BurmaNet News, May 7, 2009

[Editor]

May 7, 2009, Issue #3706



INSIDE BURMA
BBC News: Burma police enter Suu Kyi house
IMNA: Burmese to permit more internet cafés following ranking as worst
internet rights abuser
Xinhua: FAO continues to extend aid supplies to Myanmar cyclone victims

ON THE BORDER
Narinjara: Fifty three boat people pushed back to Burma
DVB: Factory workers demand rights

BUSINESS / TRADE
Xinhua: Not much impact on Myanmar tourism sector by influenza A/H1N1

REGIONAL
Irrawaddy: Burma absent from regional health ministers’ meeting

INTERNATIONAL
VOA: Human rights groups urge UN Security Council to protect Burmese children

OPINION / OTHER
IPS: Opposition party in Burma is facing a dilemma about its future –
Marwaan Macan-Markar

PRESS RELEASE
CSW: Over 60 British MPs call for UN inquiry into crimes against humanity
in Burma
Human Rights Foundation of Monland: Systemic human rights violations along
180-mile gas pipeline in southern Burma, says new report



____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

May 7, BBC News
Burma police enter Suu Kyi house

Burmese police have entered the compound of detained opposition leader
Aung San Suu Kyi, say reports.

It comes a day after a man carrying a US passport was found by security
forces swimming away from the property across a lake.

The man was reported to have swum over to the house on Sunday evening but
no motive has been given for the visit.

Ms Suu Kyi has been kept under house arrest by Burma's military rulers for
most of the past 19 years.

Neighbours speaking on condition of anonymity said about 20 police had
entered Ms Suu Kyi's house on the shores of Inya Lake early on Thursday
morning, the Associated Press reported.

It follows reports in the state newspaper the New Light of Myanmar that an
American, identified as John William Yeattaw, had "secretly entered the
house and stayed there".

The paper said he was arrested late on Tuesday while swimming back across
the lake, apparently using a 5 litre water bottle as a buoyancy aid.

An American passport, a rucksack, a pair of pliers, a camera and US
dollars were confiscated from him, the newspaper reported.

Security concerns

Such an incident would be the first time someone has broken into Ms Suu
Kyi's compound.

The area is tightly-guarded and swimming in Inya Lake is prohibited.

A spokesman for the US embassy in Rangoon said they had not been informed
of the arrest and knew nothing about it.

But a spokesman for Ms Suu Kyi National League for Democracy (NLD) party
said the incident showed the security weaknesses at the compound.

"We are worried for Daw Suu Kyi's security," Nyan Win told the AFP news
agency.

Ms Suu Kyi has been under almost permanent house arrest since the NLD won
a general election in 1990. The junta has refused to allow the party to
assume power.

Her latest period of detention is due to expire at the end of May but the
authorities have not yet said if it will be extended.

____________________________________

May 7, Independent Mon News Agency
Burmese to permit more internet cafés following ranking as worst internet
rights abuser – Mon Son

The Burmese government announced that it will be granting permission to
open internet cafés country wide only 4 days after country is condemned as
the having the worst abuses in internet rights.  It remains to be seen
weather an increase in internet cafes will increase internet freedom.

On Monday, May 4th, According to People Media Voice, an exile Burmese
media group, the Burmese government will allow for shops to be opened not
just in Yangoon, where the majority of country’s internet café currently
exist, but throughout the country including rural regions.   This also
includes plans to extend the internet network throughout the country.
However no specific number has been announced as to how many can open, nor
have any opened since the announcement.   The announcement came from the
Myanmar Tele Post which operates under the Ministry of telecommunications,
post and telegraphs.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) report highlighted a number of
countries through out the Middle East and Asia where people are targeted
by a variety of means of control by the government, from censorship,
restricted internet access, to outright imprisonment and threats to
restrict the freedom of speech and press.

The reports also described Burma as the worst country for freedom of
expression. According to CPJ report “Burma leads the dishonor roll.”  
Shawn Crispin, the South East Asia Representative of the CPJ said in
response to the Burmese government’s announcement, “any official
commitment to allowing a greater number of Internet cafes must be taken
with a huge grain of salt.”

By making its announcement on Monday, World Press Freedom Day, and CPJ
drew a clear line stating the significance of online media repression as a
major emerging threat to press freedom worldwide.  Crispin explained “By
putting Burma atop our list of 10 worst places in the world to be a
blogger, we hope exposure of its censorship and repression will ultimately
affect change and greater freedom of expression.”

In Burma Internet use has been on the rise, but the number of internet
cafés is still incredibly small. In 2003 there were about 20 Internet
cafés throughout the country. Now there are 464 Internet cafes country
wide, 355 of which are located in the country’s capitol of Yangoon. 
However this leaves only 109 facilities spread throughout the rest of the
country.

According to the Internet research group OpenNet Initiative, a private
Internet watchdog group, only about 1 percent of the population in Burma
has access to internet cafés which are already heavily censored and
regulated by military authorities.  However Myanmar Information Technology
statistics show only about 300,000 people have access to the internet in
the whole country.

____________________________________

May 7, Xinhua
FAO continues to extend aid supplies to Myanmar cyclone victims

The Food and Agriculture Organization(FAO) of the United Nations will
continue to extend its aid supplies to Myanmar cyclone victims later this
month for the recovery of their livelihood, the local Biweekly Eleven
reported Thursday.

The aid supplies for the survivors in four cyclone-hit townships include
tractors, cattle, paddy seed and vegetables seedlings, it said.

In February this year, FAO donated 15,000 chickens, ducks and pigs to 16
villages in Laputta township in Ayeyawaddy division aswell as 600 cows and
cattle and 80,000 chickens and ducks in December last year to storm-hit
areas as Bogalay, Phyapon, Dedaye,Laputta, Kyaitlatt, Kungyankon and
Kawmu.

Later in April, the FAO announced donation of 800 more draught cattle and
poultry to victims in the division for agricultural re-cultivation, saying
that the cattle will be distributed to 400 farmers in four-cyclone-hit-
regions -- Bogalay, Laputta, Mawlamyaing Gyun and Ngaputaw, while other
chickens, ducks and pigs will be brought to 2,800 farmless households in
the regions.

Deadly tropical cyclone Nargis, which occurred over the Bay of Bengal, hit
five divisions and states -Ayeyawaddy, Yangon, Bago, Mon and Kayin on last
May 2 and 3, of which Ayeyawaddy and Yangon inflicted the heaviest
casualties and massive infra structural damage.

The storm killed 84,537 people, injured 19,359 and left 53,836 people
missing, according to official statistics.

Altogether 300,000 cows and cattle died, while a total of 323,246 chickens
and 1.247 million ducks were lost in the storm.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

May 7, Narinjara
Fifty three boat people pushed back to Burma – Takaloo

Bangladesh’s border security force pushed back 53 Burmese Muslim , mostly
women and children, who had infiltrated into Bangladesh for shelter in a
small engine-boat on Tuesday, said a cross-border trader.

Thirteen children, 16 women and 24 men were arrested in Golal Para
Village, Shahpori Island, a southern border-crossing point in Bangladesh
on Monday. They were pushed back by border guards of the BDR Battalion No.
42 yesterday, said Mohammed Ali, a Burmese cattle trader.

Major Helal Mohammed Khan of BDR Battalion (42) confirmed the push back to
a local newspaper.

The group was believed to have migrated to Bangladesh for shelter in the
refugee-camps given that the repression by the Burmese Army had increased
manifold in their homeland, the trader added.

More than 25,000 Rohigya refugees are now sheltered in three camps set up
along the Teknaf-Cox’s Bazaar Highway in southern Bangladesh.

“Bangladesh is now in the “arrest and push-back” mode to avoid legal
proceedings against illegal migrants. This is because Burma usually denies
taking back its own people who are jailed in illegal immigration cases,”
said a prison official in Cox’s Bazaar Jail.

The official added that the jail term for illegal migrants in Bangladesh
is six months. The Burmese prisoners, however, have to stay in jails for
long stretches given the refusal of Burmese authorities to take them back.

According to border sources, Bangladesh has stepped up vigilance to check
exodus of Rohingya since Burma started putting up border fencing from
March.

____________________________________

May 7, Democratic Voice of Burma
Factory workers demand rights – Khin Min Zaw

Factory workers in a Thai town close to the Burmese border yesterday held
a protest in front of the Labour Rights Protection office to demand full
wages and health care in the workplace.

Burmese migrants working in a garment factory in Mae Sot had complained
that wages were insufficient, and that working conditions were poor.

“Our main reason for the demonstration was to make demands for a full wage
payment for us factory workers, as pointed by the Thai labour laws, and
also to have proper health care and sufficient drinking water in the
workplace,” said an anonymous worker.

A letter had been sent on 4 April to the Thai government’s Labour Rights
Protection office, and after the letter had been initially refused,
officials from the office came to the factory.

“The manager evaded responsibility for our demands by saying he was also
only another employee in the factory just like us,” the worker said.

“We finally decided to stage the demonstration after feeling neglected on
our poor living and eating conditions. The money we earn here is not
enough for us to survive.”

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

May 7, Xinhua
Not much impact on Myanmar tourism sector by influenza A/H1N1

There has been not much impact on Myanmar's tourism sector by the outbreak
of influenza A/H1N1 and the number of foreign visitors traveling to the
country so far remained unchanged, tourism circle said on Thursday.

Except putting off some flights to the influenza-infected destinations,
those to Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and European countries remained
normal, according to travel and tour agencies.

Although there is so far no case of influenza A/H1N1 reported in Myanmar,
the authorities has been screening on incoming visitors at airports,
seaports and border entry points since April 19.

The A/H1N1 influenza virus, originated from Mexico, spread to 21 countries
from April 17 to May 5 with 5,368 suspected cases in the world. 1,490
people have been infected and 31 died.

Meanwhile, Myanmar's tourism business started to drop near the end of 2007
and continued in 2008 during which deadly cyclone Nargis was experienced
and the global financial crisis, which sparked in late 2008, also delayed
Myanmar's tourism development.

The tourism authorities has stressed the need to promote the country's
international tourism market for the revival of its tourism industry.

According to official statistics, tourist arrivals in Myanmar in the
fiscal year 2007-08 totaled 288,776, of whom 131,784 came by air, while
154,500 arrived by land across border.

In the first 9 months (December to April) of 2008-09, 169,478 tourist
arrivals were registered.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

May 7, Irrawaddy
Burma absent from regional health ministers’ meeting – Saw Yan Naing

Burma’s health minister failed to attend a regional meeting to discuss
measures to prevent an outbreak of swine flu and other health issues on
Thursday, according to a report by the Bangkok Post.

Burma is the only member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(Asean) that has not confirmed the participation of its health minister at
the two-day meeting in Bangkok, the paper reported.

A staff member of Thailand's Department of Disease Control shows
photographers and reporters the proper procedure for wearing a mask at the
Asean+3 Health Minister meeting on May 7 in Bangkok. (Photo: AP)
No reason was given for the Burmese minister’s absence from the meeting,
which brings together Asean and its regional partners, China, Japan and
South Korea.

Burmese ambassador to Thailand Aung Thein instead accepted an invitation
to attend the meeting, Siriporn Kanchana, Thailand’s deputy permanent
secretary for public health, told the Bangkok Post.

Siriporn said that strict measures at the borders of Mekong countries were
necessary to prevent swine flu from spreading.

“An enhancement of surveillance for the new strain of influenza is
urgently needed to strengthen disease control measures among [Asean]
member countries,” she was quoted as saying.

On Thursday, Burmese state-run newspaper The New Light of Myanmar reported
that Burma’s Ministry of Health has been taking preventive measures
against the spread of the swine flu virus A/H1N1 since April 25.

The paper reported that the Ministry of Health was keeping a constant
watch on the virus and was prepared to provide medicine and medical
equipment to hospitals in the event the disease reaches Burma. Special
care units and hospital wards were also being prepared for emergency use,
according to the paper.

The paper reported that visitors to Burma have been subject to screening
at airports, seaports and borders since April 19. So far, there has been
no case of swine flu in Burma, according to the Ministry of Health.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

May 7, Voice of America
Human rights groups urge UN Security Council to protect Burmese children –
Margaret Besheer

Human rights groups are calling on the U.N. Security Council to take swift
action to protect thousands of children in Burma who are raped, abducted,
and recruited as soldiers by both the government armed forces and ethnic
minority militia groups.

In a new report, Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict said tens of
thousands of children in Burma are associated with armed forces or groups
- particularly the government army - in what may be the highest rate of
child soldiers anywhere in the world.

Watchlist Director Julia Freedson said the report documents a series of
violations against children, including killing and maiming, sexual
violence, attacks on schools and forced displacement.

"This report charges the U.N. Security Council of remaining largely silent
on these issues, despite evidence from both U.N. sources and local
humanitarian and human rights organizations," she said.

Watchlist and other rights groups are calling on the Security Council to
do more to protect children in Burma -- which is also known as Myanmar --
and to hold the perpetrators of these crimes accountable.

The recruitment of child soldiers is illegal under Burmese law, and
officials deny that the army condones the practice in its ranks. But
rights groups said children as young as nine face the threat of forced
recruitment by security forces and civilians, even in public places such
as markets and bus stations.

They also accused the Burmese armed forces of committing grave acts of
sexual violence, including rape, against women and girls from ethnic
minorities, and of planting landmines close to schools.

According to the report, the army is the biggest recruiter of child
soldiers, but several minority ethnic armed groups in some of the
country's conflict zones are also responsible for these same types of
violations, only on a smaller scale.

Rights groups are urging the Security Council to set a deadline for Burma
to comply with ending these abuses and releasing the children in their
ranks, as well as punishing the perpetrators. Jo Becker of Human Rights
Watch:

"If tangible progress is not achieved by this deadline, we believe the
Security Council should exercise its right and its power to impose
targeted sanctions - which could include travel bans, asset freezes or
arms embargos," said Becker.

The report also recommends that the Burmese authorities develop
reintegration programs for children released from the Burmese military or
other armed groups.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

May 7, Inter Press Service
Opposition party in Burma is facing a dilemma about its future – Marwaan
Macan-Markar

The uncertainty that grips the National League for Democracy (NLD) was
evident in the statements that flowed from a rare meeting of its
leadership during the last week of April. The NLD has opted for a
wait-and-see approach about fielding candidates for next year's poll.

Notable, is the party's tactful use of this pre-election summit at its
headquarters to test the political waters - now that the junta has made a
commitment towards parliamentary elections after 19 years as part of its
'roadmap to democracy.'

It was a gamble with high risks, even possible jail terms for the 150
delegates from across the country who attended. After all, the junta's
oppressive sweep has forced the party to close down all its offices across
the country bar one, and denied the party the right to meet as a
collective for over a decade.

The regime in Burma, or Myanmar, as the military rulers have renamed the
country, has also arrested and imprisoned scores of NLD members, including
those elected to parliament during the 1990 poll. No one symbolises this
more than Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize winner, who heads the
NLD. The pro-democracy leader continues to remain under house arrest, now
in its thirteenth year.

In a direct challenge to the junta's push towards the polls, the NLD's
chairman, Aung Shwe, called for the 'unconditional release' of all
political prisoners - now over 2,100 - and freedom for Suu Kyi to pave the
way for an inclusive political environment ahead of next year's
country-wide elections.

The party's two-day gathering in Rangoon, the former capital, also called
for a 'review of the 2008 constitution' and 'politically substantive
initial dialogue' between Suu Kyi and Burma's head of state, Senior
General Than Shwe, according to an NLD document seen by IPS.

Regarding the 2010 poll, the NLD held back from giving it any legitimacy
by stating, 'We need to wait and see the political party registration law
and electoral law to decide whether we could participate in the election
under this constitution.'

'The NLD is not going to give in to the junta very easily. The party wants
to hear the views of all leaders and to be able to speak in one voice when
the decision is made about the 2010 elections,' says Zinn Lin, an NLD
member currently living in exile in Thailand. 'The last time the party
tried to meet was in 1998, but the authorities didn't permit that
gathering. And they have been denied this right till now.'

'It is uncertain what will happen to the delegates who came for the
meeting, because the party's headquarters was watched by hundreds of
intelligence officers and people from the special branch, taking pictures
and filming it on video,' Zinn Lin told IPS. 'Such intimidation is proof
that NLD members are not free to operate ahead of the election that the
military regime wants to have next year.'

The current climate of intimidation NLD members face is a far cry from
what it was during the months leading up to the 1990 general elections.
'The 1990 elections were conducted under a free and fair situation.
Political parties openly campaigned,' says Win Hlaing, minister in the
prime minister's office of the National Coalition Government of the Union
of Burma (NCGUB), the democratically elected government in exile.

'There has been no positive change since then, after Gen. Than Shwe's era
began,' he told IPS. 'There is so much hardship and intimidation. The NLD
and all opposition voices are targets.'

Mark Canning, the British ambassador in Burma, echoes such sentiments. 'It
remains the case that the situation in Burma is characterised by the
denial of freedom. It is a very very repressive place,' he said in Bangkok
last week.

The junta's oppression, in fact, is rooted in the outcome of the 1990 poll
that shocked the military regime of the day, which had been in power since
a 1962 coup. The NLD, which had been formed ahead of that poll, won a
convincing 82 percents of the seats in 485-seat legislature.

It was a victory fuelled by local anger following 28 years of military
oppression and a brutal crackdown of a pro-democracy uprising in August
1988, which saw over 3,000 unarmed protesters gunned down by troops on the
streets of Rangoon.

The military regime refused to recognise the results of the 1990 election,
denying the NCGUB the opportunity to replace the powerful military
government.

To avoid a repeat of such an election debacle in 2010, the junta has
pushed through a new constitution with conditions that favour undiluted
power of the military, including a required 25 percent of the seats in the
upper and lower houses of the new legislature reserved for army officers.

The May 2008 referendum to approve the new constitution was mired in
charges of voter rigging and other election malpractice. The junta,
however, praised the outcome, which it claimed had been endorsed by 94.4
percent of the voters and had a 98.1 percent voter turnout.

'The 2008 constitution makes it impossible for political parties to
contest in 2010 based on their own vision,' says Aung Htoo, general
secretary of the Burma Lawyers' Council, based in Mae Sot, on the
Thai-Burma border. 'Chapter 10 denies parties like the NLD to set their
own objectives. Under this constitution, you cannot even form a Green
Party to campaign for the environment.'

I don't think that the party registration law and the electoral law that
the NLD is waiting to see will improve anything,' he told IPS. 'The
constitution's restrictions are what matters.'

____________________________________
PRESS RELEASE

May 7, Christian Solidarity Worldwide
Over 60 British MPs call for UN inquiry into crimes against humanity in Burma

Over 60 British MPs are calling for a United Nations (UN) commission of
inquiry into crimes against humanity in Burma, just two weeks before Nobel
Laureate and democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is due for release from
house arrest.

Former Foreign Office Ministers, Ian McCartney, MP and Keith Vaz, MP join
over fifty other MPs in signing an Early Day Motion (EDM) tabled by John
Bercow MP, Co-Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Democracy in
Burma, to express their profound concern at the deteriorating human rights
situation in Burma.

EDM 1336 urges the UN to invoke the principle of Responsibility to Protect
in relation to a campaign of ethnic cleansing Burma’s military regime is
carrying out against its ethnic nationalities.

The Burmese junta’s policies include the widespread use of rape as a
weapon of war, forced labour, the use of human minesweepers, child
soldiers, and the destruction of over 3,300 villages in eastern Burma
since 1996, in addition to the imprisonment of over 2,100 political
prisoners. Attacks on civilians have also resulted in the internal
displacement of one million people.

John Bercow MP said: “I have visited the ethnic peoples on both the
Thailand-Burma border and the India-Burma border with CSW, and have been
shocked by the horrific stories I have heard from victims of this barbaric
regime. I have sat face to face with victims of unspeakable torture,
including women and children who have seen their loved ones murdered. They
have looked me in the eye and pleaded for the world to hear their cry. It
is time their cries were answered and the junta's crimes investigated. The
people of Burma urgently need the freedom and justice they have been
denied for so long."

Alexa Papadouris, CSW’s Advocacy Director said: “CSW strongly urges the
British Government and other Governments to take this call seriously and
to initiate a commission of inquiry into the junta's crimes against
humanity. We will not stop campaigning and we will not stop speaking out
until the suffering in Burma is over and all Burma’s people are free.”

For further information or to arrange interviews please contact Theresa
Malinowska, Press Officer at Christian Solidarity Worldwide on 020 8329
0045 / 078 2332 9663, email theresamalinowska at csw.org.uk or visit
www.csw.org.uk.

CSW is a human rights organisation which specialises in religious freedom,
works on behalf of those persecuted for their Christian beliefs and
promotes religious liberty for all.

Note to Editors:

1.      The full EDM text reads: That this House expresses profound
concern at the desperate and deteriorating human rights situation in
Burma; condemns the continuing widespread and systematic use of rape as a
weapon of war, torture, forced labour, forced relocation, religious
persecution, forcible recruitment of child soldiers and use of human
minesweepers by the military regime; further condemns the military
offensives in eastern Burma, including attacks on civilians, resulting in
the internal displacement of one million people and the destruction of
more than 3,300 villages in eastern Burma alone, and the imprisonment of
over 2,100 political prisoners and continued detention of Nobel Laureate
Aung San Suu Kyi; calls on Her Majesty's Government to draw these gross
violations of human rights to the urgent attention of the UN Security
Council and the Secretary-General; urges Her Majesty's Government, along
with other governments, to propose the establishment of a commission of
inquiry to investigate allegations of crimes against humanity and war
crimes in Burma; and urges the UN to invoke the principle of
Responsibility to Protect in relation to the crisis in Burma.

2.     To find out more about CSW’s Change for Burma! Campaign and to
watch an interview with John Bercow MP, please click here.

3.      To sign a CSW supported online petition led by the Assistance
Association for Political Prisoners and the Forum for Democracy in Burma,
calling on the UN Secretary-General to make the release of Burma’s 2,100
political prisoners a personal priority, please click here or visit
www.changeforburma.org

____________________________________

May 7, Human Rights Foundation of Monland
Systemic human rights violations along 180-mile gas pipeline in southern
Burma, says new report

A 180-mile gas pipeline in southern Burma is responsible for human rights
violations that are “systemic, shocking and ongoing,” says the Human
Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) in a report released this evening.
The 100-page report, titled Laid Waste: Human Rights Along the Kanbauk to
Myaing Kalay gas pipeline, details abuses along the entire length of an
overland pipeline that traverses nearly half the length of Burma’s
southern peninsula.

Laid Waste details abuses committed by Burma’s military government as it
has sought to construct, maintain and protect the Kanbauk to Myaing Kalay
gas pipeline. The report includes details on the confiscation of more than
15,000 acres of land to make room for the pipeline – and support 30 army
battalions tasked with protecting it. The intense militarization of the
area, which HURFOM describes as “fundamentally due” to the pipeline, is
responsible for abuses that range from rape and summary execution to the
daily commandeering of motorcycles and chickens. Security efforts for the
pipeline, meanwhile, entail conscription of villagers – some as young as
12 – who must work as unpaid forced laborers, maintaining the pipeline,
guarding and carrying equipment for soldiers – at all times under threat
of violent retribution for accidents or insurgent attacks.

“The abuses described above are the predictable result of deploying large
numbers of soldiers and encouraging them to extract what they can from the
countryside, without oversight,” says HURFOM. “But abuses along the
pipeline are also a deliberate, calculated part of the pipeline security
effort.” Highlighting the ongoing nature of these abuses, in the 5 days
that have passed since printing the report, HURFOM has documented the
execution of one villager and the burning of 36 homes. In both cases, the
army committed the abuses less than a mile from the pipeline.

This report is released at a critical juncture. Intense competition for
access to Burma’s abundant natural resources continues, with China
recently agreeing to purchase gas that will be transported 1,200 miles
across Burma. Debate on appropriate response to Burma is renewing, as the
international community questions the wisdom of strict sanctions and
considers potential for increased humanitarian support. In the foreword to
Laid Waste, HURFOM’s director Nai Kasauh Mon welcomes the renewed
discussion. But he urges caution and calls on the international community
not to lose sight of experiences like those documented in Laid Waste.
“Discussion is healthy and appreciated,” says Nai Kasauh Mon. “But there
should be no question: projects like the Kanbauk to Myaing Kalay gas
pipeline do not benefit the people of our country.”


Further details:

Full PDF copies of Laid Waste can be downloaded at:
http://rehmonnya.org/archives/752. Information on the 36 burned homes and
summary execution mentioned in paragraph 3 can also be found on
www.rehmonnya.org.

Hard copies of Laid Waste, as well as print-quality photos for news
publication can be obtained by emailing monhumanrights at gmail.com.

Questions or requests for interviews in English, Mon and Burmese should be
made by emailing hurfomcontact at yahoo.com or calling +66 (0)81 365 9140.


About HURFOM:

The Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) is a Thailand-based
non-governmental human rights organization founded in 1995 by a group of
Mon youth, students and community leaders. HURFOM works to monitor the
human rights situation in southern Burma, and publishes print and online
news, lengthy reports and analysis of ongoing human rights violations.
More information can be found at www.rehmonnya.org


May 7, 2009, Issue #3706



INSIDE BURMA
BBC News: Burma police enter Suu Kyi house
IMNA: Burmese to permit more internet cafés following ranking as worst
internet rights abuser
Xinhua: FAO continues to extend aid supplies to Myanmar cyclone victims

ON THE BORDER
Narinjara: Fifty three boat people pushed back to Burma
DVB: Factory workers demand rights

BUSINESS / TRADE
Xinhua: Not much impact on Myanmar tourism sector by influenza A/H1N1

REGIONAL
Irrawaddy: Burma absent from regional health ministers’ meeting

INTERNATIONAL
VOA: Human rights groups urge UN Security Council to protect Burmese children

OPINION / OTHER
IPS: Opposition party in Burma is facing a dilemma about its future –
Marwaan Macan-Markar

PRESS RELEASE
CSW: Over 60 British MPs call for UN inquiry into crimes against humanity
in Burma
Human Rights Foundation of Monland: Systemic human rights violations along
180-mile gas pipeline in southern Burma, says new report



____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

May 7, BBC News
Burma police enter Suu Kyi house

Burmese police have entered the compound of detained opposition leader
Aung San Suu Kyi, say reports.

It comes a day after a man carrying a US passport was found by security
forces swimming away from the property across a lake.

The man was reported to have swum over to the house on Sunday evening but
no motive has been given for the visit.

Ms Suu Kyi has been kept under house arrest by Burma's military rulers for
most of the past 19 years.

Neighbours speaking on condition of anonymity said about 20 police had
entered Ms Suu Kyi's house on the shores of Inya Lake early on Thursday
morning, the Associated Press reported.

It follows reports in the state newspaper the New Light of Myanmar that an
American, identified as John William Yeattaw, had "secretly entered the
house and stayed there".

The paper said he was arrested late on Tuesday while swimming back across
the lake, apparently using a 5 litre water bottle as a buoyancy aid.

An American passport, a rucksack, a pair of pliers, a camera and US
dollars were confiscated from him, the newspaper reported.

Security concerns

Such an incident would be the first time someone has broken into Ms Suu
Kyi's compound.

The area is tightly-guarded and swimming in Inya Lake is prohibited.

A spokesman for the US embassy in Rangoon said they had not been informed
of the arrest and knew nothing about it.

But a spokesman for Ms Suu Kyi National League for Democracy (NLD) party
said the incident showed the security weaknesses at the compound.

"We are worried for Daw Suu Kyi's security," Nyan Win told the AFP news
agency.

Ms Suu Kyi has been under almost permanent house arrest since the NLD won
a general election in 1990. The junta has refused to allow the party to
assume power.

Her latest period of detention is due to expire at the end of May but the
authorities have not yet said if it will be extended.

____________________________________

May 7, Independent Mon News Agency
Burmese to permit more internet cafés following ranking as worst internet
rights abuser – Mon Son

The Burmese government announced that it will be granting permission to
open internet cafés country wide only 4 days after country is condemned as
the having the worst abuses in internet rights.  It remains to be seen
weather an increase in internet cafes will increase internet freedom.

On Monday, May 4th, According to People Media Voice, an exile Burmese
media group, the Burmese government will allow for shops to be opened not
just in Yangoon, where the majority of country’s internet café currently
exist, but throughout the country including rural regions.   This also
includes plans to extend the internet network throughout the country.
However no specific number has been announced as to how many can open, nor
have any opened since the announcement.   The announcement came from the
Myanmar Tele Post which operates under the Ministry of telecommunications,
post and telegraphs.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) report highlighted a number of
countries through out the Middle East and Asia where people are targeted
by a variety of means of control by the government, from censorship,
restricted internet access, to outright imprisonment and threats to
restrict the freedom of speech and press.

The reports also described Burma as the worst country for freedom of
expression. According to CPJ report “Burma leads the dishonor roll.”  
Shawn Crispin, the South East Asia Representative of the CPJ said in
response to the Burmese government’s announcement, “any official
commitment to allowing a greater number of Internet cafes must be taken
with a huge grain of salt.”

By making its announcement on Monday, World Press Freedom Day, and CPJ
drew a clear line stating the significance of online media repression as a
major emerging threat to press freedom worldwide.  Crispin explained “By
putting Burma atop our list of 10 worst places in the world to be a
blogger, we hope exposure of its censorship and repression will ultimately
affect change and greater freedom of expression.”

In Burma Internet use has been on the rise, but the number of internet
cafés is still incredibly small. In 2003 there were about 20 Internet
cafés throughout the country. Now there are 464 Internet cafes country
wide, 355 of which are located in the country’s capitol of Yangoon. 
However this leaves only 109 facilities spread throughout the rest of the
country.

According to the Internet research group OpenNet Initiative, a private
Internet watchdog group, only about 1 percent of the population in Burma
has access to internet cafés which are already heavily censored and
regulated by military authorities.  However Myanmar Information Technology
statistics show only about 300,000 people have access to the internet in
the whole country.

____________________________________

May 7, Xinhua
FAO continues to extend aid supplies to Myanmar cyclone victims

The Food and Agriculture Organization(FAO) of the United Nations will
continue to extend its aid supplies to Myanmar cyclone victims later this
month for the recovery of their livelihood, the local Biweekly Eleven
reported Thursday.

The aid supplies for the survivors in four cyclone-hit townships include
tractors, cattle, paddy seed and vegetables seedlings, it said.

In February this year, FAO donated 15,000 chickens, ducks and pigs to 16
villages in Laputta township in Ayeyawaddy division aswell as 600 cows and
cattle and 80,000 chickens and ducks in December last year to storm-hit
areas as Bogalay, Phyapon, Dedaye,Laputta, Kyaitlatt, Kungyankon and
Kawmu.

Later in April, the FAO announced donation of 800 more draught cattle and
poultry to victims in the division for agricultural re-cultivation, saying
that the cattle will be distributed to 400 farmers in four-cyclone-hit-
regions -- Bogalay, Laputta, Mawlamyaing Gyun and Ngaputaw, while other
chickens, ducks and pigs will be brought to 2,800 farmless households in
the regions.

Deadly tropical cyclone Nargis, which occurred over the Bay of Bengal, hit
five divisions and states -Ayeyawaddy, Yangon, Bago, Mon and Kayin on last
May 2 and 3, of which Ayeyawaddy and Yangon inflicted the heaviest
casualties and massive infra structural damage.

The storm killed 84,537 people, injured 19,359 and left 53,836 people
missing, according to official statistics.

Altogether 300,000 cows and cattle died, while a total of 323,246 chickens
and 1.247 million ducks were lost in the storm.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

May 7, Narinjara
Fifty three boat people pushed back to Burma – Takaloo

Bangladesh’s border security force pushed back 53 Burmese Muslim , mostly
women and children, who had infiltrated into Bangladesh for shelter in a
small engine-boat on Tuesday, said a cross-border trader.

Thirteen children, 16 women and 24 men were arrested in Golal Para
Village, Shahpori Island, a southern border-crossing point in Bangladesh
on Monday. They were pushed back by border guards of the BDR Battalion No.
42 yesterday, said Mohammed Ali, a Burmese cattle trader.

Major Helal Mohammed Khan of BDR Battalion (42) confirmed the push back to
a local newspaper.

The group was believed to have migrated to Bangladesh for shelter in the
refugee-camps given that the repression by the Burmese Army had increased
manifold in their homeland, the trader added.

More than 25,000 Rohigya refugees are now sheltered in three camps set up
along the Teknaf-Cox’s Bazaar Highway in southern Bangladesh.

“Bangladesh is now in the “arrest and push-back” mode to avoid legal
proceedings against illegal migrants. This is because Burma usually denies
taking back its own people who are jailed in illegal immigration cases,”
said a prison official in Cox’s Bazaar Jail.

The official added that the jail term for illegal migrants in Bangladesh
is six months. The Burmese prisoners, however, have to stay in jails for
long stretches given the refusal of Burmese authorities to take them back.

According to border sources, Bangladesh has stepped up vigilance to check
exodus of Rohingya since Burma started putting up border fencing from
March.

____________________________________

May 7, Democratic Voice of Burma
Factory workers demand rights – Khin Min Zaw

Factory workers in a Thai town close to the Burmese border yesterday held
a protest in front of the Labour Rights Protection office to demand full
wages and health care in the workplace.

Burmese migrants working in a garment factory in Mae Sot had complained
that wages were insufficient, and that working conditions were poor.

“Our main reason for the demonstration was to make demands for a full wage
payment for us factory workers, as pointed by the Thai labour laws, and
also to have proper health care and sufficient drinking water in the
workplace,” said an anonymous worker.

A letter had been sent on 4 April to the Thai government’s Labour Rights
Protection office, and after the letter had been initially refused,
officials from the office came to the factory.

“The manager evaded responsibility for our demands by saying he was also
only another employee in the factory just like us,” the worker said.

“We finally decided to stage the demonstration after feeling neglected on
our poor living and eating conditions. The money we earn here is not
enough for us to survive.”

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

May 7, Xinhua
Not much impact on Myanmar tourism sector by influenza A/H1N1

There has been not much impact on Myanmar's tourism sector by the outbreak
of influenza A/H1N1 and the number of foreign visitors traveling to the
country so far remained unchanged, tourism circle said on Thursday.

Except putting off some flights to the influenza-infected destinations,
those to Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and European countries remained
normal, according to travel and tour agencies.

Although there is so far no case of influenza A/H1N1 reported in Myanmar,
the authorities has been screening on incoming visitors at airports,
seaports and border entry points since April 19.

The A/H1N1 influenza virus, originated from Mexico, spread to 21 countries
from April 17 to May 5 with 5,368 suspected cases in the world. 1,490
people have been infected and 31 died.

Meanwhile, Myanmar's tourism business started to drop near the end of 2007
and continued in 2008 during which deadly cyclone Nargis was experienced
and the global financial crisis, which sparked in late 2008, also delayed
Myanmar's tourism development.

The tourism authorities has stressed the need to promote the country's
international tourism market for the revival of its tourism industry.

According to official statistics, tourist arrivals in Myanmar in the
fiscal year 2007-08 totaled 288,776, of whom 131,784 came by air, while
154,500 arrived by land across border.

In the first 9 months (December to April) of 2008-09, 169,478 tourist
arrivals were registered.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

May 7, Irrawaddy
Burma absent from regional health ministers’ meeting – Saw Yan Naing

Burma’s health minister failed to attend a regional meeting to discuss
measures to prevent an outbreak of swine flu and other health issues on
Thursday, according to a report by the Bangkok Post.

Burma is the only member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(Asean) that has not confirmed the participation of its health minister at
the two-day meeting in Bangkok, the paper reported.

A staff member of Thailand's Department of Disease Control shows
photographers and reporters the proper procedure for wearing a mask at the
Asean+3 Health Minister meeting on May 7 in Bangkok. (Photo: AP)
No reason was given for the Burmese minister’s absence from the meeting,
which brings together Asean and its regional partners, China, Japan and
South Korea.

Burmese ambassador to Thailand Aung Thein instead accepted an invitation
to attend the meeting, Siriporn Kanchana, Thailand’s deputy permanent
secretary for public health, told the Bangkok Post.

Siriporn said that strict measures at the borders of Mekong countries were
necessary to prevent swine flu from spreading.

“An enhancement of surveillance for the new strain of influenza is
urgently needed to strengthen disease control measures among [Asean]
member countries,” she was quoted as saying.

On Thursday, Burmese state-run newspaper The New Light of Myanmar reported
that Burma’s Ministry of Health has been taking preventive measures
against the spread of the swine flu virus A/H1N1 since April 25.

The paper reported that the Ministry of Health was keeping a constant
watch on the virus and was prepared to provide medicine and medical
equipment to hospitals in the event the disease reaches Burma. Special
care units and hospital wards were also being prepared for emergency use,
according to the paper.

The paper reported that visitors to Burma have been subject to screening
at airports, seaports and borders since April 19. So far, there has been
no case of swine flu in Burma, according to the Ministry of Health.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

May 7, Voice of America
Human rights groups urge UN Security Council to protect Burmese children –
Margaret Besheer

Human rights groups are calling on the U.N. Security Council to take swift
action to protect thousands of children in Burma who are raped, abducted,
and recruited as soldiers by both the government armed forces and ethnic
minority militia groups.

In a new report, Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict said tens of
thousands of children in Burma are associated with armed forces or groups
- particularly the government army - in what may be the highest rate of
child soldiers anywhere in the world.

Watchlist Director Julia Freedson said the report documents a series of
violations against children, including killing and maiming, sexual
violence, attacks on schools and forced displacement.

"This report charges the U.N. Security Council of remaining largely silent
on these issues, despite evidence from both U.N. sources and local
humanitarian and human rights organizations," she said.

Watchlist and other rights groups are calling on the Security Council to
do more to protect children in Burma -- which is also known as Myanmar --
and to hold the perpetrators of these crimes accountable.

The recruitment of child soldiers is illegal under Burmese law, and
officials deny that the army condones the practice in its ranks. But
rights groups said children as young as nine face the threat of forced
recruitment by security forces and civilians, even in public places such
as markets and bus stations.

They also accused the Burmese armed forces of committing grave acts of
sexual violence, including rape, against women and girls from ethnic
minorities, and of planting landmines close to schools.

According to the report, the army is the biggest recruiter of child
soldiers, but several minority ethnic armed groups in some of the
country's conflict zones are also responsible for these same types of
violations, only on a smaller scale.

Rights groups are urging the Security Council to set a deadline for Burma
to comply with ending these abuses and releasing the children in their
ranks, as well as punishing the perpetrators. Jo Becker of Human Rights
Watch:

"If tangible progress is not achieved by this deadline, we believe the
Security Council should exercise its right and its power to impose
targeted sanctions - which could include travel bans, asset freezes or
arms embargos," said Becker.

The report also recommends that the Burmese authorities develop
reintegration programs for children released from the Burmese military or
other armed groups.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

May 7, Inter Press Service
Opposition party in Burma is facing a dilemma about its future – Marwaan
Macan-Markar

The uncertainty that grips the National League for Democracy (NLD) was
evident in the statements that flowed from a rare meeting of its
leadership during the last week of April. The NLD has opted for a
wait-and-see approach about fielding candidates for next year's poll.

Notable, is the party's tactful use of this pre-election summit at its
headquarters to test the political waters - now that the junta has made a
commitment towards parliamentary elections after 19 years as part of its
'roadmap to democracy.'

It was a gamble with high risks, even possible jail terms for the 150
delegates from across the country who attended. After all, the junta's
oppressive sweep has forced the party to close down all its offices across
the country bar one, and denied the party the right to meet as a
collective for over a decade.

The regime in Burma, or Myanmar, as the military rulers have renamed the
country, has also arrested and imprisoned scores of NLD members, including
those elected to parliament during the 1990 poll. No one symbolises this
more than Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize winner, who heads the
NLD. The pro-democracy leader continues to remain under house arrest, now
in its thirteenth year.

In a direct challenge to the junta's push towards the polls, the NLD's
chairman, Aung Shwe, called for the 'unconditional release' of all
political prisoners - now over 2,100 - and freedom for Suu Kyi to pave the
way for an inclusive political environment ahead of next year's
country-wide elections.

The party's two-day gathering in Rangoon, the former capital, also called
for a 'review of the 2008 constitution' and 'politically substantive
initial dialogue' between Suu Kyi and Burma's head of state, Senior
General Than Shwe, according to an NLD document seen by IPS.

Regarding the 2010 poll, the NLD held back from giving it any legitimacy
by stating, 'We need to wait and see the political party registration law
and electoral law to decide whether we could participate in the election
under this constitution.'

'The NLD is not going to give in to the junta very easily. The party wants
to hear the views of all leaders and to be able to speak in one voice when
the decision is made about the 2010 elections,' says Zinn Lin, an NLD
member currently living in exile in Thailand. 'The last time the party
tried to meet was in 1998, but the authorities didn't permit that
gathering. And they have been denied this right till now.'

'It is uncertain what will happen to the delegates who came for the
meeting, because the party's headquarters was watched by hundreds of
intelligence officers and people from the special branch, taking pictures
and filming it on video,' Zinn Lin told IPS. 'Such intimidation is proof
that NLD members are not free to operate ahead of the election that the
military regime wants to have next year.'

The current climate of intimidation NLD members face is a far cry from
what it was during the months leading up to the 1990 general elections.
'The 1990 elections were conducted under a free and fair situation.
Political parties openly campaigned,' says Win Hlaing, minister in the
prime minister's office of the National Coalition Government of the Union
of Burma (NCGUB), the democratically elected government in exile.

'There has been no positive change since then, after Gen. Than Shwe's era
began,' he told IPS. 'There is so much hardship and intimidation. The NLD
and all opposition voices are targets.'

Mark Canning, the British ambassador in Burma, echoes such sentiments. 'It
remains the case that the situation in Burma is characterised by the
denial of freedom. It is a very very repressive place,' he said in Bangkok
last week.

The junta's oppression, in fact, is rooted in the outcome of the 1990 poll
that shocked the military regime of the day, which had been in power since
a 1962 coup. The NLD, which had been formed ahead of that poll, won a
convincing 82 percents of the seats in 485-seat legislature.

It was a victory fuelled by local anger following 28 years of military
oppression and a brutal crackdown of a pro-democracy uprising in August
1988, which saw over 3,000 unarmed protesters gunned down by troops on the
streets of Rangoon.

The military regime refused to recognise the results of the 1990 election,
denying the NCGUB the opportunity to replace the powerful military
government.

To avoid a repeat of such an election debacle in 2010, the junta has
pushed through a new constitution with conditions that favour undiluted
power of the military, including a required 25 percent of the seats in the
upper and lower houses of the new legislature reserved for army officers.

The May 2008 referendum to approve the new constitution was mired in
charges of voter rigging and other election malpractice. The junta,
however, praised the outcome, which it claimed had been endorsed by 94.4
percent of the voters and had a 98.1 percent voter turnout.

'The 2008 constitution makes it impossible for political parties to
contest in 2010 based on their own vision,' says Aung Htoo, general
secretary of the Burma Lawyers' Council, based in Mae Sot, on the
Thai-Burma border. 'Chapter 10 denies parties like the NLD to set their
own objectives. Under this constitution, you cannot even form a Green
Party to campaign for the environment.'

I don't think that the party registration law and the electoral law that
the NLD is waiting to see will improve anything,' he told IPS. 'The
constitution's restrictions are what matters.'

____________________________________
PRESS RELEASE

May 7, Christian Solidarity Worldwide
Over 60 British MPs call for UN inquiry into crimes against humanity in Burma

Over 60 British MPs are calling for a United Nations (UN) commission of
inquiry into crimes against humanity in Burma, just two weeks before Nobel
Laureate and democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is due for release from
house arrest.

Former Foreign Office Ministers, Ian McCartney, MP and Keith Vaz, MP join
over fifty other MPs in signing an Early Day Motion (EDM) tabled by John
Bercow MP, Co-Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Democracy in
Burma, to express their profound concern at the deteriorating human rights
situation in Burma.

EDM 1336 urges the UN to invoke the principle of Responsibility to Protect
in relation to a campaign of ethnic cleansing Burma’s military regime is
carrying out against its ethnic nationalities.

The Burmese junta’s policies include the widespread use of rape as a
weapon of war, forced labour, the use of human minesweepers, child
soldiers, and the destruction of over 3,300 villages in eastern Burma
since 1996, in addition to the imprisonment of over 2,100 political
prisoners. Attacks on civilians have also resulted in the internal
displacement of one million people.

John Bercow MP said: “I have visited the ethnic peoples on both the
Thailand-Burma border and the India-Burma border with CSW, and have been
shocked by the horrific stories I have heard from victims of this barbaric
regime. I have sat face to face with victims of unspeakable torture,
including women and children who have seen their loved ones murdered. They
have looked me in the eye and pleaded for the world to hear their cry. It
is time their cries were answered and the junta's crimes investigated. The
people of Burma urgently need the freedom and justice they have been
denied for so long."

Alexa Papadouris, CSW’s Advocacy Director said: “CSW strongly urges the
British Government and other Governments to take this call seriously and
to initiate a commission of inquiry into the junta's crimes against
humanity. We will not stop campaigning and we will not stop speaking out
until the suffering in Burma is over and all Burma’s people are free.”

For further information or to arrange interviews please contact Theresa
Malinowska, Press Officer at Christian Solidarity Worldwide on 020 8329
0045 / 078 2332 9663, email theresamalinowska at csw.org.uk or visit
www.csw.org.uk.

CSW is a human rights organisation which specialises in religious freedom,
works on behalf of those persecuted for their Christian beliefs and
promotes religious liberty for all.

Note to Editors:

1.      The full EDM text reads: That this House expresses profound
concern at the desperate and deteriorating human rights situation in
Burma; condemns the continuing widespread and systematic use of rape as a
weapon of war, torture, forced labour, forced relocation, religious
persecution, forcible recruitment of child soldiers and use of human
minesweepers by the military regime; further condemns the military
offensives in eastern Burma, including attacks on civilians, resulting in
the internal displacement of one million people and the destruction of
more than 3,300 villages in eastern Burma alone, and the imprisonment of
over 2,100 political prisoners and continued detention of Nobel Laureate
Aung San Suu Kyi; calls on Her Majesty's Government to draw these gross
violations of human rights to the urgent attention of the UN Security
Council and the Secretary-General; urges Her Majesty's Government, along
with other governments, to propose the establishment of a commission of
inquiry to investigate allegations of crimes against humanity and war
crimes in Burma; and urges the UN to invoke the principle of
Responsibility to Protect in relation to the crisis in Burma.

2.     To find out more about CSW’s Change for Burma! Campaign and to
watch an interview with John Bercow MP, please click here.

3.      To sign a CSW supported online petition led by the Assistance
Association for Political Prisoners and the Forum for Democracy in Burma,
calling on the UN Secretary-General to make the release of Burma’s 2,100
political prisoners a personal priority, please click here or visit
www.changeforburma.org

____________________________________

May 7, Human Rights Foundation of Monland
Systemic human rights violations along 180-mile gas pipeline in southern
Burma, says new report

A 180-mile gas pipeline in southern Burma is responsible for human rights
violations that are “systemic, shocking and ongoing,” says the Human
Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) in a report released this evening.
The 100-page report, titled Laid Waste: Human Rights Along the Kanbauk to
Myaing Kalay gas pipeline, details abuses along the entire length of an
overland pipeline that traverses nearly half the length of Burma’s
southern peninsula.

Laid Waste details abuses committed by Burma’s military government as it
has sought to construct, maintain and protect the Kanbauk to Myaing Kalay
gas pipeline. The report includes details on the confiscation of more than
15,000 acres of land to make room for the pipeline – and support 30 army
battalions tasked with protecting it. The intense militarization of the
area, which HURFOM describes as “fundamentally due” to the pipeline, is
responsible for abuses that range from rape and summary execution to the
daily commandeering of motorcycles and chickens. Security efforts for the
pipeline, meanwhile, entail conscription of villagers – some as young as
12 – who must work as unpaid forced laborers, maintaining the pipeline,
guarding and carrying equipment for soldiers – at all times under threat
of violent retribution for accidents or insurgent attacks.

“The abuses described above are the predictable result of deploying large
numbers of soldiers and encouraging them to extract what they can from the
countryside, without oversight,” says HURFOM. “But abuses along the
pipeline are also a deliberate, calculated part of the pipeline security
effort.” Highlighting the ongoing nature of these abuses, in the 5 days
that have passed since printing the report, HURFOM has documented the
execution of one villager and the burning of 36 homes. In both cases, the
army committed the abuses less than a mile from the pipeline.

This report is released at a critical juncture. Intense competition for
access to Burma’s abundant natural resources continues, with China
recently agreeing to purchase gas that will be transported 1,200 miles
across Burma. Debate on appropriate response to Burma is renewing, as the
international community questions the wisdom of strict sanctions and
considers potential for increased humanitarian support. In the foreword to
Laid Waste, HURFOM’s director Nai Kasauh Mon welcomes the renewed
discussion. But he urges caution and calls on the international community
not to lose sight of experiences like those documented in Laid Waste.
“Discussion is healthy and appreciated,” says Nai Kasauh Mon. “But there
should be no question: projects like the Kanbauk to Myaing Kalay gas
pipeline do not benefit the people of our country.”


Further details:

Full PDF copies of Laid Waste can be downloaded at:
http://rehmonnya.org/archives/752. Information on the 36 burned homes and
summary execution mentioned in paragraph 3 can also be found on
www.rehmonnya.org.

Hard copies of Laid Waste, as well as print-quality photos for news
publication can be obtained by emailing monhumanrights at gmail.com.

Questions or requests for interviews in English, Mon and Burmese should be
made by emailing hurfomcontact at yahoo.com or calling +66 (0)81 365 9140.


About HURFOM:

The Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) is a Thailand-based
non-governmental human rights organization founded in 1995 by a group of
Mon youth, students and community leaders. HURFOM works to monitor the
human rights situation in southern Burma, and publishes print and online
news, lengthy reports and analysis of ongoing human rights violations.
More information can be found at www.rehmonnya.org