BurmaNet News, May 25, 2010

[Editor]

May 25, 2010, Issue #3969


INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: Five years added to student leader's sentence
Irrawaddy: Burmese women not allowed to marry foreigners
Narinjara; Over 100 million Kyat spent by USDA candidate in poll campaign

ON THE BORDER
DVB: Wa army operations “worry” junta
Irrawaddy: KIO leaders meet with Burmese commander

BUSINESS / TRADE
Thai ASEAN News Network: Myanmar’s underground lottery grounded by Thai riots

REGIONAL
China Post: Myanmar's flag mistaken as Taiwan's in Okinawa

OPINION / OTHER
Jakarta Globe: Forsaken but not forgotten, Rangoon will rise again –
Thomas Kean
DVB: Wa army operations “worry” junta
ABMA, 88 Generation Students, ABFSU: Let's strongly oppose the 2010
Election which will make the 2008 Constitution come into operation!




____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

May 25, Irrawaddy
Five years added to student leader's sentence – Ba Kaung

Kyaw Ko Ko made three dramatic escapes, but his luck finally ran out in
2008, when Burmese authorities arrested him for his role in the 2007
Saffron Revolution and he was sentenced to three years in prison for
possesing illegal videos.

On Friday, with his first sentence set to expire in one year, the junta
tacked on an additional five years for illegal asociation and subversion.

Rahul Kyaw Kyaw Maung, alias Kyaw Ko Ko, 28, is the son of school teachers
in Rangoon's Tamwe township. In 2006, he was in Rangoon studying for his
masters degree in economics when he was recruited by former political
prisoners to engage in political activities.

“Though he received some influence from other individuals, he himself is
well-read, calm and disciplined,” recalled a political activist who met
Kyaw Ko Ko a few years ago.

Kyaw Ko Ko met the prominent 88 Generation Students' leader Min Ko Naing
in a monastery, where they were celebrating the anniversary of the
student-led uprising in 1988. When Min Ko Naing and other 88 Generation
Students' leaders were re-arrested for their protests against the
unannounced increase in fuel prices, and many former political prisoners
consequently fled Burma for fear of persecution, younger activists like
Kyaw Ko Ko stepped in to take a leadership role.

Representing the new generation of activists that has emerged since since
the nationwide anti-government uprising in 1988, Kyaw Ko Ko attempted to
rejuvenate the Burma Students' Union, which had became active again during
the 1988 uprising.

Although not an officially outlawed association, the Students' Union had
become virtually illegal since the 1962 military coup, despite the fact
that it played an important role in the country's independence struggle.

“At the court on Friday, my brother did not deny that he tried to
reorganize the student's organization, but he insisted to the judges that
the organization is a legal organization,” said Kyaw Ko Ko's sister.

When the Saffron Revolution broke out, Kyaw Ko Ko continued his dissident
leadership role, and after the crackdown on protesting monks, Kyaw Ko Ko
went into hiding in and around Rangoon.

In October 2007, a house in South Okkalapa township that Kyaw Ko Ko was
hiding in was raided. He managed to escape by jumping off the balcony, but
some of his friends were arrested.

Later, the police discovered him in a Rangoon monastery where he had been
given refuge, but again he managed to escape. He eluded the authorities
for a third time when they raided a snack bar in Rangoon's Junction 8
Shopping mall where he was meeting with friends, who were all arrested.

Kyaw Ko Ko fled to Pegu, but returned to Rangoon in early 2008 to launch a
no-vote campaign against the referendum over the junta's controversial
Constitution. Before the referendum was held, however, he was finally
arrested.

The authorities found videos of the 1988 uprising in the place where Kyaw
Ko Ko was hiding, and although family members said he had nothing to do
with the videos, in 2009 Kyaw Ko Ko was sentenced to three years in jail
after being convicted of violating Burma's Video Act, which regulates
uncensored videos, and sentenced to three years in jail.

Violation of the Video Act is one of the charges the regime used in
handing down a heavy prison sentence to Burma's famous comedian Zarganar,
who is currently jailed in a remote prison.

On Friday, following a trial that was not covered by the state-controlled
media, Kyaw Ko Ko received an additional five-year jail sentence for
unlawful association and subversion, which according to his defense
lawyer, Aung Thein, he is alleged to have committed during the monks'
protests in 2007.

“He gave a speech to the crowds in 2007 in front of the Rangoon city hall
while representing the students, and this entails the first charge of
unlawful association. The same fact becomes the basis of the second charge
for subversion,” Aung Thein said. “I believe this is nothing but an
attempt to lengthen his prison term.”

“I am not frustrated. I will try to survive the prison life,” Kyaw Ko Ko
told his sister during his Rangoon court appearance last week.

The 2007 Saffron Revolution saw the arrest and incarceration of other
young activists in Burma, such as blogger Nay Phone Latt and hip-hop
singer Zay Yar Thaw, who joined their activist predecessors in jails
across the country.

And 2007 was not the first time Burma's young activists have been
persecuted following the 1988 uprising. In 1998, many young dissidents
were arrested and given long prison sentences, some exceeding 50 years.
Many of these activists are still behind bars, according to the
Thailand-based Association of Assistance for Political Prisoners in Burma
(AAPP).

Currently, while the regime is preparing to hold Burma's first election in
twenty years, more than 2000 political prisoners are estimated to be in
jails across the country. Under the regime's election laws, all of them
are barred from the voting process and do not have the right to be a
member of any political party.

“My brother is against the election this year. He has no faith in this at
all,” Kyaw Ko Ko's sister said.

____________________________________

May 25, Irrawaddy
Burmese women not allowed to marry foreigners – Thae Thae

Burmese authorities have been instructed by the government to block
marriage ceremonies between Burmese women and foreign men, according to
legal sources.

Burmese law allows marriages between Burmese citizens and foreigners,
provided they give divisional courts 21 days notice.
In this photo taken on November, 2009, Burmese women light candles during
a light festival at the famed Shwedagon Pagoda in Rangoon. (Photo: AP)

“That law is now being suspended on the instructions of the government,”
legal adviser Aung Thein told The Irrawaddy.

Aung Thein suggested the suspension of the law could be aimed at
preventing human trafficking, but he described it as unfair. “It will
prohibit the rights of couples if they truly love each other and want to
get formally married,” he said.

The Rangoon journal Flower News journal reported this month that local
brokers were involved with foreigners in trafficking Burmese women.

Lawyer Kyaw Hoe, said the suspension of the marriage law dates back to an
incident five years ago when a young woman committed suicide after being
forced by her parents to marry a foreigner.

“Since then all legal practitioners, including notaries, have not been
allowed to officiate marriages between foreigners and Burmese women,” Kyaw
Hoe said.

A well known Mandalay woman writer on social issues said Burmese should be
free to marry whomever they wished. “I don't have any objection as long as
it is not human trafficking,” she told The Irrawaddy, anonymously.

A representative of a Rangoon-based Myanmar Women Entrepreneurs'
Association pointed out that Burmese women abroad had the right to marry
whomever they liked.

A Burmese woman who married a foreigner 11 years ago and now lives in
Thailand said: “What is most important is understanding and loyalty to
each other. Race or religion don't matter.”

____________________________________

May 25, Narinjara
Over 100 million Kyat spent by USDA candidate in poll campaign – Narinjara
News

Rathidaung: U Thein Maung, nominated as a candidate of the Union
Solidarity Development Association party for the Rathidaung constituency,
has spent over 100 million kyat in the past three months on his election
campaign in the township, report several sources in the township.

However, no one knows where he got such a large sum of money for the
campaign.

A former teacher said, "He has spent a lot of money on his election
campaign in our township but we don't know how he was able to get the
money. The question is whether the money came from the USDA or his own
pocket."

U Thein Maung is a former Managing Director of the Myanmar Textile
Industries, Ministry of Industry One, and is a native of Buthidaung, near
Rathidaung Township. He began his campaign as an independent candidate but
has publicized that he will contest the election in Rathidaung as a USDA
candidate.

"He has donated at least one million kyat to villages in Rathidaung
Township. The largest villages in the township received between two
million and five million kyats from him. U Thein Maung's donations are for
monasteries, schools, clinics, and the construction of water reservoirs,"
the teacher said.

Recently, U Thein Maung donated two million kyat for construction of a
clinic in Kyauk Tan Village, and three million kyat for construction of a
primary school in Zay Di Byin Village in Rathidaung Township. He has made
similar donations to over 100 villages in the township during his poll
campaign.

"He goes to many villages in a motorboat, from one village to another to
mobilize people to support him in the forthcoming election by distributing
money. During his trips, he openly asked people to support him in the
election. He also told people that if he wins the election, he can develop
the township," the source said.

U Thein Maung has also reportedly donated stationary to students as well
as clothes, pots, and food to poor people in several villages in the
township.

Rathidaung is located 20 miles north of Arakan's state capital, Sittwe,
where the National League for Democracy and the Arakan League for
Democracy each won one seat in the 1990 election, the results of which
were ignored by the junta.

U Thein Maung is a close associate of Industry One Minister U Aung Thaung,
and he is contesting the election in Rathidaung on instructions from U
Aung Thaung.

In Arakan State, the USDA party and the NUP have been able to campaign
freely for the election, even though no election date has been set.

Meanwhile, other parties are still waiting for their approval from the
Election Commission to begin campaign in Arakan State.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

May 25, Democratic Voice of Burma
Wa army operations “worry” junta – Nan Kham Kaew

Increased digging of trenches and weapon stockpiling by the United Wa
State Army (UWSA) is reportedly concerning the ruling junta in Burma, who
last week met with officials from the Wa’s southern brigade.

Burmese intelligence chief Ye Myint during talks close to the border town
of Tachilek questioned the reasons behind the UWSA’s troop recruitment
boost: the 30,000-strong ceasefire army is already Burma’s largest, and
controls swathes of territory in the country’s northeastern Shan state.

Tensions between the ethnic army and the ruling junta have been high in
recent months as the Wa wavers over whether to transform into a ceasefire
group.

“Apparently general Ye Myint said the government had no wish to fight with
the Wa and break the peace between the two, a Wa official said under
condition of anonymity.

Ye Myint reportedly questioned whether the operations, which include
accepting back former Wa fighters, were preparation for fighting with the
Burmese government.

But, according to the official, the UWSA commander who met with Ye Myint
told him that the actions were standard procedures given the Wa’s
proximity to the Laos and Thailand borders and armed groups that operate
there.

Aung Kyaw Zaw, a military analyst based on the China-Burma border, said
that Aung Than Htut Thein, the chief of Military Affairs Security (MAS),
the junta’s de facto intelligence agency, travelled to the Wa state
capital Panghsang on 9 May, but was snubbed by the UWSA.

Following the visit, however, Wa leader Bao Youxiang sent a letter to Ye
Myint stating the UWSA’s position, including its “fundamental support” for
the upcoming elections.

But the tensions surrounding the Border Guard Force issue have hindered
the UWSA from working on development projects along the border, the Wa
official told DVB. The first spark of violence in Shan state occurred in
August last year when the Burmese army attacked an ethnic Kokang army,
which had refused to transform into a border militia.

“The Wa were able to go to remote villages to help them with school
building, agricultural work and health but now no longer since the Kokang
incident last year,” he said.

He added that following this, and increased militarisation of the region,
government officials are “trespassing on Wa territory”, although he
acknowledged that NGO and World Food Programme workers were active in the
region.

____________________________________

May 25, Irrawaddy
KIO leaders meet with Burmese commander – Kyaw Thein Kha

The Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) met with the commander of the
Northern Military Regional Command (NRMC) to discuss the border guard
force (BGF) issue and the bomb blasts at Myintsone Dam, a KIO source told
The Irrawaddy on Tuesday.

In the meeting, Brig-Gen Soe Win, the division commander of Kachin State,
met with KIO Vice-Chief of Staff Maj-Gen Guan Maw and KIO
General-Secretary Dr. La Ja at NRMC headquarters.

“The authorities summonsed us, and they asked us if we'd thought about the
BGF issue,” said the KIO official. In the earlier meeting with the Burmese
general, KIO officials proposed transforming their troops into a Kachin
Regional Guard Force.

Speaking with The Irrawaddy on Monday, the War Office in Naypyidaw said
the military would not impose its border guard force (BGF) plan on ethnic
cease-fire groups until after the general election this year.

KIO officials said that during their meeting, they also discussed the
youth detained by the government as suspects in the Myitsone bomb blasts.
The authorities had arrested several youth suspects in Myitkyina, but they
were released after interrogation, according to sources in Kachin State.
Other youth suspects, including a Kachin youth leader, were arrested on
Monday.

“One or two of them have been released, but the authorities arrested more
youths yesterday [Monday],” said the KIO official.

Most of the arrested youths are not KIO members, but some have attended
social work training, the official said.

Following a series of bomb blasts on April 17, local authorities
interrogated local residents in the Myitsone Dam area, about 25 miles
north of Myitkyina.

The Myitsone Dam project is a joint operation of Asia World, the main
Burmese contractor, and a state-run Chinese company, the China Power
Investment Corporation.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

May 25, Thai ASEAN News Network
Myanmar’s underground lottery grounded by Thai riots

Section: General News - Following the arson attack on Thailand's Stock
Exchange headquarters, Myanmar's underground lottery bookies have had to
stop taking bets as the winning numbers are based on the Thai stock market
figures.

Myanmar's illegal lottery has been suspended following the arson attack on
the Stock Exchange of Thailand, which shut the stock market last week.

The illegal lottery is estimated to circulate more than 350 million baht
per day and is popular means for all Burmese to earn quick money.

The Burmese 'two-digit' illegal lottery scheme is based on the last two
digits of the closing price of the Thai stock exchange index and is
released four times a day on Thai TV channels, which is also received in
Myanmar.

Meanwhile, the chief editor of the pro-democracy newspaper, Irrawady
expressed concern regarding the current situation in Thailand, stating
that Thailand's violence will affect Myanmar's democratic developments
since Abhisit Vejajjiva's administration is quite critical of the Burmese
military junta.

The editor went on to say Thailand's current administration plays a vital
role in Myanmar's pursuit for democracy while previous Thai
administration, as well as other ASEAN nations, had often ignored the
political situation in Myanmar.

Irrawady also stated that if Thailand is in a state of chaos, it will
affect NGOs, the media and Myanmar's pro-democracy organizations, which
are mostly based in Thailand, as well as Myanmar's three million illegal
immigrants currently residing in Thailand.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

May 25, China Post
Myanmar's flag mistaken as Taiwan's in Okinawa

Taipei, Taiwan – The Okinawa monorail station in Japan reportedly mistook
the national flag of Myanmar as that of Taiwan, a local cable TV station
reported yesterday.

The TVBS reported that a Taiwanese tourist to Okinawa recently was
surprised to find that Myanmar's flag was mistaken as Taiwan's flag at an
Okinawa monorail station, and immediately called Taiwan's Ministry of
Foreign Affairs for clarification.

Myanmar's national flag is 95 percent similar to Taiwan's in the graphic
designs and colours.

For Taiwan's flag, the bright sunshine on the upper left corner represents
equality, the blue sky implies freedom, and the red earth indicates
universal love.

By contrast, also on the upper left corner of Myanmar's flag, the rice
plant spike represents the nation's agricultural industry, gears indicates
emerging industries, and 14 bright stars refer to 14 administration
districts of the country.

It was reported that as Taiwan's flag was banned from entering tournament
sites during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, some people took in Myanmaran
flags to as a substitute for Taiwan's to cheer Chinese Taiwan athletes.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

May 25, Jakarta Globe
Forsaken but not forgotten, Rangoon will rise again – Thomas Kean

There’s a saying in Burma that, roughly translated, says you go to
Mawlamyine for food, to Mandalay for conversation and to Rangoon to show
off. Poor Rangoon. Since the military shifted the seat of government to
newly constructed Naypyidaw in late 2005, the city cannot even be
described as the top place to display ill-gotten wealth anymore.

Many of its crumbling colonial and towering Chinese-style mansions now lie
vacant, their owners summoned to the new capital, and the long government
motorcades that were once an everyday annoyance are now a rare sight.

Set on the arid plains of upper Burma, Naypyidaw has been a significant
drain on the country’s finances and is estimated to have cost at least $4
billion. Nowhere has the effect been felt more than in Rangoon, where
potholed roads, blackouts and weeds growing from old government offices
speak of the deliberate neglect that is taking place.

The present military rulers have always been ambivalent about this
“foreign” city, which was little more than a village when the British
established it as the capital of Lower Burma after the Second
Anglo-Burmese War in the 1850s. The shift north owes more to strategy and
tradition than the oft-cited astrological motives. Naypyidaw is centrally
located and in the traditional heartland of Burmese kings. It’s also far
away from the two main perceived threats to military rule and, in the
words of the generals, most likely causes of “disintegration of the
union”: foreign invasion and popular uprising.

Under the 2008 Constitution, the 440-member Pyithu Hluttaw, or House of
Representatives, must convene within 90 days of the general election,
scheduled for sometime this year. Both elected and appointed delegates —
25 percent of seats are reserved for military candidates — will meet in a
31-building parliament complex that should be completed by the end of this
month.

That first session, marking the country’s return to democracy after 48
years of military rule, will be another indicator of Rangoon’s demise. But
it is precisely because of the city’s faults in the eyes of the generals —
its foreignness, population base and location — that it will continue to
be the country’s most important urban area.

The shift to Naypyidaw has found little acceptance, locally or
internationally. Government staff forced to move have done so only
reluctantly, and local businesses, outside of the construction industry,
still see few opportunities there at present.

With no international flights to Naypyidaw, Rangoon remains the center of
international trade. Its five million residents represent the largest
consumer market and the country’s primary port, at Thilawa, is just 25
kilometers away, as are most of Burma’s industrial zones.

Much of what remains of the country’s human capital is based in Rangoon
and it continues to be the most vibrant city in Burma, the only one that
could even remotely be called cosmopolitan or international.

There are also signs that the decline in fortunes in recent years will
soon reverse. The specter of polls has at least forced the military regime
to reconsider its priorities. More emphasis is being put on delivering
services to appease voters in the lead-up to polling day.

One of the main gripes in Rangoon, the city most susceptible to political
unrest, is the lack of electricity; the government supplies only 300
megawatts a day, less than half of the estimated demand. Some
neighborhoods receive less than eight hours of power a day, while most get
no more than 12.

A new natural-gas pipeline from the Yadana offshore field should help
alleviate the power outages. At an estimated cost of $270 million, the
pipeline project is a rare display of government largesse in lower Burma,
and should conveniently come online in the third quarter of 2010.

While the city is now more of a transit point for up-country travel (with
a brief stop-off at Shwedagon Pagoda, of course), with more investment in
a wider range of accommodation and a revitalization of the city’s colonial
districts, it could become a tourist destination in its own right.

But the greatest hope for the city’s future perhaps lies in the
possibility of a post-election business revival. Economic development and
opportunities are shaping up as the crucial election issues, and among the
first acts of the new, mostly civilian government should be sweeping
economic reforms that make the country a more attractive place for foreign
investment, both large- and small-scale.

If this happens, Rangoon could be transformed from a crumbling colonial
relic to the fulcrum of Burma’s reintegration into the global economy.


Thomas Kean is the editor of the English-language edition of The Myanmar
Times newspaper in Rangoon.

____________________________________

May 25, All Burma Monks’ Alliance, 88 Generation Students, All Burma
Federation of Student Unions
Let's strongly oppose the 2010 Election which will make the 2008
Constitution come into operation!

All the people of Burma including Monks, Students and Youths,

1. The day of 27th May 2010 will mark 20th anniversary of 1990 Election in
which the people representatives overwhelmingly won a landslide victory.
The results of that election is interpreted as that of the Burmese
people's ongoing struggle for democracy begin with the 1988 prodemocracy
movements, by truly expressing of their determination.

The military junta has failed to respect its promise made before the 1990
election that it would hand over power to the winning party and go back to
the military barracks. Besides, it constantly committed various
violations, such as sealing the offices of NLD (National League for
Democracy led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi), and unjustly arresting, jailing
and killing democracy activists including MPs-elect.

Now it unilaterally voided the results of 1990 election by making unjust
orders in regard to the 2010 election.

2. The military junta is soon going to organize the 2010 election making
the 2008 Constitution come into operation while being failed to respect
the 1990 election results.

The 2008 Constitution is in fact that of military rule with a facade of
civilians in order to endure an ever-lasting military dictatorial rule to
protect personal interests of a handful of military top brass and their
cronies.

That constitution does not favour any assurance for the people's interests
and their wellbeing. Moreover, it was forcibly enacted by holding a
referendum during the time of tragedy in which millions of people were
suffering from a Cyclone Nargis. It was witnessed by all the people
themselves.

3. For those reasons, elected-parties including the NLD and ethnic parties
do not accept the 2008
Constitution and openly boycott it by being unregistered on April 29 of
this year. The ceased-fired ethnic armed organizations have also
repeatedly revealed their refusals to the 2008 Constitution by expressing
disagreements with a plan of reforming them into the Border Guard Forces
under the military regime command.

4. It is the time that all the people of Burma must demonstrate the will
of anti-military dictatorial system with boycotting the 2010 Election
together with elected-parties including the NLD and ethnic parties in
order to prevent the military junta from coming up with legitimacy for
enduring a military rule.

All the people including students and youths, we, All Burma Monks’
Alliance, 88 Generation Students and All Burma Federation of Student
Unions, seriously request for your actions of boycott the 2010 Election
by:
(a) No voting
(b) No advanced voting
(c) Making your vote null if being forced to vote.

All Burma Monks’ Alliance
88 Generation Students
All Burma Federation of Student Unions