BurmaNet News, July 15, 2008

[Editor]

July 15, 2008 Issue #3511


INSIDE BURMA
Reuters: Man killed in bomb blast on Myanmar bus
DVB: CNF threatens assassinations if development obstructed
DVB: Martyrs’ day invitations withdrawn
Kachin News Group: Putao farmers under junta scanner

ON THE BORDER
Mizzima News: "Arrested Lieutenant not our member": KNU

BUSINESS / TRADE
Mizzima News : Burma's outdoor advertising industry in doldrums after Nargis
DVB: Donated fishing equipment taken back from villagers
Irrawaddy: Refugee accommodation booming in Rangoon

HEALTH / AIDS
AP: Study finds Myanmar, Indonesia, Thailand face high risk from arsenic
contamination

DRUGS
AFP: Myanmar arrests 329 drug traffickers in June: state media
Mizzima News: Trial of Burmese business tycoon Maung Weik begins

REGIONAL
AFP: China top destination for Myanmar trafficking victims

INTERNATIONAL
Irrawaddy: Gambari’s Burma visit postponed
Mizzima News: British MPs call on Govt. to investigation Mahn Sha's
assassination

OPINION / OTHER
Mizzima News: Police incompetence; multiple murderers still at large
Irrawaddy: A call to arms? - Kyaw Zwa Moe
Irrawaddy: Htein Lin: A moving monument - Ko Ko Thett

PRESS RELEASE
ASEAN Secretariat: PONJA report ready for launch on 21 July 2008



____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

July 15, Reuters
Man killed in bomb blast on Myanmar bus – Aung Hla Tun

One man was killed when a bomb exploded on a bus in army-ruled Myanmar,
newspapers said on Tuesday, the latest incident ahead of anniversaries
that sometimes serve as flashpoints for dissent.

Another male passenger was wounded when the device exploded early on
Monday as the minibus traveled from the eastern town of Kyaukkyi to the
former capital Yangon.

The Myanma Alin newspaper blamed the blast on "insurgents resorting to
various destructive acts with intent to jeopardize the stability of the
state, community peace and tranquility by causing casualties and panic
among the innocent people".

Kyaukkyi is in Karen state, home to the largest of the rebel militias in
the former Burma.

The junta normally points the finger at dissident groups, ranging from
exiled pro-democracy activists to ethnic militias who have been fighting
for greater autonomy or even independence for more than five decades.

The regime stepped up security measures in early July after a small bomb
exploded at the offices of a pro-junta group, and ahead of several key
anniversaries.

Martyrs' Day on July 19 commemorates the assassination of General Aung
San, the architect of the country's independence from British rule and
father of detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The Nobel peace laureate has been confined at her Yangon home for nearly
13 of the past 19 years, with her latest detention beginning in May 2003.

Another major date is August 8, the numerically auspicious 08-08-08 and
20th anniversary of an "8-8-88" student uprising crushed by the army with
the loss of an estimated 3,000 lives.

The looming first anniversary of last September's monk-led protests
against the regime, in which at least 31 people died in a military
crackdown, has seen increased surveillance of key Buddhist monasteries by
junta spies.

(Editing by Darren Schuettler and David Fox)

____________________________________

July 15, Democratic Voice of Burma
CNF threatens assassinations if development obstructed – Khin Maung Soe Min

The Chin National Front has vowed to carry out sniper attacks on
government and Union Solidarity and Development Association officials if
they obstruct the group’s efforts to boost development in Chin state.

The CNF said they have started an operation named People Power 20, or
PP20, to encourage development in Chin state in cooperation with the Chin
people.

According to the CNF’s guidelines, the operation aims to promote regional,
education and health development, and prohibits hunting in the Chin
forests and using explosives to catch fish in rivers.

CNF military coordinator Pu Solomon said the armed group has also formed
special operations squads to conduct assassinations of government
officials who disrupt their operation.

"First, we will give notorious military officials and USDA personnel a
warning that we will take their lives in sniper attacks," said Pu Solomon.

"If they ignore the warning then we will take real action against them,"
the coordinator said.

"We have conducted special training for sharpshooters in our group for the
sniper operations."

Pu Shwe Kha, joint-secretary of the CNF, said the group has also decided
to cut taxes collected from the Chin people to the bare minimum.

"Before, we used to collect 3000 kyat annual tax from every household –
but now we have reduced that to 10 kyat," said Pu Shwe Kha.

"Our operation aims to help the people in Chin state to deal with their
struggles," he said.

"We will accept the 10 kyat tax from the people just to show them our
appreciation of their contribution to the revolution."

The CNF previously held talks on a ceasefire agreement with the government
military officials in March 2007 but these ended without an effective
resolution except for an agreement on both sides to resume talks at a
later date.

"We believe we will resume the talks in future – we are studying the
strengths and weaknesses of the ceasefire groups and we will find a
peaceful answer for our country's political situation," said Pu Shwe Kha.

The CNF was formed by fighters in Chin state after the 8888 uprising and
it is a member of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation.

____________________________________

July 15, Democratic Voice of Burma
Martyrs’ day invitations withdrawn

Foreign embassies and diplomats in Rangoon have been notified that
invitations they received from the military regime inviting them to a
martyr’s day commemoration event on 19 July have been withdrawn.

The Burmese regime sent out a second batch of letters to the embassies to
cancel the invitations.

It is not clear whether the event will still go ahead without the presence
of foreign embassy personnel.

A diplomat told DVB that no reason had been given for the regime’s decision.

“We don’t know the reason behind the cancellation of the invitations or
whether or not the commemoration is still being held,” the diplomat said.

“The Martyrs’ Day commemoration is organised by the government’s Cultural
Ministry every year,” he went on.

“All we can say at the moment is that there will be no foreign diplomats
attending it this year.”

Martyrs’ day commemorates the day in 1947 when nine people, including
general Aung San and other independence leaders, were assassinated.

Burma holds an annual ceremony to mark the day at the Martyrs’ Mausoleum
in Bahan township, Rangoon.

____________________________________

July 15, Kachin News Group
Putao farmers under junta scanner

Farmers in Putao in Kachin State in northern Burma are under the scanner
with the Burmese military regime investigating whether they are growing
rice in their farms this season, a source said.

Personnel in all governmental departments in Putao went to the offices of
the Village Peace and Development Councils (Ya-Ya-Ka) and began collecting
a list of farmers to find out who had and who had not been growing rice in
their farms since May, said a resident in Putao.

According to Putao residents, the Burmese military based in Putao has
ordered residents who own farms in Putao to cultivate rice this year.

Meanwhile, price of rice has soared to twice the amount it was being sold
for and it now costs over 2,000 Kyat (US $1.6) per Pyi (1 Pyi = 8
condensed milk cans), a resident added.

The reason behind the increase in the price of rice in Putao is the
devastation caused by Cyclone Nargis in Irrawaddy River Delta, known as
the giant rice-bowl of Burma and the expansion of the Burmese Army in
Putao, a resident in Putao said.

However, Putao has always depended on rice grown locally and has never
imported rice from lower Burma, the resident added.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

July 15, Mizzima News
"Arrested Lieutenant not our member": KNU – Than Htike Oo

The Karen National Union (KNU) has denied reports that the person arrested
by Burmese soldiers in Thailand belongs to KNU.

News was in circulation in Thailand that 2nd Lt. Pu Pu of the KNU Drug
Enforcement Force was arrested by Burmese soldiers on July 11 near
Friendship Bridge in Maesod, northern Thailand.

"We can confirm that he is not a member of the KNU," Pado Saw Hla Ngwe,
Information Department in-charge of KNU Headquarters, told Mizzima.

The KNU denied and responded to the news at the same time saying that 2nd
Lt. Pu Pu from KNU arrived at a place near Friendship Bridge to meet
Burmese soldiers on appointment and then he was beaten unconscious and
taken away in a mini-bus to Myawadi across Maesod.

"He used to visit some leaders of KNU occasionally, but I'd like to say he
has nothing to do with KNU anymore," Pado Saw Hla Ngwe said.

Though the person arrested by Burmese soldiers joined hands with KNU in an
anti-drug campaign two years ago, he hasn't had any relationship with the
KNU for long time, Pado Saw Hla Ngwe added.

"We learnt that he sometimes lived in Mae La refugee camp and did odd jobs
outside," he added.

While Burmese soldiers came and arrested a person in Thailand, some
officers from Maj. Gen. Htein Maung's KNU-KNLA (Peace Council), a
breakaway group of the KNU, returned and rejoined.

Lt. Col. Saw Gay Htu and some of his soldiers came back for fear of being
punished after Saw Lemu, son-in-law of Maj. Gen. Htein Maung, was
assassinated.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

July 15, Mizzima News
Burma's outdoor advertising industry in doldrums after Nargis

Cyclone Nargis, which devastated an estimated 2.4 million lives, has left
tell tale marks on businesses – particularly advertising industry - in
Burma's former capital Rangoon.

The nascent advertising industry in Rangoon is among the many business
ventures thrown into doldrums by the cyclone that left at least 138,000
dead and missing.

"About 80 per cent of the [advertising] billboards were blown away by the
strong winds that the cyclone generated," an official from the Merry
Myanmar Advertising Company in Rangoon told Mizzima.

Cyclone Nargis, in its wake, not only blew away roofs and private houses
but also flung advertising billboards, leaving companies counting their
losses on what they had heavily invested.

Zaw Lin, spokesperson of the Myanmar Ganad advertising company in Rangoon
said they lost about 80 per cent of their advertising billboards in the
cyclone. Putting them back in place has cost a huge sum of money.

"So far, we have spent more than 40 million Kyat (US$ 30769) in repairing
and replacing the billboards," Zaw Lin told Mizzima, expressing concern
that more needs to be spent.

Zaw Lin said his company owned about 35 large sized billboards, 20 by 60
feet each, and several smaller ones.  The loss has been incurred by the
company in the absence of billboards being insured.

Similarly, Aung Myat, Managing Director of the 21 Advertising Company said
about 90 per cent of the billboards owned by his company in and around
Rangoon has been destroyed.

"So far, we have spent over 20 million Kyat (US$ 15384) but we have to do
a lot more repairing," Aung Myat told Mizzima.

Adding to the grief of the companies, Rangoon Municipals, also known as
Yangon City Development Committee (YCDC), ordered the advertising
companies to complete repairing and reconstructing the billboards latest
by the end of June.

"But since we could not do it, it seems they understood us. It is a big
load for us," Aung Myat said.

Billboards and huge sign boards have lately sprung up as a new way of
advertising in Burma's commercial hub, Rangoon.

Though television, newspaper and radio advertising are still the most
popular forms of advertisement, billboards and other outdoor advertisement
have slowly picked up, said Zaw Lin from Myanmar Ganad.

But in military-ruled Burma, where the junta keeps a tight control over
any form of expression including restrictions on the press, companies are
not free to post any writings on their advertisement billboards.

Zaw Lin said the difficulty in outdoor advertisement business in Burma is
waiting for permission from the YCDC to approve the words in the
advertisement text, the structure and even the size of the board.

A former marketing executive of the EYE advertisement company said,
"Getting clients is not as tough as building a relationship with officials
of the YCDC to get approvals for the advertisement."

The executive said, companies are required to bribe officials at the YCDC
to get easier and faster approvals.

Relationships are built on how much you can give to the officials [at
YCDC] and once you have a good relationship going, things work smoothly,"
she added.

Despite the hurdles, several companies have sprung up in the field of
outdoor advertisement, she added.

But the bigger companies that have a good relationship with the YCDC and
other government officials control the market share, she added.

According to her, EYE Corp., Myanmar Ganad, ATM, Youth Force, Merry
Myanmar Advertising, IDEA, 21 Advertising, and Outdoor Advertising
companies with their branch offices spread across the country are
currently leading in the market.

Reporting by Mizzima correspondent, writing by Mungpi

____________________________________

July 15, Democratic Voice of Burma
Donated fishing equipment taken back from villagers – Naw Say Phaw

Villagers in Daydaye township, Irrawaddy division, have complained that
local authorities have taken back items given to them at a public donation
by the government and other private donors.

A private donor told DVB that village authorities had given fishing boats,
nets and other equipment to the villagers in front of visiting senior
officials but then took them back once the officials had left.

Village authorities gave speeches announcing the donation of 150 fishing
boats and other items during the senior officials’ visit, the donor said.

“They told the senior authorities how much the boats and fishing nets had
cost, and they told them people should be grateful to the government for
these supplies as they would now be able to successfully restart the local
fishing industry,” he said.

“But when the senior authorities had gone, the township authorities and
USDA officials took all the stuff back and told the fishermen to go home
and that they would get them later,” he explained.

“But they never got them and they had to go home empty-handed.”

Cyclone refugees in Daydaye have also been pressured to drop their demands
for new housing promised to them by the local authorities while the senior
officials were visiting, according to the donor.

The donor also said that local authorities had skimmed off some of the
money given by private donors to help cyclone victims.

“Donors gave cash to the authorities to buy supplies for the refugees and
farmers, but they only bought cheap seeds that you can’t grow anything
with and kept the rest of the money for themselves,” he said.

“Apparently the crop seeds were wet and will never grow anything – they
will only waste the farmers’ time and energy.”

____________________________________

July 15, Irrawaddy
Refugee accommodation booming in Rangoon – Violet Cho

Residents of Rangoon’s suburbs are enjoying the financial benefits of
renting their houses to the substantial influx of refugees from
cyclone-devastated areas in the Irrawaddy delta.

According to locals in Hlaing Tharyar Township, the most popular method of
bringing in extra income for those living in the suburbs of the Rangoon
Industrial Zone is to rent out their houses.

Zaw Win, a resident of Hlaing Tharyar Township said that he is renting his
small wooden house to a refugee family who recently arrived from Laputta.
“My house is located a bit far from the Industrial Zone, but an agent
brought people to me, so I now have one family renting my house.

“Renting houses to outsiders is our main source of income, so every person
who owns apartments or houses around here will definitely rent their
houses out,” he said. “I charge 15,000 kyat (US $13) per month and I have
to give the first month’s rent to the agent who brought over the
customer.”

According to the US State Department, the majority of Burmese citizens
manage to survive on an annual income of less than $200. Presently,
inflation has caused a shortfall on spending and the eroding value of the
local currency has reduced living standards.

According to Zaw Win, more than 100 families from Laputta Township and
Irrawaddy Division have recently arrived in Hlaing Tharyar Township and
are now temporarily living there, looking for work.

Since the May 2-3 cyclone ravaged the Irrawaddy delta, many refugees who
lost their homes and possessions have left their villages and headed to
urban areas with the hope of finding a job and some regular income.

However, according to several members of the refugee community in Hlaing
Tharyar, there are some jobs for men in Rangoon but very few for women.

“I used to own several plots of land for growing rice, but now I have
nothing,” said Myint Soe, a refugee from Laputta. “I don’t want to borrow
money from other people, so I brought my family to Rangoon to work here.”

Myint Soe said he lost his youngest daughter in the storm and now he and
his son are working as makeshift cargo loaders at Bayintnaung wholesale
center in Rangoon.

“We get some money if trucks come with raw materials that we can carry
down to the warehouse, but we get nothing if no trucks come. They already
have contracted loaders at the wholesale center, so we only get to work if
they are not able to do everything,” he said.

According to a Rangoon-based journalist, all the rental houses and
apartments near the Industrial Zone are overcrowded as more and more
migrants have come from the delta and other rural areas.

“There are so many young jobless women from cyclone-affected areas waiting
to get jobs in sweatshop factories in the industrial zone,” Myint Soe
said. “The majority of rural women who are living here work at factories
in the daytime and at night they work in karaoke bars to earn extra
money.”

Due to the economic crisis in the Irrawaddy delta, many people are not
only leaving their villages and migrating to cities like Rangoon, but also
to neighboring countries such as Thailand, he added.

____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

July 15, Associated Press
Study finds Myanmar, Indonesia, Thailand face high risk from arsenic
contamination – Michael Casey

Myanmar's cyclone-devastated Irrawaddy delta and Indonesia's Sumatra
island face high risks of arsenic contamination in groundwater that could
cause cancer and other diseases in residents, according to a new
study.Using a digitalized model that examines geological features and soil
chemistry in Southeast Asia, researchers writing in the peer-reviewed
journal Nature Geoscience mapped several likely hot spots that had never
been assessed for arsenic risks.

"Obviously, there is concern," said Michael Berg, one of the five authors,
who is a senior scientist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic
Science and Technology in Dubendor, Switzerland. "If you look at our data,
there is risk of arsenic in the ground water."

Arsenic, especially in drinking water, is a global threat to health,
affecting more than 70 countries and 137 million people. The country worst
affected is Bangladesh, where hundreds of thousands of people are in
danger of dying from cancers of the lung, bladder and skin.

Odorless and tasteless, arsenic enters water supplies from natural
deposits in the ground or from agricultural and industrial practices.
Arsenic is poisonous when consumed in high doses, but even smaller amounts
can cause cancer, skin problems and abnormal heart rhythms.

Berg and the other authors determined a high risk of arsenic contamination
exceeding World Health Organization guidelines in Myanmar's Irrawaddy
delta, a low-lying area hit by a May cyclone that killed at least 84,537
people.

Their models also found that 38,610 square miles of Sumatra's east coast
was at risk as well as the Chao Phraya river basin in central Thailand —
although the dangers in the Chao Phraya were lower because residents in
the area tap deeper aquifers.

Researchers said regions with organic-rich sediment containing silt and
clay have a higher likelihood of arsenic contamination.

"These are very young sediments. Only in young formation do we find that
arsenic can be released from the sediment," Berg said Friday, adding that
arsenic in soil that is much older has been mostly washed away.

Berg said he hopes the maps they developed could serve as "a red flag" for
authorities to take precautions before building wells or other water
facilities in areas deemed at high risk of arsenic contamination. Until
now, testing for arsenic has been rare in many regions because it is
costly and time consuming, he said.

Lex van Geen, a geochemist at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth
Observatory who has studied arsenic contamination in Bangladesh and did
not participate in the study, said it should be lauded for drawing
attention to areas where little research has been done on the arsenic
threat, such as Myanmar. But he said the digital models do not identify
areas well below the surface where water quality is good.

"Using the mapping based on surface geology will identify settings where
arsenic could be high in shallow groundwater," van Geen said. "What it
can't tell you is how deep you might have to go to reach the low arsenic
water, which is really what matters from a mitigation point of view."

____________________________________
DRUGS

July 15, Agence France Presse
Myanmar arrests 329 drug traffickers in June: state media

MYANMAR authorities arrested 329 drug traffickers in June in a crackdown
following warnings by the United Nations that opium production was soaring
again, state media reported on Tuesday.

In 192 cases last month, authorities also seized more than 119 kilograms
of opium and heroin, the New Light of Myanmar said.

Other drugs including 2.39 kilos of marijuana and 16,082 stimulant tablets
were also seized in June, the paper said.

'Action was taken against 329 persons - 265 men and 64 women - in 192
cases,' the paper said.

Myanmar authorities have declared the country will be drugs-free by 2014.

Under pressure from governments including its close ally China, Myanmar
began an anti-drugs campaign in the 1990s to eradicate the opium crop,
losing its title as the world's top producer to Afghanistan.

But the UN Office on Drugs and Crime reported last year that after a few
years of steep decline, opium production in Myanmar had risen once again,
by 46 per cent in 2006-2007.

The United Nations blamed high-level collusion and corruption for the
rise, while activists across the border in Thailand say the crop
substitution programmes for poor farmers have not been successful.

The military-ruled nation has also become a hub for methamphetamine
production, with convoys of high-tech trucks ferrying chemicals and mobile
laboratories under the cover of Myanmar's dense jungle, experts say.

____________________________________

July 15, Mizzima News
Trial of Burmese business tycoon Maung Weik begins

In one of the bigger scandals that have rocked Burma, a secret and special
tribunal in the country's notorious Insein prison on Monday commenced the
trial of business tycoon Maung Weik. He is charged with alleged abuse and
trafficking in drugs.

With tight security in place in the surrounding areas of Insein prison in
Rangoon, the tribunal reportedly questioned the government prosecutor's
witnesses.

Eyewitnesses said in the periphery of the prison were parked luxury
vehicles – at least four Land Cruisers – as the Managing Director of Maung
Weik and Family Ltd. Co., relatives and well wishers of the six defendants
came to the prison.

Meanwhile, Aung Zaw Ye Myint, son of Lt. Gen Ye Myint, who was sent to the
Wethtikan drug rehabilitation centre for using drugs, reportedly returned
to his Rangoon home.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

July 15, Agence France Presse
China top destination for Myanmar trafficking victims

Myanmar police have rescued more than 450 victims of human trafficking
since 2005, a private weekly magazine said Monday, adding that most of
them were being smuggled to neighbouring China.

Police have arrested 480 people accused of trying to smuggle people out of
the country since September 2005, when a new law took effect banning the
practice, the Weekly Eleven journal said, citing police reports. Of a
total 471 people rescued, “eighty percent of the victims were headed to
China, 15 percent to Thailand, and five percent were being trafficked
within the country,” the journal said. The journal’s story included
arrests up to December 2007.

In the wake of deadly Cyclone Nargis, police told local media that they
had rescued 80 storm victims - mainly women and children - at border
checkpoints where they were being lured overseas with the promise of aid
and better jobs. Despite the ban on human trafficking, the United States
said in an annual report last year that Myanmar’s military regime was
complicit in the smuggling of people to Bangladesh, China, Malaysia and
Thailand. Among the reasons were sexual exploitation, domestic service and
forced labour.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

July 15, Irrawaddy
Gambari’s Burma visit postponed – Lalit K Jha

UN Special Envoy to Burma Ibrahim Gambari’s visit to Burma in July has
been postponed, apparently because the UN is cautious over what the
mission might accomplish in the way of tangible results.

Gambari was scheduled to visit Burma sometime this month to revive his
efforts towards achieving the UN’s goal of political reconciliation and
democracy in Burma and the release of political prisoners, including Aung
San Suu Kyi.

Based on a number of factors, including the limited power of the UN,
sources privy to the decision-making process at UN headquarters in New
York told The Irrawaddy that the trip has been postponed, at least for
now.

Officials said one factor was that at a time when the UN and Asean are
busy coordinating humanitarian relief work in the cyclone-hit area of the
Irrawaddy delta, the UN does not want to risk another mission with little
to show in the way of tangible progress.

The UN's top humanitarian official, John Holms, will continue to lead UN
efforts in Burma.

The Burmese military government completed its constitutional referendum,
with claims it was supported by 92 percent of the voters, in June.
National elections are scheduled in 2010.

Other factors may have included political events in the Sudan, Zimbabwe
and the Middle East, which are taking much of the time and attention of
the world body.

It was only last year when the Burmese people, led by monks, publicly
demonstrated against the military junta, pushing Burma to become a focus
of the Security Council and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Diplomatic sources in the UN said the world body would continue to give
top priority to its humanitarian relief work in Burma and wait for an
appropriate time to revive its political mission when it feels that there
is possibility of achieving concrete results.
____________________________________

July 15, Mizzima News
British MPs call on Govt. to investigation Mahn Sha's assassination

Nearly 60 British parliamentarians have signed a petition, 'Early Day
Motion', urging for the UK government to investigate and expose the
assassins of Burma's ethnic rebel leader Padoh Mahn Sha Lah Phan.

In absence of no official investigation on the assassination of the
General Secretary of Karen National Union (KNU), an ethnic armed rebel
group, the British parliamentarians call on the UK government to conduct a
direct investigation and expose the culprit.

"We welcome this move by the British parliamentarians because it is not
only a moral support but is a fight against injustice," Zoya Phan,
daughter of Mahn Sha, who is currently in UK, told Mizzima.

Mahn Sha was assassinated on February 14, by two unknown gunmen at his
residence in the Thai-Burmese border town of Maesot. However, five months
on, the culprit behind the murder is still unknown.

Zoya said, "Though we know that it is the work of the Burmese military
junta, there has been no official announcement and we are sad about it."

The British MPs also condemn the Burmese military junta for its terrorist
act in organising the assassination, and call on the British government to
take action to stop attacks on the Karen and other ethnic civilians.

In loving memories of their father and in order to continue his works,
Zoya said she along with her two brothers and a sister had established the
'Phan Foundation'.

"Through this foundation, we aim to preserve the Karen culture and also
help Karen people in their education," Zoya said.

Mahn Sha elected as general secretary in December 2006 of the KNU, which
has been fighting for self-determination for over half a century.

Majoring in history at the Rangoon University in 1962, he joined the Karen
movement in the jungle soon after he complete his studies.

A highly respected figure among both ethnic and Burman allies the Burmese
military regime also see Manh Sha as a strong leader in the KNU.

He was 64 years old at the time of his death.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

July 15, Mizzima News
Police incompetence; multiple murderers still at large

Even three months after the cold blooded multiple murders in Rangoon the
culprits have not been brought to justice. Moreover, a suspect died in
police custody during interrogation. All those responsible for this
custodial death must be brought to justice.

The daylight murder was committed on March 3 this year at No. 126, Green
Bank, Kamayut Township where four of a family was killed along with a
maid. The crime scene was in well guarded posh colony, almost impossible
for a stranger to enter without being noticed.

Charlie a.k.a. Sao Kyi Pha (60), his wife San San Myint (58), daughters
Mya Sandar (36) and Hnin Pwint Aye (27) along with their maid Ma Ei Phau
(15) were found shot dead at their residence.

But the junta's security mechanism only concentrates in closely monitoring
the Nobel Peace Laureate Daw Aung Suu Kyi who turned 63 last month and the
opposition which express their will and desire in a peaceful manner. This
has led to crimes rising.

The rampant drug abuse among artistes and celebrities including high
profile business tycoon Maung Weik and Aung Zaw Ye Myint, son of one of
the recently retired top generals, proves the point vividly.

Lack of media freedom in Burma worsens the rising crime rate in Burma. The
media in Burma could write about the aforesaid multi-murder case only
several weeks after the crime was committed.

The censor board punished the 'Seven Days' weekly journal by suspending
its publishing rights for printing the story of the multiple murder case
entitled 'The four departed souls seeking justice'.

After the Green Bank multiple murder case, the Rangoon West District
Police Force arrested and interrogated the suspects. One of them died in
police custody during interrogation after eight days. Then the police
gagged the bereaved family by paying some money to them. The family had to
say everything is okay and could not a lodge complaint against them.

According to the Police Chief Police Brig. Gen. Khin Yee, more than one
handgun was used in the crime and the spent bullets were found with
Defense Industry (DI) markings.

However, when we look at the security forces under military rule, it is
not surprising for culprits to be at large in this murder case. Bombers
who killed 11 and left 162 injured in serial bombings committed on 7 May
2005 in Rangoon in three separate places are still at large which
highlight the junta's mismanagement and incompetence.

____________________________________

July 15, Irrawaddy
A call to arms? – Kyaw Zwa Moe

 “Nothing can defeat Burma’s military regime—at least to date.” I wrote
those words in a commentary after the monk-led uprising was crushed by
the junta last year. “All attempts at peaceful or violent means,
including armed struggle, people’s uprisings, international sanctions and
political engagement, have failed.”

But I missed one thing: a natural disaster.

The destruction caused by Cyclone Nargis has tested the military regime.
It clearly exposed again how restrictive, unreasonable and brutal the
generals are, but it couldn’t change the generals’ mindset—even to fully
collaborate with the international community to help their own people.

People expected that the monks uprising in September 2007 would have led
to something positive for the country. Again in May this year, many people
had hopes that an unreasonable response by the junta to the cyclone
disaster might create a positive scenario for humanitarian intervention.
But hopes were dashed when the generals largely shunned the international
community’s effort to provide quick, effective relief aid.

The generals have proved they can handle mass uprising and natural
disasters on their own terms, regardless of what others think and feel.

A people’s uprising is unlikely to happen again in the near future. Any
uprising, if it happened, would be brutally crushed.

Likewise, economic sanctions imposed by Western countries, led by United
States, have caused some disruption and inconvenience among the junta’s
senior leaders and business cronies, but they lack real power to bring
about democratic change.

After 20 years, diplomacy has proven to be a failure. Burmese people now
realize more than ever that they can’t count on the United Nations or the
international community to make meaningful change within the country. The
generals will continue to do whatever they wish.

The UN is actually useful to the generals—when they want to use it as a
political card—but useless for the people.

Perhaps, there is one option left: armed struggle. More Burmese people
have been talking about armed struggle in recent months. In fact, armed
struggles are nothing new in Burma.

When asked if there is a moral justification for an armed uprising by the
people of Burma, Noam Chomsky, the well-known political critic at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said in an interview with
Thailand’s Bangkok Post newspaper: “There certainly is, in my view, with
one qualification: An armed uprising would have to evaluate with care the
likely consequences for the people who are suffering.”

He said, “I think it’s appropriate for people to rise up, but it’s not for
me to tell people to risk mass murder. As for assassinating leaders, the
question is very much like asking whether it is appropriate to kill
murderers. They should be apprehended by non-violent means, if possible.
If they pull a gun and start shooting, it’s legitimate to kill them in
self-defense, if there is no lesser option.”

Burma has had various forms of armed struggles going on for the past six
decades, following the country’s independence from Britain. After 1988,
ethnic armed groups along the border were reinforced by groups of student
activists who fled the country after their movement was crushed by
government troops.

In 1989, the once powerful Community Party of Burma split into smaller
groups after it faced a mutiny within the party. In the 1990s, about 17
armed ethnic groups gained ceasefire agreements with the military regime.
They abandoned their fight, focusing on business concessions offered by
the government.

The All Burma Students’ Democratic Front (ABSDF), founded by students in
1988, gradually began to lose its momentum after 1991 following a split in
the leadership. ABSDF was very popular among the public. It appears that
its armed struggle is all but finished.

Today, a few armed groups, including the oldest rebel group, the Karen
National Union, haven’t reached ceasefire agreements, but their military
strength is only a tiny fraction of the regime’s 400,000 troops. It has
been a long time since armed groups staged large battles against
government troops. Brief skirmishes are now the norm.

Armed struggles have had an impact on Burmese politics in the
past—positively and negatively.

If an armed uprising could be sustained—one which focused on the freedom
of people—it could put pressure on the junta to some extent. It might even
move the country’s political scenario into a more positive, productive
path. If there is a moral justification for an armed uprising of suffering
people as Chomsky said, the question is now: Is it time for a new armed
uprising?

____________________________________

July 15, Irrawaddy
Htein Lin: A moving monument – Ko Ko Thett

Burmese people are said to be natural performers, because they are
accustomed to playing different roles in their fluid social circumstances
in an authoritarian society.  Performance art, however, is new to most
Burmese.

As in the West, Burmese performance art came out of the frustration of
avant-garde artists who found traditional media insufficient for their
creative energy and imagination.

Htein Lin is widely acknowledged in art circles as a pioneer of
performance art in Burma.  He began exploring the possibility of using his
own body, and its synergy with public space, as a medium of art in the
1990s on the streets of Rangoon.

By 2008, Hein Lin was a “former political prisoner,” a title that prefixes
the names of many Burmese artists and dissidents who have been through the
living hell of Burmese prisons because of their political convictions.  He
had also become a “London-based performance artist,” jetting around Europe
and beyond in search of his own soul so that he could show it to others. 
In early June, Hein Lin staged a series of “happenings” spread over three
evenings in Helsinki.

Htein Lin’s first performance, “Cyclone Nargis,” swept over Helsinki on
the evening of June 7 at Rautatientori, a neoclassical public square in
the heart of the Finnish capital.

As he stood on one of the red granite slabs on the square, unfurling a
Burmese monk’s saffron robe, it became clear the performance was going to
be a tribute to the Burmese monks of the “Saffron Revolution” and to their
relief and recovery efforts in the aftermath of  Cyclone Nargis.

Htein Lin was possessed and completely removed from his surrounding as he
executed a breathtakingly powerful performance over the next 30 minutes. 
In his hands, the monk’s robe was turned into many symbols that could be
read as the repressive military state of Burma, the monks’ reaction to the
repression, the wrath of nature, and near the end, a flurry of powerful
saffron waves that built to the end of the performance.  Htein Lin also
employed miscellaneous props, including a harmonica and water-filled
rubber gloves that eerily reminded one of the bloated hands and bodies of
the cyclone victims.  Perhaps his message was that the “Saffron
Revolution” had been as devastating to the military regime as Cyclone
Nargis was to the people of lower Burma.

“Yes or No” was performed the following evening at the same location and
was the artist’s reaction to Burma’s May 10 constitutional referendum. 
His message this time was mundane and direct.  Htein Lin, while being held
back by air-filled black plastic bags bound to his body, struggled forward
in slow motion against a powerful wind.

With each step forward, he asked a question, such as: “Do you agree to the
murder of monks in Burma?”; “Do you agree to the persecution of Aung San
Suu Kyi and other dissidents there?”; “Do you approve the existence of the
military regime?”; and “Do you approve of their constitution?”

“Fly,” performed on June 10, was the series’ only performance in a closed
space, a ball room of a Helsinki hotel.  A closed space was fitting for a
performance which was a violent flashback of the artist’s own harrowing
prison experience.  The performance began with a blindfolded Htein Lin
walking into the room, followed by a reenactment of the routine
degradation of a Burmese political prisoner.

Bo Kyi of the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma)
performed the interrogator’s role.

After Bo Kyi role was ended, and he left the space, Htein Lin calmly
removed all his clothes and continued his performance fully nude. 
Perhaps, the removal of his clothes alluded to the loss of all human
decency and dignity inside a Burmese prison.

Apparently shocked by the sight, one Burmese lady of a certain age hastily
retreated from the room while another Burmese lady of a similar age, but
with an artistic inclination, remained gripped by the scene.  Some
insecure laughing and murmurs broke out among the Burmese audience
members, but people were soon forced into a stern silence by the
mesmerizing performance.

Htein Lin is a maestro of improvisation.  He put everything he found in
the room to good use.  A computer, an overhead projector, desks and chairs
arranged in disarray in the foreground, a grand piano, among other things,
including a few people in the audience, all became part of the show.  At
one point, the artist, with his hands tied to a chair, struggled in
semi-darkness against an invisible fly hovering around his head.

Later, he freed himself and groped around for flies that seemed to be
buzzing all over the room.

Flies may be the nastiest creatures, besides interrogators, inside Burma’s
interrogation centers.  They even annoy hapless, sweaty and bloody
prisoners during breaks between torture sessions.  The fly symbol may also
refer to the well-known “fly hunt” by Burmese prisoners who are routinely
ordered to catch as many flies as they can to kill time.

It was a painful experience to watch a performance that came from the
tragedy and horror of the artist’s own traumatic past.  Hope was not
abandoned, however.  At the end, it was gratifying to see Htein Lin get
dressed, bow to the audience and gracefully exit the room like a prisoner
walking into freedom.

Just like many other artistic types with traumatic backgrounds, Htein Lin
may feel compelled—or even condemned—to repeat his story in his own way. 
His performances and paintings have always been informed and inspired by
Burma and his own past.  They are proof that his spirit has not left his
homeland.

It should be noted that, in some quarters, muted artistic expressions like
“Fly” may speak louder than political statements calling for the release
of Burmese political prisoners.  Performance artists have been called
“living sculptures,” but I would rather call Htein Lin a “moving
monument,” not as much for his monumental skills in creating art in public
spaces as his ability to move you deeply.

Ko Ko Thett is a Burmese critic who lives in Finland.

______________________________
PRESS RELEASE

July 15, ASEAN Secretariat
PONJA report ready for launch on 21 July 2008

The ASEAN Humanitarian Task Force, who held their fourth meeting in
Singapore on 12 July 2008, was briefed on the preparations for the launch
of the Post-Nargis Joint Assessment (PONJA) Report.

The PONJA Report will be presented to the ASEAN Foreign Ministers when
they meet in Singapore on 20-21 July 2008.  The ASEAN Chair, Singapore
Foreign Minister George Yeo, will preside over the launch of the report in
Singapore on 21 July 2008. The report will be released concurrently in
Yangon.

Secretary-General of ASEAN and Chair of the Task Force, Dr Surin Pitsuwan
said, “We anticipate a comprehensive, credible and viable report based on
the objective needs of the victims of Cyclone Nargis; a report that will
be useful to help guide the relief and recovery efforts in cyclone-hit
Myanmar, so that the medium-term needs of the Nargis victims are
sufficiently addressed.”

PONJA is a joint assessment by ASEAN, the Government of Myanmar and the
United Nations, with technical support from the World Bank and the Asian
Development Bank.  The assessment relies on two approaches; a rapid
household and community survey of more than 290 villages in the affected
areas, and an economic assessment of the damage and losses by sector.

Data from the report was used for the Revised Appeal of US$481.8 million
launched by the United Nations in New York on 10 July 2008.

At the meeting, the Task Force decided to propose to the ASEAN Foreign
Ministers post-PONJA activities to support the township hubs in their
early recovery efforts to help the Nargis victims get back on their feet
and regain their livelihoods as soon as possible, and to assist the
Government of Myanmar over the next few months to draw up plans for future
recovery efforts according to the findings and needs identified in the
PONJA Report.


Ed, BurmaNet News