BurmaNet News, June 23, 2010

[Editor]

June 23, 2010 Issue #3988


INSIDE BURMA
AFP: Myanmar restricts political activity ahead of polls
Irrawaddy: NLD leaders tour Burma

ON THE BORDER
SHAN: China remains silent on Burma’s nuclear ambitions
DVB: Thailand launches mass migrant crackdown
Narinjara: Burmese PM to arrive on western border today

BUSINESS / TRADE
Wall Street Journal: Chinese weapons maker signs Myanmar deal

INTERNATIONAL
Irrawaddy: Than Shwe the third 'worst of the worst'
AFP: Myanmar vote will 'lack international legitimacy': US
Prague Daily Monitor (Czech Republic): Czech envoy backs US event
supporting Burma political prisoners
Los Angeles Times: Federal review aims to improve refugee system  
Australia Network News: Burmese asylum-seekers continue Darwin hunger
strike
DVB: Burma cyclone film wins top UK award


OPINION / OTHER
The Straits Times (Singapore): Time for Asean to stand its ground – Barry
Desker
New Light of Myanmar: Union Election Commission issues Directive No.2/2010

PRESS RELEASE
Burma Campaign UK: New report on crimes against humanity against Rohingyas
strengthens case for UN Inquiry



____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

June 23, Agence France Presse
Myanmar restricts political activity ahead of polls

Yangon — Members of political parties contesting Myanmar's first elections
in two decades will be banned from marching, waving flags and chanting to
garner support, under rules announced Wednesday.

The directive, which did not reveal a date for the polls, requires party
members who want to gather and deliver speeches at places other than their
offices to apply for a permit one week in advance, according to state
media.

The rules prohibit "the act of marching to the designated gathering point
and the venue holding flags, or marching and chanting slogans in
procession" in a bid to enlist members, the New Light of Myanmar newspaper
said.

Parties must have at least 1,000 members to contest the nationwide election.

Holding knives, weapons and ammunition are also banned, along with acts
that harm security and the rule of law or tarnish the image of the
military. Misuse of religion for political gains is also not allowed,
state media said.

Critics have dismissed the election -- which is scheduled for some time
later this year -- as a sham due to laws that have effectively barred
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from participating.

The United States said Tuesday that the polls will "not be free or fair
and will lack international legitimacy".

Suu Kyi's party won the last polls in 1990 but was never allowed to take
office. Her National League for Democracy (NLD) was forcibly dissolved
last month under widely criticised laws governing the polls.

The NLD refused to meet a May 6 deadline to re-register as a party -- a
move that would have forced it to expel Suu Kyi, who is under house arrest
-- and is boycotting the vote.

Under election legislation unveiled in March, anyone serving a prison term
is banned from being a member of a political party and parties that fail
to obey the rule will be abolished.

The latest directive for drumming up support among voters has upset some
parties who fear they will make it harder to connect with people.

"The political parties will be in a tight corner because of these rules,"
said Ye Tun, chairman of the 88th Generation Student Youths (Union of
Myanmar), which despite its name is pro-government.

"We are in difficult position to work in some places. They restricted our
movements such as holding flags."

But other parties welcomed the rules, saying they could have been even
more restrictive.

"We can transform from party politics to people politics if we can get in
touch with the people through party meetings," said Phyo Min Thein,
chairman of the Union Democratic Party.

A faction from within the disbanded NLD has applied to form a new
political party, to be called the National Democratic Force, in a bid to
advance the movement's two-decade campaign to end military rule.

According to official figures, 36 out of 42 groups which have applied to
form political parties have been registered.

____________________________________

June 23, Irrawaddy
NLD leaders tour Burma – Lawi Weng

Despite being disbanded for failing to register for this year's upcoming
election, the National League for Democracy (NLD) remains active, sending
senior members to branch offices around Burma to discuss strategy.

On Sunday, Win Tin, an NLD executive member, traveled to Karen State to
meet with former party members. “I told them not to vote in the election,”
he said, speaking to The Irrawaddy on Wednesday.

Win Tin, who was accompanied by two other party members from the the NLD's
Rangoon headquarters, said he also urged the members in Karen State to
boycott the pro-junta Union Solidarity and Development Party, led by Prime
Minister Thein Sein, and the National Unity Party, formed from late
dictator Ne Win's authoritarian Burma Socialist Programme Party.

“The purpose of the trip was to consolidate party unity and listen to the
voices of members who face difficulties since the party decided not to
register. We also wanted to tell them that we will not abandon them. We
will continue to work more actively in politics,” said Win Tin.

Nyan Win, an NLD spokesperson, said that party leader Aung San Suu Kyi
agreed with the trips. So far, senior party members from Rangoon have
traveled to party offices in Shan, Karen and Mon states and Mandalay, Pegu
and Irrawaddy divisions.

“It is important to meet with our members during these difficult times,”
said Nyan Win.

The NLD decided not to register to run in the election because the 2008
Constitution bans Suu Kyi and other detained political leaders from
participating. The NLD won a landslide victory in Burma's last election in
1990.

Since deciding not to register for the election, the party has been unable
to hold meetings at their offices, release official statements or engage
in any other political activities.

“We traveled to see our members because we heard some of them are having
trouble running their offices since the party was dissolved,” said Ohn
Kyine, a central executive committee member of the NLD who recently
visited the party's office in Mandalay. “We want to know how they are
dealing with the situation.”

Senior members of the NLD said they will continue to work for the Burmese
people through humanitarian projects to support families of political
prisoners, HIV/AIDS patients and Nargis victims.

“We will work in public politics and social politics even without party
registration,” said Win Tin.

During his trip to Karen State, Win Tin also visited pagodas and met a
Karen abbot known as Taungkalay Sayadaw to talk about national
reconciliation and the current political situation.

Meanwhile, eight senior members of the NLD met with Robin Lerner, counsel
of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee and assistant to one-time US
presidential candidate, John Kerry, yesterday.

“She asked us about our current situation and our future plans and what we
will do after the election,” said Nyan Win.

The US said on Wednesday that the election will not be free and fair and
will lack international legitimacy. No date has yet been set for the vote,
the first in 20 years.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

June 23, Shan Herald Agency for News
China remains silent on Burma’s nuclear ambitions – Hseng Khio Fah

While the international community and the International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA) have been in grave concern on Burma’s nuclear weapons
program with North-Korea’s support, its neighboring country, China has
been conspicuously silent about it, say Burma Army observers on the
Sino-Burma border.

The reason is because China had acted as a facilitator between the two
countries, according to Aung Kyaw Zaw, a well-known Burma watcher.

Burma and North-Korea suspended their relations in 1983, after members of
a high profile delegation from South-Korea were assassinated by
North-Korean agents while they were on a visit to Burma, known since then
as the Mausoleum massacre.

China later had arranged a rapprochement between the two because it was
unable to sell Burma other than conventional weapons, according to him.

“China is therefore partly responsible for the junta’s nuclear program,”
he said. “But it should at least know that letting Burma to do whatever it
wants is dangerous. It should have also realized that the junta military,
from top to bottom, is unhappy with China. What happened at Kokang (last
year) and Mongkoe (in 2000) should serve as examples.”

On 24 October 2000, a faction of the Mongkoe Defence Army (MDA), a
breakaway group from Kokang, had mutinied. A month later, the mutineers
were executed by the Burma Army and the MDA leader Mong Sala put in jail
and the territory occupied by the Burma Army.

Likewise, in 2009 August, Kokang was attacked by the military junta and
its territory has been occupied by the Burma Army since.

According to Aung Kyaw Zaw, the military junta has maintained relations
with China because of military weapons and economic needs.

Burma’s nuclear program can be dangerous not only to western countries but
also to ethnic groups in its country, according to him. “They might use
these nuclear weapons to destroy any group that opposes them,” he said.

There are two main reasons Burma wants to have nuclear weapons: to stay in
power and to use them as a deterrent to western countries if they
interfere in its domestic affair.

Burma has reportedly been planning this nuclear weapons program since 2000
and has been sending up to 10,000 officers to Russia to study nuclear
technology since 2002.

At the same time, there have been reports that Burma is hosting two
Pakistani nuclear experts who took sanctuary in Burma after being accused
by the CIA of helping Osama bin Laden to build nuclear weapons.

There are 9 countries that have nuclear warheads including North-Korea,
that reportedly has 4-8 nuclear warheads.

____________________________________

June 23, Democratic Voice of Burma
Thailand launches mass migrant crackdown – Naw Noreen

Thousands of migrant workers across Thailand have been arrested after Thai
prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva ordered police to intensify a crackdown
on illegal workers, although reports have emerged that even those holding
work permits were rounded up.

It follows the creation by Vejjajiva of a governmental centre tasked with
“suppressing and prosecuting” illegal migrants, the vast majority of whom
are Burmese.

Thailand has also set in motion a scheme aimed at persuading migrant
workers to return to their home countries to register for legal status,
before re-entering Thailand to work.

Those eligible were required to register their intention to take part in
the scheme in February this year, and rights groups have said that the
latest crackdown has targeted those who did not comply, along with some
who were already carrying permits. One group told DVB that Thai police
were also profiting from the crackdown.

“Recently in Tala Tai near Bangkok, two markets where Burmese nationals
worked at were raided and about 600 people were arrested,” said Sein Htay
of the Thailand-based Human Rights and Development Foundation (HRDF).

He said that half of those arrested were Burmese. Thailand is home to more
than three million migrant workers, and around 80 percent are thought to
be from Burma.

“Some people had the migrant labour cards but they were still arrested.
When their bosses didn’t collect them [from the police] they get sent to
the border along with the illegal migrants,” Sein Htay added.

He warned that police extortion of migrants was rife, with many forced to
pay bribes before being released. One Burmese migrant worker in the Thai
border town of Ranong told DVB that army troops had showed up in recent
days.

“For around four days people have been afraid to go outside and work due
to the increase in arrests. The workers supported by their bosses can go
out no problem but otherwise they can’t. There are more workers without
labour cards than with.”

Police bribes can be as much as 6000 Thai baht ($US185), the man said,
well beyond the reach of most migrant workers who often earn less than
half of Thailand’s 206 baht ($US6) per day minimum wage.

He added that meeting the fees for the nationality verification process
was also unrealistic. “We didn’t apply [for the permits] as we have four
people in our family and it will cost about 15,000 baht [$US460] to apply
for three of us. We don’t have that amount of money and no one will lend
it to us either.

A statement issued on Monday by HRDF urged the Thai government to halt the
crackdown. Some 90,000 Burmese migrants have so gained the permits out of
a total of 800,000 that have enrolled in the process.

____________________________________

June 23, Narinjara
Burmese PM to arrive on western border today

Maungdaw: Burma's Prime Minister U Thein Sein is scheduled to arrive in
Maungdaw on the western Burma border today to survey flood affected areas,
said an official on condition of anonymity.

"He is coming to our town today along with many other ministers and army
officers by helicopter. He plans to distribute some relief to flood
victims in Maungdaw," he said.

The Prime Minister's visit comes about three days after a team of high
level officials visited the flood affected area.

The Minister of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement Maung Maung Swe,
Minister of Transportation U Thein Swe, and Minister of Construction U Tin
Swe visited the area on 19 June after the floods.

Local residents believe the visit of the Prime Minister to Maungdaw is
related to wooing the electorate as well as surveying the floods.

In the past, such visits by high officials to Arakan State were rare, but
officials have made many visits to the area recently, so residents believe
they are for election campaign on the pretense of visiting disaster zones.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

June 23, Wall Street Journal
Chinese weapons maker signs Myanmar deal – Chuin-Wei Yap

Beijing—China North Industries Corp., a leading Chinese weapons
manufacturer, signed a cooperation pact with the government of Myanmar to
develop a copper mining project, the latest sign of growing commercial
ties between the reclusive Southeast Asian nation and its giant neighbor.

The Monywa Copper Mine Project Cooperation Contract was signed during
Premier Wen Jiabao's visit to Myanmar in early June, China North
Industries, or Norinco, said in a statement on its website. The statement
was posted on the company's website Wednesday, but dated June 10. It
didn't disclose financial terms.

The deal underlines how the isolated military rulers of Myanmar are
increasingly turning to the country's most important political and
economic ally for support—and how China continues to seek natural
resources from its southwestern neighbor to feed its industrialization.

The Norinco statement said Monywa is "abundant in copper mine resources
with excellent mineral quality, which is of great significance to
strengthening the strategic reserves of copper resources in our country,
and to enhancing the influence of our country in Myanmar."

China is Myanmar's third-largest investor after Thailand and Singapore.
The importance of Chinese companies has been growing as Western
counterparts have walked away from Myanmar because of the ruling military
government's human-rights abuses. The junta has been widely condemned for
crackdowns on political expression by Buddhist monks and its refusal to
allow a popularly elected, pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, to form
a government.

Monywa was previously owned by Ivanhoe Mines Ltd., but a statement on
Ivanhoe's website said it completely divested itself of interests in the
project on Mar. 30, 2007. Ivanhoe didn't identify the new owners, but said
in the Oct. 3, 2007, statement that it no longer has interests, activities
or personnel in Myanmar.

"We share the revulsion of right-thinking people everywhere against
unwarranted assaults on Buddhist monks and civilians," Ivanhoe said in the
statement. "We deplore the fact that so many years of discussions within
Myanmar about constitutional change now appear to be jeopardized by the
reactions of the state that threaten to set back, rather than advance,
human rights and democratic ideals."

The statement said the Monywa project produced 19,544 metric tons of
refined copper in 2006 and 34,478 tons in 2005. It said the Canadian
company had invested $100 million in the project, and didn't make a
profit.

Ivanhoe chairman Robert M. Friedland didn't respond to a call for comment
Wednesday.

Norinco sells small arms, anti-aircraft and antimissile systems, and
amphibious assault weapons, according to the website. It also sells
non-military goods and services such as engineering contracting.

The Norinco statement Wednesday said Zhang Guoqing, whom it identified as
chairman of Norinco, signed the Monywa deal with Myanmar's Maj. Gen. Win
Than in the presence of the two countries' premiers.

A person who answered the phone at Norinco said no one named Zhang Guoqing
currently works at the company. She declined to provide the name of the
company's chairman, or to comment on the statement.

The statement said that Mr. Zhang and other Myanmar government officials
also signed a framework package of cooperation arrangements for the
chemical industry, production-chain improvements, as well as a port, a
railroad and a hydroelectric power station.
—David Winning in Sydney contributed to this article.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

June 23, Irrawaddy
Than Shwe the third 'worst of the worst'

In an article titled “The Worst of the Worst,” Foreign Policy magazine
named junta chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe the world's third worst dictator, with
North Korean leader Kim Jong Il  ranked No 1 and Zimbabwe president Robert
Mugabe No 2.

Than Shwe, Kim Jong Il and Mugabe were pictured on the magazine cover with
the caption, “The committee to destroy the world.”

Than Shwe, who has been ruling Burma by force for almost 20 years, was
described by Foreign Policy as a “heartless military coconut head whose
sole consuming preoccupation is power.”

(Source: Foreign Policy)
The article said the Burmese dictator has decimated the opposition with
arrests and detentions, denied humanitarian assistance to his people in
the wake of Cyclone Nargis, which devastated Burma in May 2008, and
thrived off a black market economy and natural gas exports.

“This vainglorious general bubbling with swagger sports a uniform
festooned with self-awarded medals, but he is too cowardly to face an
honest ballot box,” the article said.

Kim Jong Il, in power for 16 years, was described as a
personality-cult-cultivating isolationist. Foreign Policy said Kim has
pauperized his people, allowed famine to run rampant, thrown hundreds of
thousands in prison camps and spent his country's resources on a nuclear
program.

Robert Mugabe, in power for 30 years, was described as a liberation “hero”
in the struggle for independence who has since transformed himself into a
murderous despot. He was condemned by Foreign Policy for arresting and
torturing the opposition, squeezing his economy into astounding negative
growth and billion-percent inflation and funneling off a juicy cut for
himself using currency manipulation and offshore accounts.

The article named 23 world dictators in total, including the leaders of
Uganda, Rwanda, Cuba, China, Iran, Venezuela, Sudan, Ethiopia and Egypt.

____________________________________

June 23, Agence France Presse
Myanmar vote will 'lack international legitimacy': US

Washington — The United States said that elections planned in military-run
Myanmar this year will "lack international legitimacy."

"US believes elections planned for this year in Burma will not be free or
fair and will lack international legitimacy," the State Department said on
the micro-blogging site Twitter, using Myanmar's former name of Burma.

US Senator Jim Webb said earlier this month he expected Myanmar to hold
elections on October 10 and urged support for the vote despite the
military regime's exclusion of the democratic opposition.

Webb is a leading US advocate for engagement with the junta, although he
called off a trip to Myanmar this month due to allegations the country was
developing nuclear weapons with support from North Korea.

Myanmar plans to hold its first elections in two decades later this year,
although the regime has not set an exact date.

The Obama administration last year initiated dialogue with North Korea but
has voiced concern about the elections, ahead of which Nobel laureate Aung
San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy was forcibly dissolved.

Webb acknowledged that the election was designed to preserve the military
regime, but said it was a step forward that the country would allow at
least some opposition figures to stand for seats.

____________________________________

June 23, Prague Daily Monitor (Czech Republic)
Czech envoy backs US event supporting Burma political prisoners

New York – Czechs have dealt with the situation of political prisoners and
human rights in Burma for many years, also in view of their own experience
with human rights violation before 1989, Martin Palous told CTK during
Tuesday's event in New York aimed to highlight the situation in Burma.

Palous, Czech ambassador to the U.N., said before 1989, international
solidarity turned out to be one of the key moments of the struggle for
human rights and for a change [in the then Czechoslovak communist regime].

Tuesday's event at New York's Grand Central Terminal has been organised by
Human Rights Watch.

It includes a day-long programme accompanying an artistic installation
shaped as a wall consisting of 200 small prison cells, with pens in the
place of bars. People can take the pens to sign a petition in support of
the release of Burmese political prisoners.

The Czech humanitarian organisation People in Need says the Burmese regime
is one of the world's most repressive. The military regime violates
people's human rights, uses forced labour, recruits child soldiers and has
been systematically suppressing ethnic minorities in the border regions,
People in Need writes on its website.

The Burmese junta, faced with international isolation, depends on military
and financial support from China.

Palous said a change in China's approach can be only speculated about, but
not completely ruled out.

"China has to consider to what extent its unconditional support to the
[Burmese] regime is correct from the point of view of the big goal it
should pursue, i.e. the world order of the 21st century," Palous said.

Burma must also be spoken about with other countries in the region, such
as India, he added.

Now that elections in Burma have drawn nearer, after 20 years, Human
Rights Watch wants to point to the country's 2100 political prisoners who
are often not spoken about as the world mainly focuses on the leading
dissident, Aung San Suu Kyi.

The number of political prisoners in Burma has tripled in the past three
years, since the brutal suppression of local peace protests.

____________________________________

June 23, Los Angeles Times
Federal review aims to improve refugee system – Anna Gorman and Alexandra
Zavis

Obama administration officials say the U.S. program is outdated and lacks
resources to help refugees get on their feet. The recession hasn't helped.
Some changes have already been made.

Recognizing that the United States is failing thousands of refugees
fleeing war-torn countries, the Obama administration is conducting the
first thorough review of the refugee resettlement system in 30 years and
plans to announce major reforms this summer.

Officials say the system is outdated and lacks adequate resources to help
refugees find jobs and support themselves before exhausting their
benefits. That task has been made more difficult by the recession and high
unemployment.

"The basic set-up of the program hasn't been altered in many years," said
National Security Council spokesman Ben Chang. "It was time to take a
fresh look."

Several changes have already been made to ease the transition for
newcomers, most of whom have no U.S. work experience, little savings and
limited English skills. The largest numbers of refugees last year —
admitted based on persecution or fear of persecution — came from Iraq,
Bhutan and Burma.

In January, the State Department doubled the amount of money, from $900 to
$1,800, that resettlement agencies receive to cover housing and other
needs for each refugee in the first month. And the Department of Health
and Human Services has requested an additional $25 million from Congress
for case management and emergency housing in 2011.

One of the most significant proposals being considered would extend
federal cash aid for eligible refugees past the eight-month maximum.
Officials are also discussing ways to improve coordination among the
various government agencies that share responsibility for resettlement and
to expand medical screening and cultural orientation.

Resettlement agencies said reforms are long overdue.

"The system is broken," said Robert Carey, chairman of Refugee Council
USA, an umbrella group of resettlement and advocacy groups. "There are
women who can't feed their children adequately and people who are really
being brought into poverty. 
 There is a federal obligation in this to
ensure that people brought in here are given the basic tools to rebuild
their lives."

Larh Larh Sin, from Myanmar, spent more than a decade in a Thai refugee
camp without electricity or running water before being resettled in
Bakersfield in 2008 with her husband and two sons, now 4 and 7. About 10
months after her arrival, Sin, 30, got a factory job but was laid off
because she didn't speak enough English to understand the safety
instructions. A few months later, she found work at a Chinese restaurant
but lost it when the restaurant closed last month. Her husband is also out
of work.

They received an eviction notice this month because they couldn't pay the
$665 rent. Sin said she planned to apply for cash assistance but knew it
wouldn't cover the bills, and she worried about becoming homeless.

"If I had known the situation I wouldn't have come," she said through an
interpreter. "For me, a refugee camp is a little better situation than
here because I don't have to worry about rent."

When the system was established by Congress in 1980, the U.S. was
responding to an influx of refugees fleeing Southeast Asia, said Eskinder
Negash, director of the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement. Today, the
caseload is more diverse and a one-size-fits-all approach is no longer
effective, he said. In fiscal year 2009, the U.S. accepted nearly 75,000
refugees from more than 70 countries, including many with special needs,
such as single mothers and torture victims.

The system assumes that all new arrivals will be supporting themselves
within a short period. But with the economic downturn, refugees often take
months to find work.

In a speech this spring, Eric Schwartz, the assistant secretary of State
for population, refugees and migration, said refugees were dealing with
severe problems "that go well beyond the challenges that any new arrival
should have to confront."

Some refugees qualify for a federal job-seeking program that includes up
to six months of cash assistance. But the Department of Health and Human
Services, which supports the program with matching grants from private aid
agencies, only has funding to cover about a third of the eligible
refugees, Carey said.

The amount of public assistance refugees are offered varies among states
and often doesn't cover basic needs. In San Diego, a family of four
typically receives about $828 a month compared with $335 a month in
Phoenix, according to resettlement workers. Families with children are
covered by the same welfare programs as American citizens, while those
with no children receive federal cash and medical assistance specific to
refugees. All refugees are eligible for food stamps.

In some states, numerous refugees have fallen behind on rent and received
eviction notices. Without family to turn to for help, they rely on
overburdened resettlement agencies. During the recession, those agencies
have struggled to raise funds.

The arrival of more than 32,000 Iraqis in 2008 and 2009 helped bring
attention to the difficulties faced by refugees.

"They came at a time of economic decline, which really exacerbated a
system that was already teetering on disaster," said Elizabeth Campbell,
senior advocate with Refugees International, an independent advocacy
organization.

In hard-hit Detroit, thousands of Iraqi refugees quickly overwhelmed
nonprofits and local institutions. "The community was not prepared," said
Jeralda Hattar, program manager with the local Catholic services. "The
school district was not prepared. The health system was not prepared."

Responding to requests from resettlement agencies, the State Department no
longer places refugees in Detroit — or in Fort Wayne, Ind. — if they do
not have immediate family members already living there.

The National Security Council, which is heading the review, began meeting
last summer with several government agencies, including the departments of
State and Health and Human Services, and has consulted with refugee
advocates.

In addition, Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) introduced a bill this spring
that would adjust the initial refugee grant each year based on the cost of
living. And Rep. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) is trying to raise support for a
bill that would extend cash and medical assistance for 18 months, help
refugee professionals recertify in the U.S. and establish an emergency
fund to meet unanticipated resettlement needs.

In Phoenix, refugees who arrived during a strong economy quickly found
work in the state's many resorts and retail outlets. But when Saba
Abdullah arrived in April last year, work had dried up. Abdullah, 31, fled
Iraq after two close relatives were injured and her husband was kidnapped.
She does not know if he is alive.

Alone, with three children to support, the college-educated woman applied
for jobs as a cleaner and nanny but wasn't offered anything. The $335 a
month she receives in cash assistance covers less than half her rent. When
she received an eviction notice in April, she thought she would end up on
the streets.

But with the additional federal and local funding that has become
available, resettlement workers with the International Rescue Committee
have been able to keep refugees like Abdullah in their homes. This month,
she moves into subsidized housing that will cost her a fraction of what
she previously paid.

"I was saved at the last minute," she said. "But for the rest of the
refugees it's still a problem."

____________________________________

June 23, Australia Network News
Burmese asylum-seekers continue Darwin hunger strike

A group of 31 Burmese men is still refusing food at the Darwin Detention
Centre.

The hunger strike is now in its tenth day.

The Immigration Department says the men are under constant medical
supervision and 'are in no immediate danger'.

The department says a man who tried to harm himself on Tuesday morning is
under close watch and the group are being offered food and water.

The men are Rohingyan - a Muslim minority from western Burma.

They say they've been in detention for up to ten months and are angry
their visa applications haven't been processed.

An immigration spokesman says the hunger strike 'will not speed-up their
applications for asylum'.
____________________________________

June 23, Democratic Voice of Burma
Burma cyclone film wins top UK award

The documentary Orphans of Burma’s Cyclone was last night honoured with a
prestigious One World Media Award at a ceremony in London.

The film, shown on Channel 4’s Dispatches documentary strand, charts the
life of a group of children orphaned by cyclone Nargis, which struck
Burma’s southern Irrawaddy coast in May 2008 and killed 140,000. It was
one of the worst recorded natural disasters to have hit Southeast Asia.

A team of undercover DVB cameramen arrived in the delta region two months
after the cyclone and began filming the nine children, some as young as
two. One of the cameramen, Ngwe Soe Linn, was eventually tracked down by
Burmese intelligence and sentenced to 13 years in prison.

His fellow cameraman, ‘Z’, has since managed to flee Burma. He told DVB
that the award was a “big victory” for Ngwe Soe Linn. “He does not know
what’s happening; he doesn’t know what the results of his documentary are.
I believe that if he knows he will be very happy. I hope I will send this
information to him very soon.”

It is the second major award for the documentary, directed by Evan
Williams, and wins the One World ‘child rights’ category. In 2009, the
film won the Rory Peck Award, one of the world’s leading honours for
cameramen working in dangerous environments.

“The main concern during filming is security – even in the villages there
are many informers who give information to authorities,” said Z. “We were
far from town, so if we hear an engine from a boat or see a stranger we
have to run, because we don’t know who is who. This fear arose every day.”

He added that developing a relationship with the children being filmed was
crucial to the documentary’s success. “We have to build a familiarity with
them; we know that they are likely to have been mentally affected by the
cyclone so we need to know them well.”

The Burmese government was roundly condemned for its lax response to the
cyclone: foreign aid was initially refused and journalists were barred
from entering the region, while a number of cyclone relief workers have
since been imprisoned, some for as long as 35 years.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

June 23, The Straits Times (Singapore)
Time for Asean to stand its ground – Barry Desker

ASEAN will hold its 43rd Foreign Ministers Meeting, as well as a series of
related meetings of the Asean Regional Forum (ARF) and Asean+3 foreign
ministers, in Hanoi from July 19 to July 23. These meetings are routine,
but this year's sessions will provide a challenge for Asean. Its model of
community building through consensus has come under pressure from other
approaches.

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's proposal for an Asia-Pacific G-8 or
G-10, which would serve as a concert of major and medium powers in the
region, largely excluding smaller states, is one example. Former Japanese
prime minister Yukio Hatoyama's concept of an East Asian Community that
would exclude the United States is another. Both these approaches would
undermine Asean's efforts to make itself the fulcrum of community building
in East Asia. Asean needs to regain the initiative in Hanoi.

The proposal for an Asean+8 grouping, which was discussed at the Asean
Summit in Hanoi in April, should be followed up. The US and Russia would
join China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and India in
meeting Asean leaders at the summit level whenever the Asia-Pacific
Economic Cooperation (Apec) Leaders Meeting is held in an Asian country.
Asean may want to broaden the criteria so that these meetings can be held
even when Apec leaders meet in a non-Asian state. This would cement the
commitment of participating states to the new process.

Apec has 21 members, of which seven are Asean states, while India and
Russia would be the only non-Apec members among the non-Asean participants
in the proposed Asean+8.

Asean must ensure that this initiative has substance. The proposal that
foreign and defence ministers of the new grouping should meet is a good
start. Asean should put forward proposals for a new security agenda which
looks at non-traditional security issues like energy security, pandemics,
climate change, food security and transnational crime beside the more
usual themes of confidence building and preventive diplomacy.

Confidence building and preventive diplomacy are already the focus of the
ARF. However, the ARF is a foreign minister-led network. Its expansion has
also resulted in an unwieldy institution.

But Asean will find it difficult to persuade ARF members - especially
those like Bangladesh and Pakistan, which are not part of the other
groupings - to agree to winding up the ARF. This highlights a problem in
the structure of regional institutions. They are likely to continue even
when the rationale for their existence has passed!

Another issue which will attract attention is the interest of Papua New
Guinea and Timor Leste in becoming Asean members. They have been
participating as observers at the annual Asean foreign ministers' meeting.
Asean may feel pressured to agree to their accession. But the new members
are likely to find the large number of Asean meetings beyond the capacity
of their bureaucracies to manage.

The larger problem for Asean is that expansion will dilute its coherence
and shift its attention away from East Asia. It could be argued that the
process of Asean's expansion in the 1990s, with new members admitted
without any conditionality, led to its effectiveness being undermined.
Indeed, members such as Myanmar have been an albatross around Asean's
neck. The foreign ministers should resist the temptation to expand Asean.

It is inevitable that Myanmar will be discussed during the Hanoi meetings.
Participants from the US and the European Union will probably refer to
reports that Myanmar has embarked on a programme to develop nuclear
weapons as well as ballistic missile capabilities. These reports are based
on evidence provided by a defector and have been widely circulated.
However, they should be examined closely and viewed sceptically.

The reports originated from exile groups critical of the Myanmar regime
and appear to have been timed to coincide with the US attempt to impose
United Nations Security Council sanctions on Iran.

The Myanmar government can be criticised for its attempts to control the
electoral process in the country and for preventing Aung San Suu Kyi from
competing in the elections planned for later this year. Nevertheless, the
claim that it is developing nuclear weapons lacks credibility. Unlike
North Korea, whose acquisition of nuclear weapons enables it to target
Japan, South Korea and the US offshore presence, Myanmar has good
relations with its nearest neighbours China, India and Thailand. None of
them have participated in Western efforts to impose sanctions on the
country. Myanmar would need to surpass North Korea's ballistics missile
capabilities to pose even a remote threat to US facilities.

Asean has always prided itself on its inclusive character. In the
South-east Asian fashion, it has tended to be reluctant to give a negative
response to initiatives from outside the region. The time has come for
Asean to do so in Hanoi.

The writer is dean of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies,
Nanyang Technological University. Think-tank is a weekly column rotated
among eight leading figures in Singapore's tertiary and research
institutions.

____________________________________

June 23, New Light of Myanmar
Union Election Commission issues Directive No.2/2010

Nay Pyi Taw – The Union Election Commission issued Directive No.2/2010
dated 21 June 2010. The informal translation of the directive is as
follows:-

Union of Myanmar
Union Election Commission
Nay Pyi Taw
Directive No.2/2010
10th Waxing of First Waso 1372 ME
(21 June 2010)

Subject: Enlisting the strength of political parties

Introduction

1. For holding a free and fair multi-party democracy general election in
2010, the Union Election Commission is granting permission to set up
political parties and register as political parties in accord with the
Political Parties Registration Law.

2. Under Section 9 of Political Parties Registration Law, the parties that
have been granted permission to register as political parties shall have
to submit a report to the UEC that they have enlisted the prescribed
strength of their parties in accord with Section11 and Rule 13(a) (b)
after mobilizing their members in accordance with Section 10.

3. The UEC, therefore, has issued the directive under Section 26 of
Political Parties Registration Law in order that the political parties
that have been granted permission to register shall act in conformity with
the law in enlisting the prescribed number of party members.

Procedures to follow

4. Political parties may follow the following procedures for enlisting the
prescribed number of party members:-

(a) Assembling and giving speeches at a designated place with the
permission of the sub-commission concerned

(b) Writing, printing and publishing

Applying for permission to assemble and give speeches

5. Those political parties that want to assemble and give speeches at a
designated place shall have to apply to the sub-commission concerned at
least seven days ahead as mentioned hereunder to get a permit.

(a) The State or Division Sub-commission concerned for the townships where
State or Division Sub-commission office is resided

(b) The District Sub-commission concerned for the townships where District
Sub-commission office is resided

(c) The Township Sub-commission concerned for the remaining townships
except the townships mentioned in sub-paragraphs (a) and (b)

6. Those political parties that want to assemble and give speeches at
their party headquarters or branches shall have to report to the
sub-commission concerned at least seven days ahead without necessity to
apply for permission.

7. The political parties entitled to apply: In applying for permission
according to the paragraph 5, the chairman, the secretary of the party
headquarters, state/division, district, or township concerned or a person
who takes the same responsibility of the said chairman or secretary shall
have to sign the application.

8. Points to be mentioned in the application: In applying for the permit,
political parties concerned shall have to mention that they will assemble
and give speeches in conformity with the prohibitions, provisions included
in the permit and the rules and regulations in addition to the following
points in the application.

(a) the planned place

(b) the planned date

(c) starting time and finishing time (estimate)

(d) the number of attendees (estimate)

(e) the names, National Registration Card Nos. and addresses of permitted
speaker or speakers

(f) The name, NRC No and address of the applicant

9. Scrutiny to be conducted by the sub-commission concerned: As regards
for applying for the permit according to paragraphs 5, 7 and 8, the
subcommission concerned:-

(a) shall issue the permit or reject the application after scrutinizing
the application as necessary

(b) shall have to mention the following points in the permit if it is to
be issued:-

(1) date and venue of the issuance

(2) Starting time and finishing time.

(3) Name, NRC No and address of permitted speaker or speakers.

(c) Rules prohibiting the act of marching to the designated gathering
point and the venue holding flags or marching and chanting slogans in
procession, and stating to disperse without any slogan-chanting marches at
the end of assembling and speeches shall be stipulated in the permit.

(d) The followinpoints shall be stipulated in a permit as necessary:

(1) Not to disturbany public places such as government offices,
organizations, factories, workshops, workplaces, markets, sports grounds,
religious places, schools and people’s hospitals.

(2) Not to exceed the capacity of buildings or halls designated as
assembling vanue for speeches (To make the party concerned to take the
responsibility to ensure that there is no assembling outside the building
or hall).

(3) If a place permitted for assembling and giving speeches is a ground,
the number of the attendees shall not exceed the capacity of the ground.

(4) Holding sticks, knives, weapons and ammunition, and any harmful
objects are prohibited.

(5) Any acts to disturb traffic or to block roads are prohibited.

(6) The sound amplified by sound boxes shall be just loud enough to hear
inside the permitted room or ground in order to avoid public annoyance.

(7) The sound amplifying system shall be used in accordance with the
existing rules and regulations as necessary.

(8) Other restrictions as necessary.

(e) The permit to assembly and give speeches shall be issued at least 48
hours before the due time. If the application for assembling and giving
speeches is rejected, the rejection shall be informed with the reasons at
least 48 hours before the due time for assembling and giving speeches.

(f) If necessary, the rules and regulations enumerated in the permit may
be amended or the permit may be revoked for the sake of security, the rule
of law and peace.

(g) Potential public places for permission to assemble and give speeches
in home regions shall be designated in advance in coordination with Peace
and Development Councils concerned.

(h) Measures shall be taken through coordination for Peace and Development
Councils and security forces concerned to provide protection in order that
the process of assembling and giving speeches cannot be harmed.

(i) Measures shall be taken through coordination for Peace and Development
Councils and security forces concerned to make necessary arrangements to
ward off any forms of acts that can harm security, the rule of law and
community peace.

The right of publication

10. If political parties wish to publish and distribute documents,
booklets and pamphlets for public knowledge of their policies, vision and
work programmes, they shall strictly follow Directive (42) dated 17 March
2010 issued in accordance with 1962 Printers and Publishers Registration
Law by the Central Body for Supervising Registration of Printers and
Publishers and Scrutinization of Literary Works.

Prohibitions

11. In assembling, giving speeches and publishing and distributing
publications, political parties shall not violate any of the following
prohibitions.

(a) acts to harm non-disintegration of the Union, non-disintegration of
national unity, and perpetuation of sovereignty,

(b) acts to harm security, the rule of law, and community peace,

(c) failure to respect the constitution of the Union of Myanmar and
existing laws,

(d) giving talks and publishing and distributing publications with the
intention tarnishing the image of the State,

(e) giving talks and publishing and distributing publications with the
intention of breaking up the Tatmadaw or tarnishing the image of the
Tatmadaw,

(f) creating literary works, giving talks or taking organizing measures
that can spark disputes on racial affairs or religious affairs or
individuals or others, and that can harm dignity and morality,

(g) misusing religion for political gains,

(h) Making instigation, giving talks and publishing and distributing
publications with the intention of harming peaceful pursuit of education,

(i) Making instigation giving talks and publishing and distributing
publications with the intention that government service personnel cannot
shoulder their duties with a sense of duty or they take to the streets to
protest the government.

12. Political parties shall not be against the existing laws,
prohibitions, stipulated in this directive, and principles in the permit
in giving talks and publishing and distributing publications on their
policies, vision and work programmes.

13. If a political party fails to honour any of the prohibitions in this
directive, or any of the rules and regulations in the permit, action will
be taken against the party in accordance with not only the existing law
but also Political Parties Registration Law.

Conclusion

14. Therefore, political parties are to honour this directive in
recruiting new party members, giving speeches and publishing and
distributing publications to ensure that the Multi-Party Democracy General
Election to be held in 2010 will be free and fair.

Chairman
Union Election Commission

____________________________________
PRESS RELEASE

June 23, Burma Campaign UK
New report on crimes against humanity against Rohingyas strengthens case
for UN Inquiry

The Burma Campaign UK today welcomed a new report – Crimes against
Humanity in Western Burma: The Situation of the Rohingyas – published by
the Irish Centre for Human Rights.

The report was supervised by Prof Schabas, an expert on international
human rights law, who served as one of the seven commissioners on the
Sierra Leone Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The report was funded by
the Irish government.

The hard-hitting report exposes how the Rohingya ethnic minority in Burma
are subject to a range of different human rights abuses which constitute,
or may constitute, crimes against humanity as defined by the Rome Statute.
 These include:

•	Forced labour
•	Deportation and forcible transfer
•	Rape and sexual violence
•	Persecution

The report states that; “there is a reliable body of evidence pointing to
acts constituting a widespread or systematic attack against the Rohingya
civilian population....These appear to satisfy the requirements under
international criminal law for the perpetration of crimes against
humanity.”

The report recommends that the United Nations Security Council establish a
commission of inquiry into the crimes exposed in the report, and into
potential crimes being committed in other parts of Burma.

It also calls on the International Labour Organisation to reconsider
referring Burma to the International Court of Justice unless there are
“swift satisfactory changes.”

In March this year the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Burma also
called for a UN commission of inquiry into war crimes and crimes against
humanity in Burma.

So far Australia, UK, Czech Republic, and Slovakia have publicly stated
that they support a UN commission of inquiry. On 17th June The Elders
joined international calls for the establishment of such an inquiry.

“This report provides yet more evidence that the generals ruling Burma are
criminals who are breaking international law and avoiding justice,” said
Mark Farmaner, Director of Burma Campaign UK. “Governments cannot continue
to ignore the evidence; ignorance is no longer an excuse for inaction. We
need to see governments publicly supporting a UN commission of inquiry and
then taking action to establish it. The European Union should state that
it supports the establishment of a UN commission of inquiry. The Irish
government should be congratulated for funding this report. We hope they
will now express their clear support for a UN inquiry and work for the EU
as a whole to also adopt this position.”

For more information contact Mark Farmaner on 07941239640.