BurmaNet News, July 11, 2006

[Editor]

July 11, 2006 Issue # 3001

INSIDE BURMA
DVB: ILO and NLD welcome Burmese lawyer Aye Myint’s release
DVB: Six Karen villagers sent to remote Khamti Jail in northern Burma
DVB: Another person missing in Burmese police detention
Narinjara: Floods render 500 homeless in Arakan
BBC Burmese Service: Burma listed among ten worst countries for children

ON THE BORDER
Bangkok Post: Army to protest at 'hostile act' after chopper comes under fire
DVB: Burma army intensifies attack on Karen civilians

BUSINESS / TRADE
Reuters: Korean, Indian firms urged to withdraw from Myanmar
Xinhua: Myanmar sets bank regulations to prevent financial risk

ASEAN
AP: Malaysia warns ASEAN can't defend Myanmar indefinitely unless it shows
progress

REGIONAL
VOA: Chinese-Thai-Burmese dam projects raise humanitarian, environmental
concerns

PRESS RELEASE
AHRC: Burma: Bloody killings expose myth of "state stability"

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

Jul 10, Democratic Voice of Burma
ILO and NLD welcome Burmese lawyer Aye Myint’s release

Burma’s main opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD) and
the International Labour Organisation (ILO) warmly welcomed the release of
Aye Myint, the lawyer from Pegu who was jailed for reporting human rights
abuses including forced labour to the ILO.

But the ILO said that the release is not really the attempt to end forced
labour in Burma and the military government must do more to show its
desire to end the practice. An ILO official, Kari Tapiola told DVB that
Aye Myint should have never been jailed in the first place, but the
military government jailed him because he provided information (on human
rights abuses) to the ILO.

He also stated that there is no more reason for the authorities to arrest
people like Aye Myint if the government doesn’t arrest people who provide
information to the ILO. He added that the ILO will continue to cooperate
with the government and urge it to end forced labour. Tapiola also urged
the people of Burma to bravely report forced labour to the ILO.

The NLD spokesman Nyan Win also welcomed the release of Aye Myint but he
added it is not clear whether he was released because of pressure from the
ILO or the junta itself wants to carry out changes regarding forced labour
practices.

“But what we want to say is, like the release of people who were detained
in connection with forced labour, the people (of Burma) and the
international community will applaud (the junta), if it tries to end
forced labour. That is what we want.”

Aye Myint was sent to jail because he tried to help farmers from
Phaungdawthi Village in Pegu Township regain their pasturelands
confiscated from them by the army and veteran organisations. He was
arrested in August 2005 and sentenced to seven years in jail in October by
a local court. He said that he will continue to report forced labour
practices and land confiscations to the ILO despite the danger of being
sent to jail again.

When asked if Burmese lawyers should form a group to effectively counter
forced labour in Burma, Nyan Win said:

“We support this idea. But what I want to say is, we also once dreamed of
forming a group and carry out activities. But, in the current situation of
Burma, there is no legitimate lawyer organisation except the Bar Council,
because it is not allowed to be formed. It is not only in this matter that
the government (has been interfering with). After they (the generals)
gained power (in 1962 in a coup), in order to set up a lawyer organisation
legally, no right for legal registration was given. The situation is like
that. And the only legal organisation, the Bar Council changed its rules
and it is made up of all the people appointed by the government. In this
kind of situation, I think that it would be very difficult to form an
organisation. As for me, I want to say it as a lawyer. It is very
encouraging to have this kind of lawyers to work for the truth. We
encourage this kind of action and we are also doing the same. We also
encourage other people so that they can do like that. For this, we are
satisfied.”

____________________________________

July 10, Democratic Voice of Burma
Six Karen villagers sent to remote Khamti Jail in northern Burma

Six Karen villagers including a Christian pastor from Tawkywe-inn Township
in eastern Pegu Division, were arrested at their homes and sent to Khamti
Jail in northern Burma, on suspicion of being hardcore supporters of the
Karen National Union (KNU).

Six villagers including their pastor Saw Tun Ni from Bo Kone Village,
Khintanggyi Hamlet in Tawkywe-inn Township were arrested in the second
week of June and transferred to Taungoo Jail straight away, according to
sources from the prison. Then, on 21 June, they were transferred to
Mandalay Prison and then onto remote Khamti Jail on the 27th.

Although it is not known exactly why they were detained and what kind of
sentences they were handed down on, the villagers could be accused of
being hardcore KNU supporters as they are Karen nationals, according to
local residents. Bo Kone Village is among one of the ten villages which
were destroyed by the military which accused the villagers of having
contacts with the rebels and it was forcibly relocated just before the
SPDC Information minister Kyaw San’s visit to Karen State with journalists
during last month.

The relatives of the detainees have either been sent to other villages or
fled to the Thai-Burmese border and there is no one to come and see them
at the jail.

____________________________________

Jul 10, Democratic Voice of Burma
Another person missing in Burmese police detention

A 40-year-old man from Rangoon Dawpon Township, who was in police
detention had disappeared, causing great concern among the local
residents.

Maung Maung, who lived at No. 150, Yadana Theiddi Road, Kyinsu Ward,
Dawpon was arrested on 27 June by the local police, according to someone
close to the case. He was arrested because he had an argument with his
70-year-old father Ba Yo and the latter slipped, his head hit a house post
and died.

Although no one was against the police interrogating Maung Maung for his
father’s death, when the police told his family members that he had to be
taken to the hospital in an emergency, the whole ward became frightened.
Then, when the police again informed the family that Maung Maung had
escaped from the hospital, suspicion of Maung Maung being killed during
the interrogations became very loud.

On the following day (28 June?), Maung Maung’s son was summoned by the
police and told not to leak the news of his father’s death to the media on
the pain of the whole family being arrested.

We repeatedly contacted the local police station for comments on the
report, but we were told that there was no one to answer queries
officially.

____________________________________

July 11, Narinjara News
Floods render 500 homeless in Arakan

Heavy monsoon rains have flooded several areas in Thandwe, a district town
in southern Arakan State and submerged the Thandwe-Taungup motor road,
said a report from Rangoon.

The inundation has displaced a large number of people people in the area.
A local report said that at least 500 people from 150 families in Thandwe
alone were forced to flee their homes and move to higher places.

Since yesterday, the town authorities opened three shelter centres in the
town.

In Sandaw Toung shelter centre, there are 110 families, mostly women and
children.  A number of families are also sheltered in the remaining two
shelter centres which were opened at the Township administration office
and the USDA office.

According to the report from Rangoon, food and clean drinking water are an
immediate neccsity for the flood victims housed in the shelters.

The Thandwe-Taungup motor road was also damaged in the heavy rains,
breaking up in at least eight separate places after being inundated.
Currently, all transport between Thandwe and Taungup have stopped.

The water is still rising in the area as the rains that started last week
continue, the report said.

The report further stated that the Kaladan River situated in the north of
Arakan has also risen past the danger mark and several low lying areas
nearby have been inundated.

____________________________________

July 11, BBC Burmese Service
Burma listed among ten worst countries for children

Reuters poll of humanitarian experts listed Burma as one of the worst
countries in the world for the children along with Sudan, Iraq and
Afghanistan.

The news agency said there are as many as 70,000 child soldiers in Burma
and boys are forced to commit atrocities to ethnic minority.

It also says there are accusations on rebels of using child soldiers.

Mark Jones, editor of the Reuter AlertNet and one of the authors of
report, says 'Burma is one of the top ten most dangerous places for a
child,' quoting to journalists and humanitarian researchers.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

July 11, Bangkok Post
Army to protest at 'hostile act' after chopper comes under fire

The army will today send a protest to the Burmese government against a
"hostile act", after bullets hit a military supply helicopter flying on
the Thai side of the border in Mae Hong Son province.

Five bullets fired from automatic rifles pierced the tail and engine
housing of the Bell helicopter yesterday morning, a source said.

There were two pilots, two technicians and four soldiers of the 7th
Infantry Regiment on board.

The pilots were able to maintain control of the helicopter and land at the
regimental camp in Muang district.

There were no injuries.

At the time that the attack took place, the helicopter was returning from
dropping provisions to an army field unit and to a development unit
stationed at Pa Kong border patrol village in Pang Ma Pha district of the
province.

An army investigation determined the area where the helicopter was hit was
within firing distance of a Burmese 66th Rapid Deployment Battalion base
on a mountain range a short distance across the border.

Col Suthat Jarumanee, special force commander of the 7th Infantry
Regiment, said army chief Gen Sonthi Boonyaratglin had been informed of
the "hostile act" and the Third Army would today send a protest to Burma.

"We want Burma to take responsibility and compensate us for the damage. A
refusal may force Thailand to take necessary action."

After the incident, a strong force was mobilised to protect the border
where the shooting occurred.

____________________________________

Jul 10, Democratic Voice of Burma
Burma army intensifies attack on Karen civilians

As Burma’s military junta, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC)
troops continue to carry out offensives against villages in Nyaunglebin,
Taungoo, Thaton and Papun Districts, more innocent Karen villagers are
fleeing to the Thai-Burmese border to take refuge.

Currently, there are more than 18,000 new Karen refugees taking refuge on
the Thai-Burmese border.

“We thought that they (Burmese troops) would reduce the acceleration of
their military offensives by the end of May, but in practice, they not
only reduced, but increased the offensives,” said Phado Mahn Sha, the
spokesman and General Secretary of the Karen National Union (KNU). “There
is no problem if they carried out offensives against us soldiers and
revolutionaries. We are soldiers, but they are carrying out this uprooting
strategy on the public. They destroy their properties, animals, rations,
homes and the like. And they are planting landmines where people live.
These are very disgusting matters.”

When asked how the KNU will react to these offensives, Mahn Sha said:

“On our part, we demand dialogue. But if they are not going to do that and
continue the offensives against us, we have to resist and fight back. That
is our own measure. We are in a position to resist. Today, we are taking
part in the revolution and it is just. The public has the right to defend
itself. As for the oppressed public, if they are warred upon, they have
the rights to defend themselves.”

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

July 11, Reuters
Korean, Indian firms urged to withdraw from Myanmar - Nopporn Wong-Anan

Myanmar activists urged a Korean-Indian consortium on Wednesday to quit an
offshore gas project they fear could lead to human rights abuses and prop
up the military junta with billions of dollars in royalties.

Shwe Gas Movement, a group of exiles in Bangladesh, India and Thailand,
called on the venture led by Daewoo International to stop dealing with the
junta until it ends more than 40 years of army diktat in the former Burma.

In a report titled "Supply and Command", the group said the $12 billion
earned from royalties and taxes on gas sales, mainly to China and India,
would help entrench a regime hit by Western sanctions over its human
rights record and the detention of democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.

It also feared a repeat of abuses like the use of forced labour by
military units assigned to guard other energy projects. "Companies -- and
their shareholders -- doing business with the SPDC on the Shwe gas project
will be complicit in any acts of violence carried out by soldiers working
on the Shwe project," it said, referring to the junta known as the State
Peace and Development Council (SPDC).

Asian firms have filled the investment vacuum left by European and U.S.
firms pressured to withdraw from Myanmar.

But in a region where most governments oppose Western efforts to isolate
Myanmar, activists have found it more difficult to shame firms from
Southeast Asia, China and India from doing business with the junta.

A Daewoo official said the consortium would not withdraw.

"Our position is that it's not the right time to discuss a human rights
abuse issue because we are still at a stage of exploring the gas field and
have yet to begin development," the official said in Seoul.

Forced labour

Since the discovery of a major deposit in late 2003, the Korean-Indian
joint venture has been exploring gas fields off the western coast of
Arakan and Chin states.

The Shwe A-1 wells are expected to become one of the largest gas fields in
Southeast Asia, the report said, adding that gas from the Yadana and
Yetagun fields is currently the country's largest source of legal export
revenue, earning $8 billion in net income over 20 years. "Experience from
the infamous Yadana and Yetagun gas pipelines provides evidence that the
Shwe project will lead to an increased Burma Army presence in the area,
forced relocation of villagers, land confiscation and slave labour," the
report said.

France's Total and Unocal Corp, now under ChevronTexaco Corp agreed in
recent years to settle lawsuits over labour disputes and human rights
abuses filed by villagers living near the Yadana project in eastern
Myanmar.

The villagers had accused the companies of turning a blind eye to abuses
by the Myanmar army which guarded the project. The firms denied the
allegations but agreed to provide funds for housing, healthcare and
education in the pipeline region.

The report said the Yangon government would likely spend its Shwe gas
windfall on new military equipment rather than improve the lives of
ordinary people.

"The hopes of many people in Burma for democratic change will be dealt a
serious blow by the gas project if it goes ahead," said Shwe Gas Movement
spokesman Wong Aung.

Myanmar officials were not available to comment.

Daewoo operates and owns 60 percent of the gigantic A-1 block while
India's Oil and Natural Gas Corp has a 20 percent stake and marketing firm
Gas Authority of India Ltd and Korea Gas Corp have 10 percent each.

____________________________________

July 11, Xinhua General News Service
Myanmar sets bank regulations to prevent financial risk

The Central Bank of Myanmar has set a minimum ratio of the paid-up capital
against deposit amount for private banks to prevent probable financial
risk, according to Tuesday's Weekly Eleven News.

The new regulation states that the paid-up capital of bank shall be 10
times the deposit amount.

The prescription, which applies uniformly to semi-government banks and all
private ones, was made at a recent meeting of the Central Bank under the
Ministry of Finance and Revenue in the new capital of Nay Pyi Taw.

All banks' paid-up capital was designated as seven times the deposit after
the outbreak of Myanmar's financial crisis in 2003. Before the crisis,
there had been no such limit.

In early 2003, more than 10 non-bank financial institutions, engaged in
illegal deposit-taking business, collapsed one after another due to
breaking rules and regulations in their operation and failing to pay the
debt by its capital.

These organizations, involved in real estate, construction, trading and
manufacturing, have taken deposits without restraint by offering a monthly
interest rate of 5 percent or an annual rate of 60 percent which were six
times that prescribed by the Central Bank.

Following the bankruptcy of these institutions, it sparked a panic running
on private banks by people for fear of similar occurrence to these banks.
The then run on banks went out of control almost exhausting the limited
cash reserve in the private banks, thus quickly triggering a bank crisis
in the country then.

In March 2005, two major private banks, Asia Wealth Bank and Myanmar
Mayflower Bank, were closed down by the government for allegedly being
linked to money laundering.

Later in August the same year, one more major private bank -- the Myanmar
Universal Bank -- was also sealed by the government on the same charge.

Private banks were nationalized in Myanmar in 1963 during Ne Win's
government but after the country started to adopt the market- oriented
economic system in late 1988, private banks were allowed to operate again
since 1992 and since then there had once been 20 such banks across Myanmar
with a total of 350 branches.

With the take-over of the three banks by the government and the merger of
three other cooperative banks in recent years, there remained 15 of
private banks in operation as of the end of 2005.

In additional to the 15 private banks, there are also five main
state-owned banks known as the Central Bank, Myanmar Economic Bank,
Myanmar Foreign Trade Bank, Myanmar Investment and Commercial Bank and
Myanmar Agricultural and Rural Development Bank.

____________________________________
ASEAN

July 11, Associated Press
Malaysia warns ASEAN can't defend Myanmar indefinitely unless it shows
progress - Vijay Joshi

Myanmar's Southeast Asian neighbors can't defend the military-ruled nation
diplomatically unless it shows progress toward democratic reforms,
Malaysia's foreign minister warned Tuesday.

Syed Hamid Albar said the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations
whose foreign ministers are due to hold an annual gathering July 23-28,
has not received any new indication that Myanmar is taking steps to
restore democracy.

"We cannot be simply defending Myanmar unless ... the situation has
changed," he told reporters after reviewing preparations to host the ASEAN
Regional Forum, the Asia-Pacific region's largest security meeting.

"We have encouraged them and asked them to move forward on their
democratization process and we have asked them to release Aung San Suu
Kyi," Syed Hamid said of Myanmar's ruling generals.

"But on some issues we do not have fresh information or fresh action that
they have taken," he said.

Myanmar is ASEAN's most vilified member, mainly because of its regime's
failure to fulfill its promises to restore democracy and release Suu Kyi,
a Nobel peace laureate, from house arrest.

The country's leaders are likely to come under international scrutiny at
this month's ASEAN Regional Forum, which U.S. Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice is scheduled to attended.

The foreign ministers of the European Union, Australia, New Zealand, Japan
and South Korea are among other expected participants.

ASEAN, which has a policy of noninterference in the affairs of member
countries, has in recent years applied more diplomatic force against
Myanmar, partly because it is under pressure from the U.S. and Europe to
take a harder line against the regime. Still, the bloc has ruled out
expelling the country.

"We have to be very clear on what we have done in respect with Myanmar. We
have not defended Myanmar," Syed Hamid said.

Myanmar is an impediment to ASEAN forging stronger trade ties with the
European Union and the United States, both of which have imposed sanctions
on the country.

The junta, in power since 1962, refused to hand power to Suu Kyi's party
after it won elections in 1990. She is currently under house arrest and
has spent 10 of the last 16 years under custody at various times.

ASEAN comprises Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia,
Cambodia, Laos, Brunei, Myanmar and Vietnam.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

July 11, Voice of America News
Chinese-Thai-Burmese dam projects raise humanitarian, environmental concerns

China has reached an agreement with Thailand to fund a hydroelectric dam
in Burma - the first of five such projects planned along the lower
stretches of the Salween River. The dams are designed to meet rising
energy needs in the three countries. But environmentalists and rights
groups fear the projects will have far-reaching ecological and
humanitarian effects.

The Salween forms one of the last free-flowing river systems in Asia,
traveling 2,800 kilometers from the mountains of Tibet to the Gulf of
Martaban, which lies between Burma and Thailand.

Sinohydro Corporation, China's largest hydropower company, agreed last
month to partner with Thailand's Electricity Generating Authority, or
EGAT, in building a $1 billion hydroelectric plant at Hutgyi in Burma.

The Hutgyi plant, about 30 kilometers from the Thai border, is the first
of five to be built along the lower Salween by the partnership, which also
includes Burma. The dams will generate 10,000 megawatts of power.

Thailand's energy minister has said the projects are necessary to cut his
country's dependence on fossil fuels and lower energy costs.

Jean-Pierre Verbiest, Thailand country director for the Asian Development
Bank, or A.D.B., describes Thailand's energy needs.

"There is no doubt that if you look at Thailand's energy production and
consumption - first the margin between peak production and peak
consumption is narrowing - so there is additional investment needed in
energy production," he said.

Burma also is desperate for electricity. Power cuts are common, and
businesses rely on small diesel generators, which are noisy and dirty.

And China needs energy to fuel its fast-growing economy. Beijing is
planning 13 dams or diversions along the river in its territory, in
addition to the joint projects with Thailand and Burma.

However, the hydropower projects have generated fierce criticism from
environmentalists, who warn the dams will destroy the unique environment
of the Salween - home to a wide variety of rare or endangered plants and
animals.

In China, where it is known as the Nu River, the Salween forms part of the
United Nations's Three Parallel Rivers World Heritage Site because of its
contribution to the area's biodiversity.

Pianporn Deetes is a spokeswoman for the Salween Watch Coalition, an
environmental umbrella group. She says some communities in Burma will
suffer because the dams will flood their land, affect fish supplies and
disrupt the river's flow.

"Those affected the most are the ethnic minorities along the Salween River
- especially from Shan State, Karenni and Karen state," she explained.

The A.D.B.'s Verbiest says such environmental and social issues need to be
taken into account.

"This production from the Salween power plants would (be) one of the ways
of diversifying," she said. " The other aspect - the environment, the
impact on the people - would all be very important. Probably more
important than the commercial aspect."

The A.D.B., which is a non-profit development lender based in Manila, is
not involved in financing the Salween projects, although it has helped
finance the construction of other dams.

According to the Karenni Development Research Group, one of the dams in
Karenni state is expected to flood 640 kilometers of land, inundate 28
towns and villages including the historical Karenni capital of Bawlake,
and displace 30,000 people.

Moe Moe Aung of the Karenni Development Research Group, which studies
regional social issues, says the damage to communities forced off their
land will not only be economic.

"The Karenni people, they have lived for a long time in the land; so we
like to keep our land. This is our home, already our home, so we don't
want to move to the other place," Aung said.

Environmentalist Pianporn says a lack of information makes it difficult to
assess the dams' effects. She accuses the Thai electricity authority,
EGAT, of withholding details of its deals with the reclusive Burmese
government.

"It is obvious that the degree of transparency for the project along the
Salween River is extremely low," she said. " EGAT always refuses to
disclose the relevant project documents."

EGAT and the construction company working on the dams declined to be
interviewed about the project and its possible environmental and social
ramifications. The Thai government has made few comments about the
projects. In one report carried by the French news agency AFP,
construction company officials said that some villagers had to be
relocated but the company would push for their resettlement "under
international standards."

Rights groups are concerned that Burma's military is using the dams as an
excuse to move minority groups living around the Salween in a bid to end
their fights for independence.

Some of Burma's ethnic minorities have resisted government rule for 50
years. As a result, more than 140,000 people have been forced to refugee
camps along the Thai border.

The United States, the European Union and others have imposed sanctions on
Burma for human rights violations. But the sanctions have been undermined
by deals Burma has signed with neighboring countries eager to tap its
energy resources.

Debbie Stothardt, spokeswoman for the rights group Alternative ASEAN
Network, says such projects could backfire on Thailand.

"The Salween projects involve displacing tens of thousands of people out
of that area just to generate electricity that can be sold to Thailand,"
she said. "Thailand is the biggest beneficiary of the Salween dam project
and Thailand will suffer the worst consequences as more and more displaced
people flee to Thailand because they are oppressed by the military
regime."

If all the projects go ahead, the Salween will become one of the world's
most heavily dammed river systems, with all the dislocation to people and
wildlife that entails.

____________________________________
PRESS RELEASE

July 11, Asian Human Rights Commission
Burma: Bloody killings expose myth of "state stability"

In recent weeks and months there have been a growing number of reports of
bloody killings of ordinary people by police and other state officers in
the cities and towns of Burma. These brutal attacks expose the myth of
"state stability" that the military government there uses to justify its
prolonged existence.

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) on July 7 issued an appeal on the
alleged assault and subsequent death in police custody of Maung Ne Zaw,
whose mother has now fled to Thailand. Her son, she complained to the
regional army commander, was stopped, illegally detained and beaten on the
side of the road in Kachin State by Special Anti-drug Squad police on
March 14. He died in detention on May 2, she says, after failing to obtain
proper medical treatment. Even a post mortem examination was not possible.
When she asked a doctor about cause of death he gave a range of
implausible answers, from cerebral malaria to HIV, either out of fear or
due to some tacit agreement with the police.


News of Maung Ne Zaw's death followed reliable reports that police in
Yetashe Township in Pegu Division also murdered a young mother in their
custody on June 19. Ma Nyo Kyi a 23-year-old who was living in Shwemyaing
ward in Myohla town was reportedly arrested earlier by Police Deputy
Superintendent Zaw Lwin and another officer while on her way home from a
shopping trip. Her eight-month-old baby was taken into custody with her
for a night, but sent back to the family in the morning. When the family
brought the baby for feeding the police on duty said that Nyo Kyi had been
sent to hospital after being found hanging in her cell. However, doctors
who declared her dead reportedly found severe injuries on her head and
back. According to local sources, the same township police also tortured a
young man to death at the end of 2005 but had warned the family against
taking any action.

Soldiers taking responsibility for railway line security in the same
township also allegedly beat a young man to death, Democratic Voice of
Burma (DVB) shortwave radio reported at the start of June. According to
the news broadcast, 23-year-old Maung Soe Lin Aung was the second person
to be assaulted by the soldiers in recent weeks. In May, another young man
was hospitalised after encountering the drunken troops on the wrong side
of the tracks.

Similarly, a 24-year-old woman reportedly suffered what the Oslo-based DVB
referred to as "life-threatening injuries" after being assaulted by a
police chief in Kyimyintaing Township, Rangoon on June 8. Ma Khin Mar
Lwin, a washerwoman living in Ohbo ward, was arrested after a housewife
alleged that she stole some belongings, DVB reported on June 13. Having
arrested her, Police Station Officer Ne Myo is alleged to have beaten Khin
Mar Lwin so severely that her eardrums broke and her body was covered with
bruises. She was also allegedly sexually abused by a family member of the
accusing person. Upon her release, Khin Mar Lwin was purportedly offered
money by the family member and local officials in order to stay silent
about her ordeal. However, she is said to have refused the money and
insisted that she will complain to higher authorities; to what end, it
remains to be seen.

Elsewhere in Rangoon Division a man who was taken into police custody is
now feared dead. According to DVB, U Maung Maung, a 40-year-old from
Dawpon Township, was taken for questioning on June 27 after his father
died in an apparent accident at home. But when family members went to see
him at the police station, they were reportedly told that Maung Maung had
been taken to hospital, and then on July 3 that he had escaped from the
hospital. The next day, Maung Maung's son was summoned and threatened not
to talk about his father's disappearance or risk arrest also. The family
is said to be convinced that the police killed Maung Maung and disposed of
his body.

And so the list goes on. Cases that the AHRC has in recent times
documented and submitted for the attention of the authorities and
international agencies include the beating to death of Ko Thet Naing Oo by
municipal officers and fire fighters, the brutal assaults on Ma Aye Aye
Aung and her husband by local council members and on Ko Aung Myint Oo by
police; and the murderous assault on Ko Than Htike by local council
members, just to name a few.

Together these cases reveal a society not where authoritarian rule is
successfully maintaining "the stability of the state", as promised by
Burma's military regime, but rather a country where the rule of law is
non-existent and government officers are increasingly running out of
control. What are their key characteristics?

First, victims are targetted in common criminal inquiries: alleged
possession of a small quantity of drugs; suspicion of petty theft, or
urinating in a public place. None of these are the sort of celebrated
political cases for which Burma usually obtains attention. But they are
the sort that affects the overwhelmingly large number of people in the
country.

Secondly, the assaults often involve personal grievances, either between
the authorities and the victim or someone for whom the state officers are
doing a favour. Khin Mar Lwin was assaulted by the police on behalf of a
local family; a member of which was also allegedly allowed to get involved
and sexually abuse her. Ma Aye Aye Aung was beaten up because she parked
her betel nut cart at the front of a restaurant owned by the local council
head.

Thirdly, ordinary criminal procedures are completely ignored. Maung Ne Zaw
and his friends were illegally detained from the start. Ma Nyo Kyi's
family were not informed that she was taken into custody. Ko Aung Myint Oo
was attacked because when he was first instructed by a police officer to
go to the local station with him he was not given a reason and declined to
follow. The Kyimyintaing police reportedly locked up a baby.

Fourthly, there is no concept of--or interest in--investigation methods.
The only techniques known are to arrest, detain and beat up. From this the
police learn who they have on their hands and what they are worth: will
their family come to get them or not? How much money will they have to
give? Should they proceed with fixing a case?

Fifthly, the victims have next to no possibility of lodging a complaint
that will get the actual perpetrators investigated and tried. Maung Ne
Zaw's mother repeatedly attempted to have a case opened against the police
who killed her son. As a result, she was constantly harassed, she says,
and finally fled to Thailand near the end of June. The vigorous efforts to
get justice by Ko Thet Naing Oo's mother instead led to the arrest of some
bystanders to her son's killing: also poor and innocent civilians. Aung
Myint Oo's mother reportedly gave up attempts to register complaints
against the police who assaulted her son and has since figured that if you
can't beat them, join them: in her case, by working an illegal lottery
syndicate with the police sergeant who instigated the violence.

In a December 2005 country report, the UN agency ostensibly responsible
for monitoring crime, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, wrote that in
Burma "there is very little violent crime: not even anecdotal reports of
murders, rapes or kidnappings... In general, crime does not appear to be a
major concern among the population".


>From its work on Burma, the Asian Human Rights Commission has come to the

opposite conclusion; in fact, the AHRC can state without qualification
that this is one of the most fantastically incorrect statements that it
has ever seen written on a country which is already widely misunderstood
and misrepresented. There is no doubt that in Burma today violent crime is
a cause for grave public anxiety, and that the main perpetrators of crime
are state agents: police, soldiers, auxiliary fire fighters and municipal
security forces (many of whom are former soldiers), local government
council officials and others.

The Asian Human Rights Commission calls upon all international
organisations concerned with the situation in Burma to study what is
happening in the country more closely and understand that it is a country
that has been rightly described as existing under the "un-rule of law".
The notion of "state stability" upon which the military government founds
its prolonged rule is a myth. Burma is a society in which the
least-talented govern and administer, and in which two-dimensional
institutions are being held together by fear. This is the starting point
for any understanding of Burma and what goes on in it. This is the
starting point for any understanding of why innocent people can be beaten
to death for nothing and the perpetrators suffer no consequences.