BurmaNet News, April 9, 2009

[Editor]

April 9, 2009, Issue #3688


INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: Five Burmese labor activists arrested
Irrawaddy: Shan State ‘extremely unstable’: Researchers
Mizzima News: Suu Kyi’s lawyer to renew appeal for her release
AFP: Myanmar's Karen rebels seek peace: state media
Xinhua: All vessels sunk during storm in Myanmar salvaged
Narinjara: Army Special Operation Chief visits Western Border

ON THE BORDER
DVB: Army offensive to clear way for deep-sea port
DVB: Chin refugees in Delhi struggle to access aid

INTERNATIONAL
AFP: Japan needs to push Myanmar on rights: HRW
Mizzima News: US Congress members call for appointment of Burma envoy

OPINION / OTHER
Irrawaddy: Learning from Poland’s example – Aung Zaw



____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

April 9, Irrawaddy
Five Burmese labor activists arrested

Five labor activists were arrested recently in Rangoon after attending a
labor conference held on the Thai-Burma border, an exiled labor group, the
Federation Trade Unions Burma (FTUB), said on Wednesday.

The FTUB said in a press release that five members, who are peaceful
advocates and campaigners for labor rights, were arrested on April 1.

The detainees are Zaw Myint Aung, a 49-year-old teacher; three textile
factory workers, Soe Oo, 37,  Tun Nyein, 22, and Khine Lin Myat, 22 ; and
Shwe Yi Nyunt, a 25-year-old  nurses aid and law student.

“The five members are likely being held in interrogation centers in the
Rangoon area where it is believed they are being tortured,” the press
release said.

The exile labor group also claimed that family members of the five
activists were arrested or threatened to compel cooperation from those
detained.

Burma has more than 2,100 political prisoners, including pro-democracy
leader Aung San Suu Kyi. In two years, the number of political prisoners
has doubled.

For two decades, the international community, including the United Nations
and Burmese opposition groups, has repeatedly called for the release of
all political prisoners.

____________________________________

April 9, Irrawaddy
Shan State ‘extremely unstable’: Researchers – Wai Moe

The political situation in Burma’s eastern Shan State has worsened since
mid-2008, as ceasefire groups come under growing pressure to disarm and
China exerts greater economic influence over the region, according to a
new report released today.

The report, by the Lahu National Development Organization (LNDO), says
that ethnic ceasefire groups remain mistrustful of the Burmese junta,
which has been pushing them to disarm and join an election slated for some
time next year.

The LNDO, which conducts extensive on-the-ground research on issues
related to this sensitive region of Burma, described the situation as
“currently extremely unstable.”

It said that the Burmese military has sent reinforcements to its bases in
Shan State in response to growing resistance from ceasefire
groups—particularly the United Wa State Army (UWSA)—to the regime’s
demands.

An armed clash between the UWSA and Burmese troops has already taken place
this year, the group noted.

“In mid-2008, junta officials told the UWSA to withdraw the Wa troops from
southern Shan State, and that increased tension” in the area, said LNDO
director Japhet Jakui, speaking to The Irrawaddy on Thursday.

The UWSA, the largest ethnic armed group in Burma, was formed after
breaking away from the Communist Party of Burma, which collapsed in April
1989. It signed a ceasefire agreement with the Burmese junta soon after,
but refused to give up its arms.

Another factor complicating the situation in eastern Shan State is
Beijing’s interest in the area, which borders China’s Yunnan Province.

According sources on the Sino-Burma border, China has reportedly held
separate meetings with Burmese officials and ethnic armed groups in recent
months to try to avert a return to open hostilities between the former
adversaries.

At one meeting, Burmese officials reportedly told their Chinese
counterparts that the armed groups could be a potential threat to a
Sino-Burma gas and oil pipelines project deal that Beijing and Naypyidaw
signed last year.

For their part, representatives of the armed ethnic groups told Chinese
officials that they were unhappy with the junta-sponsored 2008
constitution, which calls for the disarmament of ceasefire groups in the
post-election period, according to the sources.

“As we know, a month ago, Chinese officials closed some border gates that
connect with the Wa areas. It seems China is concerned about the tension
in eastern Shan State,” said Japhet Jakui.

Although it was unclear how far China would go to protect its interests in
Shan State, the LNDO report reveals the extent to which Chinese influence
has grown in the remote and restive area in recent years.

Chinese investment in the state has funded everything from hydropower and
mining projects to rubber plantations and illegal wildlife trafficking,
according to the LNDO report, titled Undercurrents, which is the third in
a series of occasional bulletins released by the group.

According to the report, vast rubber plantations run by the Yunnan Hongyu
Group, a Chinese company that operates under the banner of opium
eradication, have resulted in forced labor, forced relocation and massive
deforestation.

Despite the company’s claims that it is working to provide an alternative
to the illegal narcotics industry, UN reports reveal that opium production
in Shan State increased last year.

____________________________________

April 9, Mizzima News
Suu Kyi’s lawyer to renew appeal for her release – Myint Maung

Detained Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s lawyer said he
will submit yet another appeal on Friday to the junta’s Prime Minister
General Thein Sein for her release.

Kyi Win, lawyer of Suu Kyi, said the appeal will be similar to the earlier
ones, which will include a legal review of Suu Kyi’s detention and to
allow him a meeting with her.

“I will be appealing again, as only 48 days remain for her to complete six
years in detention,” Kyi Win said, calculating from May 27, 2008, when
Burma’s ruling generals announced an extension of her house arrest.

Kyi Win, earlier on March 13, sent the first appeal to Gen. Thein Sein but
did not receive any response.

Suu Kyi has been detained for more than 12 of the past 19 years. Her
latest detention was in May 2003, after her motorcade was attacked by
junta-backed mobs during a political tour in central Burma.

The United Nations Working Committee of Arbitrary detention has declared
that Suu Kyi’s detention was not only violating international law but is
against the Burmese law itself.

____________________________________

April 9, Agence France-Presse
Myanmar's Karen rebels seek peace: state media

Myanmar's state media Thursday said about 160 ethnic Karen rebels had
abandoned their decades-long independence battle to seek a peace deal with
the ruling junta.

The Myanmar-language Myanmar Ahlin newspaper reported that the group, led
by the son of the late Karen National Union (KNU) leader Bo Mya, had been
welcomed by the government after making a peace pact on March 30.

The paper carried photographs on its front page of Captain Saw Nay Soe
Mya, son of the late KNU leader Saw Bo Mya, returning to Karen State where
other former members of the armed group now reside.

The government would provide the group with long-term assistance, the
paper said, although it did not say if the group would be required to
disarm.

The KNU is the biggest ethnic insurgent group that has been fighting the
government for autonomy since 1949.

Myanmar's current regime has made peace with 17 armed groups since it took
over in 1988 and has recently sought to negotiate with others ahead of
elections promised for next year.

Myanmar has been ruled by the military since 1962 and ignored the results
of the last election in 1990, instead keeping the victorious opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest for most of the last two
decades.

The generals have promised multi-party elections in 2010, but democracy
activists say the polls are simply a ruse to entrench military rule.

Myanmar's junta partly justifies its firm grip on power by claiming the
need to fend off ethnic rebellions which have plagued remote border areas
for decades.

The impoverished nation formerly known as Burma is home to at least 135
different ethnic groups.

Tens of thousands of Karen civilians have fled fighting in the past two
decades and crossed the border to refugee camps in Thailand.

____________________________________

April 9, Xinhua
All vessels sunk during storm in Myanmar salvaged

All 40 state-owned vessels of Myanmar, sunk during a severe storm in May
last year, have been salvaged, the Biweekly Eleven News reported Thursday.

The authorities completed all the salvage work on sunk and stranded
vessels up to late last month in the post-Nargis period at the cost of
some lives and injuries, the report said without specifying the death toll
and the number of injured in the course of the salvage work.

These salvaged vessels have all been launched, the report added.

According to earlier local report, over 200 powered watercrafts which
berthed at the Yangon Port, were totally spoiled by cyclone Nargis in
addition to the sunk ones.

Reports also said the Myanmar authorities have carried out prompt repair
of cyclone-ravaged jetties in Yangon to ensure speedy and normal flow in
of commodities from other parts of the country.

Meanwhile, Myanmar is taking preventive measures to deal with vessels
against probable comeback of cyclone strike, designating hide-out areas
for the vessels berthing in the Yangon River to escape, aimed at
minimizing the damage and loss if the case happens again in the future.

There are altogether 100 vessels owned by the department operating in the
Yangon river and if such storm recurs, these vessels are to be moved to
the disaster-safe areas, the Inland Water Transport Department said.

Deadly cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar's five divisions and states --
Ayeyawaddy, Yangon, Bago, Mon and Kayin on last May 2 and 3, of which
Ayeyawaddy and Yangon inflicted the heaviest casualties and massive
infrastructure damage.

The storm killed 84,537 people, injured 19,359, and left 53,836 missing,
according to official death toll.
____________________________________

April 9, Narinjara
Army Special Operation Chief visits Western Border

Lieutenant General Ko Ko, Chief of the Bureau of Special Operations 3 and
a member of the ruling SPDC, arrived at the western Burmese border near
Bangladesh on Tuesday along with many high army officials, said a police
official on the condition of anonymity.

"Lt. General Ko Ko arrived at Taungbro, the western border town near the
Bangladeshi town Gon Don, at 9:30 am by speedboat, and held a meeting with
several army officials and government officials at a hall in the town,"
the official said.

Lt. General Ko Ko is Chief of the Bureau of Special Operations 3 for four
divisions - Pegu, Rangoon, Irrawaddy, and Arakan - and this is the first
time he has visited the border area since being appointed to his post.

He visited many places in Taungbro Sub-Town within an hour and instructed
officials to carry out all projects currently being implemented by the
government in a timely fashion.

At 11:30 am, he left Taungbro for Kyin Chaung by speedboat to inspect some
government projects in the village. Afterward, he left Kyin Chaung for Ma
Kyi Chuang in southern Maungdaw Township.

"He inspected the construction sites for fences in Ma Kyi Chaung and met
with many soldiers who are working on the fence construction," the
official said.

Many high officials, including Transportation Minister General Thein Swe,
Power One Minister Zaw Min, and Deputy Home Minister Colonel Phone Swe
also visited the border area last week.

"It is very difficult to comment about their recent tours to Arakan.
Everybody believes that there is a reason behind their tours to Arakan
because many ministers and army officials have visited Arakan in one group
or another since the beginning of 2009," he added.

A political analyst from the border said they likely have come to Arakan
with two objectives - one is to prepare for the 2010 election, and another
is to deal with the current issues surrounding Muslims in the region.
However, it is believed that there is also another, unknown objective
behind the visits, and that the military government has big plans underway
for Arakan State.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

April 9, Democratic Voice of Burma
Army offensive to clear way for deep-sea port – Htet Aung Kyaw and Thurein
Soe

A border offensive this week against Burma’s main armed opposition group
is an attempt to clear the area of rebels prior to the construction of a
deep-sea port and coal factory, said an opposition group member.

This is the second week of government offensives against the armed wing of
the Karen National Union, the Karen National Liberation Army.

The attack on Tuesday occurred near the Thai-Burma border in Tenasserim
Division, southern Burma.

“The [military] moved three of its battalions to the region about 10 days
before the clash happened and the motive was to drive our battalion 203
out of the area,” said a KNLA information official.

“The SPDC needed that area for their business deal with Thailand so they
are trying to force us out now, and also the Thai government told us to
move out from there too.”

The KNLA official said that four army soldiers were killed in the
offensive, while no deaths of KNLA fighters were reported.

The latest incident is the second major attack launched by the ruling
State Peace and Development Council in the last two weeks.

Offensives against armed opposition groups usually occur around this time
of year.

In other news, a fight broke out between KNLA troops and Democratic Karen
Buddhist Army forces in Karen state’s Walakee region around midday today,
said KNLA Lieutenant Kyi Aung.

The incident follows an attack yesterday by DKBA troops on an outpost near
a strategically important KNLA base.

“It is obvious to us that they are going to keep coming and it is our duty
to drive them out with no mercy to defend ourselves,” said Kyi Aung.

“We are preparing for counter attacks.” The DKBA split from the KNU in
1994 and allied itself to the government.

With three Karen splinter groups now allied to government forces, some
Burmese military analysts have speculated that recent attacks by Burmese
troops could be due to information supplied by the defectors.

____________________________________

April 9, Democratic Voice of Burma
Chin refugees in Delhi struggle to access aid – Rosalie Smith

Refugees from northwest Burma who seek asylum in India are suffering
unbearable living conditions and long waiting periods before registration,
according to a report published yesterday.

A report by the Chin Human Rights Organisation found that an estimated 98
per cent of Burmese refugees in Delhi are from Chin state. Of the 4200
Chin living there, less than half are registered.

A Chin asylum seeker receives no aid from United Nations High Commissioner
for Refugees until they are recognized refugees, said Field Assistant
Plato Van Rung Mang from CHRO India.

“They are not receiving any aid from Indian civil society,” he added.
“They just try to work.”

A Chin refugee typically works 10 to 12 hours per day, for less than Rs 70
(US$1.35).

Chin refugees in India wait on average four to six months to fill out an
asylum application form after first registering with UNHCR.

After that, they wait another 12 to 18 months for the RSD (Refugee Status
Determination) interview.

The total average time from the first approach to UNHCR to the time when
the RSD interview is conducted is 10 to 18 months longer that UNHCR’s own
guidelines suggest.

“[The UNHCR] have to wait because of the lack of staff and large numbers
of refugees,” said Plato Van Rung Mang.

“They cannot work quicker, that is what they said.”

During the long wait, Chins face poor living conditions. Many live in the
large slums of Delhi without water source or electricity.

A single toilet can be shared between over 30 people, and diseases are
common. Many have died of easily preventable conditions such as diarrhea.

Chin refugees also struggle in obtaining a residency permit which would
allow them to both leave the country and access some government-run
services.

“[The residency permit] is an essential thing for every refugee,” said
Plato Van Rung Mang.

“In previous years we could get it without paying any money; now the
office started asking money for issuing this permit,” he added.

Most Chin refugees live in Mizoram state on the India-Burma border, and
many do not know that the UNHCR in Delhi exists.

The majority cannot afford to travel there, and have no hope in gaining
legal refugee status, said Plato.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

April 9, Agence France-Presse
Japan needs to push Myanmar on rights: HRW

Japan needs to speak out more on human rights abuses in Asia, especially
in military-ruled Myanmar, with which it maintains ties despite criticism
from the West, an advocacy group said Thursday.

Japan should freeze all aid to the Southeast Asian nation to press the
junta to hold free elections and liberate political prisoners, Human
Rights Watch wrote in an open letter to Prime Minister Taro Aso.

"To date, the Japanese government has rarely demonstrated the
international leadership of which it is capable by speaking strongly on
behalf of victims of human rights abuses," director Kenneth Roth wrote in
the letter.

"Your government... should protect human rights globally, including
linking aid with human rights benchmarks and imposing sanctions when the
human rights situation merits such a response," he added.

Myanmar has since 1962 been ruled by the military, which ignored a 1990
landslide win by Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy and has
been condemned for its widespread human rights abuses.

An estimated 2,100 political prisoners are currently imprisoned by the
junta, according to New York-based HRW, which opened its Tokyo office
Thursday.

Tokyo in 2003 suspended most assistance other than emergency aid and some
training funds to Myanmar, and it cut its assistance further after the
regime cracked down on pro-democracy demonstrations in 2007.

But Japan refuses to join Western allies in slapping punishing sanctions
on Myanmar. China, which often spars with Japan for influence, is
Myanmar's main political and commercial partner.

"Though the horrible reputation of the Burmese military government have
led to a decrease in Japanese foreign aid and investment, Japan has
remained a major donor to Burma to the present," the letter said,
referring to Myanmar by it former name.

Myanmar's ruling generals say they plan to hold elections next year under
a new constitution approved last year, but critics have called the vote a
sham designed to entrench the junta's rule.

____________________________________

April 9, Mizzima News
US Congress members call for appointment of Burma envoy

Seventeen members of the US Congress have written to Secretary of State,
Hillary Clinton, asking for the appointment of a special envoy for
military-ruled Burma, a state department spokesperson said.

Robert Wood, Acting Spokesperson of the State department on Tuesday said,
“The Department has recently received a letter, signed by 17 members of
the Congress on Burma.”

The letter, addressed to Hillary Clinton, urged the state department to
appoint a special envoy for Burma.

Clinton had stated earlier that the US was reviewing its policy towards
Burma. She admitted that the US policy of economic sanctions had failed to
bring about a change in the regime’s behaviour, but also added the
engagement policy of the neighbouring countries, also had not yielded any
positive result.

“She [Clinton] is always interested in hearing from members of the
Congress about, you know, important issues of the day.  Certainly, Burma
is one that she cares very deeply about,” Wood told reporters during a
daily press briefing in Washington.

The United States had earlier said, it was reviewing its Burma policy, but
did not make public a timeline for completing the policy review.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

April 9, Irrawaddy
Learning from Poland’s example – Aung Zaw

Nobel Peace Prize winner Lech Walesa hasn’t been to Burma but he shares
his full solidarity with its people.

Walesa, the feisty and articulate electrician from Gdansk, led the
Solidarnosc (Solidarity) movement that finally liberated the Poles from
communism. Poland was the icebreaker for the rest of Central Europe in the
"velvet revolutions" of 1989. Walesa's contribution to the end of
communism in Europe was highly acknowledged and he remains respected in
Poland.

Sitting in his office and talking about Burma, the former president
admitted that Burma was mentally and physically far away from Poland but
he firmly expressed his solidarity with its people and political
prisoners.

He was one of 112 former presidents and prime ministers—including former
US presidents George H W Bush and Jimmy Carter, former British prime
ministers Tony Blair, Margaret Thatcher and John Major, former Soviet
leader Mikhail Gorbachev and former Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro
Koizumi—who recently urged UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to return to
Burma and pressure the military junta to free all political prisoners.

He then joked through a Polish interpreter: “Don’t wait for me to come to
fight (in Burma)—you have to start now!”

The former electrician, who once climbed over the guarded gates of the
Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk to lead the Solidarnosc trade union movement in
its pro-democracy struggle, wanted to know how Burma’s own pro-democracy
movement is faring.

He was happy to share his experiences but he had no intention of
delivering a lecture on how to topple the regime. His message was clear,
however: be strategic and creative when fighting the repressive regime.

Walesa was convinced that there must be a way out to resist the regime in
Burma, if not in the streets. He also said that people should have the
courage to say: “No.”

Poland in the 1990s was surrounded by powerful communist neighbors—the
Soviet Union, the German Democratic Republic and other members of the
Warsaw Pact—and Walesa and his colleagues sometimes thought it was
impossible to bring down the communist regime in Warsaw. So his message
was that although outside support was important, the movement would have
to start from within. More importantly, he thought it was vital to keep
open a line of communication with comrades-in-arms in the movement.

His message was: if you cannot lead the people onto the streets, a
different strategy to counter the regime has to be found. And his message
for the Burmese people was: don’t be downhearted, but be creative in
challenging the regime.

He told the Burmese people to be prepared. All authoritarian regimes fall
unexpectedly, he said.

It wasn’t a message that those Burmese military leaders who purchased 12
PZL Swindik W-3 Sokol multi-purpose helicopters and 18 Mil Mi-2
helicopters from Poland in the 1990s would like to hear.

Walesa, who became president in 1990 and led Poland through the early
post-communist transition period until 1995, recalled that sometimes he
felt no one was giving his freedom movement a chance and that victory
might not come. When it did come, he was surprised by its unexpectedness.

An early political rival agreed for once with Walesa. Aleksander
Kwasniewski, who succeeded Walesa as president in the 1995 election and
served until 2005, wished Burma a peaceful transition to democracy.

Kwasniewski, a former communist government minister who led the left-wing
Social Democracy of the Republic of Poland and then helped found the
Democratic Left Alliance, said the people of Burma, including the
opposition, should take any window of opportunity to seek peaceful change.

He warned that any window of opportunity would be rather short lived, so
quick action had to be taken. The momentum had to be captured and not
lost, he said.

“We didn’t expect that change would come so fast in Poland,” he admitted.

Reminded of the role of Buddhist monks and monasteries in Burma,
Kwasniewski acknowledged the importance of the Catholic Church in events
in Poland.

Transition, he warned, always involved risk, strife and violence, but the
big question remained: what comes after? Changing the regime was easy
compared to the difficulty posed by the aftermath, he said.

Poland’s experience in dismantling a rigidly authoritarian regime may
indeed hold lessons for the Burmese people’s own struggle for freedom.