BurmaNet News, January 13, 2009

[Editor]

January 13, 2009, Issue #3630


INSIDE BURMA
DVB: Two NLD youth members arrested
DVB: Elected MPs’ lawyers denied access to court
Irrawaddy: Rangoon under tightened security: Sources
Mizzima News: Meeting to foster people's participation in 2010 election
Narinjara: Timber funds Western Command

ON THE BORDER
IMNA: 170 migrant workers arrested in raid on Thai factory
Kaladan News: Rights group call Thailand to change policy for boat people
SHAN: Migrants’ work permits being extended

BUSINESS / TRADE
Irrawaddy: Burmese rice farmers struggle to make a living

HEALTH / AIDS
Thai Press Reports: Myanmar intensifies measures to stop bird flu at border

INTERNATIONAL
Mizzima News: Burma ranks among worst nations for civilian freedom: Rights
Group
Irrawaddy: Supporting Burma key achievement of Laura Bush



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INSIDE BURMA

January 13, Democratic Voice of Burma
Two NLD youth members arrested – Nan Kham Kaew

Two National League for Democracy youth members from Dala township in
Rangoon were arrested at their homes in the early hours of yesterday
morning, according to party spokesperson Nyan Win.

Nyan Win said the Dala township NLD youth wing coordinator Htet Soe Lin
and youth organising wing leader Thet Pain Min were arrested by about 20
Special Branch police officials from their houses at around 2am on Monday
morning.

"We still don't know the reason for the arrests or any other details,"
Nyan Win said.

____________________________________

January 13, Democratic Voice of Burma
Elected MPs’ lawyers denied access to court – Nan Kham Kaew

Lawyers defending two 1990 people's parliament representatives, Nyi Pu and
Dr Tin Min Htut, were denied entry to the courtroom at Insein prison
special court yesterday.

Nyi Pu and Dr Tin Min Htut are facing four different charges including
sedition and disrupting the national convention.

Central court lawyer Kyaw Ho said he had arrived in court at around 9am
yesterday morning with fellow lawyers Maung Maung Latt and Sithu Maung to
attend the hearing.

"We already have obtained all the necessary documents to act as defending
lawyers for the two on 6 January," Kyaw Ho said.

"We filled out and submitted forms to gain entry to the courtroom but then
we were told by the deputy prison chief and another official we were not
allowed in," he said.

"I asked them whether it was the prison's decision to not let us in, and
they said the prison had nothing to do with it and that it was an order
from the special police's prosecution department."

Kyaw Ho said the lawyers had asked secondary provincial judge Tin Htut of
western Rangoon provincial court, who was hearing the case, to help them
negotiate with government authorities to gain access to the courtroom.

"It's the judge's responsibility to enable us to come to the court
hearing; otherwise it disadvantages defendants whose lawyers are not
present,” he said.

Relatives of Nyi Pu and Tin Min Htut who went to the prison to visit them
yesterday were not allowed to see them due to the court hearing.

____________________________________

January 13, Irrawaddy
Rangoon under tightened security: Sources – Wai Moe

Burma’s ruling authorities have tightened security around Rangoon after
anti-government leaflets were distributed last week, according to sources
in the city.

“There are riot police and soldiers, in standby position on trucks and on
the ground, at important junctions and corners in the downtown area, as
well as around Shwedagon Pagoda,” a student in the former capital told The
Irrawaddy on Tuesday.

Other residents of the city also reported an increased security presence
since last week. Last night, security forces were sighted patrolling in
various parts of the city, including Dawbon, Sanchaung, Thingangyun, and
North and South Dagon Myothit townships.

A businessman in Rangoon’s Bayintnaung Market said he heard that
anti-junta leaflets were distributed around the city last week. “Since
then, there are a lot more security forces around here,” he said.

An unknown dissident group has been carrying out an anti-government
campaign since the beginning of January, distributing leaflets which read,
“As people have not attained freedom yet, we must continue our struggle.”

On January 4, Burma’s Independence Day, nine members of the opposition
National League for Democracy (NLD) were arrested after they held a small
protest in front of the People’s Parliament building on Prome Road in
Rangoon.

The protesters called for the release of NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The
parliament building has been unused since the current junta seized power
in 1988.

____________________________________

January 13, Mizzima News
Meeting to foster people's participation in 2010 election – Than Htike Oo

Gearing up for the ensuing general election that the ruling junta has
proposed for 2010, a few politicians in Bogale Town in Irrawaddy division
held a meeting on Monday.

The meeting held at the residence of Nay Myo Wai, who has been writing
critical articles against Burma's mainstream opposition on internet web
pages, in Padauk Street of Bogale town in Irrawaddy division, lasted about
three hours. It was a gathering of a few politicians, who are believed to
endorse the ruling junta's roadmap to democracy.

"The aim was to create awareness among the people so that people will know
how to choose their representatives in the elections in 2010," Nay Myo Wai
told Mizzima.

He said, people are not much aware about politics and are not even able to
raise questions to test the intellectual levels of possible candidates.

"They don't even have questions to ask. So through this meeting we were
able to explain and teach them," he added.

He said, the meeting was attended by a few dignitaries in the area
including Thetkatoe Myat Thu, Tin Win, who was an elected Member of
Parliament of Kyaik Latt Township in the 1990 election, an economist Ohn
Lwin, and a few villagers and local people. The meeting was held after
obtaining permission of the District Peace and Development Council.

"Authorities said we can conduct the meeting if it was for less than 50
people. So we called a few elders, some respected persons and a few local
people totaling less than 50," he added.

The meeting, according to him, was part of the plan to prepare the public
for the ensuing elections in 2010, and the process will continue among the
people.

____________________________________

January 13, Narinjara
Timber funds Western Command

A timber-selling center was recently opened by the Western Army Command in
order to sell timber produced in Arakan Roma to private companies and
businessmen, said one timber trader.
"The timber-selling center was opened at Yho Chaung Creek and many timber
traders have been invited by the authority to purchase timber from the
center," the trader said.

According to an army source, the timber center is ten miles east of
Arakan's Ann Town and has been opened by the army authority in order to
generate revenue that will be used to fund the Western Command
Headquarters located in Ann.

"The army authority has given permission to transport timber from the
center to anywhere, if we buy the timber from there," the trader said.

The center has become crowded by timber company representatives and timber
traders, and authorities are arranging accommodation and other facilities
for those visiting the center.

Many different kinds of timber are being produced by the Western Command
authorities for sale to buyers through the timber center.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

January 13, Independent Mon News Agency
170 migrant workers arrested in raid on Thai factory – Mon Son, Blai Mon

Over 170 Burmese migrant workers were arrested yesterday when Thai
officials conducted an immigration raid on a shrimp factory in Mahachai,
Samut Sakorn Province, Thailand.

At 2pm on January 12th, officials from the Thai Department of Special
Investigation entered the shrimp factory and arrested all workers without
legal work permits. According to a family member of one of those arrested,
the raid left the factory with only 20 remaining workers, forcing it halt
work today.

Those arrested included 100 women, 19 children and 52 men, said Mi Jarai
Non, director of the Thailand-based Woman and Child Rights Project (WCRP),
which is conducting research on human trafficking between Burma and
Thailand.

Eight trafficking victims were also freed in the raid, said Mi Jarai Non.
The workers had been forced to work 19-hour workdays for just 1,000 baht a
week. The meager salary amounted to just a few baht an hour, a fraction of
Thailand’s 203 baht 8-hour minimum wage and 38 baht hourly over-time
bonus.

The victims are currently in a safe house controlled by the Thai
government, says a press release from the WCRP, though they are likely to
be deported once the trafficking case has been investigated. The other
workers seized in the factory raid are being held at the Mahachai police
station, said the family member, and are likely to be deported back to
Burma soon.

According to a release from a consortium of eight Thai non-governmental
organizations helping migrant workers in the area, Mahachai is home to
over 200,000 migrant workers, 90% of whom are from Burma. The majority are
employed in the seafood processing industry.

____________________________________

January 13, Kaladan News
Rights group call Thailand to change policy for boat people

Chittagong, Bangladesh: A rights group, Refugees International (RI) from
Washington, D.C called on the Government of Thailand to change their
policy towards boat people, who have been recently entering their
territory, through a press release yesterday.

The boat people are primarily stateless Burmese Rohingya escaping severe
oppression and harsh poverty at home, but also include some Bangladeshi
migrants.  Both group board boats of varying seaworthiness with the aim of
finding security and economic opportunity in Thailand and Malaysia, the
statement said.

"The Government of Thailand should instruct its Army to desist from its
new and troubling policy of pushing refugees and migrants intercepted on
boats back out to sea which endangers their lives, and exposes them to the
risk of capsizing or sinking," the statement said.

The Thai government is detaining them on a remote island and then forcing
them back out to sea, statement added.

"The actions of the Thai government contravene accepted standards of
international law that discourage putting civilians at greater risk after
being in the custody of government officials.  The Thai authorities
should, at a minimum, revert to the practice of deporting undocumented
migrants.  Thai officials should also ensure that refugees seeking asylum
are properly screened and are not forced back to their country of origin
if it will put them at risk," the statement more added.

"The Thai government is taking highly vulnerable people and risking their
lives for political gain. It should be engaging the Burmese government on
improving conditions at home for the Rohingya if it wants to stem the
flow.  The Rohingya will continue to make the journey because they have no
hope for a better life in Burma.  Pushing them back out to sea is not an
effective deterrent – it just jeopardizes lives," said Advocate Sean
Garcia.

"The Rohingya are stateless and have no rights inside Burma. The Burmese
government targets them for forced labour and extortion, and restricts
their movement. The Burmese government's policy of actively displacing the
Rohingya from their homeland means that any refugee who is forced back is
subjected to arrest and abuse.  Until the Rohingya are recognized by Burma
as citizens, neighboring countries like Thailand must protect and assist
this vulnerable population," he added.

"It was a sick and bizarre situation, and there appeared to be children in
the groups as well. They were forcibly exposed to the hot sun although
trees provided shade a few meters away. Some of the tourists went over to
look at what was going on," said Mrs. Skibelig, who had her Christmas
holiday in Similan Islands, Thailand, together with 20 other family
members, is one of the eyewitnesses about the policy of Thailand regarding
boatpeople.

"When we first arrived on the beach we thought the Thai military was going
through a military drill. Later we understood that something very, very
serious was going on," Mrs Skibelid explained to the Norwegian newspaper
Dagbladet.no

The refugee (boatpeople) had been arrested and forcibly kept on the beach
since 10 a.m. and were still lying there when the Norwegian travelers left
in the afternoon, at around 4 pm. They also witnessed the guards hitting
and kicking the refugees, she added.

Nearly 200 people (174 Rohingyas and 19 Bangladeshi) reached Indonesia's
Sumatra island on a wooden boat on January 7, and after drifting for a few
days were found by local fishermen and transferred to the coastguard where
medical treatment and food were provided by the Indonesia government,
according to local Navy Commander Yanuar Handwiyono.

On January 4, 2009, a motor-boat carrying about 97 people returned to
Shapuri Dip of Bangladesh, at about 12:30 pm, after Burmese naval forces
from Rangoon Division pushed them back. The Burmese authorities provided
the travelers with some ration and fuel, according to a person who
returned from the Rangoon coast.

Towards the end of last year, the British "The Guardian" newspaper
mentioned, "More than 300 people believed to be illegal migrants and
mostly Bangladeshis were feared to have drowned. The accident took place
off the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal on December 28,
as the victims jumped into the sea and tried to swim ashore."

"The men were mostly Bangladeshis and some Burmese nationals, aged between
18 and 60, who drifted through the Bay of Bengal, and we are trying to
rescue the boatpeople with navy ship and helicopter," said authorities in
Port Blair.

"To arrest people when they enter Thai waters then release them in
international waters, without motors or sails, would clearly be a
violation of international human rights,'' said Chris Lewa, a
Bangkok-based social worker who is seeking better treatment for the
Rohingya boat people.

Refugees International is a Washington, DC-based organization that
advocates to end refugee crises. In November 2008, Refugees International
staff conducted a mission to Bangladesh and Malaysia to assess the
humanitarian conditions for Burmese Rohingya refugees, including boat
migrants. There are approximately 1 million Rohingya living outside Burma

____________________________________

January 13, Shan Herald Agency for News
Migrants’ work permits being extended – Hseng Khio Fah

Thai authorities have issued the extension of work permits for migrant
workers from Burma, Cambodia and Laos to receive one year work-permit to
work in Thailand, according to a document received by Chiangmai based
Migrant Assistance Program (MAP).

On 7 January, authorities from Department of Employment (DOE) in Thailand
announced that there are 88,787 migrant workers whose work permit will
expire in 2009. They are requested to prepare the necessary documents such
as the old work permit (pink card) or receipt of the work permit
registration, medical certificate or receipt of medical checkup and
insurance, and application form Tor Thor 13.

The report said that those work-permits must be finished extending by the
scheduled date from 5-20 January, 2-28 February, 4 May to 30 June 2009
depending on when their existing work permit expires. In February of 2010
all Burmese migrants will have to return to their home country to apply
for a new system of legal work-permit papers from the Burmese authorities.

On 6 January at 20:00, local authorities in Chiangmai called on
representatives of the Workers Solidarity Association (WSA) also based in
Chiangmai to discuss work permits to be issued by the Burmese junta,
according to Sai Hawm Khurh from WSA.

“They [Thai authorities] said there won’t be an extension of work permits
again next year. So, they have started to collect names [of current
workers] to begin work under this new system. They told us to give our
names to apply for it,” said Sai Hawm Khurh.

“We will be in the cross fire, if they [Thai authorities] really do as
they say,” he said. If this new system is implemented, migrant workers
will be unable to stay or work in Thailand because their old permit has
expired. They will also be under threat of persecution by Burmese
officials, upon their return to their hometowns.

The passports registration offices have been planned to open along the
Thai-Burma border at Myawaddy, Tachilek and Kawthawng.

Thai authorities could also move a work-permit registration office from
Tachilek to Chiangmai, in northern Thailand, to accommodate migrants who
don’t want to go to the border, said Sai Hawm Khurh.

“However, we would like to stress that we are still afraid to believe this
new information due to lessons learnt from the past.”

Thailand and Burma agreed to set up nationality identification centers for
Burmese migrant workers in 2006.  However, the two countries failed to
successfully implement the agreement. Instead when the migrant workers
returned to their homes in Burma, junta authorities terrorized their
families coercing them to pay bribes, after using their personal
information received through the work permit process, to find their
relatives.

Thailand had also set up centers with the governments of Laos and Cambodia
as well. These centers have so far processed some 70,000 Lao and Cambodia
workers and registered them with the Thai Labor Department, according to a
report from Irrawaddy in November 2008.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

January 13, Irrawaddy
Burmese rice farmers struggle to make a living – Min Lwin

The destruction wrought by Cyclone Nargis, combined with falling world
prices, is hitting Burmese rice farmers hard, with many of them
complaining they are working at a loss.

Sub-standard seeds and inadequate stocks of fertilizer are also taking
their toll on Burmese rice production, particularly in the
cyclone-devastated Irrawaddy delta.

A farmer in Nyaung Laybin Township, Pegu Division, said income from the
sale of his rice amounted to 70,000 kyat (US $59) per acre, while
production costs were about 90,000 kyat ($78).

Recent rice harvests in cyclone-hit areas of Irrawaddy and Rangoon
Divisions had dropped by at least 35 percent, farmers report.

Khin Maung Nyo, a Rangoon-based economic analyst, said the global
financial crisis also played a major role. Businessmen were withdrawing
from the rice market. “We are facing liquidity problems,” he said.

About 70 percent of Burmese rice millers are unable to invest any further
in their businesses because of the cyclone, and 70 percent of stockpiled
paddy had been depleted, Aung Than Oo, chairman of the Myanmar Rice Miller
and Crops Traders Association, told the Rangoon-based Weekly Eleven
journal.

“Most of the rice millers in the country suffered heavy losses owing to
the cyclone,” he was quoted by the journal’s Web site as saying. “Their
purchasing power went down about 70 percent. That is why the trading is
low in the domestic crop market. These businesspeople usually sell the
stored crops of the previous year, and they buy the new seasonal paddy.
But after cyclone Nargis they could not purchase the crops any more.”

Aung Than Oo said merchants had low capital. The price of paddy dropped
from 575,000 kyat ($500) per ton in July 2008 to a current level of
287,500 kyat (US$ 250).

“Although some merchants wanted to export the paddy, they cannot afford
the necessary investment,” Aung Than Oo said.

Burma has two rice harvests—the summer paddy, planted in April and
harvested in late December, and the monsoon harvest, planted in May and
harvested in December.

“We didn’t plant the summer paddy because we haven’t enough money,” said
farmer Win Maung, who owns 10 acres of paddy in Pegu Township.

____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

January 13, Thai Press Reports
Myanmar intensifies measures to stop bird flu at border

Myanmar has stepped up its bio-security procedures to prevent the spread
of bird flu from beyond its borders, banning poultry imports from its
neighbour, Bangladesh, according to Myanmar's Biweekly Eleven.

The Livestock Breeding and Veterinary Department (LBVD) has called on the
Myanmar people to take preventive measures to prevent bird flu entering
the country via its borders, saying that the avian influenza was found to
have sporadic outbreaks in neighbouring countries to the east and
northwest and attributed the phenomena to migratory birds, carrying the
deadly H5N1 virus from one country to another.

Migratory birds from different regions across the world fly over Myanmar
during the winter season period between November and February, said
experts.

Myanmar livestock authorities have also called for maintained awareness
regarding methods of avian influenza infection and have suggested
intensifying precautionary and educational measures to prevent any cases
of the disease in humans and birds.

Last April, the World Animal Health Organisation (OIE) declared Myanmar
free of bird flu, three months after the country proved that no residual
bird flu virus remained in the country. Myanmar reported an outbreak of
the avian influenza for the first time in early 2006.

Despite its confirmation as a bird-flu-free nation, the Myanmar livestock
authorities continued to call upon the country's residents to exercise
long-term precautions against the deadly H5N1 strain of the disease,
according to news agencies.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

January 13, Mizzima News
Burma ranks among worst nations for civilian freedom: Rights Group

A United States-based Freedom House in its annual global release on
freedom in the world, has ranked Burma among the 'worst of the worst'
countries, where civilians enjoy negligible political and civil liberties.

The Freedom in the World 2009, which examines the state of freedom in 193
countries and 16 strategic territories, ranked Burma along with North
Korea, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Libya, Sudan, Equatorial Guinea and
Somalia among the worst countries that impose restrictions on the lives of
civilians.

The report said freedom "retreated in much of the world in 2008, the third
year of global decline," and countries in the Sub-Saharan Africa, the
former Soviet Union, and a few countries in Asia including China, North
Korea and Burma saw the most reversals.

The Freedom House survey categorized countries, according to the political
rights and civil liberties which their civilians enjoy, into three
categories – Free, Partly Free and Not Free. Burma along with 41 other
countries was ranked as 'Not Free'.

In 2008, Burma's military rulers have widely attracted criticism and
condemnation from international communities for its high-handedness on
opposition activists by arresting and sentencing them to long prison
terms.

Following the September 2007 monk-led mass protests, Burma's military
junta escalated its crackdown on dissidents by arresting several
activists, including prominent student activist Min Ko Naing and group.

Since August 2008, the military junta has conducted secret trials in
prisons and handed down harsh sentences of imprisonment upto 68 years.
Among those handed harsh prison terms, a dissident Buddhist monk, Ashin
Gambira, who had played a vital role in leading the September 2007
protests, was given 68 years of prison term.

Burma's military rulers have said that the country is building a roadmap
to democracy and are gearing up to hold general elections in 2010.
However, critics doubt whether the elections will be free and fair.

The junta in May, amidst a severe crisis faced by the country's
southwestern coastal region after it was hit by Cyclone Nargis, held a
referendum to approve a draft constitution, which critics and opposition
parties said was a tool to cement military rule.

Regional and international communities including the United Nations have
urged Burma's military rulers to implement a broad based dialogue with all
political stake holders and to speed up the process of democratization.

Burma has been under military rule since 1962.

____________________________________

January 13, Irrawaddy
Supporting Burma key achievement of Laura Bush – Lalit K Jha

The White House Monday said on supporting the people of Burma and
mobilizing world opinion against the military junta was one of the
highlights of Laura Bush’s efforts during her tenure as first lady.

"Mrs. Bush actively supports the people of Burma as they struggle to free
themselves from the regime's tyranny," said a statement released by the
White House as George W. Bush completes eight years of his administration
and leaves the White House on January 20.

First lady Laura Bush gestures while showing off some of the new White
House China Service, in the Old Family Dining Room of the White House in
Washington last week. (Photo: AP)
The White House noted that the first lady hosted a roundtable at the
United Nations Headquarters in 2006 to draw attention in the international
community to human rights problems in Burma.

"In subsequent editorials, interviews and public statements, she has
continued to cast the spotlight on the plight of the Burmese people," it
said.

As part of her ongoing call to the international community to assist the
Burmese people in their struggle for democracy and human rights, Mrs. Bush
also traveled to the Thai-Burma border.

In August 2008, she visited the Mae La refugee camp and the Mae Tao
medical clinic to learn first-hand of the refugees' plight and their
desire for education and freedom. Mae La, the largest of nine camps along
the western Thailand border, shelters more than 35,000 refugees and
provides free health care to hundreds of refugees each day.

She also protested the violent crackdown of the ruling junta against
peaceful protesters and the prolonged detainment of Aung San Suu Kyi, a
Nobel Prize laureate and leader of Burma's freely elected, pro-democratic
party.

She has repeatedly called on the regime to stop its terror campaign
against its own people; to release all political prisoners; to commit to a
meaningful, unrestricted dialogue with opposition leaders; and to take
steps to foster a democratic transition.
"She has also called on the international community to refrain from
purchasing Burmese gemstones, the revenue from which props up the
repressive Burmese regime rather helping the people of Burma," the White
House said.

On May 5, 2008, Laura Bush held a rare press conference in the White House
Press Briefing Room and called on the junta to allow unhindered access for
international disaster experts and aid providers so that the Burmese
people could receive the assistance they needed in the wake of the
devastating Cyclone Nargis.