Mizzima Monthly Journal - December 2008

Mizzima
December 2008
www.mizzima.com
Burma needs a pragmatic
solution
by Moe Thu and Htet Win
page -7
In dilemma and a quagmire
by Maung Maung Hla Kyaing
page - 8
The task of unification
by Dr. Sein Myint
page - 8
Has international diplomacy
on Burma touched its zenith ?
by Dr. Sein Mynt
page - 9
Economic crisis as a force for
change
by Myat Soe
page - 9
Interview
Burma-struggling for human
rights
by Salai Pi Pi
Now
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Mungpi
December 18 - East Timor
and the Czech Republic have ‘in
principle’ agreed to offer asylum
to 34 Burmese ethnic rebels, who
are currently lodged in Kolkata’s
presidency jail in India and facing
trial for alleged gun-running.
Soe Myint, Editor-in-Chief of
Burmese Independent News
Agency – Mizzima – who is
appointed by the Calcutta court as
interpreter for the rebels said, the
two countries have agreed to offer
asylum in order to avoid
deportation to military-ruled
Burma, if they were found not
guilty under the Indian law.
”Now that the trial is almost
over, and if they are found not
guilty, they cannot remain in
India… But repatriating them to
Burma could be dangerous for
them so these two countries have
offered to provide shelter to avoid
repatriation,” Soe Myint said.
But he added that in order to
resettle the rebels to these
countries, the UN refugee agency
(UNHCR) needs to intervene and
recognise them as refugees.
With the case of the Burmese
ethnic rebels - Arakanese and
Karen - drawing to an end, 38
Burmese organisations including
the National Unity Party of Arakan
(NUPA) and the Karen National
Union (KNU), of which
organisation the detained rebels
belong to, have written an appeal
to the UN High Commissioner for
Refugee in Geneva to intervene
into the case.
The 38 organisations include
armed resistant groups, political
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groups and parties that have been
living in exile and struggling to
restore democracy in Burma.
In their letter to Mr. Antonio
Guterres, the High Commissioner
for refugees, the groups said, the
34 rebels, even if acquitted of the
current charges, if denied UNHCR
protection and promised
resettlement to third country,
could continued to be detained for
charges under the foreigners act.
The groups said the worst
would be for India to deport them
back to Burma, as they would be
executed or jailed by the militaryrulers, whom the rebels have
fought for years.
Akshay Sharma, one of the
defence counsels of the rebels,
said the prosecution has so far
failed to provide sufficient
evidence to prove the charge. But
with at least three to four court
schedules still pending, the trial
could continue for another six
months.
”Within this period the court
will make a judgement,” Sharma
told Mizzima during an interview
earlier.
”We have all the positive
prospects,” Sharma said.
However, the last court
session, scheduled in late
November was adjourned to
January 15 to 21, 2009 by the
court saying the prosecution was
unable to bring some of the
resources.
The 34 rebels, belonging to
armed rebel groups the NUPA and
KNU, were arrested in February
1998 by Indian armed forces after
they had come to India’s eastern
archipelago of Andamans.
The rebels, who would be
completing 11 years of detention
in February 2009, said they had
been framed by the Indian military.
They said, they have been
associated for long with Indian
military intelligence, and have
been used to watch Chinese naval
activity and movement of
northeast Indian rebels on the
Arakan coast in western Burma,
until India’s relations with the
Burmese military junta improved
in the late 1990s.
According to the rebels, the
Indian military intelligence had
made an offer to them to come
and set up base in the Landfall
islands of the Andamans. But
when they came in two ships, six
of their leaders were killed in cold
blood and the rest were arrested
and put in jail.
They were arrested and kept
in Port Blair without being
charged until October 2006, when
they were ordered by the
Supreme Court to be moved to
Kolkata, after a leading human
Continued to Page 3 ÒÔ
page -6
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Vol.6 No. 12
Czech Republic, East Timor offer asylum to
Burmese rebels
Focus
"Power-PowerPower"
MONTHLY JOURNAL
Burma cancels license of 84 tour companies
Zarni
December 18- Eighty four
tour and travel companies have
been stripped off of their license
by Burma’s directorate of Hotels
and Tourism for failing to renew
their license, officials said.
An official from the office the
directorate of Hotels and Tourism
told Mizzima that the license of
the tour companies, which have
been operating for two years,
were cancelled as they failed to
renew their license.
” Those that have been
stripped off their license do not
include popular tour companies.
These companies are the ones
that failed to report for more than
two years, and defaulted in paying
taxes,” the official at the
directorate office of Hotels and
tourism in Naypyitaw, Burma’s
new capital, said.
The 84 tour companies are
smaller operators among the
over 500 tour companies
operating in Burma.
”We issue a license for two
years, and tour companies are
required to renew them after two
years. We can still accept it with
a late fine for about six months.
But these companies have
disappeared for years. For some
we don’t even know the
addresses anymore,” the official
added.
Sources in the tour industry
said, the companies include a
firm with foreign investments,
and 20 companies that
collaborate with foreign
investors, while the rest are
owned by local Burmese tour
operators.
Tour companies in Burma
have experienced a boom since
mid-1990s, with the country
receiving large numbers of foreign
tourists. The lucrative business
attracted private tour operators
who rushed to apply for licenses
and have effectively conducted
tour operations.
However, the tourism industry
suffered a jolt following the
September 2007 monk-led
protests, and smaller companies
faced difficult times. Besides,
more and more tourists avoided
visiting Burma, when in May the
ruling junta responded poorly to
a natural disaster - Cyclone Nargis
- that swept through Burma’s
coastal divisions of Rangoon and
Irrawaddy.
Following the devastation by
the cyclone, the junta’s
referendum on a draft constitution
in May 2008, and the September
2007 mass protests, several
private tour companies and
smaller agencies folded up as the
tourism business slid into
doldrums.
An official of a Rangoon
based Tour Company said, “Most
of the tour companies that were
stripped of their license are
smaller companies that had
rushed in when tourism boomed.
It does not include those that are
still actively doing business.”
”For those continuing in
business, even if tourism is not
doing as well as earlier, they are
still able to survive and have not
come to a point where they have
to shut down operations,” the
official added.
The
Mizzima Journal
December 2008
Inside Burma
Detained leader Min Ko Naing freezing
in prison, needs eye care: Sister
Mungpi
December 10 - Detained student
leader Min Ko Naing, recently sentenced
to 65 years in prison, is suffering from a
severe eye ailment and is in need of
immediate attention of an eye specialist,
his sister, who visited him at Keng Tung
prison in Shan state, said.
His sister Kyi Kyi Nyunt, who visited the
prominent student leader on Thursday,
said Min Ko Naing is in solitary confinement
in the Keng Tung prison. He is suffering
from an eye problem and his condition is
deteriorating. He needs the attention of an
eye specialist.
”We have requested the prison
authorities to allow him a check-up and
medical attention by an eye specialist,” Kyi
Kyi Nyunt told Mizzima over telephone,
adding that the student leader has been
suffering from the eye ailment since his
detention in Rangoon’s Insein prison.
Kyi Kyi Nyunt said that Min Ko Naing is
kept in a separate cell all by himself and
though the prison situation seems normal,
the severe weather in Keng Tung is having
an adverse affect on his health.
”It is like keeping him in a refrigerator,”
said Kyi Kyi Nyunt, adding that she had
requested the prison authorities to allow
him to walk around and be in the sun
occasionally because he seems to be
having difficulty in moving his hands and
feet due to the severe cold.
Prominent student leaders Min Ko
Naing and Ko Ko Gyi, who were arrested
in mid-August 2007, after leading a
peaceful march in Rangoon for a roll back
of fuel prices which had pushed up costs
of essential commodities, were shifted to
Keng Tung prison last month after being
handed lengthy prison terms of 65 years.
But after spending about two nights in
Keng Tung prison, Ko Ko Gyi was
transferred to Mai Sat prison in Shan
State, she added.
Burma’s military rulers over the past
few months have handed down lengthy
prison terms to political activists and begun
transferring them to far-flung prisons
across the country, making it all the more
difficult for family members to visit them.
”The prison authorities said, we could
meet him [Min Ko Naing] once in two
weeks. But I don’t think we can go that
often because it is too far away. We might
only be able to visit him once in a few
months,” said Kyi Kyi Nyunt, who returned
to Rangoon on Tuesday evening from Keng
Tung.
In much the same way, other
prominent political activists including
comedian Zargarnar and blogger Nay
Phone Latt were all transferred to remote
prisons across Burma. Zargarnar has been
transferred to a prison in the northern most
city of Myitkyina of Kachin state, while
popular rapper Zeya Thaw was moved to
a prison in Burma’s southern most town
of Kawthawng.
Eight ministers and Rangoon’s
mayor to resign soon
December 9 - At least eight ministers
in the cabinet of Burma’s military
government along with the mayor of
Rangoon will resign from their current
positions in preparation to contest the
upcoming 2010 election, a source in the
military said.
According to the source in Naypyitaw,
ministers from the Ministries of Forestry,
Construction, Immigration & Population,
Livestock Breeding & Fisheries, Transport,
Agriculture & Irrigation, Industry (1),
Communication, Posts & Telegraphs, in
addition to the mayor of Rangoon, will soon
retire from their positions as part of the
lead up to the 2010 general election.
Despite criticism from the political
opposition, Burma’s military junta is
determined to carry out its planned seven
step roadmap, which includes the general
election as its fifth component.
” The ministers will contest in
constituencies where they are sure of
gaining majority support,” said an observer
in Burma, adding that Aung Thawng from
the Ministry of Industry (1) is likely to
contest in Mandalay, while Brigadier
General Thein Zaw from the Ministry of
Communication, Posts & Telegraphs is
likely to run in Myitkyina, Kachin state.
He added that the junta is also likely
to impose restrictions on opposition parties
– including the National League for
Democracy (NLD) – in contesting the
election that is likely to shape a new
government for the country with limited
civilian participation.
Despite a landslide win in the last
general election in 1990, Burma’s military
junta denied power to the NLD, instead
placing party leader and Nobel Peace
Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi under house
arrest.
The list of the eight ministers and the
mayor, who are likely to resign from their
positions, are given below:
Sl. No Position/ Names Position/
Ministries
1 Brigadier General, Thein Aung
Minister, Ministry of Forestry
2 Major General, Saw Tun Minister,
Ministry of Construction
3 Major General, Saw Lwin Minister,
Ministry of Immigration & Population
4 Brigadier General, Maung Maung
Thein Minister, Ministry of Livestock
Breeding & Fisheries
5 Major General, Thein Swe Minister,
Ministry of Transport
6 U, Aung Thaung Minister, Ministry
of Industry No. (1)
7 Major General, Htay Oo Minister,
Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation
8 Brigadier General, Thein
Zaw Minister, Ministry of Communications,
Posts & Telegraphs
9 Brigadier General, Aung Thein
Linn Mayor of Rangoon
page 2
Vol.6
No. 12
Junta rejects Aung San Suu Kyi’s
petition: NLD-LA
Solomon
December 12 – The Burmese military
junta has rejected outright a petition by
the lawyer of detained Burmese prodemocracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi,
to review the extension of her house arrest
period, an official of her party in exile said.
Nyo Ohn Myint, in-charge of the
Foreign Affairs Committee of the Thailandbased National League for DemocracyLiberated Area (NLD-LA) said, the junta last
week rejected the petition by Aung San
Suu Kyi’s lawyer Kyi Win to review her
detention which has gone beyond five
years in the last term.
”The appeal was rejected and at the
same time they [junta] have forbidden Kyi
Win to meet Aung San Suu Kyi to explain
about the appeal to her,” said Nyo Ohn
Myint.
Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu
Kyi, who completed her last five years in
detention in May 2008, is having to contend
with an extension for another year. But the
NLD-LA in their statement said, according
to the law she has the right to appeal.
But lawyer Kyi Win, said he had not
been informed of the rejection of the
appeal by the regime and that he was told
that authorities are working on the case,
and that he no longer requires to meet Aung
San Suu Kyi.
”They [authorities] told me that they
are now working on the case and so they
said I no longer need to meet Aung San
Suu Kyi,” Kyi Win told Mizzima.
But he, however, added that “I will try
to meet Aung San Suu Kyi again.”
Meanwhile, a source close to the NLD
said, Kyi Win had also been threatened by
the authorities not to reveal the rejection
of the petition in Aung San Suu Kyi’s case.
While the information cannot be
independently verified, Nyo Ohn Myint said,
the junta’s action is likely to be related to
their planned 2010 general election, for
which they fear the release of Aung San
Suu Kyi might foil their determination to
successfully conduct the polls.
”This shows that the ensuing 2010
election will be not be fair and just, and it
also means denial of Aung San Suu Kyi
from participating in political activities and
rejection of the international call to conduct
free and fair elections,” Nyo Ohn Myint said.
Aung San Suu Kyi had been detained
for the past 13 of 19 years.
Russian business presence becoming
stronger in Burma
Moe Thu
December 10 - With several Russian
firms directly investing or having
businesses interests in Burma and with the
closer cooperation between the two
countries, a Rangoon based observer said,
Russia is likely to emerge as a major
investor in the near future in the Southeast
Asian country.
The observer, who closely follows
Russian-Burmese relationship, said since
about eight years ago Russia’s private and
public enterprises slowly emerged in Burma
and began investing and operating
businesses in sectors including gold and
copper mining, onshore-offshore oil and
gas explorations, steel manufacturing and
even had a finger in garment and the
fisheries industries.
Of the many businesses ventures in
cooperation with Russian enterprises are
the prominent Russian Oil and Natural Gas
Company Silver Wave Sputnik Petroleum
Pte Ltd., Victorious Glory International Pte
Ltd., and Technoprom Exports of Russia.
Russia’s Oil and Natural Gas companies
had conducted two onshore and two
offshore projects, with each project
estimated to be valued at between US$
30 million to US$50 million, the observer,
who declined to reveal his identity for fear
of reprisal told Mizzima.
“As a principle, the military
government [of Burma] does not allow any
foreign company to be involved in onshore
exploration and production. But the Russian
case is an exception,” the observer said.
Another important project the US$160
million development of a steel
manufacturing facility by ‘Technoprom
Exports’ of Russia is also nearly complete
in southern Shan State.
According to the observer, the project,
which has a capacity of producing 200,000
tonnes of cast iron per annum, is expected
to be commissioned in early 2009 and that
the iron produced would be fed to a steel
mill run by the Myanmar Economic
Corporation (MEC), a major business
undertaking of the army based in Myingyan
of Mandalay Division.
The facility located in the town of
Pingpet in southern Shan State, will have
a commercial-scale coal-powered
generator that produces 65 megawatt of
electricity. The coal will be transported to
the plant from Tigyit coal mine, Burma’s
biggest coal mine located in Tigyit village
of Pinlong Township, about 22 miles south
of Kalaw town in Southern Shan State.
The observer said Russia is likely to
emerge as a major investor in Burma,
because it is one of the foremost world
powers. Burma’s military rulers are
seeking stronger support by giving them
secret business deals in the country.
While Burma has publicly declared that
it maintains a policy of non-alignment, it is
apparent that Burma needs an alliance with
some major power like Russia, in order to
survive in the long run in the international
arena, he added.
Meanwhile, another informed
industrial source claims that a Russian firm
is now seeking business deals in Burma’s
garment and fisheries industries. “A
Russian firm, yet be identified, plans to set
up and run a garment factory in Rangoon,
that will manufacture bullet-proof jackets,”
the source said. However, the information
could be independently verified.
The
Mizzima Journal
December 2008
Pro-junta group gearing up to contest
elections
The The, Myint Maung
December 16– Amid the myriad
protests over fresh polls in Burma by most
of the opposition forces, a pro-junta group
led by a former student activist is preparing
to contest the general election scheduled
to be held in 2010.
The 88 Generation Students and Youth
Organization (Union of Myanmar) which
supports the junta’s economic and political
policy will contest the 2010 general
elections and be a part of the junta’s
roadmap to democracy.
”We haven’t yet chosen the name of
our party but we are preparing to contest
and gearing up when the government
enacts the political party registration law
and election law,” Aye Lwin said to
Mizzima.
This group has started canvassing
work since September 2007 in Burma.
They have been to Rangoon Division,
Mandalay, Pegu, Magwe, Sagaing and
Irrawaddy Divisions, Karen, Mon and
Rakhine States where they conducted
political and organizational work. They also
met local elders, local businessmen and
journalists in these areas in their campaign
tour.
”We are organizing like-minded people
among the citizens and are persuading
them to join us politically. Now we have
completed the work in six Divisions and
three States,” Aye Lwin said.
Former Rangoon Institute of
Technology (RIT) student Aye Lwin was
one of the student leaders who led the
nationwide uprising in 1988, for
transforming Burma to a multi-party
democracy. But he later turned against and
became a critic of main opposition forces
including Aung San Suu Kyi and other
leaders.
Moreover his group vehemently
protested against the economic sanctions
imposed by the United States and
European Union.
The ‘Committee Representing People’s
Parliament’ (CRPP) which comprises of
page 3
Inside Burma
elected MPs from the 1990 general election
and other pro-democratic forces have
rejected the junta announced election. The
junta refused to honour the people’s verdict
in the 1990 general election and these
elected MPs were denied convening the
Parliament.
”This is their plan. But we have no
plans to canvass and we will not accept
the 2010 general election. The junta did
not discuss with lawful political parties
which have an official standing. We will
not contest this election unless they amend
the constitution. If they amend the
constitution, we will consider contesting the
election based on how they amend and
what they amend,” Aye Thar Aung from
CRPP said.
Magwe Division Yenanchaung
Township National League for Democracy
(NLD) Chairman Khin Saw Htay said that
this constitution will give the junta the
license to kill.
”The constitution will give license to
kill to the junta so we cannot contest the
election to be held within the framework
of this constitution. It seems like kneeling
down before them to be killed. So we
cannot accept it in totality. We protested
against the constitution and now we will
protest the fresh elections,” she said.
”There is a lot of difference between
a political careerist (opportunist) and
genuine politicians. Why should we contest
this election? They didn’t hand over power
to the election winning party in the 1990
general elections. This time they will
certainly not hand over power to the NLD
even if it wins. We cannot be good and
genuine politicians if we contest this
election within the framework of this new
constitution. It is like pushing our country
into the killing fields. It is like killing a dying
man,” she added.
Politicians in Burma expect the laws
for the 2010 election to be enacted and
declared at the end of this month as a part
of the junta’s Seven-Step Roadmap for
transition to democracy.
Vol.6
Opposition MP released
Ohn Kyaing
Than Htike Oo
December 12 – In what seems to be
a surprise move the Burmese military
junta authorities released a high-ranking
member of the National league for
Democracy from Insein prison yesterday
after interrogating him for over two months
about Cyclone Nargis relief operations and
his party.
The authorities arrested journalist
turned politician Ohn Kyaing (63), MP-elect
from Mandalay Southeast Township
Constituency (2), on October 1 this year
while he was serving as the party Cyclone
Nargis Relief Committee Chairman.
”They (authority) might have had
some information on us. But they realized
later all they knew before were absolutely
wrong after questioning me,” Ohn Kyaing
told Mizzima.
But he declined to say what information
the authorities had received before hand.
He was arrested from his residence in
December 16– Young lawyer Saw
Kyaw Kyaw Min who represented political
prisoners fled to the Thai-Burma border
in the wake of an arrest warrant against
him.
He was on the run after the Rangoon
Northern District Court sentenced him on
October 30 to six months in prison in
absentia for allegedly obstructing judicial
proceedings.
”If I surrender to be arrested and
imprisoned under this judicial system, it
would be the end of me. I came here in
the belief that something can be done,”
Saw Kyaw Kyaw Min (29) told Mizzima.
He was handed out a prison term for
contempt of court while he was
representing his clients Hlaingtharyar
Township ‘National League for Democracy’
(NLD) member Ko Thant Zin Myo and 10
others who staged protest demonstrations
against rising essential commodity prices.
The bench asked him to tell his clients
Continued From Front PageÒÔ
rights lawyer Nandita and her associates
filed a petition and to conduct a day-today trial.
With defence counsels confident that
the charges will be dropped as the
prosecution failed to present adequate
witnesses and evidence, Soe Myint said,
not to show their back to the court. But he
told the court that his clients could sit as
they wished. He was given a prison term
for that.
”I just said I had no authority to say
anything to my clients for their behaviour.
But the Hlaingtharyar Township judge from
Rangoon northern district court prosecuted
me for it,” Saw Kyaw Kyaw Min said.
His co-lawyer in this case, Ko Nyi Nyi
Htwe, was arrested and imprisoned on the
same grounds. Saw Kyaw Kyaw Min didn’t
appear before the court which would have
handed out a prison term to him on that
very day.
His clients were sentenced to at least
seven and-a-half years in prison.
He represented about 20 clients in
political cases when he was in Burma.
Other lawyers who faced a similar fate
are U Aung Thein and U Khin Maung Shein
who were sentenced to four months in jail
on the same contempt of court charge.
They are now serving their prison terms
in prisons far away from Rangoon.
they need a place where they can have
asylum, because if they are not convicted
under Indian law, and are not resettled to
a third country, Delhi might deport them
back to Burma.
”If they [the rebels] are sent back to
Burma, they might even be executed,” Soe
Myint added.
South Okkalapa, Rangoon Division and
taken to Pegu prison the same night. Then
he was transferred to Insein prison in
Rangoon on November 25 this year.
A jailor in Insein prison told him to pack
his belongings at about 11 a.m. yesterday
and then sent him back home though he
had nursed no such hopes.
The Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi
led party won the elections in 1990 but the
military regime not only refused to hand
over power but put the party under severe
pressure. Suu Kyi has been under house
arrest for over 13 of the past 19 years and
party branches have been banned from
operating.
According to the Thailand-based
Assistance Association for Political
Prisoners-Burma (AAPP-B), at least 400
members of the NLD constitute more than
2100 political prisoners languishing in
prisons across the country.
”I hail from Malamyinegyun in Delta
region. The leaders of my party assigned
me for relief operation. I felt extremely
sorry when I saw the scale of devastation
in the aftermath of the deadly Cyclone
Nargis. I did my best in this operation with
full of compassion and benevolence. All our
relief committees joined in the relief
campaign,” Ohn Kyaing said.
He was previously arrested in
September 1990 and sentenced to 17 years
in prison with charges of disaffection
towards State and Government, and
endangering the security of the State. This
former political prisoner was released from
Taungoo prison, Pegu Division on January
3, 2005.
Ohn Kyaing joined NLD since its
inception and became a Central Committee
member.
Win Tin, Khin Maung Swe to be
members of CRPP
Fugitive lawyer defending political
prisoners flees to Thai border
Than Htike Oo
No. 12
Solomon
December 5 – Win Tin and Khin
Maung Swe, two veteran politicians were
included on Thursday as members of the
central committee of the Committee
Representing People’s Parliament, a
political alliance formed with members of
parliament elected in 1990.
Veteran journalist and politician Win
Tin and Khin Maung Swe, Member of
Parliament elected from Sanchuang
Township in Rangoon, were arrested and
detained in prison for a long time and were
released on September 23.
”We believe we can strengthen the
CRPP given their political experience and
skill because they are NLD’s CEC members
and involved actively in political
movements,” Aye Thar Aung, secretary of
the CRPP said.
The CRPP was formed in September
1998 with several political parties including
detained Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San
Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy
and ethnic parties such as the Shan National
League for Democracy, and the Zomi
National Congress.
The alliance, since its formation, had
repeatedly urged the junta to allow the
1990 elected MPs to convene Parliament
and demanded the release of political
prisoners including the Aung San Suu Kyi,
Win Tin, and Khin Maung Swe.
Both Win Tin and Khin Maung Swe,
since their release from prison have not
taken active political roles though they
agreed to serve as central executive
committee members of the NLD.
” They both agreed to involve
themselves actively in the group [CRPP],”
Aye Thar Aung said.
However, currently Win Tin is admitted
to the Yangon Medical Centre in Rangoon
and is undergoing medical tests after
doctors found that his heart is weak.
A nurse at the clinic told Mizzima that
doctors are taking an X-ray of his chest
and the result will be revealed soon. She
added that he has diabetes, asthma and
his heart is weak.
Win Tin, the veteran journalist, during
his 19 years in prison, had time and again
suffered from ailments and close friends
said his health deteriorated as the prison
authorities failed to provide him proper
medication.
But after his release, he told Mizzima,
“I must engage in politics anyway. I must
do as much as I can to achieve restoration
and promotion of democracy to some
extent.”
The
Mizzima Journal
BB Nandy passes away
The Statesman Newspaper
December 4-Bibhuti Bhusan Nandy,
one of India’s better known intelligence
officials, died in Kolkata early today. He
was 68. Born in 1940 in Jamalpur now in
Bangladesh and passed his intermediate
from Presidency College, Kolkata. He did
his graduation in Economics from Scottish
Church College and MA from Calcutta
University. He taught at Chandannagore
Government college in 1958. He joined the
Orissa cadre of the IPS in 1964 but was
subsequently deputed to the Intelligence
Bureau in Delhi to play a key role in the
Bangladesh war of liberation. In
recognition of his meritorious service he
was put in charge of the Kashmir desk in
the rank of deputy director of Intelligence
Bureau. In 1984, he was transferred to the
country’s counter intelligence outfit RAW
where his first posting was in Dhaka. He
also served in Bangkok from where he was
brought back to the RAW headquarters in
Delhi to look after important desks like
Myanmar, Russia and South East Asia.
Subsequently, he was made a special
director of Special Services Bureau and was
later promoted to the rank of additional
secretary RAW.
In 1997, he was made the directorgeneral of Indo Tibetan Border Police and
after a year’s stint there his services were
requisitioned by the Mauritius government
which appointed him as its National
Security Adviser. The Prime Minister of that
country in fact made an offer to
Nandy when he retired in 2000 to come
back to Mauritius as NSA.
After retirement, he regularly
contributed articles on national security to
The Statesman and Dainik Statesman. He
is survived by his wife, a son and a
daughter.
BB Nandy, a friend of the Burmese
democracy movement has expired
Photo-mizzima
Soe Myint
December 4-I am saddened and
shocked as the feeling sinks in that he is
no longer with us. He was not well for
some time but I thought he would recover
after treatment. Although he was involved
in Burma affairs for many years, I came to
know him closely only in recent years.
When the 34 Burmese freedom
fighters were transferred to Presidency Jail
in Kolkata from Andaman Islands in 2006,
I had the opportunity to meet and talk to
him on several issues that concerned both
of us. It was a good opportunity for me to
learn about many things including about
the pre 1990s’ India-Burma relations. He
was a person who could connect state-tostate relations with people-to-people
relationship. We talked for hours and I
remember his wife (Auntie Krishna) would
give us home-made good food after the
discussions. There were many things that
I listened and learnt from him that will
hopefully one day be a part of the history
of India-Burma relations.
He came out strongly and publicly in
support of the 34 Burmese freedom
fighters who are now in a Kolkata jail. He
was angry that the Burmese who were
once working with and being supported by
the Indian state were later betrayed by
some intelligence officers. And he did what
he could do. He and his wife came to the
protests of Burmese and Indians in front
of Metro cinema in Kolkata on the 10th
anniversary of the detention of the 34
Burmese in Indian jails to demand their
immediate freedom.
I was proud to find that he loved India
and he loved the people of India. I think
that’s one reason why he was not hesitant
to criticize the wrongdoings by Indian state.
Some of my Indian friends who work for
page 4
Regional
December 2008
human rights issues criticized me when I
invited him –a retired intelligence officerto speak at Burma-related forum and
seminars. But he was a person in whom I
could find honesty, patriotism, love for his
nation, and above all professionalism.
Subir Bhaumik, our common friend,
told me that he is known as “Dronacharya”
(Great Teacher in the Maha Bharat). I
found this in him when we talked. He was
in fact angry with what is presently going
on in India, especially when it came to
India’s policies on Burma. What he did was
keep writing on the issues and policies,
which was dear to him and he was
thoroughly versed in, especially in The
Statesman.
I am re-producing sentences that
were “In Memorium” that I picked up from
his house, from the place where we used
to sit and had discussions, on the day when
I went to pay my last respects to this dear
friend of Burma.
“Born in an obscure village in prePartition East Bengal, where he went to
primary school, Bibhuti Nandy, as his entire
family, experienced difficult times when he
joined millions to migrate to India as the
sub-continent was engulfed in the Partition
bloodbath. He could never quite – rightly
so – jettison his past. Life as a “refugee”
instilled in him a sense of purpose and
achievement that was reflected in his
second-to-none educational record. The
memories of East Bengal formed the huge
corpus of anecdotes that he narrated to
his children for days on end. Perhaps that
was the reason for his enduring love and
association with Bangladesh in whose
creation in 1971 he, as a young Intelligence
Bureau officer, played a deep-cover role.
He would say with a degree of pride
that he was a “born intelligence officer”.
That was no exaggeration. He worked
stealthily but boldly, he raised and ran
sources in India and abroad, he kept the
State’s secrets and took them to his pyre.
As a columnist for The Statesman, postretirement, a strict disciplinarian at work,
a no-nonsense officer when it came to
handling politicians.”
It is unfortunate that the 34 Burmese
freedom fighters are still in jail and he who
was one of the active supporters of the
Burmese democracy movement is no
more. We lost a professional, a philosopher,
an educator, a visionary, a social reformer
and above all a humane human being. I
pray that his soul rest in peace.
Vol.6
No. 12
Thailand’s new PM likely to be more
‘pro-Active’ on Burma: Activist
Photo-AP
Mungpi
December 15- Thailand’s opposition
leader, Abhisit Vejjajiva, has been elected
as the country’s new Prime Minister after
winning a special vote in Parliament on
Monday.
Abhisit, on Monday, won 235 votes,
edging out Pracha Promnok who received
198 votes, to become Thailand’s 27th Prime
Minister.
The 44-year old Abhisit, who was born
in Britain, will also become the fifth Prime
Minister of Thailand within a period of less
than two-and-a-half years.
The election came after Thailand’s
constitutional court in early December
forced former Prime Minister Somchai
Wongsawat to resign. Somchai and his
Peoples Power Party, along with two other
parties, were charged for election fraud
related to polls convened over a year
previously.
While electing Abhisit as the new Prime
Minister seems to provide at least a
momentary end to the political deadlock
that has dragged on in Thailand for
months, supporters of the ousted
government, known as the red-shirts, on
Monday reacted furiously – rampaging
through barricades and preventing MPs
from leaving Parliament.
While the election of Abhisit as the new
Prime Minister signals an end to the
immediate political crisis, Burmese prodemocracy activists based in Thailand said
Abhisit’s new government is more likely to
take a pro-active role regarding Burma’s
politics.
According to Nyo Ohn Myint, in-charge
of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the
exiled National League for DemocracyLiberated Area (NLD-LA), with his fair
knowledge and understanding of political
situation in Burma, Abhisit is likely to be
more pro-active than other earlier Thai
governments.
Abhisit, during a conference on
‘Safeguarding Democracy – Role of
Opposition,’ held in Bangkok on Saturday,
acknowledged that Thailand’s former
Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, had
used Thailand’s foreign policy to make
personal deals with Burma’s military junta.
Nyo Ohn Myint, who was also a
participant in the conference, said Abhisit,
during an informal discussion, had
promised to be more ‘pro-active’ towards
Burma’s political crisis if elected as the
new head of state.
”I also made a point to him that, as a
neighbor, Burma’s political problems
impact on Thailand,” Nyo Ohn Myint added.
Nyo Ohn Myint said that while it is still
too early to predict what will be Thailand’s
foreign policy under the newly elected
Premier, it would look more positive if the
leaders do not have any personal business
connections with Burma’s military rulers.
Thaksin, Thailand’s former Prime
Minister, now in exile, during his tenure
conducted lucrative business deals with
Burma’s military junta. Critics said Thaksin
used Thailand’s foreign policy to deal with
Burma’s military junta for personal gain.
”I believe that if the new elected
leaders of Thailand do not have personal
business ties with Burma’s military rulers,
Thailand could take a better position on
Burma,” Nyo Ohn Myint speculated.
Thailand, with its ongoing political
crisis, is unlikely to have Burma as a major
focus of its any new foreign policy, but Nyo
Ohn Myint said the Thai government is likely
to more sympathetic towards Burmese
refugees and migrants.
Thailand currently hosts over two
million Burmese migrant workers, who are
employed in varied fields of work, including
the sex industry. Additionally, there are
some 140,000 Burmese refugees eking out
a survival in nine camps along the ThaiBurmese border.
ASEAN summit to be held in February
December 16 — The 14th
Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) summit which was postponed in
early December will be held next year
before the end of February according to
the Thai government’s official website on
Tuesday.
The official web page of Thai
Government Public Relations Department,
office of the Prime Minister today
announced there has been an agreement
between ASEAN Foreign Ministers for the
meeting to be fixed for February.
”The Foreign Ministers of ASEAN
Member States, at a special meeting in
Jakarta on December 15, agreed that the
summit will take place in Thailand before
the end of February 2009,” said the Office
of the Prime Minister on its official website.
”Concerning the 14th ASEAN Summit
to be hosted by Thailand next year, the new
Prime Minister expressed his full support
for the operations of Thailand as Chair of
the ASEAN,” said the government.
It continued, “He agreed to the Foreign
Ministry’s recommendation that the 14th
ASEAN Summit be held at the earliest
opportunity as soon as a new government
is able to fully perform its duties.”
Initially, the summit was postponed to
next year March, whereas it was originally
scheduled for December 15 to 18, due to
political hostilities in the country between
the opposition party People’s Alliance for
Democracy (PAD) and former Prime
Minister Somchai Wongsavat and his
People Power Party (PPP).
The decision came a day after the new
27th Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva,
leader of the Democrat Party was
appointed to lead the country.
The
Mizzima Journal
December 2008
Regional & World
Ban urges “group of friends”,
corporates to influence Burma
Photo-AFP
December 9
Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations
General Secretary has urged governments
and corporate houses that have a
relationship going with Burma to use their
influence to impress the military rulers to
implement its commitment to democratic
reforms in the country.
Ban Ki-moon, speaking to reporters
after a close door consultation with a group
of ‘Friends on Myanmar’ on Friday, said all
countries and corporate houses, whoever
is cooperating with Burma should use
whatever leverage they have to influence
the Burmese regime to go in for democratic
transition.
”Whoever has influence with Myanmar
[Burma], should try to use their
cooperation or their relationship to impress
upon the Myanmar [Burma] authorities so
that they can commit to their
democratization process,” Ban said.
Ban, however, said he will not be
making any visits in the near future, as he
thinks the visit cannot be productive and
meaningful.
Ban, who in May visited the Southeast
Asian nation in the aftermath of Cyclone
Nargis, on Monday, was urged by Asian
parliamentarians to make a fresh trip to
the country and push for the release of
political prisoners including Nobel Peace
Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been
detained for more than 13 of the past 19
years.
The UN Chief, however, said “At this
time I do not think that the atmosphere is
ripe for me to undertake my own visit there
[Burma].
”Rather, the world body chief said, all
countries particularly members of the
group of “Friends on Myanmar” should use
“their influence, they should use whatever
available leverage and tools to impress
upon the Government of Myanmar [Burma]
to implement its commitment.”
Burmese women in exile honoured
with Madeleine K. Albright Award
December 16- A US based
organization promoting democracy gave
the 4th annual Madeleine K. Albright Award
to Burmese women for their efforts on
promoting human rights and women’s
participation in political movements in
Burma.
The National Democratic Institute for
International Affairs (NDI) at its awards
luncheon on December 15 handed the
Madeleine K Albright Award to Women’s
League of Burma, an umbrella organization
of 12 women’s groups from different ethnic
backgrounds in recognition of its effective
work on the participation of women in the
democratic movement in Burma.
“Receiving the award will make the
world communities, particularly the people
from United States, aware of Burmese
women’s activities in political movement
in Burma,” Thin Thin Aung, Coordinator of
Political Empowerment Programme,
Women’s League of Burma told Mizzima.
The WLB is at present training women
on political leadership skills, advocates
women’s empowerment, inter-ethnic
understanding, national reconciliation,
peace and democratic reforms in Burma.
The NDI in a press release said that
WLB will use the $25,000 grant for the
present six-month political capacity
building programme, in which young
women from various ethnic backgrounds
from Burma have enrolled. The programme
is being conducting at WLB’s Women
Leaders School in Thailand.
”The Madeleine Albright grant will
make it easier for members of the
Women’s League to stand with their sisters
and brothers – with OUR sisters and
brothers – in keeping alive the dream of a
country and a government worthy of its
people,” Madeleine Albright, NDI’s Chairman
at the Democracy Luncheon said.
Madeleine Albright during her tenure
as State Secretary in the Clinton
administration strongly criticized Burma’s
repressive policies and supported the role
of the U.N. urging the Burmese regime to
begin a dialogue with democratic
opposition parties.
She also met Burmese democracy
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in
1997.
Madeleine Albright, in recently
released report on preventing genocide,
urged US, if necessary, to use military force
to intervene in the human rights abuse
No. 12
Ashin Gambira awarded honourary
citizenship by Italy
Zarni
December 12– Ashin Gambira,
sentenced to a lengthy prison term for
galvanizing the monk community into
staging protests in Burma last September,
was awarded the ‘honourary citizenship’
by ‘Morbegno’ city, Italy.
The award came on December 10 the
international human rights day, for his
selfless sacrifice made during the saffron
revolution for the sake of the people and
the country.
“The people of Morbegno city stand
by Ashin Gambira, who led the peaceful
protest during the saffron revolution,” said
the website of this city in northern Italy.
The website also said that the city will
welcome Ashin Gambira if he wishes to
visit after being released from prison.
The award was received by U Uttara,
Chairman of Sasana Moli and abbot of
London Sasanayanthi Vihara monastery on
behalf of Ashin Gambira.
Ashin Gambira was previously
awarded the ‘Freedom of Expression 2008’
prize given by ‘Index of Censorship’ and
the Abbot U Yewata Memorial Peace prize.
After the saffron revolution, he was
arrested while he was on the run, and later
sentenced to 68 years in prison last month
and sent away to the remote Khamti prison
in Sagaing Dvision.
Similarly Shan ethnic leader and
leader of ‘Shan Nationality League for
Democracy’ (SNLD), U Khun Tun Oo, was
awarded the ‘Honourary Italian citizen’ by
Italy, ‘Shan Herald News Agency’ said. He
was sentenced to a ludicrous 93 years in
prison.
The award given by Monza mayor was
received by U Bawdi Zaw Min, an associated
director of EU-Burma Bureau on December
9 on behalf of this ethnic Shan leader who
is serving his prison sentence in remote
Puta-O prison in Kachin State.
Laura Bush honored with 2008
Freedom Award
December 9 – United States first lady
Laura Bush has been honored with the
2008 Freedom Award by Christian
Freedom International (CFI) for her
advocacy toward alleviating the protracted
humanitarian crisis in eastern Burma.
The Michigan-based CFI on Friday
announced Mrs. Bush as the winner in
recognition of her role in raising the profile
of the humanitarian crisis in Burma.
Mrs. Bush, who personally visited
refugee camps along the Thai-Burma
border in August, in a video message said,
“I personally witnessed the devastating
effect of these atrocities when I visited
camps on the Burma border. That crisis
needs our support and attention.”
The first lady said tens of thousands
of people from ethnic areas of Burma have
been forced to spend decades in refugee
camps and are struggling for survival in
the mountains and the jungle without
adequate food, medicine and shelter.
According to the Thai-Burma Border
Consortium (TBBC), over the past year at
least 66,000 civilians have been forced to
leave their homes in eastern Burma
because of increasing military activity and
systematic human rights abuses including
forced relocation of villagers by the
Burmese Army.
The TBBC, a consortium of 12
international
non-governmental
organizations, provides food and shelter
to 140,000 Burmese refugees in nine
camps along the Thai-Burma border.
Sally Thompson from the TBBC told
Mizzima that the high level visit by Laura
Bush had raised awareness of the situation
of the people in Burma and displaced
people on the Thai-Burma border.
”As a first lady, she was able to use
her position to increase understanding of
the situation of those people inside Burma
and those who have been displaced beyond
the border,” Sally said.
In her effort to push for United Nations
action on Burma, Mrs. Bush, in September
2006, hosted a Dialogue on Burma during
the General Assembly.
”Together we can fulfill Aung San Suu
Kyi’s call to use our freedom to promote
freedom and democracy for all Burmese,”
Mrs. Bush said in her video message.
CFI is a relief group that has provided
humanitarian aid to refugees, particularly
Karen and Karenni, on the Thai-Burma
border since 1998. The group also works
in facilitating the resettlement efforts of
Burmese refugees seeking asylum in the
United States.
committed by the Burmese military regime.
The report also labeled the existing
situation in eastern Burma, where over
650,000 people have been displaced and
some 3,500 villages destroyed as the
Burmese Army continues with its attacks
and coercive policies against local ethnic
minority populations, as genocide.
Thin Thin Aung expected that
Madeleine Albright will continue to press
the world communities including a new
Obama administration to be in office from
next year and Burma’s neighbouring
countries to push the Burmese military
regime to speed up democratic reforms in
the country.
“We expect that there will be more
binding resolutions by the international
community to pressurize the Burmese
regime,” Thin Thin Aung said.
NDI today also presented the 18th W.
Averell Harriman Democracy Award to
Archbishop Tutu for his work on the
democratic transition in South Africa and
his advocacy for restoring democracy in
nations including Burma.
Salai Pi Pi
Salai Pi Pi
page 5
Vol.6
The
Mizzima Journal
The
page 6
Opinion
December 2008
Editorial
Salai Pi Pi
August 2008
2010 game plan: Clinging to power
Bad news has emerged from Burma again this month. The junta is planning to
showcase its so-called civilian government with their handpicked people by changing
their uniforms to mufti after the junta’s planned 2010 general election. In our
country, there is news blackout all the time and only Senior Gen. Than Shwe has
the final say in everything. The junta kept the news regarding the planning of this
general election a secret. It is the 5th step of their 7-step roadmap to democracy.
Their plans do not adhere to national reconciliation, neither for establishing a
peaceful and developed country, but only for clinging to power. In their secret
scheme, they winked at their staunch supporters and sympathizers to conduct
organizational works. The election law is not yet made public and is being enacted
in order to give little time to the opposition forces in their preparation for the polls
by this dilatory tactics.
There can be three probable paths to follow in the post-2010 scenario. The
first one is filling all 440 seats in parliament with generals, army personnel-turned
politicians and their ‘Yes’ men by all possible means of letting them exclusively
contest in this election and vote rigging. The second way is seat sharing between
armed forces and the opposition through negotiation. The third way is holding free
and fair election like in 1990.
After reviewing all their activities until today, the first path will be the most
likely way that will be chosen by the ruling generals led by Snr. Gen. Than Shwe.
They will do their best to marginalize the ‘National League for Democracy’ (NLD)
including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other pro-democracy forces in this general
election.
In this programme, the high army posts and the National Security Council is
likely to be filled with generals and senior ministers. The current serving ministers
can become new ministers by contesting in this election. About 110 seats in
parliament are reserved exclusively for army personnel and the remaining 330 will
be filled at the choice of the ruling generals. They are designing this election to
restrict the number of seats going to persons who are not of their choice. They
would be the ones who are unstoppable and will not comprise more than 10 per
cent.
The serving ministers and mayors who have to change their uniforms after
election have started canvassing in their constituencies. Similarly some regional
commanders are rehearsing to be elected as the ‘Chief Minister of the Region or
State’ in their controlled areas.
Freedom and justice can be hardly expected from this planned election. Those
who hope for reform through the new parliament can only hope.
It will be silly and naïve if the ruling generals expect to win legitimacy through
this election and get recognition by the international community. Similarly they
have no chance to isolate themselves as done by their predecessor Gen. Ne Win in
the age of globalization and Information Technology, which have no borders. They
will certainly bring big challenges and a collapse with a sad ending.
But all of these things cannot take place spontaneously and dynamically. Those
who wish to transform our society to respecting human rights and open society
under these changing and developing situations should make preparations well in
advance.
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No. 12
Burma: Struggling for human rights
Mizzima Journal
Subscribe the Mizzima
Vol.6
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www.mizzima.com
December 10th marks the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations, to which military-ruled Burma is party.While
the world marks the occasion, Burmese continue to live without their basic rights, denied
by their military rulers, says David Scott Mathieson, Burma consultant for the New Yorkbased Human Rights Watch (HRW), who has closely monitored human rights
developments in Burma for years. Mathieson, during a brief interview with Mizzima’s
Salai Pi Pi, said the United Nations as well as the world community faces a huge task in
assisting Burmese in achieving their basic rights.
Q: What is the picture of human rights in Burma today?
Mathieson: Unfortunately, there is little to celebrate in Burma with the 60th
anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, because of the human rights
condition that has come to depict Burma. In almost every aspect of Universal Human
Rights, the situation in Burma is quite grave.
Q: Has there been any progress in the human rights situation in Burma?
Mathieson: There has been very little progress in the past 60 years on human
rights in Burma. We can say, especially in the past 20 years, that there has actually
been more deterioration [in the human rights situation in Burma]. There is still a long
way to go.
Q: From a human rights aspect, how do you view the recent sentencing
of several political prisoners in Burma?
Mathieson: The recent sentencing of political activists, artists like Zarganar,
journalists, Buddhist monks, Internet activists and poets, demonstrates very clearly to
the United Nations and the world that the military government is not serious about
respecting human rights. All these people, around 200, are people who should be
involved in the country’s politic on a daily basis and especially on the day to mark the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Q: What do you think should be done to promote human rights in Burma?
Mathieson: Basic freedoms need to be respected. The first thing that the
international community has to do is not to simply criticize the SPDC [Burma’s military
government]. They must also put pressure on human rights bodies within the
international community. And they need to put more pressure on China, India, Russia
and the countries of Southeast Asia to be more proactive on human rights in
Burma.Secondly, I think Burmese society has to be supported by the international
community. We must support civil society in the country in helping to end military rule
and in achieving the basic freedoms they have long been denied.
Q: Anything else that you would like to add on the human rights situation
in Burma?
Mathieson: As the situation is getting worse, international attention must increase.
It is not enough for the international community to express their frustration with the
SPDC. They must find a way to make the situation better. And I think the international
community owes the people in Burma that much. We witnessed in the past year the
crackdown [of the September 2007 monk-led protests] and the response to the cyclone
[Nargis] – the people inside Burma are suffering. These are but two more reminders on
the eve of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration that more needs to be
done.
Letter to Editor
New Year Wish to the distressed poor
people of Burma
Though it is customary for people of all faithd and colour wishing one another a
Happy New Year in the spirit of love and compassion, poor people of Burma deserve a
special one. Throughout its history they have been under various rules - absolute
monarchy (1000+ years), colonial (over 90+ years), fascists (3 years), and finally gained
independence in 1948. Unfortunately, though it became a sovereign state the country
had a bad experience all along with tainted democracy, boiling insurgency, damaging
socialism, and brutal military rules under different guises (for the last 46 years). The
status of the country has also gradually fallen off the cliff from a promising developing
nation to a least developed country status. Who deserves more blessing than these
poor people?
I wish all the best things on earth that one can imagine - peace, happiness, freedom,
prosperity, harmony, to mention a few. People of Burma have been hoping for a good
turn since their country became independent, but so far luck has been against them,
getting poorer as they keep on hoping. So, it seems they need more than a simple wish
for the blessings to come. They surely need a change in their way and deserve it.
Change should be at all levels, from the people leading to the common people of the
nation. They all need good virtues to deserve blessings. Bad leaders lead the nation to
failure, and bad people cause failure into achievements. The wisdom to correct these
mistakes and the ills of the nation lies in the hearts and heads of the people themselves,
both leadership and common people. Good virtues never come by wishing, it requires
action to earn it.
Those taking the leadership role should be visionary, exemplary and selfless, and
the common people need to be united and energetic to work for what they want. The
current leaders, both the ruling and opposition, have identical aims and claims to make
Burma peaceful and prosperous. They should review themselves in the light of wisdom,
and find a way to bring about the common goals with deeds that will make the nation
deserve the blessings of the New Year wish. If they can do it they will all be heroes or
saviours long cherished and remembered by the distressed poor people of Burma. It
will be a new era of Burma’s history. New year is the time of love, peace and hope.
ÒÔ God bless them all
The
Mizzima Journal
December 2008
Since 1962, not a single militarydominated government in Burma has been
able to improve the country’s economy.
This, as the Burmese economy is poised
to suffer even more in the upcoming
months, and possibly years, due to the
pervading global economic crisis.
The country’s economy has already
suffered a lot during the past two decades,
a period when the military regime has
continued to pursue its stranglehold on
political power, dragging the economy into
the doldrums along the way.
”The Burmese army’s philosophy is
to keep its own ass safe to the detriment
of others, so we will go around in circles
until the present structure is forced to
change,” said one Rangoon-based
observer.
The country is moribund in a Catch22 situation, in which one “solution”
inevitably leads to but another problem.
”I have no hope the country will be
back on the right track soon after the 2010
general election, which it is highly possible
will lead to but another crisis,” he said.
“That’s because of those military officers
who have been indoctrinated with a
superiority complex for generations.
The Revolutionary Council, which was
installed in 1962 and headed by General
Ne Win and later transformed into the
Burma Socialist Program Party through the
1974 constitution, started this unhealthy
mix of civilians and military personnel in
public administration.
Ne Win’s military government of
xenophobia, combined with the
mismanagement of the economy, assured
that the country descended to the status
of a least developed nation, the effects of
which eventually erupted into the mass
anti-government uprising that was put
down by the Army through bloodshed in
1988.
Following 1988, the then State Law
and Order Restoration Council – and
present day State Peace and Development
Council – assumed power and continued
to rule the country, without any
constitutional mandate and consumed by
paranoia, as has happened throughout
Burma’s martial history.
What could be the remedy for the
Southeast Asian nation, rich in natural
resources like timber, minerals and natural
gas? As long as the country forges ahead
with the new constitution, which solely
favors the role of the military in the public
administration, it will be but old wine in a
new bottle.
”We are desperately in need of
‘agents’ like liberal minded general David
O. Abel, both in the military and civilian
circles,” commented an observer who
wished to remain anonymous. Almost all
liberal minded civilians are in exile or in
prison.
In 1999, a newspaper quoted the
military government as saying that the
National Convention would go forward
without the National League for Democracy
(NLD) – who had earlier walked-out of the
proceedings under protest in 1996.
Burma, the official added, was going to be
a democracy in its own way.
The international community has since
continuously recognized the NLD’s
commitment to democracy. Yet, such
recognition has not translated into
productive “action.”
It might be possible that Burma could
first improve its economy within a
framework of a slightly altered political
forum. Under such a scenario, some liberal
figures would be allowed to play a role,
and changes in an improved economy
would assist in fomenting pluralism in the
political environment.
Opinion
”In the future government of Burma
after 2010, we do not need opportunist
civilian politicians who would just sit back
and seek personal gains from the status
quo, but those who really dare to come
out of their comfort zone and speak up to
military officers on economic and social
issues,” added the observer. He also
questioned the democratic credentials and
self-complacency of some domestic elitist
groups, mainly Burman in ethnicity, who
seek to present themselves as the only
viable alternatives to military officers.
However, the trick in Burma is that if
the leadership was practically enlightened
as in China and Vietnam, political pluralism
can be kept waiting. But, Burma to date
has lacked such political leadership.
In the present stock, only dogmatists
are dominant. So are we going to see
liberal — not even fully, but partially —
elements in the government under the new
constitution? Hope very marginally,
because it is not in the nature of the
military.
”Those 25 percent of seats in the
future parliament, which the military
reserves in both houses, will always vote
as a bloc,” the observer continued.
Even if Burma is fortunate enough,
after the multi-party election is carried
through, the key phrase in the coming
years will be “economic rationality.”
However, for that, can we be so
optimistic about the already corrupted
military reinventing itself in our country’s
future? Officials of the regime are already
corrupt themselves in their morals, and
they corrupt others along with them.
”Even if and when Burma is a liberal
economy, rent-seeking will be really great
and widespread,” he said, adding that most
resources would go into private pockets.
Still now, there are elements who
are promoting the concept of “regime
security,” while the security of 53 million
Burmese has been starkly neglected. And
they try to expose themselves as an
opposition or counterbalance to the military
in a future so-called civilian government,
if elected.
As generally expected, some
businessmen are preparing to contest the
2010 election.
Most of these people will likely come
from regime-friendly media and business
circles. However, it remains to be seen
whether there may be an altered scenario
following the announcement of the electoral
laws, which are anticipated in a few
months time.
Many of these prominent elements are
currently active, taking leading roles with
the civic organization.
However, an even larger question still
looms: Will any civilian government really
be able to influence the direction of the
country to become a free country broadly
accepted by both Burmese and the
international community?
Burma’s history since 1962 has been
filled with failure stories of “insider” civilian
politicians who achieved little or nothing
to change the mindset of the ruling military
caste. Yale-trained Dr. Maung Maung who
was President of Burma during the 1988
uprising is a telling example.
Veteran analysts therefore have
cautioned that the possibility for reform
within the proposed constitutional
framework will be extremely limited.
Hopes are slim because many of the older
generation Burmese elites, educated in the
West and employed in public
administration, just gave their nod to all
that the Army wanted at the National
Convention.
Meanwhile, Burma’s military has
already suffered its own generation gaps,
resulting in a very limited number of fresh,
liberal conscious, new officers, mainly
because potential successors have poor
exposure to alternative ideas – reflective
of a nation that is educationally
handicapped.
Imagine it the other way around,
liberally trained Burmese soldiers could
create a competition among elites, which
might lead to a radical solution if competing
military personnel claim that they are the
ones who most love Burma and care for
its future.
Without a reliable new generation
produced professionally, no segments of
society, including the Burma defense
services, could survive. The Burmese
military is already facing such problem.
Recently, Home Affairs Minister Major
General Maung Oo said the next one-anda-half-years would be important for the
NLD’s survival. So the NLD must be
creative, seeking ways and means to be
able to play a role in future political
developments; this is why some political
forces have come out to encourage the
NLD to find a new way to integrate itself
into the future processes.
The results of the 1990 election,
decisively won by the NLD, could be a tool
which it could utilize in order to gain a
foothold in forward developments.
Perhaps, the NLD should endorse a new
political party, in low profile, to remain
relevant and to continue to involve itself in
the future political process.
Opposition forces are already weak,
being unable to adequately oppose the
new constitution. But they can still weaken
the effectiveness of the implementation of
the new constitution.
Politics is about aspiring to nominal
things such as freedom, democracy and
page 7
Vol.6
No. 12
rights. The new constitution falls short of
those basic things for the time being. No
rational person is satisfied.
As long as there are accusations of
violations of ethnic minority and political
rights, then external forces such as the UN
and some Western countries’
encouragement for democracy in Burma
will be reluctant to openly deal with the
Burmese government, regardless of it
being called civilian or military.
However, the truth remains that
Burma is a low priority in the eyes of most
Western countries. For example, the
United States has more than enough allies
in the region to offset China. Adding Burma
to the list will not make a meaningful
difference.
The junta understands this, and is thus
proceeding apace with its own political
process, designed to ensure that it reaps
the vast majority of the political spoils.
Despite repeated calls from opposition
parties and the masses for a process of
dialogue to address persisting differences
and divides within Burma’s political
spectrum, the junta and its supporters look
to be preparing to push ahead with the 2010
general election at all costs.
So, what is to be expected in the short
and mid-terms? As elections draw near, the
world community must make sure that it
is endorsing a real opposition in Burma,
with reliable democratic credentials, and
not a sham opposition of seasoned
politicians who entered politics for personal
gain.
Some leading pundits and opinion
leaders fear that Burma, after 2010, will
withdraw into isolation if the ruling class
does not get their way. Nevertheless, there
is little chance that this worst case scenario
will happen, because authoritarian regimes
realize the costs of isolation in an
increasingly globalized world. They will at
least open up some space for their own
elites. In Burma’s case, most probably
sanctions will also become irrelevant with
the arrival of a new government.
International policy circles, therefore,
should be prepared and start to think about
how to respond to continued political
repression and human rights abuses in
Burma, while encouraging economic
reforms after 2010. They must not forget
there are over 2,100 prisoners of
conscience in Burma’s gulags and Burma’s
future parliament is the fruit of their
sacrifice. Revolutions are rare in history,
but we should not downplay the role of
social movements.
In summary, Burma is possibly headed
for a change in direction, where barriers
to democracy are cautiously lowered. But,
even though this might be – many new
challenges will remain.
The
Mizzima Journal
December 2008
The current political development in
Burma is ugly. The authorities are
suppressing pro-democracy activists
systematically by giving them lengthy
prison terms longer than life imprisonment
by using their unfair judiciary system.
These long prison terms are in fact
designed to intimidate the entire people
and getting rid of all obstacles standing on
their way of the ‘7-step roadmap’. And also
these are punishment full of prejudice to
all those defying their rule insolently.
Even during colonial rule, there was a
saying, ‘6 months’ term for novice Thakin’.
Now the junta’s prison terms given to
dissidents are 130 fold of it. (65 year
sx12=780 months)
U Tin Oo and Daw Suu are put under
unlimited house arrest for their defiance
against them. The ethnic leaders are
serving long prison terms ranging from 80
to over 100 years. This is the challenge to
all would-be dissident leaders.
All of the pro-democracy and human
right activists got two unfair punishments
for their activities. The first one is long
prison term and another one is transferring
to remote prisons far away from their
families to serve their prison terms. Both
punishments are designed to break their
morale.
Year 2010 means from January to
December, the entire year. We cannot say
the fresh election planned to be held in
2010 is more than one year away. The
SPDC didn’t give the exact timetable as
usual. When they want to do something,
they will carry out in their hallmark manner
of 3 ‘A’ policy, abruptly rise up and
arbitrarily implement their abrupt agenda.
So we cannot rule out holding the election
in early 2010. So it is not more than just
little over one year away. The exact
timeline can be known only unto SPDC top
brass and their astrologers.
Opinion
In the latest en masse release in
September last year, total 9002 prisoners
were freed from jails. This is to deter the
next September saffron revolution which
took place in September 2007 and in their
black magic practices or voodoo politics.
If they feel safe after successful
election as they expected within the
framework of their unilaterally drafted
constitution and install the government of
their choice, they might grant general
amnesty to all these political dissidents as
a great saviour.
Senior Gen. Than Shwe said that
carrying out successful roadmap is the
responsibility of every citizen. So the SPDC
won’t take a single step back from their
planned roadmap and will implement it at
any costs. All the pressures and
persuasions will fall on deaf ears. The road
is leading to their policy of ‘my interest is
supreme’.
The SPDC will certainly satisfied and
complacent with these long prison terms
given to the dissidents. They might think
of these dissidents are regretting their
activities and will abandon their belief after
getting these harsh punishments. They
might think all the obstacles and hurdles
standing in their way have been removed.
But, on the contrary, these are
counterproductive. These harsh
punishments cannot scare even the
mothers, sisters and brothers of these
dissidents. Their morale and their belief
are still intact. They are proud of their dear
and loved ones, the prisoners of
conscience. They defy and condemn these
punishments and unfair trials.
The people at home and abroad are
full of wrath and rage. The international
community including UN is condemning
them. The UN Security Council passed a
resolution to take action against human
right violations committed by SPDC. The
powerful countries are also planning to put
more pressure on the junta. In recent days,
the international awards were given to
versatile artiste Ko Thura a.k.a. Ko
Zarganar and Daw Suu. They stand by the
weaker section.
The two biggest challenges and
Herculean tasks for the regime are ‘rule
of law’ and economics. These repressive
laws and unfair trials vividly show there is
no rule of law at all in the country. Many
page 8
Vol.6
No. 12
lose faith in junta’s governance without rule
of law.
In economics too, the junta does not
have consistent and sound policy beneficial
to the people. Thus the developments
beneficial to the people can be hardly seen.
The income inequality and income gap is
widening more and more. The current
global economic downturn and economic
slowdown has started to affect Burma to
some extent. In the long run, the scale of
this effect will be clearer and more serious.
As for other countries, they can bail out
their economy and recover from the crisis.
But as for the junta, they cannot manage
to get out of this crisis because of the lack
of good governance, rule of law and sound
economic base.
It is not yet late for the junta to reform
themselves as the trusted and respected
rulers of the country by listening to the
voices of the people and carrying out their
wishes. Only in this way, our country can
stand as genuine democratic state
steadfastly and they can be freed from their
‘in dilemma and in quagmire’ situation.
Please reconsider your current path and
rectify in time.
The task of unification
Dr. Sein Myint
The world’s most renowned scientist
of the 20th century, Albert Einstein,
successfully revealed the nature of light
with his Special Theory of Relativity in 1905
and postulated the curvature of spacetime
in his Theory of General Relativity in 1916,
integrating his work with Sir Isaac
Newton’s Universal Law of Gravitation, first
conceived of over two-hundred years
previously.
While high-profile searches for the
unification of the four forces of nature
continue through such mechanisms as the
gigantic Large Hadron Collider near
Geneva, the low-profile political quest for
the “unification” of exile-Burmese
democratic forces is subtly underway in the
small town of Fort Wayne, Indiana.
It is most encouraging to learn that
some exile student leaders from 1988 living
in the United States and other countries
have come together and are working under
the process of unifying the exile democratic
movement under a motto of ‘One Voice
One Goal,’ as expressed by a former All
Burma Students Democratic Front leader.
And there is no shortage of endorsements
and support from other exile democratic
communities across the globe for their
endeavors and efforts.
The unity talked about among exiles
is long overdue, and time – a commodity
that many exile opposition leaders took for
granted for so long – is now running out.
Soon after the 2010 elections in Burma,
the legitimacy and mandate that the
National League for Democracy (NLD)
obtained through the 1990 elections will
no longer be as effective a weapon as
before.
The MPs elected in the 1990 election
inside the country will soon be joining the
Veteran Politicians club, currently
comprised of ex-MPs from the Anti-Fascist
People’s Freedom League era that lost
their legitimate posts after General Ne
Win’s military coup of 1962.
In order for any exile organization to
be named as a Federal Democratic
Government, it should be based and
founded upon democratic principles and
must be supported by a broad grassrootsbased exile community residing across the
globe. And it should be well structured and
organized, comprising dedicated,
committed, honest and trustworthy team
players, who are democratically elected by
the various exile communities as their
representatives.
However, today there are many exile
democratic groups and organizations
currently operating under diverse banners,
with leaders pursuing their own political
agendas and maintaining an egotistic
stature – instead of promoting, as they
should, unity in spirit and political
magnanimity.
One shining example of unification
across divides can be seen in the current
actions of US President Elect Barack
Obama, who has repeatedly made
statements to the effect that he will reach
out across party and personal divides when
forming his future cabinet. Already, his
principle Democratic Primary rival, Hillary
Clinton, has been offered the post of
Secretary of State.
Sadly, many of our compatriots are still
wavering on priorities and lingering on self
interests rather than the public interest,
with many having long been living off
welfare from sympathetic donors.
Under such circumstances, the
emergence of a frustrated younger
generation is inevitable, as many of them
are well educated in Western universities
and have lived long enough to appreciate
the ways and functioning of democratic
societies. Yet, they are still committed to
the well-being of their fellow countrymen
and women in their impoverished
homeland, dedicated to the restoration of
democracy and basic human rights and
now ready to take on the task of
unification.
Many of them still well remember how
dear the whole population had to pay for
the failure of uniting key political players
at the critical juncture surrounding 1988.
History cannot be allowed to repeat itself.
But the military regime is now well
entrenched and more powerful than
before, on course with a plan to rule for
many years. Since the democratic
opposition inside the country has been
continuously marginalized for nearly two
decades, all exile democratic leaders are
imbued with the political responsibility and
moral obligation to unite under a common
umbrella group and to work for a common
goal.
Dr. Sein Myint serves as the director
of Policy Development of Justice for Human
Rights in Burma, located in Maryland, USA.
He is an Honorary Member of Amnesty
International Chapter 22 in Washington
D.C.
The
Mizzima Journal
December 2008
The 241 members of Asean InterParliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC)
called on the UN Secretary General Ban
Ki-moon to visit Burma and press for the
release of political prisoners and kick start
political reforms, after his refusal to a
similar petition made by 112 former
Presidents and Prime Ministers to him.
Instead, the UN Chief said “his direct
involvement was “not enough” to resolve
the current political stalemate in Burma”
and redirected the onus to the Group of
Friends on Burma ‘to use their influence,
available leverage and tools” to mount
pressure on the Burmese military leaders.
Most particularly, of her immediate
neighbours China, India and Thailand.
Has international diplomacy on Burma
reached its zenith? Or to put it more
bluntly, has the UN’s shuttle diplomacy
arrived at a dead-end? Depending on
one’s perspectives on UN effectiveness and
role, some might say ‘aye’ and some might
say ‘nay’.
The ‘nayers’ would say that the
ultimate authority of the UN lies with its
Security Council that could still adopt a
binding resolution on Burma if there are
‘No’ veto from five permanent member ‘PM’
states. However, the ‘ayers’ would argue
that this is unlikely to happen, especially
the two PMs, i.e. the Chinese and the
Russians, allies of the Burmese junta, will
not allow passage of any resolution on
Burma initiated and proposed by the US
and her Western allies under the current
geo-political circumstances.
And many past and present world
conflicts that UN has failed to prevent and
act on, perhaps for many reasons, attest
and add strong support to the pessimistic
‘ayers’ on UN ineffectiveness. However, the
optimist ‘nayers’ would cast a long short
based on the ‘dynamic’ nature of politics,
that eventual possibility of international
consensus is still likely to obtain if the global
polarization can be reduced dramatically
Opinion
resultant of the incoming US new
administration.
But, as one former diplomat pointed
out that the ‘good offices’ of the UN
Secretary General provided services as
mandated by the General Assembly but is
under no instruction from the Security
Council. Without any resolution from the
Security Council, the UN SG has no power
to act and enforce upon any member state.
It is evident that the ruling military
government in Burma was determined and
carefully planning to control political power
in the country for a long time. Starting from
the secretive construction of the new capital
in the jungle years before to the recent
long prison sentencing of political
opposition activists and potential
dissidents, clearly demonstrated their
preparedness to face any internal or
external pressure exerted on them.
The recent discovery of natural energy
resources help the Generals to cultivate
closer economic relationships with willing
and eager energy starved neighbours,
effectively breaking those selective
economic sanctions imposed by the US and
the West. Furthermore, deepening
polarization between the West and
Russians helps provide the shrewd military
generals opportunity to exploit the
geopolitics to their advantage, able to block
any proposed and intended resolution
initiated by the US and her allies at the
UNSC.
Such ineffectiveness and
powerlessness of the UN has frustrated
many Burmese exiled students and
activists who are compelled to ask
questions on the impotence of this
international diplomacy. And thus start
calling upon their fellow countrymen and
women to rise up on the basis of self
reliance and to shed the ‘dependant
mentality’ dominating the exiled political
leadership for the last two decades.
As Newton’s thrid law of nature
implied that on each and every action
there are equal and opposite reaction,
thus, it is naturally only a matter of time
page 9
Vol.6
No. 12
when equal reactionary forces would
emerge to counter the injustice inside
Burma. As shown in many political histories,
once political problems could not be solved
peacefully, desperation would force
discontented individual(s) seeking
alternative options to counter the injustice.
Therefore, it is imperative that key
democratic countries should help unite the
exiled Burmese democratic movement to
form a broad grass-root based democratic
umbrella global organization that has the
mandate of exiled communities across the
globe. Under the prevailing political
circumstances, the united but not
fragmented exiled community is the only
viable force left to lead the restoration of
democracy in Burma peacefully while
countering current military rulers’ seven
step road map in the long run.
[Dr. Sein Myint is the director of Policy
Development of Justice for Human Rights
in Burma, located in Maryland, USA . He is
an Honorary Member of Amnesty
International Chapter 22 in Washington
D.C.]
Economic crisis as a force for change
Myat Soe
Some economic watchers remark,
“When Uncle Sam sneezes, the whole
world catches cold.” Now, as Uncle Sam
has caught a bad cold in the face of a severe
economic downturn, investment and
trading partners are scrambling to stop a
domino effect taking its toll on their own
economic interests.
As early as May 2007, a sharp
increase in fuel prices forced many
factories out of business, and many blue
collar American workers in the automobile
and other manufacturing industries lost
their jobs.
By September 2007, in Fort Wayne,
Indiana alone, over twenty large
manufacturing companies closed their
doors and many workers lost their jobs.
,Previously, as long as the price of the Euro
continued to climb against the American
dollar, those outside the United States were
often content to think of the crisis in the
US as a cyclical phenomenon. But when
the US financial crisis began spinning out
of control and spreading panic among
investors to a level not seen since the Great
Depression, the corresponding fallout
swept across the globe like a tsunami.
During the ensuing stock market
upheavals, Russia and China even
resorted to temporary halting trading
altogether. Ireland, whose economy had
been doing extremely well, began
struggling to stabilize its banks. The
International Monetary Fund was forced to
step in and bailout economies in places
such as Hungary and Ukraine to the tune
of tens of billions of dollars.
Furthermore, Japan, with over a four
trillion dollar economy, admitted last
Sunday that it had officially entered into a
recession, as did Germany. Subsequently,
Japan announced a 105.8 billion dollar
stimulus plan to prevent further economic
deterioration. The United States
government had already approved a 700
billion dollar financial rescue bill and China
announced a 586 billion dollar stimulus plan
to shore up its own economy. And last
Saturday, an emergency G-20 economic
summit was convened in Washington, DC,
to address the urgent crisis in the world’s
economy.
Sadly, the impact of the financial crisis
will be quite severe on the people of Burma
as well. First, there are millions of
Burmese workers working abroad, and
their livelihood will be greatly diminished
by the worldwide economic downturn.
Secondly, the people of Burma are
without social or economic safety nets.
Consequently, the situation in Burma will
become more and more tense with each
passing day.
Thirdly, it will become more and more
cost prohibitive for Burmese to import
commodities, compared to their cheaper
exports; this, for people already burdened
with high unemployment and inflation and
saddled with real estate and investment
losses.
But while the world wrestles with the
economic tsunami, the Burmese junta has
been busy handing down up to sixty-five
year prison terms to brave political leaders
and monks who last year protested against
the severe economic hardship in Burma
and increasing commodity prices.
Unfortunately, the generals continue
to rule Burma without any apparent
interest in working to solve Burma’s
economic and political crisis; instead, only
scheming to ensure victory in the
forthcoming 2010 elections. Instead of
looking toward rapid economic adjustment
and finding a solution to the country’s
economic malaise, the regime is trying to
escalate tension within opposition groups
and the civilian population.
By the harsh sentencing of activist
leaders, essentially a life term behind bars,
the military generals in Burma have mocked
the world by openly brutalizing the people
they have sworn to protect. Burma cannot
wait another sixty-five years to be free from
tyrannical rule.
Economic crises can become a force
for change, as almost happened in 1988 in
Burma. And during such crises, the world
must make sure to stand with the people
of Burma, and not with their
oppressors.
(The writer is a former Central
Executive Committee member of the All
Burma Federation of Student Unions (1988)
and currently serves as the Research
Director of Justice for Human Rights in
Burma. He graduated from Indiana
University, and earned his MBA from
Indiana Wesleyan University.)
The
Mizzima Journal
December 2008
Inside Burma
Four shops gutted in fire in Rangoon
shopping mall
Myint Maung
December 14 - A fire broke out in
Rangoon’s popular shopping mall, Yuzana
plaza, and gutted at least four shops
including a famous TRI fashion shop on
the ground floor of the mall on Sunday,
eyewitnesses and fire fighters said.
According to an eyewitness, the fire
started at about 6:30 p.m. (local time) from
the TRI fashion shop, and spread to three
other shops on the ground floor of Yuzana
Plaza in Rangoon’s Minglar Taung Nyunt
Township.
An official in the Rangoon’s central fire
department confirmed news of the fire,
which was extinguished at about 7:30 p.m.
by fire fighters, but declined to provide
details.
”Yes, it is true that there was a fire [in
the Yuzana Plaza] but we cannot tell you
anything else,” the official told Mizzima over
telephone.
The eyewitness, however, said the fire
was believed to be the result of a short
circuit in the TRI fashion shop and spread
to three other shops, which mainly sell
textiles and clothing – all inflammable
material.
There was no casualty from the fire
as the shops were closed, he eyewitness
said. It was not immediately known how
much was lost in the fire.
On Thursday, a man and a woman
were killed in a fire that broke out in a
room close to the Mingalar plaza in
Rangoon’s Minglar Taung Nyunt Township.
Both the man and woman, who died
in the hospital later, were in the room
when the fire started and were suffocated
by smoke before fire fighters could
extinguish the blaze.
While fires in Burma are not
uncommon, another source in Rangoon
said, it has become more frequent recently.
As residents in various townships of
Rangoon, receive only six hours of
electricity supply a day in a rotational
system, the source said, people often
forget to put off electric switches, from
which short circuits often occur.
According to him, the fire at Yazana
Plaza began from an electric switch board
in the shop, which the shop keepers had
forgotten to switch off before closing the
shop, as there was no electricity when they
left.
An official in the Rangoon electricity
department earlier told Mizzima that
electricity supply failed as there was a fault
in the gas-propelled turbine, which is used
to generate electricity. He said electricity
is supplied in a rotational basis to various
townships.
Edited by Mungpi
Illegal elephant trade flourishes in
Burma: TRAFFIC
Salai Pi Pi
December 12– With at least 250
elephants and ivory being smuggled out
of Burma in a decade, the Southeast Asian
nation faces a sharp come down in its
pachyderm population, a new report
reveals.
The report, by the wildlife trade
monitoring network, TRAFFIC, said being
the centre of an illegal trade for elephants
and ivory, Burma is losing out on precious
animals to poachers and is subject to illegal
trade, where elephants are sold mainly to
neighbouring countries for ‘Elephant
Trekking’.
Chris R. Shepherd, TRAFFIC’s
Southeast Asia Senior Program Officer,
said, “The elephant population in Myanmar
[Burma] is declining due to poaching and
illegal cross border trade.”
Shepherd citing traders involved in the
illegal trade, said most elephants are
smuggled out to neighbouring Thailand, to
be used in trekking in the tourism industry
and for entertainment.
”Females and juvenile elephants are
particularly targeted to meet the demand
from the tourism industry in Thailand,
where they are put to work in elephant
trekking centres,” the report said.
TRAFFIC, in its report said, in its survey
of 14 markets in Burma and three border
markets in Thailand and China, it found
out that at least 9,000 pieces of ivory and
16 whole tusks have been illegally traded
for sales.
Among the different routes along the
international border, Chris said, the Three
Pagodas pass road, one of the ThaiBurmese borders in southern Burma, is the
main gateway through which the traders
illegally smuggle out elephants and ivory
to Thailand.
While traders use various means to
transport the elephants, some openly use
trucks to carry live elephants through the
border, Chris added. The report said,
beside the traders, government officials
also have a nexus in smuggling the
elephants by accepting bribes from the
traders.
”Our research found evidence of
corruption allowing the smuggling of ivory
and elephants to take place,” Chris said,
adding that more official patrol needs to
be deployed along the border to stop illegal
cross-border-trade.
TRAFFIC in its report, said Burmese
authorities in order to address the illegal
trade in live elephants and ivory needs to
work closely with enforcement officers in
neighbouring Thailand and China.
”Myanmar [Burma] has the potential
to become a major stronghold for Asian
Elephants; it’s a pity that illegal capture
and killing are pushing elephants towards
extinction there,” said Ajay Desai, Co-Chair
of the International Union for Conservation
of Nature (IUNC) Asian Elephant Specialist
Group, in a press statement released on
Thursday.
”Neighbouring countries need seriously
to reconsider their policy on the use of
captive elephants and also enforce laws
to stop illegal trade in wildlife products,”
Desai added.
Chris, in an interview with Mizzima,
also warned regional governments that
there will be a serious impact on
conservation of elephant in Asia unless a
proper control system is put in place in
order to prevent the ongoing illegal trading
of wild life.
”It is going to have a very negative
impact on the conservation of elephants
in Asia. The elephant in Asia is already in
danger,” Chris said.
According to the report, which is the
result of a survey since 2006,
approximately 4000 to 5000 wild elephants
can be found in Burma, largely settled in
the central plain regions of the country.
page 10
Vol.6
No. 12
Daughter of Burma’s ex-military
strongman freed
December 13- The military
government released the daughter of
Burma’s long time strongman Ne Win from
house-arrest on Friday morning, according
to the BBC.
56 year-old Sandar Win was arrested
in her lake-side villa for six years. She has
now been released with no conditions, the
BBC Burmese service said citing sources
in Rangoon.
Her husband Aye Zaw Win and three
sons, Aye Ne Win, Kyaw Ne Win and Zwe
Ne Win are still under arrest and were
sentenced to death for plotting a coup
against the military junta in 2002. However,
no capital punishment has been applied
since 1988 and their sentences have been
changed to long term imprisonment.
The former chairman of the Burma
Socialist Programme Party Ne Win, passed
away in December 2002 while being held
under house-arrest with his eldest daughter
Sandar Win.
Sandar Win is known as the favourite
daughter of Ne Win, who officially retired
in 1988. The university student led
demonstration of that year sparked protests
throughout the country which ultimately
ended the 26 years rein of Ne Win’s regime.
Fresh pressure from junta on UWSA
Mungpi & Solomon
December 14– The United Wa State
Army, an ethnic armed rebel group, which
has a ceasefire agreement with Burma’s
military regime, said it is facing renewed
pressure from the junta to give-up its armed
struggle.
A UWSA official in an interview with
Mizzima said, Maj-Gen Kyaw Phyoe, a
Regional Commander of the Burmese Army
based in Keng Tung had literally stepped
up efforts to persuade the armed rebels
to give up armed struggle and ‘exchange
arms for peace’ – an euphemism for
surrender used by the junta.
In early December, Kyaw Phyoe met
an UWSA official and made renewed calls
to halt armed rebellion and to turn the
group into a political party in preparation
for contesting the ensuing the 2010 general
elections.
”Yes, they [junta’s commanders] often
ask us to stop pursuing armed struggle,”
said the UWSA official, who spoke on
condition of anonymity as he is not
authorized to speak to the press.
But the official said, despite the
mounting pressure, the UWSA’s official
position has not altered and reiterated that
the group is not ready to abandon arms.
”Arms to us are akin to farmer’s
farming tools. If farmers do not have
spades and shovels they cannot work in
the fields, likewise we will be useless
without our arms,” the official said.
He, however, added that the group does
not aim to continue armed struggle
‘forever’ but will pursue it until it can reach
the objective of having a separate homeland
under a federal democratic system.
”We would definitely do away with
arms, once there is peace and justice in
Burma,” the UWSA official said.
With regard to the junta’s pressure to
transform the group into a political party
and contest the upcoming general
elections, the official said, the group has
not taken any decision and would continue
observing the situation and eventually
decide.
”For now, we have not taken any
decisions. We would like to observe further
and see the situation as the election
approaches,” the official added.
Meanwhile, reports said, at least 1,000
armed men of the UWSA are into military
drills along the Thai-Burma border in
response to the junta’s pressure to disarm
the group.
The official confirmed the drills and
exercises being carried out by the group,
but, denied that the military exercises were
in response to the pressure. He said, the
group is preparing for its 20th anniversary
celebration to be held in April 2009.
”We are soldiers, so we are always
into military training. We need to be ready
for any eventuality,” the official said.
Like the UWSA, several other ethnic
armed groups including the Kachin
Independent Organisation (KIO) have all
come under renewed pressure from the
Burmese military to change into political
parties, abandoning armed struggle.
Burma’s military junta has announced
that as the fifth step of its seven-step
roadmap to democracy, a general election
will be held in 2010, in accordance with
the new constitution that was drafted and
approved in a referendum in May.
According to the new constitution,
Burma will be reformed and governed by
a civilian participatory government and
would have only one armed force. Analysts
said this will give way for the military to
disarm all other armed rebel groups
including those that have ceasefire pacts
with the junta.Military campaigns are likely
to increase on other armed groups that so
far do not have any ceasefire pacts.
But ceasefire groups including the KIO
and UWSA have so far not decided on what
course they would to take – whether to
yield to the pressure or to continue armed
struggle.
Aung Kyaw Zaw, a Burmese militaryanalyst based on the Sino-Burmese border,
said the pressure will lead the ceasefire
groups to seriously rethink their position
and their future course.
”All ceasefire groups are in a tight
situation now, and they need to really think
carefully the path they choose,” Aung Kyaw
Zaw said.
He added that with neighbouring
countries such as Thailand and China, on
whose soils many armed rebel groups have
bases, favouring the junta, it might be
difficult for these groups to resume armed
struggle.
But he did not rule out the possibility
that these groups would resume active
armed struggle if they are constantly
pressured.
A source close to the Chairman of the
UWSA Bao Yu-xiang, said the group so far
has no agenda of surrendering its arms or
to exchange ‘Arms for Peace’. Rather, if
the pressure from the junta mounts, there
are possibilities that group will break their
ceasefire pact.
”If there is further pressure or
demands from the Burmese Army [to give
up arms] then they [UWSA] will likely break
the [ceasefire] pact and resume a vibrant
armed struggle,” the source, who did not
wished to reveal his identity told Mizzima.
The
Mizzima Journal
Inside Burma
December 2008
Banks deny rumour of cash
withdrawal suspension
Nem Davies
December 10 – Officials of two
private banks - Kanbawza and Yoma – on
Wednesday vigourously denied rumours
suggesting suspension of cash withdrawal
from their banks.
The denial came after rumours spread
among account holders that the banks had
suspended withdrawal of cash.
”There’s no problem at our banks. We
are conducting remittance business. We
can pay even up to Kyat 100 million
immediately if the same amount is
remitted,” a bank official at the head office
of the ‘Yoma Bank Ltd.’ told Mizzima.
Similarly, an official at the ‘Kanbawza
Bank Ltd.’ on Pyi Road in Rangoon said the
bank is conducting normal business and is
making payments to all the clients.
”We are making payments normally.
We haven’t yet received any complaints,”
he said.
A businesswoman in Rangoon who
deals with both banks said while she had
heard rumours circulating, she did not have
any problem in withdrawing money or with
transactions in the banks.
”I am a regular customer of both
banks and have not yet had any problems
with them. I can withdraw money without
any limit imposed for my business. I’ve
been dealing with Yoma bank since its
inception,” she said.
However, an official from the
‘Kanbawza Bank’ said that they have limited
to Kyat 3 million the maximum amount that
can be deposited in a day by a customer
and allow customers to withdraw only once
a week. The official said the new
regulations were instructions given to them
by Burma’s Central Bank.
”This is Central Bank’s instruction but
we don’t know the reason behind it. The
instruction was issued about a month ago.
We have to comply with the instruction,”
he said.
But a regular customer of Kanbawza
Bank told Mizzima that old clients are
permitted to withdraw money from the
bank without limit, while new clients are
restricted from withdrawing only up to Kyat
1 million a week.
Htoo Comapny to take over Malikha
Lodge
page 11
Vol.6
No. 12
Junta bans popular Buddhist monk’s
sermon
Myint Maung
December 16– The Burmese military
junta authorities in Rangoon Division have
banned a sermon by abbot U Thumingla,
organizers and friends said.
The ban order becomes effective when
the sermon is to be held on December 18.
Abbot U Thumingla became popular
among religiously conscious Buddhists
recently. The abbot is from Migadarwon
monastery, Mandalay.
The abbot is 40 years old and has been
into 20 years of monk hood. The organizers
of the sermon preaching ceremonies and
the monk community in Rangoon said that
the authorities banned his sermons which
were to be held soon in Minglataungnyunt,
Mayangon and North Okkalapa Townships
in Rangoon Division.
The sermons of U Thumingla entitled
‘Sasana will diminish when the sermon
preaching ceremonies diminish’, ‘be
swallowed by earth fissures shortly,’ ‘Khat
Tine Khan’ and ‘Need to know how to
choose a good leader’ are popular among
the people.
U Thumingla is currently away from
Mandalay and is now into sojourns in
Hmawbi, Rangoon Division. His sermons
are also banned in Mandalay, an abbot said
when Mizzima contacted the Masoyane
monastery in Mandalay over telephone.
In his ‘Need to know how to choose a
good leader’ preached in Hlaingtharyar
Township in August 2008, he told the
audience that they should choose a good
and reliable leader like Lord Buddha.
During this sermon the abbot said that
now there were many Saturn like in ancient
times. In the ‘Khat Tine Khan’ sermon, he
said that some people wished the deadly
cyclone hit them (the rulers) instead of the
people. The abbot told his audience it was
only because of their doing meritorious
deeds which has protected them from
suffering. When these good deeds are
exhausted they will certainly face this sort
of fate.
A local resident from Sanchaung
Township also said that in ‘Be swallowed
by the earth fissure shortly’, the abbot said
that not only the higher authorities, even
the lower level authorities like judges will
be swallowed by earth fissures if they
committed evil deeds by insulting the
religion and monks. Insulting a single monk
means insulting the entire order of the
Sangha (monk). So I’d like to urge the
‘State Sanghanaryaka Committee not to be
passive in silence, the abbot preached in
his sermon, the local resident said.
An official from the
State
Sanghamahanayaka Committee declined to
say anything regarding the ban on the
sermon preaching ceremonies of U
Thumingla when Mizzima contacted his
office over telephone.
The organizers of the religious
ceremonies have to submit their
applications to different levels of religious
authorities from Ward, Township, and
District level Sanghamahanayaka
Committees in advance for their
permission. They also have to sign a pledge
not to include political matters in the
religious sermons.
Rangoon firms into lay-off; job seekers
mount
The The
Puta-O
Zar Ni
December 17 – The tour company
owned by the ‘Htoo’ family is taking over a
private hotel at a major tourist spot in
northern tip of Burma.
The ownership of ‘Malikha Lodge’ of
‘Balloons Over Bagan’ will be transferred
to ‘Myanmar Treasure Resorts’, the
subsidiary of ‘Htoo Enterprises’ owned by
U Tayza believed to be close to top
government officials. U Tayza bought the
private hotel situated at ‘Mulashede’ village
in Puta-O, Kachin State.
” Yes, the ownership has been
changed. For the time being, the
management will be handled by ‘Myanmar
Treasure’. The hotel reservation and
payment must be made to ‘Myanmar
Treasure,” an official from Myanmar
Treasure sales promotion department said.
This transfer of ownership will be the
third in a month to Htoo Co. and it will be
come into effect on January 1, 2009.
While the transfer of ownership is
being carried out, hotel bookings and
reservations will be handled by ‘Balloons
Over Bagan’ until December 20.
”We have started transferring hotel
bookings to Myanmar Treasure. The
customers must directly contact them later,”
an official in Malikha Lodge said.
Some employees of ‘Balloon Over
Bagan’ who do not wish to work under
their new employer, ‘Myanmar Treasure’
are tendering their resignations.
’Balloon Over Bagan’ is the first ever
business in Burma which runs hot-air
balloons over scenic Bagan, one of the
major tourist attractions and is an ancient
city in middle Burma.
Malikha Lodge, comprises eight fully
furnished bungalows built in Mulashidi
village besides the Mula creek. It is only a
15 minute drive from Puta-O.
Puta-O is famous among foreign
tourists who like to stroll in the scenic
forests and go for boat rides in Mula creek.
Tourists also indulge in bird watching,
spotting rare butterflies, and beautiful wild
orchids.
The ‘Aureum’ hotel is under
construction in the same area in Puta-O
by ‘Aureum Palace’ hotel chains owned by
‘Htoo Enterprises’.
Malikha Lodge will continue to operate
under the same name for the time being.
Similarly Htoo Enterprises took over
‘Kandawgyi Lodge’ in Botanical garden,
Pyinoolwin, Mandalay Division and ‘Poppa
Mountain Resort’ from ‘Woodlands Travel’
in November this year.
December 4– Over the past three
months reduction and lay-off of staff
members have been on in Rangoon as
companies struggle to survive the impact
of the global financial meltdown, resulting
in job seekers mounting, an employment
agency in Rangoon said.
With the decline in business,
companies have been forced to cut their
staff strength and recruitment has become
more competitive, with most firms seeking
skilled and experienced workers. This has
led to the rise in the number of unemployed
educated youths in the Burmese capital, a
Rangoon based well-known agency said.
”In earlier months, of a total of 100
applicants, at least 50 would be employed.
But now, we have about 7,000 applicants
seeking jobs, and we are only able to find
placement for about 25 per cent,” the Chief
Executive Officer of the agency told
Mizzima.
He, who wished to be identified as
Aung Myint, said earlier the job market for
fresh graduates and skilled labourers was
much better as companies and firms were
willing to recruit freshers on cheap pay
packets.
But, he said, the situation is changing
fast as companies are cutting costs and
managing with a minimum number of
employees.
Adding to the problems at home,
several Burmese migrant workers from
neighbouring Southeast Asian countries
have made a desperate return home after
being laid-off as a consequence of the
global financial crisis faced by companies.
This has added to the number of jobseekers in Rangoon, according to Aung
Myint.
A managing director of a domestic
employment agency in Rangoon told
Mizzima that the prospect of finding jobs
for returnees is grim as the situation at
home and abroad are different.
However, contrary to the claims of the
employment agencies, Burma’s Prime
Minister Thein Sein said, the country can
offer jobs to even up to 100,000 returnees
as the country’s various sectors including
the fishery and agriculture, still need a lot
of work force.
Thein Sein was quoted by the
government-owned newspaper, the New
Light of Myanmar, as saying that the
government could create jobs for all the
returnees.
But the managing director of the
Rangoon-based agency said, differences
in nature of the business and types of
business would be one area that could bar
returnees from getting absorbed in the
domestic job market.
”It is impossible for an IT expert to
re-start working on paddy fields or to work
as a fisherman. What I mean is the
differences between the business status
and types of business. So, it is difficult for
returnees to be easily employed,” he said.
A youth, who recently returned from
Singapore, after being sacked by a
construction company as part of the firm’s
lay-off process, said he is unable to find a
suitable job.
The youth, who holds a diploma from
Burma’s Government Technological
Institute, said in desperation that the only
option would be to seek a way out again
to go to another country in search of a job.
”What will I do in Burma? I can only
hope to go out again to some other
country,” the youth said.
The
Mizzima Journal
page 12
December 2008
Vol.6
No. 12
Zargarnar, Nay Phone Latt awarded ‘Cyber- China, Burma take steps to
strengthen military cooperation
Dissident’ Award
Zarni
December 4 – Despite
being put away for years by the
Burmese military junta, famous
comedian and film director
Zargarnar and blogger Nay Phone
Latt were in international news on
Thursday after being named
winners of the ‘Cyber-Dissident’
award by the Paris-based media
watchdog Reporters Without
Border (RSF).
Both Zargarnar and Nay
Phone Latt were given the award
for their courageous activities to
cull information from Burma,
despite the ruling junta’s severe
repression during the September
monk-led 2007 protests and in the
wake of the deadly Cyclone
Nargis, the RSF said.
The military rulers, who have
had a stranglehold on power since
1988, have sentenced Zargarnar
to 59 years in prison, while Nay
Phone Latt has been jailed for 20
½ years.
The junta on Wednesday
night banished the popular
comedian, who used his artistic
talents to criticize the regime’s
activities. He was transferred to
Keng Tong prison in eastern Shan
State.
”We don’t know how to feel
at this juncture, because he has
been transferred to a remote
prison in Keng Tong. We are only
thinking of how to reach there. I
will inform him about the award
when I meet him,” a family
member of Zargarnar (alias)
Thura told Mizzima.
Along with a memento, the
Burmese comedian and blogger
will receive a cash prize of Euro
2500, equivalent to nearly 4
million Burmese kyat. It is to be
handed over by the Iranian Nobel
Peace Laureate Shirin Ebadi
during a ceremony in Paris on
Thursday.
But since, the two are
currently being detained, and will
not be available to receive the
award, a London based artist,
Htein Linn, will receive it on their
behalf.
”The award is given to draw
international attention to their
case and to highlight that they are
innocent,” Vincent Brossel, RSF’s
Asia-Pacific spokesperson told
Mizzima.
Nay Phone Latt’s mother said,
she welcomed the award and is
proud of her son. She thanked the
RSF for choosing her son as it
highlights the injustice done to
her son and many other people
in Burma.
”This award will explain that
many youths in Burma are being
punished wrongly. Though my
son is named the winner of the
award, I feel he is receiving it on
behalf of many youths in the
country,” she added.
She said, she will inform her
son of the award when she visits
him in Paan prison in Karen state.
Burma’s jailed hip hop singers shifted to
remote prisons
Zeya Thaw
December 3 – At least four
political prisoners including
popular hip hop singer Zeya
Thaw and his three colleagues
were shifted to remote prisons in
the country by a vindictive
Burmese military junta on
Wednesday, sources said.
Zeya Thaw, (27), who was
sentenced to six years in prison
in November, was transferred
from Rangoon’s Insein prison to
Kawthaung prison in Burma’s
southern most division of
Tanessarim, according to, one of
his colleagues.
He was arrested in March, for
being involved in anti-junta
protests last year and was
charged for possessing foreign
currency and hobnobbing with
illegal organizations.
Much in the same way, his
colleagues Aung Zay Phyo was
moved to Taungoo prison in Pegu
division, Thiha Win Tin was sent
to Nyaung-U prison in Mandalay
division, and Arkar Bo to Kyauk
Phyu prison in Arakan state, the
colleague told Mizzima.
Zeya Thaw, along with his
colleagues in 2000 formed a hip
hop boy’s band called the ‘Acid’
and first introduced rap music in
Burma. He became involved in
politics after the September 2007
mass protests and formed an
activists group the ‘Generation
Wave’.
Shifting political prisoners on
Wednesday from Insein prison to
remote jails across the country is
a continuation of the process of a
series of prison transfers being
resorted to since last month.
The current crop of Burmese
military dictators, who have
maintained their stranglehold on
power for 20 years since 1988,
over the last two months have
handed down appallingly long
prison terms to political activists,
whom they arrested after the
2007 monk-led demonstrations.
Fire kills two in Rangoon
Nem Davies
December 11 – A man and
a woman were killed after a fire
broke out in a room close to the
Mingalar plaza in Rangoon early
today morning.
The fire started in the
uppermost floor of the threestorey building in Mingalar Taung
Nyunt Township at 12:35 a.m. It
took 30 minutes for the firebrigade to bring the blaze under
control but the fire killed two
persons living in the room.
”Both died in hospital. The
woman was suffocated in the
thick of smoke but she died only
after being hospitalized. The man
died this morning about 8:30
a.m.”, said the township firebrigade communication officer
Myint Shein to Mizzima over
telephone.
However, he refused to
provide detailed information
about the victims. According to an
eye witness the man was 22 years
old and the woman 24.
Salai Pi Pi
December 2 - Chinese and Burmese senior military officials
on Saturday agreed to boost bilateral cooperation in various fields
including military ties, a move observers said is meant to ensure
the Burmese junta international support.
Burma’s third highest ranking military official, General Thura
Shwe Mann, and his counterpart, Chen Bingde, Chief of the General
Staff of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA), on Saturday agreed
to enhance military relations.
”The two countries should enhance military and state-to-state
exchanges to promote regional peace, stability and prosperity,”
reports quoted Chen as saying.
The agreement also includes the signing of a series of pacts
on cooperation in the areas of economics, trade, culture, education,
health, technology and tourism.
However, Burmese military observers believe the two senior
military officials also agreed on joint military exercises, in addition
an agreement for Burma to purchase new military hardware as
well as spare parts for the maintenance of earlier purchases.
“It is very possible that they discussed and agreed on an arms
deal, joint military exercises and the buying of some peripheral
equipment for military hardware such as helicopters, jet fighters
and warships that Burma earlier bought from China,” Aung Kyaw
Zaw, a Sino-Burmese border based military analyst said.
Aung Kyaw Zaw added that both countries might have included
the issue of ethnic ceasefire groups, referring to groups including
the United Wa State Army (UWSA), Kachin Independence
Organization (KIO) and Kokang rebels, who operate along the SinoBurmese border.
Burma, according to Aung Thu Nyein, another Burma analyst
based in Thailand, is currently faced with a shortage of spare parts
for maintaining Chinese made jet fighters, warships and artillery
earlier bought.
”Apparently, that is the reason Burma is seeking closer ties
with China,” Aung Thu Nyein said.
However, another Burmese analyst believes that the close SinoBurmese relationship is driven by China’s economic interest in Burma
and Burma’s interest in obtaining political support.
”It is also a part of Burma’s policy toward China, as China
defends the Burmese regime in the international arena,” said Nyo
Ohn Myint, in-charge of Foreign Affairs for the National League for
Democracy-Liberated Area.
China and Russia, two veto wielding countries at the United
Nations Security Council, in January 2007, rejected a draft resolution
on Burma introduced by the United States and supported by the
United Kingdom and France.
Following the objection of the resolution on Burma by China
and Russia, the Burmese junta announced its decision to sell its
much sought after offshore gas in the Bay of Bengal to China. Rights
to the gas from the Shwe fields had been contested by India, South
Korea and Thailand.
Similarly, in October, Burma agreed to allow China to build oil
and gas pipelines that will link China’s Yunnan province with Burma’s
western seaport of Sittwe in Arakan state. The proposed pipeline
will be a major route through with China will import oil and gas
from the Middle East and Africa.
Critics further believe that the Burmese regime plans to accept
new military hardware from China in exchange for the gas.
”The Burmese regime plans to accept military hardware from
China in exchange for supplying gas,” Aung Thu Nyein speculated.
China, a close ally of Burma, has continued to supply military
hardware and equipment to Burma even while the United States
and European Union maintain an arms embargo against Burma’s
military’s rulers in response to their appalling human rights record
and failure to implement political reform.
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In-Chief
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s Editor
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u p
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India.
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