Mr António Guterres should addresses this matter in the matter of urgency unless it would tarnish UNHCR’s long track record of good reputation
http://ping.fm/39hW7
Wednesday, 5 May 2010
Burma Democratic Concern (BDC): UNHCR (Malaysia) must avoid discrimination
http://ping.fm/1IxTT
http://ping.fm/1IxTT
Burma Democratic Concern (BDC) today calls for UNHCR (Malaysia) to respect human rights and to avoid discrimination dealing with Burmese refugees from Burma.
http://ping.fm/IRL2a
http://ping.fm/IRL2a
Burma Democratic Concern (BDC): UNHCR (Malaysia) must avoid discrimination
05 May 2010
Burma Democratic Concern (BDC) today calls for UNHCR (Malaysia) to respect human rights and to avoid discrimination dealing with Burmese refugees from Burma.
Burma is make up of Burmese (Bamar), Kachin, Kayar, Karean, Chin, Mon, Arakan and Shan. Burmese people fled from Burma due to military regime’s extreme repression.
People of Burma voted for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi as their leader and they don’t agree with junta illegitimate rule in Burma. Military regime sees no difference in oppressing people of Burma and always uses ultimate force to crush all the opposition regardless of religion, race or ethnicity.
There are more than 70, 000 Burmese refugees in Malaysia according to the official figures. Since Malaysia is not party to the 1951 Refugee Convention or its Protocol, refugees are vulnerable to detention and deportation.
While we applaud the UNHCR tireless efforts helping refugees but we also have reports that UNHCR office in Malaysia is not fair in dealing with Burmese refugees issues.
Addition, some of the officers at the UNHCR (Malaysia) office is creating climate of discrimination with regard to dealing with Burmese refugees.
Burma Democratic Concern (BDC) is very concerned on the reports that some UNHCR (Malaysia) officers have misunderstood that the ruling Burmese military junta does not suppress ethnic Burmese people in Burma because they are the majority ethnic group and Buddhist.
Based on unreasonable assumption which is totally wrong, most of the Burmese applying for refugees at the UNHCR (Malaysia) offices are mostly turned down.
“I am surprised to learn some UNHCR (Malaysia) officers’ misconception towards refugees from Burma. These vulnerable refugees had suffered enough at the hand of brutal military regime and they don’t deserve the injustice again especially applying for the refugee at the one of the world’s most respected humanitarian organisation, UNHCR. Mr António Guterres should addresses this matter in the matter of urgency unless it would tarnish UNHCR’s long track record of good reputation”, said Myo Thein, the Director at the Burma Democratic Concern (BDC).
Burma Democratic Concern (BDC) calls for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Mr António Guterres to investigate fully and take timely action to avoid further discrimination.
For more information please contact Myo Thein at 00-44-78 7788 2386 or 00-44-20 8493 9137.
Burma Democratic Concern (BDC) today calls for UNHCR (Malaysia) to respect human rights and to avoid discrimination dealing with Burmese refugees from Burma.
Burma is make up of Burmese (Bamar), Kachin, Kayar, Karean, Chin, Mon, Arakan and Shan. Burmese people fled from Burma due to military regime’s extreme repression.
People of Burma voted for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi as their leader and they don’t agree with junta illegitimate rule in Burma. Military regime sees no difference in oppressing people of Burma and always uses ultimate force to crush all the opposition regardless of religion, race or ethnicity.
There are more than 70, 000 Burmese refugees in Malaysia according to the official figures. Since Malaysia is not party to the 1951 Refugee Convention or its Protocol, refugees are vulnerable to detention and deportation.
While we applaud the UNHCR tireless efforts helping refugees but we also have reports that UNHCR office in Malaysia is not fair in dealing with Burmese refugees issues.
Addition, some of the officers at the UNHCR (Malaysia) office is creating climate of discrimination with regard to dealing with Burmese refugees.
Burma Democratic Concern (BDC) is very concerned on the reports that some UNHCR (Malaysia) officers have misunderstood that the ruling Burmese military junta does not suppress ethnic Burmese people in Burma because they are the majority ethnic group and Buddhist.
Based on unreasonable assumption which is totally wrong, most of the Burmese applying for refugees at the UNHCR (Malaysia) offices are mostly turned down.
“I am surprised to learn some UNHCR (Malaysia) officers’ misconception towards refugees from Burma. These vulnerable refugees had suffered enough at the hand of brutal military regime and they don’t deserve the injustice again especially applying for the refugee at the one of the world’s most respected humanitarian organisation, UNHCR. Mr António Guterres should addresses this matter in the matter of urgency unless it would tarnish UNHCR’s long track record of good reputation”, said Myo Thein, the Director at the Burma Democratic Concern (BDC).
Burma Democratic Concern (BDC) calls for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Mr António Guterres to investigate fully and take timely action to avoid further discrimination.
For more information please contact Myo Thein at 00-44-78 7788 2386 or 00-44-20 8493 9137.
Tuesday, 4 May 2010
Suu Kyi's party bids farewell to politics but not to its hopes
This week, more than 21 years after Burma's National League for Democracy sprang to life on a wave of opposition to military rule, it will cease to exist, the dreams of its founders still unrealised, and its leader Aung San Suu Kyi in long-term detention.
Under laws drawn up by Burma's ruling generals to govern elections this year, the NLD was forced to choose between expelling its iconic leader on the grounds that she is a prisoner, or not registering for the vote. It chose the latter, a decision which means the party cannot legally exist after the 6 May deadline for registration.
It is a depressing end to the NLD's long and fruitless battle to bring democracy to Burma. Born out of the failed uprising of 1988, the party won a landslide victory in the last national elections in 1990, but the military never allowed it to take power. Senior members of the party, most of them now elderly, have been harassed, imprisoned and tortured. Yet through all this, and despite this final, killer blow to their party, NLD activists have extraordinary belief.
"We do not feel sad," said Tin Oo, the NLD's 83-year-old deputy leader who has endured several spells in prison and was freed from house arrest in February. "We have honour. One day we will come back; we will be reincarnated by the will of the people."
Dignified to the last, party members have chosen not to take down the NLD sign and red-and-white party flag outside their humble headquarters in Rangoon. The security forces will do that job for them, said Win Tin, Burma's longest-serving political prisoner who was released in 2008 after 19 years in jail, most of them spent in solitary confinement in Rangoon's infamous Insein prison.
"We won't dismantle our party ourselves," said the veteran party activist, who is a remarkably sparkly 80-year-old, despite suffering years of torture. "Symbolically, that would be wrong. But remember, this is nothing new for us. We've seen our offices closed all over the country, our flags and signboards pulled down. We are used to this repression."
From their shabby offices, a two-storey terrace squeezed between shops selling cheap wooden furniture, NLD members plan to continue their social work, which includes small education and health projects and offering financial and moral support for the families of Burma's estimated 2,100 political prisoners.
"But we will not do political work here," said Tin Oo, choosing his words carefully. "We want to avoid any misunderstanding with the authorities."
It is a far cry from the golden days of the late 1980s, said Win Tin, when the NLD's membership topped six million and the movement seemed unstoppable. Beaten down by years of repression, intimidation and crushed uprisings, it is a brave person now who publicly declares allegiance to the NLD.
"In the old days, our supporters had memberships cards, now they support us in their hearts and in their minds," Win Tin said. "There are very few speaking out these days. I am 80 and my health is bad. I have nothing to lose by speaking out so I have to be daring, on behalf of all the others."
This year's election, expected to be held in October or November, will offer little for those longing for change in Burma. Western governments have already dismissed the vote as a sham, saying it will merely put a civilian face on half a century of military rule.
Last week's resignation from the army of the Prime Minister, General Thein Sein, and 22 other cabinet ministers appeared to support this view. According to reports, the general then applied to form a new political party. Under Burma's new constitution, 25 per cent of seats in parliament will already be reserved for the military; soldiers who have recently given up their uniforms will be counted separately as civilians, a way of bulking up military power in the legislature.
"The only reason this election is being held is to legitimise military rule, not because the generals want to share their power with anyone else," said Bertil Lintner, a Burma expert and the author of several books about the country.
He said the regime's manoeuvres are meaningless to the Burmese people. For them, the death of the NLD will not diminish their desire for democracy, or their affection for its leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is under house arrest at her lakeside home in Rangoon. "In 1990, the Burmese people voted for change, and they didn't get it," Mr Lintner said. "With or without the NLD, that desire for change remains the same."
A history of oppression
1988 Student uprising. Aung San Suu Kyi emerges as political leader
1990 Victory in elections for NLD
1991 Aung San Suu Kyi awarded Nobel Peace Prize for her commitment to peaceful change
1996 Aung San Suu Kyi attends first NLD congress
1998 300 NLD members released from prison
May 2002 Aung San Suu Kyi released after just under 20 months of house arrest
May 2003 Aung San Suu Kyi taken into "protective custody"
November 2003 Five senior NLD leaders released from house arrest after the visit of UN human-rights envoy
2007 Public protest movement led by Buddhist monks leads to crackdown and arrests of NLD activists
2009 Aung San Suu Kyi sentenced to 18 months' house arrest
March 2010 Military formally annuls Aung San Suu Kyi's 1990 poll victory
Note: This was posted in The Independent News on 3 May 2010, reposted by Burma Democratic Concern (BDC)
Under laws drawn up by Burma's ruling generals to govern elections this year, the NLD was forced to choose between expelling its iconic leader on the grounds that she is a prisoner, or not registering for the vote. It chose the latter, a decision which means the party cannot legally exist after the 6 May deadline for registration.
It is a depressing end to the NLD's long and fruitless battle to bring democracy to Burma. Born out of the failed uprising of 1988, the party won a landslide victory in the last national elections in 1990, but the military never allowed it to take power. Senior members of the party, most of them now elderly, have been harassed, imprisoned and tortured. Yet through all this, and despite this final, killer blow to their party, NLD activists have extraordinary belief.
"We do not feel sad," said Tin Oo, the NLD's 83-year-old deputy leader who has endured several spells in prison and was freed from house arrest in February. "We have honour. One day we will come back; we will be reincarnated by the will of the people."
Dignified to the last, party members have chosen not to take down the NLD sign and red-and-white party flag outside their humble headquarters in Rangoon. The security forces will do that job for them, said Win Tin, Burma's longest-serving political prisoner who was released in 2008 after 19 years in jail, most of them spent in solitary confinement in Rangoon's infamous Insein prison.
"We won't dismantle our party ourselves," said the veteran party activist, who is a remarkably sparkly 80-year-old, despite suffering years of torture. "Symbolically, that would be wrong. But remember, this is nothing new for us. We've seen our offices closed all over the country, our flags and signboards pulled down. We are used to this repression."
From their shabby offices, a two-storey terrace squeezed between shops selling cheap wooden furniture, NLD members plan to continue their social work, which includes small education and health projects and offering financial and moral support for the families of Burma's estimated 2,100 political prisoners.
"But we will not do political work here," said Tin Oo, choosing his words carefully. "We want to avoid any misunderstanding with the authorities."
It is a far cry from the golden days of the late 1980s, said Win Tin, when the NLD's membership topped six million and the movement seemed unstoppable. Beaten down by years of repression, intimidation and crushed uprisings, it is a brave person now who publicly declares allegiance to the NLD.
"In the old days, our supporters had memberships cards, now they support us in their hearts and in their minds," Win Tin said. "There are very few speaking out these days. I am 80 and my health is bad. I have nothing to lose by speaking out so I have to be daring, on behalf of all the others."
This year's election, expected to be held in October or November, will offer little for those longing for change in Burma. Western governments have already dismissed the vote as a sham, saying it will merely put a civilian face on half a century of military rule.
Last week's resignation from the army of the Prime Minister, General Thein Sein, and 22 other cabinet ministers appeared to support this view. According to reports, the general then applied to form a new political party. Under Burma's new constitution, 25 per cent of seats in parliament will already be reserved for the military; soldiers who have recently given up their uniforms will be counted separately as civilians, a way of bulking up military power in the legislature.
"The only reason this election is being held is to legitimise military rule, not because the generals want to share their power with anyone else," said Bertil Lintner, a Burma expert and the author of several books about the country.
He said the regime's manoeuvres are meaningless to the Burmese people. For them, the death of the NLD will not diminish their desire for democracy, or their affection for its leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is under house arrest at her lakeside home in Rangoon. "In 1990, the Burmese people voted for change, and they didn't get it," Mr Lintner said. "With or without the NLD, that desire for change remains the same."
A history of oppression
1988 Student uprising. Aung San Suu Kyi emerges as political leader
1990 Victory in elections for NLD
1991 Aung San Suu Kyi awarded Nobel Peace Prize for her commitment to peaceful change
1996 Aung San Suu Kyi attends first NLD congress
1998 300 NLD members released from prison
May 2002 Aung San Suu Kyi released after just under 20 months of house arrest
May 2003 Aung San Suu Kyi taken into "protective custody"
November 2003 Five senior NLD leaders released from house arrest after the visit of UN human-rights envoy
2007 Public protest movement led by Buddhist monks leads to crackdown and arrests of NLD activists
2009 Aung San Suu Kyi sentenced to 18 months' house arrest
March 2010 Military formally annuls Aung San Suu Kyi's 1990 poll victory
Note: This was posted in The Independent News on 3 May 2010, reposted by Burma Democratic Concern (BDC)
Monday, 3 May 2010
Attn;
Our commarades & friends
Excellence sir;
we would like to send the shortest strategy on mass-movement under the following;-----------------------------------!
" THE SHORTEST MASS-MOVEMENT STRATEGY"
Back warding of mine if for warding of enemy
For warding of mine if back warding of enemy
Confusing of mine if resting of enemy
Fighting of mine if tiring of enemy...................!
Defending of firing if firing of forest
War is connecting of politic
And war is the bloody politic
Just war is better than unjust peace
Just waring of our peoples if unjust waring of Junta regimes
Just defending war of our peoples if unjust offending war of enemy
And should offend back with our peoples' biggest forces if worst offending of enemy.........................!
Some things from nothing if truling of our policy
Biggest forceing from smallest forceing
Becoming of alliences if becoming of biggest forces
Shall have to decrease our thoughts on strategy of enemy
But shall have to increase our thoughts on tactics of enemy
Sure to get half victory if knowing well of enemy & us
Should select the winning fighting as the beginning first fighting
First winning fighting may let to become our hole quarrors...................................................................!
&n bsp; (NARRAINDA)
Our commarades & friends
Excellence sir;
we would like to send the shortest strategy on mass-movement under the following;-----------------------------------!
" THE SHORTEST MASS-MOVEMENT STRATEGY"
Back warding of mine if for warding of enemy
For warding of mine if back warding of enemy
Confusing of mine if resting of enemy
Fighting of mine if tiring of enemy...................!
Defending of firing if firing of forest
War is connecting of politic
And war is the bloody politic
Just war is better than unjust peace
Just waring of our peoples if unjust waring of Junta regimes
Just defending war of our peoples if unjust offending war of enemy
And should offend back with our peoples' biggest forces if worst offending of enemy.........................!
Some things from nothing if truling of our policy
Biggest forceing from smallest forceing
Becoming of alliences if becoming of biggest forces
Shall have to decrease our thoughts on strategy of enemy
But shall have to increase our thoughts on tactics of enemy
Sure to get half victory if knowing well of enemy & us
Should select the winning fighting as the beginning first fighting
First winning fighting may let to become our hole quarrors...................................................................!
&n bsp; (NARRAINDA)
Sunday, 2 May 2010
Donors View Civil Society in New Light after Nargis
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK, May 2, 2010 (IPS) - Local civil society organisations and community groups who rushed to help victims after the powerful Cyclone Nargis tore through military-ruled Burma two years ago are reaping rewards for their risky and tireless labour.
Their work in the relief and reconstruction effort in the wake of Nargis, which killed over 140,000 people and affected 2.4 million people on May 3, 2008, has prompted a policy shift in the way Western donor assistance flows to humanitarian programmes.
"International donors had to review and redesign humanitarian funding after Nargis to direct money for smaller programmes run by local community groups," admitted a European diplomat. "It was a result of a learning curve after the cyclone."
"If you wanted to increase outreach to different affected areas, you had to work with smaller civil society organisations," the diplomat who handles Burmese affairs told IPS. "We encourage large NGOs (non-government organisations) to sub-contract work to smaller community groups."
Some Western aid givers have even expanded their funding flow to include community groups that "operate under the radar and are not officially registered as a CSO (civil society organisation)," added a Rangoon-based diplomat. "We acknowledge their view that they are far more effective and can get humanitarian work done by not being openly identified by the government."
The European Union (EU), which gave 51.8 million U.S. dollars for relief efforts, is among those reflecting this shift in donor assistance. Money for smaller humanitarian programmes that cost 10,000 euros (about 13,300 U.S. dollars) was given in addition to the usual flow of funds for larger initiatives by bigger, more established NGOs, which amounted to 500,000 euros (664,980 dollars) from the EU.
The bulk of the funding till this policy change was directed towards the 13 United Nations agencies and the estimated 54 international humanitarian agencies and international NGOs (INGOs) operating in Burma. The INGO budget in 2009 was 128 million dollars, up from 48.7 million dollars in 2008 before the cyclone struck.
World Vision, a Christian charity working in Burma, also known as Myanmar, is among the INGOs that turned to community groups to help victims in the affected Irrawaddy Delta and the former capital Rangoon. "They became very significant to us during the reconstruction phase," said Win Zin Oo, the organisation’s humanitarian and emergency affairs director.
"The 10 cyclone shelters that we built were possible because of the assistance from local CSOs," he acknowledged during a telephone interview from Rangoon. "The bigger international NGOs and the U.N. may have the technical knowledge, but the community groups have the local knowledge which helps in proper implementation."
This increasing embrace of CSOs since Nargis is echoed in a just released report by Human Rights Watch (HRW), the New York-based rights lobby, to mark the second anniversary of Burma’s worst natural disaster. "Individual Burmese citizens and existing and newly created local civil society groups played critical roles in bringing aid to those most in need," revealed the 111- page report released here on Apr. 29.
"In the aftermath of the cyclone, thousands of people from throughout Burma spontaneously became humanitarian workers," added the report, ‘I Want to Help My Own People: State Control and Civil Society in Burma after Cyclone Nargis’. "One positive post-cyclone development was the Burmese civil society response."
The achievement was all the more remarkable given the restrictive conditions the junta imposes on CSOs and the roadblocks created to relief efforts soon after the cyclone struck, said HRW. "Just as international donors, U.N. agencies and INGOs were organising a massive response to send aid and relief workers into the country, the (regime’s) strict restrictions blocked many of these efforts."
And the lead taken by Burmese CSOs to step into that void and to help the victims brought into sharp focus a community that had, till then, not been recognised as pivotal players in the country’s humanitarian initiatives. "It was Cyclone Nargis that created the space for CSOs to enter the humanitarian space, not the Burmese government," said David Scott Mathieson, Burma researcher for HRW.
"The post-Nargis phase has helped strengthen Burmese CSOs," he added. "They deserve most of the credit for the social response." The broad network of CSOs being hailed since the cyclone has roots in Burma’s social fabric, from villages to cities. They range from Buddhist monks, community leaders, local activists, artists, doctors, and business people to homemakers.
Not all of them belong to the estimated 64 NGOs and 455 countrywide community-based associations that operate openly, according to HRW, which added that those outside government control pay a heavy price – including jail for humanitarian work.
Among Burma’s 2,200 political prisoners languishing in jails across the country are 21 humanitarian workers who were arrested and jailed for leading the civil society response to Nargis. The most well known is Zarganar, one of Burma’s famous comedians, who was part of an ad-hoc group of 420 relief workers that helped 42 flattened villages in the Irrawaddy Delta, which was the hardest hit by the disaster, in the first month after Nargis.
He was sentenced to 35 years in jail. Among his "crimes" was being in possession of video footage of the cyclone’s devastating impact on the delta.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51283
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK, May 2, 2010 (IPS) - Local civil society organisations and community groups who rushed to help victims after the powerful Cyclone Nargis tore through military-ruled Burma two years ago are reaping rewards for their risky and tireless labour.
Their work in the relief and reconstruction effort in the wake of Nargis, which killed over 140,000 people and affected 2.4 million people on May 3, 2008, has prompted a policy shift in the way Western donor assistance flows to humanitarian programmes.
"International donors had to review and redesign humanitarian funding after Nargis to direct money for smaller programmes run by local community groups," admitted a European diplomat. "It was a result of a learning curve after the cyclone."
"If you wanted to increase outreach to different affected areas, you had to work with smaller civil society organisations," the diplomat who handles Burmese affairs told IPS. "We encourage large NGOs (non-government organisations) to sub-contract work to smaller community groups."
Some Western aid givers have even expanded their funding flow to include community groups that "operate under the radar and are not officially registered as a CSO (civil society organisation)," added a Rangoon-based diplomat. "We acknowledge their view that they are far more effective and can get humanitarian work done by not being openly identified by the government."
The European Union (EU), which gave 51.8 million U.S. dollars for relief efforts, is among those reflecting this shift in donor assistance. Money for smaller humanitarian programmes that cost 10,000 euros (about 13,300 U.S. dollars) was given in addition to the usual flow of funds for larger initiatives by bigger, more established NGOs, which amounted to 500,000 euros (664,980 dollars) from the EU.
The bulk of the funding till this policy change was directed towards the 13 United Nations agencies and the estimated 54 international humanitarian agencies and international NGOs (INGOs) operating in Burma. The INGO budget in 2009 was 128 million dollars, up from 48.7 million dollars in 2008 before the cyclone struck.
World Vision, a Christian charity working in Burma, also known as Myanmar, is among the INGOs that turned to community groups to help victims in the affected Irrawaddy Delta and the former capital Rangoon. "They became very significant to us during the reconstruction phase," said Win Zin Oo, the organisation’s humanitarian and emergency affairs director.
"The 10 cyclone shelters that we built were possible because of the assistance from local CSOs," he acknowledged during a telephone interview from Rangoon. "The bigger international NGOs and the U.N. may have the technical knowledge, but the community groups have the local knowledge which helps in proper implementation."
This increasing embrace of CSOs since Nargis is echoed in a just released report by Human Rights Watch (HRW), the New York-based rights lobby, to mark the second anniversary of Burma’s worst natural disaster. "Individual Burmese citizens and existing and newly created local civil society groups played critical roles in bringing aid to those most in need," revealed the 111- page report released here on Apr. 29.
"In the aftermath of the cyclone, thousands of people from throughout Burma spontaneously became humanitarian workers," added the report, ‘I Want to Help My Own People: State Control and Civil Society in Burma after Cyclone Nargis’. "One positive post-cyclone development was the Burmese civil society response."
The achievement was all the more remarkable given the restrictive conditions the junta imposes on CSOs and the roadblocks created to relief efforts soon after the cyclone struck, said HRW. "Just as international donors, U.N. agencies and INGOs were organising a massive response to send aid and relief workers into the country, the (regime’s) strict restrictions blocked many of these efforts."
And the lead taken by Burmese CSOs to step into that void and to help the victims brought into sharp focus a community that had, till then, not been recognised as pivotal players in the country’s humanitarian initiatives. "It was Cyclone Nargis that created the space for CSOs to enter the humanitarian space, not the Burmese government," said David Scott Mathieson, Burma researcher for HRW.
"The post-Nargis phase has helped strengthen Burmese CSOs," he added. "They deserve most of the credit for the social response." The broad network of CSOs being hailed since the cyclone has roots in Burma’s social fabric, from villages to cities. They range from Buddhist monks, community leaders, local activists, artists, doctors, and business people to homemakers.
Not all of them belong to the estimated 64 NGOs and 455 countrywide community-based associations that operate openly, according to HRW, which added that those outside government control pay a heavy price – including jail for humanitarian work.
Among Burma’s 2,200 political prisoners languishing in jails across the country are 21 humanitarian workers who were arrested and jailed for leading the civil society response to Nargis. The most well known is Zarganar, one of Burma’s famous comedians, who was part of an ad-hoc group of 420 relief workers that helped 42 flattened villages in the Irrawaddy Delta, which was the hardest hit by the disaster, in the first month after Nargis.
He was sentenced to 35 years in jail. Among his "crimes" was being in possession of video footage of the cyclone’s devastating impact on the delta.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51283
Saturday, 1 May 2010
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Friday, 30 April 2010
3 government workers injured in Kyaikmayaw Township bomb blast
A bomb exploded in a government telecommunication center in Kyaikmayaw town, the largest city in Mon state’s Kyiakmayaw Township, at 11pm on April 27th. According to a village chairman from the township, who asked to remain anonymous, 3 government workers at the center were wounded.
Kyaikmayaw town is roughly 100 miles southeast of Rangoon.
“The bomb exploded in Kalainkanaing quarter of the town on the 27th at 11 PM. The bombers arrived by motorbike,” he said.
This headman reported that the blast has elicited fear among Kyaikmayaw town residents, who fear that the large population of and central location of the city might lead to a repeat bombing.
“The people are also concerned, because the explosion occurred in the town [not in a rural area],” he explained.
Since April 15th of this year, four bomb blasts have occurred across the country of Burma. One in Rangoon during the city’s Songkran festivities, one at a mining site in northern Burma’s Kachin State, one in the capital of Karenni State in eastern Burma, and this last explosion in Mon state, located in the south of the country.
The government has accused the opposition groups of committing the first 3 explosions, but have yet to level accusations at any party regarding the Kyaikmayaw blast.
The New Mon State Party (NMSP) has denied responsibility for the bombing.
“We have not heard about this yet, and our party is not related to the explosion, as we haven’t ordered to our members to commit such acts. We want to solve problems in peace,” NMSP Vice- Chairman Nai Rot Sa told IMNA.
http://mon-imna.blogspot.com/2010/04/3-government-workers-injured-in.html
Kyaikmayaw town is roughly 100 miles southeast of Rangoon.
“The bomb exploded in Kalainkanaing quarter of the town on the 27th at 11 PM. The bombers arrived by motorbike,” he said.
This headman reported that the blast has elicited fear among Kyaikmayaw town residents, who fear that the large population of and central location of the city might lead to a repeat bombing.
“The people are also concerned, because the explosion occurred in the town [not in a rural area],” he explained.
Since April 15th of this year, four bomb blasts have occurred across the country of Burma. One in Rangoon during the city’s Songkran festivities, one at a mining site in northern Burma’s Kachin State, one in the capital of Karenni State in eastern Burma, and this last explosion in Mon state, located in the south of the country.
The government has accused the opposition groups of committing the first 3 explosions, but have yet to level accusations at any party regarding the Kyaikmayaw blast.
The New Mon State Party (NMSP) has denied responsibility for the bombing.
“We have not heard about this yet, and our party is not related to the explosion, as we haven’t ordered to our members to commit such acts. We want to solve problems in peace,” NMSP Vice- Chairman Nai Rot Sa told IMNA.
http://mon-imna.blogspot.com/2010/04/3-government-workers-injured-in.html
3 government workers injured in Kyaikmayaw Township bomb blast
By Loa Htaw:
A bomb exploded in a government telecommunication center in Kyaikmayaw town, the largest city in Mon state’s Kyiakmayaw Township, at 11pm on April 27th. According to a village chairman from the township, who asked to remain anonymous, 3 government workers at the center were wounded.
Kyaikmayaw town is roughly 100 miles southeast of Rangoon.
“The bomb exploded in Kalainkanaing quarter of the town on the 27th at 11 PM. The bombers arrived by motorbike,” he said.
This headman reported that the blast has elicited fear among Kyaikmayaw town residents, who fear that the large population of and central location of the city might lead to a repeat bombing.
“The people are also concerned, because the explosion occurred in the town [not in a rural area],” he explained.
Since April 15th of this year, four bomb blasts have occurred across the country of Burma. One in Rangoon during the city’s Songkran festivities, one at a mining site in northern Burma’s Kachin State, one in the capital of Karenni State in eastern Burma, and this last explosion in Mon state, located in the south of the country.
The government has accused the opposition groups of committing the first 3 explosions, but have yet to level accusations at any party regarding the Kyaikmayaw blast.
The New Mon State Party (NMSP) has denied responsibility for the bombing.
“We have not heard about this yet, and our party is not related to the explosion, as we haven’t ordered to our members to commit such acts. We want to solve problems in peace,” NMSP Vice- Chairman Nai Rot Sa told IMNA.
http://mon-imna.blogspot.com/2010/04/3-government-workers-injured-in.html
By Loa Htaw:
A bomb exploded in a government telecommunication center in Kyaikmayaw town, the largest city in Mon state’s Kyiakmayaw Township, at 11pm on April 27th. According to a village chairman from the township, who asked to remain anonymous, 3 government workers at the center were wounded.
Kyaikmayaw town is roughly 100 miles southeast of Rangoon.
“The bomb exploded in Kalainkanaing quarter of the town on the 27th at 11 PM. The bombers arrived by motorbike,” he said.
This headman reported that the blast has elicited fear among Kyaikmayaw town residents, who fear that the large population of and central location of the city might lead to a repeat bombing.
“The people are also concerned, because the explosion occurred in the town [not in a rural area],” he explained.
Since April 15th of this year, four bomb blasts have occurred across the country of Burma. One in Rangoon during the city’s Songkran festivities, one at a mining site in northern Burma’s Kachin State, one in the capital of Karenni State in eastern Burma, and this last explosion in Mon state, located in the south of the country.
The government has accused the opposition groups of committing the first 3 explosions, but have yet to level accusations at any party regarding the Kyaikmayaw blast.
The New Mon State Party (NMSP) has denied responsibility for the bombing.
“We have not heard about this yet, and our party is not related to the explosion, as we haven’t ordered to our members to commit such acts. We want to solve problems in peace,” NMSP Vice- Chairman Nai Rot Sa told IMNA.
http://mon-imna.blogspot.com/2010/04/3-government-workers-injured-in.html
Thursday, 29 April 2010
BURMA’S THINGYAN TERROR
DICTATOR WATCH
(www.dictatorwatch.org)
Contact: Roland Watson, roland@dictatorwatch.org
BURMA’S THINGYAN TERROR
April 27, 2010
There has been a lot of speculation about who was behind the terror attack
on April 15th in Rangoon, that occurred at the X2O Thingyan (New Year)
pavilion sponsored by Than Shwe's grandson. One plausible explanation,
though, has not yet been mentioned.
An obvious initial suspect was Maung Aye. There is significant discord
between Maung Aye and Than Shwe, over the upcoming election and the
associated retirement of senior officers. However, one does wonder if
Maung Aye would express his discontent in such a bold manner.
There were two major events during Thingyan, and which have not been
connected: The bombings, and the arrival of a cargo ship from North Korea,
which is believed to have brought equipment for a nuclear weapons program
as well as missile components. One explanation links both of these events.
We suspect Than Shwe ordered the bombings, to create a diversion for the
cargo shipment. They further were targeted at his grandson's pavilion, to
enable him to deny that he was responsible. The following question is
quite revealing: If the bombs were a form of attack against Than Shwe, why
didn't the culprits wait until his grandson was present?
He can also use the bombings to justify a crackdown against the NLD.
An even more pressing question is why the United States did not stop the
North Korean shipment. We are confident that the U.S. was aware of it,
just as it knew about the Kang Nam 1 last summer.
(www.dictatorwatch.org)
Contact: Roland Watson, roland@dictatorwatch.org
BURMA’S THINGYAN TERROR
April 27, 2010
There has been a lot of speculation about who was behind the terror attack
on April 15th in Rangoon, that occurred at the X2O Thingyan (New Year)
pavilion sponsored by Than Shwe's grandson. One plausible explanation,
though, has not yet been mentioned.
An obvious initial suspect was Maung Aye. There is significant discord
between Maung Aye and Than Shwe, over the upcoming election and the
associated retirement of senior officers. However, one does wonder if
Maung Aye would express his discontent in such a bold manner.
There were two major events during Thingyan, and which have not been
connected: The bombings, and the arrival of a cargo ship from North Korea,
which is believed to have brought equipment for a nuclear weapons program
as well as missile components. One explanation links both of these events.
We suspect Than Shwe ordered the bombings, to create a diversion for the
cargo shipment. They further were targeted at his grandson's pavilion, to
enable him to deny that he was responsible. The following question is
quite revealing: If the bombs were a form of attack against Than Shwe, why
didn't the culprits wait until his grandson was present?
He can also use the bombings to justify a crackdown against the NLD.
An even more pressing question is why the United States did not stop the
North Korean shipment. We are confident that the U.S. was aware of it,
just as it knew about the Kang Nam 1 last summer.
Singapore mentors Burma in sham elections
As preparations for the sham elections in Burma get into full swing, it is not difficult to notice similarities in electoral practices between the Burmese generals in uniform and Singapore’s leaders in civilian clothes.
The Burmese regime is bending over backwards to stage the fraudulent elections while refusing to respect the results of the country’s polls in 1990 that led to the landslide victory for the National League for Democracy (NLD).
Why reinvent the wheel, when what happened two decades ago remains unfulfilled? The same military that massacred thousands of innocent civilians, including Buddhist monks, is now pretending that everything is hunky-dory.
It is an undeniable fact that the military regime holds close economic ties to Singapore – the top brass of the Burmese army are known to have parked their ill-gotten millions in Singapore’s banks, while they and their family members own properties in upmarket areas and their children go to top schools and drive flashy cars, flaunting their wealth to the envy of ordinary Singaporeans.
Burmese drug lords who are banned from entering the US freely come and go in Singapore and some even have offices in the posh commercial district along Shenton Way. It is no wonder that Singapore is the third largest investor in Burma, helping to prop up the pariah regime.
Singapore has even named a hybrid Orchid, its national flower, after the Burmese prime minister, General Thein Sein. Orchids in the same Singapore Botanical Gardens were previously named after Princess Diana and Nelson Mandela.
The similarities between Burma and Singapore do not stop there. The election process in Singapore is as opaque as it is in Naypyidaw, the new capital of the Burmese regime. Although Singapore claims to hold periodical elections to legitimise the rule of the People’s Action Party (PAP), the exercise itself is highly questionable.
To start with, there is no independent elections commission. Only a department that comes under the Prime Minister’s Office that decides on last-minute boundary delineation, exorbitant deposits for candidates (presently $US9,900 but expected to be raised to $US11,000 in the next election), and other regular gerrymandering practices, including what is known as the Group Representation Constituencies (GRC).
This so-called electoral system has led to almost half of the seats in parliament being uncontested on Nomination Day. Presently, Singapore’s ‘parliament’ has 84 MPs, of which 82 are from Lee Kuan Yew’s PAP. And that is “democratic elections” in Singapore for you!
The paradox of Singapore’s elections is that the electorate, some of whom are nearing their 50s, have never voted in their entire lives. This so-called anomaly is glaring in Singapore, where voting is compulsory under the Parliamentary Elections Act.
With all these well-entrenched undemocratic practices, it is not surprising to even a distant observer to understand how the ruling PAP has been in power since 1959.
What is worse is the irrefutable reality in Singapore that one man, by the name of Lee Kuan Yew, has been in power for the last 51 years. The octogenarian Lee, who is now 87 years old, calls himself Minister Mentor in the cabinet headed by his prime minster son, Lee Hsien Loong.
Compare this to the reality in Burma where the army generals have held sway since the 1962 coup, ousting the democratically elected government of U Nu. Even against this, Lee Kuan Yew’s grip on power extends longer by three years, but he continues to claim that elections in his republic are based on the Westminster model of democracy.
Anyone who believes in democratic values could easily see that it is next to impossible to continue to have a one-party dominated parliament in the name of freedom and democracy. Obviously the uniformed generals are under tutelage by the authoritarian regime in Singapore, clad in civilian clothes.
While the Burmese generals continue to not recognise the results of the 1990 elections, preparations are in full swing to hold yet another elections based on its 2008 constitution, aimed at hoodwinking the people. Singapore too is notorious for amending its constitution just before every general election to give a legal facade to what is clearly an illegitimate exercise.
The Burmese generals also appear to have been keen and obedient students to their teacher, Singapore. Burmese intelligence agents are known to visit on a routine basis to study the latest electronic eavesdropping gadgets for their surveillance of Burmese political dissidents, including the NLD leaders.
The recent announcement by NLD to boycott the army-orchestrated sham elections is the right move. How can the elections be legitimate when NLD’s leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, remains under house arrest and barred from taking part? Singapore too, has a history of barring genuine opposition leaders who were daring enough to challenge, through constitutional means, the regime of Lee Kuan Yew.
Victims of Lee’s political vendetta include prominent figures such as the late J B Jeyaretnam, Singapore’s former solicitor-general Mr Francis Seow (now in exile in the US), Singapore’s leading corporate lawyer Mr Tang Liang Hong (now in exile in Australia), and Dr Chee Soon Juan, who remains bankrupted and unable to stand for elections.
These are well-known democrats who stood up against Lee Kuan Yew, who had openly declared in 2003 that: “If we had considered them serious political figures, we would not have kept them politically alive for so long. We could have bankrupted them earlier.” Is this not what the generals in Burma are doing while loudly proclaiming to the world that there will be “free and fair” elections in the country before the end of the year?
While Singapore leaders are shedding crocodile tears and sermonizing the Burmese generals on the need for free and fair elections, is it not appropriate for them to look at their own backyard?
When Singapore’s Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong met the Burmese generals, including Than Shwe, last year, he urged them not to allow the ongoing trial of Suu Kyi to affect the national reconciliation process and to make sure that the proposed elections are free and fair.
It is better for Goh to take a hard look at himself in the mirror: he will then be able to see the ugly features that include a well-documented law providing for indefinite detention without trial, under which detainees are subject to regular physical and mental torture. It is also common in Singapore to prosecute opposition politicians for speaking in public and distributing flyers; laws that are no different from the Burmese junta.
Goh Chok Tong’s “advice” is double-speak at best. What right has he got to advise the generals when the same despicable acts are committed at every election in Singapore? Are elections in Singapore free and fair in the first place? Is the media in Singapore free and pluralistic for the voters to be informed before they go to the polls to choose their representatives to parliament?
Burma’s media laws are the strictest in the world, and so are Singapore’s, the most notorious being the Newspapers and Printing Presses Act that gives sweeping powers, including the appointment of editors to the 14 daily newspapers that are all under the control of the PAP government. Burma is ranked 171 out of 175 countries in the recent Reporters Without Borders’ Press Freedom Index. Singapore is also in the miserable position of 133, several ranks below that of even Angola and Congo.
The Singapore Press Holdings, whose chairman was a former deputy prime minister, runs all the newspapers of which its flagship daily is the Straits Times. It’s a known fact that intelligence operatives masquerade as reporters and journalists in Singapore’s media scene. The Straits Times has its equivalent in Burma, the New Light of Myanmar, which is nothing but a mouthpiece of the military regime.
Similarities between the autocratic rule in Singapore and the equally notorious regime in Burma are endless. Learning from Singapore on how to perpetuate one-party rule through sham elections is a natural progression for Burma under the bloodthirsty generals.
Seelan Palay is an artist and activist from Singapore. He works with Free Burma Campaign Singapore and blogs here.
http://www.dvb.no/analysis/singapore-mentors-burma-in-sham-elections/8767
The Burmese regime is bending over backwards to stage the fraudulent elections while refusing to respect the results of the country’s polls in 1990 that led to the landslide victory for the National League for Democracy (NLD).
Why reinvent the wheel, when what happened two decades ago remains unfulfilled? The same military that massacred thousands of innocent civilians, including Buddhist monks, is now pretending that everything is hunky-dory.
It is an undeniable fact that the military regime holds close economic ties to Singapore – the top brass of the Burmese army are known to have parked their ill-gotten millions in Singapore’s banks, while they and their family members own properties in upmarket areas and their children go to top schools and drive flashy cars, flaunting their wealth to the envy of ordinary Singaporeans.
Burmese drug lords who are banned from entering the US freely come and go in Singapore and some even have offices in the posh commercial district along Shenton Way. It is no wonder that Singapore is the third largest investor in Burma, helping to prop up the pariah regime.
Singapore has even named a hybrid Orchid, its national flower, after the Burmese prime minister, General Thein Sein. Orchids in the same Singapore Botanical Gardens were previously named after Princess Diana and Nelson Mandela.
The similarities between Burma and Singapore do not stop there. The election process in Singapore is as opaque as it is in Naypyidaw, the new capital of the Burmese regime. Although Singapore claims to hold periodical elections to legitimise the rule of the People’s Action Party (PAP), the exercise itself is highly questionable.
To start with, there is no independent elections commission. Only a department that comes under the Prime Minister’s Office that decides on last-minute boundary delineation, exorbitant deposits for candidates (presently $US9,900 but expected to be raised to $US11,000 in the next election), and other regular gerrymandering practices, including what is known as the Group Representation Constituencies (GRC).
This so-called electoral system has led to almost half of the seats in parliament being uncontested on Nomination Day. Presently, Singapore’s ‘parliament’ has 84 MPs, of which 82 are from Lee Kuan Yew’s PAP. And that is “democratic elections” in Singapore for you!
The paradox of Singapore’s elections is that the electorate, some of whom are nearing their 50s, have never voted in their entire lives. This so-called anomaly is glaring in Singapore, where voting is compulsory under the Parliamentary Elections Act.
With all these well-entrenched undemocratic practices, it is not surprising to even a distant observer to understand how the ruling PAP has been in power since 1959.
What is worse is the irrefutable reality in Singapore that one man, by the name of Lee Kuan Yew, has been in power for the last 51 years. The octogenarian Lee, who is now 87 years old, calls himself Minister Mentor in the cabinet headed by his prime minster son, Lee Hsien Loong.
Compare this to the reality in Burma where the army generals have held sway since the 1962 coup, ousting the democratically elected government of U Nu. Even against this, Lee Kuan Yew’s grip on power extends longer by three years, but he continues to claim that elections in his republic are based on the Westminster model of democracy.
Anyone who believes in democratic values could easily see that it is next to impossible to continue to have a one-party dominated parliament in the name of freedom and democracy. Obviously the uniformed generals are under tutelage by the authoritarian regime in Singapore, clad in civilian clothes.
While the Burmese generals continue to not recognise the results of the 1990 elections, preparations are in full swing to hold yet another elections based on its 2008 constitution, aimed at hoodwinking the people. Singapore too is notorious for amending its constitution just before every general election to give a legal facade to what is clearly an illegitimate exercise.
The Burmese generals also appear to have been keen and obedient students to their teacher, Singapore. Burmese intelligence agents are known to visit on a routine basis to study the latest electronic eavesdropping gadgets for their surveillance of Burmese political dissidents, including the NLD leaders.
The recent announcement by NLD to boycott the army-orchestrated sham elections is the right move. How can the elections be legitimate when NLD’s leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, remains under house arrest and barred from taking part? Singapore too, has a history of barring genuine opposition leaders who were daring enough to challenge, through constitutional means, the regime of Lee Kuan Yew.
Victims of Lee’s political vendetta include prominent figures such as the late J B Jeyaretnam, Singapore’s former solicitor-general Mr Francis Seow (now in exile in the US), Singapore’s leading corporate lawyer Mr Tang Liang Hong (now in exile in Australia), and Dr Chee Soon Juan, who remains bankrupted and unable to stand for elections.
These are well-known democrats who stood up against Lee Kuan Yew, who had openly declared in 2003 that: “If we had considered them serious political figures, we would not have kept them politically alive for so long. We could have bankrupted them earlier.” Is this not what the generals in Burma are doing while loudly proclaiming to the world that there will be “free and fair” elections in the country before the end of the year?
While Singapore leaders are shedding crocodile tears and sermonizing the Burmese generals on the need for free and fair elections, is it not appropriate for them to look at their own backyard?
When Singapore’s Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong met the Burmese generals, including Than Shwe, last year, he urged them not to allow the ongoing trial of Suu Kyi to affect the national reconciliation process and to make sure that the proposed elections are free and fair.
It is better for Goh to take a hard look at himself in the mirror: he will then be able to see the ugly features that include a well-documented law providing for indefinite detention without trial, under which detainees are subject to regular physical and mental torture. It is also common in Singapore to prosecute opposition politicians for speaking in public and distributing flyers; laws that are no different from the Burmese junta.
Goh Chok Tong’s “advice” is double-speak at best. What right has he got to advise the generals when the same despicable acts are committed at every election in Singapore? Are elections in Singapore free and fair in the first place? Is the media in Singapore free and pluralistic for the voters to be informed before they go to the polls to choose their representatives to parliament?
Burma’s media laws are the strictest in the world, and so are Singapore’s, the most notorious being the Newspapers and Printing Presses Act that gives sweeping powers, including the appointment of editors to the 14 daily newspapers that are all under the control of the PAP government. Burma is ranked 171 out of 175 countries in the recent Reporters Without Borders’ Press Freedom Index. Singapore is also in the miserable position of 133, several ranks below that of even Angola and Congo.
The Singapore Press Holdings, whose chairman was a former deputy prime minister, runs all the newspapers of which its flagship daily is the Straits Times. It’s a known fact that intelligence operatives masquerade as reporters and journalists in Singapore’s media scene. The Straits Times has its equivalent in Burma, the New Light of Myanmar, which is nothing but a mouthpiece of the military regime.
Similarities between the autocratic rule in Singapore and the equally notorious regime in Burma are endless. Learning from Singapore on how to perpetuate one-party rule through sham elections is a natural progression for Burma under the bloodthirsty generals.
Seelan Palay is an artist and activist from Singapore. He works with Free Burma Campaign Singapore and blogs here.
http://www.dvb.no/analysis/singapore-mentors-burma-in-sham-elections/8767
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