statute of Gen Aung San in Kawthaung as we did in the past.”

http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/9012
 

NLD Culls Security Staff after Criticism

By LAWI WENG and NYEIN NYEIN / THE IRRAWADDY| July 11, 2012 | 

 

A number of security staff for the National League for Democracy (NLD) have been sacked following severe criticism of the heavy-handed treatment of international and domestic media.

Party chairman Aung San Suu Kyi made the move upon returning from her first trip to Europe for 24 years late last month, with around 20 members of her security team, including home guards, reportedly relieved of duty.

No one from the party would confirm the reasons behind the cull, but criticism from reporters and photographers covering the Nobel Laureate’s movements is rumored to be behind the decision.

NLD spokesman Nyan Win played down the move when approached by The Irrawaddy on Wednesday. “The current people who were told to leave from their tasks are not NLD members, and they are just her security personnel,” he said.

But a source close to the party said around half-a-dozen of those sacked were party members, including Suu Kyi’s security chief Khun Thar Myint.

Nyan Win said that the democracy icon arranged her own security but the party was on hand to provide more men if requested. However, he declined to go into more detail about the job losses when pressed by The Irrawaddy.

Many observers believe that Suu Kyi is attempting to improve relations with the media while she goes about her day-to-day duties. Some reporters in Rangoon have slammed the aggressive actions by her security guards who allegedly intimidated a journalist from the city’s The Express Times business journal during an event on May 8.

Kyaw Kyaw Min, editor-in-chief of the publication, sent a letter of complaint to the NLD’s Rangoon headquarters after the incident in order to resolve the problem. And Win Tin, a party founder and himself a former journalist, told The Irrawaddy at the time that he wanted to peacefully resolve the dispute.

But Kyaw Kyaw Min told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that he is yet to receive a response or apology from the NLD. “We condemn the action of taking someone in particular out of an event to intimidate him,” he said.

The NLD scaled down inviting Rangoon journalists to media events after the incident, according to local sources in the industry.

The profile of the NLD has mushroomed since the party won 43 seats in the April 1 by-elections and became the largest single opposition group to the military-backed ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party in the Naypyidaw Parliament.

“After the NLD won a majority of seats at the by-elections, we found that there are some people from the party who want to show their importance and talked very aggressively to journalists,” said a Rangoon-based journalist.
 

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