Journalist Groups Object to Govt’s Press Council Plans

By NYEIN NYEIN / THE IRRAWADDY| May 17, 2012 | 

 

Three groups representing Burma’s journalists say that they will submit a letter to the country’s Ministry of Information objecting to rules relating to a proposed Press Council that will be formed after the current censorship board is abolished.

The three groups—the Myanmar Journalists Association (MJA), the Myanmar Journalists Network and the Myanmar Journalists Union (MJU)—have each held meetings regarding the Press Council regulations. All three, along with associations representing writers, publishers and distributors, recently met with Information Minister Kyaw Hsan in his Rangoon office.

Kyaw Hsan said that Burma’s censorship board, the Press Scrutiny and Registration Division (PSRD), will soon be abolished and that a Press Council will be formed with the approval of President Thein Sein to monitor the media. The meeting participants were also told to provide a list of six representatives from each of their associations.

Ko Ko, the general secretary of the MJA’s organizing committee and the CEO of the Rangoon Media Group, told The Irrawaddy that the group will tell the ministry which of the proposed rules it finds objectionable.

“We agree with the formation of the press council but we don’t agree with some of the rules,” he said.

“Specifically, we don’t accept the provision that states that the press council will operate under the Registration Department,” he said, referring to the body that will replace the PSRD.

The press council should be an independent organization responsible for resolving disputes, rather than a body charged with enforcing Burma’s draconian press laws, he added.
Under the proposed regulations, the Press Council will monitor journalists to make sure that their work is in accord with the 1962 Printer and Publisher Registration Act and 12-point censorship policy.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Thursday, former political prisoner and sports journal editor Zaw Thet Htwe, who currently serves as an organizing committee member of the MJU, said that his group has no plan to join the Press Council at this time.

“Our union aims to protect freedom of expression and journalist’s rights, but based on the minister’s description of the Press Council’s role, we are reluctant to participate in it,” he said.

“I don’t think that the press council will be different from the old censorship board if it includes former members of the PSRD,” he added.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Thursday, Thiha Saw, the editor of Open News Journal and vice-chairman of the MJA’s organizing committee, expressed a similar opinion.

“We assumed that the Press Council would work for the development of journalistic ethics and to protect the rights of journalists,” he said, adding that he didn’t feel the new body fulfilled these expectations.

The three journalists associations said they will hold a joint meeting soon to share their views on this issue and to form a united front when they present their views to the government.

http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/4454
 

Hardliners Will Be Left Behind: Thein Sein

By NYEIN NYEIN / THE IRRAWADY| May 14, 2012 | 

 

Burmese President Thein Sein told a coordinating meeting in the capital Naypyidaw on Friday that “conservatives who do not have a reformist mindset will be left behind” while the country is on its path to change.

Thein Sein admitted that certain lessons must be adopted from the by-elections which showed a real public desire for national development. “According to the experience of the by-elections, the public clearly showed that they want change and they no longer like the performance of the governing bodies in each administrative level,” he said.

During the April 1 by-elections, Burma’s main opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) party, led by Nobel Laureate Aung Sann Suu Kyi, won 43 out of the 44 constituencies it contested.

Naypyidaw’s strategy of reform was widely discussed during the two-day meeting, with Vice-President Sai Mauk Kham also telling participants that “not only political, economic, administrative and social reforms are needed but there also needs to be a change to our mindset.”

Both politicians highlighted altering the attitude of administrative officials so that the country can move forward towards socio-economic development. Thein Sein again raised the significance of respect for the rule of law and provided the example of land disputes relating to investment for regional development.

“One crucial way to move our nation on from being the region’s least developed country is to work on the rule of law. Now we have good policies for change, but these policies will not succeed if those involved are not honest,” the president concluded in his address.

As Burma is now moving on the path of economic development and foreign firms are interesting in investing in the country, Thein Sein also brought up the issues of corruption, land usage policies, regional development and creating employment opportunities.

He added that the decentralization of administration management is crucial to reform so that the implementation of good and clean governance will be successful.

Moreover, the state must allow for “bottom-up initiatives” to strengthen civil society instead of just “top-down orders” for change. “Administrative officials are incapable of managing practically because society and the authorities just follow orders and decisions are made detached from the needs of the public,” he added.

Thein Sein also touched on empowering human resources and managing these assets effectively within social and economic sectors.

He also invited all kinds of Burmese citizens living abroad—including professionals, businessmen and manual labors in exile—“to come back to take part in the change process as we promise to support any difficulties they encounter.” However, he did not provide any transparent procedures for those who want to return home.

In terms of the humanitarian sector, Thein Sein said his administration will collaborate with aid groups in order to effectively respond to the needs of public.

He admitted that “international aid has not been going through government agencies because of corruption in the former administration,” and that only individuals or certain groups have benefited in the past instead of the real people in need.

The president’s action plans for reform have been posted in full on his office’s website for the first time since he assumed power last March.  However, in contrast with this effort to reach the people, state-run newspaper The New Light of Myanmar, led by Information Minister Kyaw Hsan, censored some important aspects of his speeches.

The first photo published on the Burmese language version of the President’s Office website caught the public’s attention as the seat of Vice-President Tin Aung Myint Oo was seen empty—adding weight to rumors that he had resigned for health reasons.
 

http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/4147 

Rangoon Hair Factory Strikers Win Wage Hike

By NYEIN NYEIN / THE IRRAWADDY| May 10, 2012 | 

 

Striking employees at an artificial hair factory in Rangoon’s Industrial Zone 4 were granted their demands for a wage hike as well as increased workers’ rights on Thursday.

More than 1,800 staff at HI Mo High Art factory walked out over demands for increased pay on Wednesday. They then marched to the Labor Office in Mayangone Tonwship and expressed their wishes to officials there.

An agreement was reached after seven workers’ representatives along with Managing Director Nan Tao Yin and Director-General Win Shein of the factory held a meeting at the Labor Law Administrative office in Hlaing Thar Yar Township on Thursday.

Ya Min Lwin, a female worker representative, told The Irrawaddy that, “all of our demands have been agreed to after negotiations at 2 pm today.”

“We will be able to decide whether to work overtime or not, which in the past we did not have a choice about,” she added. “The factory also agreed not to cut the water and electricity for workers as before.”

In the agreement the workers will also receive daily pay, overtime pay and ferry allowance as usual.

The workers demanded a pay raise from 8,000 kyat (US $9.6) to 30,000 kyat ($36.3) per month. In addition, they wanted overtime pay, a clean working environment, sanitary meals and action to be taken against bad supervisors.

Workers only receive 78 kyat ($0.09) for overtime and must work from 5 pm to 9 pm.
Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Thursday morning, May Phyu Win, who came to work at the factory from a rural area and so lives in the building, said, “We are provided with unclean meals in the factory every day. Sometimes there were even worms in the vegetables curries so the workers would suffer diarrhea regularly.”

“The supervisors at the factory treat us badly, and we cannot even talk on phone in the case of an emergency,” she added.

The workers had already demanded a salary raise last year but the protest was not serious enough at the time and their demands were unsuccessful. A worker said, “In April 2011, similar demands for a wage hike happened, but at that time we were put in a locked room inside the factory after they told us that they will solve the matter.”

The factory is owned by a Korean businessman with products exported to South Korea, Japan, China and, occasionally, the Philippines.

In similar industrial action, workers at the Myanmar Winery & Distillery Co. Ltd factory in Shwe Pyi Thar Industrial Zone demanded a salary raise on Tuesday, but had still not reached an agreement at the time of publication.

http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/3941 

Govt Single Peace Team Plan Positive: UNFC

By NYEIN NYEIN / THE IRRAWADDY| April 30, 2012 | 

 

The United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC) says it welcomes the Burmese government’s plan to form one powerful peace negotiation team.

It emerged on Sunday that Naypyidaw would reform its peace committee, which is currently made up of two separate groups, into a single entity. The body is currently comprised of two teams led by former Industry Minister Aung Thaung and the current Railway Minister Aung Min.

The UNFC, which acts as an umbrella group representing eight separate ethnic armed groups, has repeated expressed its desire to meet representatives of the Union government for peace talks.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Monday, Nai Hang Thar, the secretary of UNFC, said the announcement to overhaul the two peace negotiation teams shows that the government respects his organization’s recommendations.

“We asked why there are two groups which could result in two separated outcomes, and why there cannot be a one solid group,” he added.

Aung Min told reporters in Naypyidaw on Sunday that the single Union-level peace team will be reinforced with higher ranking personnel from the administrative body.  But he did not provide any specific names of who will be joining the group.

Observers believe that there were previously two separate peace teams because the government intended to be able to build quicker ceasefires with different ethnic armed groups at the same time.

The railways minister, who has successfully forged peace agreements with many ethnic groups including Karen, Chin, Mon, Karenni and Shan rebels, said that they will keep holding peace talks with the KIA in northernmost Burma where heavy fighting continues.

La Nan, a spokesman for the KIA, said, “From the beginning of April to date, there has been 130 engagements between the KIA and Burmese army.” He added that, “Aung Min’s words are contrary to the current situation in Kachin State’s war-torn areas where the movement of the Burmese government troops have not stopped.

“The KIA has a couple of key demands which have not yet been agreed by the government’s peace representative,” he said. La Nan explained that the KIA wants the government to withdraw its troops from near Kachin-controlled areas and to have any peace agreement signed before international observers.

It has been reported that the new peace committee will be led by a vice-president, although Aung Min only stated that ethnic representatives, state and divisional MPs, as well as military officials, will be included on the new team.

“I think that the idea of forming the new team is based on Aung Thaung’s unsuccessful negotiation with the KIA,” said Nai Hang Thar. “But it is not that the entire peace process led by Aung Thaung will be ignored. It is just the reformation of one solid, powerful group from the two negotiating teams.”

http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/3368 

Parliament Passes New Investment Bill

By NYEIN NYEIN / THE IRRAWADDY| April 27, 2012 | 

 

Both houses of Burma’s Parliament have passed a new foreign investment bill that is expected to become law as early as next week, according to legislators.

The bill, based on investment laws introduced in 1988, aims to boost the country’s economy by offering tax breaks and guarantees to overseas investors.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Friday, Dr Aye Maung, an Upper House MP from the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party, said the new bill was approved by the Upper House after being reviewed and corrected by Lower House MPs.

He said the next step is for the speaker of the Upper House, Khin Aung Myint, to send the bill to President Thein Sein for approval. If the president accepts the bill in its present form within seven days of receiving it, it will become law.

Under the proposed law, investors will be granted a five-year tax exemption and land leases of up to 50 years. The 1988 investment laws offered only three-year tax holidays and 30-year leases.

Experts described the draft law as fair, said Aye Maung, adding that it would likely be seen by potential investors as very welcoming.

Although the law imposes certain restrictions, such as health and safety regulations and provisions aimed at protecting ethnic traditions, investors will be free to negotiate with the government, he added.

The law also seeks to increase employment opportunities for the local workforce by requiring foreign companies to do most of their hiring inside the country.

Although some jobs demanding special expertise may go to foreign workers, companies are expected to train Burmese workers to fill these positions within a fixed period of time.

The bill is just the latest measure by the government to overhaul the country’s economy. On April 1, it abolished an official exchange-rate regime that was seen as an impediment to international trade. Next month, it is expected to allow the private sector to set up insurance companies.

However, economic observers say that foreign companies will remain reluctant to invest heavily in Burma until there is a further easing of sanctions by Western nations.

Besides sanctions, there are also other issues that need to be addressed before Burma can expect to see a major influx of investment into the country, according to economic analyst Khin Maung Nyo.

“I don’t think that there will be a huge increase in investment in the short term because of a lack of infrastructure and the weakness of the financial system. And the new investment law won’t be enough to instill confidence in investors unless they can be sure that it’s more than just words,” he said.

http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/3260

Suu Kyi Hopeful Oath Issue Will Soon Be Resolved

By NYEIN NYEIN / THE IRRAWADDY| April 26, 2012 | 

 

Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi said on Thursday that she believes a dispute over the wording of a swearing-in oath that has kept her National League for Democracy (NLD) from claiming its seats in Parliament will soon be settled.

Speaking during a press conference following a meeting with Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi di Sant’Agata, Suu Kyi said the problem was merely a technicality, and need not result in a political standoff.

“We’d like to regard it is a technical problem rather than a political one, and we would hope that others will look upon it this way and not try to push it to the extent that it becomes a political deadlock,” she told reporters.

Suu Kyi also affirmed that the NLD was trying to work with the government and that she continued to have faith in President Thein Sein’s reform efforts.

However, other senior members of her party seemed less certain that the disagreement over the oath would be settled anytime soon.

“This problem needs to solved by the authorities,” said NLD spokesperson Nyan Win, speaking to The Irrawaddy on Thursday.

“We hope to join the [current session of] Parliament before it ends, but that is just our hope,” he said, noting that the party has yet to receive a reply to a letter it sent to the president, the speakers of both houses of Parliament and the Constitutional Court requesting a change in the wording of the oath.

The oath says that new MPs must “abide by and protect” the Constitution, but the NLD wants to change this to “abide by and respect.”

Despite the dispute, Suu Kyi reiterated that it was her party’s intention to work from within the army-dominated Parliament to fulfill its campaign promises to establish rule of law, reach a peaceful settlement with ethnic armed groups and amend the military-drafted 2008 Constitution.

However, other opposition MPs said that altering the oath would itself require a constitutional amendment, and that the NLD should therefore enter Parliament to propose the change.

“The issue is being negotiated among the lawmakers, but it needs to be done by following the procedure,” said Upper House MP Dr Aye Maung of the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party.

Under the Constitution, proposed amendments must have the backing of at least 20 percent of Parliament before they can be considered, and need 75 percent support to be passed into law.

Meanwhile, the Italian foreign minister said during his press conference with Suu Kyi that despite the EU’s suspension of sanctions on Burma earlier this week, the country needed to make further progress on a number of issues for the punitive measures to be permanently lifted.

He said he reminded Thein Sein and Lower House Speaker Shwe Mann during his talks with them in Naypyidaw that the sanctions could be put back in place if there is any backsliding on reforms.

http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/3150 

Judicial Corruption Inquiry Approved by Parliament

By NYEIN NYEIN / THE IRRAWADDY| April 25, 2012 | 

 

Lawmakers in Burma’s Lower House of Parliament have approved bestowing a committee with the power to investigate and expose bribery and corruption in the judicial arm of government.

The move aims to ensure the Burmese court system remains impartial and honest by allowing the Judicial Committee to investigate allegations of impropriety, and was passed by a vote of the People’s Parliament during a meeting on Tuesday.

Thura Aung Ko, the MP for Kanpetlet constituency in Mindat, Chin State, and chairman of the Judicial Committee, made the proposal. He was previously deputy minister of the Religious Ministry under the former military government.

More than five hundreds letters of complaint have been received from members of the public since the Judicial Committee was formed in September 2011, and the new powers will allow the body to investigate these allegations.

Kyi Myint, the MP for Rangoon’s Latha constituency, told The Irrawaddy that the Lower House’s approval is a “landmark decision” which can help to clean up the judicial system for the first time in modern Burma.

The proposal was fully supported by MPs “even though Soe Nyunt, the Union Supreme Court Judge, denied there was any problem with judges and their proceedings,” he said.

Thein Nyunt, a respected MP and lawyer, said, “I rejected the presentation of the Union Supreme Court Judge which could undermine the core meaning of the [investigation powers] proposal, and all the MPs supported my views.”

The MPs agreed that it is crucial to have a transparent judicial system, saying that otherwise society would be “providing license for judges to deliver whatever verdict they wanted,” he said.

Kyi Myint said that Lower House Speaker Shwe Mann also echoed the views of MPs who want to develop a fair judicial system.

But the exact timeframe of when the decision will be enacted is not yet known, said Thein Nyunt, adding that MPs should think of developing their own bill if they are keen to raise a proposal.

“MPs can also prepare bills that would be quicker and so become more effective,” he added. “According to our experience, it takes a long time to pass bills after they are sent to the Attorney General’s office.”
 

http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/3068 

Oath Rewording to be Raised in Parliament

By NYEIN NYEIN / THE IRRAWADDY| April 23, 2012 | 

 

A proposal for the rewording of the admission oath is likely to be discussed by a meeting of the Union Parliament this week, according to prominent MPs from both houses.

Phone Myint Aung, an independent MP of the Upper House, told The Irrawaddy on Monday that, “I’ve heard that the oath rewording will be proposed by MPs in the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw [Union Parliament] tomorrow morning.”

Burma’s main opposition NLD party wants the oath which all new parliamentarians must swear to reworded from “abide by and protect” to “abide by and respect” the Constitution.

Dr. Aye Maung, a respected Upper House MP from the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party, said that “the Union Solidarity and Development Party [USDP] has more responsibility to change the platform for the NLD [National League for Democracy] to be able take their seats in the Parliament.”

If the political situation turns back to the past, the ruling USDP is the one to take all the blame, he added.

Htay Oo, the general secretary of the military-backed USDP, told The Irrawaddy on Monday that he does not think it is necessary to change the oath. “Even though the word [protect] is there,” he explained, “there are no restrictions on the freedom to speak in Parliament.”

There are also criticisms that those MPs who seek to raise the oath-rewording proposal do not have enough influence in the legislature for such a move.

Thein Nyunt, a lawyer and independent MP in the Lower House, said the MP-elects should come and try to tackle the issue inside Parliament as “MPs need 20 percent of support to propose the change.”

Phone Myint Aung explained that according to the Constitution, “there must be 20 percent support from the MPs to propose the issue to the Parliament and then it needs the approval of 75 percent to be able to change session 125, which is linked to appendix four in the Constitution for swearing-in oath words.”

The wording in appendix four currently states the MPs must swear to “abide by and protect” the Constitution before taking their seats.

“We are trying to get the oath reworded to be able to take our seats in Parliament,” said Ohn Kyaing, an NLD MP-elect from Maha Aung Myae Constituency in Mandalay.

Aung San Suu Kyi, the NLD’s chairperson, told reporters on Sunday that “we are not boycotting” but just “waiting for the right time to go” to Parliament.

However, President Thein Sein told reporters in Japan on Monday that he would welcome Aung San Suu Kyi to Parliament, but that it is the Nobel Laureate’s decision whether or not to take her seat.

Sai Saung Si, an Upper House MP from the Shan Nationalities Democratic Party, echoes the views of Thein Nyunt. He says that it is important for the MP-elects to become full members of Parliament, and that only after they swear-in will they have power to amend the Constitution.

But he said that he “would not comment on the word choice as it is [the NLD's] right to decide.”

On the first day of Parliament since the April 1 by-elections, the two other MP-elects—from the Shan Nationalities Democratic Party and USDP—were sworn in, but the 43 NLD members abstained.

Meanwhile, the state-run media reported on Monday that 59 army representatives between the Upper and Lower Houses are to be replaced with higher ranking officers—colonels and brigadier-generals instead of majors—for the new session.

New parliamentary meetings will discuss the investment bill, import and export bill and social welfare bill which were all approved in the Lower House during the previous session.

http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/2946
 

Phone Maw Day Marked in Burma for First Time Since 1989

By NYEIN NYEIN / THE IRRAWADY| March 20, 2012 | 

 For the first time in decades, former student activists openly commemorated a key event in the history of Burma’s pro-democracy movement—the killing of a Rangoon Institute of Technology (RIT) student who became the first casualty of a crackdown on the 1988 popular uprising against military rule.

Some 200 activists and political leaders, including Min Ko Naing and Ko Ko Gyi of the 88 Generation Students group and National League for Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, gathered in Rangoon’s Shwegondaing Township on Tuesday to mark the occasion.

Human Rights Day—also known as Phone Maw Day after the name of the RIT student who was gunned down by security forces on March 13, 1988—has not been publicly commemorated in Burma since 1989, when activists declared it a national day to campaign for human rights reforms.

Speaking at today’s event, Min Ko Naing called on his fellow activists and leaders to do more to raise public awareness of human rights issues, saying that it was “not enough just to hold a ceremony.”

“It is important to work toward the improvement of human rights in Burma,” he said.
Noting that “this is the first time in two decades that we have been allowed to assemble to celebrate this occasion,” Ko Ko Gyi also called for a concerted effort to raise human rights standards in the country.

Suu Kyi, meanwhile, emphasized the need for unity to achieve this goal, saying “we must work in unity for every success.”

At today’s event, the former students, who were the witnesses of that time, recounted their experiences  and recited poems that reflect the history of the past 24 years.

http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/881 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noFZnTTk1G8

Villagers Protest Dawei Dam

By NYEIN NYEIN/ THE IRRAWADDY Thursday, March 15, 2012

More than 2,300 villagers in the town of Anyarphyar have signed a petition against the construction of a hydropower dam on the river outside their village in Tenasserim Division. The petition was sent to President Thein Sein on Monday.

The villagers are protesting that the dam will flood their fields. Myint Aung, a committee member of the village administration in Anyarphyar, told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that “if the village is inundated, it will never recover.”

The site for the dam project is located some 20 km east of the Dawei Economic Zone and is scheduled to be one of at least two hydropower projects that will provide electricity to the multi-billion-dollar industrial plant and deep-sea port.

The project has been contracted to the Delco Company, based in Rangoon, which is also involved in tin mining in the area.

Construction of the 175-foot-high dam began in November and is scheduled to take three years to complete. 

Apart from Anyarphyar, three other villages will be affected by the project: Darthwekyaut, Satechaung and Nyaungchaung. In total, more than 9,000 acres of cultivable land will be lost, say local farmers who mostly grow rubber, betel and cashew nuts.

“Our losses will be enormous,” said a farmer who asked not to be identified. “A one-year-old rubber tree is valued at 80,000 kyat [US $100] and can provide latex for more than 30 years.”

The villagers of Anyarphyar have also voiced complaints about the construction of a tunnel by the Myanmar Natural Energy Wave company, which will also destroy land and agriculture.

“They just came in and bulldozed about three acres of land,” said Myint Aung. “No representative of the company spoke to us about their plans.”

He said the petition was sent not only to the Burmese president, but to the Myanmar Human Rights Commission, the Ministry of Energy and various political parties, as well as to the Delco Company.

When contacted by The Irrawaddy, Delco’s head office in Rangoon declined to comment.
Delco is a private firm invested in tin-tungsten and mixed ore mining in Kanpuak, near Dawei, a project that was initiated in 2007.

It received a Build-Operate-Transfer agreement for the hydropower project at Dawei, or Tavoy, in 2010.

http://www2.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=23221&Submit=Submit

February 2012 news

Tai Yi Strikers Make Pay Deal in Rangoon By NYEIN NYEIN / THE IRRAWADDY Wednesday, February 15, 2012 Striking workers at a Rangoon factory have reportedly struck a deal to increase their basic wages despite bonus demands being rejected. A representative of factory workers in Hlaing Tharyar Industrial Zone (3) told The Irrawaddy that employees of the Chinese-owned Tai Yi Slipper factory have accepted an offer of 100 kyat (US $0.12) per hour, but other demands such as increasing bonus pay have been turned down.  A total of 10,852 kyat ($13) will be added to the monthly income of employees, said a female workers' representative, adding that there are 26 working days in a month.  One woman, who has toiled in the factory for almost 12 years, told The Irrawaddy that she and the others “will resume their work tomorrow.” The strike involved some 1,800 workers and began with demands to be reimbursed for wages deducted for an unofficial holiday to mark the Chinese New Year. The agreement came after 53 workers' representatives met a second time with their employer on Wednesday afternoon. The first round of negotiations two days ago included the employers, senior government officials and 38 workers' representatives. “We arrived in front of the factory this morning and have continued the strike since then,” said a factory employee. “Today there were no top authorities involved in negotiations,” said Pho Phyu, a lawyer acting as a consultant for the workers.  But some people disagreed with the result of the negotiations and said that they are not really getting what they demanded. One worker said, “even though the hourly pay will increase, our others demands were not met.” Although their hourly pay will rise from 75 to 100 kyat, the monthly bonus pay remains the same at 6,000 kyat ($7.50). Previously, the employers offered an hourly pay rise from 75 to 85 kyat combined with an increased bonus scheme from 6,000 to 7000 kyat ($8.75). Tai Yi workers held a walk-out last year which lasted for three days. But this year it took nine days of strikes before an agreement was reached.

Copyright © 2008 Irrawaddy Publishing Group | www.irrawaddy.org

No Breakthrough in Strike Talks By NYEIN NYEIN / THE IRRAWADDY Monday, February 13, 2012 Workers at the Chinese-owned Tai Yi Slipper factory in Rangoon's Hlaing Tharyar Industrial Zone (3) said that they have yet to reach an agreement with their employers, despite talks on Monday that included senior government labor officials. Today's talks, which come a week after workers at the Tai Yi factory went on strike to demand wages deducted for an unofficial holiday to mark the Chinese New Year, were the first since the labor unrest began. The talks brought together 38 workers' representatives, the owner of the factory and three senior labor officials, including Chit Sein, the director general of the Department of Labor.   As the three sides met, some 1,800 workers continued their strike outside the factory. Phoe Phyu, a lawyer who is acting as a consultant for the workers, told The Irrawaddy on Monday that no agreement was reached, and that there were no plans for further negotiations. The workers have made 17 key demands, including an hourly pay raise from 75 kyat to 150 kyat (US $0.09-$0.18) and an increase in the monthly bonus from 6,000 kyat ($7.50) to 8,000 kyat ($10.00).  The employer has only agreed to pay 85 kyat ($0.11) per hour and 7,000 kyat ($8.75) for bonus pay. “Those wages are not enough to cover living expenses, so the workers could not accept them,” said Phoe Phyu. Most of the workers are young women who say they struggle to live on the wages they receive. One said that their peaceful strike would continue until the factory meets their demands. This is not the first time that workers at the Tai Yi factory have gone on strike to demand higher wages. A strike last year lasted three days.  According to one leading worker, Chit Shein took part in talks on that occasion as well, interceding on behalf of the workers. This time, however, he didn't do anything, the worker said. “Last year, U Chit Shein got involved in solving the problem on the first day, but this time he waited a week,” he added. Meanwhile, workers at the New Way factory who also went on strike last week have reached an agreement with their employer and have gone back to work.

Copyright © 2008 Irrawaddy Publishing Group | www.irrawaddy.org

Strike Enters Fifth Day, Spreads to Other Factories By NYEIN NYEIN / THE IRRAWADDY Friday, February 10, 2012 After a full week without reaching a resolution, a strike that began on Monday at a shoe factory in an industrial estate in eastern Rangoon has spread to two other factories, according to labor activists. The strike started earlier this week after 1,800 workers at the Chinese-owned Tai Yi Slipper factory in Hlaing Tharyar Industrial Zone (3) demanded payment of wages for an unofficial holiday to mark the Chinese New Year in late January. It has since been joined by workers from the New Way footwear factory and the Taylar garment factory, according to Zaw Min, a workers rights activist. Su Su Nway, another activist who has had contact with the striking workers, said that talks scheduled to take place today were postponed until 10 am Saturday by the Tai Yi factory's management. She added that a lawyer will represent the workers during negotiations with the company. The workers have also been unable to speak with government authorities, said Zaw Min.  The factory has already posted notices offering a pay raise of 10 kyat (about US $0.01) per hour, and a monthly bonus of 1,000 kyat ($1.25) to employees who aren't late or absent for work. However, the workers angrily removed the notices before leaving the work site on Friday.

Copyright © 2008 Irrawaddy Publishing Group | www.irrawaddy.org

Vahu Founders Return to Burma By NYEIN NYEIN / THE IRRAWADDY Friday, February 10, 2012 Four leading members of Vahu Development Institute (VDI) will participate in a couple of workshops in Naypyidaw next week and will attend several workshops in Rangoon during their two-week trip to Burma, according to Aung Naing Oo, the deputy director of VDI. He said Zaw Oo, the director of Vahu, will attend the Education and Health Workshop, organized by the UNDP in Naypyidaw on Feb. 13, as well as the Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) workshop. “We will also be attending workshops in Rangoon to represent issues related to economic development,” said Aung Naing Oo. The workshops in Rangoon will be organized by the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry and Myanmar Fishing Industry.  Four VDI founding members—Zaw Oo, Aung Naing Oo, Aung Thu Nyein and Tin Maung Than—return to Burma on Friday, Feb. 10.  Senior Associate Aung Thu Nyein said the trip was an observation mission with a view to opening a VDI office in Burma. 'Our main intention of going there is to assess the situation and to see how we can help the current changes in the country', he added.  Over the fortnight they said they hope to meet with government officials, private businessmen, NGOs and student leaders. It is not sure yet whether they will have an audience with Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.  “We will try to get an appointment, but she is very busy with her campaign,” said Aung Thu Nyein. Despite being in exile for more than two decades, “our souls are there [in Burma] even though we were not able to return,” he added. “Since 1988, we have worked for Burma. Now we can finally go back.” VDI is a Thailand-based think-tank for research and training, dedicated to working for political reform in Burma, as well as economic and civic society development.  Director Zaw Oo attended the government’s economic forum in Naypyidaw in August last year. Copyright © 2008 Irrawaddy Publishing Group | www.irrawaddy.org   Fire Leaves More Than a Thousand Homeless

By NYEIN NYEIN / THE IRRAWADDY Tuesday, February 7, 2012 A midday blaze that destroyed a residential neighborhood in western Rangoon's Hlaing Tharyar Township has left more than a thousand people homeless and relief workers scrambling to provide emergency assistance. According to police officials in Hlaing Tharyar, 351 houses were destroyed when the fire, which started around noon on Monday, spread through the congested working-class neighborhood.  “Many fire trucks came to put it out, but the road was too narrow for them to get through,” said one man whose family of six was forced to flee their home without any of their belongings. The total number of those left destitute by the blaze was 1,388, the police told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday. However, some relief workers said the actual figure was probably much higher.  With many of the victims of the fire now sheltering in the compound of the nearby Aung Zeya Min Monastery, local relief groups say they are concentrating on supplying them with basic necessities. “We don't have enough blankets and mosquito nets,” said one woman who lost her home.  Aung Zaw, the deputy secretary of the local branch of the National League for Democracy, told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday that the party had supplied food and clothing to around 100 households this morning. Local authorities said they believed that the blaze was caused by a cooking fire. They said they have already pressed charges against the person who allegedly started the fire, but residents said the person had already fled the area.

Copyright © 2008 Irrawaddy Publishing Group | www.irrawaddy.org

Workers Strike over Chinese New Year Wage Dispute

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By KHIN OO THAR / THE IRRAWADDY

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

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More than a thousand workers at a Chinese-owned shoe factory in Rangoon went on strike on Monday after they discovered that they would not be paid for an enforced five-day break to mark the Chinese New Year. 

The strike, by workers of the Tai Yi Slipper factory in Rangoon's Hlaing Tharyar Industrial Zone (3), continued into a second day on Tuesday, according to lawyer and worker's rights activist Pho Phyu.

“We are trying to find the best solution for both sides,” Myat Thin Aung, the chairman of the Hlaing Tharyar Industrial Zones, told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday, adding that officials from the Ministry of Labor are also involved in negotiations.

The workers, who say they should be paid for the five days of work they missed because it was the company's decision to close for the holiday, were forced to disperse this afternoon without achieving their aims. 

According to Pho Phyu, the workers are also angry over wages deducted for lateness caused by ferry service delays.

In the past two years, workers in Rangoon's industrial zones have gone on strike on a number of occasions to protest wage deductions and poor working conditions.

According to Myat Thin Aung, there are more than 40,000 workers employed by a wide range of factories at six industrial zones in Hlaing Tharyar.

Thousands Cheer Suu Kyi on Bassein Campaign Trip

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Tuesday, February 7, 2012

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Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi told more than 50,000 supporters in Bassein (Pathein) to vote for her National League for Democracy (NLD) party in the April 1 by-elections whilst on her second political campaign outing on Tuesday.

Speaking at Koe Thein Football Stadium, Suu Kyi vowed to work for the people of Burma as her supporters have been waiting for democracy for more than 20 years, said Thaung Myint, the chairman of the NLD in Bassein, in the Irrawaddy Delta.

The Nobel Laureate added that her party's decision to enter the by-election was “to make changes in the constitution, to have the rule of law and to work for internal peace.”

Suu Kyi started her trip to the Irrawaddy Delta on Tuesday with thousands of supporters, including university students and elderly people, taking to the street where her motorcade passed in the early morning.

Local residents in towns and villages nearby Bassein came and waited outside Koe Thein Football Stadium in order to listen to the 66-year-old's campaign speech.

One journalist who followed Suu Kyi's trip to Bassein said, “A lot of people waited to cheer her. The crowd is getting bigger and bigger.” After delivering her speech at the stadium, Suu Kyi had lunch at the Pathein Hotel and continued her trip to Myaun-Mya, he added.

Among those present were around 200 university students who shunned scheduled exams  in four subjects to hear her speak.  on her way to Bassein, Suu Kyi also made a short speech to her supporters in Pan Ta Naw Township and spoke to villagers who came out to greet her on the street. 

It was the first time local people have seen the opposition icon for 23 years—her last political campaign trip to the area was in 1989. This was also Suu Kyi's first campaign outing of February after the cancellation of her planned visit to Mandalay last Saturday.

Suu Kyi has attracted large crowds wherever she has campaigned, with thousands of supporters also turning out when she visited Dawei (Tavoy) at the end of last month. Throngs of supporters also came out when she traveled to Pakokku, in Magwe Division, central Burma, shortly afterwards.

NLD to Reopen Mandalay Offices By NYEIN NYEIN / THE IRRAWADDY Friday, February 3, 2012 Despite being forced to call off a major rally in Mandalay, the National League for Democracy (NLD) will go ahead with plans to reopen two branch offices in Burma's second largest city over the weekend in preparation for upcoming by-elections, according to party sources. Two of the party's senior leaders, Win Tin and Ohn Kyaing, arrived in Mandalay on Friday for a four-day visit that will include a fund-raising event and the reopening of branch offices in two of the city's five townships, said Win Mya Mya, the head of the NLD's organizing committee in Mandalay. Ohn Kyaing, who is the NLD's chief spokesperson, will contest the April 1 by-elections as the party's candidate for Mandalay's Mahaaungmye Township, where the NLD will reopen its local branch office on Feb. 5.  Mahaaungmye is the same constituency that Ohn Kyaing was elected to represent in 1990, when the NLD won a landslide victory in nationwide elections that was subsequently ignored by Burma's then ruling military council. The other office due to be reopened is in Chanayethazan Township, which includes Mandalay's central commercial district. According to Dr Zaw Myint Maung, the party's campaign leader for Mandalay Division, 82-year-old Win Tin will attend a fund-raising event on Saturday as part of his organizing activities in the division, where 10 of 48 seats up for grabs on April 1 are located. The event, an art exhibition featuring the work of 103 artists at the Dhammathila Hall in downtown Mandalay, will be the highlight of a weekend that was originally supposed to include a political rally led by NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The rally had to be called off at the last minute because of problems finding a suitable venue, after the managers of the Ba Htoo Football Stadium said it could not be used to host the event. Max Myanmar, one of Burma's largest companies, has a 20-year lease to operate the stadium.     The party tried to find other venues, but none were large enough to accommodate the expected turnout, said Ohn Kyaing, speaking to The Irrawaddy on Friday. Suu Kyi flew to Nyaung-U in Mandalay Division on Tuesday, en route to Pakokku in Magwe Division, where she visited foreign-funded development projects in Myaing Township. Last Sunday, she also traveled to Tavoy in Burma's far south, where thousands of supporters turned out to greet her on her first major trip on the campaign trail.

Copyright © 2008 Irrawaddy Publishing Group | www.irrawaddy.org

ေတာ္လွန္ေရးရဲ့ သမီးပ်ဳိ - ေဆာင္းပါး

A Child of the Revolution

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By NYEIN NYEIN / THE IRRAWADDY

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

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When Cyclone Nargis struck the Irrawaddy Delta region of Burma in May 2008, student activist Phyo Phyo Aung was in hiding. She had gone underground six months earlier following the government’s brutal crackdown on the Saffron Revolution, a mass monk-led uprising in which she played a prominent role.

The cyclone devastated the delta region and killed over 140,000 people. More than a month later, Phyo Phyo Aung learned that dead bodies were still floating in the water and decomposing on the saturated land. So despite the high risk to her personal safety, she left her hiding place and joined her father, Dr Nay Win, and three friends on a mission to recover some of the victims and provide them with a proper burial.

The group spent three days retrieving dead bodies and burying them with traditional rituals. Having accomplished their noble task, they set off on the journey home, but local authorities stopped them in Bogalay and checked their IDs.

Phyo Phyo Aung, her colleagues and her father were immediately detained after their identities were discovered. For the next seven months, she had no contact with her family; then she was charged under sections 6, 7 and 505 (b) of Burma’s Penal Code, accused of forming an illegal organization, contact with outlawed groups and “intent to commit an offense against the State.” After a closed trial, she was sentenced to four years in prison. 

As a dedicated political activist and spokesperson for the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU) during the Saffron Revolution, Phyo Phyo Aung was mentally prepared to be arrested and had no regrets for herself. But it made her both sad and angry to see her father handcuffed and sent to prison once again. 

Phyo Phyo Aung was only nine months old when her father, the head of a short-lived activist group known as the National Political Force, was first arrested in 1989. Over the next 15 years, she saw him only four times. When she went to visit him at Mandalay Prison at the age of 10, she didn’t even recognize him.

“It was when I was in grade five. My mother took me to see him in prison, and I couldn't remember him at all at first,” she said.

But even as a young girl, Phyo Phyo Aung shared her father’s dislike of social injustice, and they remained connected throughout the 15 years that he was behind bars.

Phyo Phyo Aung’s mother raised her during that time and despite the strain of being a young, virtually single parent, was always supportive of both her and her imprisoned father. 

“My mom is my role model. She always told me not to have fear, to respect truth and be proud of my father,” said Phyo Phyo Aung. 

Having been born in August 1988 at the height of the student-led nationwide protests now known as the 8-8-88 uprising, Phyo Phyo Aung had the spirit of a student revolutionary running through her veins and her mother cultivated that spirit by telling her bedtime stories of the brave 1988 activists.

Both of Phyo Phyo Aung’s parents also nurtured her lifelong reading habit. Her father advised her during prison visits to read any book she could get her hands on that would increase her knowledge, and then repeated that advice in letters when he was moved first to Mandalay Prison and then to the remote Myitkyina Prison in Kachin State. 

One of the books that had an impact on Phyo Phyo Aung was “A Lan Ma Hlae Sa Tan” (“Better to Stand and Die”), a novel by prominent Burmese author Win Zaw (aka Lu Htu Sein Win) that revolved around a female hero and inspired the budding activist to new levels of compassion and commitment.

She also read a number of books about the lives of university students, and when her father was released from Myitkyina Prison in November 2004, Phyo Phyo Aung was 16 years old and about to begin her college education. 

When Phyo Phyo Aung began her studies at the Government Technological College in Hmawbi, she found that her experience as a university student was totally different from the students in the past that she had read about. The inequality she witnessed spurred a desire to seek justice and students’ rights and led her to join the student movement.

In 2006, she became a member of the “We for All” book club at the American Center, whose members worked to reform the ABFSU—an umbrella organization of student unions that had been forced underground after the government crackdown on the 1988 uprisings—and devoted themselves to involvement in Burma’s political and social movements. 

When demonstrations began in August 2007 following an unannounced increase in fuel prices, the ABFSU quickly became involved and the government arrested some of its leaders, including Kyaw Ko Ko, Si Thu Maung, Han Ni Oo and D Nyein Lin.

The 19-year-old Phyo Phyo Aung stepped up to help fill the detained leaders' involuntarily vacated roles, becoming the spokesperson of the ABFSU. When government forces violently ended the uprising by opening fire on the monk-led demonstrators, she went into hiding and created the alias of Hnin Pwint Wai so that she could continue to talk to the media.

During Phyo Phyo Aung’s six months in hiding, her father stayed beside her and provided her with moral encouragement. Although they had previously had little opportunity to spend time together and talk, the experience brought them close together and they became political colleagues as well as family.

After having been arrested together in May 2008, father and daughter were put on a train together in April 2009 and transferred to separate prisons. Phyo Phyo Aung was sent to Moulmein Prison in the capital of Mon State. Nay Win went to Hpa-an Prison in the capital of Karen State.

During this period of separation, the only way they could communicate was by sending each other letters in which they shared their experiences and political views. 

“The letters from prison were far different from her first letter to me, which she wrote at the age of four. That first one was just a full page of walone,” said Nay Win, refering to the circles that form the most basic element of the  Burmese writing system. 

After being detained for three years and seven months, Phyo Phyo Aung was released from prison in October 2011 as part of President Thein Sein’s second amnesty. Her father had been released one year earlier, and both of her parents, as well as relatives and colleagues, came out to welcome her.

Having missed out on her higher education due to her involvement in the 2007 uprising and subsequent periods in hiding and in prison, Phyo Phyo Aung contacted the Government Technological College in hopes of going back to school. 

The college, however, informed her that their rules did not allow them to accept re-enrollment by students who had not contacted them for more than two years. But Phyo Phyo Aung is determined to resume her studies and intends to pursue language skills and study civil engineering outside of Burma’s educational system. 

In addition, her time in prison did not deter her from getting involved again in political activism and the student movement. She remains committed to social justice and recently became the general secretary of the ABFSU’s Organizing Committee.

In her 2011 book “A Country of Heroes in the Dark,” Burmese author Hnin Pen Eain wrote that Phyo Phyo Aung inherited her father’s spirit and commitment, and like her father, she is gentle but dedicated to doing ther best for the sake of her people. 

These thoughts were echoed by Kyaw Ko Ko, the chairperson of the ABFSU, who said that Phyo Phyo Aung has a strong commitment to politics and is very dedicated to working for her people and her fellow students.

“She is a future leader who is ready to serve, even for political duties, so the citizens of Burma can rely on her,” said Kyaw Ko Ko.

Copyright © 2008 Irrawaddy Publishing Group | www.irrawaddy.org