BurmaNet News, January 30 - February 1, 2010

[Editor]

January 30 – February 1, 2010, Issue #3887


INSIDE BURMA
BBC News: Burma army frees boy after mother pleads through media
Irrawaddy: Jailed 88 Generation leaders refuse to compromise
Kachin News Group: Burmese junta comes down heavily on media before elections
DVB: ‘I quit the army because I’m not proud’

ON THE BORDER
Irrawaddy: Nine Burmese job seekers killed in Thailand
South China Morning Post: Thailand still detaining Rohingya men
Jiji Press Ticker Service (Japan): Japan to start Myanmar refugee
interviews for resettlement

BUSINESS / TRADE
Xinhua: Myanmar to privatize port terminals handling business

DRUGS
IPS: BURMA:  Ethnic women expose opium fields in junta strongholds

INTERNATIONAL
Mizzima News: France condemns Burma for incarcerating journalists
Narinjara: United Nations Rights Expert to visit Arakan

OPINION / OTHER
GlobalPost (US): Proposed dam to flood Burma, while powering China – Ryan
Libre
VOA: Freedom but not free in Burma – Editorial

PRESS RELEASE
Burma Centre Delhi: Consultation meeting on 2010 election in Burma and its
implication in Northeast India





____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

February 1, BBC News
Burma army frees boy after mother pleads through media

The army in Burma has released a 14-year-old boy it had forcibly
recruited, after his mother appealed for his return on international
media.

Sandar Win, who has terminal cancer, told the BBC's Burmese Service and
Radio Free Asia (RFA) her pleas for his return had previously been
ignored.

But following her emotional media interviews two weeks ago, the army
brought her son back to her house.

Correspondents say forced recruitment of children is common in Burma.

Ms Win told the BBC the boy had been lured away from her while she was
working on her market stall by a soldier who offered him alcohol.

She found he was being held at an army base along with other child
recruits but said that when she went to plead for his release, she was
turned away and hit by the soldiers.

In interviews with the BBC and RFA, Ms Win said that when she was allowed
to see her son, he had been in tears and asked to go home but she was not
allowed to take him.

Two weeks after the interviews, the military authorities came to her house
to bring the boy home.

"I asked the authorities to return my son when I spoke to RFA and BBC,"
said Ms Win.

"I am very happy to have my son back and I don't know how to thank RFA and
BBC for your help."

Tin Htar Swe, head of the BBC's Burmese Service, says children are
regularly kidnapped by the army or given alcohol to make them enlist.

She said the boy's release was probably an attempt by the army to limit
the damage from the case, which had attracted a lot of public attention
and threatened to damage the army's reputation.

The Coalition to Stop Child Soldiers says Burma has thousands of children
in its armed forces, some as young as 11 years old.

____________________________________

February 1, Irrawaddy
Jailed 88 Generation leaders refuse to compromise – Ba Kaung

Burma's military authorities have recently tried unsuccessfully to
pressure jailed members of the 88 Generation Students group into accepting
the government's election process in return for their release, according
to one of their colleagues.

"I can confirm that an exchange took place between military authorities
and 88 Generation Student leaders Min Ko Naing and Ko Ko Gyi,” said Soe
Tun, a 39-year-old former political prisoner and a leading member of the
88 Generation group who is now in hiding. “However, they didn't cave in to
any form of pressure.”

Last week, the 88 Generation Students group issued a statement calling for
the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and all other political prisoners so that
all stakeholders can participate in the political process. The statement
also urges the regime to seek peaceful ways in resolving the conflicts
with armed ethnic groups.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Monday, Soe Tun said that Min Ko Naing and Ko
Ko Gyi refused the regime's offer to “sign a 401,” which would effectively
suspend their sentences and allow for their release. The offer was on the
condition that both leaders accept the junta's election process, which is
due to be held this year.

Section 401 of the Burma's Criminal Procedure Code is a mechanism used by
the Burmese regime to provide suspended sentences to jailed political
activists.

“Their response, as far as I know, was that they want to see a dialogue
between all the political stakeholders and the regime,” said Soe Tun, who
went into hiding after the 2007 Saffron Revolution was brutally suppressed
by the Burmese junta. He added that both student leaders refused to sign a
401 during their previous periods of incarceration.

Both Min Ko Naing, 47, and Ko Ko Gyi, 48, spent nearly 15 years in jail as
political prisoners until they were released in the years 2004 and 2005
respectively. The two student leaders were rearrested in 2007 for taking
part in demonstrations against a hike in fuel prices and are currently
serving 65-year sentences in different prisons in Shan State in northern
Burma.

In a letter from his prison cell late last year, another imprisoned 88
Generation Students group leader, Hla Myo Naung, called for a blanket
amnesty for Burma's political prisoners before this year's election and an
inclusive political process, and said these were two of the cornerstones
of the group's election policy.

Asked to clarify his group's stance, Soe Tun said, “We are not rigid. We
are ready to accept the best options for the sake of the country.”

Meanwhile, the British Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth
Affairs Ivan Lewis said that “as long as the elections are contested on
the current Constitution, whatever the outcome they cannot be recognized
by the international community."

____________________________________

February 1, Kachin News Group
Burmese junta comes down heavily on media before elections

That the Burmese military junta intends to continue to keep the media on
the leash during the forthcoming general elections has become apparent
with long sentences handed out to journalists, human rights and media
groups said.

The elections are the fifth of the seven-step road map to so called
democracy by the regime.

Japanese journalist Kenji Nagai was shot dead on Sept. 27, 2007 by Burmese
soldiers during the Buddhist-monk led protests.

The junta’s treatment of journalists was in evidence with another reporter
of the Norway based opposition Burmese news agency Democratic Voice of
Burma (DVB) Ngwe Soe Lin, who was working inside Burma, being sentenced to
13 years in prison on January 27. “It is totally unacceptable,” said media
and human rights activists.

Vincent Brossel, in-charge of the Asia Desk of Reporters Sans Frontieres
(Reporters Without Borders-RWB) in Paris, France told Kachin News Group
“It’s very clear there is an intention to intimidate reporters working
inside the country. And of course this is one of the big challenges before
the election”.

“Burmese generals are wanting to conduct the polls with full control,
especially over the media so as not to allow a repetition of the mistake
of the Saffron Revolution in September 2007,” he added.

During the Buddhist-monk led protests, a senior Japanese video journalist
Kenji Nagai was shot dead by Burmese riot soldiers. The death was reported
widely outside Burma with the help of inside reporters and bloggers via
the internet.

Ngwe Soe Lin (28), also known as Tun Kyaw, was charged under the junta’s
Electronic and Immigration Act and sentenced by the special closed court
in Insein prison precincts in Rangoon.

Ngwe Soe Lin who was honoured with the Rory Peck award from London for his
video documentary on orphan victims of Cyclone Nargis, which lashed
southern Burma in May, 2008 and killed about 140,000 people.

Hla Hla Win, a second DVB reporter was sentenced to 27 years in prison on
December 30 last year by the junta.  She is the first woman reporter to be
given the longest sentence in Burma.

“The junta wants to scare all the people reporting from the street inside
the country. There are very small spaces and rooms for free reporting by
DVB or the media in exile,” added Brossel.

“It’s very harsh and it is more than a shock. People are just doing their
normal jobs. The junta should be condemned,” added the Director of the
Asia desk of RWB.

Aye Chan Naing, the Executive Director and Chief Editor of DVB in Norway
said, “It is an injustice on the reporter”. Behind the harsh action, the
junta wants to threaten all people who are linked with the media and are
reporting news inside the country.

“They (junta) want to threaten and warn journalists to dissuade them from
doing their job during the election,” said Aye Chan Naing. “The sentence
shows they don’t want to give freedom to the media in the coming
elections.”

He said that they have heard from the lawyer of the victim that he was
sentenced because he supplied news to the DVB and it is one more harsh
step by the regime to control the media before the election.

“The sentence is unacceptable. He (Ngwe Soe Lin) has not done any wrong.
He was just doing his job as a journalist,” said Aye Chan Naing.

He said such an action cannot stop them and their reporters inside the
country. They will continue reporting news in pursuit of truth.

Aung Myo Min the Director of Human Rights Education and Institute of Burma
(HREIB) in Thailand said, the imprisonment of the reporter means ignoring
the freedom of the media, casting increasing doubts whether the elections
will be free and fair, which the junta has promised.

“I would like to tell the international community, who believe and hope
the coming election might be free and fair and lead to democracy in Burma
that it will not happen if they continue with such action,” added Aung Myo
Min.

The long prison terms are not surprising because the military junta has
done this many times in the past and systematically abused human rights.

“They will try to prevent flow of news of the election to the world. We
would urge the regime to stop human rights abuses instead of talking about
free and fair elections,” said Aung Myo Min.

According to Reporters Without Borders, in Burma there are still at least
12 journalists and two cyber dissidents who are imprisoned.

Brossel said China, Iran and Cuba have the same kind of punishment for
reporters, “sometime more than Burma, where people are sentenced to 45
years in prison”.

The local Burmese media are struggling with heavy censorship and tight
restrictions imposed by the junta’s Information Ministry.

“Everything is the same and there is no change,” said a local journalist
who wished anonymity.

Another journalist working with a local monthly magazine said, sometimes
the article or news story becomes insipid after words and sentences have
been deleted by the censor board of the regime.

“After censorship sometimes the article becomes meaningless. It is like
eating without salt,” said the journalist, who did not want to be named
for fear of reprisals by the junta.

____________________________________

February 1, Democratic Voice of Burma
‘I quit the army because I’m not proud’ – Min Lwin and AKT

A Burmese junior officer has blamed government policy after deserting the
army and fleeing to a location on the Thai-Burmese border.

"When it comes to the conflict between the soldiers and the public
resulting from the implementation of the government's policies, the public
sees it as the action of our army, not as of the government," said
Lieutenant Yeh Htet.

"I quit the army mainly because I am unable to be proud of being a soldier
anymore."

The 23-year-old from Burma’s eastern Karen state added that families of
soldiers are also finding it hard to survive due to a lack proper support
from top generals. Moreover, the majority of soldiers want to retire from
the army but are not allowed to, except on medical grounds.

His defection coincided with the emergence of reports of reshuffles of
commanders, mainly at strategic departments and 'troublesome' areas of
Burma.

Colonel Aung Linn Dway of Burmese Army headquarters Registry Office in
Naypyidaw is appointed Sittwe Regional Operations Command and deputy chair
for Arakan State’s Peace and Development Council.

Northwestern Command's chief Colonel San Aung is appointed director of the
Transport Projects Administration while Colonel San Myint Oo of Armoured
Operations Command 74 is transferred to the post of director for the
Inland Transportations Department.

Tenessarim Division’s Naval Base in-charge Brigadier General Thura Thet
Swe is now commander-in-chief of Naval Headquarters in Naypyidaw.

Deputy chief of Northeastern Command Brigadier General Hla Myint is
appointed chief of recently troubled Laogai [Kokang] Military
Administrative Command. His old position is taken up by chief-of-staff of
Infantry, Colonel Win Thein.

Moe Meik Tactical Operations Command’s chief Colonel Khin Maung Maw, under
the control of Northern Regional Military Command, is appointed Eastern
Command’s chief.

His position is taken up by Lieutenant Colonel Win Min Htun of the Army
Administration Grade One [Management Department].

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

February 1, Irrawaddy
Nine Burmese job seekers killed in Thailand – Saw Yan Naing

Nine Burmese job seekers were killed by unknown gunmen near the
Thai-Burmese border town of Mae Sot, Thai police reported.

A Thai police official in Phop Phra, in western Thailand's Tak Province,
told The Irrawaddy on Monday that the nine victims were among a party of
12 Burmese job seekers traveling from Mae Sot last Thursday.

Four of the dead were women. The remaining three Burmese escaped.

A Phop Phra police official said the killers were being sought.

The bodies of the dead were discarded in various locations, the official
said.

According to media reports, the killers demanded 1,000 baht (US $33) from
each of the job seekers.

The Thai news agency Manager online said local Thai militia were suspected
of killing the job seekers.

Myo Zaw, officer in charge of the Mae Sot-based Yaung Chi Oo Workers
Association, said job seekers were frequently targeted by local gunmen. It
was one of the hazards they faced in seeking employment in Thailand, he
said.

Of the 3 million Burmese migrant workers in Thailand, an estimated 200,000
live in and around  Mae Sot.

____________________________________

January 31, South China Morning Post
Thailand still detaining Rohingya men – Greg Torode

In an immigration centre in Bangkok, 83 Rohingya men still languish in
detention in stateless limbo - a symbol of the many unanswered questions
about Thailand's treatment of the boatpeople in the year since their
plight first emerged.

Hundreds of their fellow Rohingya are dead or presumed so as a result of a
controversial and secret Thai army policy of detaining them on isolated
islands before towing them out to sea in powerless boats and abandoning
them. At least 1,190 were abandoned in the Andaman Sea in such fashion
before a series of reports in the South China Morning Post last January
forced the Thai leadership to scrap the policy and vow it would never
happen again.

The detention of the 83 survivors for a full year is of "great concern" to
the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. They were originally
held in conditions so appalling that two died in custody.

"We are urging the Thai authorities to expedite [solving] issues of their
background and nationality so we can find solutions," said UNHCR
spokeswoman Kitty McKinsey. "We do occasionally visit them but we can't do
much that is meaningful for them at this point."

Those solutions are far from clear. Thailand is unlikely to allow them to
be formally screened in as refugees on their soil, lest it trigger a new
flood of Rohingya migrants from neighbouring Myanmar. Before news of Thai
mistreatment emerged, the Rohingya set sail every year in their thousands;
for now, that tide of boatpeople seems to have halted.

Yet they still face persecution in their home, northern Rakhine state,
that is considered as bad as that faced by any people anywhere.

The conservative Muslims struggle to obtain national identity cards, which
makes internal movement, legal work and legal marriage difficult. Yet, for
example, if Rohingya men are caught in a relationship with a woman out of
wedlock, they typically face jail. Rohingya trace their roots back
centuries to Rakhine state, yet the government refuses to include them
among Myanmar's many ethnic groups.

That persecution means the UNHCR does not want them sent back to Myanmar
unless they volunteer to go. Conditions in the Bangkok detention centre
depend on the numbers of other migrants inside. While far from perfect, it
is still better than the conditions faced by many in earlier detention in
Ranong, after their arrival on Thailand's Andaman coast.

They were packed into rooms without natural light and with barely enough
space to sit down. Shocked doctors described how the detainees' digestive
systems broke down and muscles atrophied before they were sent to Bangkok
in August. Two young men died.

Yet the 83 are still considered among the lucky ones. Most were aboard the
first Rohingya vessel to arrive in Thai waters after news of the Thai
army's policies had drawn the international spotlight. Instead of being
secretly abandoned to their fates on the high seas, they were prosecuted
in a Thai court and given short prison terms, long since served.

When he disavowed the army's policy of abandonment, Thai Prime Minister
Abhisit Vejjajiva acknowledged Rohingya had been "cast adrift" and
promised full investigations. He insisted they were given adequate food
and water, something denied by skeletal survivors rescued by the Indian
coastguard in the Andaman Islands on December 27, 2008, after 10 days
adrift. "No repeats, no repeats, we don't want to see it," Abhisit said.

Internal investigations cleared the officials involved and the secretive
military unit at the heart of the policy, the Internal Security Operations
Command (ISOC), was kept in charge of Rohingya issues.

The Post resubmitted a dossier of evidence to Abhisit at his request. It
included photographs of the regional head of ISOC overseeing the
processing of Rohingya detainees on the secret prison island of Koh Sai
Daeng.

That officer, Colonel Manat Khongpan, remains active and has always denied
any wrongdoing or extensive involvement in the abandonment policy -
despite being identified as the key player by several people with direct
knowledge of the secret scheme.

Last January, he insisted that local Thai villagers had taken it upon
themselves to round up the Rohingya, fix their boats or find them berths
on other fishing boats heading out to sea. Other local army chiefs
confirmed the military funded a programme to get local village chiefs to
round up Rohingya as they arrived.

Manat stood by his earlier remarks when contacted recently. "I did the
right thing for the country," he said, repeatedly. Thai government and
Foreign Ministry spokesmen were travelling last week and could not be
reached for comment.

"No [Thai officials'] heads rolled ... it meant taking on the military,
and the government was not about to do that," one Asian diplomat familiar
with the probes said. "There was an investigation, the policy was stopped
but that was as far as it went."

Human Rights Watch recently criticised Abhisit - an early rights champion
as a democratic politician - for his role in the Rohingya issue. In its
"World Report 2010", it said Abhisit had approved the National Security
Council directive allowing the military to intercept Rohingya.

"Prime Minister Abhisit did not honour his pledge to uphold human rights
principles and international law in 2009," said Brad Adams, the group's
Asia director. "Getting Thailand back on track as a rights-respecting
nation in 2010 is crucial both for the country and the region."

Myanmar, of course, is seen as the ultimate cause - and solution - of the
problem, in the absence of any international will to resettle Rohingya.
Regional bodies are aware of the need to solve the problem long-term, but
the recalcitrance of Myanmar's ruling generals means diplomatic solutions
will not be easy to secure.

Both Myanmar and Bangladesh have apparently held crackdowns to limit or
eliminate sailings this winter, while traffickers have been finding new
routes by air to get Rohingya to illegal sweatshops in Malaysia.

And if they do start to wash ashore in Thailand again? "They will be
handed to Immigration and the Foreign Ministry for them to handle," Manat
said.

Cast adrift

The number of Rohingya the Thai army abandoned at sea before Bangkok
scrapped the policy last year: 1,190

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva:

As leader of the Democrat Party, Abhisit heads a diverse and unelected
ruling coalition. He has promised to improve economic conditions, restore
democracy and ease the political and social tensions simmering in Thailand
since the military coup against prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra in 2006.
He faced international criticism over the Rohingya saga but has vowed
there will be "no repeats".

Colonel Manat Khongpan:

Manat oversaw the secret Thai army policy of detaining Rohingya boatpeople
on Thailand's Andaman coast and towing them out to sea. He remains in his
job as a regional head of the shadowy Internal Security Operations
Command, which deals with domestic threats such as terrorism and
people-smuggling.

Rohingya boatpeople:

Some 83 young men remain in detention in Bangkok, having been held by Thai
authorities for more than a year. Instead of taking to the sea in boats
this year, some evidence is now emerging that some Rohingya are fleeing
Myanmar and Bangladesh with fake travel documents arranged by snakeheads.

Myanmar consul general Ye Myint Aung:

Aung appeared to capture his government's hostility towards the Muslim
Rohingya when he wrote a letter to the SCMP and his diplomatic colleagues,
describing them as "ugly as ogres". While his letter sparked outrage, he
was promoted soon after and returned to Myanmar to take up a senior
political role in the Foreign Ministry.

____________________________________


January 31, Jiji Press Ticker Service (Japan)
Japan to start Myanmar refugee interviews for resettlement

Bangkok – The Japanese government will begin interviewing Myanmar refugees
in Thailand on Tuesday to grant status of residence in Japan under a U.N.
third-country resettlement program.

The interviews of refugees living in Mae La Camp in Mae Sot, northern
Thailand, will select 90 people to be admitted to Japan in three years
from April.

In December 2008, Japan decided to accept Myanmar refugees under the
third-country resettlement program organized by the Office of the U.N.
High Commissioner for Refugees.

For the interviews in the camp, located some 10 kilometers from the border
with Myanmar, Japan has narrowed down resettlement candidates from a list
of the UNHCR.

Once cleared for resettlement in Japan, Myanmar refugees will take
Japanese language training before coming to Japan as early as this autumn.

In Japan, they will be granted resident status and receive six-month
settlement support, including vocational training and guidance for
adapting to new life in the country.

Mae La Camp is the largest refugee camp in Thailand, where some 50,000
people, including Karens, currently live.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

January 31, Xinhua
Myanmar to privatize port terminals handling business

The Myanmar authorities will privatize some port terminals' handling
business, designating at least three port terminals in Yangon to be handed
over to tender winning private enterprises for continued and effective
operation, the local weekly Voice reported Monday.

The three Yangon port terminals, operated by the government's Transport
Ministry before and now covered by the privatization plan, include
Botataung's, Sule's and Bo Aung Kyaw's as well as some other port areas,
the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry said.

According to the government's Privatization Commission, since 2000, two
port terminals in Yangon -- Asia World's in Ahlone township and Myanmar
International Terminal Thilawa (MITT) in Kyauktan township have been put
into private run.

The privatization of port terminals in Myanmar would contribute to the
development of sea-borne trade and boost the country's foreign trade,
merchants said.

According to the port authorities, the Yangon Port handled a total of
about 10 million tons of export and import merchandises annually over the
past three years, up from previous years, signifying a boost in its
foreign trade.

Of the over 4 million tons' export goods, general merchandises, which
include rice and rice products, minerals, accounted for 3 million tons,
while timber took 1 million tons.

Of the over 5 million tons' import goods, crude oil and oil products
represented over 900,000 tons.

There were 1,200 international cargo ships berthing at the Yangon port for
loading and unloading.

There are some four major port terminals at the Yangon port namely
Thilawa, Bo Aung Kyaw, Myanmar Industrial and Asia World.

Myanmar registered a total foreign trade of 11.2 billion dollars in
2008-09, of which its export amounted to over 6.7 billion dollars, while
its import was valued at over 4.5 billion dollars, enjoying a trade
surplus of 2.2 billion dollars.

Myanmar's foreign trade is mainly with Asian countries, trade with which
accounts for 90 percent of the total. The trade with other ASEAN members
represents 51.3 percent, European countries 4. 8 percent and American
countries 1.5 percent.

Myanmar main export goods are natural gas, agricultural, marine and
forestry products, while its key import goods are machinery, crude oil,
edible oil, pharmaceutical products, cement, fertilizer and consumers
goods.

____________________________________
DRUGS

January 30, Inter Press Service
BURMA:  Ethnic women expose opium fields in junta strongholds – Marwaan
Macan-Markar

Bangkok – A report exposing the spreading opium fields in the
north-eastern corner of the military-ruled Burma has brought to light an
equally revealing story. It was produced by a team of ethnic women who
risked their lives to document the heroin-filled world they inhabit.

"One of the most damning points of this new report is to show the extent
of opium being grown in areas under the control of the Burmese military
regime," said Debbie Stothard, coordinator of ALTSEAN, a regional human
rights group monitoring rights violations in Burma.

"The regime has tried to give the impression that poppy cultivation
continues in areas only under the control of ethnic rebel groups," she
told IPS. "But these women have seriously undermined that picture."

"What these women have done must come as a rude shock to the regime,"
Stothard revealed. "They were able to do so because women have been
largely under the radar in how information and intelligence is gathered in
the field."

Yet Stothard admitted that the women involved in the report, ‘Poisoned
Hills’, released on Jan. 26, had embarked on a dangerous mission to
complete their task. "They took great risks in gathering this information
for they know what it means to be seen as an enemy by the junta."

Some 30 women from the Palaung ethnic community, who live close to the
border that Burma shares with China, were involved in the report that took
two years to produce, said Lway Aye Nang, co-author of the groundbreaking
report. "They were all above 25 years. Some had basic education – middle
school, high school; some had gone to university."

The Palaung are one of some 130 ethnic communities who live in Burma, also
known as Myanmar. These include the Shan, the Karen and the Kachin. The
majority of the South-east Asian country’s estimated 56 million people are
Burmans.

There is little mystery why the Palaung women were drawn to serve as
grassroots researchers for the report produced by the Palaung Women’s
Organisation (PWO), based in Mae Sot, a town along the Thai-Burma border.
"They were directly affected by the consequence of opium cultivation in
their communities," Lway Aye Nang remarked in an IPS interview.

"We have been motivated in this research by the suffering of women in our
communities whose lives are continuing to be devastated by the addiction
of their husbands, sons and fathers," the report declares in its
introduction.

Most disturbing, according to PWO, is the litany of abuse wives face from
their heroin-addicted husbands. These women, who make a barely livable
income working in the tea cultivations in that hilly terrain, are verbally
and physically abused when their husbands, who are reportedly unemployed,
need money for a heroin fix.

"The women have suffered more because of this," said Lway Aye Nang. "The
men use violence to get money from their wives. They sometimes steal
things the women own or things from the house to sell to buy drugs."

Besides domestic violence, the Palaung women endure other trials. They
range from being infected with HIV by their husbands to the inability to
educate their children as the household incomes are drained to pay for the
male heroin addiction.

The PWO’s report goes beyond shredding the Burmese regime’s picture of the
opium fields in the northern stretches of Shan state, part of the infamous
drug-producing and -trafficking area spread across Thailand and Laos and
dubbed the ‘Golden Triangle’. The 55-page ‘Poisoned Hills’ also questions
the findings of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

"Between 2007 and 2009, PWO conducted field surveys in Namkham and Mantong
townships, and found that the total area of opium cultivated increased
almost fivefold over three years from 963 hectares in the 2006-7 season to
4,545 hectares in the 2008-9 season," states the report.

"The amounts are far higher than reported in the annual opium surveys of
the (UNODC), and are flourishing not in ‘insurgent and ceasefire areas,’
as claimed by the U.N., but in areas controlled by Burma’s military
government," adds the report.

"Namkham and Mantong are both fully under the control of the (Burmese
regime). The areas have an extensive security infrastructure, including
Burmese army battalions, police and pro-government village militia."

The U.N. drug agency’s findings, although more conservative, indicated
that opium production was on the rise in north-eastern Burma, an area more
extensive than the two townships surveyed for the PWO report.

The area under opium cultivation had expanded by 11 percent since 2008 and
by "almost 50 percent since 2006, reaching a total of 31,700 hectares in
2009," the U.N. agency revealed in mid-December in a survey, ‘Opium Poppy
Cultivation in South-East Asia’. "More than one million people are now
involved in opium poppy cultivation in Myanmar, most of them in Shan
State, where 95 percent of Myanmar’s poppy is grown."

But the current area of opium cultivation is still well below what it was
in the 1990s, when the land area covered by opium fields was nearly five
times the current number and earned Burma the notoriety of being the
world’s leading opium producer.

Burma gave way to Afghanistan as the world’s largest supplier of heroin
after the junta declared publicly in 2000 that it was committed to
eradicating opium fields in the country by 2014. Some eradication efforts
saw the number of opium fields dwindle till 2005, for which the Burmese
regime won much needed praise and support from the UNODC and the
international community.

Yet such praise by the UNODC of the junta’s efforts to end heroin
production blinds it to the actual picture on the ground, said Khuensai
Jaiyen, editor of the ‘Shan Herald Agency for News’, a web publication
based in Thailand’s northern city of Chiang Mai. "This is what the report
by the PWO also confirms."

"They (UNODC) rely too much on official information the junta gives them,"
said Khuensai, who has written extensively about Burma’s narcotics trade.
"They need to work with the local ethnic groups to get a better picture."

The courageous women of Palaung have provided that picture.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

February 1, Mizzima News
France condemns Burma for incarcerating journalists – Mungpi

New Delhi – The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs has condemned Burma’s
military rulers for the harsh sentencing of a journalist to 13 years in
prison and urged the regime to respect freedom and fundamental rights of
the people.

“France condemns the sentencing of a Burmese journalist Ngwe Soe Lin to 13
years in prison after being charged with working illegally for a media in
exile,” the ministry said in a statement released on Friday.

On January 27 Rangoon’s western district court, sentenced Ngwe Soe Lin
(28) reporter of the Oslo-based Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), to 10
years under the Electronic and Immigration Acts and three years under
Emergency Acts.

The journalist was arrested on June 26, 2009 from an internet café in
Rangoon’s Tamwe Township.

Ngwe Soe Lin was working as a correspondent of the DVB, and received the
Rory Peck Award for his work in documenting orphan victims of Cyclone
Nargis, which lashed Burma in early May 2008.

He was arrested on June 26 last year when he was leaving an internet cafe
in Kyaukmyaung, Tamwe Township.

Similarly, a woman journalist, Hla Hla Win, and her friend Myint Naing,
who were sentenced to seven years each were given additional prison terms
of 20 and 25 years respectively, by the Pakokku District court in upper
Burma on December 31.

Hla Hla Win and her host in Pakokku Town Myint Naing were arrested on
September 2009, while returning after interviews with monks in the
Buddhist Monastery in Pakokku town.

The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it is concerned about the
multiple violations of freedom of expression, which the Burmese
authorities are engaging in, as well as the lack of media freedom.

“France calls on the Burmese authorities to respect freedom and
fundamental rights, including that of the press,” the release said.
____________________________________

February 1, Narinjara
United Nations Rights Expert to visit Arakan

Dhaka: The United Nations' rights expert on Burma, Tomas Ojea Quintana,
will pay a visit to western Burma's Arakan State during his five-day human
rights mission to the military-ruled Burma from 15 to 20 February.

Quintana stated his plan to visit northern Arakan to assess the situation
of the Muslim community during an interview with a Burmese radio station.

He also said that he will meet the Burmese junta's generals and has
requested authorities allow him to meet detained democracy leader Daw Aung
San Suu Kyi, in addition to leaders of different political organizations,
during his coming mission.

He will submit a report of his findings to the UN Human Rights Council in
Geneva this coming March.

Quintana became the United Nations' Special Rapporteur on Burma in 2008.
He visited Burma for the second time in February last year and was allowed
to meet with political prisoners in Yangon's Insein Prison and visited
Karen, Kachin and Arakan state.

In his report submitted to the UN last year, Quintana urged the Burmese
military regime to release all political prisoners before the 2010
election in order to ensure national reconciliation and a genuine
transition to democracy in Burma.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

January 31, GlobalPost (US)
Proposed dam to flood Burma, while powering China – Ryan Libre

MYITKYINA, Burma ” On the first morning of each New Year, hundreds of
people come to pray on the banks of the Irrawaddy River in northern Burma.

This year, they prayed that their villages, farms and churches would not
be drowned.

A large dam will flood an area the size of New York City and displace
thousands of local people over the next two to three years. The Myitsone
dam, constructed by the Burmese military government and the China Power
Investment Co., calls for a 500-foot-wide by 500-foot-high dam face, and
is projected to produce between 3,600 to 6,000 megawatts of electricity by
2017.

The dam will inundate 300 square miles in Kachin state, flooding 47
villages, including the Mother of Peace shrine where the traditional New
Year's prayers are held.

But the capital of Kachin state, Myitkyina, already has affordable power
24 hours a day. So, why displace thousands of people in Burma when they
already have power?

Because when the Myitsone dam is complete, the hydroelectric power will go
to Yunnan, China. In addition, the water reserves will irrigate a
mega-plantation inside the protected Hukawng Valley in Burma, now home to
the world's largest tiger reserve, furthering the displacement of people
and destruction of the environment.

The dam will generate an estimated $500 million in gross annual revenue
for the Burmese government, which has long been criticized for its gross
human rights abuses ” including but not limited to the recent trial,
conviction and sentencing of pro-democracy leader Aung
San Suu Kyi, and the brutal crackdown of Buddhist monks in September 2007.

Kachin is extremely rich in natural resources. Jade, gold, teakwood and
silicone are exported in large quantities, and the mountainous, fertile
terrain offers many hydropower sites. But because the Burmese government
tightly controls resources and politics, the Kachin people have little say
in their land and little benefit from its exploitation.

Construction jobs are earmarked for Chinese migrants, not the local people
of Kachin. The opening ceremony for the Myitsone dam was held with
high-powered officials from both the Burmese and Chinese government. The
few local villagers who were present had been
instructed to attend. Chinese work camps already have been built near the
Mother of Prayer shrine, and the first truckloads of workers are gearing
up for construction. Caravans of Burmese soldiers have arrived to secure
both the dam site and the Chinese labor camps. The signs pointing the way
to the dam site are up, not in the local language, Jinghpaw, but in
Chinese.

Burmese gold miners and loggers from the south also have come north with
help from military contacts to start extraction, industrial and commercial
enterprises. Like many Kachins, the local villagers facing displacement
are poor and pious.

The Burmese government and China are also collaborating on a pipeline to
bring oil from the Bay of Bengal through lowland Burma and the Shan state
to Yunan, bypassing the long maritime route through the bottle-necked
Strait of Malacca, according to the China Daily.

Bilateral investment, trade and arms deals with China bankroll the Burmese
military government, despite sanctions by many of the world's largest
economies, according to the BBC.

Lacking the basic rights to express their opposition, people in Burma have
been unable to protest the dam and pipeline projects. The Burmese military
is bankrolled by the vast Burmese resources it extracts and sells, and it
maintains power despite widespread popular opposition and international
condemnation, according to the Burma Rivers Network, which represents
communities in Burma affected by dam projects.

Twenty-five large dams are planned or are under construction in Burma, the
Burma River Network said, and Kachin locals say they worry about the dams'
safety. In 2006, two dams in Kachin state broke under stress after heavy
rains. One of these dams failed and destroyed hundreds of patty fields and
farms. The other, the 2.5 megawatt Chying Hkrang dam, relatively small in
comparison to the 3600-megawatt Myitsone dam, collapsed killing five
people.

Kachin people have voiced worries about the Myitsone dam's planned
location 24 miles above the state capital and 62 miles from Burmas
earthquake prone Sagaing fault line.

"If I have to move, I will not move downstream to the capital," said a
local pastor. "I could never get a good night sleep because I think this
dam will also break."

The Mother of Peace shrine sits on an island where the Mali and Mai rivers
converge to create the great Irrawaddy River. The New Year's prayer
ceremony is deeply religious and apolitical. Villagers ask for forgiveness
for their sins, and they pray for health, safety and peace.

"I will pray silently and directly to God for a miracle, to stop the dam
project," said one villager. "I will not voice this prayer out of concern
for my safety. I have no illusions that the government cares what I
think."
____________________________________

January 30, Voice of America
Freedom but not free in Burma – Editorial

As speculation mounts over the date for elections planned in Burma later
this year, many continue to wonder if there is any chance the balloting
can be at all credible.

The timing has not been announced officially. Under the current military
rule, there is no legislative branch in Burma. Parliamentarians elected in
the 1990 election, the majority of whom come from the opposition National
League for Democracy, or NLD, have never been permitted to take their
seats.

Burma’s lack of a parliament would change with a 2-chamber legislature to
be created under a controversial constitution approved in 2008. Change
comes hard in Burma, however. At least a quarter of the parliamentarians
are to be appointed members of the active-duty military. There are other
restrictive provisions, as well, clearly aimed at keeping opposition
figures out of office. Former prisoners may not be candidates nor may
people who were or are married to non-Burmese. Much of Burma’s opposition
leadership remains in detention as the regime continues to hold 2,100
political prisoners.

These restrictions alone appear to be designed to keep NLD leader Aung San
Suu Kyi from running and taking a political leadership role like the one
she was denied after elections in 1990. Even beyond the constitutional
restrictions, military leaders appear so concerned of any role she might
play in the political process that in August she was convicted on spurious
charges and sentenced to 18 months house arrest.

Keeping Aung San Suu Kyi sidelined without the ability to engage in
dialogue casts even more doubt that the national elections this year can
be at all credible. As the United States continues to urge Burmese
authorities to create the conditions necessary for credible elections, it
will continue to press for Aung San Suu Kyi’s immediate and unconditional
release, along with all other prisoners of conscience there

____________________________________
PRESS RELEASE

January 30, Burma Centre Delhi
Consultation meeting on 2010 election in Burma and its implication in
Northeast India

Guwahati: Burma Centre Delhi and Journalists’ Forum Assam organized a
“Consultation meeting on 2010 election in Burma and Its implication in
North East India on 30 January 2010 at Guwahati Press Club, Assam.

Mr. Sukumar Bagchi, editor of Songbad Lahari in his inaugural speech
highlighted the historical ties of Burma and Northeast India and expressed
his concerns for the democracy movement in Burma. He wishes that democracy
will come soon and assured support on behalf of the Northeast people to
the Burmese people who are struggling for the restoration of democracy in
Burma.

The main speaker in the meeting Dr. Tint Swe, Exile Member of Parliament
(NLD) stated that, we come here for mutual interest because India’s Look
East Policy needs Burma to be fruitful and the neighbors are more
important for Burmese struggle for democracy. We come here to consult with
peoples of Northeast through this journalist forum because public opinion
plays a definite role in India’s democracy. The election which is supposed
to be held in 2010 should not simply be recognized like the elections in
India because the 2008 constitution is not written by the people’s
representatives and not accepted by the pro-democracy political parties of
Burma. It should be reviewed before the election is held. The largest
democracy India has definite responsibility to advocate for a free, fair
and inclusive election in Burma.

Recommendation was adopted during the meeting which was endorsed by the
participants. Other participants were Nava Thakuria, the main facilitator
of the meeting, Mr. Kim from Burma Centre Delhi, one of the speakers, Dr.
Alana Golmei, Burma Centre Delhi, who moderated the programme and around
40 journalists from different parts of Northeast India.


Recommendations:

People of India and Northeast India

Raise their voices for restoration of democracy in Burma without delay at
the same time urge for free, fair and inclusive election under the
scrutiny of the United Nations

To support the pro-democracy activists from Burma and be sympathetic to
the asylum seekers from Burma

Government of India:

To review its policy with the military junta and advocate for emergence of
a genuine democratic government in Burma

India should adopt an independent policy on Burma irrespective of Chinese
influence in Burma

India must be cautious of the military’s mindset and must realize the game
of military junta which is not honest.

To adopt a domestic refugee law and be sensitive to those seeking asylum
from Burma in India

To pressurize junta to allow the exile Burmese to participate in the election

International Community:

To ensure the release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other political
Prisoners including media persons and the supporters of democracy movement
and allow them to move freely before the election

To ensure for independent and impartial observers during the polls

Military Government (SPDC) of Burma:

To review 2008 constitution and go for a proper national reconciliation
before the election

To allow international Media free access to Burma during the election

To withdraw the censorship of Burmese Media inside Burma

To release Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other political Prisoners before the
election

To allow all the Burmese exiles to participate in the election


For more information, please contact
Nava Thakuria
Journalists’ Forum Assam
Mob: 09864044917

Dr. Alana Golmei
Burma Centre Delhi
Mob: 09968291645