January news - 2013

Villagers Flee as Govt Troops Seize Another KIA Outpost

By NYEIN NYEIN / THE IRRAWADDY On January 9, 2013 @ 11:42 am

As Burmese government troops seized control of another Kachin Independence Army (KIA) outpost on Wednesday, relief workers said that already overcrowded refugee camps near the group’s headquarters are seeing a fresh influx of civilians fleeing from intensified fighting.
The outpost, at the base of the Hpun Pyan Bum hill, about 7 km west of the KIA stronghold of Laiza, is the second KIA position in the area to fall since the Burmese government army stepped up its offensive late last month.
After days of airstrikes and artillery shelling that began in the final week of December, the KIA lost control of its Point 771 outpost near Lajayang on Jan. 3.
The Hpun Pyan Bum outpost, which was under the control of KIA Brigade 5, started coming under heavy artillery fire on Monday, and has also been the target of aerial attacks, according to sources in Laiza.
Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Wednesday, La Hseng, chairman of the Northern Command of the All Burma Students’ Democratic Front (ABSDF), a KIA ally, said that Burmese forces are continuing their advance on Laiza.
“Two columns of government troops are moving forward to launch attacks on bases surrounding Laiza,” said La Hseng.
According to Doi Pi Sa, the chairman of a committee overseeing camps for war-displaced civilians, hundreds of refugees have fled to camps near Laiza since the fighting began to intensify in late December.
Altogether, since a 17-year-old ceasefire between the KIA and the government army broke down in June 2011, more than 100,000 civilians have been forced to flee to areas controlled by both the KIA and the government.
“As the fighting escalates, the refugees desperately need more assistance because they have no way to support themselves,” said Doi Pi Sa. “They are also growing increasingly worried about their safety.”

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URL to article: http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/23651

Heavy Fighting Continues Near Laiza

By NYEIN NYEIN / THE IRRAWADDY On January 8, 2013 @ 9:26 am

Burmese government forces continued to shell the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) stronghold of Laiza on Tuesday as the two sides engaged in heavy fighting around two nearby KIA outposts, according to a spokesperson for the ethnic armed group. KIA spokesman La Nan told The Irrawaddy at noon on Tuesday that government troops under Military Operation Command 21 started using heavy artillery against the KIA targets at 4 am.
“They [government troops] fired on our headquarters with 105-mm artillery shells six times this morning,” said La Nan, adding that similar attacks took place on Sunday.
However, two KIA outposts on the hills of In Ta Bum and Hpun Pyan Bum, within the area controlled by KIA Brigade No. 5, have borne the brunt of Tuesday’s offensive, which has included aerial attacks that began on Monday afternoon.
According to La Nan, heavy ground fighting near the two outposts continued until 8 pm yesterday, followed by another round of shelling at 11 pm. The attacks then resumed at 4 am on Tuesday, he said.
Min Htay, a major of the All Burma Students’ Democratic Front (ABSDF), an ally of the KIA, said that the two sides started exchanging fire at around 8 o’clock this morning.
“We engaged the government troops on Hpun Pyan Bum, which they began to attack yesterday, at about 8 am and continued until 10 am,” said Min Htay.
This new offensive is taking place about 1 km from Lajayang, a major outpost that came under heavy aerial bombardment in the final week of December.
According to Min Htay, two fighter jets and three helicopter gunships attacked Lajayang again on Tuesday, in a half-hour assault that began at around 2 pm. Several houses had reportedly burned down after being hit by rockets, he said.
No casualties have yet been reported in today’s fighting, although there have been unconfirmed reports of the death of one KIA soldier.
Meanwhile, sources say that fighting continues around Point 771, a KIA outpost that was seized by the Burmese government army on Jan. 3 following airstrikes on KIA targets.
President Thein Sein said the government has no plan to seize Laiza, but La Nan said that the current offensive is part of a strategy to take control of the area around the KIA headquarters.
“Whether they are trying to seize Laiza or not is unimportant. The important thing is how much of the surrounding area they can get under their control,” said La Nan.
When asked about the prospects for a resumption of peace talks, La Nan said that under the current circumstances, the KIA is more focused on defending its positions than in returning to the negotiating table.

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URL to article: http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/23474

UNFC Seeks End to Burma Army’s Kachin Offensive

By KHIN OO THAR / THE IRRAWADDY On January 8, 2013 @ 10:38 am

The United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC), an alliance of Burmese ethnic armed groups that is currently holding a four-day meeting in Thailand, says it is seeking ways to stop the ongoing conflict in Kachin State.
The leaders of the UNFC said that they will call on the Burmese armed forces to end its offensive against the Kachin Independence Army, the armed wing of the Kachin Independence Organization, one of the group’s 11 members.
“We are holding this meeting to find ways to advance the political process after the fighting ceases,” said UNFC Secretary Khun Okkar, who is also a leader of Pa-O National Liberation Organization.
Representatives from all 11 members groups except the Chin National Front (CNF) are taking part in the meeting, which began on Monday.
The UNFC leaders said they will send their recommendations to the government regarding the political and peace process and urge it to solve political problems using political means.
Yohei Sasakawa, the chairman of Nippon Foundation and the Japanese government’s goodwill ambassador for the welfare of Burma’s ethnic minorities, is also attending the UNFC meeting to discuss the situation of war refugee in ethnic areas.
Khun Okkar said the Nippon Foundation leader had agreed to provide US $3 million to support war-displaced civilians in ethnic-controlled areas when the UNFC leaders visited Japan last October.

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URL to article: http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/23501

Shan State Farmers Say ‘Grow Opium Poppy, Don’t Use It’

By KYAL PYAR / THE IRRAWADDY On January 8, 2013 @ 6:30 am

PEKHON, Shan State—Amid abundant poppy plantations in this southern township of Shan State, local farmers find themselves in a dilemma: Almost every household here grows opium poppy, citing a lack of other options, but they aren’t pleased to be in the business.
“We aren’t happy growing this poppy, because we know that people will die from opium,” a grower from Laei village told The Irrawaddy recently. “But we’re starving, and nobody is helping us. Who cares about us?”
The annual poppy harvest ended last month in Pekhon Township, a Kayan ethnic minority area, and farmers noted a much smaller yield than normal, in part due to heavy rain and wind last year.
The government’s drug eradication campaign has also added to their difficulties, as anti-narcotics officials have tried to destroy poppy fields throughout Burma, the world’s second-largest opium producer.
Though Kayan farmers in Shan State support the goal of eliminating drug use, they say they haven’t been taught how to substitute their poppy fields with other crops.
And despite the anti-drug program, they say local authorities and armed groups in the area continue to promote poppy cultivation, often demanding a portion of their income from harvest yields.
“Every year, we produce hundreds of tons of opium here,” said Saw Lwin, joint secretary of the Kayan New Land Party. “The government’s anti-drug program destroys our harvests, but then the authorities say we shouldn’t worry, encouraging us to keep growing it.”
In addition to paying an annual tax of 20 million to 30 million kyat (US $23,000 to $35, 000) on their crops, farmers say they bribe local authorities to protect their fields from anti-drug officials, but at least one third of their crops were still destroyed last year.
In Pekhon Township, villages such as Kahant, Laei and Latein have tried to ban opium use by expelling residents caught with the drug. They also promote local sayings such as “Grow opium poppy, don’t use it,” and they post anti-drug notices at every village entrance.
But according to Lwi Si Nyein, a former political prisoner and a leader of the Kayan New Generation Youth group, drug use remains common, with overdoses leading to deaths in the township.
“We have a drug rehabilitation center in Pekhon, but the program stopped and we’re not sure why,” he said.

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URL to article: http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/23433

Man Accused of Thingyan Bombing Dies at Home

By NYEIN NYEIN / THE IRRAWADDY On January 4, 2013 @ 6:34 am

Phyo Wai Aung, the man accused of carrying out a deadly bombing during the Burmese water festival in 2010, has died just months after his release from prison from an illness that went untreated while he was still in custody.
Family members said he died at his home in Rangoon’s Kyauk Myaung Township at around 3 am on Friday.
The 33-year-old engineer was sentenced to death in May of last year for his alleged role in a series of bombings that killed at least 10 people and injured around 100 others during festivities to mark Thingyan, the Burmese new year, in April 2010. He was subsequently released under a presidential pardon on Aug. 3, 2012.
Following his arrest on April 23, 2010, Phyo Wai Tha was allegedly tortured while undergoing interrogation and later suffered from health problems stemming from his mistreatment. His condition went untreated until two days after he was sentenced to death in a closed trial, when he was admitted to Insein General Hospital and diagnosed with liver cancer.
When he was released from custody last August, he told The Irrawaddy that he was “arrested mistakenly” and that the political system was at fault.
Due to his rapidly deteriorating health in prison, Phyo Wai Aung suffered from paralysis of the lower half of his body. After his release, he was hospitalized in Insein and Rangoon hospitals, but his health did not improve.
His brother-in-law Aung Myint told The Irrawaddy on Friday that Phyo Wai Aung returned to his home from the hospital 16 days ago.
“He was able to speak until the last night before he died,” said Aung Myint. “It is such a loss for our family, as well as for the country,” he added.
Phyo Wai Aung’s body has been taken to the Yay Way Muslim cemetery, where he will be buried later today. He leaves behind his wife and two children, aged 8 and 4.

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URL to article: http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/23088

Gold Mine Protesters Jailed for Offending ‘Public Tranquility’

By NYEIN NYEIN / THE IRRAWADDY On January 4, 2013 @ 10:10 am

Four protesters have received six-month prison sentences after demonstrating in November against a gold mining company in Mandalay Division, central Burma, according to reports from their family members.
Ye Yint Htun, Saw Naung, Naing Win and Nay Aung Htet, all from the Moehti Moemi gold mining region of Yamethin Township, were arrested while traveling home from Rangoon on Nov. 23 and received their verdicts on Thursday from the township court.
“They received six-month sentences for incitement under 505 [b] of the Burma Penal Code,” said Myint Than, the father of Nay Aung Htet.
Section 505 [b] makes it a crime to act “with intent to cause, or in a manner that is likely to cause, fear or alarm to the public or any section of the public, whereby any person may be induced to commit an offence against the State or against public tranquility.”
Myint Than said the protesters were also fined 10,000 kyat (US $11) under Section 18 of the Peaceful Assembly Act, which requires people to obtain permission from the government for demonstrations.
Family members told The Irrawaddy on Thursday that the sentencing was unfair because the protesters had not committed any crime against the state, other than demanding their rights.
Small gold-miners began protests in June last year after they were forced to leave their work site by the Myanmar National Prosperity Public Company (MNPPC), which had verbally agreed earlier to let them work in the area.
Myint Than said the four protesters were found guilty despite a lack of strong evidence.
“They shouldn’t be punished because they were just peacefully demonstrating on their way home,” he said.
Sandar Min, a national lawmaker working as a negotiator between the protesters and the gold mining company, said this was the first time since the nominally civilian government came to power two years ago that protesters have been sent to prison for violating Section 505 [b].
She said the lawsuit was not filed by MNPPC, but by the administrator in Yay Tar Shay Township, where the protesters were arrested in November.
“I think the Yay Tar Shay administrator used his power to put them in prison,” said Sandar Min, saying the protesters had not violated 505 [b].
Also on Thursday, the small-scale gold miners from Moehti Moemi held a press conference in Rangoon, saying they had reached an agreement with MNPPC.
Sandar Min said the protests would stop and MNPPC would pay the head of each gold pit 1.5 million kyat in compensation.
She said the small-scale miners would form a company to work on their own, excavating gold in a location next to the MNPPC’s 6,205 acres.
Several leading protesters from other demonstrations, including those who opposed a brutal government crackdown on monks at the Letpadaung copper mine in northwest Burma, are also facing charges under the Peaceful Assembly Act and Section 505 [b] of the Penal Code for protesting without permission.

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URL to article: http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/23113

Rangoon Starts Power Cuts for Industries

By NANG SAI NOM / THE IRRAWADDY On January 3, 2013 @ 10:41 am

RANGOON—Authorities in Burma’s commercial capital Rangoon have begun cutting power supply to the city’s industrial zones for seven hours per day, a zone manager said. The outages are set to worsen and affect residents during the coming dry season, when Rangoon’s chronic electricity shortages become particularly pressing.
Myat Thin Aung, chairman of Hlaing Thar Yar Industrial Zone, said on Wednesday that his zone had been informed that daily power cuts would commence on Jan 1.
Yangon Electricity Supply Board (YESB) publicly announced the outages this week, he said, adding that the industries were warned that “electricity will be cut for seven hours from 4 pm to 11 pm.”
YESB Chairman Aung Khaing had announced “that power cuts to industries were being implemented in order to be able to provide power to the public in the dry season,” according to Myat Thin Aung.
Rangoon business would suffer under the cuts, the zone manager said, but he added that as factories were given due notice they could prepare their diesel generators ahead of the outages. Cold-storage industries, bakery businesses and plastics factories would be most affected by the planned outages, he said
Up until now power supply in Rangoon had been good, according to Myat Thin Aung. “We have been provided with 24 hours of electricity this rainy season. It is better than before. In the past, you would never know whether the power would be supplied or cut,” he said.
The manager warned nonetheless, that providing continuous power would be instrumental in attracting foreign business investment in Burma’s industrial zones.
With the dry season nearing, the concerns over power outages are now also growing among Rangoon’s citizens.
A Kyauk Myaung Township resident, who preferred not to be named, said, “I hope the 24-hour power distribution will continue as in recent months.” But in the dry season, we used to be provided with limited power supply in the past,” she added. “We cannot do anything if the power is cut in Rangoon.”
Last month, YESB warned that shortages were again likely during the coming hot season, when water levels in hydropower stations drop due to droughts and power output of the stations fall sharply.
During the last hot season, in the months of April, May and June, frequent power shortages led to large-scale protests in Rangoon and Mandalay.
About 70 percent of Burma’s current energy supply comes from hydropower and 30 percent comes from coal, but production is far below the needs of the country.
Only a quarter of all Burmese have access to mains grid power and Rangoon alone needs an estimated US $237 million for infrastructure refurbishment and expansion work for the 2013-2016 period, according to the Asian Development Bank.

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URL to article: http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/22998

Chinese Prospectors Stake a Claim in Arakan State

By NYEIN NYEIN and KHIN OO THAR / THE IRRAWADDY On January 2, 2013 @ 11:32 am

A Chinese company has been given permission to test sand in northern Arakan State for suspected deposits of aluminum and titanium, raising concerns among local people about the possible impact of a mining operation in the area.
The state’s mining minister, Aung Than Tin, told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that the company is testing sand found along the coasts of Maungdaw and Rathedaung townships for the valuable metals, and said that “if the tests are successful, the project will continue.”
The company, called Shwe Shapweye (“Gold Finder”) in Burmese, received permission to prospect along the Ale Than Kyaw beach in Maungdaw and Angu Maw beach in Rathedaung from Naypyidaw, he added.
Local residents say that Chinese companies first started making exploratory digs in the two areas in 2010, leaving behind gaping holes and large piles of sand that have since caused mudslides.
“The collapse of these sand pits has damaged the beaches,” said Ko Ko Maung, a resident of Rathedaung township, who added that there has recently been an increase in the number of Chinese businesspeople visiting the area.
The Chinese first started coming in 2010 in search of natural gas and petroleum, he said, but instead discovered deposits of aluminum and titanium.
The return of Chinese business interests to the area has prompted local groups to threaten protests if there is any danger of further environmental damage.
A member of Rakhine National Network told The Irrawaddy that “if the project is not helpful for the local residents and there is a significant negative impact on the environment, we will object to it, because other projects operating in Rakhine [Arakan] State have brought no benefits to local people.”
State Mining Minister Aung Than Tin said the state government will act in accordance with the locals’ desires, but added that “the project is still at a very early stage, and we have not made any decision yet.”

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URL to article: http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/22900

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KNU Rebels ‘Will Not Turn Back on Peace Process’

By ZARNI MANN / THE IRRAWADDY On January 7, 2013 @ 12:37 pm

RANGOON—The new Karen National Union leadership said on Monday that it was committed to building up trust with the Burmese government in order to make the peace process a success, adding that its recent meeting with President Thein Sein marked another step towards this goal.
“We are still suspicious of each other, but this is due to the long years of fighting… However, on our part we are trying our best to build up [mutual] trust, as trust is very important in peace talks,” said Mahn Nyein Maung, an executive member of the KNU’s central committee.
“We will try our best to struggle for peace and will not turn back on the peace process,” he said, adding that during the 60-year conflict “many people have died and many suffered the consequences of civil war… we don’t want any more suffering.”
The KNU leaders were speaking at a press conference in Rangoon, where they had met with representatives of Rangoon’s Karen community.
On Friday, the KNU leaders met President Thein Sein, who had invited the new leadership to Naypyidaw. KNU General Secretary Kwe Htoo Win said the meeting had been a formal occasion to introduce the new Karen leadership. The old leadership had met with Thein Sein last year.
In December, a KNU congress elected Mutu Say Poe as chairman, Gen Saw Johnny as military chief and Kwe Htoo Win as general secretary. The three are regarded as pragmatic and have good relations with the government’s peace team.
Kwe Htoo Win said the KNU was satisfied with the progress under the current peace process, which began following the signing of a cease-fire in January 2012. Ethnic Karen rebels have fought a decades-long armed struggle to demand greater autonomy and basic rights.
Kwe Htoo Win said the KNU raised a number of points with Thein Sein, such as its concerns over the escalating conflict in Kachin State, where government forces have recently launched airstrikes on Kachin rebels.
“If there is still war in Kachin State this relates to the peace process with the Karens too,” he said, adding that a comprehensive peace agreement involving all ethnic groups was required. “If we really want countrywide cease-fires and peace, we should talk and negotiate with every group. Only a cease-fire with one side will not work,” Kwe Htoo Win said.
The KNU general secretary said the group would neither accept the 2008 military-drafted Constitution and has no intention to transition into a political party until the Constitution is amended. The KNU also wants to be accepted as a legal organization while remaining political prisoners should be released, he added.
The President’s Office said on its website on Saturday that Thein Sein and the KNU leadership had discussed “the continuation of peace talks, the cease-fire, liaison offices and regional development tasks.”
The president was “committed to bringing about lasting peace during his term, expressing his confidence that the KNU would share the same stance,” according to the statement, which noted the KNU’s concern over the Kachin conflict.
The statement made particular mention of the need to bring foreign investment and development projects to Burma’s ethnic regions in order to create jobs, once peace was achieved.
(Additional reporting by Paul Vrieze)

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URL to article: http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/23391

KNU to Attend Karen New Year’s Celebrations in Rangoon

By ZARNI MANN / THE IRRAWADDY On January 8, 2013 @ 12:01 pm

RANGOON — For the first time in six decades, representatives of the Karen National Union (KNU) will attend Karen New Year’s celebrations in Rangoon, according to a senior member of the ethnic armed group.
“Padoh Saw Thamein Tun and I will attend the ceremony as official representatives of the KNU,” said Mahn Nyein Maung, an executive member of the KNU’s central committee who was part of a delegation that has just concluded a visit to Naypyidaw at the invitation of President Thein Sein.
While the rest of the delegation has returned to the Thai-Burmese border, the two representatives have stayed behind to attend the event, which will be held in Burma’s largest city on Jan. 12.
Although the attendance of the KNU representatives has been confirmed, it remains unclear if they will give a speech, as they have not been officially invited by the event’s organizing committee as guests of honor.
Mahn Shwe Pyi Aye, a spokesperson for the organizing committee, said, however, that members of the KNU are more than welcome to take part in the celebrations, even though the group is still technically regarded as an illegal organization.
Also uncertain is whether a display of photographs of Karen revolutionary leaders, including Saw Ba U Gyi, founder and first president of the KNU, will be allowed at the ceremony, which will be held in Rangoon for the 75th time this year.
“Although the KNU is engaging in peace talks with the government, we are still not sure if it’s all right to exhibit these photos and show this history,” said Mahn Shwe Pyi Aye.

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URL to article: http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/23509

Journalists Call for More Freedom as Censorship Lifted

မွတ္မွတ္ရရ ပို႔စ္ ၁၀၀ ျပည့္တဲ့ ပို႔စ္မွာ ျမန္မာႏိုင္ငံမွာ သတင္းဂ်ာနယ္ေတြကို စာေပစိစစ္ေရး ကင္းလြတ္ခြင့္ ေပးလိုက္တာကို ေရးထားတဲ့  သတင္းကို ျပန္ရွယ္တဲ့ ပို႔စ္ေလး ျဖစ္ေနတဲ့အတြက္ ၀မ္းသာမိ၏။  ပစ္ထားမိေသာ ဘေလာ့ဂ္ေလးအား မၾကာခင္က ျပန္လည္မြမ္းမံေနျခင္း ျဖစ္၏။ 

သတင္းမီဒီယာမ်ား စာေပလြတ္လပ္ခြင့္ အျပည့္အ၀ ခံစားရေတာ့မည္။ သို႔ေသာ္ သတင္းေထာက္မ်ား စာနယ္ဇင္းသမားမ်ား မျမင္ရေသးေသာ ပံုႏွိပ္ဥပေဒသစ္ကို ျပန္ၾကားေရး၀န္ႀကီးဌာနက သူ႔သေဘာအတိုင္း ေရးဆြဲေနသည္။ မၾကာမီ လႊတ္ေတာ္သို႔ တင္မည္ဟုလည္း ေျပာလိုက္ေသး။ သို႔ေသာ္ ဥပေဒက ျဖဴသည္ မဲသည္ မသိရေသး။ စာနယ္ဇင္း သမားမ်ားကို ဖိႏွိပ္ခ်ဳပ္ျခယ္မည့္ အခ်က္ ဘယ္ေလာက္ပါေလမလဲ။  ၀န္ႀကီးဦးေက်ာ္ဆန္း ျပဳတ္ေတာ့မယ္လို႔ သတင္းထြက္ေနေပမယ့္ သူကေတာ့ ေတာ္ေတာ္ေမႊပါ၏။  သို႔ေသာ္ ဂ်မ္းပံုစတိုင္နဲ႔ ေျပာရပါရင္ ေမာင္မင္းႀကီးသားမ်ား မသြားခင္ အၿပီးျပတ္ စာေပစိစစ္ကို ဖ်က္သိမ္းေပးသြားမယ္ ထင္ပါတယ္။  သို႔ေသာ္ စာေပစိစစ္ေရးအဖြဲ႔ကေတာ့ တရား၀င္ ဖ်က္သိမ္းတယ္လို႔ သတင္းမထုတ္ျပန္ေသးပါဘူး။ ေနာက္ကြယ္က ျကပ္မတ္ေနမယ့္သေဘာ။ 

ျမန္မာစာနယ္ဇင္းသမားမ်ားသည္ သတၱိေျပာင္ေျမာက္သူမ်ားျဖစ္၏၊ အဖိအႏွိပ္ အျဖတ္အေတာက္ မ်ဳိးစံုေအာက္မွ ရသမွ် တိုက္ပြဲ၀င္ ေရးသားေနသူမ်ားမို႔ ခ်ီးက်ဴးမိပါ၏။ သို႔ေသာ္ ပြဲလန္႔တုန္း ျဖာခင္းတတ္ေသာ၊ ဂုဏ္ေဖာ္တတ္ေသာ စာနယ္ဇင္းသမား ဂ်ာနယ္သမားမ်ားလည္း ရွိ၏။ ျပည္သူ႔အတြက္ သတင္းတင္ျပေနသူဟုဆိုကာ စာနယ္ဇင္းက်င့္၀တ္ကို သိပ္နားမလည္ေသာသူမ်ား အမ်ားအျပားလည္း လူမႈကြန္ယက္ ေဖ့ဘြတ္ စာမ်က္ႏွာမ်ား၊ ၀က္ဆိုက္မ်ားေပၚ အေရးအသားမ်ားမွ ေလ့လာမွတ္သားရပါ၏။ ထိုလူမႈကြန္ယက္မွတဆင့္ ေစတနာမွန္ႏွင့္ လုပ္ေဆာင္ေနေသာ သတင္းေထာက္ အယ္ဒီတာမ်ား၏ လုပ္ေဆာင္ခ်က္၊ ေရးသားခ်က္မ်ားအား လြန္စာ ေလးစားမိပါ၏။ ၉ ရက္ေန႔က သမၼတရံုးအမိန္႔နဲ႔ ဖြဲ႔ေပးထားတဲ့ အျမဴေတစာနယ္ဇင္းေကာင္စီအဖြဲ႔၀င္ ၂၀ ထဲက ေလးပံုတပံုပါေနတဲ့ ျမန္မာႏိုင္ငံစာေရးဆရာအသင္း ဦးေဆာင္သူ ၅ ဦးကလည္း ထိုေကာင္စီကို ကန္႔ကြက္ထား၏။  အဖြဲ႔၀င္အျဖစ္ ခန္႔အပ္ခံရတဲ့ သူေတြရဲ႔ ဆႏၵမပါဘဲ သူတို႔လုပ္ခ်င္ရာလုပ္တဲ့ အက်င့္ဆိုးက မေဖ်ာက္ႏိုင္ေသးသကိုး။ 

သို႔ေသာ္ တဖက္မွာလည္း စာနယ္ဇင္းသမားမ်ား၏ သတင္းလြတ္လပ္ခြင့္ ေကာ္မတီက  သတင္းလြတ္လပ္ခြင့္အျပည့္အ၀ရရန္အတြက္ ဆႏၵထုတ္ေဖာ္ဖို႔ ဆႏၵျပခြင့္ရရန္ ဒီေန႔ စာတင္မည္ ျဖစ္သည္။  

Journalists Call for More Freedom as Censorship Lifted
By NYEIN NYEIN / THE IRRAWADDY| August 20, 2012 | 

Journalists in Burma welcomed today’s announcement that they will no longer be required to submit articles to the country’s draconian censorship board before going to print, but said the move was not enough to restore full media freedom.

Tint Swe, the head of Burma’s Press Scrutiny and Registration Board (PSRD), told the editors of weekly journals on Monday that effective immediately, their outlets “no longer need to pass the censorship board.”

He added that the easing of restrictions was the result of policy changes within the Ministry of Information. Despite the move, however, laws that severely limit press freedom remain in force.

“It’s a real improvement, but the 2004 Electronics Act, as well as the draconian 1962 Printers and Publishers Registration Act, should also be abolished in order for the fourth pillar to enjoy full press freedom,” said Zaw Thet Htwe, the spokesperson of the Committee for Freedom of the Press (CFP).

In the past, journalists have been given lengthy prison sentences for violating these laws. During the Saffron Revolution, for instance, bloggers and other “citizen journalists” were charged under the Electronics Act for communicating with the exile media through the Internet.

The PSRD itself was formed on Aug. 6, 1964, two years after the 1962 Printers and Publishers Registration Act was imposed by Burma’s newly formed military junta.

In the past year, the PSRD has allowed some non-news publications to go to print without having to go through censorship first, but this is the first time in 48 years that news media have been permitted to do so. Tint Swe said that the new policy applies to 80 news journals and six religious journals that had remained under censorship until today.

However, the journals are still required to write in accordance with 16 guidelines, under which editors and reporters must follow journalistic ethics and ensure that their stories are accurate and don’t harm national security or “the dignity of the state.”

“We will be able to write news story more freely as there is no more scrutiny over our writing. But at the same, the editors will have to take more responsibility for their publications,” said Thiha Saw, the editor of Open News Journal and Myanma Danna magazine.

Especially sensitive, said Thiha Saw, is the subject of corruption—something that many of the country’s top leaders have been accused of.

Any publication that harms the reputation of a government department can still lose it license under the Printers and Publishers Registration Act, and publishers can also face heavy sentences under Burma’s Penal Code if they they are found guilty of inciting the public to unlawful activity.

However, Thiha Saw said the real problem is not the 1962 act, but the numerous “regulations, orders and directives” that have been imposed over five decades of military rule to restrict the media.

The 1962 press law will remain in place until a new media law is passed by Parliament sometime later this year. The Ministry of Information submitted a draft law to the president’s office on Aug. 7 and it will soon be sent to Parliament, said Tint Swe. After this, he added, the new law will be publicized.

The move comes as members of the CFP plan to hold protests to demand media freedom later this week. The CFP was formed three weeks ago to call for an end to censorship and media oppression. Despite the easing of censorship, the protests will go ahead as planned, said CFP spokesperson Zaw Thet Htwe.

The move is also seen as a green light to publishers who want to publish privately owned daily newspapers. “Ending censorship gives us a chance to publish daily newspapers, since the 1962 act does not prevent publishers from publishing newspapers, but the amended regulations did,” said Thiha Saw.

http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/11933 

UN Calls on Govt to Release Aid Workers Still in Detention

By NYEIN NYEIN and KHIN OO THAR / THE IRRAWADDY| August 20, 2012 | 

 

The United Nations’ top official in Burma said he welcomed the release last week of aid workers detained since violence broke out in Arakan State in June, but urged the government to free others still behind bars.

At a ceremony marking World Humanitarian Day on Sunday, Ashok Nigam, the UN resident and humanitarian coordinator for Burma, thanked the government for releasing the aid workers last Thursday, but noted that “some other UN and INGO staff … are still under detention.”

Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Monday, the UN’s chief spokesperson in Rangoon, Aye Win, declined to say how many UN and international aid agency staff had been released and how many remain behind bars, saying that a number of cases are still in court.

According to Myo Thant, a spokesperson for the Arakan State government, five aid workers—two from the UN’s refugee agency UNHCR and three from the Dutch NGO Artsen Zonder Grenzen (AZG)—were released from prison in Sittwe and Buthidaung, respectively, last week.

However, local sources in Buthidaung, Maungdaw and Sittwe said that a total of nine had been freed, including five from the UNHCR, two from AZG and two from the UN’s World Food Program (WFP).

Sources in Maungdaw said that UNHCR staffer Cho Lay Mar Khar Ton and two WFP employees had been released from the Nasaka Border Security Force’s Kyikanpyin Camp after being taken there from Maungdaw Prison.

The sources, who are close to the court in Maungdaw, said that the three had been charged with instigating riots under Sections 153, 147 and 505 (b) of Burma’s Penal Code, but were released under orders of the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a lawyer from Sittwe told The Irrawaddy that two AZG employees—Kyaw Hla Aung, who was arrested under Section 505 (b) of the Penal Code, and Win Naing, who was arrested under Section 5 (j)—were among those released last Thursday.

Among those still in detention are Dr Htun Aung (aka) Nu Hauk, who remains in prison in Sittwe. He faces six charges, including instigating a riot and fraud, stemming from a request he made with the local authorities on June 8 to hold a gathering to pray for 10 Muslims killed by an Arakanese mob in Taunggok on June 3. Despite his assurances that the gathering would not result in violence, a riot broke out on the same day and Htun Aung was later arrested.

Several of the released NGO workers were reportedly taken into custody because of their alleged connections to Htun Aung, who is a local religious leader.

Htun Aung’s daughter Mya Nandar Aung was also temporarily detained on June 10 after she was found in possession of “suspicious documents” at Sittwe airport. She was later charged in Rangoon’s Mingala Taung Nyunt Township and now faces trial. She met with the UN human rights expert Tomas Ojea Quintana during his latest visit to Burma.

Meanwhile, Burma’s government on Saturday launched an inquiry into the violence that broke out in early June. The investigation will be carried out by a team that includes both Buddhist and Muslim religious leaders.

A spokesman for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the move could create a “conducive environment for a more inclusive way forward to tackle the underlying causes of the violence, including the condition of the Muslim communities in [Arakan State].”

http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/11914

NGO Registration Law to be Drafted

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

 

The drafting of a new registration law specifically for non-governmental organizations was approved by Burma’s Lower House of Parliament on Thursday while existing legislation will also be reviewed.

Lower House Speaker Shwe Mann responded favorably to a proposal “urging the government to draft an NGO registration law commensurate with the age as the president called for cooperation with civil societies in the democratic transition.” The matter was first brought up last week by Thein Nyunt, an MP for the New National Democracy Party.

Shwe Mann instructed the Lower House Legal Affairs and Special Cases Assessment Commission, Bill Committee, interested MPs and the respective ministry, “to revise the orders and regulations and to draft new legislation as necessary.” He said they should “submit the report as soon as possible assuming it as a special case” as the procedures for NGO registration should be handled smoothly.

Deputy Minister for Home Affairs Brig-Gen Kyaw Zan Myint objected to drafting a new NGO law during the debate. “There is no need to draft new legislation as the current registration law is still sophisticated and their regulations have nothing to amend.” Instead he recommended putting the matter on record.

Shwe Mann said current regulations and bylaws are insufficient and so necessary amendments needed to be made. He told MPs that the current rules, regulations and orders of the registration law “lack practicality and flexibility” as they “went beyond the purpose of the original law.”

As well as the new legislation specifically for NGOs Shwe Mann said that the existing 1988 Registration Law should also be reviewed.

“The speaker’s decision to make amendments by the parliamentary committee and parliamentarians will be effective as it would be quicker than the government drafting legislation,” Thein Nyunt added.

Thirteen lawmakers—from the main opposition National League for Democracy, National Unity Party, Rakhine Nationalities Development Party, Phalon-Sawaw Democratic Party and National Democratic Front—discussed the need to have flexible procedures for NGO registration on Wednesday and Thursday.

NGOs inside Burma have to register under the restrictive 1988 Registration Law which was enacted in September 1988, shortly after the nationwide Aug. 8 popular uprising in Burma and in time for the 1990 general election. Any associations which are not registered under this law can be charged with the Unlawful Association Act which carries a penalty of up to five years in prison.

Thein Nyunt said the law was enacted to restrict any organization from political activities at that time, but now the country is reforming and so the political landscape is different. He added that fresh legislation is needed as there are no specific guidelines for NGOs that would help socioeconomic development in Burma to operate officially.

Shwe Mann also pointed out the inclusion of “unpractical requirements” in the rules such as the high cost of registration. NGOs must pay 100,000 kyat (US $110) and submit report every two years under the regulations, but in reality sources say that groups must pay up to 500,000 kyat ($550) to be registered.

There are currently around 270 NGOs registered at the Ministry of Home Affairs while more than 1,000 are actually working inside Burma, according to Kyaw Zan Myint.
 

http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/11784 

Constitutional Tribunal Could Face Impeachment

By NYEIN NYEIN / THE IRRAWADDY| August 16, 2012 | 

 

Shwe Mann, the speaker of Burma’s Lower House of Parliament, told MPs on Tuesday that they can begin impeachment proceedings against members of the Constitutional Tribunal next week if President Thein Sein fails to take action to overturn a controversial tribunal decision.

Last week, 301 Lower House MPs signed a petition calling on the tribunal to withdraw a judgment reached in March that declared it unconstitutional to designate “committees, commissions and bodies formed by each Hluttaw [Parliament]” as “Union-level organizations.”

The decision by the nine-member tribunal, which consists of judges selected by the president and the speakers of both houses of Parliament, is controversial because it was seen as undermining the role of MPs.

“The Constitutional Tribunal is now assuming a position above Parliament that harms its legislative powers,” said Ba Shein, a Lower House MP from the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party. “If they continue to exercise their influence in this way, what is left of the role of legislators?”

In April, 191 MPs appealed to the president to do something about the tribunal’s decision, but no action was taken, said Shwe Mann, who called on Tuesday for the tribunal members to resign voluntarily. If they don’t, he said, the MPs can move to impeach them on Aug. 22, after Thein Sein has had a chance to respond to calls to reverse the March ruling.

“If the president acts as requested, the impeachment will not proceed,” the speaker added.
The dispute began in February, when the attorney-general, acting on behalf of the president, asked the tribunal to decide on the status of committees and other bodies formed by Parliament.

The tribunal determined that these bodies could not be designated “Union-level organizations” because,
under Parts I and II of Section 97a of the Constitution, Union-level bodies can only be appointed by the president with the approval of the Union Parliament.

This was immediately criticized as an excessively narrow interpretation of the Constitution. According to Deputy Lower House Speaker Nanda Kyaw Swa, any committee formed by Parliament is a Union-level body under Section 140 and 160 of the Constitution.

Although the dispute has been left unresolved for the past five months, it has received very little public attention. It was only raised in the state media this week, when The New Light of Myanmar reported that Shwe Mann had sent a letter to the president regarding the MP’s concerns.
 

http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/11677 

Media Objects to Interim Regulatory Body

By NYEIN NYEIN / THE IRRAWADDY| August 14, 2012 |

Myanmar Journalists Association (MJA) representatives have told Information Minister Kyaw Hsan that they will not take part in the new 20-member Myanmar Core Press Council (MCPC) until changes are made to its powers and obligations.

The MCPC was formed to regulate the press until the new Media Law is passed later this year, but five MJA members on the council told a meeting on Sunday that they will not take any part until amendments are made to its authority.

“MJA representatives will not take part in the interim press council unless the unacceptable points in the MCPC obligations are amended,” said an earlier statement issued on Friday. After the new Media Law is passed a permanent press council is due to be formed to oversee journalistic ethics.

Thiha Saw, a MCPC member and vice-chairman of the MJA, said, “We asked to amend eight points in the MCPC’s obligations and authorities as it now looks like it will be replacing the tasks of the censorship board.”

“We cannot perform the censorship board’s job,” he added. “It is also against international standards. The council is to protect journalists and the freedom of the press.”

The MJA said that the current regulations contradict discussions with officials from the Press Scrutiny and Registration Division (PSRD) from a couple of months ago.

Journalists asked to delete four points—to supervise the work of the press which is deemed detrimental to the public interests, dignity of the state and national sovereignty; to scrutinize imported publications so they conform with the national interest; exercising authority in accordance with the Evidence Act, Penal Code, Code of Civil Procedure and Tort; and MCPC members enjoying immunity from prosecution.

They also asked for other points to be reworded—that journalists must approve the draft Media Law instead of the legislation being solely compiled by the Ministry of Information; and combining sections 3 (c) and (i) to “settle disputes” regarding journalism ethics instead of “summoning, educating and taking action” over breaches.

Kyaw Hsan said that the MCPC’s activities will be postponed until the dispute with the MJA is settled, said Maung Wuntha, a MCPC member and chairman of the MJA.

“When the demanded points are changed and announced, we will join MCPC meetings,” Maung Wuntha told The Irrawaddy. However, Kyaw Hsan did not say whether their objections would be granted or turned down and there was no further discussion at the meeting about abolishing censorship in line with previously stated policy, added Maung Wuntha.

In the meantime, the PSRD informed journals on Sunday that they must continue to submit stories to the censor board as usual.

The MJA was formally established on Saturday during a nationwide journalists’ conference, a day after the formation of the MCPC was announced by the government. Five leading MJA members—Patron Khin Maung Lay, Chairman Maung Wuntha, Vice-Chairman-1 Ko Ko, Vice-Chairman-2 Thiha Saw and Foreign Relations chief Aung Hla Htun—were also named as representing one quarter of the MCPC.

The MJA also asked Kyaw Hsan to inform members in advance before any further announcements regarding the MCPC. Apart from the MJA contingent, there are 15 other MCPC members including lawyers, judges, academics and publishers appointed by the government.

Kyaw Hsan is known to be a hardliner in President Thein Sein’s administration and there are persistent rumors that he will be relieved of his cabinet post in a reshuffle to take place in the next few days.

http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/11471

Burma Govt Forms Interim Press Council

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

 

Facing growing criticism for stalling on promises to abolish its draconian censorship board, Burma’s government has announced that it has formed a new 20-member interim press council, state media reported on Friday.

Called the Myanmar Core Press Council (MCPC), the new body will be chaired by a retired Supreme Court judge and include academics, lawyers and members of press associations.

The move comes two months after Information Minister Kyaw Hsan told journalists that the Press Scrutiny and Registration Division (PSRD), Burma’s censorship board, would soon be abolished and replaced by an independent press council.

However, that council has yet to materialize due to delays in drafting a new media law, which is due to be passed during the current session of Parliament, which ends in September. The government-appointed MCPC will serve in its place until the new law has been enacted.

The MCPC’s duties will include dealing with ethical issues, providing journalistic training and resolving disputes among media practitioners, according to a notification order published in the state-run media.

The council will also draft a Press Council Bill—one of the demands made by journalist associations after they rejected regulations for the council proposed by the Ministry of Information in June.

“There have to be meetings between the Information Ministry and the members of the press council, because its members were appointed by the government but haven’t even met yet,” said Ko Ko, the secretary of the Myanmar Journalists Association, who was named secretary of the MCPC.

Despite Kyaw Hsan’s promises in June to limit the PSRD’s responsibilities to registering publications,  it continues to act as a censorship board. Ko Ko says, however, that it could now be abolished within weeks.

After it is abolished, “around six daily newspapers will be established,” according to sources in the Information Ministry.

Criticism of the PSRD became more outspoken last week after it suspended publication of two journals—The Voice Weekly and Envoy—at the end of July. The move prompted protests in Rangoon and Mandalay, and the PSRD announced earlier this week that the two journals would be allowed to resume publication in the third week of August.

Despite the formation of the press council, however, some publishers say they are still not satisfied.

Aung Paw Htun, an editor with the Messenger journal, said that the members of the council should have been elected independently by journalists. “Only an independent press council can protect journalists in accordance with journalistic ethics,” he said.

The Eleven Media Group said on its website that it cannot accept the government’s formation of this interim council and does not believe that it can work for journalistic ethics.

The Myanmar Journalist Network, an association consisting mostly of young journalists, recently decided that it would not join the council, a quarter of whose members are from the Myanmar Journalists Association.
 

http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/11336 

New Curfews Imposed in Arakan State

By NYEIN NYEIN / THE IRRAWADDY| August 9, 2012 | 

 

Three more townships in northern Arakan State imposed curfews on Wednesday following fresh clashes earlier this week between Buddhists and Muslims in the strife-torn region, where a total of nine townships are now under lockdown.

The curfews—in Kyauktaw, Minbya and Mrauk-Oo townships—are in response to a series of incidents in Kyauktaw on Aug. 5-6 that left property destroyed and an unspecified number of people dead.

“The curfews were ordered to prevent any further violence in the area after the clashes in Kyauktaw,” said Myo Thant, a member of a special media team set up by the state government in the wake of violence that first broke out in early June.

According to Thar Kyaw, a member of the state legislature, at least 300 homes owned by both ethnic Arakanese Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims were destroyed by fire after riots broke out on Aug. 5 in five villages—Apauk Wa, Shwe Hlaing, Gut Pi Taung, Ywar Nyar and Taung Pauk.

The situation in the area is now “stable,” he told The Irrawaddy on Thursday.

Local residents in the affected townships said the curfew is from 7 pm to 5 am in Kyauktaw, and from 10 pm to 4 am in the other two townships.

“Township authorities have also ordered people to hand over any knives, slingshots and jinglees in their possession,” said Thar Kyaw, who is a resident of Minbya. Jinglees are sharpened bicycle spokes that are used as arrows, often with poison applied to their tips.

Residents of the three townships said that schools and shops are open as usual, but there is a heavy security presence in the streets. Around five or six policemen or soldiers have been assigned to guard each school and Rohingya village in the area, said residents.

In the predominantly Muslim townships of Maungdaw and Buthidaung, however, schools have been  closed since the violence began in early June and markets are allowed to open only in the mornings. Sources in the area say that security has been tightened since yesterday amid fears of bomb attacks.

In Mrauk Oo, local resident Maung Than said the situation appears to be stable, despite a relatively minor confrontation on Wednesday between Arakanese and Rohingyas in a village about 6 km from the town.

Residents of Kyauktaw said that this week’s violence was much worse than the clashes in the area two months ago. At that time, several houses were burned down, but no casualties were reported.

This time, an unknown number of people were killed. “We’re still in the process of counting and identifying the dead,” said Myo Thant.

Maung Maung, a resident of Kyauktaw, said the renewed violence stemmed from two recent attacks on Arakanese-owned properties.

On Aug. 2, which marked the beginning of the Buddhist lent period, a group of Rohingyas allegedly destroyed a bus station in Kyauktaw, and on Sunday, a small rice mill in the village of Taung Pauk was allegedly burnt down and looted by a Rohingya mob.

A state-wide state of emergency was declared after the strife started in Maungdaw in June 8 and curfews have been in place in Sittwe, Maungdaw, Buthidaung, Kyaukphyu, Thandwe and Ramree townships since June 10.
 

http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/11252 

Rights Envoy Meets Burmese Exiles

By NYEIN NYEIN / THE IRRAWADDY| August 8, 2012 | 

 

The United Nations human rights envoy for Burma, Tomas Ojea Quintana, was in the Thai border town of Mae Sot on Tuesday to discuss rights issues with Burmese exiles and ethnic groups based in the area.

Representatives of 10 groups, including health care providers, refugee relief agencies, prisoners’ rights advocates, ethnic organizations and students’ and women’s groups, were present at the meeting.

According to sources who attended the consultation, a wide range of issues was discussed, including continuing conflict in ethnic areas, the ongoing detention of political prisoners, land confiscation, proposed refugee resettlement programs and landmines in former and current conflict zones.

Saw Albert, the field coordinator for the Karen Human Rights Group, said he told the UN envoy that any effort to repatriate refugees—many of whom have been in Thailand for more than two decades—should be carried out systematically and with guarantees for their safety and well-being.

He also added that despite the current ceasefire in Karen State, human rights abuses continue, albeit not  in the same form as before, when civilians were routinely targeted by Burmese military offensives.

Now, he said, many are forced off their land by development projects that have been packaged as part of the “peace process” in the state.

Another major concern, he said, is the presence of landmines throughout the area, where conflict has raged for more than six decades.

Others expressed concern about the uncertainty surrounding the future of refugee camps in Thailand, which house around 160,000 people displaced by fighting between the Burmese army and the Karen National Union. Since Burma launched its reforms last year, many say that aid has shifted away from the border into projects inside Burma.

“Cutting humanitarian assistance to the refugee camps is also a form of human rights violation,” said Dr Naing Aung of the Forum for Democracy in Burma.

One problem with cutting back on funding for the camps and other projects on the border, he said, is that it is still far from clear if reforms inside the country are irreversible, and if they will bring a real improvement in the rights situation.

“Civil society groups should pay closer attention to the ceasefire process and the international community should set up a body to monitor whether or not human rights violations are continuing,” said Naing Aung.

Another issue raised at the meeting is the continuing detention of political prisoners. Bo Kyi, the joint-secretary of the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, said his group informed the UN envoy that there are still 442 detainees in Burma’s prisons for political offenses.

Besides issues affecting political dissidents and ethnic minorities, there are also widespread abuses against farmers and workers, who make up the vast majority of the country’s population. Quintana heard how land confiscation has become a growing problem in rural areas amid increasing domestic and foreign investment in Burma’s economy, while workers who strike for higher wages face dismissal.

Quintana’s trip to the Thai border follows a fact-finding mission to Arakan State, where clashes between ethnic Arakanese Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims have left dozens dead and tens of thousands homeless.

Before starting his week-long visit to Burma, the UN envoy said that the human rights situation is still a major concern that demands much closer attention. He made the same point during his visit to Mae Sot.

“Mr Quintana said that the international community is paying much more attention to the current reforms than to the human rights situation,” said Naing Aung.

Quintana is expected to submit his report to the UN Human Rights Council in October.

http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/11153

Suu Kyi to Head ‘Rule of Law’ Committee

By NYEIN NYEIN / THE IRRAWADDY| August 7, 2012 |

National League for Democracy (NLD) leader Aung San Suu Kyi was approved by Burma’s Parliament on Tuesday to chair the newly formed Committee for Rule of Law and Stability, according to sources in her party.

It is the first committee that Suu Kyi has been appointed to since she and other elected members of her party entered Parliament last month.

Commenting on her new position, Suu Kyi told reporters in Naypyidaw on Tuesday that “Rule of law is not about control, but about protecting society.”

Lower House Speaker Shwe Mann announced the formation of the new committee during Tuesday’s parliamentary session.

Win Myint, the NLD MP for Pathein constituency and the secretary of the committee, said that the vice-speaker of the Lower House, Nanda Kyaw Swar, informed the committee of its responsibilities.

“It is to supervise whether the four important pillars—the legislature, the judiciary, the civil service and the media—are following the rule of law,” Nanda Kyaw Swar told the committee members.

Win Tin, a leading member of the NLD, said Suu Kyi’s appointment to the chairmanship of the committee was appropriate because she has often stressed the need for rule of law as part of her party’s platform, along with establishing peace and amending the Constitution.

“It is a chance for her, as Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has repeatedly raised the issue of rule of law in her addresses to the public, in Parliament and to the international community,” said Win Tin.

Three NLD parliamentarians are listed in the committee, which is comprised of 15 members, including MPs representing the Chin, Kachin, Karenni, Arakanese, Mon and Shan ethnic minorities.

Some politicians said they could not predict how effective the committee will be, given the fact that its members come from many different parties.

Win Myint said that no exact schedule has been established yet for committee meetings.

Some of the committee’s members remarked that they had not not been informed in advance of their new appointments.

“I only learned that I was on the committee when the house speaker read out the names of the committee members,” said Thein Nyunt, the New Democracy Party MP for Rangoon’s Thingangyun Township.

Dr Zaw Myint Maung, an NLD MP from Kyaukpadaung constituency, said he also had no idea that he would be on the committee.

http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/11057

Children of Migrants to Get Burmese IDs

By NYEIN NYEIN / THE IRRAWADDY| August 6, 2012 | 

 

Peace negotiators claim that birth certificate will soon be provided to the Thailand-born children of Burmese migrants after a second successful meeting with Dr. Cynthia Maung at Mae Tao Clinic, in the Thai border town of Mae Sot, on Sunday.

Collaboration between Myawaddy Hospital, Mae Tao Clinic and Mae Sot General Hospital is also being discussed by Dr. Cynthia and Burmese volunteer doctors including Dr. Wai Wai Thar, the wife of Railway Minister Aung Min who acts as Naypyidaw’s chief peace negotiator.

The Burmese delegation included representatives from the Ministry of Health, doctors from Myawaddy and Mandalay hospitals along with Aung Min, Immigration Minister Khin Yi, Industrial Minister Soe Thein, Karen State Chief Minister Zaw Min and Wai Wai Thar, from the Myanmar Maternal and Child Welfare Association.

Aung Min told a previous meeting that he will coordinate with Dr. Cynthia and his wife to discuss details of the process.

“We agreed on the formation of the patient transfer system as well as disease controls in the cross-border areas,” said Dr. Cynthia. Another important matter discussed was the “issuing of birth certificates for Burmese children born in Thailand,” she added.

“We come here to support [Dr. Cynthia’s] needs and we will collaborate with her,” Aung Min told journalists in Mae Sot. “Issuing birth certificate is really easy—we can just do it right away.”

According to the Committee for the Promotion and Protection of Child Rights, there were 20,661 children registered at Mae Tao Clinic between 2003 and 2011, while “tens of thousands more may be left behind due to a lack of knowledge among the migrant workers and the barriers of travelling without legal documents,” said General-Secretary Naing Min.

The clinic also raised the issue of staff being able to return over the border to provide healthcare in rural areas of Karen State, and the government ministers said they would support this.

Dr. Cynthia said that Mao Tao Clinic will continue working on some necessary projects even when migrant workers can receive full healthcare and treatment at Mae Sot or Myawaddy hospitals. But currently, “I do not see better services for migrant workers yet,” she said.

Community groups and Mae Tao Clinic are working together with the Burmese Immigration Department to help local migrant children with the details of implementation to be discussed in future meetings.

Ministers said the government will improve facilities at Myawaddy Hospital so it will be able to accept patients from Mae Tao Clinic. This second meeting focused on collaboration and finding practical solutions to unresolved problems, but did not cover funding issues.

Aung Min also met with Zipporah Sein, general-secretary of the ethnic rebel Karen National Union, in Myawaddy on Sunday morning before visiting Mae Tao Clinic in the afternoon.

http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/10946
 

Accused Thingyan Bomber Pardoned

By NYEIN NYEIN / THE IRRAWADDY| August 3, 2012 | 

Phyo Wai Aung, an engineer who was sentenced to death in May for allegedly carrying out a bombing during Burma’s Thingyan water festival in 2010, has been released from custody after receiving a pardon from President Thein Sein.

The move comes four days after the UN’s special rights envoy for Burma, Tomas Ojea Quintana, met with Phyo Wai Aung on July 30 during his latest visit to the country.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Friday, Phyo Wai Aung said he always believed he would be freed one day because the allegations against him were completely false.

“I was arrested mistakenly,” he said.

Phyo Wai Aung was arrested on April 23, 2010, for his alleged involvement in a spate of bombings at the Thingyan water festival in Rangoon earlier that month. The explosions killed at least 10 people and injured around 100 others.

During his subsequent interrogation, he was allegedly tortured and has since suffered from a variety of health problems. He was sentenced to death at a closed trial in May and two days later admitted to Insein General Hospital, where he was diagnosed with liver cancer.

When asked to comment on his treatment and the trial proceedings, he said that the system was at fault and declined to point any fingers.

Htay Htay, Phyo Wai Aung’s wife, said she was informed of her husband’s pardon two hours before his release.

“The chief warden told me to come to the hospital at about 10 o’clock this morning because they were planning to release him,” she said. “He read out the president’s order, which said that Ko Phyo Wai Aung would be freed under Section 401 [of the Criminal Procedure Code].”

Due to his rapidly deteriorating health, which went largely untreated until May, Phyo Wai Aung now suffers from paralysis of the lower half of his body. His family said their next step would be to transfer him to Rangoon General Hospital, where he can receive treatment from liver specialists.

“His health condition needs urgent medical attention and closer care,” said his brother, Dr Htet Wai Aung.

http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/10808 

Worker Strike Probe Shot Down by MPs

By NYEIN NYEIN / THE IRRAWADDY| August 2, 2012 | 

 

A proposal to form a committee to investigate worker strikes, which took place in Rangoon factories to demand wages hikes over the past year, was rejected by Burma’s Lower House of Parliament after a vote on Wednesday.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy after the decision, Thein Nyunt, a Lower House MP for the New Democracy Party, said he proposed forming the new committee in order to keep tabs on the current political and economic situation.

Labor Minister Aung Kyi said in the Parliament session that, “labor laws are already enacted and it needs some time to be in effective. Therefore, there is no need to form such an investigation committee.”

But Thein Nyunt replied that sidelining the issue will not bring benefits to workers. “It is not enough just enacting a law,” he said. “Although there are labor councils for workers in accordance with the 1964 Labor Rights and Responsibilities Act, the workers strikes emerged since 1974 as a political issue.”

He added that it is difficult for Burma to move forward towards parliamentary democracy if people continue to deny there is a labor problem in the country.

Opposition parliamentarians Myint Thein, the National League for Democracy MP for Magwe constituency, and Khine Maung Yi, the National Democratic Front MP for Rangoon’s Alone constituency , backed Thein Nyunt’s call. Aung Thein Lin, the controversial Unity Solidarity and Development Party MP for Rangoon’s South Oakkalapa constituency, spoke against the move.

The proposal was rejected by just 43 votes in favor compared with 288 against and 17 abstentions. But Thein Nyunt said the proposal can be resubmitted during the next parliamentary session.

Aung Thein Lin, who is currently being investigated for a damning interview in China’s Southern Weekly journal, said that officials at the Ministry of Labor were working hard to solve strike issues, according to the Parliament website.

He explained that 90 factories, mostly in Rangoon, went in strike in May and June but all are now back on track after officials helped in negotiations between the employers and employees.

In June, the Ministry of Labor imposed a minimum wage for workers, Aung Thein Lin added, and more than 100 worker associations have been formed in accordance with the new Labor Association law and bylaws.

Meanwhile, the Minimum Wage Bill is due to be discussed in Parliament this month.

http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/10695 

Burmese Officials Told to Declare Assets

By NYEIN NYEIN / THE IRRAWADDY| August 1, 2012 | 

Despite an order by Burmese President Thein Sein last week for government officials to declare their assets by Aug 1, few expect to see an honest accounting of the personal wealth accumulated by former members of the country’s defunct military junta.

Local media reported this week that Thein Sein made the decision to call on officials to disclose the extent of their wealth after Win Myint, a National League for Democracy (NLD) Lower House MP for Pathein constituency, urged the move in Parliament on July 25.

In a formal proposal submitted to the country’s military-dominated legislature, the opposition MP called on “Union government members [and] Region or State government members” to declare their assets “for emergence of good governance and clean government.”

The proposal was accepted for consideration, and a day later, the President’s Office ordered all officials appointed by the president to submit lists of their assets and businesses no later than Aug 1, in accordance with Section 101 of the Union Government Law, which was enacted in October 2010.

However, the news was greeted with doubts about whether any officials who profited during their tenure in the former junta would come clean about how much they owned thanks to their former and current positions.

“I don’t think those at the government level will honestly declare all of their assets because most officials in the new government are in one way or another implicated in the corrupt and unfair practices of the previous regime,” said Win Tin, a leading member of the NLD.

However, he added, it was the government’s responsibility to continue pushing for greater accountability from officials.

Among the officials to whom Thein Sein’s order applies are members of the president’s cabinet, chief justices and Supreme Court judges, the chairman and members of the Constitutional Tribunal, the attorney-general, the auditor-general, divisional or state chief ministers and ministers, and divisional or state chief justices and judges.

Win Tin said this was no enough to ensure clean government. “I urge the president to include parliamentarians and cronies in his order. They should also be included in the investigation,” he said.

Thein Nyunt, a Lower House MP for the New Democracy Party, said that if an anti-corruption bill is discussed and approved, everyone in the executive, judicial and legislative branches of government should be forced to declare their assets and those who are found to be corrupt should be charged by an anti-corruption commission.

http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/10666 

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.
 

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