BurmaNet News, September 1, 2010

[Editor]

September 1, 2010 Issue #4032


INSIDE BURMA
AFP: Myanmar's cyber generation boots up for first-time vote
France24: 'Generation Wave' youths challenge Burmese junta
Irrawaddy: Floods in Pegu force residents to flee
Mizzima: Irrawaddy people agree with poll boycott: NLD
Mizzima: Farmers take tiger reserve land-grab case to state court

ON THE BORDER
DVB: Kachin army cements ‘unwavering stance’

BUSINESS / TRADE
VOA: Burma's tax system corrupt, activists say

ASEAN
Irrawaddy: Asean should review Burma's election: ANFREL

OPINION / OTHER
Bangkok Post: Farce of the Burma vote – Editorial

PRESS RELEASE
ND-Burma: We have to give them so much that our stomachs are empty of
food:  The hidden impact of Burma’s arbitrary and corrupt taxation
New Democrat Party (Canada): New Democrats call for UN commission of
inquiry on Burma




____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

September 1, Agence France Presse
Myanmar's cyber generation boots up for first-time vote

Yangon – One of Myanmar's self-described "pioneer bloggers" proudly opens
his popular website -- officially banned by the military rulers -- and
scrolls to his updates on the approaching election.

Tin San has been carefully researching the candidates running in Myanmar's
first polls in two decades, and for his next post he is busy reading up on
the electoral regulations.

"Most people in Myanmar are not familiar with voting. We need to have
resources and information to vote how we like," says the 30-year-old. Like
all those in the country aged under 38, he has never voted before.

The November 7 election has been widely criticised by activists and the
West as a sham orchestrated by the ruling generals to shore up their rule.
Some favour a boycott by voters, many of whom are disillusioned with the
process.

But Tin San, whose name AFP has changed for his protection, is among a
group of optimists who advocate participation and online debate of the
polls, despite some of the world's most repressive Internet controls.

"I have quite a lot of influence on my readers so I want them just to
think about the information," he says.

"As far as I know, most young people are not interested in the election,
even though they want change. But this is the beginning of change -- it's
a stepping stone."

Judging by the busy cyber cafes across the main city Yangon, the web
offers a way to tap the city's youth, despite slow connections, frequent
power cuts and huge risks over online activity that the regime deems
subversive.

Google users look up South Korean celebrities -- in line with the current
Asia-wide craze -- while other cafe-goers read world news stories on the
BBC website. Several are chattering on Google Talk or browsing Facebook.

Staff are quick to help clients find proxy servers to bypass blocks on
certain websites, even though they are strictly forbidden to do so on
threat of closure, according to media watchdog Reporters Without Borders.

The rights group describes Myanmar's legislation on Internet use, the
Electronic Act, as "one of the most liberticidal laws in the world", with
dissident netizens facing lengthy prison terms.

Tin San, who has about 2,000 Facebook friends and thousands more blog
followers, says he holds informal gatherings across Yangon to discuss the
Internet's uses -- and how to dodge the junta's restrictions.

"Political websites are banned but you can still read them, for example
through (web aggregator) Google Reader," is one of his tips. He also
offers advice about privacy settings on social networking sites.

During the "Saffron Revolution" monk-led protests in 2007, Myanmar's
citizens used the web to leak extensive accounts and video to the outside
world, sparking a total Internet ban by the iron-fisted regime.

Connections have also been slowed down on politically significant dates
such as August 8, the anniversary of a mass political uprising in 1988.

"I think the government is quite afraid of blogs and bloggers," says Tin
San, one of nearly 1,500 members of the online Myanmar Blogger Society.

Controls are expected to be tightened again during the election, but for
now many are fearlessly talking politics online while they still can.

"I receive 10 to 20 emails from my friends each day about the things the
government does in Myanmar," says 28-year-old Win Oo, who lives in Yangon
and whose name has also been changed.

He says a friend recently sent him a cartoon of the junta chief Than Shwe
looking like a clown. Prominent blogger Nay Phone Latt was jailed in 2008
for 20 years, later reduced to 12, for allegedly storing such an image on
email, among other offences.

"If I want to look at things like that, I sit in the corner of the
Internet cafe, not in the middle, because we never know about the other
users or the owner," says Win Oo, who also intends to vote this year.

For those who can dodge the firewalls and take the risks, the Internet
offers more freedom to discuss the election than print journals, which
face rigid censorship over their reports.

Yet few political parties have taken their campaign online. Two that have
attempted it -- the Myanmar Democracy Congress party and the Peace and
Diversity Party -- have had their websites banned.

Even if their sites were allowed, the web's reach outside the major cities
of Yangon and Mandalay is severely limited.

Just one in every 455 of Myanmar's inhabitants were Internet users in
2009, based on statistics from the International Telecommunication Union,
a UN agency in Geneva.

About two thirds of the population, estimated at about 50 million, live in
the countryside and have limited access to information about the election,
the main parties and the issues at stake.

"It's quite ok for urban youths who have Internet access but what about
youths in rural areas, small town people and farmers? How do we help
them?" asks a business editor in Yangon.

Web-savvy city dwellers still hope their online activity, however
restricted, will help to spread political awareness across the country.

"The Internet can help to change the outcome of an election, maybe not
this one but the next," says a 26-year-old student of Yangon-based civil
society group Myanmar Egress, which has promoted participation in the
polls.

"We are already in a transition period so we have to concentrate on
sharing things, updating news, doing more," he says. "We can eat the fruit
in 10 years -- it will not happen immediately".
____________________________________

September 1, France24
'Generation Wave' youths challenge Burmese junta

The Burmese opposition is gearing up ahead of the upcoming parliamentary
elections in November. A Young Burmese man told us how he and other
activists are expressing their dissatisfaction with the ruling junta
through rap music and street art.

The Burmese people will head to the polls on November 7th, more than 21
years after Aung San Suu Kyi’s opposition LND party won a legislative
election ignored by the ruling junta. Although the vote has not yet taken
place, international observers have already emitted serious doubts on its
credibility.

According to Burma’s electoral laws, a quarter of existing seats in
regional and national parliaments are reserved for members of the
military, and more than 70 high ranking officers have recently left the
army to run for office. Meanwhile, most opposition candidates were
threatened and pressured into opting out of the race, or deterred by the
exorbitant participation fee demanded by the electoral commission.

Three years after the "Saffron Revolution" of 2007, during which hundreds
of thousands of opponents, led by Bhuddist monks, took to the streets, the
junta still has a tight grip on the country. Some opponents have joined
clandestine movements like Generation Wave, despite the risk of being
arrested. The movement is made up of around 50 Burmese youths, aged 15 to
25, that have been staging multiple symbolic actions across the country.
Although they describe themselves as an apolitical movement, they firmly
support Aung San Suu Kyi.

Bo Bo is 22. He is a member of the clandestine group Generation Wave.

I was forced to flee my country two years ago, because my ideas didn’t go
down so well with the military secret service. I was used to discussing my
political views with friends and family, denouncing how the junta violates
the human rights of its citizens. But in Burma, it’s dangerous to express
one’s views too openly. One day, the police came to my parent’s house to
try to arrest me. I was forced to flee the country with other militants of
Generation Wave, and cross the border illegally to Thailand.

"Young Burmese opponents cross the border illegally by groups of 5 or 10
to attend our training sessions in Thailand"

Since then, we have tried to organise Burmese youths into opposition
movements. We hold secret training sessions in a house right by the
Burmese border. Most young Burmese don’t know what their rights are, what
democracy and human rights are – we try to inform them. They will only
feel the urge to fight for regime change once they are aware of what is
going on in their country. The young Burmese who come to our training
sessions cross the border illegally by groups of 5 or 10. They run the
risk of being arrested at any time.

"We write activist songs to inform people"

We also use music and poetry to raise awareness in the country.
High-school students and college students are naturally attracted to rap
and hip hop, so we compose rap songs that denounce the regime, to inform
people of the situation. We have a studio in Thailand where we record our
songs onto CDs that are sold on the Burmese black market. The money we
make allows us to record more CDs.

Graffiti and stickers are another way of raising awareness. Most members
of Generation Wave are in Burma – they paint on walls, by day or by night,
depending on the level of security, so as not to get caught. Sometimes I
cross the border to help them.

"22 members of our movement are in prison"

As an activist, I have no future. I have no passport, no legal papers.
Things are made even harder by the fact that I have to remain in hiding
and can’t move freely. Sometimes, I can talk to my family over the phone,
but I have to be careful because we are closely watched. 22 members of our
movement are in prison right now.

I think that one day, we will succeed in overthrowing the military regime,
and our country will be rid of its dictatorship. As the 2010 elections
approach, we hope there will be more protests like those of 2007. I don’t
know if it will happen, but I hope so. We’re ready for new non-violent
action. Our goal is to inform people that the upcoming elections are
neither free nor fair, and to convince them not to go vote."

____________________________________

September 1, Irrawaddy
Floods in Pegu force residents to flee

Thousands of people in Pegu sought refuge in schools and temples after
heavy rain and floods forced them from their homes.

About 5,000 houses were evacuated when flooding threatened to inundate them.

A Buddhist monk who helped the evacuees with food and shelter said they
were staying at government schools and Buddhist monasteries.

He said that although the water level had receded by Wednesday residents
were still concerned about the prospect of more rain.

Large areas of Pegu and Magwe Divisions, Shan and Mon States are flooded,
and some highways are under water.
____________________________________

September 1, Mizzima News
Irrawaddy people agree with poll boycott: NLD – Ko Wild

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Many Irrawaddy residents and party members have
agreed to boycott Burma’s first elections in 20 years on November 7,
according to National League for Democracy party vice-chairman Tin Oo.

“The people would like to boycott the election. They said they would like
to cast their votes for the NLD but as the NLD had decided to boycott the
election, so they also should boycott the forthcoming election. They [said
they] have no option but to boycott the election”, Tin Oo said.

NLD leaders discussed electoral issues, youth culture and women’s affairs
with party members, residents and villagers, he said.

“Our tour was aimed at educating and motivating people to do what they
should. We helped them understand the current political conditions and
advised that they need to carry out suitable actions peacefully,” he told
Mizzima.

Tin Oo, 83, said that although he had not visited his hometown Pathein for
a long time, he had no intention of visiting relatives, but that the
objective of the tour was to reorganise NLD members and colleagues and
talk to local residents.

He and his colleagues saluted the statue of national independence hero
General Aung San, the father of detained NLD general secretary Aung San
Suu Kyi, near Titekyi Monastery in Pathein, and vowed that they too would
continue to fight for freedom.

Also on the roadshow were NLD central executive committee member Hla Pe,
party members Win Myint and Kyi Win from Irrawaddy Division, and party
women’s and youth leaders. They also visited Kyonpyaw, Pantanaw, Maubin,
Bogalay and Dedaye townships.

A legal scholar, Tin Oo entered politics in 1988. In September that year
he became the party’s vice-chairman and in December, chairman.

In 1989, he was imprisoned for seven years. Then in 2003 he was arrested
again after in the “Depayin Massacre” and was sentenced to nine months in
Katha Prison before being put under house arrest in 2004. He was released
on February 13 this year.

The NLD have been conducting such roadshows around the country since June,
visiting around 200 townships in Sagaing, Mandalay, Magway, Tenasserim,
Pegu, and Irrawaddy divisions and Shan, Mon, Kachin and Arakan states.

Registrations for 42 political parties have been approved by the junta’s
electoral watchdog, the Union Election Commission, and 32 have submitted
lists of members to the commission according to the junta’s electoral
laws, state-run newspaper New Light of Myanmar reported on Tuesday. Among
the parties, the junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party
(USDP) and the National Unity Party (NUP) have the maximum numbers of
candidates, which junta rules make costly to submit.

The international community including the United Nations has demanded that
the election process be credible and inclusive. However, many countries
including the United States, Britain, Australia and those of the European
Union, have condemned the junta’s apparent stage-management ahead of the
polls in favour of parties it supports and the exclusion of opposition
leader Suu Kyi and her NLD party from the process as among many of the
signs that the elections would be neither free nor fair.
____________________________________

September 1, Mizzima News
Farmers take tiger reserve land-grab case to state court – Khaing Kyaw Mya

Seventeen farmers from Kachin State in northern Burma are taking their
fight over land seized in the Hukawng Valley “tiger reserve” by a
junta-linked tycoon to the state’s Supreme Court tomorrow.

The farmers, among 148 from five villages in the valley who protested in
June against land confiscations by the Yuzana Company run by junta crony
Htay Myint, lodged a plea for compensation with the court in the state’s
capital, Myitkyina.

Amid considerable fanfare in international and exile media early this
month, Burma had reportedly tripled the size of the world’s largest tiger
reserve by adding 4,248 square miles (11,000 sq km) and turning the entire
valley into a protected area.

However, a report released last Wednesday by the Kachin Development
Networking Group (KDNG), an alliance of civil society groups and
development organisations, showed that Yuzana was making a mockery of the
reserve’s protected status.

 “Fleets of tractors, backhoes and bulldozers rip up forests, raze bamboo
groves and flatten existing small farms,” the report said. “Signboards
that mark animal corridors and ‘no-hunting zones’ stand out starkly
against a now barren landscape; they are all that is left of conservation
efforts.”

“Application of chemical fertilisers and herbicides together with the
daily toil of more than 2,000 imported workers are transforming the area
into huge tapioca, sugar cane and jatropha [potential biofuel]
plantations,” it said.

The company had seized more than 400,000 acres of land since its
establishment in Hukawng Valley, double the size of the area the junta
granted it in 2006 to establish the sugar and tapioca plantations,
Kachinnews.com reported last week. The massive land-grab included huge
tracts farmed for generations by nearly 1,000 families.

In the past two months, more than 120 farmers settled with compensation of
80,000 kyat (US$80) per acre, Myint Lwin, a lawyer representing some of
the farmers, said.

“The 17 [farmers] still reject the offer, arguing that the sum offered
grossly undervalues their land” he said.

In March, a group of villagers wrote to the National League for Democracy
central advisory committee asking it to appoint a lawyer to file a legal
case against the Yuzana Company on their behalf. The case first appeared
for comment last month.

“The farmers have lost a total of 1,040 acres of farmland,” Myint Lwin said.

The lawyer’s report said the complainants were from Warazup, Nansai,
Bankawk, Awngra and Jahtuzup villages, where 1038.47 acres were stolen out
of total farmland area of 3,965.
The farmers have not simply lost their livelihoods, they have been forced
to move elsewhere. Some relocated to nearby Sampya village while remained,
living in hardship.

“The company has destroyed orange groves, paddy fields, tea gardens,
bamboo groves and has confiscated our land. It has forcibly constructed
factories in our areas,” one of the farmers said. “We don’t have land
anymore.”

Separately in February, a total of 163 families from six villages had been
forced to relocate to less favourable farming areas without fishing
grounds, while others also accepted compensation funds, the KDNG reported.

However, reports say the compensation was not always accepted willingly.
Local police harassed villagers and forced them to accept the compensation
money, a farmer who accepted the compensation said.

“The officers came late at night and forcefully detained farmers for
questioning,” she said, adding that the farmers had to go with the police
as they were afraid of the junta.

She said “Life is secure for those who have agreed to take the money, but
those who have opposed taking it are living in fear, can’t sleep
peacefully in their homes and have to hide elsewhere.”

The Kachin Environmental Organisation (KEO) gave its views on what was
behind the junta giving free reign to Yuzana operations in the state.

“The military regime’s plan is to 
 bring under its control the whole
natural resources of Kachin State within the next 10 years” KEO director
Yaw Na said.

This year, 260 farmers from the area wrote to the Rangoon office of the
UN’s workers’ body, the International Labour Organisation (ILO), asking it
to intervene.

“Complaints were registered with the ILO in March and there have been
multiple complainants from a number of villages,” ILO liaison officer in
Rangoon, Steve Marshall, said.

“The prime issue is the confiscation of land, but there were some
suggestions that there may have been some element of forced labour
associated with the confiscations,” he added.

Htay Myint, who is on European Union and United States sanctions lists
because of his links to the ruling military junta, had also announced his
intention to stand for the governorship of Tenasserim Division in Burma’s
elections on November 7 because of his extensive palm-oil business
interests there, the KDNG report said.

Htay Myint is also chairman of the Burmese Fisheries Federation, president
of the Construction Owners’ Association and president of the Fishing
Vessel Owners’ Association. He has other broad interests in hotels and
real estate.

Hukawng Valley is in Kachin State’s west near the Indian Border, situated
between the Kumon mountain range to the east and the Patkai range to the
west and is a watershed for the Chindwin and Brahmaputra rivers.

According to a WCS report early this month, the population of big cats in
the region has long been known to be as little as 50 because of illegal
hunting.

Both the WCS in New York and Yuzana Company in Rangoon were unavailable
for comment.

The Hukawng Valley Tiger Reserve, which covers around 8,452 square miles
in the northernmost part of Burma, was established by the State Peace and
Development Council, the junta’s name for itself, in 2001 with the support
of US-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).

The map (above) is based on the “Proposed Site Plan Map for Yuzana
Integrated Agriculture Project, Danai, Kachin State”, and includes the
five villages worst effected by the Yuzana Company’s land grabs.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

September 1, Democratic Voice of Burma
Kachin army cements ‘unwavering stance’ – Aye Nai

One of Burma’s most prominent armed ethnic groups has made a final
deadline day decision to reject the junta’s request to transform into a
Border Guard Force.

The country’s ruling generals set 1 September as the day that all
ceasefire armies make the transformation, which would bring them under
control of Naypyidaw and see their lower-ranking troops assimilated into
the Burmese army.

Many have however rejected, and in response the generals have threatened
war in Burma’s volatile border regions where the majority of ethnic
minority groups are located.

Deputy-general of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), Wawhkyung Sin Wa,
said that it was the group’s “unwavering stance” to see a federal union
emerge in Burma with autonomy for ethnic minorities.

But the controversial 2008 constitution that set the ball rolling for
elections this year makes it clear that the future of Burma lies as “one
nation, one army”, while senior Burmese army official Win Thein in June
told the United Wa State Army (UWSA), Burma’s largest ceasefire group,
that “there shouldn’t be various armed groups in one country”, meaning
transformation was inevitable.

Wawhkyung Sin Wa said that the KIA would now look to achieve its goals of
a federal state “via peaceful negotiations and a dialogue”. Asked what
would happen if Burmese troops launched an attack, he remained coy.

“It depends on what the government will do to us. For us, we are taking a
stable stance on maintaining peace and looking for dialogue.”

There are also reports that the New Mon State Party (NMSP) has officially
rejected the Border Guard Force proposal, although this has not been
confirmed.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

September 1, Voice of America
Burma's tax system corrupt, activists say – Ron Corben

Bangkok – A new report on Burma's tax system says it lacks transparency
and accountability, and many taxes are paid to corrupt officials.  Burma
rights activists say arbitrary taxation adds another layer to the economic
burdens and rights abuses many Burmese suffer.

The report, released in Bangkok, from a network of human-rights
organizations said Burma's military has transformed taxation "into
extortion and a tool of repression." The government and the military
arbitrarily collect taxes in the form of cash, land, goods and labor, said
the report, based on interviews with more than 340 people during the past
two years.

In addition, people said they are charged arbitrary fees at checkpoints,
and forced to pay donations for festivals, school buildings, school
registration and equipment.

Economist Alison Vicary from Macquarie University's Burma Economic Watch
said Burma's tax system is oppressive and illegitimate.

"The agencies collecting taxes are actively involved in the control and
suppression of the population," Vicary said. "That much of the taxation
that actually collected at the local level is going to the incomes of
local officials rather than to the central government."

According to rights activists, military-backed organizations have been
extorting funds from communities ahead of the November 7th general
elections.

Vicary said the abusive tax system has contributed to Burma's economic
deterioration. And she believes little will change after the balloting.

The lack of accountability makes life in Burma harder for much of the
population, said Cheery Zahau, a human rights coordinator with the Human
Rights Education Institute of Burma

"It added to the problems to the basic survival, they [Burmese people]
cannot save money, they cannot, in many cases, send their children to
school," Zahau said. "They do not have enough money for hospitals, for
health care anymore.  So it makes the whole social welfare collapse for
the people; it becomes a burden for the people."

The report also said the tax system's denies most Burmese the right to an
adequate standard of living, health care, housing, food, and education. 
It recommends that international donors, such as development banks, should
only give Burma aid when governance standards and human-rights protections
have improved.

____________________________________
ASEAN

September 1, Irrawaddy
Asean should review Burma's election: ANFREL

The Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL), a Bangkok-based independent
organization for monitoring elections in the Asia region, issued a
statement on Tuesday calling for the Association of Southeast Asian Nation
to review the credibility of Burma's election on Nov. 7.

The statement was signed by ANFREL's 12 member organizations from regional
countries including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia,
Nepal, The Phillipines, South Korea and Thailand.

The statement said the Burmese election will not be credible due to four
factors: “First, the military is too involved in the election; Second, the
media is not free and under total control and censorship; Third, the lack
of transparency in absentee voting, advance voting and counting ballot
papers especially the restriction on local observers; and Fourth, the
absence of a mechanism in checking the voter list to prevent phantom
voting, double or multiple votes.”

Furthermore, it pointed out that the election date was intentionally set
before the release of the democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi and said:
“[this] has also led to leading election observation groups raising
serious questions about the credibility of the ensuing election.”

Evaluating Burma's Union Election Commission (UEC), it said it is not able
to work independently or freely due to its composition of 17 commissioners
selected by the junta.

 “The UEC of Burma must stop all attempts by political parties to misuse
state resources in their favour and ... the UEC’s actions cannot be
considered neutral and non-partisan,” the statement said.

Among the causes of ANFREL's negative assessment is the unfair advantage
the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) led by the incumbent
Prime Minister Thein Sein, which it describes as a proxy of the military,
has over other rival parties.

The USDP has much more opportunity than other parties in introducing their
members to the electorate and that “their political status and powers to
recruit members either by manipulative tactics or by force” is
unacceptable, it said.
It also expressed concern that the USDP enjoys unfair advantage in being
able to utilize state resources to contest the election.

The statement concluded: “the military junta is doing everything but
holding a democratic election. The objective of the military seems to be
clear, that is to win the coming election at all costs.”

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

September 1, Bangkok Post
Farce of the Burma vote – Editorial

There can be no more cynical regime in Southeast Asia than that of Burma's
military junta. The generals and colonels who have controlled that poor
country since 1962 have looted the economy, mistreated citizens and made
Burma a worldwide synonym for tyranny.

It is going to be difficult to top their current cynical move. The
generals are about to bring to fruition a manipulated election that will
endorse a rigged constitution to give the military control of the country
forever. And all this is being passed off as an exercise in democracy.

The breathtaking military "reshuffle" last week is a case in point. No one
is sure of the details because the junta has never felt the need to
announce its important moves, let alone explain or justify them. But it
appears that around six dozen senior officers were moved.

To call this a reshuffle is to demean the word. Thailand has reshuffles,
where officers retire and move within the very public, designated chain of
command. Burma's military movements had quite a different cast - and
sinister at that.

The November elections are pre-arranged to be neither fair nor free. For
starters, the military is guaranteed 25% of the 498 seats in the
legislature.

The opaque musical chairs orchestrated by the ruling generals last week
put certain officers in military positions to claim those 125 seats.
Others were released from active service to run for many of the other
seats supposedly meant for non-military civilians.

Ironically, the Burmese junta actually ran a free election. Back in 1990,
a fair vote was held countrywide wherein the people rejected the military
and its puppet political parties, and overwhelmingly elected pro-democracy
civilians, the majority of whom were loyal to the banned leader Aung San
Suu Kyi.

But because they got a result they did not want, the ruling generals
simply ignored the election outcome and spent the next 20 years in a
campaign of arrests, intimidation, imprisonment and torture of democratic
Burmese.

This time, the election will reflect the wishes of the military
dictatorship. The junta is openly backing several political parties,
including with monetary funding. Voters from Rangoon to the smallest
village have been instructed on what is expected of them on election day.

The largest group of democrats is the National Democratic Force. Some 200
candidates have raised the fees required to run for about 1,200 national
and regional seats.

Ms Suu Kyi is the only Burmese with credentials as a national political
leader. She has been banned, again, from the entire election process. In
the first place, she is under house arrest on various trumped-up charges
that would be laughed out of any court except the ones controlled by the
Burmese military. She also is the widow of a foreigner, an offence so
serious to the junta that it also disqualifies her from any political
participation in her country.

The result of this political tragedy is a foregone conclusion. The
military-written constitution will govern a military-run election where
almost all candidates have been officially and ostentatiously
military-approved. Mrs Suu Kyi has rightly called for a boycott. There is
no reward for voting in a pre-determined election.

Outsiders may be helpless to alter the course of this shameless power grab
by the junta, but they can expose it. It is most important that the Thai
government and all other governments in the region refrain from endorsing
this political charade.

____________________________________
PRESS RELEASE

September 1, Network for Human Rights Documentation – Burma
We have to give them so much that our stomachs are empty of food:  The
hidden impact of Burma’s arbitrary and corrupt taxation

“On average, villagers have to provide military government organizations
with more than 10,000 kyat a month. Even though villagers have no food to
eat they still have to pay them. At the hands of the SPDC the villagers
have to work harder but they still have not enough food for their
families."

Burma’s military regime has transformed taxation from a routine and
legitimate function of government into extortion and a tool of repression.
ND-Burma’s report highlights that the state of Burma is implementing a
system of corrupt taxation which fails to comply with any accepted norms,
fails to stop the diversion of government revenues into private pockets,
and  contributes to the ongoing and systematic violation of their most
basic human rights: the right to an adequate standard of living, to
housing, to education and the right to be free from forced labor.

While the majority of Burma’s people live in abject poverty, the military
regime and its cronies spend more than 50% of the national budget on the
military and less than 1.3% on health and education combined. ND Burma’s
research revealed that people are forced to hand over large proportions of
their income and property in official and unofficial taxes leaving more
and more people struggling to survive.

The military’s corrupt practices violate their signature of the UN
Convention on Corruption and their signatures of the Convention on the
Elimination of Discrimination against Women and Convention on the Rights
of the Child. They cause longterm damage to the economy and destroys the
viability of subsistence and medium scale farming and enterprises, i.e.
the economic activities that that sustain most of the civilian population.
 A subsistence farmer in Burma could be forced to pay more than 50% of his
or her livelihood in so-called taxes.  This report documents the range of
corrupt acts that occur under the guise of taxation including; farmers
being forced to grow certain crops and sell them at low price to the army,
goods being confiscated and not returned until a payment is given,
Tatmadaw and government officials forcing people to pay arbitrary high
payments at checkpoints,  forced “donations” for festivals, school
buildings, etc, forced labour,  and the loss of earnings and health  or
fees incurred in order to avoid these burdens.

The regime’s attacks on the civilian population take the form of murder,
torture, and sexual violence, and this report demonstrates that those
attacks also entail imposing severe economic hardship on the population in
violation of their human rights.

“The people of Burma are poor but the regime that oppresses them is not.”
Sean Turnell, Burma Economic Watch.

Contact ND Burma at office at nd-burma.org (+66 (0)53 408 149)
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August 31, New Democrat Party (Canada)
New Democrats call for UN commission of inquiry on Burma

Ottawa – Canada should add its support for the establishment of a UN
Commission of Inquiry into alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes
committed by the military regime in Burma, says New Democrat Leader Jack
Layton (Toronto-Danforth).

“Canadians have spoken out against human rights violations in Burma – from
political repression and forced displacement of civilians to sexual
violence, torture and murder,” said Layton. “Violating human rights has
been used systematically and with impunity by the Burmese junta and it’s
time to establish a UN Commission of Inquiry.”

If countries like Canada failed to call for a UN Commission of Inquiry on
Burma, the junta regime will only be emboldened to continue its violations
of human rights, said New Democrat Foreign Affairs Critic Paul Dewar
(Ottawa Centre).

“With no further delay, Canada should support the call for the
establishment of the commission and offer its active role in coordinating
such an inquiry,” said Dewar. “Canadians have a history of being human
rights champions and supporters.”

United States, Britain and Australia, among others, have already supported
the call for a Commission of Inquiry. Over 80 Canadian Parliamentarians
have also called on the government to do the same.