BurmaNet News, July 24, 2008

[Editor]

July 24, 2008 Issue #3519


INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: No political prisoner in Burma: junta’s mouthpieces
Irrawaddy: Burma’s disposable soldiers
Kachin News Group: Kachins form interim committee for 2010 elections
Mizzima News: Court hears case of female reporter covering on Cyclone 
Khonumthung News: Chin University students in Rangoon to publish magazine

ON THE BORDER
Narinjara News: Dhaka, Rangoon agree to resolve maritime dispute

BUSINESS / TRADE
AP: Cyclone-battered fisheries worsen Myanmar's pain

ASEAN
BBC News: Rice hits out at Burma 'mockery' – Jonathan Head

REGIONAL
DPA: Huge foreign exchange loss for UN in Burma relief

INTERNATIONAL
VOA: HRW urges donors to ensure Burma's rulers do not divert cyclone aid
Mizzima News: UN Chief convenes fourth 'Group of Friends' meet on Burma

OPINION / OTHER
Irrawaddy: Water buffalo and beautiful music – Aung Zaw
United Press International: The price of being a judge in Rangoon – Awzar Thi
Bangkok Post: A plea for forgiveness – Sanitsuda Ekachai



____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

July 24, Irrawaddy
No political prisoner in Burma: junta’s mouthpieces – Wai Moe

Burma’s state-run newspapers rejected the use of the term “political
prisoners” to describe imprisoned dissidents, saying in a series of
articles published ahead of
Thursday’s commemoration of the United Nations’ Declaration on Prisoners
of Conscience that detained activists were actually guilty of criminal
offenses.


>From July 22 to 24, The Mirror and Myanma Alin, two of the ruling junta’s

mouthpieces, ran a three-part article, “Political Cases, Political
Prisoners and the Definition of Burmese Law,” which addressed the question
of whether there are any political prisoners in Burma.

Referring to Article 5 (j) of the State Emergency Act and Article 124 (a)
of the State Offence Act, which are often used by the authorities to
charge and imprison political dissidents, the newspapers claimed that
since Burmese law does not use the term “political prisoner,” they cannot
possibly exist in Burmese prisons.

The newspapers argued that the Articles 1-8 of the State Emergency Act,
which has been in effect since 1950, cover a wide range of issues,
including security, administration, communications, taxation and the
economy, but do not relate to political affairs.

Article 5 (j) of the State Emergency Act serves to deter acts that
threaten the security of the state, law and order, and public morality,
The Mirror and Myanma Alin said.

They also noted that under the Election Law for the People’s Assembly No.
11, promulgated in 1989, elected persons can lose their right to represent
their constituencies if they break any military decree related to law and
order.

“Although the laws do not use the term ‘political prisoners,’ political
activists are charged because of their political work,” Aung Thein, a
lawyer for several political detainees, told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the United States’ representative to the Economic and Social
Council of the United Nations, T. Vance McMahan, is scheduled to moderate
a panel discussion at the United Nations headquarters in New York to
underscore commitments made in the Declaration on Prisoners of Conscience.

The UN General Assembly issued the Declaration on Prisoners of Conscience
on June 11 with the support of 64 nations, including the US and 27
European Union members.

A Burmese human rights group in exile, the Assistance Association for
Political Prisoners-Burma (AAPP) welcomed the declaration on July 22.

“[The] AAPP wholeheartedly welcomes the commitment of these 64 nations and
encourages all other nations—especially the Burmese military regime, which
is holding over 2,000 political prisoners—to reaffirm their commitment to
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and to adopt the Declaration on
Prisoners of Conscience,” the group said in a statement.

____________________________________

July 24, Irrawaddy
Burma’s disposable soldiers – Min Lwin

A morning breeze cools a perspiring Zaw Moe as he walks through a
residential neighborhood in the outskirts of Rangoon with a pile of books
in his arms.

Wearing a faded Burmese army uniform, the 42-year-old ex-corporal supports
himself on crutches as he makes his way from door to door with the
low-priced books on Buddhism that he sells for a living. Seven years after
losing a leg while serving as a soldier in Burma’s 400,000-strong army,
the crutches have become a natural extension of his body.

Like thousands of other disabled veterans of the Burmese regime’s endless
anti-insurgent campaigns, Zaw Moe struggles to support his family of four
on his meager earnings.

“I didn’t want to do this kind of work at first, because I made sacrifices
for my country,” he said, speaking to The Irrawaddy from a public
telephone near a crowded market. “But I couldn’t afford to feed my family,
so I had to do something or starve.”

In a soft voice, he explained that his monthly pension of 10,000kyat (less
than US $9) is barely enough to pay his rent. “After we were forced to
leave the military housing compound, I had to get used to doing this job.”

But peddling religious texts is not easy on the former soldier’s pride.

“Some people are willing to listen, but most just want the throw us out,”
he said. “They think we are just beggars.”

Military sources in Burma say that times have gotten tougher for soldiers
wounded in action. In the past, generals often allowed disabled servicemen
to remain in on-base housing compounds until they were ready to leave of
their own accord. Now, however, they are expected to leave as soon as they
are no longer able to perform active duty.

“Before they could stay as long as they wanted,” said an officer from
Light Infantry Battalion 702, based in Hmawbi Township, Irrawaddy
Division. “But now the commanding officers don’t want them to stay and
expel them from the compounds.”

The source added that the shift in policy began in late 2007 and is now
enforced under orders from senior generals in the Ministry of Defense.

Official statistics on the number of disabled soldiers in the Burmese
armed forces are not available, but sources close to the Defense Services
Rehabilitation Hospital in Rangoon’s Mingaladon Township said that at
least ten thousand soldiers have lost limbs over the past two decades.

“Most of the soldiers were injured by landmines,” said one source at the
hospital. “The insurgents’ handmade landmines are rarely capable of
killing, but they are effective at blowing off hands or legs.”

For enlisted men who survive landmine injuries, the options are limited.

“Disabled veterans fit into three categories,” said one former soldier who
lost a hand in battle. “Some can survive by selling religious books door
to door in our uniforms. Others have skills, such as sewing or cutting
hair. For the rest, there is nothing they can do but beg.”

Officers generally fare much better. Most who suffer injuries get
positions in the military bureaucracy or in civil departments, retaining
the privileges of their rank.

“If a rank-and-file soldier gets injured, he is no longer considered fit
to serve his country,” said a sergeant from Light Infantry Division 88,
contrasting the fate of officers with that of low-ranking soldiers.

One of the few provisions made for injured veterans is a vocational
training program. Training centers in Pyinbongyi, Pegu and Kyaukse
townships teach practical subjects such as sewing, photography, garment
dyeing, electronics repair and hairdressing.

“Every physically disabled person who was injured in fighting against
insurgents can attend the school,” said a sergeant at one of the schools.
“However, the schools can’t accept all applicants, because two of the
schools do not have enough accommodation or trainers.”

For Win Than Than, the wife of a corporal who lost his leg in battle
several months ago, such help as the military is willing to offer falls
far short of her family’s immediate needs.

“As soon as he was injured, we had to leave his battalion. Now I don’t
know how we will survive with our children,” she said.

____________________________________

July 24, Kachin News Group
Kachins form interim committee for 2010 elections

The larger ethnic Kachin organisations in Northern Burma set up an
'Interim Kachin Committee (IKC)' on June 20 to form a big Kachin and
Non-Kachin political party to gear up for Burma's 2010 general elections
announced by the military junta, sources said.
The ethnic Kachin players, the KIO, NDA-K and KNCA are all involved in
playing a political game in keeping with the junta's seven-step roadmap to
‘disciplined democracy’ in which ethnic minority rights are ignored in the
new constitution. It is ostensibly being called a step at a time for
autonomy of Kachin State.

TDr. Manam Tu Ja, Chairman of Interim Kachin Committee.
he 'Jinghpaw Mungdaw Pran Wan Komiti' in Kachin was formed after a two-day
meeting in Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State on June 19 and 20 by the
two Kachin ceasefire groups--- the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO),
the New Democratic Army-Kachin (NDA-K) along with the Kachin National
Consultative Assembly (KNCA), an umbrella organization of Kachin
nationals, said KNCA.

The proposed political party derived from the IKC will be the biggest and
represent all Kachins and Non-Kachins in the State, according to KIO,
NDA-K and KNCA.

The formation of the committee was initiated by the KIO and NDA-K, both of
which supported the referendum on the country's new constitution on May 10
drafted by the Burmese ruling junta, sources from the two organizations
said.

According to KIO and NDA-K leaders, the committee aims to form the biggest
political party in Kachin State at an appropriate time when the junta
allows the setting up of political parties for the 2010 elections, said an
executive committee member of KNCA based in Myitkina, the capital of
Kachin State.

The earlier KIO's Kachin Consultative Committee (KCC) was reformed as IKA
because the KCC excluded other Kachin ceasefire groups and non-Kachins
except the KIO, insiders said.

Dr. Manam Tu Ja, Vice-president No. 2 and former chairman of KCC of the
KIO is the head of the IKC and it will have 49 committee members with 13
representatives from the KIO, five from NDA-K, two from Lasang Awng Wa
ceasefire group, about six from KNCA, and individuals while the rest will
be non-Kachins, the IKC said.

The 'Interim Kachin Committee' was set up to prevent the junta forming a
political party in the current situation, said IKC sources.

Meanwhile, KIO leaders yesterday convinced several hundred men and women
in its service in Laiza, the headquarters on the Sino-Burma of the need to
set up the IKC and the proposed political party representing all the
people in Kachin State, said Laiza residents.

____________________________________

July 24, Mizzima News
Court hears case of female reporter covering on Cyclone – Than Htike Oo

Despite of the absence of a key prosecutor's witness, a township court in
Burma's former capital on Thursday conducted the hearing of the case of a
Burmese female reporter, who was arrested while covering on victims of
Cyclone Nargis.

The Tamwe Township court in Rangoon Division on Thursday conducted the
hearing of the case of Ein Khaing Oo, age 24, a reporter of Ecovision
Monthly Journal.

While a key witness of the prosecution, police SIP Zaw Min Nyunt, fail to
appear in court on Thursday, the case was conducted with 18 other
prosecution witnesses.

"The court heard the testimony of police Sgt. Myint Oo, one of the 18
prosecution witnesses. The police personnel were present at the scene when
she was arrested," Khin Maung Shein, defence lawyer of her codefendant
Kyaw Kyaw Thant, told Mizzima.

According to Khin Maung Shein, Police Sgt. Myint Oo testified that he was
in front of the United Nations Development Programme office on June 10 and
he arrested Ein Khaing Oo, who was there to cover on the plight of Cyclone
victims, on orders given to him by higher authorities.

Ein Khaing Oo is reportedly charged under section 505(b) of the Criminal
Code, crime against public tranquility and could face up to two years in
prison and a fine if found guilty.

The lawyer said, her family members also came for the hearing but the
court adjourn and fixed July 31 for the next hearing of her case.

Ein Khaing Oo along with Kyaw Kyaw Thant was arrested in front of the UNDP
office in Natmauk Street in Tamwe Township, while covering on the plight
of about 30 cyclone victims who have marched from South Dagon Township to
seek for assistance from International aid agencies on June 10.

Her case was earlier scheduled to be heard on July 2, but the court
postponed the date to Thursday, July 24, after the defence lawyers asked
for more time to study the case files.

She had just joined the 'Ecovision Journal' as a junior reporter when she
was arrested.

'Ecovision' was first published in September 2006, and mainly covered
economic issues. But later it shifted its coverage to domestic and
international news, and also publishes health and sports articles
periodically.

____________________________________

July 24, Khonumthung News
Chin University students in Rangoon to publish magazine

The ninth issue of a Chin Magazine for the academic year 2007-08 will be
published on August. The effort comes from Chin students from universities
in Rangoon , the former capital of Burma .

"The main objective of publishing this magazine is creating awareness on
Chin culture and nationalism. This time we will extensively include the
issue of a common language for Chin state," Yang Lian Mang, editor-in
charge of the Chin magazine said.

Former writers of the previous Chin magazine, including a well known
artist Salai Moe Yin Tea have also contributed various articles for this
year's magazine.

This year's Chin magazine will be the latest publication of Chin
university students in Rangoon after the annual publication was halted
after the 1988 pro-democracy uprising in Burma .

However, because of limited finance, the print run of the Chin magazine is
unlikely to reach the target number of copies.

"Actually we planed to print more than 2000 copies but the money we
received as donation is still limited. Therefore, the number of copies to
be printed might not be what we expected," Salai Tang Lian Sian Pau,
secretary of Chin students (Universities - Rangoon ).

It is also learnt that the Central Chin Culture and Literature Committee
made up of Chin university students across Burma has pledged to publish
this year's CCLC magazine.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

July 24, Narinjara News
Dhaka, Rangoon agree to resolve maritime dispute

Two top foreign officials from Burma and Bangladesh pledged on Wednesday
during a meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum held in Singapore to resolve
disputes over their shared maritime boundaries in the quickest possible
time, according to a press release.
Burma's foreign minister, U Nyan Win, and the foreign affairs adviser of
Bangladesh, Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, agreed to solve the maritime dispute
as soon as possible during a bilateral talk in Singapore.

Burma and Bangladesh have had problems resolving their maritime boundary
after large gas and oil reserves have been discovered in the Bay of
Bengal. Bangladesh is keen to bid out its offshore resources to foreign
companies for gas and oil exploration like Burma has.

Korea's Daewoo and other foreign companies have been exploring for gas and
oil in offshore blocks in Burma's water near Bangladesh's maritime
boundary, and large gas reserves have been found by the companies in
Burmese waters.

Bangladesh has hopes that this maritime border demarcation will pave the
way for it to explore for gas and oil in its sea unhindered in the future.

The two countries have had talks many times in past years about the
demarcation of the maritime boundary in the Bay of Bengal, but the issue
did not garner much attention.

Bangladesh and Burma experts on sea-related issues met in Dhaka earlier
this year though, and decided to hold another round of talks on the issue
in Burma this year in order to reach a resolution.

Bangladesh needs to submit its maritime boundary to the International
Seabed Authority by 2011 per the United Nations Convention on the Law of
the Sea.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

July 24, Associated Press
Cyclone-battered fisheries worsen Myanmar's pain

No matter how much she loved the river and sea that once provided her
family's daily food, Tin Tin Latt now just wants to stay away from the
water that widowed her, killed two of her children and destroyed the
family's livelihood.

Tin Tin Latt is among thousands of widows of fishermen in Myanmar's
cyclone-devastated Irrawaddy delta who have been forced to become
breadwinners without land to farm or the means to earn money from the sea.

Cyclone Nargis, which struck in early May, killed 84,500 people and left
54,000 missing, according to the ruling junta, in the worst natural
disaster in Myanmar's modern history and the world's fifth deadliest in
the past 40 years. Of the dead, 27,000 were fishermen, the regime says,
although aid workers believe the actual number is far higher.

The U.N. food agency says more than 100,000 fishermen have been affected
and some 50,000 acres of fish ponds destroyed.

The storm also destroyed boats, nets, jetties and processing plants,
crippling a top export revenue earner in one of the world's poorest
nations. Last year, Myanmar exported some 350,000 tons of seafood to
European and Asian countries, much of it from the vast delta with its long
coastline and spider web of rivers.

The Myanmar government says it plans to build more than 9,000 boats and
provide fishing nets to speed revival of the industry.

"We have started distribution to help those fishermen to regain their
livelihoods," said Saw Lah Paw Wah, assistant director of Myanmar's
Fisheries Department.

But even if those tools eventually make their way to fishing families,
many no longer have the hands to do the job.

"In fishing families, there is a tendency for the men to be the providers.
In the event that fishermen are killed, their families are in a far more
difficult position than farming families," said Steve Marshall, the U.N.
International Labor Organization representative in Myanmar.

This leaves families like Tin Tin Latt's with a great burden and an
uncertain future. Some will have to wait until their surviving children
grow up before they can take up their traditional occupation.

"I am afraid my only son will become a fisherman his whole life, following
my husband," said the 33-year-old widow. "I don't want him to be killed by
a storm like his father."

The destruction wrought by Nargis also destroyed many jobs in the fishing
industry.

Marshall's organization and other agencies plan a 12-month project to
offer 25,000 delta people jobs building a transport system linking
jetties, markets and farms.

But agencies say they lack the funds to cover everyone affected. Two of
Tin Tin Latt's three surviving children are under the age of 3, and it's
hard to find work for women that generates money while leaving time to
care for children, aid workers say.

More than 2 1/2 months after the cyclone struck, Tin Tin Latt's family
depends on meager rice handouts from a local aid organization, and her
husband's fishing nets lie empty. Rice and fish form the bulk of diets in
Myanmar.

The situation for her and thousands of others in the delta still hangs in
the balance, although villagers are quickly rebuilding their simple shacks
and international aid workers, once barred from the region, offer
additional assistance.

In the first full assessment of the disaster, the U.N., Myanmar government
and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, this week warned
of a second emergency unless $1 billion is forthcoming over the next three
years from international donors.

It said 450,000 homes were destroyed, while 4,000 schools and 75 percent
of health facilities were damaged.

"The worst of the crisis is over but we are still in a state of emergency.
People live in a very precarious condition now. If we fail to sustain the
recovery efforts, they may face a second emergency," said Puji Pujiono, a
member of the ASEAN assessment team, citing shelter, water, sanitation and
food as key priorities.

The U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization has appealed for $33.5
million, saying 75 percent of farmers in the country's main food-producing
region lack sufficient seed, with little time left before the end of the
planting season in August.

The Rome-based agency says more than 50,000 small-scale farming households
and 99,000 landless rural households need immediate help.

When interviewed, Tin Tin Latt said she had only enough rice for six days
and didn't know if her children would have anything to eat after that.
Although afraid, she said she had no choice but to send her 15-year-old
son to learn how to handle a boat at sea.

"I wish I could move deeper inland, and find a new way to raise my kids
rather than let my son become a fisherman," she said as she dissolved into
tears. "Every morning, when he goes aboard the boat, I pray for him not to
be taken away as happened to my beloved husband."

____________________________________
ASEAN

July 24, BBC News
Rice hits out at Burma 'mockery' – Jonathan Head

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has attacked the Burmese military's
plan for a gradual restoration of democratic government.

Ms Rice, who is attending the annual summit of South East Asian countries
in Singapore, described the plan as a "mockery which is going nowhere".

She praised Asean for helping persuade Burma's rulers to accept
international help after Cyclone Nargis in May.

But she said mediation should not have been necessary after such a disaster.

'Real reform'

The appearance of Condoleezza Rice at this summit, after being absent in
recent years, is being seen as a welcome sign of American re-engagement
with South East Asia, but the Burmese delegation might wish she had stayed
away.

After a meeting with the 10 South East Asian foreign ministers, and other
regional powers, the US secretary of state accused Burma - also known as
Myanmar - of being badly out of step with the rest of the region.

She gave credit to Asean (the Association of South East Asian Nations) for
its role in opening up Burma to international aid after the cyclone.

She expressed hope that this precedent could now be expanded to persuading
Burma's generals to embrace real political reform, rather then their
tightly controlled roadmap to democracy, which she described as a kind of
mockery.

US condemnation of Burma is nothing new, but open criticism from its Asian
neighbours is - and there has been a lot more of it this year, albeit far
more nuanced then what Ms Rice has been saying.

Asean is making much of its first charter, which it hopes will turn the
association into a more effective regional bloc.

But the charter is supposed to enshrine human rights as a core value.

Watching the Burmese foreign minister sign it with a completely straight
face, while his government continues to jail and harass its opponents, has
been discomfiting for some Asean members.

Although others, like Vietnam and Laos which are scarcely less repressive,
may be quietly glad that all the attention is focused on Burma.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

July 24, Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Huge foreign exchange loss for UN in Burma relief

United Nations humanitarian chief John Holmes acknowledged Thursday that
the international community's relief effort for the victims of Cyclome
Nargis in Burma was losing millions of dollars to the regime's foreign
exchange controls.

"This is an extraordinary exchange loss, and where that gain goes I'm not
sure," Holmes said in an interview before departing Burma after a
three-day assessment tour of the areas affected by the cyclone that
slammed into Burma's central coast on May 2-3 leaving about 140,000 people
dead or missing.

Inter City Press disclosed earlier Thursday that the UN, which has issued
a flash appeal for 482 millions from the international donors for cyclone
relief efforts in Burma has been losing more than 20 per cent of the
incoming funds to the government's unique foreign exchange requirements.

Under Burma's foreign exchange rules, dollars brought in by foreign
agencies and tourists must be converting into Foreign Exchange Currency
(FEC) at government banks, and then converted into the kyat currency.

The exchange rate is currently about 880 kyats for each Foreign Exchange
Certificate, compared to 1,180 for each dollar, or a loss of about 25 per
cent, said the Inter City Press, referring to an internal UN memo it had
seen.

"This issue is a very serious problem," said Holmes. "We need to try find
a solution."

He said he had raised the issue with the government during talks with the
junta held in their capital of Naypyitaw earlier Thursday.

The UN has appealed for 482 million dollars in emergency relief for an
estimated two million people still suffering the affects of Cyclone
Nargis, especially in the Irrawaddy delta.

Holmes estimated that the relief work would continue for at least another
six months, while recovery and reconstruction efforts would go on until
April, next year.

International efforts to extend aid to victims of the cyclone have been
hampered by the ruling military regime, which during the initial
post-catastrophe period slowed the entry of emergency assistance and aid
workers to the notoriously xenophobic country.

The aid flow was speeded up considerably after the establishment of a
tri-partie mechanism including representatives from the Association of
South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), the UN and Burma government in early
June, but the exchange problem was not revealed.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

July 24, Voice of America
HRW urges donors to ensure Burma's rulers do not divert cyclone aid

Human Rights Watch is urging international donors to ensure that Burma's
military rulers do not divert humanitarian aid intended for victims of
Cyclone Nargis.

The U.S.-based rights group said Wednesday that aid efforts in Burma
should be monitored by an independent body co-managed by donors and the
United Nations. It says such a body would boost the transparency and
accountability of the aid process.

The group says that since the cyclone struck in May, Burmese leaders have
restricted travel by foreign aid workers and arrested some locals involved
in relief efforts.

Human Rights Watch says international donors should pressure Burma to
adhere to basic principles on the provision of aid.

World Health Organization official, Richard Garfield, who recently visited
Burma has said that Burma's government is providing more help to cyclone
victims than he previously thought.

Cyclone Nargis left almost 140,000 people dead or missing when it tore
through Burma's Irrawaddy Delta region on May 3.

The United Nations and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations said
Monday that Burma needs more than $1 billion in aid over the next three
years to recover.

____________________________________

July 24, Mizzima News
UN Chief convenes fourth 'Group of Friends' meet on Burma

The United Nations General Secretary Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday convened a
meeting of the 'Group of Friends' to review the situation in Burma and to
discuss the ensuing visit of his special envoy Ibrahim Gambari.

"The Group expressed strong support for the Secretary-General's good
offices and efforts," said a statement by the UN Secretary General's
spokesperson.

At the same time the Group noted that Gambari's next visit to
military-ruled Burma need to show tangible progress that includes
resumption of dialogue between Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the regime, the
credibility of the electoral process, and the regularization of engagement
with the UN Secretary General.

The meeting was attended by Australia, China, France, India, Indonesia,
Japan, Norway, Russia, Singapore, the Republic of Korea, Thailand, the
United Kingdom, the United States, Vietnam, the European Community and the
European Union.

The UN chief's Group of Friends met for the fourth time since it was set
up in December 2007, following the Burmese junta's use of force to
crackdown on peaceful protesters in September.

Gambari, who has visited Burma three times since the September protests,
is scheduled to revisit the troubled Southeast Asian nation in mid-August.

With the Burmese military junta's tradition of using international
diplomacy as a tool to ease pressure, Burma's opposition political parties
said they are not hopeful about Gambari's upcoming visit and do not expect
him to bring about a tangible result.
Gambari, during his three earlier visits, was able to facilitate talks
between Burma's opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the Burmese
junta's Liaison Minister Aung Kyi.

But the talks were short-lived with the junta showing no inclination of
continuing with it.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

July 24, Irrawaddy
Water buffalo and beautiful music – Aung Zaw

A frustrated Burmese friend in Rangoon said, "Naypyidaw will be a 'pile of
bones.'" If that popular saying has any real meaning behind it, the
generals should be alarmed.

Frustration and anger toward the repressive regime are building up among
the ranks of monks, students, activists and average citizens, forcing them
into deep soul searching and asking the question, what's next?

Many people are questioning a non-violent strategy as a viable way to
remove the unyielding military regime.

Recently, a senior dissident I have known for years said, "I need some
money. I want to plant bombs in Rangoon before the election (2010)."

A former member of the main opposition party, the National League for
Democracy (NLD), who now lives in exile said, "The USDA offices should be
targeted."

To put credence behind such talk, a dawn explosion recently rocked the
Rangoon office of the government-backed Union Solidarity and Development
Association, whose paramilitary members have repeatedly attacked members
of Burma's pro-democracy opposition. Security has been beefed up in the
former capital.

At a Burma forum in Europe recently, monks and activists openly talked
about the need to punish USDA members and to draw up an assassination plot
against top leaders and family members. One Burmese participant said, "We
don't have suicide bombers," as if it was a sad fact that Burma doesn't
have people willing to self-sacrifice themselves for the cause.

Last week, I saw an e-mail message by a Burmese dissident who taught
traditional Burmese martial arts, saying he was ready for any type of
"action" against the regime's leaders.

I remember a conversation with a monk who witnessed the September uprising
in 2007. His unexpected remark silenced his listeners. He talked about the
possibility of having a missile mounted on a truck and launching it from
the jungle near the Thai-Burmese border. "It could strike Naypyidaw,” he
said. “We only need three people."

"Where will you get the money?" I asked.

"We have donations," the monk answered. A layman who was listening
suggested that such a missile could be bought on the black market.

"How much would it cost?" the monk asked.

"About one million (USD)," he said.

The monk seemed astonished at the price.

"Only one million?” he said. “We should get two missiles and make sure we
hit Than Shwe's house."

Snr-Gen Than Shwe, the chairman of the State Peace and Development
Council, is the leader of the junta. We all laughed, and the discussion
didn't go any further.

After the September uprising and the humanitarian disaster in the
Irrawaddy delta, discussions of urban-style armed resistance increased
among Burmese inside and outside of Burma.

Many dissidents, especially those who had walked to the Thai-Burmese
border to take up arms 20 years ago, are now well equipped, but their
weapons aren't AK-47s or mounted truck missiles, but instead computers,
cell phones and wireless, Internet e-mail.

But many of them too now question the principles of non-violent struggle,
capacity building and networking concepts that have been the main focus of
the opposition movement for many years.

On the border, non-violent projects and civil disobedience training are
popular, so long as they don't draw the wrath of the regime.

Likewise, a belief in armed struggle among ethnic group armies went out of
fashion during the past decade after they were out maneuvered by the
Burmese army, leading to "peace" agreements with the regime.

Foreign groups on the border have concentrated on teaching non-violent
methods of dissent, human rights training and techniques of network
building inside and outside the country.

Many dissidents are questioning the strategy of NLD leader Aung San Suu
Kyi, a strong promoter of non-violent resistance, saying the NLD needs to
consider new methods, including armed struggle.

"She (Suu Kyi) is no Nelson Mandela," said one dissident, referring to the
African National Congress' armed wing Umkhonto we Sizwe or "Spear of the
Nation."

Mandela was co-founder of the armed wing, and he coordinated a sabotage
campaign against military and government targets in the struggle to end
apartheid.

Moe Thee Zun, who led the student movement in 1988 and is a former
chairman of the All Burma Students' Democratic Front, said, "We moved from
revolution to development. The regime is getting stronger, but the
movement is still weak."

Another former dissident, who took up arms against the regime on the
China-Burma border, said he would not advocate conventional warfare,
because it would not work in Burma. "I think it is time to think about
urban, guerilla warfare," he said.

As the dissident movement ponders these questions, the military government
grows stronger.

Since 1988, the generals have purchased arms, jet fighters and naval ships
from neighboring China, India, Russia, Pakistan and eastern European
countries. Its armed forces now number up to 400,000 troops.

Dissidents on the Thai-Burmese border now bitterly joke that all the
training in non-violence and human rights should have been given to the
regime's military leaders instead of the people they repress.

They say the non-violent approach is something like the saying: "You're
playing a piano near a water buffalo," meaning it's pretty, but it will
not move the buffalo.

In 2001, the Australian government conducted human rights training
workshops in Rangoon called "Human Rights and Responsibilities in Burma"
to raise awareness of international human rights standards and relevant UN
conventions.

Officials from the Burmese foreign ministry, education, health, and labor
were invited to attend. Two years later, the regime organized its
thug-backed ambush of Suu Kyi's motor convoy, resulting in many deaths and
injuries.

Water buffalo don't understand beautiful music.

____________________________________

July 24, United Press International
The price of being a judge in Rangoon – Awzar Thi

The June edition of the New Era Journal, a Burmese-language monthly
published in Bangkok, carried a letter from an unnamed senior lawyer
practicing in South Dagon, greater Rangoon.
According to the author, to be selected for the test to become an
apprentice judge these days a lawyer needs to pay the selecting panel 3
million kyat – upwards of US$2,500. The writer lamented that although
senior judges know about this they turn a blind eye.

The claim is interesting but not remarkable. In Burma, where people have
to put up extra cash for everything from a mobile phone permit to a
hospital bed, or even a mat on the floor, why not also for a court
verdict? After all, the judges have paid to get their posts, and surely
expect something in return.

When an advocate practicing in Rangoon was asked a while ago roughly how
much it costs to win an ordinary criminal case he laughed and replied with
his own questions, as to which type of case, involving who as the
defendant and victim, and in which township or district it would be heard.
His intricate knowledge of brokering now rivals his knowledge of the law
itself.

That Burma’s courts are places where services are provided to the person
with the highest offer is also unsurprising when they are compared to
those in the country’s neighbors. From Bangladesh to Indonesia, judges cut
deals and entertain proposals that have nothing to do with their job
descriptions.

Although it is often the local courts that come under the most scrutiny,
much of the blame usually deserves to be laid at the top levels, with the
mealy-mouthed high justices who attend international conferences and talk
about law as if they actually believed in it.

Across Asia, it is where these senior figures have been compromised that
the most severe systemic damage has been caused.

In Sri Lanka, the current chief justice was given the job ahead of other
more senior and respected persons because he was the personal choice of
the former executive president. She even went so far as to shut down
Parliament to prevent him from being impeached, even though his alleged
dirty dealings and contempt for international law have brought the
country’s once credible judiciary to an all-time low.

In Thailand, the military regime that took power in 2006 dismissed a
senior court and then blithely insisted that the country’s judiciary was
independent. The new Constitution it forced through via an electoral
charade has needlessly embroiled the top courts in politicking, and it is
hardly surprising that a lawyer representing the former prime minister was
recently caught in the Supreme Court building with a snack box full of
cash.

By contrast, the chief justice and judges of the high courts in Pakistan
in the last year literally put their lives and liberty at stake by
refusing to acquiesce to the army. Their struggle has so far not only kept
the judiciary afloat but has kept their country from going over the edge
beyond which Burma passed a long time ago.

After his second coup in 1962, General Ne Win growled about how criminals
and “people against whom our armed forces have fought battles” were being
let out of custody, and promised to put a stop to such nonsense. The
Supreme Court was made answerable to his cabal of army officers, and
arbitrary detention and other abuses quickly became unchallengeable.

The courts’ structure was left more or less untouched for another decade,
but the damage had been done. With the highest court no longer able to
defend itself, the entire judiciary was degraded and later easily
swallowed up into a system of “people’s courts” presided over by tribunals
comprised of members with no knowledge of law.

When the whole thing came to pieces in 1988, the revamped military regime
quietly went back to the old model of compliant legal officers in a
prefabricated structure that gives the army the final word. The junta was
by now through with experiments and apparently cognizant that as long as
the uppermost courts were under its control, the rest would surely follow.
And so things have remained since.

Meanwhile, one uniformed hypocrite after the next has issued stern
warnings about corrupt practices among judges and lawyers, accompanied by
a crackdown now and then, nothing of which has slowed the spread of
profiteering through the courts, for the reason that this cannot be done
without threatening the survival of the regime itself.

A relatively uncorrupted judiciary can exist only where there is a
relatively uncorrupted, independent and credible upper judiciary. When
senior judges are generals’ and presidents’ yes-men, where they allow
themselves to be pushed around by coup makers, or where they are just
outright corrupt, no amount of lecturing or making of special inquiries
will redeem their subordinates.

Without independent superior courts, the selling of places for a judicial
exam is just a fact of life, and in Burma a few million kyat a small price
to pay for a chance to get in on the action. The disgruntled lawyer from
South Dagon has by now probably paid the 3 million.

--

(Awzar Thi is the pen name of a member of the Asian Human Rights
Commission with over 15 years of experience as an advocate of human rights
and the rule of law in Thailand and Burma. His Rule of Lords blog can be
read at http://ratchasima.net.)

____________________________________

July 24, Bangkok Post
A plea for forgiveness – Sanitsuda Ekachai

The mother was holding her baby tightly under an umbrella, trying her best
to guard him from the pouring rain.

I could not see her face in the picture. But as a mother, I could feel her
shaking fear, not for herself, but for her baby's safety, as a group of
soldiers forced her and other Karen refugees to board a boat back to the
war zone in Burma.

As a Buddhist, I know I should not feel enraged. Yet I was doubly enraged
at the forced repatriation in Mae Hong Son last week.

It is bad enough to know that Thai troops have no heart for the innocent
people who are war victims. But to force them back to face possible
violence and death on the holy day of Asarnha Bucha? How could they
possibly do this?

The cruelty is eye-opening. When such an important holy day has no power
to arouse even a pinch of morality among those who declare themselves as
the protectors of Buddhism, and when society at large feels nothing
against such inhumanity, we are in a very deep, dark pitch.

But condemnation, however legitimate, only deepens our negativity. To have
any hope at all of cleansing our souls and our sins, we must probe the
roots of such cruelty.

It helps to go back to the gist of the Buddha's First Sermon on Asarnha
Bucha Day. In case we have forgotten, here it is:

Our suffering stems from our likes and dislikes rooted in the false sense
of self.

To end this cycle, we need to see that we are mere temporary composites of
mind and matter under the natural laws of impermanence and conditionality.
To realise this truth, the Buddha advises we follow the Eight-fold Path to
see for ourselves the natural laws or dharma, to maintain ethical conduct,
and to foster spiritual development.

The path helps us to avoid hurting or exploiting others. When the
cessation of anger, greed and delusion can be many lifetimes away,
constant contemplation on impermanence can miraculously fill our hearts
with calm and loving kindness.

The realities of our daily struggles and politics have made it difficult
to follow the path. That is why we celebrate Asarnha Bucha, so we can stop
and review ourselves.

Buddhism is an optimistic system. People are not originally bad. Our
behaviour is conditioned. We can change when the conditioning changes.

So we must ask why the military and the public believe that forced
repatriation is not sinful? Also, why do we believe we are good Buddhists
when we treat ethnic peoples like dirt?

Is it because fear has made us heartless? Is it because our traditional
concept of sin has become too narrow for the modern age? Or is it because
we are the faithful followers of a religion much more powerful than
Buddhism - that of racist nationalism?

Is it all of the above?

The forced repatriation in Mae Hong Son last week was not the first, and
it won't be the last, which failed to shake our hearts.

The public felt undisturbed when a group of youngsters from the Hmong
refugee camp in Phetchabun was repatriated to Laos without their parents.
Their camp was burned down after a petition against power and sexual
abuse. And when they tried to make their voices heard in Bangkok, they
were immediately deported to risk their lives from persecution in Laos.

Similarly, we feel nothing in using immigrant workers as slave labour, or
when their families are shattered by separate deportations.

Meanwhile, the deep South has become a war zone because we insist on
seeing the ethnic Muslim Malays as outsiders.

If this is not racist nationalism, what is?

As the country is fired up by the Preah Vihear nationalistic frenzy, I
wonder how the Karen mothers and their children are doing back in the war
zone.

It is still raining hard. Can they find shelter and food? Can they stay
safe? Can they forgive us our sins?

Sanitsuda Ekachai is Assistant Editor (Outlook), Bangkok Post.

Email: sanitsudae at bangkokpost.co.th