BurmaNet News, May 13, 2010

[Editor]

May 13, 2010, Issue #3961


INSIDE BURMA
Mizzima: Jailed activist for Suu Kyi’s decision on polls
Guardian Weekly: Burma's hip-hop protest
Irrawaddy: NLD Focuses On Electoral Rights
Xinhua: Ex-senior members of NLD to form new party for election

ON THE BORDER
DVB: ‘Thousands’ of Burmese migrants in hiding
SHAN: Regional Commander inspects bases facing Wa, Shan armies

BUSINESS / TRADE
TNS: Thailand-based Jastel network expands gateway facilities in Myanmar
Narinjara: Bangladesh Amb. meets Arakanese businessmen in Sittwe
ANI: Border villages of Manipur, gateway for trade

HEALTH
Xinhua: Diarrhoea hit Myanmar Waw township amid water scarcity

REGIONAL
Daily Yomiuri: 'Burma VJ' gives silenced reporters voice

INTERNATIONAL
Reuters: Burmese monks who fled to U.S. a vanishing breed
AP: Why bother sending observers to 'farce' Myanmar elections?

OPINION / OTHER
IRIN: Thailand registers nearly a million labour migrants

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA


May 13, Irrawaddy
Jailed activist for Suu Kyi’s decision on polls - Myint Maung

New Delhi - Htin Kyaw, a Burmese activist jailed for 12 years and six
months for taking a lead role in the 2007 demonstrations in Rangoon
against spiraling essential commodity prices, has come out in support  of
the decision taken by Aung San Suu Kyi and the National League for
Democracy (NLD) not to contest the forthcoming election.

After his wife was allowed to meet him for about 30 minutes on May 4 in
the Khantee Prison [Sagaing Division], Htin Kyaw told her that he
supported the decision of Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD.

“Htin Kyaw told me that he too was in favour of NLD not contesting the
election. So he supports the decision of Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD,”
Than Than Maw said.

Htin Kyaw is in fine fettle, except for a toothache, for which he
submitted a letter to the prison authorities wanting to be treated by a
dentist.

Htin Kyaw protested at least thrice against spiraling essential commodity
prices posing a burden on the common people in 2007. The Insein Prison
Court on November 17, 2008 sentenced him to 12 years and six months in
prison for extortion, insulting the Buddhist religion, joining an unlawful
assembly and inducing crime against public tranquility.

During the demonstration, protesters including Ko Htin Kyaw demanded 17
rights pertaining to the people. Some of them were to solve chronic
problems such as power cuts, soaring prices of essential commodities, and
setting right an ineffective and appalling health care system.

____________________________________


May 14, Guardian Weekly
Burma's hip-hop protest: Jack Davies meets the young activists who are
defying the ruling junta's censorship

They know every word. Boys, bare-chested and sweating in the heat. Girls
clutching digital cameras, their faces streaked with paste to protect them
from the sun. They answer the call-and-response lines with increasing
excitement. By the time Thxa Soe reaches the chorus, the crowd have taken
over. With fists pumping the air, they roar his words back at him.

This is a music festival, soaked in alcohol and drenched in sweat, the
same as anywhere. But this is Burma, and nothing is the same here.

The barricades keeping the audience from the stage are usually used to
control rioters. They are ringed with razor wire. At the front of the
crowd, two novice monks wrapped in maroon robes dance and play air guitar.
And everywhere, the Tatmadaw - Burmese military officers - armed and
helmeted, watch over all.

Everything is watched in Burma and everything is controlled. Books cannot
be published without government approval, song lyrics are vetted for
anti-government sentiment. Anything critical of the ruling military junta
is outlawed, any attempt to circumvent the regime is brutally repressed.
But an imported art form - hip-hop - is providing a subterranean vehicle
for dissent among Burmese youth.

Burma has a history of revolutionary music. Traditional protest songs,
thangyat, were once used to air grievances against neighbours and against
authority. Following the 1988 student uprising, however, the music was
banned. But hip-hop's fluid lyrics and youthful argot make it a perfect
format for subtly spreading an anti-authoritarian message.

Thxa Soe is one of Burma's leading hip-hop stars, and one of its most
outspoken. He first heard hip-hop as a student in London, and admired the
quicksilver rhymes and daring lyrics of Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg. But he also
had an interest in the traditional music of his homeland, and began
researching it through documents held in the UK. "In the British Library,
I discovered these traditional songs, [with] original Burmese-language
lyrics, that nobody had performed for hundreds of years. They were taken
from Burma in the 1780s. Many songs that people had never heard."

He began combining the two art forms, meshing the ancient melodies with
computer-generated beats and near-forgotten Burmese words with his own
modern lyrics.

"I like, and people like, the freedom of hip-hop. There is not much
freedom in rock, but in hip-hop you have freedom to express, express your
ideas. And this is our hip-hop, for Burmese. I have too many words, not
only me, too many teenagers have too much to say. Because our country is a
very closed country, and the older people have a closed mind, a
concentrated mind."

Meeting foreign journalists is dangerous, so Thxa Soe spoke to me several
days after the concert at a house 500km south, in Rangoon.

The 29-year-old flew under the junta's radar with his first album, but its
popularity now means he is closely watched. On a recent album,
three-quarters of the tracks were forbidden. His brother and co-writer,
fearful of reprisals from the junta, fled Burma.

But even the seemingly anodyne can land musicians in trouble. One of Thxa
Soe's songs recently banned had as its only lyrics: "Hey hey, how are
you?"

Thxa Soe says he has chosen to stay in Burma, despite the risks, because
he sees his voice as important in his homeland. "It is very difficult
being a musician in [Burma]. You are not free. You are always being
watched, for what you say, and you are being told what you can say and
what you cannot. [But] I believe music can change a country, not only our
country, but the whole world."

And there are others in Burma finding an outlet for dissent in music. A
group known as Generation Wave, its exact membership unknown, secretly
records and distributes anti-government albums across the country,
dropping them at the tea shops that are the social hubs for Burma's
underground political network.

They write songs such as Wake Up, a call for young people to join the
pro-democracy movement, and Khwin Pyu Dot May (Please Excuse Me), the
story of a young man asking his mother's permission to join the struggle.

Most of its members keep their identities a secret, after high-profile
member Zayar Thaw was jailed for six years for forming an illegal
organisation. But the threat of prison has not stopped Burma's young
flocking to the group, as fans and as members.

"We welcome young people to participate in our movement against the
regime," a performer known only as YG says. "Our songs honour mothers and
revolutionists. We want young people to be active and interested in
politics. Every youngster can be an activist."

As the grinning teenagers leave the Taunggyi concert, steam rising from
their sweat-soaked bodies in the now cool midnight mountain air, a young
man yells out Thxa Soe's banned song lyric: "Hey, hey, how are you?"
Innocent enough, but in Burma, everything has meaning.

Jack Davies is a pseudonym

____________________________________


May 13, Irrawaddy
NLD Focuses On Electoral Rights – Min Naing Thu

Members of the National League for Democracy (NLD) in parts of central and
eastern Burma have been distributing leaflets among the public, conveying
the message: “Citizens have the right not to vote in the coming election.”

NLD members told The Irrawaddy that the distribution of leaflets, together
with the NLD's letter of appeal to the general public, has taken place in
Mandalay, Sagaing and Magwe divisions, as well as in Karen State.

Khin Saw Htay, an organizing committee member of the NLD in Magwe
Division, said they  distributed the leaflets not because they were
directed to by the party's headquarters, but because they were trying to
let people in their areas know about the NLD's activities.

“The NLD headquarters didn't give us any instructions related to these
leaflets,” he said. “We are engaged in politics so we do what we have to.
People in Magwe are wondering about whom they should vote for without the
NLD in the election. So, in our leaflet, we also explain about a voter's
right—to vote or not to vote.”

An excerpt from Chapter 1 of the Pyithu Hluttaw Electoral Law was inserted
in the text of the leaflet, which states that an element of one's
electoral rights is the right to vote or the right to choose not to vote.

So far, 5,000 leaflets have reportedly been distributed in Mandalay and
Sagaing divisions.

“People are interested in our leaflets,” said Myint Zaw from the NLD's
Mandalay office. “They ask who they should vote for in the coming
election. We explain to them their electoral rights.”

The NLD on March 29 announced its decision not to re-register as a
political party to contest the election scheduled for later this year. On
April 6, it sent out a letter of appeal to the general public.

“The letter of appeal comprises three main components: an explanation of
the NLD's decision not to register for election; the party's apology for
not being able to realize its election victory; and its affirmation to
continue the democracy struggle by peaceful means,” said Khin Saw Htay.

Apart from distributing leaflets, NLD members in Karen State are working
on rewriting the NLD's appeal to make it more understandable within their
communities.

“The original letter is very long, so we are summarizing it to be succinct
and to the point, so people can easily understand it,” said Nan Khin Htway
Myint, an NLD MP-elect in the 1990 election. 'Then, we will distribute it
among our communities.”

____________________________________


May 12, Xinhua
Ex-senior members of NLD to form new party for election

Yangon - Ex-senior members of the dissolved National League for Democracy
(NLD) are preparing to form a new party and run for the coming multi-party
general election this year, official media reported Wednesday.

Under the name of "National Democratic Force (NDF)", the 23- member group
of ex-NLD senior members mainly including Dr. Than Nyein, U Khin Maung
Swe, Dr. Win Naing and U Thein Nyunt will apply with the election
commission in a couple of days for party formation and registration, the
official media quoted Information Minister U Kyaw Hsan as saying.

Speaking to the media, Dr Than Nyein said the purpose of entering the
election is to continue political activities, denying split from the NLD,
according to Wednesday's local 7-Day News.

Without specific date, Myanmar's multi-party general election is due to be
held later this year and the party registration is still under scrutiny as
part of its pre-election preparatory process.

So far, the election commission has granted the formation of 28 new
political parties out of 31 and four old political parties out of five
seeking for registration or re-registration for election purpose.

Meanwhile, the election commission's ultimatum for old political parties
in existence since the 1990 general election to re-register for continued
existence expired on May 6.

Five old political parties including the NLD refused to renew their
registration within the prescribed period and has all become invalid
according to the party registration law.

The commission added that after the completion of the scrutiny of party
registration, the election date will be announced.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER


May 13, Democratic Voice of Burma
‘Thousands’ of Burmese migrants in hiding – Naw Noreen

Up to 5000 Burmese migrants in the Thai border town of Mae Sot have gone
into hiding after Thai police began sweeping through factories and
arresting illegal migrants.

More than 750 have been arrested since the crackdown began, said the
leader of the Mae Sot-based Joint Action Committee on Burmese Affairs
(JACBA), Moe Gyo.

“[Police] raided the Omega garment factory on 8 May and arrested 160
migrants. The raids continued for the next few days and so far more than
600 people have been arrested,” he said, adding the operation was carried
out by a 20-strong police squad working “under the illegal migrants
repatriation programme.”

Kyaw Sein, from the migrant assistance group, Yaung Chi Oo Worker
Association, said that the standard protocol is for the arrested migrants
to go to court and then jail, where they are normally held for 64 days
before being released. “After they are released they are usually deported
to Burma,” he added.

A DVB reporter in Mae Sot said that some of the migrants who were arrested
have already been released but many factories and construction sites in
Thailand’s western Tak province remained closed, with workers fearing more
raids.

Hundreds are now said to be hiding in monasteries and forests near to Mae
Sot, while others are crossing back into Myawaddy, across the border from
Mae Sot, and waiting for the situation to ease.

“These people came to work in Thailand due to the shortage of jobs in
Burma, and not all of them can afford to pay for the migrant labour card
fees,” said Moe Gyo. “These crackdowns happened in the past and the hiding
is becoming a routine.”

Out of nearly 400,000 Burmese migrant workers in Tak province, only around
30,000 are legally registered to work in Thailand. Despite this, many
still struggle to attain standard labour rights.

The Thai government’s employment department chief, Jeerasak Sukhonthachat,
told The Nation newspaper yesterday that it expected around 1.2 million
Burmese migrants to register by 2012 under the nationality verification
process; 82,700 have so far registered.

The programme requires migrants to register at offices across the border
in Burma, although migrant rights groups have warned that this could put
them at risk of intimidation by Burmese authorities.

____________________________________

May 13, Shan Herald Agency for News (S.H.A.N)
Regional Commander inspects bases facing Wa, Shan armies - Hseng Khio Fah

Ruling military junta officials have been inspecting bases in areas facing
the United Wa State Army (UWSA) and the Shan State Army (SSA) ‘North’
forces and reinforcing more troops and weapons during this week.

The Northeastern Region Command Commander, Maj-Gen Aung Than Htut, on 11
May, reportedly made an  inspection around battalions in Mongkao, Shan
State North’s Tangyan township, facing the SSA ‘North’’s Brigade No.1, the
faction that is refusing to convert itself into junta controlled home
guard force.

Maj-Gen Aung Than Htut
“Over 50 militiamen of Mongkao came to welcome them [commander and his
men] at Tangyan,” a source said.

Tangyan is a town located west of the Wa headquarters Panghsang. On the
next day, the commander crossed the Salween to inspect his strongest
bases, Loi Panglong, northwest of Panghsang, and Manghseng, in the west.

The Burma Army forces are taking positions at all bases facing the Wa
capital Panghsang, its 171st southern Military Region on the Thai-Burma
border and the SSA ‘North’.

On 10 May, some 40 military trucks were reported passing through Shan
State South’s Loilem and Namzang townships and continued to Kunhing, Takaw
and Langkhurh on the next day, carrying cable and heavy weapons, local
sources from Namzang said.

Another unconfirmed source said the trucks were over 80, some 40 went to
Shan State East’s Kengtung and the rest were going to Langkhurh, a town
across the Salween, opposite northern Thailand.

On 6 May, some 10 military trucks from 3 battalions based in Tachilek were
also reportedly deployed to the Infantry Battalion (IB) # 65 command post
in Nakawngmu, Mongton township, opposite Thailand’ Chiangmai, said a local
villager in Nakawngmu.

Two more units from 2 Light Infantry Divisions (LID): Pegu based LID#77
and Meiktila based #99, will also be arriving within this week, a Burma
Army soldier told villagers in Nakawngmu.

Infantry battalions (IB) based in Mongton: IB# 277, 133, 225, 65 and Light
Infantry Battalion (LIB) #519 have also been ordered to build more bunkers
and trenches in their bases.

Meanwhile, reports of the SSA First Brigade’s preparation for defense were
also informed. The group has been rebuilding bunkers, trenches and more
forces. All of its fighters in the Monghsu gemland were also told to leave
the town since the first week of the month, a source in Monghsu said.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

May 12, Thai News Service, Source: The Financial Times Limited
Thailand-based Jastel network expands gateway facilities in Indochina and
Myanmar

JasTel Network, the international internet gateway arm of Jasmine
International, is expanding gateway facilities in Indochina and Myanmar
(Burma) in a drive to increase its revenue by 50% to 1.2 billion baht this
year, the Bangkok Post reports.

The strategic move is expected to help double the country's bandwidth
demand to 150 gigabytes in a market worth 4.8 billion baht this year.

Somchai Treerattananukool, general manager of JasTel Network, said the
company planned to spend 600 million baht this year to expand its land
cable gateways in Cambodia, Burma, Laos, Vietnam and Bangladesh to
interconnect with Hong Kong, China and India.

As part of the total investment, a 25-million-baht network linking
Thailand with Cambodia, Burma and Laos is scheduled to start commercial
service in the next few months.

An additional 100 million baht will be invested in expanding gateways and
content services in Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Europe and the United
States.

The remaining funds would cover expansion into Vietnam and Bangladesh to
broaden its international internet networks to stimulate bandwidth demand,
Mr Somchai said.

The network expansion is aimed at reducing international bandwidth costs,
shortening internet connection durations, improving service quality and
providing an alternative service route through Hong Kong, China and India,
he added.

JasTel aims to earn 1.2 billion baht in revenue this year, 70% of which
would come from gateway services. The company posted revenue of 810
million baht last year, up from 380 million in 2008.

Mr Somchai said international internet bandwidth costs and overseas call
rates had plunged five times from three years ago, thanks to declining
internet connection costs.

International bandwidth cost is expected to continue declining by 15-20%
this year, enabling internet service providers to provide higher speeds
with unchanged prices.

Thailand's international bandwidth demand is expected to double to 150
gigabytes this year, from 60-70 Gb last year. The market value is
projected at 4.8 billion baht this year, up from 4 billion last year.

There are five international internet gateway operators: CAT Telecom, TOT
Plc, True International Gateway, Super Broadband Network of the mobile
operator AIS, and JasTel.

Mr Somchai also said that JasTel had suspended its submarine cable
investment project worth 3 billion baht, saying the technology was costly
and unnecessary now that land cable can offer options.

He said a submarine cable route required at least 1 billion baht. JasTel
plans to build a landing station for 50 million baht instead to connect
with other submarine cable operators.

____________________________________
May 13, Narinjara News
Bangladesh Ambassador Meets Arakanese Businessmen in Sittwe

Sittwe - Bangladesh's ambassador to Burma, Major General Anup Kumar Chakma
met with Arakanese businessmen in the state capital Sittwe during his
visit to the city on 10 May, 2010, said one businessman.

At the meeting, both sides agreed to promote border trade and also to
solve some obstacles to overcome in promoting the border trade between the
two neighboring countries, he said.

The border trade between Burma and Bangladesh has declined as there are
fewer export and import items traveling between the two countries every
day.

"We submitted to him that we wanted to export salt and rice to Bangladesh,
and also told him we want to extend our trade to Chittagong Port, not only
Teknaf."

In the border trade, Burmese merchants are only able to use the Teknaf
border port to transport goods to Bangladesh, and can't utilize
Chittagong, the largest port city in the country. The businessmen would
like access to Chittagong Port in order to extend their business.

"If we have the chance to use the Port of Chittagong, we can extend our
trade widely. We are now importing cement from Bangladesh to Burma through
Teknaf. We want to import cement through Chittagong Port in order to save
on transportation costs and time. We also plan to import iron for use in
construction from Bangladesh, so we need the Chittagong Port to upgrade
the border trade," the businessman said.

Arakanese businessmen also submitted a request to the Bangladesh
ambassador that they be permitted to import iron for construction from
Bangladesh to Burma.

"The ambassador agreed to fulfill our demand regarding the border trade
and said he would reply to us after he discussed it with the concerned
Bangladesh authorities," he added.

Burma currently exports no more than ten items to Bangladesh, including
turmeric, fish, rice, Zitawfi, cattle, timber, and dried fish. Just cement
and orchids or lilies are currently officially imported from Bangladesh to
Burma.

After the meeting, the Bangladesh ambassador visited the Bangladesh
Consulate in Sittwe.

____________________________________

May 13, ANI (Asia News International via oneindia.com)
Border villages of Manipur, gateway for trade

Chandel, Manipur - The border areas of Manipur's Chandel district,
adjacent to Myanmar, function as a gateway to promote international border
trade.

A visit to some of the remote villages in the area would indicate the
important role played by them in the region.

Manipur, which occupies a stretch of 1,463-kilometres along the border
with Myanmar, is considered the gateway for India's trade with South East
Asian neighbours.

Moreh town in Manipur, 110 km from capital Imphal, is an upcoming
commercial hub under the 'Look East Policy'.

The Central Government has undertaken construction of roads for better
connectivity along the Indo-Myanmar border .

Construction of a bridge over the Khujairok River and work on border
fencing are also underway.

"Twenty five items have been selected and short-listed under Indo-Myanmar
border trade agreement. Another 15 items are bing added. Altogether, 40
items were selected as trade items.......

Both the countries will be benefited. India will get things at cheaper
price," says Lunminthang Haokip, Additional Deputy Commissioner,
MorehAnother interesting place is Ngamkhai village. Surrounded by lush
green mountains, it is predominantly inhabited by the Kuki tribe. ain
occupation of the villagers here is making charcoal, collecting timber
from the forest and sand stones from riverbanks.

It is located close to Moreh, but still it lags behind in terms of
development.imited healthcare facilities, insufficient water supply and
erratic power supply are some of the problems faced by the villagers.

"Healthcare is practically nil. We depend on the primary health center,
which is not properly set up. It lacks doctors, nurses and instruments,"
said Ginsei Lhungdim, General Secretary, Hill ribal Council"We usually
face water-shortage as we live at higher elevation. The supply that we
receive doesn't even last for half and hour and it is not enough for all
of us," said Tong Khongam, a local resident of Ngamkhai Veng Village.

Even though insurgency led violence is less in the area as compared to
other parts of Manipur, there are frequent economic blockades and
shutdowns.

According to Lunminthang Haokip, Additional Deputy Commissioner, Moreh,
practical problems are there. The road between Pallen and Moreh is not
good. Moreover, other problems like bandhs and economic blockades hamper
trade.

Villagers believe that the suspension of operation agreement signed
between the Center and the Kuki National Front (KNF) has considerably
reduced militancy in the region.

"There is no of violence by Valley or tribal Underground group, following
the signing of Suspension of Operations agreement," said Ginsei Lhungdim,
General secretary, Hill Tribal Council.

It is hoped that with proper development of infrastructure, the immense
business potential of these border villages can be realized that will
transform the lives of the villagers.


____________________________________
HEALTH


May 13, Xinhua (via People’s Daily Online)
Diarrhoea hit Myanmar Waw township amid water scarcity

Diarrhoea has hit Waw township in Myanmar's Bago division-East amid water
scarcity, the state-run newspaper New Light of Myanmar reported Thursday.

The outbreak of diarrhoea was apparent over the past seven days infecting
82 people including 42 men and 40 women.

They were being hospitalized in the Waw General Hospital, the report said,
adding that none of the patients die of the disease.

Preventive measures are being taken by the local authorities and the
health department against the epidemic.

Waw township is among the many townships and wards in the Bago division
suffering from drinking water shortage out of serious heat strike during
this summer season in Myanmar, especially April through to May.

Local authorities, with the cooperation of social organizations and
well-wishers, are donating drinking water to the affected areas using
water bowers to ensure water supply daily.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

May 14, the Daily Yomiuri (Tokyo)
'Burma VJ' gives silenced reporters voice - Atsuko Matsumoto

In a world flooded with information, many of us take it for granted that
we can find out just about anything through means such as the Internet.
But in Myanmar, some people risk their lives to seek and provide
information. Burma VJ, a documentary on Myanmar's video journalists proves
it.

"They're not only fighting against weapons and unlimited violence: I used
to say that in Burma, the state does not have a monopoly on
violence--violence has got a monopoly on the state," Burma VJ scriptwriter
Jan Krogsgaard tells The Daily Yomiuri in a recent interview in Tokyo.

The Danish filmmaker, who conceived the movie, says he became focused on
Myanmar seven years ago and has since had a strong desire to help people
living under the oppressive junta.

"The pragmatic part of it was that I could see there was a need to tell
the story about Burma from a fresh, new angle." Krogsgaard says.

The documentary, which was directed by Krogsgaard's compatriot Anders
Ostergaard, delves into how local video journalists have struggled to
shoot footage that is rarely seen outside of the reclusive country. Some
of the images captured on video cameras by citizen journalists have been
aired as breaking news on the world's most influential TV stations.

Twelve hours of footage was originally collected around September 2007,
when there was a series of uprisings there. The footage that appears in
the 85-minute-film shows Buddhist monks taking to the streets and Japanese
journalist Kenji Nagai being shot dead.

"They [news programs] inform people, but they don't touch people very
much," Krogsgaard says, adding that he intended to make a movie that would
be useful for years.

Yet, by participating in the movie, the lives of the video journalists
could actually become much more difficult. Assuming the junta "knows
everything about this movie," the Myanmar journalist narrating the film
under the pseudonym Joshua can never go home, Krogsgaard says.

Further emphasizing how difficult the production was, Krogsgaard admitted
that some of the footage had not really been taken by the video
journalists. The film contains some recreations staged by the production
team.

"It was a necessity to make the movie flow. Everything that has been
recreated is [based on] pictures and stories we have confirmed several
times...But I think we have legitimized what we've been doing by how the
movie has been accepted around the world.

"It has reached both common ground and people at the top," he says. The
Czech Republic used it to campaign for human rights when the country
chaired the European Union. During its opening weekend in Britain, only
Harry Potter bested it at the box office, while No. 10 Downing Street
screened it--the first time a film has ever had that honor, he says.

Will the movie have the same impact on Japanese audiences? Krogsgaard
strongly hopes so.

"This is [one of Japan's] neighbor[s]. It's like when you are walking on
the street and you can see something is happening in your neighbor's
house. Something bad is happening in there, but you just pass by. But one
day, you must say, 'Hey, this is not good, what is happening in this
house,'" he says.

At the beginning of the movie, narrator Joshua calmly says, "I feel the
world is forgetting about us." Burma VJ is that cry of help from our
neighbor.

The movie, in English and Burmese, opens Saturday. Theatre Image Forum in
Shibuya, Tokyo, will show the movie with English subtitles on Fridays at 7
p.m.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

May 13, Reuters
Burmese monks who fled to U.S. a vanishing breed - Christine Kearney

Utica - Burmese monks were beaten, jailed and killed while protesting
Myanmar's military regime in 2007, and dozens found refuge in America.

But now most have been forced to swap their saffron-colored robes for
blue-collar workwear and abandon their monkhood out of a need to scratch
out a living in their adopted land.

The few remaining monks are clinging to their vocation in this rundown
former textile mill town some 240 miles (380 km) north of New York City,
trying to adapt.

Among them is U Gawsita, who sits quietly in an English class, still
wearing his robes, one of many immigrants learning U.S. history in Utica.

At dawn he prays with three fellow monks crammed into one floor of a
clapboard house, now his makeshift monastery. But Gawsita, 30, who is seen
rousing monks with a bullhorn in the Oscar-nominated film "Burma VJ,"
showing on U.S. cable channel HBO this month, is part of a dying breed.

Some 38 monks were granted asylum in the United States soon after the
Saffron Revolution, the 2007 protests during which barefoot, shaven-headed
monks shielded and led civilians to march against rising fuel prices which
snowballed into the biggest challenge to military rule since a 1988
uprising.

Today, just eight remain monks.

"The monks couldn't survive here. They were forced to change, to become
regular civilians," a soft-spoken Gawsita said in a recent interview
surrounded by Buddhist flags and a montage of photos including Nobel Peace
Prize winner and Burmese pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.

Hanging Dead Chickens

Some monks were sent to Utica to resettle. Others went to more remote
places that provide refugee education and seek population growth as well
as low-skilled immigrant workers.

Ko Tay Lwin, 40, who lives in Moorefield, West Virginia, earns $10.90 an
hour packing ice or hanging dead chickens on a factory assembly line for
Pilgrim's Pride Food Company. Sometimes he is unable to move his fingers
after his overnight shift.

"I feel very sad to leave (the) monkhood," Lwin, who stopped practicing
last year after arriving in the United States in August 2008, said in an
e-mail. "It's challenging to maintain a monkhood here in the U.S. since
there's nobody or nothing to support in order for me to continue."

Other former and current monks say a lack of financial and food assistance
made it impossible to live without a job. In Myanmar the monks are revered
and given daily food donations and assistance at morning alms from the
local community.

"I didn't even have $1 in my pocket when I came here," said Ashin Janita,
32, who stopped being a monk four months after being sent to Georgia,
where without a job he could not live on food stamps and $150 per month
assistance.

Now he makes $11.13 an hour in a pig factory in Marshalltown, Iowa, on an
assembly line slicing the skin off ham. His work day begins at 5:30 a.m.

"Life as a monk is very peaceful, there's no need to worry too much," he
said. "I worry a lot more now."

Pleasure Vs Monkhood

U.S. Buddhism experts say the many types of Buddhism and the small number
of strong Burmese communities in America make it hard for the Burmese
monks, who practice a strict kind of Buddhism called Theravada, to find
financial support.

Robert Buswell, professor at the UCLA Center for Buddhist Studies, said
U.S. Buddhist groups support their own and "wouldn't understand" giving
assistance to another branch.

The Utica-based monks have formed a group called the All Burma Monks'
Alliance to raise funds to build a proper temple.

One of the monks, U Pyinya Zawta, 49, who spent more than 10 years in
Myanmar prisons where he says he was beaten, said culture also plays its
part.

"Some (monks) want to experience the American life," he said. "The young
people, they want to enjoy many pleasures and the monkhood has many rules
so it is difficult."

All former and current monks said they were grateful to their adopted
country, if wistful that one day soon Myanmar would become a democracy and
they could return.

"I have a freedom and I have many opportunities in the U.S.," said
Gawsita. "But if I think about my partner who was in jail and who was
dying in the revolution, I feel bad for them. Even as I live here in
freedom, I still cannot feel fully free."

(Editing by Mark Egan and Xavier Briand)

____________________________________


May 13, The Associated Press (CP)
Philippine foreign secretary asks: Why bother sending observers to 'farce'
Myanmar elections?

Manila, Philippines — The Philippines' foreign secretary shrugged off
Myanmar's rejection of international monitors for the junta-led country's
first elections in 20 years, saying Thursday the polls were a farce
anyway.

The polls, to be held sometime this year, have been sharply criticized as
a means for the military to maintain its grip on power under a civilian
guise.

The criticism from Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo was unusually blunt,
coming from a fellow member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations,
a grouping which typically avoids commenting on the internal affairs of
its counterparts.

During a recent trip to Myanmar, American envoy Kurt Campbell said the
run-up to the election so far leads the U.S. to believe the polls will
"lack international legitimacy" and urged the regime to take immediate
steps to open the process.

He asked junta officials if election monitors, possibly from ASEAN, would
be allowed and was rebuffed.

Sending observers may "legitimize a farce" since opposition leader Aung
San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy party will not be
involved in the election, Romulo told reporters.

"In the first place that election is fraudulent and a farce so why bother
(sending monitors)?" said Romulo, adding it was his personal opinion.
"It's a game, like children playing games."

The NLD won the last election in 1990 but was never allowed to take power
by the military.

The party considers newly enacted election laws unfair and undemocratic
since Suu Kyi and other political prisoners would be barred from taking
part in the vote. It declined to reregister for the election as required,
and it was automatically disbanded last week.

Suu Kyi has been detained for 14 of the last 20 years by the ruling generals.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

May 13, IRIN
In Brief: Thailand registers nearly a million labour migrants

Bangkok - The Thai government has helped legalize nearly one million
previously undocumented labour migrants.

Cooperating with neighbouring Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar - where most
migrant labourers come from - the government is working to register an
estimated two million migrants. As of 12 May, 932,255 had received proper
travel and work documents, according to the Department of Employment -
including 812,984 from Myanmar, 62,792 from Laos and 56,479 from Cambodia.

“They come to our country and work in the service sector, agriculture,
post-production, and they contribute to our economy. We have to treat them
as equal to our own people,” Supat Gukun, who oversees labour affairs in
the Ministry of Labour, told IRIN.

The migrants fill out forms verifying their identities, which are checked
by their governments. They are then issued passports from their home
countries, and visas and work permits from Thailand. Gukun said such
documents would help migrants seek medical care, open bank accounts and
even send money home to their families.

The International Organization for Migration says there are an estimated
additional one million unregistered migrant labourers in Thailand.

at/ds/cb

IRIN is a project of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs