BurmaNet News, February 9, 2010

[Editor]

February 9, 2010, Issue #3893


INSIDE BURMA
Reuters: Riot police deployed at Myanmar factory strike
New York Times: Burmese-American awaits verdict in Myanmar case
AFP: Too early for decision on Burma election, says Suu Kyi
Mizzima News: Nominations for NLD central committee

ON THE BORDER
Christian Science Monitor: At her Thai border clinic, Cynthia Maung treats
victims of war from her native Burma
Mizzima News: Transform to peoples militia or face action; junta to SSA

HEALTH
Irrawaddy: Eggs withdrawn at markets after flu outbreak

REGIONAL
DVB: Australia in joint navy exercises with Burma

INTERNATIONAL
AFP: Malaysia calls on Myanmar to free Suu Kyi ahead of polls
VOA: UN report on Burma's recovery from 2008 Cyclone points to progress in
key areas
Variety (US): 'Burma VJ' wins Mumbai prize



____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

February 9, Reuters
Riot police deployed at Myanmar factory strike – Aung Hla Tun

Yangon - Myanmar's military government deployed hundreds of armed riot
police on Tuesday after more than 2,000 workers from two factories went on
strike over low pay.

At least 50 trucks packed with riot police carrying assault rifles and
shields were dispatched to secure roads surrounding the Hlaingtharyar
Industrial Zone, about 11 km (7 miles) outside the biggest city, Yangon, a
Reuters reporter said.

Workers at the Taiyi shoe factory and Opal 2 garment factory began a
strike on Monday, said a senior official from the Myanmar Federation of
Chambers of Commerce and Industry, adding that an agreement appeared to
have been reached on Tuesday between the Taiyi workers and management.

Strikes or other forms of protests are rare in Myanmar, where small
demonstrations over hikes in fuel and cooking gas prices in 2007
mushroomed into countrywide marches by Buddhist monks and sparked a
government crackdown that killed at least 31 people.

Analysts and diplomats say the government appears to be especially
sensitive to the risk of unrest with elections scheduled this year under
the final stages of a seven-step "roadmap to democracy" drawn up by the
junta.

"It is believed that senior officials from the Ministry of Labour are
helping to negotiate between the employers and the striking workers," said
the official who asked not to be identified since he was not authorised to
talk to the media.

There are about 130 garment factories in Myanmar, owned by local and
foreign companies and employing about 45,000 people.

Total garment exports during the 2008/09 fiscal year stood at $292
million, compared with $282 million in 2007-08 and $278 million a year
earlier, according to official statistics.

Myanmar, faced with Western sanctions imposed over rights abuses, has
faced increased competition from other regional countries such as
Bangladesh, Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand, which offer low costs and
cheap labour.

(Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by Jason Szep and Alex Richardson)

____________________________________

February 9, Agence France Presse
Too early for decision on Burma election, says Suu Kyi

Detained democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi believes it is too early for her
party to decide whether to take part in Burma's national elections this
year, her lawyer said Tuesday.

Detained democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, pictured in November 2009,
believes it is too early for her party to decide whether to take part in
Burma's national elections this year, her lawyer said Tuesday.

Nyan Win, who is also the spokesman for Suu Kyi's National League for
Democracy (NLD), said the Nobel Peace Laureate had told him that "this is
not the time to decide."

"Daw Suu said we cannot say at this moment whether to participate in the
election... The main reason she gave is the lack of freedom of
information," Nyan Win said, using a term of respect for Suu Kyi.

"Daw Suu said freedom of information, freedom of expression, free and fair
elections are important needs. So no decision can be made without these
things," he added.

Burma's ruling junta has promised polls for this year as part of their
so-called seven-step Roadmap to Democracy, but no date has yet been set
and critics say the plans are simply to entrench the generals' power.

The elections, which analysts predict will take place in October or
November, would be the first held since 1990, when the NLD won by a
landslide but was never allowed to take power.

The government claims a new constitution, agreed in a referendum held in
May 2008 in the wake of a devastating cyclone that killed up to 138,000
people in Burma, nullifies the result of those earlier polls.

The new charter bans Suu Kyi from holding elected office, while reserving
a quarter of the seats in parliament for serving soldiers.

Suu Kyi has spent most of the last two decades under house arrest, which
was extended by 18 months last August when she was held partly responsible
for a bizarre incident in which an American man swam to her lakeside home
uninvited.

She is currently appealing against her latest conviction.
____________________________________

February 9, New York Times
Burmese-American awaits verdict in Myanmar case – Thomas Fuller

BANGKOK — At last count there were more than 2,100 political prisoners in
Myanmar, according to human rights groups that track the opaque workings
of the penal system in that country, formerly known as Burma. Among them
is Nyi Nyi Aung, who spent years campaigning for Burmese democracy in
exile before obtaining American citizenship.

On his fifth trip back, in September, he was arrested. On Wednesday, a
court in Myanmar is scheduled to announce a verdict on charges of forgery,
possession of undeclared foreign currency and failure to renounce Myanmar
citizenship. He could face 12 years in prison.

The case comes at an awkward time for the United States, and depending on
the outcome could complicate American efforts to try to engage Myanmar’s
military junta after years of minimal contacts. But beyond the politics of
the case is the personal journey of Mr. Nyi Nyi Aung.

At the time of Myanmar’s seminal pro-democracy uprising in 1988, he was a
teenager and had helped to organize high school students. He fled with
many other organizers when the military began its crackdown.

He came to the United States in 1993 as a refugee, earned a computer
science degree from Purdue University and worked as a technician at the
United States Patent and Trademark Office.

But he was restless, said his fiancée, Wa Wa Kyaw. “He really, really
wants to do everything for freedom and democracy in Burma,” she said.

Mr. Nyi Nyi Aung, who was born as Kyaw Zaw Lwin, shuttled between Maryland
and Mae Sot, Thailand, a border town where many Burmese exiles are based.
And after he received American citizenship in 2002, he began visiting
Myanmar.

Each time, he obtained a visa from Myanmar’s government, his lawyers said.
But the last visit came after the junta publicly singled him out, accusing
him of inciting unrest. He was arrested after he landed in Yangon,
formerly Rangoon, Myanmar’s main city, on Sept. 3.

“If any of us had known he was returning, we would have stopped him,” said
Aung Din, an acquaintance who is the executive director of the United
States Campaign for Burma in Washington, a group that promotes the end of
military rule in Myanmar.

Mr. Nyi Nyi Aung had kept his trip secret, even from his fiancée. The few
he had told tried to dissuade him, friends say. They speculated that he
was hoping to visit his mother, Daw San San Tin, a political prisoner who
has thyroid cancer. She is serving five years in a remote prison in
central Myanmar for involvement in an uprising in 2007.

“He felt guilty for his mother’s arrest,” said Bo Kyi, co-founder of
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a group that tracks the
plight of jailed dissidents in Myanmar and organizes aid for them and
their families. “In his heart, maybe he was suffering a lot.”

The family had no involvement in politics before helping organize the 1988
uprising, said Mr. Nyi Nyi Aung’s only sibling, Ko Ko Aung. But for that,
and further activism, they have paid dearly. Mr. Ko Ko Aung is in exile in
Thailand. Two cousins are in prison for their involvement in a 2007
uprising, one of whom was sentenced to 65 years.

Lawyers for Mr. Nyi Nyi Aung rejected the charges against him. They said
that he did not have a forged identity card, that he was arrested before
clearing customs and thus never had the opportunity to declare any foreign
currency, and that the Myanmar Embassy in Washington never instructed Mr.
Nyi Nyi Aung to renounce his Myanmar citizenship.

In December, 53 members of Congress sent a letter to the leader of
Myanmar’s junta, Senior Gen. Than Shwe, seeking Mr. Nyi Nyi Aung’s
immediate release and calling his detention and trial “inconsistent with
both Burmese and international law.”

Members of Congress and the consular affairs section of the State
Department have been doing a “wonderful job” pressing for his release,
said Ms. Wa Wa Kyaw, who works as a nurse in Maryland. But she lamented
the lack of higher-level American involvement.
Human rights campaigners say Washington has not done enough.

“Activists are frustrated by the lack of noise from the U.S. government
when he is a U.S. citizen,” said Elaine Pearson, the deputy Asia director
at Human Rights Watch.

“We’ve been following his case very closely,” Richard Mei, a spokesman for
the United States Embassy in Yangon, said Saturday in a telephone
interview.

Reading from a prepared statement, he said, “The United States is working
through diplomatic channels to achieve an overall positive outcome to the
case.”
____________________________________

February 9, Mizzima News
Nominations for NLD central committee – Kyaw Kha

Chiang Mai– Branches of the National League for Democracy from two
divisions and one state have sent their nominees to be selected as central
committee members to the party headquarters in Rangoon, it is learnt.

The Rangoon and Irrawaddy Divisions sent seven nominees each and Mon State
sent five nominees yesterday, a NLD Central Executive Committee (CEC)
member said.

"We are yet to be sent all nominees from all states and divisions. And we
are yet to discuss and negotiate with CEC members," CEC member Khin Maung
Swe told Mizzima.

The CEC issued a circular to all branches in states and divisions last
month to select seven nominees for each division and five nominees for
each state for the CC.

The 'Central Committee' is being revamped to make the NLD stronger and
consolidate organizational matters for future activities.

The circular states that the nominees shall be selected based on these
principles; 'capability', 'loyalty to party', 'always to serve the party
and to never stay away from the party', 'standing by party's policies' and
'whom not taken disciplinary action by party'.

After selecting the nominees, the Chairman and Secretary of each State and
Division Organizing Committee have to come to the party headquarters in
Rangoon with the list of nominees not later than February 16 and 17 to
'negotiate' with the CEC, it is learnt.

Discussion is on in Tanintharyi to select CC nominees today and similar
discussions will take place in Pegu Division and Rakhine state tomorrow,
according to CEC member Khin Maung Swe.

"We sent an advisory letter to all states and divisions. The remaining
states and divisions have not yet sent their nominee lists, " Khin Maung
Swe added.

Five nominees representing Karen State have been selected, NLD Pa-an
Township constituency No. 3 MP-elect Nan Khin Htwe Myint said.

"We cannot yet release their names but we have selected five nominees
though we have not yet sent it to the party headquarters. We will take the
list with us. They were selected based on principles laid down by the
party," she said.

The party headquarters advisory letter signed by party Chairman and issued
on January 27, states that the CEC has the 'authority' to reduce, add,
amend, insert, include persons who deserve to be CC members in
consideration of party work to the nomination lists made by States and
Divisions Organizing Committees.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

February 9, Christian Science Monitor
At her Thai border clinic, Cynthia Maung treats victims of war from her
native Burma - Tibor Krausz

Dr. Cynthia Maung escaped from Burma two decades ago and now trains others
at her clinic in Thailand to help refugees from the violence in her
homeland.

Mae Sot, Thailand – After two decades, the ramshackle scrap-wood hut here
that Cynthia Maung turned into a temporary clinic for destitute refugees
is still in use.

She found shelter in the Thai border town of Mae Sot herself as a refugee
in 1989, following the Burmese junta's brutal crackdown on pro-democracy
demonstrations the previous year. She'd fled through land-mine-infested
jungles from the region of eastern Burma (Myanmar) where she'd worked as a
village doctor among the indigent hill tribes.

Appalled by the misery of impoverished Burmese exiles in Thailand, Dr.
Maung set up a free clinic for them. She scrounged medicine from foreign
aid agencies and used a rice cooker to sterilize her instruments in
boiling water.

She expected to go home within months.

Twenty years later, like hundreds of thousands of other Burmese migrants,
Maung remains illegally in Thailand, living within sight of a homeland to
which she can't return.

Yet she hasn't been idle. Her former clinic now houses volunteer medics
and stands beside several concrete-block buildings with corrugated iron
roofs in the self-contained leafy squatters' village that has grown up
around it.

Her Mae Tao Clinic today boasts a trauma unit, a laboratory, and several
patient wards, where emaciated men and women lie wrapped in their longyis,
or Burmese sarongs, on simple wooden trestles covered with linoleum and
bamboo mats. Relatives hold vigils by their sides, performing simpler
nursing duties.

The conditions may not be ideal, yet Maung's clinic saves lives and limbs
daily by providing treatment to those who couldn't get it anywhere else.
"People come here with a lot of pain and suffering," she says. "Some of
them arrive on their last legs in search of help."

"Dr. Cynthia," as the ethnic Karen physician is known here, is an
unassuming woman who shuns jewelry and cosmetics, even the beige
ground-bark paste that Burmese women smear on their cheeks. Dressed simply
without a white coat or stethoscope, she mingles among patients with
casual familiarity. A mother of four, she lives at the clinic with her
family. She has adopted two of her children from its Bamboo Children's
Home orphanage.

"In 20 years here, we still haven't been able to register the clinic" with
the government, Maung notes. She adds wryly: "But at least we have regular
electricity."

In Burma, even that wouldn't be a given. Ruled by an iron-fisted military
regime, the country is among the world's poorest nations, ranked by the
World Health Organization as next to last among all nations in the
availability of healthcare.

In isolated rural areas, where the annual per capita income is $200,
disease and malnutrition are endemic. Burma's infant mortality rate is the
highest in Asia, and 1 in every 5 children that survive birth die within a
few years.

At Maung's health center, tens of thousands of the neediest – acutely ill
people, single mothers, children – receive treatment free of charge each
year. Her staff consists largely of Burmese civilians trained as medics by
volunteer physicians.
____________________________________

February 9, Mizzima News
Transform to peoples militia or face action; junta to SSA – Myo Gyi

Ruili –  In a major development the Burmese military junta has delivered
an ultimatum to the Shan State Army (SSA) on February 6 to either respond
to the Border Guard Force (BGF) issue by the end of this month or face
military action, an observer said.

A junta delegation led by Military Affairs Security (MAS) Chief Lt. Gen.
Ye Myint met a SSA delegation in Lashio, northern Shan State and made this
observation, Sino-Burma border based military observer Aung Kyaw Zaw told
Mizzima.

"The Shan delegation met Bo Ye Myint in Lashio on February 6. The Shan
delegation was led by Chairman Lwe Maung and Vice Chairman Kai Hpa. The
discussion on transforming Shan forces to a People's Militia failed. Using
strong words Bo Ye Myint  asked them to accept the junta's proposal by the
end of February or face military action,” he said.

After being told by the regime to convert their forces into the People's
Militia, SSA Commanding Officers (CO) met in December last year. But there
was  no outcome. The Wan Haing based 1st Brigade and other battalions and
units did not accept the proposal, a local resident close to SSA said.

The SSA told the junta about its own proposal to form a People's Militia
with 300 personnel but the junta turned it down.

During discussions  for a ceasefire agreement with the junta in September
1989, SSA leader Gen. Hsay Htin agreed with the regime to discuss
political issues with  a future government only.

The SSA headquarter  is based in Hsipaw Township in northern Shan State.

The military regime charged SSA Gen. Hsay Htin with many cases including
high treason and sentenced him to 106-years in prison in November 2005.

____________________________________
HEALTH

February 9, Irrawaddy
Eggs withdrawn at markets after flu outbreak – Lawi Weng

Burmese authorities have banned the sale of eggs in markets in Rangoon
Division after the discovery of the A/H1N1 virus at a chicken farm,
according to Rangoon sources.

The ban extends initially to Feb 28, the sources said. The authorities
ordered the ban after more than 100 chickens died of the swine flu virus.

Meanwhile, state media reported on Monday that eight students in the
Rangoon suburb of North Okkalapa and four people in Chin State had
contracted A/H1N1.

The infected students were admitted to the Wai Bar Gi infectious diseases
hospital in Rangoon, and 73 people with whom they possibly had contact
were quarantined.

Since the original global outbreak of A/H1N1 in April 2009, 69 cases have
been registered in Burma. There were no fatalities.

Dr Myo Lwin, a national consultant with the World Health Organization  in
Burma, told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday: “It is like a wave. It can happen
any time because the virus is in the air and can easily infect people.”

Myo Lwin said the authorities had sufficient medicine and facilities to
control the outbreak.

Dr Zaw Ye Myint, a veterinary surgeon in Rangoon, told The Irrawaddy he
was worried the virus could transmute and take a more serious form.

Health workers say that although precautions are adequate at Rangoon
International Airport, border checkpoints lacked the necessary equipment
to test arriving travelers.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

February 9, Democratic Voice of Burma
Australia in joint navy exercises with Burma – Joseph Allchin

Feb 9, 2010 (DVB)–Australia’s announcement yesterday that it will carry
out joint military exercises with the Burmese navy has been met with
condemnation by Australian activists.

The Burma Campaign Australia further questioned whether the move will be
in breach of Australia’s strict embargo on the military regime in Burma.

“Australia has a longstanding arms embargo against Burma’s military
dictatorship – we would not sell them weapons, so why does the Australian
government think that it is acceptable to participate in military
exercises with them?” said the group’s spokesperson, Zetty Brake.

Thirteen Asia-Pacific countries in total will be involved in the naval
exercises, due to take place in Indian waters: Australia, Bangladesh,
Brunei, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore,
Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam.

The objectives range from disaster relief to counter terrorism, but
confusingly the announcement comes a day after the Australian foreign
minister pledged a 40 percent boost in aid, whilst emphasising that
sanctions would remain in place.

Australia aid will reach $AUS50 million ($US45 million) annually over the
next three years, according to Stephen Smith. He said it was time for the
international community to “help prepare Burma for the future” through
“rebuilding
economic and social structures”.

But, according to Brake, the pledge will send a mixed message to the
Burmese junta. Burma currently receives only $US4 per head in foreign aid,
the lowest of all the Southeast Asian countries, despite also being one of
the poorest.

“Yesterday Foreign Minister Stephen Smith talked about sending a confusing
signal to Burma’s military dictatorship,” said Brake. “What message is
Australia’s participation in these military exercises sending to Burma’s
millions of oppressed men, women and children?”

“The military dictatorship will never allow Burma’s navy to use the skills
gained from these exercises to help the people of Burma, and Australia
would be naive, at best, to believe that,” she added.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

February 9, Agence France Presse
Malaysia calls on Myanmar to free Suu Kyi ahead of polls

KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysia Tuesday called on military-run Myanmar to free
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi ahead of national elections it expects
to be held around October.

"We want a free, fair and an inclusive election. We should give everybody
a chance, including Aung San Suu Kyi," Foreign Minister Anifah Aman told
AFP, adding he thought the vote would be held "around October".

"We hope she will be freed. We feel that giving all a chance is democracy.
Then it becomes a legitimate election," he added.

Myanmar's junta has pledged to hold elections in 2010, but has not set a
date for the polls, which would be the first since 1990, when it refused
to recognise a landslide win by Aung San Suu Kyi's party.

The opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) and ethnic minorities
have been deeply suspicious about the election, fearing the junta will use
it to legitimise its rule.

Anifah said the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
had taken a common stand in urging Myanmar to proceed with its vaunted
"roadmap to democracy".

"All the ASEAN countries say: 'Let's have a free and fair election'," he
said.

Malaysia had relatively close ties with Myanmar in the past, but the
relationship cooled in recent years as Malaysia took a tougher line on the
military regime.

Philippine Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo said earlier this month that
Myanmar's elections are likely to be held around September but that they
are shaping up to be a "farce" with Aung San Suu Kyi unable to run.

Suu Kyi, 64, has been held in detention at her lakeside villa in the
Myanmar capital Yangon for 14 of the past 20 years.

US President Barack Obama's administration has called for a free election
in Myanmar as part of its policy of engagement with the reclusive nation,
which is under tight sanctions imposed by the US and European nations.
____________________________________

February 9, Voice of America
UN report on Burma's recovery from 2008 Cyclone points to progress in key
areas – Ron Corben

A United Nations report on Burma's recovery from Cyclone Nargis says
progress has been achieved in key areas such as child development and
health care. But communities in the Irrawaddy Delta still struggle to
sustain their livelihoods and rebuild homes lost in the 2008 storm.

The report issued Tuesday provides an upbeat assessment of recovery in the
Irrawaddy Delta less than two years after Cyclone Nargis swept through the
region in May 2008.

Cyclone Nargis left up to 140,000 people dead or missing. Over two million
people were affected by the storm. Total losses were estimated at over $4
billion.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Burma's military government
and the United Nations formed the Tripartite Core Group shortly after the
storm to assess and coordinate the recovery effort.

The group's latest survey covered 1,400 households, and particularly
focused on the most vulnerable, such as landless families and those headed
by women.

The survey reported improvements in child mortality, and child nutrition,
as well as greater access to health care and clean water.

Esben Harboe, a special assistant in the office of the U.N.'s resident
coordinator in Burma, says the survey shows despite the gains, there is
still much to do.

"The key message is progress is evident but there's still a lot more to do
in terms of recovery and especially within two areas, which is [are]
livelihood and shelter. These are the areas where the respondents in the
survey said that they still need assistance," said Harboe.

The survey found that 50 percent of the shelters surveyed were judged to
be safe, but over 80 percent of surveyed households considered their homes
to be of poorer quality than before the cyclone.

Harboe says the delta region still faces challenges because of its lack of
development and poverty. Burma is one of the poorest countries in
Southeast Asia.

"It's very positive we can record improvements within a number of areas
but there's still - even it is back to a pre-Nargis situation - pre-Nargis
it was very bad. So it's not to say that there's nothing more to do even
if it's back to normal so to speak," said Harboe.

A reconstruction plan by the United Nations, ASEAN and Burma's military
government has called for $690 million in aid. Aid workers have also say
that additional international funds will be needed to fully rebuild
Irrawaddy Delta communities.

Burma's isolated military government originally refused and blocked most
foreign aid after the massive cyclone. It took the intervention of the
United Nations and ASEAN to persuade the military to allow in foreign aid
workers and donated supplies.

____________________________________

February 9, Variety (US)
'Burma VJ' wins Mumbai prize – Naman Ramachandran

Anders Ostergaard's "Burma VJ — Reporting from a Closed Country" won best
film at the 11th Mumbai Film Festival of Documentary, Animation and Short
Films, which wrapped Tuesday.

The docu tells the story of the 2007 pro-democracy protests in Myanmar
using smuggled amateur video footage.

Russian helmer Alexander Gutman's "August 17" won the Golden Conch for
docu. The pic looks at Boris Bezotechestvo, who was sentenced to life
imprisonment and kept in a small prison cell with a limited view from the
window. The jury praised the film's "rigorous, transformative treatment of
the unlimited human spirit in an extremely limited space."

Ritu Sarin and Sonam Tenzing's docu "The Sun Behind the Clouds" won the
Silver Conch for "upholding the spirit of liberty and maintaining a sense
of balance while bringing about different perspectives within the Tibetan
struggle."

"The Spell," directed by Umesh Kulkarni, was judged the best fiction film
while Sanjay Jangir's "Wait and Path" won the Golden Conch for animation
film.