BurmaNet News, October 4-6, 2008

[Editor]

October 4-6, 2008 Issue # 3571


INSIDE BURMA
KNG: Senior USDA leader says they will definitely win 2010 elections
Irrawaddy: Detained activists protest against trial conditions
Irrawaddy: Arrests, restrictions hamper cyclone relief work
DVB: Troops abduct 19 for military recruitment
Narinjara News: Lighting kills four in Naypyidaw

ON THE BORDER
Bangkok Post: Border security ramped up after attacks

BUSINESS / TRADE
Vietnam News Agency: Vietnam to exploit oil and gas in Myanmar

HEALTH / AIDS
Mizzima News: Burma destroys 16 tons of contaminated milk powder

REGIONAL
DPA: Myanmar junta leader Maung Aye to visit Bangladesh Tuesday

INTERNATIONAL
Radio Free Asia: U.N. blocked on Burma child soldiers

OPINION / OTHER
Wall Street Journal: Don't forget about Burma's democrats – U Pyinar Zawta
Cutting Edge: Burma's Muslim Rohingya minority dwell at the "brink of
extermination" – Benedict Rogers
DVB: A new constitution for a blossoming political society – Aung Htoo

PRESS RELEASE
AAPP, USCB: New report documents huge increase in Burma political
prisoners, in defiance of UN Security Council


____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

October 4, Kachin News Group
Senior USDA leader says they will definitely win 2010 elections

The junta sponsored Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) in
northern Burma has claimed it will definitely win the 2010 elections in
Burma. This was declared by a senior leader, said local people.

Salang Rawang Jung, general secretary of Kachin State's USDA told ethnic
Kachin Christian Church leaders in Machyangbaw, a beautiful city on the
riverside of Mali Hka River in Putao District in Kachin State, northern
Burma that "In the 2010 elections, political parties not affiliated to the
junta could win seats but our party (USDA) is a strong and stable party.
We will win and we will definitely win and form the government," said
meeting participants.

Rawang Jung, a native of Putao officially told this to Church leaders and
followers in Rawang Baptist Convention (RBC), Kachin Baptist Convention
(KBC) and Church of Christ (COC) in Machyangbaw city. They were invited to
the meeting at Gubar Hall in Gubar guesthouse in the city on August 26
(Tuesday), according to Church sources in the city.

According to participants, the USDA meeting was attended by more than five
Church leaders and local USDA members. Participants were promised Burmese
traditional suits as gifts by Rawang Jung. But the attendants are yet to
receive the promised gifts.

A day before his Machyangbaw trip, the USDA general secretary Rawang Jung
first met over 50 leaders of Christian denominations in No. 1 Basic State
High School in Kawng Kahtawng quarter in Putao city and gifted Burmese
traditional suits to each participant.

On September 19, Brig-Gen Thein Zaw, who is born in Kachin State and the
junta's Kachin State's organizer and Minister of Post, Communication and
Telegraph, and Northern Command (Kachin State) commander Maj-Gen Soe Win
met ethnic Kachin Christians in Nawngnang and Pa La Na villages in
Myitkyina to garner support for the 2010 election.

Meanwhile, the junta-sponsored USDA members in Kachin State as well as
members of the Kachin State Interim Committee (KSIC) formed by the three
main biggest Kachin political organizations--- Kachin Independence
Organization (KIO), New Democratic Army-Kachin (NDA-K) and Kachin National
Consultative Assembly (KNCA) are steadily mobilizing people in the state
for the 2010 general elections in keeping with the junta's seven-step
roadmap to so-called disciplined democracy in the country.

Night curfew has been imposed in Kachin State's capital Myitkyina starting
from 10 pm local time by a new Northern Command commander Maj-Gen Soe Win
soon after underground Kachin students pasted anti-regime posters on
September 18, the day of the 20th anniversary of the military coup in the
country.

____________________________________

October 6, Irrawaddy
Detained activists protest against trial conditions – Min Lwin

Detained members of the 88 Generation Students Group will refuse to
cooperate with the court at their trial unless family members are allowed
to attend, their lawyers have announced.

Aung Tun, brother of activist Ko Ko Gyi, said the authorities had informed
families of the accused on Friday that they would not be allowed to attend
court hearings in Insein Prison.

Family members were admitted to a previous hearing in early September.
Aung Tun said it wasn’t known why they were being excluded from the next
sessions of the Rangoon East district court.

The authorities have also changed the days for family visits, and refused
Htay Htay Kyi, the sister of detained political and labor activist Su Su
Nway, permission to visit her.

Tate Naing, secretary of the Thailand-based Assistance Association for
Political Prisoners-Burma (AAPP)—said family members of detained political
activists have the right to attend court hearings.

Prominent leaders of the 88 Generation Students group were arrested in
August 2007, at the start of demonstrations leading up to September’s
uprising. They included Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi, Htay Win Aung, Min Zeya,
Kyaw Min Yu (also known as Jimmy) and Mya Aye. They had led a march on
August 19 protesting against sharp increases in the prices of fuel and
other commodities.

Many former student leaders are serving long prison terms—some have been
in prison for more than 15 years.

On Monday, activist Soe Myint Hein was sentenced to four years and six
months imprisonment. A woman activist, Khin Aye, and other two others
received sentences of two years and six months.

Two Burmese human rights groups released a report on Monday saying the
number of political prisoners in Burma had nearly doubled in little more
than one year.

A UN report in June 2007 gave the number of political prisoners as 1,192
political prisoners in Burma. The number now was at least 2,123, said a
report issued jointly by the Thailand-based Assistance Association for
Political Prisoners (Burma) and the United States Campaign for Burma,
based in Washington, DC.

The report accused the Burmese military government of defying a UN
Security Council demand in October 2007 for the release of all political
prisoners, including the world’s only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize
recipient Aung San Suu Kyi.

“By nearly doubling the number of political prisoners, the Burmese regime
is directly defying the UN, including the UN Security Council,” said Bo
Kyi, a former political prisoner and co-founder of the AAPP.

The AAPP and USCB sent an open letter to the UN Secretary-General calling
for the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners,
including Suu Kyi.

____________________________________

October 6, Irrawaddy
Arrests, restrictions hamper cyclone relief work – Violet Cho

The Burmese regime’s assumption of control over cyclone relief efforts and
the arrests of several activist aid volunteers would have a direct affect
on future humanitarian work, according to the cyclone relief committee of
the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD).

Shortly after Cyclone Nargis hit the Irrawaddy delta and Rangoon Division
in May, the military government enforced regulations requiring all relief
organizations to obtain official permission to carry out relief work.

The NLD’s cyclone relief committee maintains that this requirement
deterred private donors from providing assistance to cyclone victims.

The regulation had resulted in a “huge decrease” in aid from private
donors, said Dr Win Naing, a cyclone relief committee member.  “They
(donors) do not want to deal with the authorities.”

“The military authorities always said that they enforced these regulations
because they do not want aid to be overlapping,” he said. “However, the
main reason is that they want to have control over everything.”

An aid worker in Rangoon said her organization had suspended its relief
operation because of lack of funds.

“There are many international NGOs in the area [struck by the cyclone] and
we believe they can do more, as they can easily come to an agreement with
the local authorities,” she said.

Last week, Rangoon authorities arrested the chairman of the cyclone relief
committee, Ohn Kyaing, who had been actively involved in taking aid to
cyclone survivors in the Irrawaddy delta.

“We still don’t know why he was arrested,” said Win Naing. Despite Ohn
Kyaing’s arrest, the committee would continue its aid work, he said.

Several other prominent people have also been arrested after joining in
the relief effort—including the popular satirist Zarganar, leading
journalist Zaw Thet Htwe and the chief editor of the Myanmar Tribune
weekly journal, Aung Kyaw San.

____________________________________

October 6, Democratic Voice of Burma
Troops abduct 19 for military recruitment – Aye Nai

Burmese troops in Mandalay division are said to have abducted 19 people
and forced them to join the army, according to one of those who managed to
escape.

The State Peace and Development Council’s Light Infantry Battalion 420,
based in Mandalay's Thar Si township seized the 19 people, some of whom
were reportedly minors.

A friend of Kyaw Oo, one of the people abducted, said they were taken from
a train on 10 September.

"[Kyaw Oo] was abducted along with 18 other people, including underage
boys, by soldiers from the LIB 420 while traveling on a train to Meikhtila
to visit his mother on 10 September," his friend said.

"Then a recruitment official who was a sergeant took away their ID cards
and accused them of being the culprits behind bombings in Rangoon,” he
said.

“He then threatened them and said they had to join the army."

When Kyaw Oo refused to sign up he was beaten by the soldiers, his friend
said.

"Ko Kyaw Oo works as a crew member on a private cargo ship and he is a
married man with one child, so he refused to join the army and was beaten
and tortured by the soldiers," his friend said.

"They rolled a rolling pin over his legs and told him he was going to be
jailed for the bombings."

The 19 people were held in holding cells at the barracks for more than two
weeks before five managed to escape.

"On 28 September, senior army officials were visiting the LIB 420's
barracks and the officials decided to keep the people they had detained
out of their cells," Kyaw Oo’s friend said.

"Ko Kyaw Oo and four other people took that chance to escape."

____________________________________

October 6, Narinjara News
Lighting kills four in Naypyidaw

Four people were killed and two others were injured on Friday when
lighting struck in a village of Naypyidaw, the capital of Burma.

A state-run newspaper reported that Than Aung, 40, Maung Ko, 35, Zaw Naing
Tun, 18, and shopkeeper Tin Wine, 49, were killed in the lightning strike
at Gwe Gyi Village near Sin Thay Creek in Naypyidaw.

Two other individuals were taken to a hospital in Naypyidaw for treatment,
the report said.

The lightning struck while the victims were sheltering in a grocery shop
in the village during a heavy downpour.

After last year's Saffron Revolution protests, many people have been
killed in natural disasters in Burma, including over 100,000 killed in
Cyclone Nargis. Many Burmese believe such tragedies are the result of the
Burmese military government having killed many monks during the
demonstrations last fall.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

October 6, Bangkok Post
Border security ramped up after attacks – Sassawin Pinijwong

Thai soldiers have tightened security along the border after Burmese
troops opened fire on Karen rebels in areas opposite Umphang and Phop Phra
districts yesterday.

A total of 500 soldiers from the joint units of the Burmese government and
the junta-backed Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) attacked Karen
National Union (KNU) strongholds in Ban Borae village, opposite Umphang
district's tambon Mokro, and Valeki military camp, opposite Phop Phra
district's Ban Padi village.

The two sides exchanged fire, although no casualties were reported.

Fighting between the DKBA and KNU in July prompted an evacuation of about
100 residents in Ban Padi village.

On Saturday, the 907th battalion of the DKBA attacked Mae Klong Khee
village in tambon Mokro in Umphang district.

The house, belonging to Mokro kamnan Boonlert Duanmaeklong, was bombarded
by fire from heavy weaponry. Mr Boonlert, acting on a tip-off, fled his
home before the attack.

Thai soldiers have told villagers in tambon Mokro to be on alert and not
to leave home at night.

Col Padung Yingpaiboonsuk, task force commander from the 4th Infantry
Regiment, has lodged a protest with the Thailand-Burma Border Township
Committee (TBC) in Naypyidaw about Friday's attack.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

October 6, Vietnam News Agency
Vietnam to exploit oil and gas in Myanmar

PetroVietnam’s affiliates - Exploration and Production Corp. (PVEP) and
VietsovPetro (VSP) - will get involved in oil ands gas exploitation in
block M-2 offshore Myanmar.

Under a contract signed with the Eden group and Myanmar Oil and Gas
Enterprises (MOGE) in Nay Pyi Taw on Oct. 2, the PVEP will hold 45 percent
of stakes, VSP, 40 percent and Eden group, 15 percent.

This is Vietnam’s first oil and gas project in Myanmar and its second
overseas. The first one was signed by PVEP and VSP and Tunisia in February
2008.

Vietnam and Myanmar signed a memorandum of understanding on oil and gas
cooperation during Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung’s visit to Myanmar in
August 2007

____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

October 6, Mizzima News
Burma destroys 16 tons of contaminated milk powder

Melamine contaminated hazardous milk powder to the tune of 16 tons were
burnt in Burma, the ministry of health said.

After the milk powder, manufactured by Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial
Group, was found to be contaminated with the industrial chemical melamine,
the Burmese Health Ministry burnt it to protect children from health
hazards.

"We are still testing and investigating. After which we shall issue an
official notice. We started destroying 16 tons of milk powder after it was
found  to be contaminated," an official of the Ministry of Health told
Mizzima on condition of anonymity. But he declined to name the company.

Four children died and 53,000 fell ill in China after having milk powder
contaminated with an industrial chemical used in plastic and fertilizer
production.

The Health Ministry said that they were investigating the companies
registered in Rangoon and Mandalay which are importing the contaminated
milk products.

But shopkeepers in Amarapura said that they had not yet received any
notice to stop selling milk powder imported from China.

"No one has come and informed us not to sell these products and we have
not yet received any order restricting sales. But the volume of sales has
declined. Those who are aware of the problem have stopped using these
products. But these products are still on the shelf," a trader said.

Though transportation of the China manufactured contaminated milk products
to Kachin State's capital 'Myitkyinar' is banned, local shopkeepers are
still selling these products, local people said.

"We cannot send milk products to Myitkyinar now as there are many
checkpoints on the road for inspection. But there are some such products
on the shelves. The volume of sales has come down and most customers have
stopped buying them. But some customers are still using them," a local
from Laiza said.

Meanwhile because of news of the contaminated milk products spreading,
shops in Rangoon selling mainly New Zealand manufactured milk product -
'Pep' have suffered a fall in sales by 40 per cent, a shopkeeper said.

"The milk products sold at our shop have been tested and there is no
information of any contamination like melamine in our product. We use only
raw material imported from New Zealand. Nothing is imported from China. We
distribute only 'whole milk powder'. Most of the customers dare not use
milk products and we have suffered a drop in sales by 40 per cent," he
said.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

October 6, Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Myanmar junta leader Maung Aye to visit Bangladesh Tuesday

The vice-chairman of Myanmar's military junta is scheduled to make a
three-day official visit to Bangladesh, a foreign ministry official said
Monday.

General Maung Aye, who is also the head of the Myanmar army, will lead a
55-member delegation including seven government ministers to discuss a
host of outstanding issues between the neighbour nations.

Maung Aye is scheduled to meet with the chief of Bangladesh's interim
administration, Fakhruddin Ahmed, to discuss bilateral concerns, said the
official.

Trade and commerce, communications and border security are among the
topics of the talks. Import of Bangladesh medicines to Myanmar,
construction of a Bangladesh-Myanmar road and bilateral trade fairs are
also on the agenda.

During his stay in Bangladesh, Maung will also make a courtesy call on
President Iajuddin Ahmed.

He will also lay a floral wreath at the National Mausoleum in Savar to
show respect to the Bangladesh's 1971 liberation war heroes, visit the
Military Institute of Science and Technology in Mirpur and attend a
luncheon with army officers in south-eastern Rangamati hill district.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

October 4, Radio Free Asia
U.N. blocked on Burma child soldiers

Political obstruction and lack of access to affected areas have blocked
U.N. efforts to end recruitment of child soldiers in Burma.

 A U.N. panel charged with fighting the recruitment of child soldiers has
notably failed to make progress in Burma, where school-age children are
conscripted by both the ruling junta and ethnic rebel armies, experts
say.

“The United Nations team in Burma is severely restricted in what it can
do, where it can go, and what kind of information it can collect,” Jo
Becker, children’s rights advocacy director for Human Rights Watch, said
in an interview.

“And so it’s been very hampered in coming up with any documentation about
the recruitment and use of child soldiers by Burma’s military.”

The military is the single most powerful institution in Burma, having run
the country without interruption since seizing control in a 1962 coup.
Military generals have crushed political dissent and battled ethnic
separatist movements ever since. Officers and their families enjoy
privileges unknown to civilians.

According to New York-based Human Rights Watch, the Burmese regime may
have the largest number of child soldiers in the world—with thousands
swept up in massive recruitment drives.

Some are as young as 10, Human Rights Watch says, their enlistment papers
routinely falsified to indicate their ages as 18 or older.

The United Nations Secretary General has cited Burma six times since 2002
in reports to the Security Council as among the world’s worst perpetrators
of child recruitment.

Some armed ethnic groups fighting against the junta also recruit children,
experts said. These include the United Wa State Army, Kachin Independence
Army, Karenni National People's Liberation Front, Democratic Karen
Buddhist Army, Shan State Army-South, Myanmar National Democratic Alliance
Army, and Karen National Union Peace Council.


Working Group

The U.N. Security Council’s Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict,
created in July 2005, monitors and reports on child recruitment in
countries of concern around the world. It can also recommend sanctions,
including arms embargoes, against governments and armed groups that
continue to recruit.

The Working Group maintains a “country task force” in Burma’s former
capital, Rangoon.

But lack of access to conflict zones has hindered U.N. efforts to locate
and help child soldiers in Burma, according to a high-level U.N. report
released in November 2007.

“Access to conflict-affected areas is severely restricted by the
Government, a situation that impacts greatly on monitoring and possible
responses to child rights violations,” the report said.

And though Working Group efforts have achieved “concrete results” in Sri
Lanka, Cote d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and other
countries, Becker said, “Burma is very politicized within the Security
Council.”


China’s role

China, a permanent member of the Security Council, has for many years
blocked discussion of Burma in the U.N., Becker said.

“Once [Burma] came onto the agenda of the Security Council’s Working Group
on Children and Armed Conflict, China basically obstructed every
constructive proposal that was put forward to try and address the problem
of ongoing child recruitment in Burma.”

“That’s one of the reasons why we’re seeing such inaction,” Becker said.

Calls seeking comment from China’s delegation to the United Nations went
unreturned.

“The Security Council Working Group is a political body, and in that sense
is susceptible to some of the political positions of the [larger] Security
Council,” said Radhika Coomaraswamy, U.N. Special Representative for
Children and Armed Conflict, speaking in September at the Washington-based
U.S. Institute of Peace.

“In certain countries, especially when we deal with governments, they are
much less likely to move as fast,” Coomaraswamy said. “They will move
faster on a non-state actor.”

Coomaraswamy noted that Burma’s junta has recently sought to “engage” the
United Nations on the issue by forming its own monitoring group, called
the Committee for the Prevention of Military Recruitment of Underage
Children.

“Recruitment continues,” though, Coomaraswamy said.

Coomaraswamy has reported that Burmese children have been lured into
joining the army with promises of food and shelter—with brokers sometimes
receiving as much as U.S. $32 (40,000 kyat) per child recruited from the
streets.


Replacement recruits

Burma’s recruitment of child soldiers is now driven largely by desertions
from the Burmese army, Becker said.

“Recruiters are under enormous pressure to bring in new soldiers, and they
find that children are the most vulnerable targets,” Becker said.

“And so they go to marketplaces, train stations, public places, and
basically threaten and coerce children, saying, ‘If you don’t join the
army, you’re going to go to jail,’” she said.

“The fact that, after six years of reporting from the Secretary General,
the [Security] Council has still done so little is clearly at great cost
to the children of Burma.”

Reported in Washington by Richard Finney. Produced and edited for the Web
by Sarah Jackson-Han.

____________________________________

October 6, Chinland Guardian
DFID hailed for its response to food crisis in Chin State – Van Biak Thang

Chin communities, churches and individuals across the globe welcomed
DFID's 'philanthropic' responses to the devastating food crisis that has
been facing the Chin people in Burma's Chin State since late 2006.

The Department for International Development (DFID), part of the UK
Government that manages Britain's aid to poor countries and works to get
rid of extreme poverty, has provided an estimated 1 million US dollars in
financial support through NGOs including UNDP, CAD and WFP, sources
confirmed.

"We are very happy to hear about DFID's generous support in response to
the ongoing food crisis in Chin State, and that WFP has now accepted the
situation and is also taking steps in the food relief collaboration," a
prominent Chin political figure Victor Biak Lian of Chin Human Rights
Organisation told Chinland Guardian.

The programme will initiate to focus on giving food relief to six of the
most affected tonwnships such as Matupi, Paletwa, Tonzang, Tiddim, Hakha
and Thantlang for the first three months starting from October.

The overall objective of this project is to improve the food security
situation of farmers and their family members, affected by rat infestation
and crop destruction, as well to enhance rural transportation and
communication systems, according to Rangon-based CAD (Country Agency for
Rural Development).

In an effort to bring about a long-term solution, another programme called
Food Plus Cash For Work (FCFW) is to be formed, aiming to facilitate road
construction and tiered farming in Tiddim, Tonzang, Hakha and Thantlang
townships.

A Chin delegation comprising Victor Biak Lian, Cheery Zahau and Sasa met
Deputy Director of DFID in London during their visit in June this year,
raising awareness and fund for the famine victims in Chin State, Burma.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

October 4, Wall Street Journal
Don't forget about Burma's democrats – U Pyinar Zawta

I am a Burmese Buddhist monk, and I am in exile. One year ago in
September, the Burmese regime brutally crushed peaceful protests in my
country. I was one of the monks who helped lead these protests, now known
as the Saffron Revolution. The world focused on my country then, but a
year later that focus has faded.

As monks, we dedicate our lives to our faith, but also to humankind. We
cannot keep silent against the oppression of our fellow Burmese. We live
among the people, and we know they have been struggling. Fuel and food
prices are too high for many to afford. Some send their children to our
monasteries just to survive. We know that millions of dollars are coming
into Burma from the sale of our country's natural resources. Teak, gems,
and natural gas have made the regime rich, while ordinary people go
hungry.

The Burmese regime jailed me for a total of 10 years because I spoke out
against injustice in our country. This January, fearing I would be
imprisoned once again, I fled to Thailand. I arrived in the U.S. just one
month ago. In late September, I read in the news that the Burmese regime
released over 9,000 prisoners. State media described this as a sign of the
rulers' "loving kindness." But the rulers know neither love, nor kindness.
In Burma, anyone can be jailed for anything, anytime, anywhere.

Of the 9,000 prisoners released, only seven were prisoners of conscience.
Countless others remain in jail. The poet and writer U Win Tin, who was
finally released at age 79, had spent 19 years in prison for criticizing
the government. We rejoice that he and six other political prisoners were
released, but for this, the regime deserves no credit. These people should
never have been imprisoned in the first place.

In fact, the junta rearrested one of the seven political prisoners within
a few hours of his release. This follow-up story was barely noted in the
international media. If the junta was sincere, it would release all of the
political prisoners, including the pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi,
student activist Min Ko Naing, party leader U Tin Oo, and all of the
people who have been locked in prison for almost 20 years because they
marched together in the 1988 protests.

As a former political prisoner, whose many friends and colleagues are
still in jail in Burma, I want to warn the world's leaders who might think
the junta has changed. Do not be fooled. As a former prisoner, I protest
the immorality of using prisoner release as a tactic to win favor with the
international community. The timing of this token release, coinciding with
world leaders gathered at the United Nations in New York, is not an
accident. The regime yearns to be legitimate in the eyes of the world, and
it seeks to distract the world from seeing how its brutal actions have
continued since last year. It hopes to receive public praise. I urge you
not to fall into the trap.

The international community must continue to press for the release of all
political prisoners in Burma. It must demand real change. The Saffron
Revolution has not ended.

U Pyinar Zawta, co-founder of the All Burma Monks Alliance, was until
recently deputy abbot of Maggin Monastery in Rangoon, which helped
organize last September's protests. He now lives in exile in the U.S.

____________________________________

October 6, Cutting Edge
Burma's Muslim Rohingya minority dwell at the "brink of extermination" –
Benedict Rogers

Rohingya Village
It is not often you meet someone who tells you that he is from “a people
at the brink of extermination.” But the testimonies from refugees in a
remote corner of southern Bangladesh, on the border with Burma, justify
that assessment. For the Rohingya people, a Muslim minority in northern
Arakan State, western Burma, are a stateless people whose very identity is
denied.

All the people of Burma are suffering at the hands of one of the world’s
most brutal, and illegitimate, military regimes. From time to time Burma’s
crisis hits the headlines, as it did with protests led by Buddhist monks
last September, and Cyclone Nargis in May this year. In between such
events, however, Burma fades from the world’s attention.

If Burma as a whole is under-reported, the people on its western borders
are almost unknown to the world. Journalists, activists and aid agencies
who visit the region tend to head for the Thailand-Burma border, where
access to refugees, displaced people and democracy groups is greatest.

Few visit Burma’s borders with India, where a famine is unfolding, or with
China, where women are trafficked into prostitution, and fewer still make
it to the Bangladesh border where a slow, forgotten genocide is taking
place.

The Rohingya people are ethnically and culturally closely related to the
Bengali people in the area surrounding Chittagong, but have lived in Burma
for generations. While their precise history may be debated, there is no
doubt that they are not newcomers to the country. Yet unlike all the other
ethnic groups in Burma, which although severely persecuted by the regime
are at least recognised as citizens, the Rohingyas are regarded as
“temporary residents” and denied full citizenship status. They are
required to obtain permission before marrying, and a permit can take
several years to secure. Movement is severely restricted – Rohingyas must
obtain permission to travel even from one village to another, impeding
access to medical care and education. As ‘non-citizens’, Rohingyas cannot
be employed as teachers, nurses, civil servants or in any public service,
and in Rohingya areas teachers, mostly from the Buddhist Rakhine ethnic
group, sometimes fail to turn up for an entire year, disrupting
educational opportunities for the Rohingyas. Rape and forced labour are
widespread, and Rohingyas are singled out by the authorities for
extortion. Soldiers demand money from them, and when they cannot pay they
are arrested and tortured.

On a visit to the Bangladesh-Burma border, I heard numerous accounts of
these violations from Rohingya refugees. And they were confirmed by three
defectors who had escaped from Burma’s military. The defectors, who had
served in the Burma Army’s border security force known as the ‘Na Sa Ka’,
said that the Rohingya were specifically targeted for extortion. One said:
“Throughout my life in the Na Sa Ka, I was used to this system of
arresting Muslims, asking for money, torturing them, every day. We only
arrested Muslims, not Rakhines.”

The Rohingyas face religious persecution as well. It is almost impossible
to obtain permission to renovate, repair, rebuild or extend mosques or
other religious buildings. In the past three years, 12 mosques in northern
Arakan have been demolished, and a large number were closed in 2006. Since
1962, I was told, not a single new mosque has been built. Religious
leaders have been jailed for illegally renovating mosques.

A senior UN official, who has served in Darfur, Somalia and other
humanitarian crisis situations and, in the words of a foreign diplomat,
“knows misery when he sees it”, recently described the situation in
northern Arakan State, western Burma, as “as bad as anything he has seen
in terms the denial of basic human freedoms”.

For these reasons, it is estimated that at least 200,000 Rohingyas have
fled to Bangladesh. In 1978 and 1991, there were significant influxes of
refugees fleeing across the border, and even today Rohingyas trickle out
one by one, in the hope of finding security in Bangladesh. However, even
in Bangladesh, they are vulnerable. Only 27,000 are recognised by the
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and
live in two official camps. Thousands more are unrecognised, and live
either in Bangladeshi towns and villages or in temporary ‘makeshift’ camps
where conditions are dire. In the makeshift camps they receive no access
to health care or education, and no rations. Even in the official camps,
there is no formal education beyond the age of 12. One 18 year-old is
teaching in one of the schools, but has no opportunity for further study
himself. “I am compelled to teach, but I would prefer to learn first,” he
told me. “If I stay like this, with no further education, my future life
will be ruined.”

A few years ago, the UNHCR forcibly repatriated at least 230,000 Rohingyas
back to Burma, but many have returned, unable to survive in their
homeland. One refugee said: “As long as human rights abuses continue in
Burma, we cannot go back. We are caught between a crocodile and a snake.
Where can we go?” Another expressed their dilemma, and statelessness,
equally starkly: “The Bangladesh authorities say we are from Burma. The
Burmese regime says we are Bengali. Where should we go?”

As part of its campaign against the Rohingyas, the junta regularly stirs
up anti-Muslim sentiment among the Buddhist Rakhine and Burmans, with some
success. “The regime uses the Rakhine against us as part of a
divide-and-rule policy,” said one Rohingya. And so in addition to facing
persecution from the regime, the Rohingyas face discrimination from
Burma’s democracy movement too. Many Rakhine and Burmans in the democracy
movement refuse to recognise the Rohingyas as an ethnic group, and they
have been denied membership of the opposition Ethnic Nationalities
Council. There is a dispute even over the term ‘Rohingya’, and many
Rakhine prefer to call them “Arakanese Muslims”, “Burmese Muslims” or
“Bengalis of Burma”.

Some Rakhine, however, have recognised the need to work with the Rohingyas
against their common enemy, the regime. After all, the Rakhine are also
victims of the junta. In schools, teachers use Burmese and the Rakhine
language is banned. Forced labour is widespread. “The regime is carrying
out an attack on our language, identity and culture,” said one Rakhine.
The National United Party of Arakan (NUPA) has an alliance with the Arakan
Rohingya National Organisation (ARNO). One NUPA leader told me: “When a
people have been living this long through history, why should they be
deprived of their citizenship rights?”

“The regime is trying to take away our identity,” a Rohingya leader told
me. “We will not be there in the very near future. The disintegration of
our society will take place. Our prime concern is that we must not be
eliminated.” With that context, it is perhaps not surprising that some
Rohingyas have been radicalised, feeling they have few allies in the
world. Militant Islamist groups have preyed on their vulnerability. There
are even suggestions that some Rohingyas have been linked to al-Qaeda. All
the more reason, it seems, why it is essential to speak up for them, and
encourage Burma’s democracy movement to be more inclusive. Not only is
there a strong moral case to speak out against their persecution, but a
powerful strategic incentive to do so as well. As one moderate Buddhist
Rakhine told me: “We have to reach out to moderate Rohingyas, and work
with them, because if we don’t, they will have nowhere else to go but
radical Islamism.” Burma is troubled enough as it is, without that
prospect to add to its woes.

Benedict Rogers is the author of A Land Without Evil: Stopping the
Genocide of Burma's Karen People (Monarch, 2004), and has visited Burma
and its borderlands more than 20 times. He also serves as Deputy Chairman
of the UK Conservative Party's Human Rights Commission.

____________________________________

October 6, Democratic Voice of Burma
A new constitution for a blossoming political society – Aung Htoo

The last demand set out in the National League for Democracy’s 27
September statement was the right to freedom of organisation, existence
and movement for political parties.

It is obvious that such a demand is intended not only for the benefit of
the NLD but also for all existing political parties in Burma. It is
understood that there will be no stability and development in a country
without the free existence and organisation of political parties and civic
organisations and strong movements. The NLD takes this issue very
seriously that’s why it included this demand in its statement.

The NLD’s demand is for all political parties and organisations. It is
relevant to every ethnic group and region in the whole country.

If you look at all the countries in the world, you will observe different
political systems in different countries. However, you will notice that
stable and developed countries have powerful political parties and civic
organisations and strong social movements. There is no country in the
world that has long-lasting stability and development because of the
capacity and leadership of a handful of military generals.

If you look at the background to the military coups in Burma’s history,
you will learn that the army staged a coup in 1962 because of the lack of
power and ineffective efforts of political parties then. The army had the
opportunity to take over power when the Anti-Fascist People’s Freedom
League, a popular front organisation that played a key role in Burma’s
independence movement, split into ‘the Clean’ and ‘the Stable’ factions.
After the general elections in 1960, the then election winning party, the
Union Party, split again into ‘the U-Bo’ and ‘the Masters’ groups.

In his history book ‘Burma in the Darkness’, author Win Tint Htun mentions
that U Nu, the then chairperson of the Union Party Caretaker Committee,
highlighted the internal disputes and divisions within the party at the
UP’s National Conference held in Kabaraye Hill on 27 January 1962 as
follows:

“How is everything with you, Ko Shwe U-Bo and Ko Shwe Masters? Are you not
tired from fighting each other? The fight between U-Bo and Masters is a
very good one to watch. If I may use boxing language, they both use feet,
heels, kneels, elbows, fists, heads, chins, finger nails and everything
they have to defeat each other. It is a serious fight. I think Ko Shwe
U-Bo and Ko Shwe Masters have become quite exhausted. Aren’t you tired
yet?”

In India, a contemporary of Burma’s in its independence struggle during
the British colonial era, the political parties that were established even
before independence are still in existence and powerful. Due to the wide
influence of political parties and civic organisations, the very strong
Indian army has never been able to take over the country’s power. There is
no prospect of a military coup in India in the near future.

Nowadays, the Communist Party of Burma is the only political party left in
Burma which was actively involved in the independence movement. However,
it can no longer operate above ground for a number of reasons. Other
political forces from that time such as the We Burmans Association,
Burma’s Freedom Bloc, the People’s Revolutionary Party and the Socialist
Party do not exist any more.

As for the Burma Socialist Programme Party founded after the military coup
in 1962, it was merely a superficial grouping formed by military dictators
to cling on to power and was thus consigned to the trash bin of history
during the 1988 ‘8888’ people’s uprising.

The NLD came into existence in a country with political party background
outlined above. Considered a civic party, the NLD has become a political
party that has received enormous support from the nation since the
military coup in 1962. As is the nature of a political party, the NLD may
have had mistakes in its strategy. However, we have to acknowledge that it
has a rightful political claim.

Why can we conclude the NLD has a rightful political claim?

Firstly, the legitimacy of the result of the 1990 May elections was
accepted by not only the people of Burma and the international community
but also the State Peace and Development Council.

The military regime has never said that the 1990 May elections result is
illegitimate. The NLD has been constantly calling for the convening of the
parliament based on that result.

Secondly, the NLD pointed out that the procedure of drafting the 2008
state constitution was wrong. It also pointed that the military regime had
used different methods such as threats, intimidations, lies, deceptions
and power abuses in order to adopt the constitution by force.

Thirdly, the NLD strongly rejects and states that it cannot accept the
SPDC-sponsored magic show, the election, to be held in 2010.

In the midst of the NLD’s struggling for existence based on its righteous
political stance amid incredible hardships and severe restrictions, key
party leaders U Win Tin, U Khin Maung Swe and Dr Than Nyein were released
from prison.

There is a saying in Burmese that “a boy comes for the good”, a metaphor
for someone who can bring hope for the future to others. As for those
three people, we have to say that it is the older people who have come for
the good. Why?

These three leaders are very old now. U Win Tin is almost 80. They had to
spend many years in prison and their health deteriorated throughout their
prison terms. They could be rearrested and thrown into jail at any time if
they say the wrong thing. Former army captain Win Htein, who was granted
freedom on the same day these three were freed, was rearrested the next
day.

Nonetheless, within a few days of being released from prison U Win Tin, U
Khin Maung Swe and Dr Than Nyein announced that they would take
assignments and continue serving the NLD.

People tend to say that appreciation and honour should be given only after
someone has died as human beings can have many different faces. But these
three people should be publicly honoured as democracy heroes even before
they die for their announcement that they would steadfastly continue
serving the NLD amidst severe restrictions alone.

I hope there will be 30, 300 or more democracy heroes in the NLD like
these three people.

There is no shortcut to bring freedom, peace, justice and development to
individual and to society as a whole. The only possible way to ensure them
is by allowing the formation of strong and powerful political parties and
civic organisations. To reach that end, party and organisation building
should become a focal point and the persons who build these organisations
should become key players.

U Win Tin, a very old man who values the NLD’s rightful political stance
and will steadfastly continue serving the NLD, cannot be traded with a
million youth who don’t understand any stance and work for the dictators.
Political parties and civic organisations with rightful stances can be
strong only if there are people like U Win Tin in these organisations.

We will be able to build a country that enjoys long-lasting freedom, peace
and development only if there are a variety of political parties and civic
organisations actively playing their roles like the various types of
flowers are blooming in a garden.

The present SPDC constitution only allows political parties if their aims
include non-disintegration of the union, non-disintegration of national
solidarity and perpetuation of sovereignty. It is certain that the growth
of genuine political parties and civic organisations will be terminated
under such a constitution.

Therefore, the only thing we have to do is to get rid of the SPDC
constitution packed with nonsensical articles and to bring about the
emergence of a new constitution that permits the right for political
parties and civic organisations to enjoy their freedom of organisation,
existence and movement. Beautiful flowers will then blossom.

____________________________
PRESS RELEASE

October 6, Assistance Association for Political Prisoners and the United
States Campaign for Burma
New report documents huge increase in Burma political prisoners, in
defiance of UN Security Council

Two human rights organizations released a new report today detailing that
the number of political prisoners held by Burma’s military junta has
nearly doubled over the past year even after the UN Security Council
demanded in October 2007 that the junta release all political prisoners,
including the world’s only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San
Suu Kyi.

The report, entitled “The Future in the Dark: the Massive Increase in
Burma’s Political Prisoners”, was jointly produced by the Thailand-based
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma) (AAPP) and the
United States Campaign for Burma (USCB), based in Washington, DC.

The report is slated for release on 6 October 2008, just after the first
anniversary of the Burmese junta’s crackdown on Burmese Buddhist monks’
“Saffron Revolution”.  During the crackdown, the junta beat, tortured,
imprisoned, or shot many monks who were marching peacefully in the
streets, calling for an end to military dictatorship. Many everyday people
and monks — an estimated over 100 — were killed during the brutal
crackdown. The release of the report coincides with the launch of the
United Nations’ “Dignity and Justice for Detainees Initiative”, an effort
by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights that aims to increase
pressure on States, parliaments, judiciaries, and other relevant
institutions to abolish or reduce arbitrary and unlawful detentions.

Along with the report (attached), the AAPP and the USCB today sent an open
letter to the United Nations Secretary-General and the main bodies of the
UN, calling on the world body to obtain the immediate and unconditional
release of all political prisoners in Burma. The letter is addressed to
the Presidents of the General Assembly, and the Human Rights Council,
Members of the Security Council, as well as UN Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon and newly appointed Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay.

The report finds that in June 2007 the United Nations reported that there
were 1,192 political prisoners in Burma.  Now, there are at least 2,123
political prisoners in Burma — a 78% increase. About 700-900 of them were
arrested during the peaceful protests in August and September last year.
On September 23, the regime announced that it had released over 9,000
prisoners from various prisons, but only 10 political prisoners were
included. U Win Htein, senior assistant to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was
released on 23 September and rearrested the next day. Almost all of the
2,100 political prisoners remain incarcerated.

“By nearly doubling the number of political prisoners, the Burmese regime
is directly defying the United Nations, including the UN Security
Council,” said Bo Kyi, a former political prisoner and a co-founder of the
AAPP.  “Yet, the UN is paralyzed because the Secretary-General is still
reluctant to call on China to work together with other members of the
Security Council to secure the release of all prisoners by the end of
December.”

The Secretary-General is expected to travel to Burma at the end of
December, and the report authors are calling on him to arrange the release
of all political prisoners in Burma by the conclusion of his trip,
including Aung San Suu Kyi.

“The Secretary-General has a clear mandate from the Security Council, the
General Assembly, and the Human Rights Council to secure the release of
all political prisoners in Burma,” added Aung Din, a former political
prisoner and executive director of USCB.  “It is time for Ban Ki-moon to
show effective leadership and moral authority, vested in him by the 192
members of the United Nations.  He must make Burma’s dictator Than Shwe
realize that freeing all political prisoners by the end of December is a
necessary first step toward national reconciliation and democratization.”

On 11 October 2007, the UN Security Council issued a Presidential
Statement that demanded the release of all political prisoners:
“emphasizes the importance of the early release of all political prisoners
and remaining detainees.”

Besides the UN Security Council, the UN General Assembly and Human Rights
Council have also called for the release of all political prisoners in
Burma.

Since 1991, the UN General Assembly has adopted resolutions on Burma
calling for the release of all political prisoners.  In February 2008, the
UNGA said the regime should “release without delay those who have been
arbitrarily arrested and detained, as well as political prisoners,
immediately and unconditionally, including the leaders of the National
League for Democracy, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and U Tin Oo, the leaders of
the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy, Khun Htun Oo, and other Shan
leaders, and the “88 Generation” students’ group leaders Min Ko Naing and
Ko Ko Gyi.”.

On December 2007, the UN Human Rights Council called on the regime to
“release all political detainees in Myanmar, including Daw Aung San Suu
Kyi.”