BurmaNet News, February 4, 2009

[Editor]

February 4, 2009, Issue #3645


INSIDE BURMA
BBC News: UN envoy's Burma trip criticised
Xinhua: Myanmar reiterates keeping door open to Aung San Suu Kyi
Mizzima News: Top officials resign

ON THE BORDER
Irrawaddy: Thais protest idea of Rohingya refugee center

BUSINESS / TRADE
SamayLive (India): Ansari visits Myanmar tomorrow, 3 MoUs to be signed

REGIONAL
Mizzima News: UN Chief and envoy Gambari to meet in Delhi
AFP: Bangladesh: Rohingya regional issue
AFP: Myanmar migrants' scars back Thai abuse claims: health workers

INTERNATIONAL
Asian Tribune: NCUB applauds British Minister Bill Rammell for his
criticism of Burma's 2010 sham elections

OPINION / OTHER
Slate.com: Come hell or high water, the Burmese junta endures – Jacob Baynham
FEER: Burma's forgotten victims – Elaine Pearson
DVB: Burma’s fifth column – Tine Gyaw
IPS: Ban's visit inane unless prisoners are freed – Marwaan Macan-Markar

ANNOUNCEMENT
Alter-Ciné Foundation: Documentary film grants (Africa, Eastern Europe and
Central Asia, Latin America, South Asia, South East and East Asia)



____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

February 4, BBC News
UN envoy's Burma trip criticised

Burma's opposition says it has seen little progress following the latest
visit from UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari.

"I do not see any development yet," a spokesman for the National League
for Democracy (NLD) told reporters.

Meanwhile Burma's ruling generals have criticised the NLD for setting
unrealistic conditions for talks.

Mr Gambari has now ended his four day visit to Burma, and is due to report
to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in India on Thursday.

During the trip, he was able to meet with detained NLD leader Aung San Suu
Kyi, and with several government ministers and diplomats.

But he was not granted an audience with the top military ruler, Senior
General Than Shwe.

Slow progress

Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been detained for 13 the past 19 years by the
military junta and is currently under house arrest, met Mr Gambari on
Monday.

The meeting is being seen as a minor breakthrough for Mr Gambari, because
she had refused to see him on his previous visit.

During the visit, the NLD made clear that they would not bend from the
line that 1990 elections, which were won by the NLD but the result never
honoured by the military generals, must be the basis of any settlement.

They also said UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon should not visit until all
Burma's political prisoners are free.

But Burmese state media accused Ms Suu Kyi of being unrealistic.

"A dialogue will be practical and successful only if the discussions are
based on the reality of the prevailing conditions," the state-run New
Light of Myanmar newspaper quoted Information Minister Kyaw Hsan as
saying.

"I would like to emphasise that there will be no success if it is based on
idealism and unrealistic conditions."

Burma's ruling generals say they have a "roadmap to democracy" which
includes elections under a new constitution, a process the opposition says
is fundamentally flawed.

____________________________________

February 4, Xinhua
Myanmar reiterates keeping door open to Aung San Suu Kyi

Leader of the Myanmar government's spokes authoritative team
Brigadier-General Kyaw Hsan reiterated that the government always keeps
the door open to Aung San Suu Kyi for a dialogue, the official newspaper
New Light of Myanmar reported Wednesday.

Meeting with United Nations Special Envoy Ibrahim Gambari for the second
time in Yangon Tuesday before he ended his four-day Myanmar visit, Kyaw
Hsan, who is also Information Minister, disclosed that after Gambari's
last visit in August 2008, the government proposed Aung San Suu Kyi for
two times to hold a dialogue which was declined by her.

Kyaw Hsan also said that the government has officially invited Aung San
Suu Kyi for such a dialogue after announcing in October 2007 that if she
declares to give up her policy of "confrontation, utter devastation and
imposing all kinds of sanctions including economic sanctions," the head of
state will personally meet her.

"However, she has never given any reply officially concerning the
announcement," Kyaw Hsan blamed, stressing that "a dialogue will be
practical and successful only if the discussions are based on the reality
of the prevailing conditions" and emphasizing that "there will be no
success if it is based on idealism and unrealistic conditions."

When asked by Gambari to occasionally grant more amnesty in the future in
addition to the over 9,000 prisoners, Kyaw Hsan said " the government has
been taking action against law-breakers for their crimes in accordance
with the respective laws. It is always considering the reduction of their
prison terms with magnanimity and goodwill."

On Gambari's proposal to review the long-term sentences given to certain
prisoners, Kyaw Hsan advised the prisoners to file their appeals in the
courts as granted by law.

With regard to the time frame of the 2010 general election, Kyaw Hsan
revealed that preparation for forming the 2010 Election Commission and
enactment of the Election Law and Political Parties Law is underway,
saying that related announcements will bee issued at the right time and
assuring that these laws will offer a broad range of rights to set up
political parties, conduct canvassing campaigns and stand for the
election.

After the formation of the election commission, the government will
consider if there is need for technical assistance from the UN, he said.

Upon request by Gambari to establish a regular contact system between the
UN and Myanmar, Kyaw Hsan said the work can be carried out through UN
agencies in Myanmar or through the Myanmar permanent representatives at
the UN, adding that the proposed re-visit to Myanmar of UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon would be accepted depending on time and
situation.

Kyaw Hsan insisted that the government will carry on the democratization
process through the seven-step roadmap in accord with the mandate of the
majority of the people, citing the ratification of a new constitution at
the nationwide referendum held in late May last year, in which 92.48 per
cent voted "yes".

Claiming that the government is on the right path and democracy is within
its reach, Kyaw Hsan warned that "Trying to reverse the process will bring
no benefits, and this cannot be done at all."

Kyaw Hsan further emphasized that "It is time the UN and the international
community and those who oppose the roadmap join hands for soonest
completion of our democracy transition."

Gambari ended his four-day mission here Tuesday evening shortly after
meeting also with M yanmar Prime Minister General Thein Sein.

During his trip, Gambari was arranged by the government to also meet at
the State Guest House with General Secretary of National League of
Democracy (NLD) Aung San Suu Kyi, has been under house arrest at her
lakeside residence since the Dabayin bloody incident on May 30, 2003.

As his 7th mission, Gambari arrived here last Saturday morning in a
renewed efforts for Myanmar's national reconciliation and democratic
process.

____________________________________

February 4, Mizzima News
Top officials resign

The Burmese military junta has reshuffled a number of top government posts
including the position of the Chairman of the Civil Service Selection
yesterday, sources said.

Sources in the military establishment told Mizzima Dr. Than Nyunt, the
Chairman of the Civil Service Selection and Training Board and Myo Nyunt,
the Deputy Education Minister resigned from their respective positions.

Moreover, Kyaw Thu, the Deputy Minister of the Foreign Ministry was
shifted to the post of the Chairman of the Civil Service Selection and
Training Board, which is equivalent to a minister's position.

Kyaw Thu is currently chairing the Tripartite Core Group, formed with
representatives of the Burmese government, the UN and Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to facilitate and monitor flow of
international assistance into Cyclone Nargis cyclone hit areas in Burma.

Mizzima published the story in December 2008 of a possible cabinet reshuffle
http://www.mizzima.com/news/election-2010/1415-eight-ministers-and-rangoons-mayor-to-resign-soon.html.

Some have now resigned, among them Maj-Gen Saw Tun, the Minister of
Construction, Maj-Gen Saw Lwin, the Minister of Immigration and
Population.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

February 4, Irrawaddy
Thais protest idea of Rohingya refugee center – Lawi Weng

Around one thousand protesters gathered in Thailand’s southern port city
of Ranong yesterday to demonstrate against suggestions that the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is seeking to establish a
Rohingya refugee center in the area.

According to an official Thai report, the demonstrators were mostly local
residents “acting on behalf of a Thai-[Burmese] human rights commission.”
They formed a picket line with signs in Thai and English after they were
blocked from entering Ranong Airport, where they planned to submit copies
of a protest letter to representatives of the embassies of Burma,
Malaysia, Indonesia, Bangladesh and India. A Thai official later accepted
the letter.

Local residents told The Irrawaddy that the protesters expressed concern
about allowing large numbers of Rohingya, a Muslim minority group from
Burma, to stay in the area. They said they feared it would lead to
problems similar to those in Thailand’s southernmost provinces, where
Islamic extremists have been waging a violent struggle for independence
for years.

Although the protest ostensibly targeted visiting diplomats, it appears
that it was mainly directed at the UNHCR, which also had representatives
in Ranong yesterday to interview 66 Rohingya who were recently detained by
the Thai authorities for illegally entering the country.

Kitty McKinsey, the regional spokeswoman for the UNHCR in Asia, told The
Irrawaddy on Wednesday that the UN refugee agency has not held discussions
with the Thai government about plans to set up a camp for the Rohingya in
Ranong.

“We will talk to the Thai government about finding a solution for this
group of people in the future,” said McKinsey. “Our position is no one
from northern Arakan State should be sent back to Myanmar [Burma] against
their will.”

Thailand’s role in the plight of the Rohingya has come under close
international scrutiny over the past month, after the Indian and
Indonesian navies rescued hundreds of boat people who claimed that the
Thai navy had towed them out to sea in engineless boats with little food
or water.

On Monday, nearly 200 Rohingya boat people rescued near the Indonesian
island of Sumatra said they had been set adrift and left to die by the
Thai navy three weeks earlier. It was the second such incident in less
than a month.

Thailand has denied the charges, but has made it clear that it is not
willing to recognize the Rohingya as refugees with a legitimate claim to
asylum.

“Thailand has no intention of opening any refugee camp. We cannot afford
to carry the burden of taking care of another 200,000 to 300,000 people,”
Thailand’s deputy prime minister, Suthep Thaugsuban, told reporters on
Wednesday.

“They come from Myanmar and that is where they will be deported to,” added
Suthep, who oversees national security.

However, Burma’s ruling regime also refuses to accept the Rohingya, who
they say are not among the country’s recognized ethnic groups. A
commentary in the state-run newspaper Myanmar Ahlin, a junta mouthpiece,
said that it would be “complicated” if Thailand repatriated the 66
Rohingya now being held in Ranong.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

February 4, SamayLive (India)
Ansari visits Myanmar tomorrow, 3 MoUs to be signed

India will seek to bolster its economic, energy and security interests
with Myanmar as Vice President Hamid Ansari tomorrow begins a four-day
visit to that country during which three agreements are to be signed in
industry, transport and telecommunication sectors.

The two countries will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for
setting up an industrial training centre in Myanmar while another accord
will be entered into by Tata Motors and Myanmar government for setting up
a truck manufacturing unit in that country for which India has given a
20-million dollar credit line.

Another MoU will be signed on establishment of a Centre for English
Language Training in Myanmar to equip students, civil servants,
businessmen and professionals with language skills.

The idea of the Centre, to be set up with India-ASEAN Cooperation Fund,
was proposed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the Indo-ASEAN summit in
Kuala Lumpur in 2005.

In the telecom sector, an optic fibre link set up by TCIL between Mandalay
and Kolkata would be inaugurated by Ansari.

Reflecting the strong economic content of Ansari's visit which will take
him to Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar's new capital, Yangon and Mandalay, the Vice
President will be accompanied by a strong business delegation including
the top officials of HMT, Tata Motors, ONGC Videsh Ltd, GAIL, NHPC, Essar
and TCIL.

Minister of State for Defence V Pallam Raju will also a member of the Vice
President's delegation.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

February 4, Mizzima News
UN Chief and envoy Gambari to meet in Delhi – Mungpi

The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and his special advisor
on Burma Ibrahim Gambari will meet on Thursday in the Indian capital New
Delhi to discuss Gambari's recent visit to military-ruled Burma, a UN
official said.

An official at the UN office in New Delhi told Mizzima that Gambari, who
on Tuesday wound-up a four-day visit to Burma, will be meeting UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in New Delhi.

"Both will be here on Thursday, but I am not aware of the details of their
visit," the official told Mizzima.

Marie Okabe, UN spokesperson in New York told reporters, "The UN envoy
[Gambari] is expected to meet the Secretary-General in India on Thursday
to report on the overall outcome of his latest visit [to Burma]."

Ban Ki-moon, who will arrive in New Delhi on Wednesday evening, is likely
to meet Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee to discuss
regional issues.

"We [the UN] have requested a meeting, but we don't know if that will be
possible," the UN official said.

Ban Ki-moon will also attend a conference on climate change – 'Delhi
Sustainable Development Summit 2009' - organizers of the conference said.
Gambari on the other hand is slated to tour the region in the wake of his
visit to Burma.

____________________________________

February 4, Agence France Presse
Bangladesh: Rohingya regional issue

Bangladesh said on Wednesday a regional initiative is needed to solve the
Rohingya migration issue, echoing a similar proposal by Thai Prime
Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.

"It would have been better if we could settle the issue bilaterally. We
have to think regionally definitely, if we cannot solve the issue
bilaterally,'' said Bangladesh's junior foreign minister, Hasan Mahmud.

The minister was answering a query more than a week after Thailand's prime
minister proposed the formation of a regional forum for dealing with
illegal immigration.

The Thai army has been accused of mistreating refugees from the minority
Muslim Rohingya group, thousands of whom flee poverty, abuse and
repression in western Burma every year.

Mahmud said Rohingya migration had been a decade-long problem for
Bangladesh, but denied that boat people from the ethnic minority were
using his country as a escape route.

"It's not true that Rohingyas were boarding boats from Bangladeshi side.
But it is true that many Rohingyas live in Bangladesh. Rohingyas who live
in Bangladesh don't go to Thailand,'' he said.

____________________________________

February 4, Agence France Presse
Myanmar migrants' scars back Thai abuse claims: health workers

Wounds and welts on the bodies of nearly 200 Myanmar migrants plucked from
seas off Indonesia this week support claims they were beaten by the Thai
military, medics said Wednesday.

"The injuries we've seen on them are consistent with their claims that
they had been abused by the Thai military," the head of the Idi State
Hospital in Aceh province, where 68 of the migrants are being treated,
told AFP.

"There were several marks on the skin which were likely the result of
being hit with blunt objects like sticks or rope. One of them had scars
from being whipped with a rope on his body," Doctor Zulfikry, who goes by
one name, said.

A nurse, Herman, said: "Many have scars from being caned on the back. The
wounds have dried up and there are visible welts on their skin."

The 198 migrants from Myanmar's Rohingya Muslim minority, who were rescued
off Sumatra island Monday, have said they were detained and beaten before
being set adrift with few supplies by Thai security forces after washing
up on the country's shores late last year.

They said they were among about 1,200 Rohingya migrants who were abused by
the Thais and dumped at sea.

About 850 have been rescued in Indian and Indonesian waters in recent
weeks, all telling the same stories. Rights groups fear scores may have
perished.

The scandal has been a major embarrassment to the fledgling government of
Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, which has denied military cruelty.

Thai Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban denied the latest allegations
on Wednesday, saying the boat people had been treated "under international
humanitarian principles".

Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said: "Please wait for the Indonesian
official investigation -- don't believe the foreign media reports."

One of the Rohingya migrants, 43-year-old Rahmat, told AFP in hospital
Tuesday the migrants had spent three weeks at sea with little food or
water after being detained and beaten on a Thai island and then cast
adrift.

"During the journey, 20 people among us died because there was no food and
water. We performed prayers in the boat for them before we threw the
bodies into the sea ... Almost every day someone would die," he said.

Indonesia argues the Rohingya migrants -- including an earlier group of
174 boat people found off Aceh on January 7 -- are economic migrants and
should be sent back to Myanmar despite their fears of persecution.

The Bengali-speaking Muslims are not given normal rights of citizenship in
military-ruled, Buddhist Myanmar, leading to discrimination and abuse,
according to rights groups.

The United Nations refugee agency has sought access to the Rohingya being
held in Indonesia but Jakarta has refused, insisting they are not refugees
and do not deserve international protection.

Islamic leaders have criticised the government for failing to offer asylum
to the Muslim migrants.

"Indonesia should accommodate (the migrants) for an indefinite time and
not send them back to their country, where they are oppressed by the
government because of their Muslim faith," said Maskuri Abdillah, a
spokesman for Indonesia's largest Muslim organisation, Nahdlatul Ulama.

Amnesty International has demanded that Thailand "stop forcibly expelling
Rohingyas" and urged regional governments to grant them fair asylum
hearings.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

February 4, Asian Tribune
NCUB applauds British Minister Bill Rammell for his criticism of Burma's
2010 sham elections

The National Council of the Union of Burma (NCUB) applauds Britain’s
Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Bill Rammell, for
his strong criticism of the Burmese military junta, the State Peace and
Development Council (SPDC). The NCUB implores other members of the
international community to heed Bill Rammell's important message and
reject the junta's sham and one-sided elections scheduled for 2010.

The NCUB calls on the international community to actively support the
Burmese citizens who have suffered under the SPDC's brutal military regime
for decades and reject the faux elections the junta is using to entrench
military rule in Burma.

The junta continues to refuse to recognize the results of Burma's free and
fair 1990 General Elections, in which the National League for Democracy
(NLD) won a landslide victory, and it is going to use the 2010 sham
elections to solidify its rule and create a civilian façade for it.
Whatever the pretences, the SPDC is not moving toward democracy and, on
the other hand, it continues to viciously violate basic democratic
principles.

The SPDC must end its military attacks against ethnic population in Burma
and begin a national reconciliation process with Burma's political
stakeholders. As long as the junta continues to refuse a meaningful,
time-bound political dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi and the ethnic
nationalities the international community must refuse to recognize the
2010 elections.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

February 4, Slate.com
Come hell or high water, the Burmese junta endures – Jacob Baynham

In a rare outing from the Rangoon home in which she is imprisoned,
democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi met with U.N. special envoy to Burma
Ibrahim Gambari on Monday to discuss the possibility of political reform
in her country.

This marks Gambari's seventh trip to Burma, a country locked in a military
dictatorship since 1962. His efforts have had little effect. During
Gambari's last visit, Suu Kyi refused to meet with him at all, in apparent
protest over the ineffectiveness of the United Nations' diplomatic
brokerage between her and the military.

In their meeting, Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy party
leaders trotted out their steadfast demands: that all political prisoners
be released, the new constitution be reviewed, and Suu Kyi's 1990 election
victory be acknowledged.

It must have been painfully evident to everyone that the elephant in the
room was sighing. As long as the recalcitrant generals are at the helm in
Burma, none of these demands is likely to be met anytime soon.

Suu Kyi's own history is evidence enough. She is nearing her 14th year of
detention because of the political threat she poses to Burma's 47-year-old
military junta.

Since her first imprisonment 19 years ago, Suu Kyi has received dozens of
major international awards she could not collect personally, including the
Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. In January, Queen Noor of Jordan gave her the
Trumpet of Conscience Award for her continued nonviolent fight for
freedom. Perhaps most disappointing of all was the election she and the
NLD won by a landslide in 1990. The military annulled the results, locked
up the party leaders, and plunged the country into another devastating era
of martial law.

Military-ruled Burma is not a nation to which change comes quickly. In
North Korean fashion, the xenophobic generals have isolated their country
in a time warp to buttress their power. Pre-World War II commuter buses
grumble along the streets of Rangoon. Political change in Burma comes
slowest of all. Today, 16 months after crushing the monk-led pro-democracy
uprisings in Rangoon and eight months after sabotaging the international
aid effort to help the millions affected by Cyclone Nargis, the Burmese
military junta has proved that neither hell nor high water can shake it
from power.

Nor, apparently, can Aung San Suu Kyi, who at 63 remains the most
effectively marginalized political leader in the world. Daughter of Aung
San, Burma's independence hero, Suu Kyi has symbolized Burma's greatest
hopes for democracy for the last 20 years. Educated at Oxford, Suu Kyi is
a devout Buddhist, an artful writer, and a charismatic orator. To most
Burmese, she is known simply as "The Lady."

The closest I got to Suu Kyi was in a paddleboat offshore from her
lakeside home in Rangoon. Ironically, her house lies just opposite the
crumbling residence of the late Gen. Ne Win, who founded Burma's military
regime in 1962. Guards keep watch over her house at all hours, and nine
Burmese were recently arrested for venturing too close. But though Suu
Kyi's physical presence is limited to her family's compound, The Lady was
seldom far from the minds of the Burmese I spoke with.

"In Burma, human rights, no," a man named Nyein told me one afternoon in a
tea shop, using all the English he had. Worried about being overheard by a
government spy (one in four residents of Rangoon is thought to be a
government informant), Nyein edged his stool closer to mine and looked
away. "All people like Aung San Suu Kyi," he said. He folded his hands at
the wrists under the table. "But talking, danger." And then he left.

As their lives go from bad to worse and the international community fails
to put any meaningful pressure on their government, many Burmese are
beginning to lose hope that the military will ever be vanquished. In
Burma, little could be more dangerous than the status quo.

The majority of the population here lives on less than $1 a day while
almost half of the national budget is spent on the military. Underneath
the government's propaganda billboards, beggars ply the streets by day.
Prostitutes take their turf at night, dolled-up and doe-eyed outside the
cinemas and under the bypasses, trawling for a livelihood in a country
that is the source of four unique strains of HIV, according to a Council
on Foreign Relations report. In Burma, 360 children die of preventable
diseases every day because the junta puts only 3 percent of the budget
into health care.

It's a situation so dire and persistent that Suu Kyi's vision of
nonviolent resistance unraveling the generals' power can seem naively
optimistic. ("There will be change," she has said, "because all the
military have are guns.")

For the few remaining armed resistance groups fighting the military in
remote swaths of jungle near the borders of India, China, and Thailand,
the concept of nonviolent revolution is an idealistic luxury reserved for
the cities. Here among the country's ethnic minorities, Burmese soldiers
have been burning and looting villages and raping and killing their
inhabitants for decades. In the age-old counterinsurgency tactic, they are
trying to kill the fish by draining the sea.

When I sneaked across the Thai border to visit the Shan State Army, a
threadbare rebel militia in northeastern Burma, I met a man who had been a
monk for 20 years but recently exchanged his robes for a gun. He told me
what he thought of the pacifism enshrined by Suu Kyi and the protesting
monks in Rangoon. "Here, if you have no gun, it's like you're sticking
your neck out for them to cut it," he said. "Without a gun, you will not
see peace in Burma."

The key to the generals' longevity is keeping people fearful, whether in
the jungle or on the city streets. Fear of government spies ensures that
public conversations in the city never stray too far into politics. That
fear is well-founded. The junta's draconian courts regularly impose
massive sentences for petty crimes—just talking to a foreign journalist
can earn a Burmese seven years in lockup.

Recently, a famous Burmese comedian known as Zarganar was sentenced to 59
years in prison after mounting an independent relief effort to aid the
cyclone victims in the Irrawaddy Delta. In the raid on his home, police
found several banned DVDs, including a film of the jewel-encrusted wedding
of Senior Gen. Than Shwe's daughter and a copy of Rambo 4, in which
Sylvester Stallone guns down the Burmese military in the eastern jungles
single-handedly. U Gambira, one of the monks who organized the September
2007 protests, was sentenced to 68 years. A student activist in his 20s
was given 104 years for his anti-military political activities.

In this way, thousands in Burma can directly relate to Suu Kyi's plight.
According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, 2,162
prisoners of conscience sit in Burma's jails as of Jan. 1, 2009. Thousands
more came before them.

I gave the AAPP's office a call when I was reporting from Mae Sot, a town
on the Thai side of the Burmese border. I asked the man on the phone if he
would be able to put me in touch with a former political prisoner.

"Maybe I can help," he said. "I was in jail for 14 years." I walked to the
office and met Aung Kyaw Oo. Aung Kyaw was a frail man with a tired face.
Like many Burmese in Mae Sot, he had escaped his homeland and was living
illegally in Thailand. Aung Kyaw had been a student activist and was
arrested three years after his role in the massive pro-democracy
demonstrations in 1988, during which the military killed thousands of
people on the streets and Aung San Suu Kyi emerged as a national icon.

Aung Kyaw was abused and starved in prison. He wasn't allowed outside.
"They treated me like a slave," he told me. "Like an animal." He survived
by controlling his mind through meditation and learning English from
scraps of newspaper smuggled in by the kinder prison guards. He read about
the Internet and computers and told himself that one day he would learn
about them, too.

Aung Kyaw was finally released in 2005. By that time he was very sick, and
the free life offered him little consolation. "People were still poor," he
said, "still working all day and not having enough to eat. I knew I had to
do something to change my country." Fearing a return to jail, Aung Kyaw
fled to the Thai border where he works with AAPP, keeping track of
political prisoners back in Burma.

At the top of that list is Aung San Suu Kyi, still awaiting her "Mandela
moment" when she will step out of her house and lead her country out of
oppression. For many of Burma's disheartened, it won't come a second too
soon.

Jacob Baynham is a writer based in Montana. He reported from Burma last
year with a grant from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

____________________________________

February 4, Far Eastern Economic Review
Burma's forgotten victims – Elaine Pearson

“You are living under our authority. You have no choice. You must do what
we say.”

This is what Burmese soldiers told a woman who was sick of portering their
army supplies. She told Human Rights Watch, “I tried to refuse to go
because I was so tired and the things we are made to carry are very heavy.
When I tried to refuse, they beat me.”

This story could have come from almost anywhere in military-ruled Burma,
but it is from one of the most isolated and neglected parts of the
country, in the western borderlands with India. Chin State’s mountainous
jungle villages are home to nearly half a million ethnic Chin people.
These predominantly Christian, deeply impoverished people are completely
under the boot of the Tatmadaw, or Burmese army.

Chin State is a microcosm for the patterns of oppression in rural Burma.
The army and civilian officials there routinely commit abuses –forced
labor, land and food confiscation, arbitrary beatings, recruitment of
child soldiers, and torture. The State Peace and Development Council
(SPDC), the military government, rules the population by denying them
their basic freedoms.

Scores of military camps are scattered throughout the state, in main
towns, along roads, and in the hills. Many Chin people see the army as
frightening bandits, and the soldiers see the community around them as a
resource to exploit and repress. One Baptist pastor told Human Rights
Watch: “When we meet the army we are shaking. There’s no law for them.
Whatever they want is law.”

Too often, the Burmese army arbitrarily arrests, beats and tortures Chin
people, accusing them of alliance with a small resistance group, the Chin
National Front, or its armed wing, the Chin National Army. Yet sometimes
villagers accuse the CNA of harassing, beating, and extorting money from
them as well.

In a three-year investigation into abuses in this forgotten corner of
Burma, Human Rights Watch researchers found that systematic abuses by the
Tatmadaw are causing people to flee the country. People find it hard to
grow crops, travel between villages, attend school, and practice their
religion.

The Chin face religious repression. At times the Tatmadaw has burnt down
churches, demolished crosses and prayer rooms to make way for military
buildings and infrastructure. Villagers are intimidated to convert to
Buddhism.

The situation has become even more desperate with a famine affecting large
parts of the state. A natural phenomenon in which bamboo “flowers” attract
a plague of rats is currently destroying crops. The food situation,
already difficult because of Burmese army plundering, has becoming
desperate. According to the United Nations, 70% of the people in Chin
State live below the poverty line and 40% lack access to adequate food
sources. As elsewhere in Burma, a handful of international agencies are
permitted to operate, but only within the rigid confines of the military
controlled “humanitarian space.”

Abuses and the impact of the famine, made worse by the military
government’s policies and practices have led tens of thousands of Chin to
flee, many cross the border to neighboring Mizoram State in India. India
has largely neglected the Chin, as it pursues business concessions in
Burma and border security cooperation.

In Mizoram State, Chin from Burma face discrimination in housing,
education and jobs. Local nationalist groups aided by local authorities
have at times forced the Chin back across the border. Only those who
travel all the way to New Delhi can register with the United Nations
refugee agency to seek refugee status, but they are often stranded for
years waiting for resettlement in another country. One Chin man told us
that in India, “I am like a prisoner. Even though India is the biggest
democratic country, staying in India is like staying in prison: no
freedom, no happiness, no money to take care of my family.” Thousands of
others make long and dangerous journeys to Malaysia and Thailand.

In listening to the voices of the Chin we can hear the patterns of
repression from all over Burma. For a long time, Human Rights Watch has
called on Burma’s military government to stop abuses and repression
against ethnic minorities. But only pressure from other countries, most
notably China and other major trading partners with Burma, will make this
happen. Likewise, India should protect Chin who flee across the border.

That these abuses happen far from Delhi and Rangoon is one reason why the
rights of the Chin are neglected. It’s up to the rest of the world to tell
Burma and India that mistreating the Chin is not an option.

Elaine Pearson is the deputy Asia director at New York-based Human Rights
Watch.

____________________________________

February 4, Democratic Voice of Burma
Burma’s fifth column – Tine Gyaw

In Burma’s current political arena, there are five distinct groups with
different approaches to democratisation, the struggle for power, and
participation in the 2010 elections.

The first is the military group. The objective of the military is clear –
the survival of general Than Shwe and the military dictatorship in power
by all available means. They have imposed a seven-step roadmap for the
country and written a constitution to suit their own ends and have now
stated that they will hold an election – in order to get what they want.

Another is the opposition group inside Burma led by the NLD. This group
has declared that it doesn't accept the State Peace and Development
Council’s 2008 constitution, but they haven't said clearly and decisively
whether they are going to contest the election or not.

The third is the group that opposes and works to bring down the military
group's seven-step road map in whatever way they can. This group is
strongest outside the country.

The fourth group is made up of the strong armed ethnic ceasefire groups.
Out of this group, well-equipped organisations such as the United Wa State
Army and the Kachin Independence Organisation neither accept nor reject
the SPDC's plans for the 2010 election. This group maintains a policy of
neutrality and insists that it will only deal with the government that
emerges from the future elections. In essence, this group doesn't seem to
accept the SPDC's 2008 constitution and 2010 election.

The last group says it will contest the election in accordance with the
2008 constitution to be organised by the SPDC, and try to achieve
democracy reform gradually. This group also opposes the sanctions imposed
by western countries against Burma. Although this group was originally
made up of opponents of sanctions and those who are rallying for the
emergence of civil institutions, they have since been joined by members of
the NLD and other opposition groups who have became disillusioned with
their leaders. They are also said to have gained support from western
countries.

There are three main points to consider with regard to this group.

First, their opposition to the economic sanctions imposed on Burma by
western nations. Second, their struggle to set up civil institutions
within the country. Third, their acceptance of the 2008 constitution and
willingness to participate in the 2010 election.

Controversy has raged for years on the first point. Recently, East Timor's
president Ramos Horta said that he opposes the sanctions. But this group
fails to point out that the military group has been seeking personal
benefits from this issue, blocking some national businesses for their own
benefit and mismanaging the economy to ensure the perpetuation of its
power. It also fails to point out the role of the military government in
the deterioration of the economy of the country.

This group even claims that the economy of Burma has suffered because of
the economic sanctions, causing the lack of an emerging middle class and
the obstruction of democratic change. But there has been no attempt to
establish how the military regime would carry out political and economic
change, and how political restrictions would be removed, if sanctions were
lifted. Instead, the issue has been used to split the opposition.

Another slogan of this group is the need for the emergence of a vibrant
civil society. If you take this slogan at face value, it seems to right.
But in reality, it is clear that the military government has carried out
severe oppression so that civil institutions would not emerge in Burma.
The associations which were allowed to exist under the one-party Burma
Socialist Party Programme system in schools are now outlawed with the
exception of Robert Taylor and Dr Kyaw Yin Hlaing’s groups.

To be frank, Cyclone Nargis presented a positive opportunity to set up
civil institutions. The military government made a concerted effort not to
allow this to happen, and only allowed the formation of organisations by
supporters of the regime and those who share its interests.

What is really needed in Burma is the official right to existence for
independent civil organisations that carry out work for the benefit of the
people, not just the creation of civil institutions that carry out the
wishes of the military.

The final slogan of this group is its willingness to participate in the
election and to try to take any opportunities it can for democracy. The
idea is to get more democratic rights, step by step. But this seems to be
the same strategy the military is taking to preserve the dictatorship, but
in another form. There were some bitter lessons to be learned not long
ago. The 1962 coup leader general Ne Win's government ruled the country
systematically according to the 1974 constitution, Hlutaw and party.
General Ne Win became president Ne Win, then party chairman Ne Win with no
change in the system of power and no improvement for the country and the
people, who were instead led along the road to ruin.

Now, the people of this group could become elected MPs in the coming
election as they expect. They could achieve some more rights. But you
won't see any road to improvement for the people and the country. It is
necessary to see the truth in this group’s words, which are becoming ever
louder, and unveil it for what it is.

At this stage, it won't be sufficient for the NLD and opposition groups
just to criticise and attack this fifth column. If they are not on the
right path, it is necessary to tell people immediately and concisely what
this path should be. It is necessary to explain to the international
community firmly. It is necessary to persuade and convince army officers
and soldiers who do not like the military dictatorship. In the end, it is
necessary to be able explain to those who support the military that their
actions are not right, until they can understand and accept it.

Only then can there be true change in Burma.

____________________________________

February 4, Inter Press Service
Ban's visit inane unless prisoners are freed – Marwaan Macan-Markar

A United Nations special envoy ended his seventh visit to Burma this week
facing a tall order: secure freedom for some 2,100 political prisoners in
the military-ruled country as preliminary to meaningful political reform.

If not, Ibrahim Gambari was told that a planned visit this year by U.N.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon would be pointless, reports from within the
South-east Asian country reveal.

This challenge before Gambari, the envoy, cannot be sidestepped easily,
since the demand reportedly came from Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma’s democracy
icon who has spent over 13 of the past 19 years under house arrest.

It was one of four daunting terms placed before the Nigerian diplomat
during a rare meeting he had on Monday with the opposition leader Suu Kyi
and senior members of her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD).

‘’The landscape of his (Gambari’s) current trip has changed. It is the
first time that the NLD’s CEC (central executive committee) had held talks
with Gambari and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi,’’ Nyan Win, the NLD’s spokesman was
quoted as having told ‘The Irrawaddy’, a current affairs magazine
published by Burmese journalists living in exile.

The other conditions are for the junta to recognise the results of the
1990 parliamentary elections, where the NLD won a massive 392 seats in the
485-seat legislature but the elected ‘’people’s parliament’’ was banned
from governing. Once convened, for this elected body to appoint a
committee to review the military-sponsored constitution, which was
endorsed during a rigged referendum in May 2008.

It is only after that, Gambari was told, that the opposition in Burma, or
Myanmar, will begin a dialogue with the junta aimed at prodding the
South-east Asian country towards a free and open democracy.

The tough demands placed by Suu Kyi prompted a predictable response from
the junta in a local newspaper. ‘’A dialogue will be practical and
successful only if the discussions are based on the reality of the
prevailing conditions,’’ the ‘New Light of Myanmar’, the regime’s
mouthpiece, quoted Information Minister Kyaw Hsan as having said. ‘’I
would like to emphasise that there will be no success if it is based on
idealism and unrealistic conditions.’’

Similar comments may follow from a regime that has a reputation of barely
giving an inch if it fears a threat to its grip on power. ‘’The military
regime is not under any pressure for it to listen to the U.N.,’’ Aung
Naing Oo, a Burmese political analyst, told IPS. ‘’It doesn’t cost them
much if Gambari does not come back. They couldn’t care less.’’

Gambari, who left Burma on Tuesday following his four-day mission, has
failed to make any headway towards political reform since he began his
special mission for the world body in May 2006. Even Ban, who visited the
country for the first time following the devastating cyclone that
flattened Burma’s south-western coastline in May, has not impressed.

The junta’s contempt for the U.N. was confirmed this week when Senior
General Than Shwe, the military regime’s strongman, refused to meet
Gambari in a replay of what happened during previous visits. Ban was
subjected to a different insult when the junta went back on its promises
towards openness for cyclone relief efforts barely weeks after the U.N.’s
top diplomat met Than Shwe in 2008.

The opposition’s frustrations with U.N. efforts towards political reform
burst to the surface during Gambari’s last visit to the country in August
2008. Suu Kyi refused to meet the U.N. envoy, denying the latter the only
proof that talks had had taken place - the photo opportunity.

‘’Political activists inside and outside the country have no confidence in
Gambari’s missions,’’ says Khin Ohmar, head of the Network for Democracy
and Development (NDD), a group made up of Burmese political exiles. ‘’They
have even stopped releasing statements making specific demands just before
he arrives.’’

‘’The four conditions made to him are tough and consistent with what the
NLD has been saying,’’ Khin Ohmar explained during a telephone interview
from Mae Sot, a town along the Thai-Burmese border. ‘’We have little hopes
it will produce any change. There is little room for optimism.’’

‘’The pressure is now on Ban,’’ she added. ‘’He needs to make a personal
commitment to secure a meaningful breakthrough if he wants to visit Burma
again.’’

But Ban faces a stubborn adversary. The junta is pressing ahead with its
own idea of reform, to create a ‘’discipline flourishing democracy,’’
according to a political roadmap it is sticking to. After having won the
endorsement of a military-sponsored constitution at the flawed referendum
last year, it has set its sights on a general election in 2010.

The political roadmap is a brazen effort by the junta to cement the power
of the military, continuing its grip on a beleaguered people who have
endured an oppressive culture since the military grabbed power in a 1962
coup.

‘’The NLD’s calls for the release of the political prisoners is an effort
to make sure that talk of democracy and reform are meaningful,’’ says Zin
Lin, a former NLD member and a former political prisoner now living in
exile.

‘’Without releasing the political prisoners there cannot be legitimate
elections because the good people who can contest are in jail,'' Zin Lin
said.

‘’It is also important for national reconciliation,’’ he asserted in an
interview. ‘’Trust between all sides can only be built with the release of
all those arrested for their political beliefs.’’

____________________________________
ANNOUNCEMENT

February 4, Alter-Ciné Foundation
Documentary film grants (Africa, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Latin
America, South Asia, South East and East Asia)

The Alter-Ciné Foundation offers a yearly grant to young film and video
makers born and living in Africa, Asia, and Latin America to direct a
documentary film on the theme of rights and freedoms, including social and
economic rights, women’s rights, the right to culture, and artistic
creation. The Foundation will award a grant of CDN$10,000 to a video or
filmmaker to assist in the production of a documentary project. The grant
is aimed at young video and filmmakers who want to direct a film in the
language of their choice that respects the aims of the Foundation.

The Foundation particularly supports documentary films that, as stated on
their website, "dare to go against the tide, that take the side of the
defenceless and question common assumptions by giving a voice to the
voiceless, enriching our understanding of the world and helping us reflect
on the possibility of changing the world from a perspective of peace,
justice, equality and respect for differences."

The Alter-Cine Foundation was created in the memory of Canadian filmmaker,
Yvan Patry who passed away on October 14 1999. Patry was a co-founder of
the production company Alter Ciné and directed numerous documentaries and
current affairs programmes in Africa, Latin America, and Asia. Patry’s
documentaries, according to the Foundation, have contributed to tearing
down walls of silence, denouncing injustice and barbarism, and giving
voice to victims of horror.

The deadline for application is August 15 2009.

For more information please visit: http://www.comminit.com/en/node/282407/348