BurmaNet News, August 3, 2010

[Editor]

August 3, 2010 Issue #4012


INSIDE BURMA
Mizzima: NDF leaders banned from polls for ‘treason’ prepare appeal
Khonumthung: Rat infestation again; crops destroyed in 20 villages in Chin
state
Irrawaddy: Election to be in December?

BUSINESS / TRADE
Irrawaddy: Burma's FEC value drops

HEALTH
Reuters AlterNet: INTERVIEW-Drought in Myanmar's central areas could
worsen hunger – WFP
Myanmar Times: A new frontier in HIV prevention

REGIONAL
Press Trust of India: Do not agree with India's policy on Myanmar: Amartya
Sen tells PM

INTERNATIONAL
DVB: UN ‘working behind the scenes’ on Burma




____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

August 3, Mizzima News
NDF leaders banned from polls for ‘treason’ prepare appeal – Ko Wild

Chiang Mai – The Burmese junta’s electoral watchdog has warned the party
that split from the National League for Democracy that four members of its
central executive committee were ineligible to stand in the forthcoming
national elections because of alleged past acts of treason. It is
preparing to submit an appeal letter to the poll watchdog, a party leader
has said.

The Union Election Commission (UEC) chairman Than Soe in Naypyidaw named
four National Democratic Force (NDF) top panel members: vice-chairman Tin
Aung Aung, central executive committee member Tha Saing, political leading
committee chief Khin Maung Swe and political leading committee member Than
Soe, as subject to the ban as they were charged under Sections 121, 122,
124 of the Penal Code with high treason in 1990, central executive
committee member Khin Maung Swe said.

“The UEC told us to submit an appeal letter to its chairman 
 so we have
discussed the case with our lawyers but we’ve not yet fixed a date”, Khin
Maung Swe said.

“The electoral commission told us that if we submitted the letter 
 the
commission would review it and pass it to a superior authority”, Khin
Maung Swe said.  “We have already served long prison sentences on [the
treason] charges, but the warning said we were never allowed to stand in
polls.”

The four former NLD MPs were charged with acts of high treason against the
state by allegedly attempting to force the current junta’s precursor, the
State Law and Order Restoration Council (Slorc), to transfer power by
establishing a parallel government after the NLD had a landslide win in
nationwide elections in 1990.

After Khin Maung Swe had served approximately two years of his 10-year
jail term, he was released under an amnesty set forth in Order 11/92.
However, after two years he was rearrested and charged under section 5(j)
and was sentenced to seven years in prison. His amnesty was revoked
requiring him to also serve the remainder of his previous 10-year prison
sentence. He was detained 16 years and six months during in his second
imprisonment.

Section 121 defines high treason against the state and section 122 states
that anyone who commits such treason will be sentenced to death or a life
term. Section 124 defines the concealment of the high treason against the
state, according to a jurist in Rangoon, the former Burmese capital.

____________________________________

August 3, Khonumthung News
Rat infestation again; crops destroyed in 20 villages in Chin state

3 August 2010: With rat infestation on the rise again, rodents are
destroying crops in more than 20 villages in Paletwa and Matupi Township,
Chin state western Burma.

Bamboo flowering in a 50-year cycle, which causes famine, started in one
place in 2006 and spread to other areas.

“Rats are multiplying this year again. They eat all our crops leaving us
no chance to harvest,” said Lianthet, a villager of Nga Pang, Matupi
Township.

The affected areas in Matupi township are Am Soi, Ma Du, Voi Lu, Thing
Khong, Tui Chip, Palato, Si Hleh, Pan Tui, Ling Tui, Tho Tui, Nga Pang,
Rung, Rawh Thang, Bel Khoeng, Kheng Ca, Kui Ca, Boi Chip and in Paletwa
township are Ui Ci, Dui, Tui Ca, Hung, Mung Ta Nu, Khai Canu, Aih Ca and
Long Dan villages.

These areas are in remote places and where communication and
transportation is difficult, so authorities turn a blind eye and do not
provide any assistance. Some local people are working in Lawngtlai
district, Mizoram northeast state of India to earn a living.

“Some have decided to resettle in Mizoram state this year as rats are
increasing by the day. Most of the villagers, however, will be left in
their villages by the end of this year,” he added.

A Matupi resident, who is on the Indo-Myanmar border area said, “There was
bamboo flowering in northern Chin sate and Paletwa Township last year.
When the bamboo flowers and rats eat them they multiply, in turn eating
fruits in orchards and crops in fields and godowns.”

In previous years, Chin relief groups and other NGOs had provided aid for
people facing famine in Chin state. Bamboo flowering has been not yet
ended in Chin state and it can lead to extended famine for many villagers
in Chin state.
____________________________________

August 3, Irrawaddy
Election to be in December? – Sai Zom Hseng

Lt-Gen. Myint Swe of the Ministry of Defense told security officials on
Monday to increase national security during December, according to
military sources.

A high-ranking military officer who took part in the meeting told The
Irrawaddy, “In the beginning of this year, he [Lt. Gen Myint Swe] told us
to prepare the extra security for October. But in the last meeting, he
said to prepare for December.

A police officer in Rangoon said, “The election might be held in December.
That’s why he gave instructions to us to upgrade security at that time.”

No date for the election has been announced.

In the 1990 election, political parties had 90 days to campaign before the
polling date. It is unknown if that will be the case in this election.

A National Security meeting is held each Monday in Rangoon when officials
from the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Home Affairs, police
officers from Rangoon Division and officers from Special Branches (SB)
attend a joint meeting.

In the 2007 Saffron Revolution, Lt-Gen. Myint Swe was believed to be the
commanding officer who put down the demonstrations at the cost of many
deaths and injuries.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

August 3, Irrawaddy
Burma's FEC value drops

Burma's Foreign Exchange Certificate (FEC) is reportedly becoming
difficult to trade in the black market in Rangoon since its exchange rate
has dropped and fewer people are buying it.

According to black market sources, the prized US dollar in the domestic
black foreign currency exchange market is getting high while the FEC has
gone lower, forcing most of foreign currency dealers to stop buying the
FEC.

One of the biggest dealers in Rangoon said the exchange rate between the
FEC and the US dollar had almost no difference within the first half of
2010 and the FEC value was even higher during some months. However, the
FEC value has now dropped about 100 kyat (US $0.10) compare to the US
dollar, he said.

On Tuesday, one FEC was equivalent to 923 kyat in the Rangoon market while
one USD was worth 1,005 kyat.

“I haven't bought FECs since mid-July. I now trade only US dollars. The
current rate is 1,005 kyat for one USD,” said another dealer in Rangoon.

Some dealers reportedly continue trading the FEC in the black market but
they only pay a low rate when they buy since they have found it difficult
to sell a large amount of FECs.

“I don't buy many FECs now. If someone comes to sell, I will buy 500
maximum but only pay quite lower than the current rate. Otherwise, I will
loose more money if its rate changes again. It seems like the FEC rate
will go down,” said a dealer on 35th street.

In the past, the FEC was used to buy fuel at state-run stations and
pre-paid phone cards sold by Myanmar Posts & Telecommunications and Htoo
Co., Ltd., as well as in paying overseas telephone charges and other
state-related taxes.

Business sources in Rangoon, however, said the benefit of using the FEC
becomes limited since many changes have taken place. They said, for
instance, people can no long buy fuel at the recently opened private
stations by using FECs. Pre-paids cards are now available with Burmese
currency.

“The FEC value has dropped because it is less useful. Another important
factor is that businessmen don't see the FEC as a strong currency,” said
an official from the Central Bank of Myanmar.

Obviously, the value of the FECs has never gone up although the CBM has
officially announced that it could be used in import-export businesses in
lieu of US dollars.

According to business sources, many people like to buy US dollars and
gold, and the flow of US dollars to border areas is still high.

“Dollar trading is not bad. More demand make less supplies available. If
we have them, we can sell at higher price than the current rate. Some
people will buy anyway,” said a Rangoon trader.

Traders in the Thai-Burma border area said one US dollar is equivalent to
1,020 kyat there while it is only worth 1,008 kyat in Rangoon. They said
traders only buy dollars and gold since the border trade has been halted.

“While border trade is stopped, they may have converted their money to
other strong valuables such as dollars and gold,” said a gold trader in
Mandalay, who has connections with the border area.

Gold traders said the sale is going well with a steady price of 642,000
kyat ($655) for one kyat (.015 kg) of solid gold.

____________________________________
HEALTH

August 3, Reuters AlterNet
INTERVIEW-Drought in Myanmar's central areas could worsen hunger – WFP

Bangkok – Three years of scarce rainfall in Myanmar's Central Dry Zone
could worsen hunger in this normally hotter area, already one of the
poorest in the country and suffering from chronic food shortages, said the
outgoing chief of the U.N. food agency in Myanmar.

Because of government restrictions, the World Food Programme has access
only to a few townships in the area, which makes it difficult to assess
the scale of the local food deficit and to deliver aid, Chris Kaye told
AlertNet. Across Myanmar, one in 10 people - or more than 5 million - go
hungry every day, according to a U.N. report.

"It's a slow-burn problem but evidence would suggest it is getting worse,"
Kaye said of hunger in the arid and densely populated Central Dry Zone,
which covers more than a tenth of Myanmar's total land area.

"Firstly rains were delayed. Then rains did begin to kick in and farmers
started the planting. Since then there's been a break and now that first
set of inputs into the ground is withering and dying."

Myanmar, formerly Burma, was once known as the rice bowl of Southeast
Asia. It is now one of the poorest nations in the region with a big hunger
problem, the reasons for which are manifold and differ depending on the
area.

"There's food in the country but it's not getting to the right places,"
Kaye said, adding that Myanmar's military government restricts the
movement of goods and some ethnic minorities within the country.

Given the lack of information from the Central Dry Zone, WFP has had to
rely on small-scale nutritional surveys and anecdotal evidence from the
region, which point to a worrying nutritional status of local people, Kaye
added.

"We know the government would like more support for the region, but until
we are provided with open access to all other townships in the region, our
assistance is restricted."

In the meantime, WFP is expanding its operations in other areas of Myanmar
- including Chin state and the northern part of Rakhine state - where it
intends to feed 2 million people over the next three years.

The U.N. body is asking donors for $122 million to fund the three-year
programme, and Kaye hopes donors will provide the money as they "recognise
that there's a differential between Myanmar and Cambodia and Laos and it's
not really justified". For example, in 2007 Myanmar received $4 per person
in development assistance from foreign governments compared to $47 for
Cambodia and $68 for Laos.

But aid efforts in Myanmar's south hit by Cyclone Nargis have been
severely under-funded and it is unclear whether donors will stump up the
cash for the additional food emergency.

____________________________________

August 2, Myanmar Times
A new frontier in HIV prevention – Sandar Lwin

The members of Khit Thit Kyal (Modern Star) are holding a meeting in a
one-storey thatched building provided by Aide Médicale Internationale
(AMI), a French non-government organisation, to elect a facilitator, or
leader, for their group.

The two women, whom the meeting members refer to as Sayama (Miss), are
helping and guiding them, explaining in full-mouthed language the
qualifications and skills a facilitator should have.

Khit Thit Kyal was formed eight months ago by a group of sex workers from
Dala township in Yangon Division as a means of supporting each other
against the stigma that has been attached to their line of work.

“We are now seeing some positive responses to our attempts to reduce the
social stigma attached to sex workers and people living with HIV and AIDS.
Reducing discrimination against them is one way to help prevent the spread
of HIV/AIDS,” said Dr Sid Naing, the country director of Marie Stopes
International, an NGO focusing on reproductive health-related issues, on
July 3.

“But it is just the very beginning. We have to do a lot more,” he added.

U Myint Swe, chairman of the Rattana Metta Organisation and National NGO
Network on HIV and AIDS (3N), agreed the situation was slowly changing for
the better.

“In recent years sex workers have come out openly to some extent so they
can get assistance, such as anti-retroviral treatment (ART) [for HIV],” he
said. “But the number of those who has come out openly is still very small
in comparison with the total number of sex workers.”

Sex work is not the only career that suffers from social stigma in Myanmar
– traditionally, butchers, undertakers and travelling performers were all
viewed negatively in society.

But while the stigma attached to those professions has receded
significantly or even disappeared, calling someone by one of the many
slang words for a sex worker is still a grievous insult.

Myanmar people still often refuse to communicate with sex workers – even
those who regularly frequent them, said Dr Sid Naing, who has given many
talks and written articles about stigma and discrimination.

“People usually think that these girls are bad, rather than thinking that
they have slipped into this kind of career unintentionally, accidentally
or unfortunately – often because of somebody else’s greed. People think
that these girls’ morality is the problem and they are not like them; that
their daughters, nieces and friends are not like them either,” he said.

This stigma against sex workers, which has existed for centuries, is
fuelling a thoroughly modern phenomenon: the spread of HIV/AIDS.

I’m made to feel inferior and isolated in my community, says Ma Cho, who
is one of 45 members of Khit Thit Kyal. “I can’t build normal
relationships. When I walk down the street, people always gossip about me
behind my back,” she says.

“I dare not even let them people know if I have an illness. If I do,
they’ll gossip that I’m suffering from A,” she says, using a colloquial
reference to AIDS.

“I do this work in secret because people look down on us [sex workers],”
says Thi Thi, another member of Khitthit Kyal.
NGOs working in the sector say Ma Cho and Thi Thi’s responses are typical
of those heard from sex workers and it is a major challenge in controlling
the spread of HIV/AIDS.

“The situation of sex workers in relation to HIV infections here is,
generally speaking, not good. While there are no reliable statistics, I
would say about 50 percent of sex workers are infected with HIV,” U Myint
Swe said. “And the sex workers who are infected with HIV are always
discriminated against at least twice as much as a non-sex worker with the
disease.”

“Consequently, they don’t come out openly because they want to keep their
normal relationships. They don’t contact health care officers and take
safety measures. In this way they are often a safe niche for the virus,”
he said.

Even more difficult, NGOs say, is reaching the clients of sex workers to
provide them with health knowledge.

“Although it is difficult to reach sex workers, we can still find some of
them. To find their clients is much more difficult,” said Dr Sid Naing.
“So until now we still haven’t been able to effectively break the link of
virus transmission between the primary client, who is HIV-infected, to sex
workers and then to other clients,” he added.

Dr Sid Naing said most people now have some basic knowledge about HIV
transmission but the fact infections are still occurring showed that
organisations need to focus on encouraging behaviour change.

Sex workers are one of three main channels for HIV transmission in
Myanmar, according to organisations in the field, along with injecting
drug users and men who have sex with men. He said the discrimination meted
out to these three vulnerable groups is leading to new infections.

“Transmission is no longer due to the ignorance of people about the
disease 
 even most people who have little education and live in remote
areas have heard about HIV, understand to an extent how it is transmitted
and how to protect against it,” he said.

“It is clear that we can’t rely only on improving knowledge alone [to
prevent HIV transmission],” he said. “We have to support people to live in
more healthy ways for the benefit of both themselves and others. To reduce
social stigma and discrimination is a key tool to attaining that goal.
Only when we can reduce the discrimination sex workers and other people
living with HIV face, will they be in a position to protect themselves and
others.”

“When people feel like they are cornered and can’t improve their lives,
that’s when they get careless about things like health,” agreed U Myint
Swe.

Reducing this stigma, which has existed for hundreds of years, is no small
task. Dr Sid Naing said while globally some gradual progress has been
made, he thought it would be impossible to completely eradicate a
society’s aversion to sex workers.

“We can only try to reduce the social stigma and discrimination [sex
workers face] for the sake of public health. It is impossible to eradicate
it completely,” he said.

For the members of Khit Thit Kyal – which is thought to be one of just 10
such groups in Myanmar – it’s a matter of safety and support in numbers.

“We aim to raise the moral and social standards of girls facing the same
problems as us. I hope we can get support from organisations to be able to
change our careers or at least to reduce our workload,” said Ma Ni Ni, the
newly elected facilitator of Khit Thit Kyal, whose responsibilities
include organising regular medical checkups for members and distributing
medical knowledge.

“I have noticed the behaviour of the members of Khit Thit Kyal has changed
since they formed the group last year. At that time, they quarrelled a lot
but now they work together,” said Ko Khine Shwe Tun, a health education
officer at French organisation AMI.

Reducing the stigma these women face is still only one aspect of the fight
to control HIV, Dr Sid Naing said.

“Of course we have some other solutions. The simple, relatively easy and
effective solution is the condom,” he said.
“If you ask me what I desire most in HIV/AIDS prevention, my answer will
always be to promote the habit of using a condom, to create favourable
conditions for using a condom any time, every time.”

Editor’s note: The names of sex workers in this article have been changed
to protect their privacy.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

August 3, Press Trust of India
Do not agree with India's policy on Myanmar: Amartya Sen tells PM

With prime minister Manmohan Singh by his side, Nobel Laureate Prof
Amartya Sen today said he did not approve of India's policy on Myanmar.

"I do not agree with your policy on Burma. In a democratic country like
India, I can say this to the prime minister," he said while giving a
lecture on 'Centrality of Literacy' in New Delhi.

Singh, an economist like Sen, smiled when the Nobel Laureate made the
comments.

Sen's forthright comments on India's relations with Myanmar came when he
took the floor after Singh had addressed the function

The comments came close on the heels of India hosting Myanmar military
ruler General Than Shwe last week.

Shwe faces global flak for not allowing democracy to take root in the
country where pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been barred from
contesting elections slated for this year. India has been engaging Shwe's
government maintaining that it was in its vital interest.

Sen also drew a distinction between the ideals of the late Chinese
president Mao Zedong and the action of Maoists in India.

Mao had promoted basic education in China which augmented the economic
development of the country. But the Maoists in India are affecting the
basic education structure in states like West Bengal, Sen said.

Singh said literacy is central to social and economic development. No
modern industrialised nation has less than 80 per cent literacy rate, he
said.

Singh said the goal for his government is to make India literate and
reduce the gender gap in literacy.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

August 3, Democratic Voice of Burma
UN ‘working behind the scenes’ on Burma – Francis Wade

The UN has been forced to defend its record on Burma in recent days with
the fallout from a leaked memo that slated Ban Ki-moon’s impact on the
pariah state showing no signs of easing.

The now-infamous 50-page report, written by Inga-Britt Ahlenius and leaked
to the Washington Post in mid-July, said that the UN secretariat is in a
“process of decay” after three years of “absence of strategic guidance and
leadership” under Ban.

The comments were a parting shot from Ahlenius, who recently finished her
post as chief of the UN’s anti-corruption agency, the Office of Internal
Oversight (UNOIOS).

“We seem to be seen less and less as a relevant partner in the resolution
of world problems,” she said, questioning the UN’s “capacity to protect
civilians in conflict and distress
What relevance do we have in
disarmament, in Myanmar [Burma], Darfur, Afghanistan, Cyprus, G20
?”

The secretary general used one of his first speeches as UN chief in
January 2007 to urge for the release of Burma’s political prisoners, but
since his last, and widely criticised, visit to Burma in June last year,
he has barely mentioned the country in public.

Moreover, the UN is yet to appoint a successor to Ibrahim Gambari, the
equally maligned UN special envoy to Burma who was reassigned to Sudan in
late 2009. In January this year it defended the hiatus on reappointing an
envoy by claiming that UN Chief of Staff Vijay Nambiar was temporarily
filling the role.

But it has again been forced to defend accusations in the wake of the
leaked report that it has been lax on pressuring the Burmese junta to
reform. One reporter asked Ban’s spokesperson, Martin Nesirky, on 23 July
whether the UN had indeed accomplished anything on Burma, which is heading
towards widely-criticised elections this year.

“We continue to work, as I also said to you before; the good offices
[team] is not one individual, if you like, it’s people working behind the
scenes,” he said. “Not everything that happens is in the public
eye
Sometimes you see those results quickly, sometimes it takes longer.
Certainly we’ve been very public about the need for credible elections in
Myanmar.

Nambiar also responded to the Ahlenius report by saying that Ban’s work as
secretary general had been “visionary” and that he had balanced his UN
role with “providing truly global leadership.”

But critics have argued that his method of dealing in “soft power” has
reinforced the growing influence of China within the UN, at a time when
Western nations are in a face-off over China’s support for the Burmese
junta. Ahlenius said that Ban was “spineless and charmless” and was
“struggling to show leadership”, an accusation that has apparently rattled
his office.