BurmaNet News, November 28, 2006

[Editor]

November 28, 2006 Issue # 3094


INSIDE BURMA
Washington Post: Burma shuts Red Cross field offices
Irrawaddy: Critics slam junta for ICRC ban
Irrawaddy: Security fears prompt writer’s birthday party cancellation
Xinhua: Myanmar to grant foreign, local engagement in emerging cyber city

ON THE BORDER
Press Trust of India: UN opens legal assistance centre for Myanmar refugees

BUSINESS / TRADE
AP: China grants Myanmar partial debt relief and low-interest loan

REGIONAL
Nation: UN asked to respond to rapes by military in Burma

INTERNATIONAL
AP: US says it will seek a resolution calling on Myanmar government to
comply with commitments
Irrawaddy: Burmese opposition calls for UN Security Council action
Saint Paul Pioneer Press (Minnesota): The gift of a new life

OPINION / OTHER
Irrawaddy: More suffering, deaths to follow ICRC ban

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

November 28, The Washington Post
Burma shuts Red Cross field offices - Colum Lynch

United Nations: Burma's military rulers have forced the International
Committee of the Red Cross to shut down its five rural field offices,
crippling the agency's ability to distribute aid to thousands of needy
Burmese civilians, according to U.N. and Red Cross officials.

The move dealt a blow to U.N. diplomatic efforts to persuade Burma, also
known as Myanmar, to extend relief to the country's ethnic minorities. It
comes as the United Nations' top political adviser, Ibrahim Gambari,
warned the 15-nation Security Council on Monday that Burma is facing
"accelerating impoverishment," with 30 percent of the population living
well below the poverty line and malnutrition striking more than 30 percent
of children under the age of 5.

John R. Bolton, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said he would
press for a resolution in the next several days demanding that Burma move
toward democracy or face greater international isolation. He said that the
flight of more than 1 million Burmese refugees is threatening peace and
stability in the region.

"The policies the government has been pursuing . . . continue to
contribute to instability in the region and therefore in our view
constitute a threat to international peace and security," Bolton told
reporters after Gambari briefed the council about a four-day visit to
Burma this month.

Chinese and Russian officials said they oppose a U.N. resolution on Burma,
contending that the crisis is essentially domestic and does not pose a
threat to other countries in the region. They also said it would undercut
U.N. efforts to resolve the situation through diplomatic means.

"In our view that does not help the secretary general," said a Chinese
diplomat who spoke on the condition that he not be named because of the
sensitivity of diplomatic efforts.

The United Nations has been engaged in a sporadic 12-year-long diplomatic
effort to mediate a political settlement between Burma's military
government, more than a dozen ethnic minority groups and the National
League for Democracy, led by 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu
Kyi, the most prominent of Burma's 1,100 political prisoners. Suu Kyi's
party won a landslide electoral victory in 1990 that the military
leadership refused to accept. She has been held under house arrest much of
the time since.

After a three-year boycott, Burma hosted visits by Gambari, the U.N.
undersecretary general for political affairs, in May and earlier this
month. He met with Suu Kyi and Burma's military ruler, Gen. Than Shwe, but
was unable to meet with representatives of a youth movement known as the
88 Student Generation. The student group did provide Gambari with a
petition containing 500,000 signatures calling for the release of
political prisoners. In September, five members of the group were
detained.

Gambari told the council Monday in closed session that he had pressed
Burma's leaders to release Suu Kyi, five activists from the student group
and a "significant number" of other political prisoners. But he was
"disappointed" that Burma had made no "clear or immediate commitments"
during his most recent trip to address international concerns about its
failure to improve its human rights record, end forced labor and provide
greater democratic freedom.

He also said that Burma's decision to close the Red Cross's field offices
would effectively make "it impossible for the organization to carry out
most of its assistance and protection work."

Still, Gambari said he thinks that Burma's rulers and Suu Kyi are serious
about exploring the United Nations' diplomatic process and that he needs
"time and further discussion" to determine whether the government is
committed to reform.

____________________________________

November 28, Irrawaddy
Critics slam junta for ICRC ban - Shah Paung

The Burmese junta's ban of most in-country activities of the International
Committee of the Red Cross on Monday has drawn harsh criticism.

“We regret the decision by the Myanmar [Burma] government to ask the ICRC
to close its five field offices,” a spokesperson for the Singapore
Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement released on Tuesday. The
statement urged the Burmese regime to sincerely re-engage the ICRC and to
find an amicable solution so the international aid agency can resume its
operations in Burma.

“This does not augur well for Myanmar [Burma] and its relations with the
international community,” the Singaporean foreign ministry said.

The Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma)
also criticized the Burmese government's decision and expressed concern
for the health of political prisoners and displaced persons living in
border areas.

“This decision is very cruel,” said Bo Kyi, joint secretary of the AAPP. 
“This situation has hurt not only prisoners but also their families, who
are also losing the help they received from ICRC.”

During UN Under Secretary-General Ibrahim Gambari's visit to Burma on
November 9-12, he discussed humanitarian assistance with Burma's top
leaders.

The Burmese authorities ordered the ICRC to close five field offices, in
Mandalay, Moulmein of Mon State, Pa-an of Karen State, Taunggyi and
Kengtung of Shan State. The ICRC has not been able to visit prisons since
December 2005. Authorities had pressured the ICRC to allow representatives
of the junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Association to
accompany them on their visits.

Bo Kyi said the ban is a warning for other humanitarian groups working in
the country or groups that are considering working in Burma.

Meanwhile, Mya Aye, a leader of the 88 Generation Students group,
comprised of former political prisoners and student activists in Burma,
said, “This is not a good prospect, and we do not know what will happen in
prisons in the future.”

“We do not want ICRC to pull out from Burma,” he added.

According to the AAPP, the health conditions and the food given to
prisoners is of great concern. In the past, when ICRC visited prisons it
would provide about 50 percent of the medicine in a prison hospital. The
ICRC also donated medical supplies to outside hospitals that treated
prisoners and villagers in the area.

“This is a big loss for the prisoners because of the loss of medical
supplies, and also for the villagers who themselves depended on ICRC
support,” Bo Kyi said.

Currently, there are reportedly 1,194 political prisoners in Burma. Since
1988, 131 have reportedly died. One of the most recent deaths was Thet Win
Aung, who died in a Mandalay prison the second week of October, according
to AAPP.

The health condition of many political prisoners is of great concern. Two
prisoners said to be in deteriorating health are Thet Naung Soe, who
protested against the military government and called for the release of
all political prisoners from in front of the Rangoon City Hall during
August, 2002, and Hkun Htun Oo, chairman of the Shan National League for
Democracy.

Also of concern, said Bo Kyi, is Hkun Htun Oo, who was sentenced to 93
years and has developed hearing problems, and Thet Naung Soe, who was
sentenced to 14 years, and is said to be suffering from mental problems.

____________________________________

November 28, The Irrawaddy
Security fears prompt writer’s birthday party cancellation

Formal celebrations marking tomorrow’s 91st birthday of Burma’s most
revered female literary figure, Ludu Daw Amar, have been cancelled by her
family because of security fears.

Her birthday is celebrated every year at Taung Lay Lone monastery on the
shores of Taungthaman Lake in Amarapura, south of Mandalay. It’s always
attended by a large gathering of well-wishers, including writers, poets,
artists and others from Burma’s world of literature and the arts.

Ludu Daw Amar’s son, Nyein Chan, told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday that the
monastery celebrations also attracted the attention of the authorities,
who kept the abbot under surveillance. “As a result, we are cancelling the
party.” Visitors would be received instead at the home of Ludu Daw Amar’s
daughter.

Sources in Mandalay said around 100 members of the Pyithu Swan Arr Shin—a
paramilitary group thought to have been involved in the attack on Aung San
Suu Kyi’s entourage in 2003—had gathered near the monastery and Ludu Daw
Amar’s home. “The atmosphere is nervous,” said one writer. It was feared
that violence could break out, he said.

An energetic political dissenter and left-leaning journalist with a
faculty for articulating messages to and for the public, Ludu Daw Amar and
her family have had more than their fair share of troubles with the
authorities. Daw Amar’s lifetime commitment to fighting injustice and her
outspokenly criticism of the regime have made her a living symbol of
resistance.

“We admire her as a great woman of Burma,” said Mya Aye, a leader of the
88 Generation Students group. “We really want to go to Mandalay to pay
tribute, as we do every year. But our friends told us that it might be
risky.”

Last year, about 800 people—including former student leader Min Ko Naing
and other activists—attended the birthday celebrations at the Taung Lay
Lone monastery.


____________________________________

November 28, Xinhua General News Service
Myanmar to grant foreign, local engagement in emerging cyber city

Yangon: Myanmar will grant both foreign and local entrepreneurs to be
engaged in ICT business in a cyber city project being implemented in the
country's northern part, the Voice weekly reported in this week's issue.

The 4,050-hectare emerging Yadanabon Cyber City is located on the highway
between Mandalay and Pyin Oo Lwin and the building of a teleport and
incubation in the new ICT satellite town as the first phase is underway.

Separate plots will be allotted for foreign and local companies with equal
rights to be offered to develop the silicon mountain  town, sources with
the Computer Entrepreneurs' Association was  quoted as saying.

Hardware used in mobile phones will be produced in the cyber city, the
Ministry of Communications, Posts and Telegraphs disclosed.

Myanmar has been launching an ICT development master plan under the
Initiative for ASEAN Integration (IAI), aimed at narrowing the development
gap among the regional members and detailed programs to link international
networks are also being carried out in accordance with the master plan
drafted by the Myanmar Computer Federation.

Being a signatory to the e-ASEAN Framework Agreement initiated at 2000
Singapore summit, Myanmar has formed the e-National Task Force to support
the IT development.

Besides, the country has also signed a series of memorandums of
understanding since 2003 with companies from Malaysia, Thailand and an
ASEAN organization on ICT development.

Myanmar introduced e-education system in early 2001, establishing one ICT
park (now known as Myanmar Info-Tech) in Yangon and another ICT park in
Mandalay in two following years to provide ICT services in the country.

Meanwhile, some local private companies in Myanmar have been set to
provide new high-speed communication lines to internet users under a
cooperation program extended to the private sector by the state-run
Myanmar Posts and Telecommunication under the  ministry which is currently
the only source of new internet  services in the country.

According to the telecommunications authorities, the number of internet
users in Myanmar has reached nearly 300,000, up from merely 12 four years
ago.

So far, Myanmar has also launched some e-government systems including
e-visa, e-passport and e-procurement to effect management of government
bodies.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

November 25, The Press Trust of India
UN opens legal assistance centre for Myanmar refugees

The United Nations has opened the first of the proposed seven legal
assistance centres for tens of thousands of refugees from Myanmar living
in neighbouring Thailand with the aim to provide justice to the victims of
violence that plague the border camps.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees' (UNHCR) regional representative Hasim
Utkan said the centre at Ban Mae Nai Soi camp in north-western Thailand is
the first of its kind "not only in Thailand, but also around the world".

All seven centres, to be funded by Italy and run by the International
Rescue Committee (IRC), are scheduled to open over the next year in three
camps housing around 70,000 refugees near the border between Thailand and
Myanmar.

Thailand, which runs the three camps, does not allow refugees to move
freely outside and UNHCR officials are not allowed in the camps overnight,
when incidents of violent crimes, especially rapes and acts of domestic
violence, occur.

A report from the UN refugee agency indicated that more than 350 serious
crimes were reported across the nine camps between 2003 and 2006, with
rape and domestic violence the most common and children often the victims.
In four out of five murders, the report added, no arrest was made, even
when the identity of the killer was known.

A survey conducted in September by the IRC found that 63 per cent of
residents in three of the camps had serious concerns about their safety.
They had little confidence in the Thai justice system. Kirsten Young,
UNHCR regional assistant representative for protection, said the centres
will act as the agency's "eyes and ears in the camps". They will also help
to channel cases to the Thai justice system and also work on building the
capacity of the "refugee traditional justice mechanisms to handle cases in
a manner consistent with basic human rights principles".

The centres are designed to act as an information hub on human rights,
protection and the legal process, and also offer individual counselling
for camp residents who have suffered human rights violations or been
implicated in crimes.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

November 24, Associated Press
China grants Myanmar partial debt relief and low-interest loan

Yangon: China has agreed to grant Myanmar a low-interest loan and partial
debt relief as part of a series of agreements the two countries signed,
state-run media reported Friday.

The New Light of Myanmar reported that the deals were signed Thursday
during a visit by China's deputy minister for commerce, Chen Jian, but the
newspaper did not provide the monetary amounts for either.

A government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the
low-interest loan from China was valued at 300 million yuan (US$ 38
million; euro 30 million) and that China had agreed to cancel 240 million
yuan ($30 million or euro 24 million) in debt that Myanmar owes China. The
official declined to be named since details of the agreements had not been
publicly disclosed.

China is Myanmar's most important ally, providing economic, military and
other assistance, while Western nations shun the military-ruled country
because of its poor human rights record and failure to restore democracy.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

November 26, The Nation
UN asked to respond to rapes by military in Burma - Subhatra Bhumiprabhas

To mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against
Women yesterday, the WLB issued a statement calling for a United Nations'
Security Council resolution to bring to an immediate end what it referred
to as a nationwide campaign of violence against women by the Burmese
military.

"The [Burmese military] regime has continued to build up its military
infrastructure and deploy increasing numbers of troops in ethnic areas.
Evidence has continued to mount of these troops conscripting women as sex
slaves and committing gang rape, mutilation and murder. Military
offensives have been continuing, particularly in Karen areas, despite the
regime's claims to have brought 'peace and stability to the country,'" the
statement said.

The WLB urged the international community not to tolerate "the regime's
lies nor the abuses it commits against people in Burma, particularly women
and girls.

"There must be an end to their impunity through a binding resolution at
the UN Security Council," the statement read.

The WLB is an umbrella organisation founded in 1999 from 12 pre-existing
Burmese women's organisations.
Meanwhile, Charm Tong, a representative of the Shan Women's Action
Network, warned the Thai government and investors in the Tasang Dam
projects that their involvement in the projects was helping to perpetuate
violence against women in Shan state.

At a seminar in Chiang Mai, Charm Tong said that sexual violence committed
against Burmese women by the military was continuing, especially around
dam sites, where troops have been deployed.
She said the situation had not improved since 2002, when her group
released a report on the Burmese military's use of sexual violence in the
ongoing war in Shan state.

The report, entitled "Licence to Rape," documented the cases of 625 women
and girls who had suffered sexual violence at the hands of the military.
More than half of the incidents detailed in the report took place in the
area around the Tasang Dam.

Charm Tong said that the plight of women was a social impact that should
be considered by anyone involved in the dam projects.

However, Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont insisted last Thursday after a
trip to Burma that Thai energy projects in the country would continue
without change or review.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

November 28, Associated Press
US says it will seek a resolution calling on Myanmar government to comply
with commitments - Edith M. Lederer

United Nations: The United States plans to introduce a U.N. Security
Council resolution in the near future to press Myanmar's military
government to change policies that constitute a threat to international
peace and security.

U.S. Ambassador John Bolton cited the government's failure to curb
trafficking in drugs and people and to end abuses that have led one
million people to flee the country, and its actions that have made the
transmission of diseases like HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria across
borders more likely.

"The policies the government has been pursuing ... continue to contribute
to instability in the region and, therefore, in our view constitute a
threat to international peace and security," he said Monday.

Bolton said in the first resolution the United States will not seek
sanctions against Mynamar, which the U.S. still calls by its previous name
Burma.

"I think what it will do is lay out what we expect Burma's performance to
be," he said. "We need to focus on concrete changes in Burmese policy. ...
The resolution will focus on those elements of the government's policies
that do threaten stability in the region and more broadly."

The council decided to put Myanmar on its agenda on Sept. 15. The move
means the council can give greater scrutiny to the government and the
plight of the South Asian nation's people by asking for briefings by U.N.
officials and adopting resolutions.

Washington faces an uphill struggle, however, in getting the council to
take tough action against Myanmar's government. China strongly opposed
putting the country on the agenda as did Russia and both are veto-wielding
members of the Security Council.

Bolton announced that the U.S. would seek a resolution following a
closed-door briefing to the Security Council by Undersecretary-General for
Political Affairs Ibrahim Gambari, who recently returned from his second
visit to Myanmar where he was allowed for a second time to meet imprisoned
pro-democracy leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi.

Gambari told reporters afterward, when asked about a U.S. resolution, that
"the council is master of its own decisions and it's up to them to decide
how to proceed."

During his talks with government leaders, Gambari said he raised the need
to release all political prisoners, including Suu Kyi.

"Her health is fair considering the circumstances of her prolonged
detention," he said. "She asked to have more regular visits by her doctor
and I'm pleased to note that on Nov. 16 she was allowed to see her
doctor." The doctor had previously seen her on Aug. 24.

Bolton said the United States is quite concerned about Suu Kyi's physical
condition. "We think, obviously, she should be released from house arrest,
but at a minimum, they have to make sure that she is not denied
appropriate humanitarian assistance," he said.

Myanmar's junta took power in 1988 after crushing the democracy movement
led by Suu Kyi. In 1990, it refused to hand over power when Suu Kyi's
party won a landslide election victory.

Since then, Suu Kyi has been in and out of detention. She is kept in
near-solitary confinement at her home, and is generally not allowed
telephone contact or outside visitors.

Suu Kyi looked gaunt in a rare photo released by the United Nations after
her meeting with Gambari.

Gambari said he also raised the issue of an all-inclusive political
process in Myanmar.

"There's a national convention that is going on, a lot of momentum, but in
our view this is not an all-inclusive process" because Suu Kyi's party,
the National League for Democracy, is not included, he said.

"Once again the government did tell me that after the constitution is
written the NLD will be allowed to contest elections under the new
constitution," Gambari said.

He said he also raised the need for an agreement between the government
and U.N. agencies to deliver humanitarian assistance to those in need, the
need for an agreement with the International Labor Organization to address
complaints about forced labor, and the need for a halt to fighting with
ethnic minorities, in particular in Kayin.

"None of the issues raised, or suggestions I raised, were rejected so they
are all on the table and we are just waiting for concrete action on their
part," Gambari said.

He stressed that his "good offices" mission requires patience and
persistence "but it cannot be open-ended and we are now waiting for the
government to take further steps to respond to the concerns of the
international community."

"The ball is clearly in the court of the government," Gambari said.

____________________________________

November 28, Irrawaddy
Burmese opposition calls for UN Security Council action - Yeni

Burma’s leading opposition party, the National League for Democracy, and
the 88 Generation Students group called on the UN Security Council on
Tuesday to adopt a binding resolution on Burma.

The call came one day after UN Under Secretary-General Ibrahim Gambari
briefed the Security Council on his visit this month to Burma, and as
Washington’s ambassador to the UN, John Bolton, disclosed he was working
on the text of a resolution the US planned to present to the council. The
resolution would show how the Burmese regime’s policies represented a
danger to the region, he said.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy today, National League for Democracy spokesman
Han Thar Myint said the party was asking the Security Council to pass a
binding but non-punitive resolution supporting “democratization and
national reconciliation.”

The 88 Generation Students group supported the NLD call, Kyaw Min Yu, one
of the group’s leaders, said. “We have enough words,” he declared. “Now we
need action as soon as possible.”

Gambari told reporters after briefing the Security Council that during his
four-day visit he had raised five major issues in his talks with Snr-Gen
Than Shwe and other leaders—humanitarian access, a more inclusive
political process, the need to work with the International Labour
Organization and a cessation of hostilities against ethnic minorities,
particularly in Karen state.

Gambari said the “good offices” process of the UN towards Burma “cannot be
open ended
We are now waiting for the [Burmese] government to take further
steps to respond to the concerns of the international community.”

US Ambassador John Bolton announced on Monday that he was seeking a
Security Council resolution calling on the Burmese regime to comply with
“its obligations to reduce [the] downward spiral of its performance that
constitutes a threat to international peace and security.” He expected to
produce a text within the next few days or weeks, Bolton told reporters.

Russia and China have opposed previous action against Burma within the
Security Council, maintaining the regime represented no danger to peace
and stability in the region. Bolton said the new US resolution would
“focus on those elements of the government's policies that do threaten
stability in the region and more broadly.”

The junta had not done enough to curb the trafficking of people and of
narcotics, and one million Burmese were living abroad, Bolton said.  The
regime’s policies, he said, also increased the risk of highly contagious
diseases, such as HIV/AIDS and malaria, being transmitted across
international borders.

Bolton said the draft resolution would not call for sanctions, but “lay
out what we expect Burma's performance to be.”

The UN Security Council held its first discussions on Burma in December,
2005. In September, 2006, Burma was formally placed on the Security
Council's agenda.

____________________________________

November 26, Saint Paul Pioneer Press (Minnesota)
The gift of a new life - Molly Millett

Glowing with gratitude, a family that struggled to survive now strives to
succeed in a new country.

When her village was set on fire by the Myanmar government in 1997, a
heavily pregnant Lah Thaw escaped with her family across the border to
Thailand. There, in a car along the side of a road, she gave birth to her
youngest child.

"I could hear the sounds of gunfire across the border," Thaw says through
an interpreter. "I gave birth in fear. After our daughter was born, I was
too traumatized to even hold her, so a friend did. I was afraid: I didn't
know our future. I didn't know where to go. The Thai authorities were
threatening to return us to Burma (the former name of Myanmar)."

Compared with that kind of trauma, starting over as a refugee in the
United States is easy for Thaw and her family.

Their positive attitude about making a fresh start is the reason Amy Twe,
their employment counselor at Lifetrack Resources, nominated them for
Holiday Wishes, the annual Pioneer Press program to help local families in
need.

"Over the past year, this family has overcome many obstacles and worked
very hard to obtain training and begin working," Twe wrote in her
nomination.

But the refugees are struggling.

STARTING OVER

Thaw and her husband, Po Hsi, are part of an ethnic group at odds with the
military junta that rules Myanmar. In 1995, when the regime took over
their village, Hsi says, he stepped on a land mine while fleeing. His
right leg had to be amputated. After another village burned in 1997, they
escaped to a Thai refugee camp, where they lived for seven years.

When the family arrived in St. Paul in 2004, they lived in a small
apartment, took English classes and looked for jobs. That was difficult,
they say, given the couple's lack of English skills and work history, as
well as Hsi's disability.

"I applied to a lot of places, without luck," said Hsi, who says he worked
as a vendor in Myanmar and Thailand.

Eventually, Hsi entered a training program at Lifetrack Resources, which
allowed him to gain three months of paid work experience doing light
packaging and assembly.

Afterward, Hsi found a job -- thanks to Twe, who is also from Myanmar and
knows what it's like to start over.

"No man is an island," she says. "The father of my husband asked him to
apply for job as a sushi helper."

Now, after more than a year of training, the family is operating three
grocery-store sushi bars in Plymouth, Minnetonka and St. Cloud. But
launching a business with limited means and no credit history has been
challenging, and the family is struggling to get off what they describe as
short-term welfare assistance. They are in need of everything from winter
clothes to groceries.

A LONG COMMUTE

No one who works with Hsi knows of his family's troubles. On a recent
Saturday afternoon, he stood in the Byerly's deli in St. Cloud, quietly
preparing trays of sushi with names like Blazing California Roll and Rock
'n' Roll Supreme.

"He's always here," says JoAnn Hall, kitchen manager. "He's always gracious."

It takes Hsi awhile to get to his job: Seven days a week, he commutes 155
miles between his home in St. Paul and the sushi bar in St. Cloud. Along
the way, he drops off and picks up his wife and sister-in-law at the
family's sushi bars in Minnetonka and Plymouth. They each work 11-hour
days.

The family is just beginning to feel settled in a St. Paul house they
acquired in a rent-to-own program, so they say they don't want to move
closer to their businesses, which they took over in August.

"If you go every day, it seems closer," Hsi says of the drive.

Still, sometimes their 1993 Chevrolet doesn't want to cooperate. And it's
unclear whether the family will be able to coax the car through the
winter.

"They need a more reliable car," Twe says.

But Hsi isn't complaining. He says he's just glad his family is getting a
chance to succeed in their new country.

"In America, you have freedom," he says through an interpreter. "You can
work and have a chance to stand on your own feet and be self-employed.
Success in America depends only on how much energy and work you put into
the effort."

"I LIKE FREEDOM"

On a recent evening, the children of Hsi, 40, and Thaw, 49, gather in
their living room to talk, in English, about their old life in Thailand
and their new life in America. Their parents watch them with affection,
their smiles nearly as bright as their children's. At hand is a platter of
sushi and cups of sweet Burmese tea.

"When we lived in the camp, we had to help our mother sell cookies,
because we had no money for food or clothes," says Taw Taw, the couple's
14-year-old daughter.

In America, the kids still help out.

"When I get home from school, we wash dishes, wash clothes, clean house,
get dinner started," says Taw Taw.

But Taw Taw dreams of bigger things: "I want to learn everything," she says.

"I like America, because I don't have to work all day. It's different
here," says her sister, 12-year-old Wha Wha. "When we wanted to bathe in
Thailand, we had to go down to the river to bring back water to put in a
tub."

"Sometimes, it was so cold in our house," Taw Taw says.

The family initially lived in a bamboo hut.

"When the winds blew, it blew away," Hsi says.

Later, they say, "after the U.N. came to help," everyone received sturdier
housing.

The couple's son, 11-year-old Po Kwa Hsi, is quickly leaving the memory of
the refugee camp behind. He's an American kid now: He likes computers and
PlayStation games.

There's one more thing he likes about his new country: "The teacher never
hits us."

The couple's youngest child, the one who was born on the side of a Thai
road, speaks last.

"My name is Dah Dah. I'm 9 years old and in the fourth grade," she says.
"I love science. I want to be a pastor when I grow up, because that's what
my mom told me to be."

The mother and father say their children are the reason they're working
hard in this new country.

"Our first priority is to make sure our children get an education and good
jobs," Hsi says. "Other than that, if our business can grow, that would be
great."

But they're also happy with life as it is and the help they've already
received from Americans, says Thaw's sister, Hser Hser. The 36-year-old
woman says she was arrested, interrogated and beaten by the Myanmar army.
When the authorities released her with instructions to return to her
village and find hidden weapons for them, she instead escaped to Thailand,
where she joined her sister's family. Hser sleeps on a mattress in the
family's basement and is lonely, dreaming of a family of her own. But she
says her new life is a gift.

"I like freedom," she says. "It's so peaceful here." The Hsi-Thaw family's
holiday wishes

- A reliable car
- Grocery store, gasoline and Target gift cards
- Winter clothes
- School supplies and books to help the family learn English

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OPINION / OTHER

November 28, The Irrawaddy
More suffering, deaths to follow ICRC ban

Burma’s military regime has ordered the International Committee of the Red
Cross to close its five offices in Mandalay, Moulmein, Pa-an, Taunggyi and
Kengtung. The move by the regime was a big and heartless blow, not only to
the ICRC’s humanitarian assistance efforts but also to vulnerable people
who desperately need help.

The regime also announced that ICRC visits to prisoners would not be
allowed. The relief agency was the only route to access to prisons in
which about 1,100 political prisoners are languishing.

For six years, from 1999 to 2005, the ICRC visited prisons and provided
inmates with assistance, including health care and medicines to political
prisoners and those confined in labor camps. In December 2005, however,
the regime applied restrictions that effectively made it impossible for
the ICRC to carry out its prison work independently.

Discussions with the regime on easing the restrictions led nowhere. Now,
with the latest order, nearly all ICRC activities have been officially
terminated, meaning that conditions for prisoners will inevitably worsen.

After the ICRC resumed its operations in Burma in 1999, prison conditions
improved. According to former political prisoners, the authorities started
allowing political prisoners to read books, which had previously been
banned. Political prisoners denied visits by anyone apart from family
members could receive ICRC representatives and talk openly to them. The
ICRC visits provided a means of checking on prison conditions.

The visits also provided health care to prisoners, and at their height the
ICRC was supplying nearly half of all medicines in Burma’s prisons.

The regime’s current move now against the ICRC is seen by reliable sources
as part of a plan to to control humanitarian assistance and take over
organizations providing it, replacing them with its own. Official
newspapers recently reported that regime-sponsored groups, including the
military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Association, were 
visiting prisons and claimed conditions were being improved.

The claim rings hollow in the light of the sickening toll of political
prisoners dying in Burma’s jails—131 at the last count. The latest victim
was pro-democracy activist Thet Win Aung, who was serving a 60-year
sentence in Mandalay Prison. He died last month from health problems
exacerbated by a lack of proper medical care.

The question now is: how many more prisoners will die as a result of the
regime’s clampdown on the ICRC? The additional suffering caused by this
willful action will be immeasurable.