BurmaNet News, June 28-30, 2008

[Editor]

June 28-30, 2008 Issue #3502


INSIDE BURMA
AFP: Suu Kyi's party urges release of Myanmar activists
Irrawaddy: Burma's cyclone farmers await assistance
Irrawaddy: Rangoon editor fired over offending poem
Mizzima News: Journalist U Win Tin in need of treatment
Wall Street Journal: Myanmar cyclone brings rise in centuries-old 'Nat'
worship

ON THE BORDER
Irrawaddy: Karen military clash forces evacuation of Thai village
New Age (Bangladesh): BDR, Nasaka hold flag meet in Cox's Bazar

BUSINESS / TRADE
Xinhua: Myanmar-Saudi Arabia diplomatic link facilitates Myanmar's fish
export
AP: Most foreign investment in Myanmar goes into oil and gas sectors

DRUGS
Merinews: Poppy replacing rice cultivation in Myanmar
Bangkok Post: Dealers killed in gunfight

REGIONAL
The Press and Journal (UK): Rice contrasts China’s efforts with Burmese
reluctance
Chinland Guardian: Tensions rise as more Chin refugees arrested In Malaysia

INTERNATIONAL
The Sunday Independent (South Africa): 'Made in Myanmar' still on shelves;
The public seems to be keener on punishing the tyrannical Burmese junta
than retailers with an eye for good margins

OPINION / OTHER
Irrawaddy: Asean came in full force
Cutting Edge (UK): Thousands continue to suffer as Burma tragedy slips
from the headlines



____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

June 30, Agence France Presse
Suu Kyi's party urges release of Myanmar activists

Myanmar's opposition party led by detained democracy leader Aung San Suu
Kyi on Monday called for the release of activists who were beaten and
arrested by a militia group earlier this month.

The 14 activists were detained outside the headquarters of Aung San Suu
Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party on her 63rd birthday on
June 19, when they stood on a sidewalk and shouted slogans calling for her
freedom.

"The arrest was not in accordance with the law. It was also against the
prevalence of law and order," the National League for Democracy (NLD)
party said in a statement.

"The NLD seriously urges the immediate release of all those detainees who
were arrested and detained on June 19," it said.

Myanmar's police chief confirmed last week that 14 of Aung San Suu Kyi's
supporters had been detained. He originally appeared to confirm the
arrests of another group of activists in May, but police officials later
clarified that he was referring to the group detained on her birthday.

Aung San Suu Kyi, the world's only Nobel Peace Prize winner currently in
detention, has spent most of the last 18 years confined to her home.
Myanmar's military junta extended her house arrest by another year in May.

She led her party to a landslide victory in 1990 elections, but has never
been allowed to govern.

Her party accused the pro-junta Union Solidarity and Development
Association (USDA) as well as a militia group called Swan Arr Shin of
beating the activists while they were praying for Aung San Suu Kyi's good
health.

"No one prohibited or controlled the violence of the arrest and beating of
the NLD members," the statement said.

"The USDA members and Swan Arr Shin think of themselves as security
personnel, placing themselves before the security organisations such as
the police," the statement said.

The party said a letter expressing their concern had already been sent to
junta leader Than Shwe.

____________________________________

June 30, Irrawaddy
Burma's cyclone farmers await assistance – Irin

A 24-year-old farmer lost most of his family, as well as his prized water
buffaloes, to the cyclone but says he is still waiting for the power
tillers local authorities promised to distribute in Kungyangone, one of
the worst-affected townships in Rangoon Division.

He had come to Kungyangone from his village in the hopes of rebuilding his
livelihood, only to return home empty-handed, after an announcement of a
government scheme for farmers to purchase power tillers in three separate
installments over the next few years.

A farmer outside the village on Chaungtha beach in the Irrawaddy Delta
region 157 km (98 miles) west of Rangoon ploughs a field with a home made
machine. (Photo: AP)
According to a recent assessment by the UN Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO), some 52,000 farmers will be unable to cultivate
monsoon crops this year unless they receive help.

“If this is translated to hectares, based on the average farm size, and on
the average paddy land size, we are roughly talking about 183,000 hectares
of paddy land which would be lost for this particular season,” Albert
Lieberg, mission leader for the FAO’s needs assessment, said.

Cyclone Nargis devastated Irrawaddy Delta as well as parts of Rangoon
Division on 2 and 3 May. An estimated 120,000 water buffaloes and draught
animals, vital to plough the agricultural heartland of Burma, were lost in
the storm.

With the majority of cyclone survivors largely dependent on agriculture
and having lost their production assets, including seeds, fertilizers,
tools and draught animals, they will need outside support.

“They will remain dependent on external aid for a long time,” said
Hiroyuki Konuma, the FAO’s deputy regional representative, in Bangkok.

Bleak prospects

Farmers fear they will miss this year’s rice planting season altogether.

“There is a silent Nargis waiting ahead,” said one. “We are sure to starve
if we miss this season.”

The category four storm affected 60 percent of 1.3 million hectares of
rice paddy; 16 percent “seriously”, the FAO reported.

According to Burma’s Agriculture Ministry, some 13,600 power tillers are
needed in the cyclone-affected area, with each tilling machine expected to
plough two hectares per day in the coming weeks.

So far, the government has distributed 5,000 power tillers, in addition to
those tillers provided by private donors and the humanitarian community at
large.

But with the end of the planting season fast approaching, even if farmers
have the machines they need, it is unlikely they will be able to complete
the task.

Buffalo vs. tiller

Many farmers complain they do not know how to operate the equipment.
Others still prefer to use the more traditional water buffalo—if they
survived the storm. Another factor is the rising cost of diesel fuel.
Before Nargis, one gallon of diesel cost approximately US $4; now it is
almost $6.

In addition, most farmers lack seeds, with some reports suggesting that up
to 85 percent of seed stocks in the affected area were destroyed, leaving
farmers dependent on seeds brought in from outside.

Another factor is an expected shortage of labor. Farmers said there would
not be sufficient employees to work their fields since tens of thousands
of landless farmers were killed in the storm.

However, the government is adamant there is no shortage. At a meeting with
international relief agencies on 10 June, National Planning Minister Soe
Tha said: “Some organizations were spreading groundless information such
as there is or will be a shortage of rice in Myanmar [Burma]. We have
enough rice and we can distribute sufficiently.”

The Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN) is a news service that
forms part of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
(OCHA). But this report does not necessarily reflect the views of the
United Nations.

____________________________________

June 30, Irrawaddy
Rangoon editor fired over offending poem – Wai Moe

An editor on the privately-run Rangoon magazine Cherry was fired and three
censorship board employees were reportedly suspended from duty after the
monthly carried a poem that displeased government officials.

The censors of the Press Scrutiny and Registration Division ordered the
publishers of Cherry to withdraw the May issue of the magazine in which
the offending poem appeared. But the magazine had already sold out.

The censors order Cherry to sack the editor of its poetry section, Htay
Aung, Rangoon-based journalists told The Irrawaddy.

Htay Aung’s dismissal was followed by staff changes, but the magazine is
still waiting for clearance to continue publishing.

The offending poem, “De Pa Yin Ga”, referred to the events in Depayin town
in Sagaing Division in May 2003, when Burma’s democracy leader Aung San
Suu Kyi and her convoy were ambushed by junta-backed thugs.

The poem relates that throughout Burmese history many heroic figures were
lost because of unfaithful people.

It isn’t know what so upset the censors, although they have fallen prey in
the past to schemes to outwit them with hidden messages.

Last January, poet Saw Wai was arrested after authorities deciphered a
piece of his work in the Rangoon magazine The Love Journal that contained
a hidden message criticizing junta leader Than Shwe.

In his poem, titled ‘February the Fourteenth’, the first letters of each
line added up to the message: "General Than Shwe is crazy with power."

In an earlier ploy to embarrass the censors, a Danish travel company
managed to place an advertisement in the weekly Myanmar Times containing
the hidden message "Killer Than Shwe.”

____________________________________

June 30, Mizzima News
Journalist U Win Tin in need of treatment – Myint Maung

Veteran Burmese journalist and editor of Hantharwaddy publication U Win
Tin, is currently suffering from severe ill-health and is needing
immediate treatment for asthma.

Win Tin, age 79, who will complete 19 years on July 4, is suffering from
asthma and his health situation is deteriorating. But he is not being
provided proper treatment by the prison authorities, his friends and
'Association of Assistance to Political Prisoners in Burma' (AAPPB) said.

"Earlier, his health situation was not as bad. But when I saw him this
time, he was suffering from excessive phlegm. I heard the sound of phlegm
even when he laughed," Maung Maung Khin who met him on a prison visit last
Saturday said.

"I was shocked to see him in this health condition. He couldn't eat and
sleep well either and looked thinner," Maung Maung Khin added.

"The prison authorities should provide the elderly political prisoner, who
has been in prison for a very long time, proper treatment and adequate
medical care," he added.

The prison medics prescribed him an antidote to excessive exudation of
phlegm. However, he had to buy this medicine from outside from his own
pocket, Maung Maung Khin said.

"We found his health deteriorating because of old age. In fact, his
release from prison is long overdue. The authorities tortured him
physically and mentally by not releasing him. His life is at risk," Bo
Kyi, Joint-Secretary of the Thai based AAPPB said.
"The prison authorities diagnose medical cases casually and prescribe
medicine in a similar manner without examining the patients properly.
Political prisoners do not get permission easily for treatment outside the
prison," Bo Kyi added.

Win Tin underwent hernia surgery at Rangoon General Hospital early this year.

Win Tin has been calling for convening the parliament in accordance with
the 1990 general election results and release of all political prisoners
including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi through his friends who come and meet him
in prison regularly.

The government nationalized 'Hanthawady' paper in 1968 and shifted the
paper to Mandalay for republishing. U Win Tin was appointed
editor-in-chief of the paper in 1969.

The paper used to point out the drawbacks and weaknesses of the government
functionaries in its editorials and articles and urged the government to
redress the grievances of the people. Because of these articles and
editorials, the paper was shut down again in 1978 by then 'Burma Socialist
Programme Party' (BSPP) government.

Win Tin was in the NLD intelligentsia core group since its inception and
was the political advisor of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. He was arrested in 1989
and was sentenced at least three times while he was serving his original
prison term. Moreover though he has served his prison term and his release
is long overdue, it has not been done.

He was awarded the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize and
'World Association of Newspapers' Golden Pen of Freedom Award' by UNESCO
and the World Journalist body in 2001. The 'Reporters Sans Frontier' (RSF)
awarded him the 'Winner of Reporters Without Border' prize in 2006.

____________________________________

June 30, Wall Street Journal
Myanmar cyclone brings rise in centuries-old 'Nat' worship

At a small concrete shrine on the outskirts of this storm-battered city,
people have been flocking to pay their respects to Nyaung Bin, "the old
man of the solitary banyan tree." His statue wears a flowing pink robe,
has a golden face, and bears a passing resemblance to the late actor Yul
Brynner.

U Myaing, a regular worshipper who works at an animal farm across the
street, says the reason for the increased attendance is obvious: Nyaung
Bin is a "nat." And nats -- a group of centuries-old animist spirits --
can provide precious protection in precarious times. No one nearby who
prays at the shrine, Mr. Myaing contends, was hurt by the deadly cyclone
that ripped through the area in early May and left 134,000 dead or missing
in Myanmar.

"We believe in the nats," he says. "Maybe that's why we're safe."

Myanmar may be best known, as far as faith goes, for its Buddhism and
burgundy-robed monks. But as much as 80% of the population also believes
in the nats. The word derives from a term in a Buddhist holy language that
means "lord" or "guardian."

The 37 main nats, as well as some lesser ones, make for unusual helpmates.
Spiritual beings, they sometimes wear pointy hats, hang out in trees and
don't particularly like humans. But they can be coaxed into offering
protection, succor, job promotions, or just good luck when cooled by a fan
or otherwise appeased with gifts such as tea, money, or liquor and
cigarettes. If they aren't satisfied, however, they can become angry and
give people stomach aches, or worse.

Many are believed to stem from real people -- including ancient heroes and
a dealer in pickled tea -- who died violent or unhappy deaths, leaving
their spirits to roam across Myanmar.

One is known as "King Mingaung of Toungoo." He died of dysentery,
according to worshipers, and was bothered by the smell of onions. Another
is Min Kyawzwa, who liked cock fighting, fireworks and liquor; he also
died an unpleasant death, possibly in the 13th century. Others in the
pantheon include Anauk Mibaya, who died of fright in a cotton field in the
1400s after seeing a ghost, and Shingwa, also known as "Lady Bandy Legs."

A man named Maung Chit, who guards a roadside shrine that's under a leaky
tin roof in a middle-class section of Yangon, says the number of
worshippers "has been increasing every day" since the cyclone. "Whenever
people are in desperate need, they come here," he says. His shrine
includes several nats inside little houses along with a larger group
planted on the roots of a giant banyan tree. Some nats were damaged by
Cyclone Nargis, he says; they are kept in a cupboard.

There's been a similar sharp rise in visits to one of the shrines along
the highway heading out of Yangon, says that shrine's guardian, U Kyaw
Hmu. He now gets as many as 500 people a day, he says, compared with as
few as 150 before the cyclone.

His lineup includes about half a dozen nats, with heads wrapped in yellow
and red scarves on a stage inside a concrete structure with golden carved
peacocks on the roof. One of the nats was an alcoholic in real life and
now likes beer, Mr. Hmu says. The others disapprove of alcohol, he says.

As he spoke, two uniformed soldiers pulled up, placed a bouquet of flowers
at the nats' feet, said a few prayers then retreated quietly to their car.

Belief in the nats' guardian angel powers has kept worship going, despite
efforts over the centuries to squelch it. Early forms of nat worship go
back 1,000 years or more, before Burma, as Myanmar used to be known,
became a mostly Buddhist state. King Anawrahta, one of Burma's great
historical figures, tried to outlaw the practice of nat worship in favor
of Buddhism in the 11th century. He ordered the destruction of nat shrines
and officials collected nat figures and tied them together with chains.

Worshipers refused to give in, so he reversed his order and created a nat
of his own -- the 37th -- to lord over the others.

When the British took over in the 1800s, nat worship was firmly
entrenched. In a 1906 study that can be bought today on Yangon streets, a
British administrator named Richard Temple noted that the typical Burmese
child was raised to respect nats "from his very cradle," and listened to
lullabies warning them not to cross the nats:

"Nasty, naughty, noisy baby / If the cat won't, Nats will maybe / Come and
pinch and punch and rend you."

Nat worship faced further pressure as the 20th century progressed,
especially in cities, where youths enjoyed greater access to Western-style
university educations. Top Buddhist monks also expressed their
disapproval. Myanmar's junta, in power since 1962, has tried to move
shrines closer to Buddhism temples in an effort to damp belief in the
supernatural.

But as Myanmar's economy has struggled under the weight of international
sanctions and mismanagement, nat worship has persisted. The devastation of
Cyclone Nargis drove even more believers to shrines.

"People are not OK these days -- they have economic difficulties," says
Thaung Nyunt, a 76-year-old nat medium who lives in a dark wooden shelter
filled with nat statues in the central city of Mandalay. She claims to
have been possessed by nats and divorced her husband to marry a few. When
nats possess her, she says, "it feels like someone is on your body, and
it's very hot." She says she eventually became a go-between for humans and
nats. In times like these, "people need the nats to help them," she says.
In Mandalay, the faithful congregate at a large hilltop shrine below a
major Buddhist temple. Located down a long hallway with sparkling columns,
the shrine has a tall standing nat, Myin Phyu Shin, dressed in pink robes
with a staff and large golden ears dotted with jewels.

As the sun descended one recent evening, a woman prayed for safety on her
new Honda motorcycle. A man, Ko Tin Moe, said he wanted a promotion at his
job at the state railway. "Some people believe in nats, and some don't,"
he said. "I do."


____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

June 30, Irrawaddy
Karen military clash forces evacuation of Thai village – Saw Yan Naing

Fighting broke out on Monday between troops of the Karen National
Liberation Army (KNLA) and its breakaway group, the Democratic Karen
Buddhist Army (DKBA), forcing the evacuation of a Thai border village.

One KNLA soldier was reportedly killed when DKBA forces backed by Burmese
army units overran a KNLA base.

Maj Shee Lay of KNLA Battalion 201 told The Irrawaddy: “The DKBA took over
one of our Battalion 201 bases. One of our soldiers was killed, one
injured and one was arrested. They seized some of our weapons.”

The fighting continued through Monday as the KNLA, military wing of the
Karen National Union, attempted to retake the base.

Across the nearby border, in the Pob Phra district of Thailand’s Tak
Province, the village of Phadee was evacuated and a Thai army group was
sent to the area to investigate.

Monton Sawangnaphalai, chairman of Tak Province’s Roumtaipattana
sub-district office, responsible for Phadee village, told The Irrawaddy
that children and elderly people were being given priority in the
evacuation. Phadee has a population of more than 300.

The fighting in neighboring Karen State broke out before dawn on Monday.
Maj Shee Lay said his KNLA battalion was regrouping for an attempt to
retake the base, occupied by about 30 DKBA soldiers of Battalion 907.

____________________________________

June 30, New Age (Bangladesh)
BDR, Nasaka hold flag meet in Cox's Bazar

A sector commander-level flag meeting between the border security forces
of Bangladesh and Burma was held in Cox's Bazar town on Sunday, 29 June.

The meeting agreed to conduct a joint survey to identify the border pillars.

Both the sides agreed to jointly remove landmines from the no-man's-land
along the border.

They consented to address different problems like drug trafficking,
insurgency and other trans-border issues by holding joint flag meetings.

Colonel Syed Yousuf Mahabub Ali, sector commander of the Bangladesh
Rifles, led the 20-member Bangladesh team while U Aung Gyi, director of
the Border Immigration Headquarters, Mongdow, led the 15-member Myanmar
delegation.

The meeting was informed that the Nasaka had handed over a total 108
Bangladeshis to the BDR [Bangladesh Rifles] between 1 January and 31 May
this year.

Besides, more 18 Bangladeshis would be returned soon through a
battalion-level flag meeting.


____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

June 30, Xinhua
Myanmar-Saudi Arabia diplomatic link facilitates Myanmar's fish export

The establishment of diplomatic link between Myanmar and Saudi Arabia in
recent years has facilitated export of fishes by Myanmar people to that
country, the local 7-Day News reported in this week's issue, quoting the
Livestock Breedings and Fisheries Association.

Before, such export formalities had to be done through the Egyptian
embassy here.

Saudi Arabia opened its embassy in Yangon in December 2005 and such
formalities took effect only recently.

According to the association quoted by another weekly the Voice, Myanmar
exported 200 tons of fresh water fishes including a variety of carp each
month to Saudi Arabia.

Official statistics show that Myanmar exported 352,652 tons of marine
products, gaining 561 million U.S. dollars in the fiscal year of 2007-08
which ended in March, up from 2006-07's 234 million dollars but stood less
against 2007-08's target which was set at 750 million dollars.

The fishery authorities have projected to raise the export earning to 850
million dollars in the present fiscal year of 2008-09.

China topped Myanmar's marine export countries, followed by Thailand,
Japan and Singapore.

Myanmar's fishery sector stood the fourth largest contributor to the gross
domestic product and also the fourth largest source of foreign exchange
earning in the past five years.

Meanwhile, Myanmar is cooperating with a regional organization of the
Southeast Asia Fisheries Development Center (SEAFDEC) in conducting survey
of marine resources in the country's waters, focusing species with
commercial potential.

With a long coastline of over 2,800 kilometers and a total area of 500,000
hectares of swamps along the coast, the country has an estimated
sustainable yield of marine products at over one million tons a year.

____________________________________

June 30, Associated Press
Most foreign investment in Myanmar goes into oil and gas sectors

More than 90 percent of foreign investment in Myanmar last year was
funneled into the oil and gas sectors, according to a recently released
government report.

Total foreign investment in 2007 totaled US$504.8 million of which
US$474.3 million was in the oil and gas sector, the Ministry of National
Planning and Development said in its latest statistical survey.

The United Kingdom led the oil and gas investors, with US$187 million,
followed by India and Singapore.

Thailand last year invested US$16.22 million and Germany US$2.5 million
into the manufacturing sector and South Korea US$12 million in the fishing
industry, same report said.

The report said there was no new investment in mining, real estate, hotel
and tourism, transport, power and the industrial sector.

Many Western countries either ban or discourage investment in Myanmar as a
way of pressuring its ruling junta to improve its poor human rights record
and hand over power to a democratically elected government.

The official report said the United Kingdom includes the British Virgin
Islands and Bermuda. Some oil companies register in these two and other
sites to bypass sanctions imposed by their governments.


____________________________________
DRUGS

June 30, Merinews
Poppy replacing rice cultivation in Myanmar

Rising demand for opium in Kachin state, Myanmar, has lured many farmers
to switch from rice to poppy cultivation, which is much more profitable.
Gold and jade miners and those into timber logging are heavily into opium
consumption fuelling demand.

The trend is disturbing but it apparently does not bother the Myanmar
military dictators. Farmers traditionally into rice cultivation in Kachin
state of northern Myanmar are switching to poppy cultivation. And the
trend is on the rise given that opium rakes in more money than paddy does.

Hukawng Valley in Kachin state leads in this. Farmers are switching to
poppy cultivation either in parts of their paddy fields or converting the
arable land for growing poppy.

Hukawng Valley now has over 100,000 acres of poppy fields. Owners of poppy
fields grease the palms of both regional officials of the Myanmar junta
and Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO) which signed a ceasefire
agreement with the junta in 1994 and the New Democratic Army-Kachin
(NDA-K), the Myanmar media in exile reports.

Poppy is also cultivated in Sadung areas in eastern Kachin state bordering
China's Yunnan province. The yield is increased by using chemical
fertilizers procured from China. Interestingly most of the poppy fields
are owned by Chinese businessmen who bribe the junta, the KIO and the
NDA-K.

In Kachin state the maximum opium production is in the Hukawng Valley. The
demand for opium is so high that all the produce is consumed in the state.
There is no dispatch of opium outside the state. With miners working in
gold mines, those in jade mines and timber loggers in the valley
vigorously chasing drugs there is no dearth of client. Supplies are unable
to match the high demand to Myitkyina Township the capital of Kachin State
and Laiza, the headquarters and business centre of the KIO on the Sino-
Myanmar border and the mining areas, media reports suggest.

____________________________________

June 30, Bangkok Post
Dealers killed in gunfight – Theerawat Khamthita

Police killed two drug traffickers in a gunfight after luring them into
selling crystal methamphetamine at a forest in Mae Sai district in Chiang
Rai. The two were suspected of being members of a drug gang linked with
Red Wa guerrillas in Burma, which is notorious for smuggling drugs into
northern Thailand.

The dead men were identified as Amnuay Wiboonpoonsap and Aka hilltribe
member Puengsue Laesur.

They were lured into selling 3.5 million baht worth of the drug, known as
ice, near a gateway to Doi Pami mountain. The traffickers opened fire on
police first and the gunfight lasted about 10 minutes.

In Nong Khai, officials arrested a Laotian woman at a checkpoint near the
Thai-Lao Friendship bridge as she allegedly tried to smuggle 8,000 speed
pills into the country.

Kampong Sukwilai, from Vientiane, said she was hired to take the drugs to
a buyer in Chon Buri province.


____________________________________
REGIONAL

June 30, The Press and Journal (UK)
Rice contrasts China’s efforts with Burmese reluctance

American Secretary of State inspects post-quake destruction and recovery

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice praised China’s post-earthquake
recovery efforts during a visit to the disaster zone yesterday, saying it
contrasted with Burma’s reluctance to allow in aid after a devastating
cyclone.

Ms Rice was the highest-ranking American to inspect damage from the May 12
quake that damaged a wide swath of south-west China’s mountainous Sichuan
province. The magnitude-7.9 quake killed almost 70,000 people – including
thousands of schoolchildren who died when their classrooms crumbled.

She stopped in Dujiangyan, a badly hit city of 250,000, where officials
said 3,000 people died and 90% of the buildings were uninhabitable.

“My goodness,” she said as she surveyed a pile of rubble, once a gym,
before heading to a community of thousands of temporary homes and a water
purification facility run by a US charity.

“I can see that the Chinese government and officials have been attentive,”
Ms Rice said after the tour.

“I can see how much effort has gone into the recovery. But with a disaster
of this magnitude, no one can do it alone.”

Ms Rice said China’s efforts contrasted with that of Burma’s ruling junta,
which faced worldwide criticism after Cyclone Nargis on May 2-3 for
failing to speed aid to survivors and initially barring foreign aid
workers from the hardest-hit Irrawaddy delta.

Two weeks after the cyclone slammed into the area, the reclusive regime
authorised the UN to use 10 helicopters inside the country.

The government’s official death toll this week reached more than 84,500.

“It has been sad that . . . instead of making possible the international
community’s response to their people, that they have put up barriers to
that response,” Ms Rice said.

“Many lives could have been saved and many more could still be saved if we
can get that response,” she said. “This is not a matter of politics.”

Grieving parents in China’s Dujiangyan have tried to file a lawsuit
demanding compensation along with an explanation and apology from the
government for the large number of students killed. But officials refused
to accept their papers.

School collapses have become one of the most charged issues in the
earthquake recovery process. On the one-month anniversary of the quake,
hundreds of parents of children killed in a school in hard-hit Beichuan
staged a protest. Later yesterday, Ms Rice was to fly to Beijing to meet
President Hu Jintao, Prime Minister Wen Jiabao and Chinese Foreign
Minister Yang Jiechi.

Meetings will likely focus on North Korea’s destruction on Friday of its
nuclear reactor cooling tower at the Yongbyon facility – the end of the
first phase of the regime’s nuclear wind-down – and what the next step
will be.

So far, the US and other countries have agreed to give the North the
equivalent of a million tons of oil for disabling Yongbyon, and providing
a list of nuclear programmes.

On Thursday, Pyongyang presented a 60-page account of its nuclear
activities. The declaration triggered an announcement from US President
George Bush that he was moving to ease some sanctions on the North.

China is Ms Rice’s last stop on a June 23-30 tour that also took her to
Germany, Japan and South Korea.

____________________________________

June 29, Chinland Guardian
Tensions rise as more Chin refugees arrested In Malaysia – Van Biak Thang

The number of Chin refugees being arrested in Malaysia has increased
dramatically in recent months, raising fears among the Chin communities
and leaders worldwide that their lives could be highly jeopardised if they
are sent into the brokers' hands at the Thai-Malaysian border or sent back
to Burma.

More than 60 Chin refugees, sources revealed, were arrested in their
rented houses in late-night raids last week by the government-formed corps
called Volunteers of Malaysian People aka RELA which is accused of
'abusing the laws and conniving in taking measures' against immigrants.

Mothers with newly born babies and children under 14 were those among
arrested even though Malaysia is a signatory to the Convention on Child
Rights Convention ( CRC ) and on Elimination of Discrimination Against
Women (CEDAW), meaning Malaysia has an obligation to protect women and
children. Instead, Malaysian authorities put even a newly born baby into
jail, according to Chin Human Rights Organisation's reports.

"The situation of Chin refugees in Malaysia is like a bad dream. Anything
could happen at any time of period at any place. As far as we can, we try
to stay within reach voluntarily so that we can act in time to help those
in serious trouble. We are not dealing only with refugee issues. There are
several other issues including visiting patients in critical condition and
funeral services," a member of CRC (Chin Refugee Committee) told Chinland
Guardian.

A Chin refugee, Thang Khan Thawng, 62, died of depression in Kuala Lampur
last week after learning his application had been rejected, according to
Khonumtung News.

"They [Chin refugees] are hiding without food in the jungle in fear of
being arrested. The situation gets really worse as the rainy season has
come in. Some get really ill but dare not come to the camp as RELA can lie
in wait for them nearby," said a Falam Chin.

"Some people get seriously hurt while running through thorny bushes. Being
aware that RELA can secretly follow them and know where the refugees are
hiding in the jungle, Doctors who want to help, just try to get medicines
to the refugees in any possible means," added he.

It is estimated that at least 30,000 Chin refugees, both unregistered and
registered with UNHCR, live in Malaysia and about 60,000 Chin refugees in
India. In hope of finding safety and refuge, tens of thousands of the Chin
people have fled their native place to escape the military junta's brutal
atrocities including torture, persecution and the threat of death.


____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

June 30, The Sunday Independent (South Africa)
'Made in Myanmar' still on shelves; The public seems to be keener on
punishing the tyrannical Burmese junta than retailers with an eye for good
margins – Jeremy Gordin

Consumers with a conscience, beware: clothing made in "Myanmar" - the
country known as Burma until its name was changed by its oppressive
military regime - is still to be found on the shelves, notably at Mr Price
and Pick n Pay.

According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), an estimated 800
000 people are forced labourers in Burma.

A visit by The Sunday Independent to a Pick n Pay and to a Mr Price at
Campus Square shopping centre, in Auckland Park, Johannesburg, this week
uncovered a number of fleecy and other kinds of jackets in both stores
labelled "Made in Myanmar".

The Sunday Independent visit followed a call from a reader who said he was
aghast at seeing that the fleecy jacket he wanted had been made in
Myanmar.

Both Mr Price and Pick n Pay said they had cancelled their contracts with
Burmese manufacturers and that the garments still on the shelves were "old
stock" that was "still working its way through the system".

"Once these clothes are sold, there will be no more on the shelves," said
Steve Ellis, joint managing director of the Mr Price group.

And Michael Coles, Pick n Pay's chief of clothing, said: "We gave notice
two or three months ago to our Myanmar factory. We won't be selling any
more clothes from there."

But Graham Bailey, of the Free Burma Campaign, said: "One doesn't want to
cast unnecessary aspersions on such well-known South African companies,
but it seems to me that they're telling lies.

"It was about seven months ago, when the fuss blew up about Gary Player's
golf course in Burma, that these companies distanced themselves from
selling clothes from Myanmar and said they weren't going to do it any
more. They said then that they would stop and would cancel all orders. But
they haven't.

"I have to believe that responsible and experienced retailers know exactly
what orders they have in the pipeline. I also don't think it takes six
months for the ships carrying those clothes to reach these shores. This is
just evasion."

There is no South African government embargo on goods from Burma - though
there are United States and European Union embargoes - "so there's no law
against us importing clothes made in Myanmar", said Pick n Pay's Coles.

"But we have received many calls from the public, who said they were
'horrified', and we have ceased placing orders. There are still some goods
on the water, but what you see in the shops are the last of our winter
orders and everything ought to be gone by September."

"Maybe South African businesses have to start being a bit more moral,"
said Bailey.

Burma has been ruled by military regimes uninterruptedly since 1962. In
May 1990, the regime held free elections for the first time in almost 30
years and the National League for Democracy, the party of Nobel Prize
winner Aung San Suu Kyi, who is still under house arrest, won 392 of the
489 seats. But the military annulled the election.

In November 2006, the ILO announced that it would try to prosecute members
of the junta at the International Court of Justice for "crimes against
humanity", including the continuous forced labour of citizens imposed by
the military.

Some global corporations have been criticised for profiting from the
dictatorship by financing Burma's military junta.

World governments remain divided on how to deal with it. The United
Kingdom, US and France have called for further sanctions, but China has
opposed their proposals.

Last month, Cyclone Nargis devastated the country. Winds of up to 215kmh
hit the densely populated, rice-farming Irrawaddy Delta. Recent reports
estimate that more than 130 000 people are dead or missing. But, in the
following days, Burma's regime delayed the entry of United Nations
aircraft carrying medicine, food, and other supplies.

The junta also rejected a US offer to provide assistance, though on May 13
the first US military transport aircraft was allowed to land, bringing 14
tons of medical supplies, mosquito nets and blankets.

The government's failure to permit the entry of international relief was
described by the UN as "unprecedented".


____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

June 30, Irrawaddy
Asean came in full force – Surin Pitsuwan

Since the special meeting of the foreign ministers of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in Singapore on May 19, there has been a
lot of criticism of and skepticism in the way Asean engaged in the
humanitarian relief effort toward the victims of Cyclone Nargis.

Very little real news and information about our efforts were reported to
the outside world. That is bad for Burma and unhelpful for Asean.

I personally appealed to the Minister for Social Welfare in Burma on the
morning of June 14. I repeated my appeal at an informal consultation with
the Tripartite Core Group in the afternoon of the same day.

And when I returned to Jakarta and invited the Burmese chargé d’affaires
to my office on June 18, I gave him the same message and asked him to pass
it to his government in Naypyidaw. The message read:

“The world is still very skeptical of our joint efforts. The international
community is very critical of Asean and UN engagement with Myanmar [Burma]
even on humanitarian grounds. This has to be balanced. This view cannot be
left uncorrected.

“You invited Asean in. We came in full force. More than that, we brought
the world into Myanmar with us to help your people for their humanitarian
needs.

“The Asean people deserve to know what we are doing here to help your
people. And we do it in their name. We represent their goodwill.

“At least you should consider inviting the Asean state media into your
country to see what we are doing, to see the extent of the damage, to
report on the needs of your people.”

It took almost a month after long and quiet persuasion. We got word from
our Asean Coordinating Office in Rangoon on the evening of Sunday, June
22, that we had received the approval of the Burmese authorities to invite
all of the representatives of the Asean media into Burma in time to cover
the Asean Roundtable on the Post-Nargis Joint Assessment preliminary
report and in time for a trip to inspect the extent of the destruction
that Cyclone Nargis wrought on the Irrawaddy delta.

This is great flexibility and accommodation on the part of the leadership
of Burma.

To see the spread and the seriousness of the destruction is a heartbreak;
but to see the smiles on the faces of the children who survived the fury
of the cyclone—and the refusal to surrender and the determination to get
up and get on with their lives—is indeed an inspiration to all of us.

Surin Pitsuwan is secretary-general of Asean.

____________________________________

June 30, Cutting Edge (UK)
Thousands continue to suffer as Burma tragedy slips from the headlines –
Ben Rogers

Almost two months after Cyclone Nargis ripped through Burma’s Irrawaddy
Delta region, leaving tens of thousands of people dead or homeless,
thousands continue to suffer with little or no relief.

Burma’s military regime followed its initial decision to restrict and
obstruct the delivery of aid with new regulations which serve only to
further impede humanitarian efforts.

Only 1.3 million of the estimated 2.4 million people affected by the
cyclone have been reached by international aid agencies, and only a few
hundred foreign aid experts have been allowed into the country – and even
fewer into the worst-affected areas.

For a few weeks, the crisis in Burma dominated the headlines. For a short
time, the US, Great Britain, and France had naval vessels anchored off
Burma’s coast, poised to go in with aid supplies. The talk was of whether
the UN’s much-trumpeted "Responsibility to Protect" principle could be
exercised. For a brief moment, the idea of military intervention on
humanitarian grounds looked – for the first time – like a possibility. The
British Government said no option was off the table, and the French
appeared to be leading the charge.

But then the moment passed and the world moved on. The ships sailed away,
complete with their cargo of aid undelivered, and Burma fell off the news
agenda. The corpses, however, of people and animals – killed either by the
cyclone or as a result of the regime’s inaction – continue to litter the
streets and pollute the waters.

The cyclone victims have not gone completely unhelped. Some international
aid is now, belatedly, tricking through, and the Burmese people themselves
have organised a relief effort. Buddhist monks, Christian clergy,
celebrities, and businessmen within Burma pulled together, and churches,
monasteries, and schools provided shelter and food. In the words of one
church leader, nothing, not even the regime’s obstruction, "deterred them
from the sacred duty of saving lives." Churches and monasteries, he
described, were turned into refugee camps. "With death and mayhem
threatening them in their villages, thousands took refuge in sacred
spaces. Even before the government could move in, or the do-gooders and
NGOs could move in, spontaneous charity sprang forth with Buddhists
feeding Christians and Christians feeding the Buddhists. Nargis broke many
things in an evil way. Goodness broke all parochial borders that fateful
night when death danced arrogantly across wounding a nation."

Local government authorities, however, did little. In the few villages
where the regime made a show of assistance, the supplies were paltry. One
village in Rangoon Division received aid from the junta three times in the
three weeks following the cyclone. On each occasion, according to
eye-witnesses, every family received six cups of wet, rotten rice. The
first distribution also included one potato per family. The second
distribution resulted in half the families in the village receiving a
packet of noodles. On the third occasion, a few fortunate families were
given one egg, each, and a tin bowl. They have yet to receive clean
drinking water.

The regime’s failure to clean up decomposing bodies has resulted in a
chronic deterioration in health and the spread of disease. The price of
fish has plummeted, because people are avoiding eating fish that are
believed to have been feeding on floating corpses. The costs of pork and
chicken, meanwhile, have soared. The police, meanwhile, are reportedly
stealing valuables from the dead bodies they find – and the regime has
arrested and beaten up Burmese people attempting to help the cyclone
victims. The comedian Zargana is now in jail, for criticising the regime’s
failure to help its people.

On the political front, the regime is more entrenched than ever. Burma’s
democracy leader, Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, marked her 63rd
birthday on 19 June – and is now in her 13th year of house arrest. The
regime declared that she was "a danger to the state" who deserves to be
punished with "flogging
 as in the case of naughty children." It is
difficult to imagine how much worse the behaviour of the junta in Burma
can get.

On Aung San Suu Kyi’s birthday, the UN Security Council passed Resolution
1820 on Women in Armed Conflicts. This follows Resolution 1325 in 2000.
According to the Global Justice Center, Burma is clearly violating these
resolutions – and is also in breach of the Geneva Conventions, the
Genocide Convention, and the Rome Statute. The European Parliament has
already called for a case against Burma’s Generals to be referred to the
International Criminal Court, on charges of crimes against humanity. If
the situation in Burma does not change, pressure for such a course of
action is only likely to mount.

As the world focuses now on the crisis in Zimbabwe, the parallels between
Robert Mugabe’s reign of terror in that failed state and the disaster
unfolding in Burma are stark. Both countries, former British colonies,
were once the most prosperous in their regions – Zimbabwe, the "bread
basket" of Africa and Burma, the "rice bowl" of Asia. Both are now ruled
by paranoid tyrants who have ruined their economies and terrorised their
people. In both countries, there is a legitimate democratic opposition
that has won elections but been denied their rightful place in government.
The rulers of both nations remain in power illegitimately, having stolen
their elections through intimidation, harassment, and rigging – or simply
by ignoring the real result. And in both countries, the regimes are guilty
of the same sad litany of human rights violations: torture, rape and
murder, and the refusal to allow international aid organisations to help
their people. And yet, so far in both countries the world’s politicians
and media watch, report, and condemn – and then move on.

Benedict Rogers is the author of A Land Without Evil: Stopping the
Genocide of Burma's Karen People (Monarch, 2004), and has visited Burma
and its borderlands more than 20 times. He also serves as Deputy Chairman
of the UK Conservative Party's Human Rights Commission.