BurmaNet News, December 5, 2008

[Editor]

December 5, 2008, Issue #3612


INSIDE BURMA
BBC News: Burma comic 'sent to remote jail'
New Kerala: Myanmar's longest-serving political prisoner hospitalized
Kaladan News: TOC bans foreign NGO in northern Arakan
Xinhua: Myanmar top leader Senior-General Than Shwe meets Chinese FM
Narinjara: Sailors get military refresher course

BUSINESS / TRADE
Kachin News Group: Chinese jade exhibition upsets Kachin jade merchants
Kachin News Group: Closed Thai airports keep Rangoon tour agencies on toes
Narinjara: Burma and Bangladesh businessmen meet in Maungdaw

HEALTH / AIDS
Xinhua: Myanmar in need of sustainable tuberculosis drug supply

DRUGS
SHAN: Sweep in Panghsang

INTERNATIONAL
Mizzima: Burma among top five in detaining journalists, says the CPJ

OPINION/OTHER
Huffington Post: No light in Burma – Virginia Moncrieff



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INSIDE BURMA

December 5, BBC News
Burma comic 'sent to remote jail'

A dissident comedian serving a 59-year jail sentence in Burma has been
moved to a remote jail in the north of the country, his relatives say.

Zarganar is believed to be one of seven dissidents to have been moved from
Insein in Rangoon to Kachin State.

His family have said the decision is "a cruel act" which will make it
difficult for them to visit him.

Zarganar had just been named "Journalist of the Year" by a leading media
advocacy group.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said the prize rewarded Zarganar for being
"a reliable source of information in a country strangled by censorship and
repression".

"This is a very cruel act by the government. It will be extremely
difficult for the family to make regular prison visits," said Ma Nyein,
Zarganar's sister-in-law.

The BBC's Burmese Service said Kachin State is a cold and remote region
where the military junta sends many of its jailed political opponents.

The region can not be reached by road and takes three to four days by
train, they said.

Zarganar was jailed in November as part of a judicial crackdown on Burma's
pro-democracy movement following last year's political unrest.

He had been detained earlier in the year for criticising the government's
slow response to Cyclone Nargis in interviews with foreign news groups and
for organising aid deliveries himself.

____________________________________

December 5, New Kerala
Myanmar's longest-serving political prisoner hospitalized

Win Tin, 79, Myanmar's longest serving political prisoner who was released
from prison three months ago, has been hospitalized, family members
confirmed Friday.

"He had low blood pressure and difficulty breathing so we sent him to
Yangon Medical Centre in Yangon at 7.30 pm Thursday," a relative of Win
Tin's told DPA.

Win Tin was released Sep 23 after serving 19 years in prison.

A central executive member of the opposition National League for Democracy
(NLD) party, Win Tin was released under a broad government amnesty that
included more than 9,000 prisoners, most of them common criminals.

Win Tin was a prominent journalist, before he was arrested in 1989 and
spent 19 years in prison.

Upon his release, Win Tin told a handful of journalists that the country's
military rule must end, and he will "keep fighting until the emergence of
democracy" in Myanmar.

Win Tin was arrested in July 1989, and three months later was sentenced to
three years, but in 1992 before his release he was sentenced to an
addition 11 years.

Long prison terms for politcal opponents of Myanmar's ruling junta are
common. Myanmar has been under military rule since 1962.

Myanmar's courts last month sentenced dozens of political activists to 65
years in jail for participating in demonstrations in August and September
2007.

The country's main opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, has spent at least
12 of the last 19 years under house arrest.

____________________________________

December 5, Kaladan News
TOC bans foreign NGO in northern Arakan

The Buthidaung Tactical Operation Commands (TOC) has ordered an NGO to
stop their activities in Buthidaung as of December 1, said a close aide
from TOC.

The NGO, GRET (Groupe de Recherche et d'Echanges Technologiques) which
works in Northern Arakan for developing food security and agriculture
started work in Burma in 1995.

The GRET distributes fertilizer and other chemicals free for agriculture
to improve farming and ensure food security. But, the military junta of
TOC from Buthidaung issued an order to GRET not to carry out their
programme for the local people, especially the Rohingya community in the
area.

The TOC of Buthidaung, are selling low quality fertilizer and chemical for
agriculture to the local Rohingya community at high prices by force. When
the GRET started to distribute the fertilizer and chemical, nobody bought
the TOC's fertilizer. So the TOC banned the activities of GRET in
Buthidaung, sources said.

"The junta wants to take all our wealth from us providing low quality
agricultural inputs which are not able to develop our agriculture
products. The junta also takes from us our food making us insecure," said
a school teacher from Buthidaung.

When GRET came with agricultural inputs things were bad because of a tense
ethnic situation in North Rakhine State. This situation has generated
great poverty among the population. The Muslim population in particular is
very vulnerable. The food security and poverty reduction project aims to
build local agricultural production capacity (by improving access to
quality inputs and agricultural services for small and medium family
farms) and secure the livelihood of the poorest local population, in
particular refugees from Bangladesh.

As a parallel, the project is developing local capacities and supporting
the structuring of rural communities. The project beneficiaries are both
small and medium family farms and landless farmers and the most vulnerable
households. GRET seeks to improve food security for vulnerable populations
in North Rakhine State by implementing income-generating activities
specifically targeted to the poorest and most disadvantaged populations,
taking into consideration issues of gender, environmental protection and
sustainability, according to the GRET website.

The agricultural development project in Rakhine State falls within the
framework of the repatriation of Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh, under
the responsibility of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
Its objective is therefore to favour an increase in agricultural
productivity and the creation of jobs in order to absorb a nearly 30 per
cent  population growth in the three townships Maungdaw, Buthidaung and
Rathedaung which are targeted. In a tense social context, international
organizations' play an important role as mediators, their website also
stated.

____________________________________

December 5, Xinhua
Myanmar top leader Senior-General Than Shwe meets Chinese FM

Myanmar top leader Senior-General Than Shwe met with visiting Chinese
Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi in the new capital of Nay Pyi Taw Friday.

Than Shwe, Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council, said
Myanmar and China, linked by mountains and rivers, has a long-standing
friendship between the two peoples and the two sides have had close
exchange ever since.

Noting that for a long period, China has rendered valuable support and
assistance to Myanmar's economic and social development, Than Shwe
expressed Myanmar's thanks to the genuine and sincere aid extended by
China in the post-cyclone period this year.

The Myanmar side appreciates the Myanmar-China traditional friendship, he
said, expressing wishes to maintain exchange at high level, expand the
mutually beneficial cooperation in all sectors to enable the Myanmar-China
friendship to be inherited generation by generation.

At the meeting, Yang said China and Myanmar are friendly neighbors with
deep "Paukphaw (fraternal)" friendship. The two sides always pay respect
to each other, deal on equality, trust mutually and cooperate sincerely.

Recalling that the cause of friendly relations between China and Myanmar
was forged and fostered by leaders of elder generations of the two
countries, he held that the policy of adherence to China-Myanmar
friendship would not change.

He also expressed China's wishes to enhance exchange and cooperation in
all sectors to jointly push ahead the development of China-Myanmar
good-neighborly and friendly ties.

On the occasion, Than Shwe briefed Yang on Myanmar's domestic situation,
saying that the reconstruction work of Myanmar in the post-cyclone period
has achieved positive progress and the government would continue to strive
for the promotion of the country's stability, democratic process and
economic development, based on the principles of independence and
self-determination, and to launch exchange and cooperation externally
opposing outside interference.

Yang also held that the Chinese side will as always support Myanmar in
safeguarding the country's sovereignty and stability, push political
reconciliation and democracy and strive for the enhancement of its
economic and social development.

On Thursday, Yang had talks with his Myanmar counterpart U NyanWin in the
new capital.

The Chinese foreign minister arrived Nay Pyi Taw earlier on Thursday on a
two-day visit to Myanmar.

____________________________________

December 5, Narinjara
Sailors get military refresher course

The Burmese military has arranged a special military refresher training
for sailors after finding that Burmese naval forces do not have the
ability to confront Bangladesh forces, a retired army officer reported a
navy officer saying.

He said, "Burma's military authority now realizes the position of Burmese
naval forces after the maritime dispute, so they have arranged refresher
naval trainings for Burmese sailors right now."

The navy refresher trainings are being conducted by the Burmese military
authorities at the Sittwe and Kyauk Pru naval bases on the Arakanese
coast, while other special courses are being conducted at Than Lyin navy
base in Rangoon.

According to a navy source, many naval sailors from No. 18 based in Sittwe
and Danywaddy navy based in Kyauk Pru are participating in the training.

The Burmese military is facing internal criticism that Burmese naval ships
withdrew from disputed maritime waters because Burmese naval forces are
too weak to stand up in a confrontation with Bangladesh war ships.

An Arakanese national who was on the naval crew of one ship patrolling the
disputed waters last month confirmed that the Burmese navy ships did not
compare with Bangladesh's war ships, which were much larger than the
Burmese ships.

Burmese people believe that the Burmese navy ships had to withdraw from
the disputed waters because the Burmese navy was unable to confront
Bangladesh due to being weaker in technical and logistical capacities.

A military analyst said that the Burmese military government is likely to
strengthen its navy forces in the future by buying modern weapons and navy
ships from foreign countries, including China.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

December 5, Kachin News Group
Chinese jade exhibition upsets Kachin jade merchants

Kachin jade merchants are in flap over a border jade exhibition held by
China.  China show cased Burma's Hpakant jade at an exhibition in Jiegao
near the Sino-Burma border in the country's southwest Yunnan province.
This has upset ethnic Kachin merchants who rely on selling lower quality
jade on illegal border jade markets on the border, said jade merchants.

For the first time, from December 3 to 7, China opened an international
jade exhibition in Jiegao opposite Muse, the largest border trade zone in
Burma.  All raw jade stones at the exhibition were illegally transported
from Hpakant (Phakant) jade mines in western Kachin state in Burma,
according to jade merchants in Jiegao.

A Kachin merchant in Jiegao jade exhibition from Myitkyina, the capital of
Kachin state told KNG today, raw and finished jade stones and different
shapes of jade sculptures are show cased in the exhibition but the prices
are less than Chinese Yuan one million. The jade stones with price tags of
over one million Yuan are kept in the companies' houses in Ruili (Shweli)
near Jiegao and the customers are invited to the sale.

Five Kachin businessmen who own the jade company Yin Mau also attended the
exhibition but the jade quantity was low and the total value for all jade
stones was less than 300,000 Yuan (US $42,857), according to Kachin jade
merchants at the exhibition.

With the opening of the jade exhibition in Jiegao, regular customers from
Muse, Kunming and Guangzhou are buying raw jade stones from the exhibition
instead of Kachin merchants who have small amounts of money and rely on
Muse and Ying Jiang jade markets only, said jade merchants.

At the moment, four Kachin jade merchants' groups who are selling low
quality jade stones from Hpakant jade mining city in Kachin state have
arrived in Ruili jade market but they have problems with the jade they
could not sell earlier, said jade merchants close to them.

The total carrying cost is about 30 million Kyat (est. US $24,590) for 20
to 25 tons of jade from Hpakant jade mines to Muse but they have lost
regular customers in Muse since China opened the first jade exhibition in
Jiegao on Wednesday, said Kachin merchants in Ruili.

There are several hundred Kachin jade merchants in Ying Jiang and Muse
jade markets but they cannot sell their jade and are now terribly upset
and have nothing for future business, a Kachin jade merchant in Muse
revealed to KNG today.

In Burma, the ruling junta only allows selling of all Hpakant jade at its
regular jade emporium in Rangoon, former capital of the country. Here
every jade owner has to pay ten percent on each jade sale to the regime,
according to jade traders in Myitkyina.

The Jiegao jade exhibition has invited jade businessmen from around the
world but only Chinese jade businessmen from China, Taiwan and Hong Kong
have come, said Burmese jade merchants in Jiegao.

The Jiegao jade exhibition has been opened at a time when all jade markets
in China are cold following the sanction on importing all gems from Burma
by the US and the current financial meltdown.

____________________________________

December 5, Kachin News Group
Closed Thai airports keep Rangoon tour agencies on toes

Tourist agencies in Rangoon, the former capital of Burma are on their toes
these days because two airports in Thailand have been closed to air
traffic off late, a source said.

According to a staff member of a tourist agency in Rangoon, they have been
busy everyday with cancellation by tourists who were supposed to visit
Burma. Most tourist reservations are being canceled.

"Mostly, clients visiting Burma who have reservations come by Thai Airways
flights which were canceled. But the clients who had reservations with
Malaysia Airlines are coming in," said a staff of a leading tourist agency
in Rangoon.

She added that the electricity supply was being cut off and on while the
staff members were busy with their work at the agency. It is another
reason for frustration for them.

The tourism industry in Burma has been badly hit after Cyclone Nargis
lashed the country in May, she added.

On the other hand, visitors from Burma to Thailand are also being delayed
since the Thai airports are closed, according to a Rangoon resident.

____________________________________

December 5, Narinjara
Burma and Bangladesh businessmen meet in Maungdaw

Local business delegations from Burma and Bangladesh met in the western
Burmese town of Maungdaw on Wednesday to discuss border trade, with a
focus on shrimp products from Burma, said a businessman from Maungdaw.

He said, "Delegations from the two countries met yesterday to discuss the
border trade, but the issue of shrimp trade between the two countries
prevailed at the meeting."

The meeting was held at Daywar Nadi Hall in the compound of the Border
Merchant Association and lasted just two hours, from 3 pm to 5 pm.

According to a business source, the meeting ended without any formal
agreements, but the two delegations agreed to hold the next meeting in
Bangladesh.

Burma has opened a trade zone in Maungdaw to promote trade with
Bangladesh, and is wanting to expand exports of Burmese goods via the
border trade.

However, Bangladesh businessmen did not respond to any offers from Burmese
businessmen during the meeting, but said they would let the delegation
know of their decisions after discussion with other parties in Bangladesh.

At the meeting, the seven-member Burmese team was led by U Shwe Tha,
President of the Border Merchant Association, while the nine-member
Bangladesh team was led by Mr Khalet from the Cox's Bazar Merchant
Association.

____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

December 5, Xinhua
Myanmar in need of sustainable tuberculosis drug supply

A high-ranking Myanmar health official has stressed the need for
sustainable supply of TB (tuberculosis) drug in the country, saying that
the requirement is to retain the current achievement in "stop-TB strategy"
under implementation, official press media reported Friday.

Minister of Health Dr. Kyaw Myint made the remarks at a recent review
meeting of Myanmar's Health Department under the ministry and the Global
Drug Facility (GDF) held in Nay Pyi Taw.

According to the report, the GDF has provided TB drug to Myanmar since
2003 and the TB eradication tasks have been carried out in the country
under its national health plan.

TB remains one of the three major communicable disease designated in
Myanmar and the government has offered effective treatment to patients
suffering from the disease under the anti-TB national project.

Highly-effective medicines in treating TB have been or are being provided
free-of-charge for treating every TB-suspected patient who reports to the
nearest hospitals or clinics, project officials said.

Myanmar has been making efforts in fighting three diseases of national
concern — HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria, treating the three diseases as
priority with the main objectives of reducing the morbidity and mortality
in a bid to become no longer a public problem and meet the Millennium
Development Goals of the United Nations.

Of the three diseases, it was estimated that about 100,000 new TB patients
developed annually and about half of them are infectious cases.

Myanmar achieved 95 percent case detection rate and 84 percent treatment
success rate with regard to TB. With the introduction of Directly Observed
Treatment Short Course (DOTS) strategy of the WHO in Myanmar since 1997,
over 85 percent of TB patients have recovered from the disease, the report
disclosed.

____________________________________
DRUGS

December 5, Shan Herald Agency for News
Sweep in Panghsang

A 5-day manhunt in Panghsang, the capital of the Wa region, Shan State,
21-25 November, had netted 138 petty pushers and users, according to
reports coming to the border.

The news was first broke by Thai border watchers, which was later
confirmed by a police officer in Panghsang on the Sino-Burma border.

More than 30 of them were Chinese citizens and were handed over to the
Chinese authorities, said the source, who declined to elaborate on the
reason behind the move.

The same officer had told SHAN in April that of the 400 offenders caught
and jailed last year, 300 of them were either using or retailing drugs.
“There are no big fish among them, because they have already moved out,”
he explained.

“Only those connected to Wei (Xuegang) and Bao (Youxiang, the Wa supreme
leader) are allowed to get involved (in the Wa monopoly),” complained an
out-of-businessman to SHAN. “Others like us are threatened with orders to
have our heads chopped off.”

The US Treasury Department issued a statement freezing assets of 26
individuals and 17 firms linked to the United Wa State Army and Wei
Xuegang, also written Wei Hsueh Kang, on 13 November.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

December 5, Mizzima
Burma among top five in detaining journalists, says the CPJ - Mungpi

With at least 14 journalists detained, Burma is the third worst country
that has imprisoned journalists for disseminating information to the
people, said the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on Thursday.

CPJ's 2008 annual census shows that as of December 1, Burma along with 28
other nations across the world have detained a total of 125 journalists
and for the first time the number of online journalists being detained
surpasses journalists in other media.

The CPJ said, 56 online journalists, or about 45 per cent of all media
workers jailed worldwide are bloggers, Web-based reporters, or online
editors.

"Online journalists represent the largest professional category for the
first time in CPJ's prison census," the CPJ said in its report.

According to the CPJ, the number of imprisoned online journalists has
steadily increased since the first jailed Internet writer was reported in
1997. With 53 journalists' detained, print reporters, editors, and
photographers make up the next largest professional category in 2008,
while Television and radio journalists and documentary filmmakers
constitute the rest.

"Online journalism has changed the media landscape and the way we
communicate with each other," said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon in
the report.

 "But the power and influence of this new generation of online journalists
has captured the attention of repressive governments around the world,
and they have accelerated their counterattack," he added.

The power of online journalism in Burma, a country ruled by the military
which has closed almost all connections with the outside world, came to be
known during the September 2007 monk-led protests, when the world
community was able to view images of the protests and the crackdowns on
blogs and websites posted by bloggers, online journalists and Burmese
media groups in exile.

Despite the Burmese junta's alacrity in shutting off the internet and
snapping telephone lines, online journalism seems to have persisted as the
world community once again watched in shock the images in the aftermath of
the devastation caused by Cyclone Nargis.

However, Burma's military junta, despite worldwide condemnation, arrested
five journalists and bloggers including popular comedian Zargarnar for
disseminating information on the September protests and the aftermath of
Cyclone Nargis.

Burma's military authorities sentenced Zargarnar, who along with blogger
Nay Phone Latt were named winners of the RSF 'Cyber-Dissident' award on
Thursday, to 59 years in prison and transferred him to Myitkyina town in
northern Burma's Kachin State.

Nay Phone Latt was sentenced to 20 ½ years in jail and sent to Paan prison
in Karen State.

Of the 29 countries that have jailed journalists, China tops the list
having had 28 journalists thrown behind bars. With 21 detained
journalists, Cuba is second, while Burma with a total of 14 journalists
detained comes across as the third.

Eritrea closely follows Burma with 13 journalists and Uzbekistan with six
and is ranked fifth.

____________________________________
OPINION/OTHER

December 5, Huffington Post
No light in Burma – Virginia Moncrieff

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has said he will not travel to Burma
because he has no "reasonable expectations of a meaningful outcome."

Mr. Ban was urged by over 100 former world leaders to visit Burma to
petition the military regime to release all political prisoners. The UN
Security Council called for the release of all political prisoners in
2007. No need to elaborate here on what happened after that resolution.

Is this an indication - as many fear - that the UN have all but given up
on the situation in Burma? To write off any possibility of having even
modest progress sounds resigned, exhausted and pessimistic.

The UN added in their statement that Special Envoy Ibrahim Gambari would
not return to Burma any time soon. (His last trip was August, when Aung
San Suu Kyi in a confusing and wrong-headed move refused twice to meet
with him).

I have friends who are in jail in Burma for the slimmest of reasons, or
for what I see as no reason at all. One has a jail sentence of 142 years.