BurmaNet News, December 19, 2008

[Editor]

December 19, 2008, Issue #3622


INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: Letters Land Prisoners’ Relatives, Guards in Jail Friday
Mizzima: Burma likely to announce 'Election Law' on Independence Day
Radio Free Asia: Burmese Lawyer Flees, Speaks
IRIN: Fishermen struggle to pay back loans

ON THE BORDER
Kaladan Press Network: Bamboos scarce in Arakan State

HEALTH / AIDS
Burma Bloggers’ Network: AIDS Day Ceremony held at NLD Head Quarter

REGIONAL
Daily Times (Pakistan): Analysis: Burma’s nuclear temptation —Bertil Lintner


____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA


December 19, Irrawaddy
Letters Land Prisoners’ Relatives, Guards in Jail Friday – Wai Moe

The Burmese regime, not content to send dissidents to far-flung prisons to
serve decades-long sentences, is cracking down on relatives who commit the
crime of exchanging letters with their loved ones.

On December 17, Zaw Naing Htwe, brother of political prisoner Kyaw Kyaw
Htwe, was given a nine-year prison sentence by a court in Rangoon’s
notorious Insein Prison for receiving a letter from his brother, according
to family members. Three prison guards who helped Kyaw Kyaw Htwe to send
the letter were also jailed.

Kyaw Kyaw Htwe, who is also known as Marky, is a member of the 88
Generation Students group. He was sentenced in November to 65 years
imprisonment, which he is currently serving at Mergui Prison in southern
Burma’s Tenasserim Division. 

The letter, which was sent from Insein Prison before Kyaw Kyaw Htwe was
transferred to Mergui, contained information about health-care conditions
in the prison, according to a family member.

The judgment against Zaw Naing Htwe came just days after the relative of
another dissident received a lighter sentence for reading a letter
addressed to the head of the Burmese junta, Snr-Gen Than Shwe, penned on
behalf of the detainee.

On December 15, Thant Zin Oo, the brother of Thant Zin Myo, a member of
the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) serving a 19-year
sentence at Insein Prison, received a six-month sentence for reading a
letter to his brother during a visit to the prison earlier this year.  

In the letter, relatives of Thant Zin Myo appealed to the junta leader to
allow the detained NLD member to receive proper medical treatment.
Although Thant Zin Oo initially received permission to read the letter
aloud to his brother, prison authorities reversed their decision and took
him into custody. He has been in detention since the incident.

“Family members of political prisoners are often charged under Article 42
of Burma’s Jail Manual, which deals with correspondence,” said Saw Kyaw
Kyaw Min, a lawyer who represented a number of detained dissidents until
he fled to the Thai-Burmese border recently after three of his colleagues
were imprisoned for contempt of court.

Lawyers in Rangoon say that there are notices on the walls of prisons,
police stations, immigration offices and other government buildings
telling citizens to respect the State Secrets Act—a legal tool that the
military regime has often used to repress Burmese citizens.

It is not unusual in Burma for imprisoned dissidents or their friends and
relatives to face persecution for attempting to exchange correspondence.

In 1997, Myo Myint, a former political prisoner, was rearrested after he
attempted to hand a letter to a former cellmate at Tharrawaddy Prison
during a visit. He was given a seven-year sentence for the offense.

Two years earlier, in late 1995, 12 political prisoners, including veteran
journalist and prominent opposition figure Win Tin, were severely punished
for passing a letter detailing prison conditions to a visiting UN human
rights official. The prisoners had their sentences extended by up to 12
years, while a number of prison guards were also punished for failing to
prevent the incident.

In the same year, student activist Ba Htoo Maung, who was serving a
sentence at Myaingyun Prison in Mandalay Division, was shackled and placed
in solitary confinement for at least 500 days for sending a letter to his
family. A guard who helped him to send the letter was fired.

“Under military rule, many people have been harshly punished for sending
letters describing the hardships of prison life,” said Bo Kyi,
joint-secretary of the Assistance Association for Political
Prisoners—Burma, a human rights group based in Thailand.

“However, corresponding with others is human nature. Sadly, Burma’s rulers
seem to think it’s a subversive crime,” he added.

____________________________________


December 19, Mizzima
Burma likely to announce 'Election Law' on Independence Day - Mungpi  

New Delhi - As a step forward along the roadmap to democracy, Burma's
military junta will soon announce an Election Law that will set guidelines
and criteria for the formation of political parties to contest the
upcoming 2010 general election, sources said.

According to Larry Jagan, a journalist based in Bangkok and a Burma
affairs expert, the junta is likely to announce the Election Law in early
January 2009 and most likely on Burma's Independence Day of January 4th.

Burma's military government had previously announced early this year that
it wiould hold a general election in 2010 to elect representatives to a
new government which is to include some civilian representatives.

In preparation for the election, sources close to the military said the
junta has already prepared a set of rules and regulations for the
formation of political parties, the document now pending to be made public
as the country's paramount military figure, Senior General Than Shwe, is
yet to have given his final approval.

"According to what I know [from my sources] the election law will be
announced on January 4th," Jagan, a veteran journalist who has covered
Burma for years, told Mizzima.

A source, who wished to remain unnamed, said the junta is likely to make
public the Law in late December or early January, but in any scenario it
is clear that the junta will only make such an announcement when it is
confident they have done all the necessary groundwork to secure electoral
victory.

Analysts, including Jagan, believe that the junta, making use of an
Election Law, will ensure that it gets an upper hand in the upcoming
election and will tie up any possible opposition at the polling booths,
including that led of detained Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's
party – National League for Democracy (NLD).

"It is likely that the NLD will be allowed to partake, if they are willing
to contest by the established rules, but that does not mean there would be
a free and fair process," said Jagan, adding that the junta will make sure
the party is left handicapped.

The NLD, on its part, has so far not reached any decision on whether or
not to contest the upcoming election.

"We will decide on it, but as of now we still think it is too early," Nyan
Win, the NLD's spokesperson in Rangoon, told Mizzima. He said the NLD
would love to see progress in the electoral process, including the
announcement of the Election Law, so that an accurate assessment of the
NLD's potential involvement could be formulated.

However, according to some, regardless of specifics it would be unwise for
the NLD to remain out of the fold, encouraging the party to contest the
poll.

Aye Lwin, leader of the 88 generation students (Union of Myanmar), a group
backed by the junta, during an interview with Mizzima said it would be
wiser for the NLD and other opposition elements to join the election
process and accept a new government as a step forward to democratization.

"Democracy cannot be achieved overnight, so we have to build it slowly
from the given the space," Aye Lwin said.

Aye Lwin admits that he and his group are now campaigning and intend to
form a political party to contest the election, saying he believes that
the election will be free and fair and that the result will bring Burma a
step closer to democracy.

But unlike Aye Lwin, Jagan said the junta's priority is not to allow a
repetition of the 1990 election, in which detained democracy icon Aung San
Suu Kyi led the NLD to a landslide victory.

"The NLD might be allowed to run in the election but it does not
necessarily mean it is free and fair. It is more likely that they would be
harassed and hindered, and the junta would likely arrest those they
thought were problems," Jagan elaborated.


____________________________________


December 18, Radio Free Asia
Burmese Lawyer Flees, Speaks Out - Moe Kyaw

A Burmese lawyer now in exile says authorities tortured evidence out of
his clients.

Bangkok - Burmese lawyer who fled to Thailand to avoid jail after
representing 11 anti-government protesters has said authorities tortured
evidence from his clients that was used to convict them in connection with
a bombing earlier this year.

“In this case, Yan Shwe, Zaw Zaw Aung, and U Myint Aye were arrested by
police, and were mentally and physically tortured to obtain evidence that
they had committed the crime,” Saw Kyaw Kyaw Min told reporters in
Thailand.

“Evidence obtained in such a manner by the police was then used in court.
In that case, I examined five witnesses before I fled the country,” he
said, having fled to Thailand after weeks in hiding from the Burmese
authorities.

Yan Shwe, Zaw Zaw Aung, and Myint Aye were sentenced last month in
Rangoon’s Northern District Court to life in prison for allegedly planting
a bomb in the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) office
in the city’s Shwe Pyitha township. The device exploded July 1 but no one
was killed or injured in the blast.

The USDA is a government-sponsored social welfare group that serves as a
civilian proxy for military interests. Members of the opposition say the
USDA is often mobilized to put down anti-government protests.

The state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper said Myint Aye had funded the
bombing and Zaw Zaw Aung and Yan Shwe carried it out. The newspaper also
said Burmese exiles in Thailand had also helped finance the attack.

Burma's courts have sentenced more than 200 political and labor activists,
bloggers, journalists, and Buddhist monks and nuns to lengthy jail terms
in recent months.

Flight to avoid jail

Saw Kyaw Kyaw Min, 28, worked as a lawyer in Rangoon, where he defended 11
members of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD).

In October, the Hlaing Thaya township court in Rangoon sentenced him to
six months in prison for contempt of court after he failed to intervene
when his clients turned their backs on the judge to protest the manner in
which they were being questioned.

Three of the defendants also sought to call Information Minister Gen. Kyaw
Hsan as a witness, Saw Kyaw Kyaw Min said at the time, prompting another
call from the judge for the lawyers to control their clients.

Saw Kyaw Kyaw Min and another lawyer, Nyi Nyi Htwe, appeared in court Oct.
23 with their clients, 11 youths who had staged a protest march in Rangoon
on May 15 in which they wore t-shirts calling for the release of detained
opposition leader Aun San Suu Kyi.

“The main reason I had to flee the country is that the authorities charged
me under Penal Code 228,” or contempt of court, Saw Kyaw Kyaw Min said.

“I was ready to face and defend the charges in court. As a matter of fact,
I did go to court Oct. 27 to defend those charges, but they postponed the
proceedings until Oct. 30. But then they issued orders and tried to arrest
us on Oct. 29,” he said.

“That is why I became convinced that our legal system doesn’t have any
trace of justice, and therefore I completely lost faith and trust in the
system, and so I fled the country.”

“I can see that handing down long-term sentences to young students like
Sithu Maung and Ye Myat Hein is intended  to cut short the continuance of
the next generation of young politicians. I can also see that giving
long-term jail sentences to the 1988 generation of politically active
leaders is intended to stop all political activities prior to the 2010
elections, which are to be organized by the government.”

Nyi Nyi Htwe, along with lawyers Aung Thein and Khin Maung Shein, was
arrested and sentenced to terms of four to six months in prison on the
same charges.

Legal hurdles

In a written statement made available to reporters, Saw Kyaw Kyaw Min
described the difficulties facing lawyers who represent political
prisoners.

The authorities, he said, often delay approval for lawyers to represent
prisoners; keep security officers in the room when lawyers and clients
meet; fail to inform lawyers of court dates; direct judges, prosecutors,
and prosecution witnesses; and improperly redact court records and
transcripts.

New York-based Human Rights Watch, citing Saw Kyaw Kyaw Min’s account,
sharply criticized Burma’s legal system and called for high-level
intervention by Burma’s neighbors.

“The government locks up peaceful activists, sends them to remote prisons,
and then intimidates or imprisons the lawyers who try to represent them,"
Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said.

"This abuse of the legal system shows the sorry state of the rule of law
in Burma."
The New York-based organization, citing the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN) Charter which entered into force Dec. 15, urged ASEAN to
dispatch “an eminent independent legal team to monitor the trials and
conditions of activists held in isolated prisons.”

Original reporting by Moe Kyaw for RFA’s Burmese service. Translated by
Soe Thinn. Burmese service director: Nancy Shwe. Executive producer: Susan
Lavery. Written and produced in English by Sarah Jackson-Han.

____________________________________


December 19, IRIN (Integrated Regional Information Networks)
Myanmar: Fishermen struggle to pay back loans

Pyapon - Fishermen hit by Cyclone Nargis are struggling to pay back
government loans meant to jumpstart their livelihoods.

While the loans have helped, more assistance will be needed to sustain
them for the long term, they said.

"I'm not sure whether I will be able to make the payments in time," Mya
Win Maung said from his home in Pyapon, in Ayeyarwady Delta.

In July, he received a US$800 loan from the Livestock and Fisheries
Development Bank to repair his 30ft vessel at an interest rate of 1.42
percent per month for one year.  
 
"Within six to nine months we have to pay back half the loan," the
56-year-old, one of 1,288 fishermen who qualified under the scheme,
explained.

Others acted as guarantors for friends' loans, and could find themselves
in greater debt if their colleagues default.

"I don't think many of us will be able to pay on time. We may become
fishermen without vessels next year," Mya Win Maung warned.

Debt mountain

Between June and November this year, the government lent more than $2.2
million to fishermen affected by Cyclone Nargis, in amounts ranging from
$250 to $25,000, a bank official, who declined to be identified, told
IRIN.

Qualifying fishermen were required to submit property deeds for
collateral. In addition, applicants had to provide at least four
guarantors - mostly fellow fishermen.

"We provide special loans for fishing vessel owners intending to restart
their business. Generally, we provide loans based on the value of their
property but in this case, the four guarantors are more important for
repayment," the bank official said.

But for some fishermen, the loans have only put them in greater debt.

Others maintain that while the loans have helped, they are not enough to
sustain their business.

With a complicated application process, some fishermen even became brokers
to their colleagues, adding 10 percent more to the expense, while at the
same time encouraging them to take out larger loans than necessary.

"Brokers told fishermen in our village that they would be able to secure a
bigger loan if they paid an additional 10 percent," Mya Win Maung said.

After travelling costs to go to Yangon to sign the bank documents, bank
fees and additional broker fees, some are now in a worse state than
before.

Fire sales

For scores of small fishermen who never qualified for the loans, the
prognosis could be worse still. Seven months later, some fishing boats
remain unrepaired and have been rendered unusable.

To cope, some have begun selling off their productive assets, including
fishing nets.

"Some vessels are now used for carrying firewood instead of fish because
of their not having enough fishing equipment or not enough money to repair
the boat," said a fisherman, who said he had had no help, aside from the
loan.

"The loan is not enough. We still need help from the department of
fisheries and the Myanmar Fisheries federation. Otherwise we can't
recover," he said.

Devastated sector

More than 1,800 licensed boats were officially reported lost in the storm,
most non-motorised; however, the number could be much higher, according to
the Post-Nargis Joint Assessment (PONJA). http://www.asean.org/21765.pdf

Fishing is the second-largest source of income for the households living
in the delta.

A village track assessment undertaken at the time reported that half of
all boats had been lost, plus 70 percent of fishing gear.

According to the PONJA, the total estimated damage to the fisheries sector
is estimated at close to $25 million, with total losses from forgone
production projected at more than $108 million.

The impact on fisheries, both marine and inland, and aquaculture included
damage to the industry's infrastructure such as ponds, hatcheries and
jetties and damage to equipment such as boats and nets.

Post-harvest capabilities were also damaged, including the loss of ice
production and cold storage facilities, fish processing, marketing and
transport infrastructure, the assessment said.
 
IRIN (Integrated Regional Information Networks) is part of the UN Office
for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs


____________________________________
ON THE BORDER


December 18, Kaladan Press Network
Bamboos scarce in Arakan State

Teknaf, Bangladesh - Bamboos in Arakan State are gradually disappearing
because businessmen in collaboration with a section of the authorities
have been exporting it to Bangladesh, said a bamboo trader from Maungdaw
Township on condition of anonymity. 
 
The bamboos are transported to Teknaf from Arakan State by traders.  
 
The price of bamboos is skyrocketing in Arakan State, as businessmen
export bamboos to Bangladesh even as local people face difficulties buying
bamboos for building houses among other things.

In Arakan State, businessmen buy 100 bamboos at kyat 11,000 and sell it at
Taka 13,000 to 18,000 in Bangladesh. (One Taka= 17.50 kyat). Most of the
bamboos are exported to Bangladesh from the southern part of Arakan State.
Burma's bamboos are available in Teknaf, a border town in Bangladesh.
These bamboos are exported by engine boats.
 
Some of the bamboos are also sent to Teknaf as rafts which float along the
Naf River from Maungdaw north, Arakan state.
 
A local worker in Shapuri Dip, Bangladesh said it is good for the local
people as they can buy bamboos at cheap prices. If bamboos do not come to
Bangladesh, from Burma, the price would go up in Bangladesh.
 
The businessmen have to pay tax to Burma's border security force (Nasaka),
customs, police and the forest department. They also have to pay Taka
4,000 to the authorities in Teknaf for 1,000 bamboos said a trader.  

 
____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS


December 2, Burma Bloggers’ Network
AIDS Day Ceremony held at NLD Head Quarter - Rangoon

A celebration for AIDS day ceremony was held today in the head quarter of
the NLD. About 40 people including people living with HIV/AIDS and their
family members attended the celebration with fried noodles and cold drinks
fed. Ko Aung Naing from Rangoon Division Youth Committee acted as the
master of ceremony. U Hla Min introduced how AIDS section of the NLD
emerged and Ma Phyu Phyu Thin explained what they have done so far. Ko Yar
Zar who has been helping people living with HIV/AIDS talked about the
difficulties facing them. At last U Aung Shwe remarked and opened a lucky
draw section for 250 people. Lucky draw included longyi, towel, and other
utensils. 35 children were given presents. The celebration was over
successfully.


____________________________________
REGIONAL


December 19, Daily Times (Pakistan)
ANALYSIS: Burma’s nuclear temptation —Bertil Lintner

All that is certain is that Burma has a nuclear programme. It may be
years, if not decades, away from developing nuclear-weapons capability.
But the fact that the country’s military leadership is experimenting with
nuclear power is cause for concern

Over the past year, Southeast Asia’s diplomatic community has tried to
sort fact from fiction in a stream of unconfirmed reports from Burma, the
region’s most isolated and secretive country. Burma’s fledgling nuclear
programme with Russian assistance and its mysterious connections with
North Korea raise concern in the region about its purpose.

According to Burmese exiles in Thailand, the Russians and North Koreans
assist the Burmese in developing nuclear capability. But wary of similar
reports by Iraqi exiles a few years ago, which turned out to be false, the
international community remains sceptical. In a research paper for
Griffith University, for example, Australian scholar Andrew Selth
dismisses the reports.

Nevertheless, certain facts are not in doubt. Burma first initiated a
nuclear research programme as early as 1956, when its then-democratic
government set up the Union of Burma Atomic Energy Centre, UBAEC, in
then-capital Rangoon. Unrelated to the country’s defence industries, it
came to a halt when the military seized power in 1962. New power-holders,
led by General Ne Win did not trust UBAEC head Hla Nyunt.

In February 2001, Burma’s present junta, the State Peace and Development
Council decided to revitalise the country’s nuclear programme, and
Russia’s Atomic Energy Ministry announced plans to build a 10-megawatt
nuclear research reactor in central Burma. In July 2001, Burma established
a Department of Atomic Energy, believed to be the brainchild of the
Minister of Science and Technology, U Thaung, a graduate of Burma’s
Defence Services Academy and former ambassador to the United States.
US-trained nuclear scientist Thein Po Saw was identified as a leading
advocate for nuclear technology in Burma.

At a press conference in Rangoon on January 21, 2002, Vice-Chief of
Military Intelligence Major-General Kyaw Win issued a statement:
“Myanmar’s consideration of building a nuclear research reactor is based
on the peaceful purposes getting modern technologies needed for the
country, availability of radioisotopes being used peacefully, training
technicians and performing feasibility study for generation of electricity
from nuclear power.”

While Burma suffers from chronic power shortages, the need for a research
reactor, used mainly for medical purposes, is unclear. Radioisotopes allow
imaging of the brain, bones, organs, lungs and blood flow, advanced
technology for Burma’s basic health services.

However, observers pointed out the Russian-made nuclear-research reactor
that the Burmese authorities sought to acquire is similar to the
5-megawatt research reactor that the then–Soviet Union installed at
Yongbyon in North Korea in 1965, from which North Korea later extracted
plutonium for a nuclear device. Burma’s military leaders couldn’t help but
notice how North Korea stood up to the US, a harsh critic of the Burmese
regime, mainly due to its nuclear programme.

Reports have been murky since. In April 2007, days after the restoration
of diplomatic ties between Burma and North Korea — broken since North
Koreans detonated a bomb in Rangoon in 1983 — a North Korean freighter,
the Kang Nam I, docked at Thilawa port. Burmese officials claimed that the
ship sought shelter from a storm. But two Burmese reporters working for a
Japanese news agency were briefly detained when they went to the port to
investigate, indicating possible other, more secret reasons for the visit.

According to the July 2007 issue of the Irrawaddy, a Thailand-based
publication by Burmese exiles: “by a strange coincidence, the 2,900-ton
North Korean cargo vessel MV Bong Hoafan...sought shelter from a storm and
anchored at a Burmese port last November. The Burmese government reported
that an on-board inspection had ‘found no suspicious material or military
equipment’. But journalists and embassies in Rangoon remained sceptical.”

At about the same time, the South Korean news agency Yonhap reported “a
North Korean ship under US surveillance was believed to have unloaded
self-propelled artillery at a Myanmar port.”

The deal with Russia was stalled for several years, but in May 2007,
Russia’s atomic energy agency, Rosatom, announced construction of the
nuclear-research reactor. According to Rosatom, the reactor would use
low-enriched uranium, not plutonium. Up to 350 Burmese nationals, most
military personnel, trained in Russia under the initial 2001 agreement,
and since then several hundred more trained at Russian institutions.

Signatories of the agreement reached in Moscow on May 15, 2007 were U
Thaung and Rosatom head Sergey Kiriyenko. According to Rosatom’s press
release: “The sides have agreed to cooperate on the establishment of a
centre for nuclear studies in the territory of Myanmar (the general
contractor will be Atomstroyexport). The centre will comprise a
10-megawatt light water reactor working on 20 per cent-enriched
uranium-235, an activation analysis laboratory, a medical isotope
production laboratory, silicon doping system, nuclear waste treatment and
burial facilities. The centre will be controlled by IAEA.”

Despite that claim, the International Atomic Energy Agency reported on May
17, 2007, that Burma had not reported plans to build a nuclear reactor. As
a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty, Burma is required to allow
inspections of any nuclear facilities. The agreement does not mention
North Korea, but in November 2003, the Norway-based broadcasting station
Democratic Voice of Burma, run by Burmese exiles, reported that 80 Burmese
military personnel had departed for North Korea to study “nuclear and
atomic energy technology”.

The report remains unconfirmed, its source unclear. If Burmese military
personnel travelled to North Korea, it’s more likely for training in
maintenance of missiles, which Burma then wanted to buy from North Korea
but could not yet afford.

Alarm bells rang in August 2008, after India withdrew permission for a
North Korean plane to fly over its airspace en route to Iran, just before
taking off from Mandalay in Burma where it had made a stopover. The Il-62
carried unidentified cargo, and its destination after the stopover was
unclear.

Reports of some cooperation between Burma, Russia, North Korea and Iran
have also come from two Burmese nationals, an army officer and a
scientist, who recently left the country. According to them, a
Russian-supplied 10-megawatt research reactor is being built, at Myaing,
north of Pakokku, said to be for peaceful research. But according to the
defectors, another facility exists south of the old hill station of Myin
Oo Lwin, formerly known as Maymyo. Three Russians supposedly work there
while a group of North Koreans are said to engage in tunnelling and
constructing a water-cooling system. The defectors also assert that in
2007 an Iranian intelligence officer, identified only as “Mushavi”,
visited Burma. Apart from sharing nuclear knowledge, he reportedly
provided advice on missile systems using computer components from Milan.

Burma has uranium deposits, and the Ministry of Energy has identified five
sources of ore in the country, all low-grade uranium unsuitable for
military purposes. But defectors claim that two more uranium mines in
Burma are not included in official reports: one near Mohnyin in Kachin
State and another in the vicinity of Mogok in Mandalay Division. The ore
is supposedly transported to a Thabeikkyin refinery, conveniently located
between the two alleged mines.

Until such reports can be verified, or refuted, speculations remain. But a
nuclear-powered Burma would be a nightmare for all neighbours and would
upset the balance of power in the region. All that is certain is that
Burma has a nuclear programme. It may be years, if not decades, away from
developing nuclear-weapons capability. But the fact that the country’s
military leadership is experimenting with nuclear power is cause for
concern. —YaleGlobal

Bertil Lintner is a Swedish journalist based in Thailand and the author of
several works on Asia, including Blood Brothers: The Criminal Underworld
of Asia and Great Leader, Dear Leader: Demystifying North Korea under the
Kim Clan