BurmaNet News, December 22, 2010

[Editor]

December 22, 2010 Issue #4109

Please note that from December 23, 2010 to January 3, 2011, BurmaNet News
will only be released on December 27, 2010 and January 3, 2011.

Thank you,
BurmaNet Staff


INSIDE BURMA
DVB: DVB reporter gets 8 year jail term
Mizzima: Giri victims have just 45pc of basic needs, UN says
Myanmar Times: Red Link to up WiFi access points
Irrawaddy: USDP files lawsuits alleging vote rigging
Narinjara: Most ancient site in Arakan bulldozed for railroad

ON THE BORDER
Slate: Life on the margins

BUSINESS / TRADE
Myanmar Times: First phase of Sino-Myanmar link complete

DRUGS
Drug War Chronicle: Top 10 international drug policy stories

INTERNATIONAL
TG Daily: DDoS attacks against human rights groups on the rise


____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

December 22, Democratic Voice of Burma
DVB reporter gets 8 year jail term – Nang Kham Kaew

A man arrested by Burmese authorities for photographing the aftermath of
the deadly bombings in Rangoon in April this year has been sentenced to
eight years imprisonment.

Sithu Zeya, 21, a reporter for the Democratic Voice of Burma, was
yesterday found guilty by Rangoon’s Mingalartaungnyunt township court of
illegal border crossing and holding ties to an unlawful organisation. He
was arrested shortly after the April bombings and has been held by police
since.

“I am sad that he’s now ended up prison for taking some photos,” said his
mother Yee Yee Tin. “He just finished school and had not even started
working yet. He is interested in journalism, that the only thing I know.”

Sithu’s father, Maung Maung Zeya, also a DVB reporter, was arrested a day
after his son and is still awaiting a verdict, but from a high-level
court. Yee Yee Tin said that she was expecting his sentencing to be
harsher.

Sithu is facing a further charge under the Electronics Act, which can
result in up to 20 years in prison. The family’s legal advisor, Aung
Thein, said that none of the accusations were supported by strong
evidence.

“The prosecutors couldn’t provide any independent evidence for the
accusations on [Sithu Zeya’s] illegal border crossing and contact with the
individuals of the so-called ‘unlawful association.’ The verdict was based
on informal confession results from torturing the accused while he was
under interrogation,” said Aung Thein.

Sithu Zeya was arrested on 15 April after taking photographs of the
bombing at X20 pavilion during Rangoon’s Thingyan Water Festival. Nine
people died in the incident, which was the worst attack in Rangoon since
2005. It preceded a number of other bombings around Burma, focused mainly
on controversial hydropower projects.

Maung Maung Zeya remains in detention in Rangoon’s Insein prison and is
due to appear in court today. Maung Maung Zeya is the son of renowned late
writer Linyon Maung Maung

____________________________________


December 22, Mizzima News
Giri victims have just 45pc of basic needs, UN aid office in Rangoon says

New Delhi – Two months since Cyclone Giri ripped through Burma’s western
Arakan State, residents affected have received just 45 per cent of their
basic humanitarian needs, the Rangoon branch of a UN aid office said.
People are in “dire need of more permanent shelter” and “livelihood
support”, a UN official added.

A resident of hard-hit Myebon Township’s Pyinone village clears debris as
other villagers work to rebuild the nearly 100 per cent of the area’s
homes destroyed by Cyclone Giri on October 28, 2010. Although government
newspapers initially said the storm killed only 27 across Arakan State,
more than 40 died in Pyinone alone, villagers said. The Category Four
storm had hit Burma’s western coast bearing winds in excess of 120 miles
per hour (193 km/h) four days earlier. Although the devastated region
needed an estimated US$57 million, it had received just US$20.5 million,
the UN Country Team in Burma said in a report on Monday.

Although the devastated region had needed an estimated US$57 million, it
had received just US$20.5 million, the report compiled by the United
Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) said
on Monday.

Cyclone Giri hit the Arakanese coast on October 22, flattening villages in
the worst-hit townships of Myebon, Pauktaw, Kyaukphyu and Manaung with
winds gusting up to 160 mph (257 km/h), and killing at least 45 people.
The Category Four storm affected 260,000 people and more than 100,000 were
displaced, the report said.

Fifty-six per cent of schools, around 17,500 acres (7,000 hectares) of
agricultural lands, nearly 50,000 acres of aquaculture ponds and more than
700 fishing boats were also destroyed in the cyclone, severely affecting
residents’ livelihoods and causing problems with health care, education
and other basic needs, it said.

The report also urged international donors to provide humanitarian relief
for the cyclone victims.

Committee Representing People’s Parliament (CRPP) secretary and Arakan
League for Democracy joint general secretary Aye Tha Aung arrived in the
cyclone-affected area today to offer support and report on the situation.

“I went to many villages. Their houses don’t have roofs. Some villages
have foods for just one or two days. Some villages have already run out of
food,” he said.

A resident in Ngayapwakkyaing Village in the Pauktaw told Mizzima that
although the UN and social organisations had given them humanitarian
relief, they were without their main means of self-support.

“Currently, we are not worried about food as donors gave rice, oil and
beans to us. But our fishing boats and gear were destroyed, so we can’t go
fishing. The villagers have been jobless,” the resident said.

The World Food Programme (WFP), National League for Democracy (NLD) and
CRPP donated food including rice to the cyclone victims in villages within
Pauktaw, Myebon and Kyaukphyu townships. Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu
Kyi has also donated 10 million kyat (about US$10,000) to the victims.

“The WFP and CRPP came here to donate rice. If we need it, they will help
to dig a well in our village,” the resident said.

The UN children’s welfare organisation, Unicef, supported the provision of
100 temporary learning spaces by the local Parents and Teachers
Association in the four affected townships and provided school kits to
7,000 children, the Ocha report said.

The Ngayapwakkyaing resident said, “My village does not have a school so
we paid teachers to teach our children just to be literate. But we are
jobless so we can’t pay the teachers so our children can’t receive [a
proper] education.”

According to a statement on Monday from the UN Country Team in Burma, UN
officials, led by the UN Resident and Humanitarian Co-ordinator for Burma
Bishow Parajuli, travelled last week to several villages in Sittwe and
Myebon townships in Arakan State to witness relief and recovery efforts.
The delegation briefed international donors on Monday about the visit.

“Humanitarian emergency assistance is forthcoming, and people are slowly
starting to rebuild their communities with what little they have left and
the aid they are receiving. The resilience of the affected people has been
remarkable,” the statement said, quoting Parajuli after his return to
Rangoon.

He was accompanied by the representative for the UN High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR), the WFP country director and the Rangoon Ocha chief.

The delegation met government officials and staff from UN agencies and
international and local NGOs based in Sittwe, the state capital, and
Myebon, where the most severe damage had occurred. The three-day mission
also brought the delegation to the villages of Minchaung and Shintaung in
Myebon and Byinethit in Pauktaw.

“The destruction in these villages has been massive. Up to 70-80 per cent
of all houses were completely destroyed and schools and health facilities
are severely damaged. People now rely on various emergency supplies, which
are distributed widely to the worst-hit areas by the government,
international and local NGOs and UN agencies,” Parajuli said in the
statement.

“But people are in dire need of more permanent shelter structures and
livelihood support,” he said.

The statement said the main gaps in funding were in “early recovery
shelter and livelihood support”. It said on Monday, US$20.5 million had
been allocated from donors in response to Giri damage, including US$6
million from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund.

The overall funding needs for all sectors for both emergency and early
recovery were estimated at US$57 million and the humanitarian community in
Burma welcomed continued international funding support, it said.

The European Commission (EC) told Voice of America yesterday it had
allocated almost US$4 million in humanitarian relief for Giri victims. In
the statement delivered in Thailand, the commission said another US$5
million had been allocated to help victims of recent storms in Vietnam and
the Philippines.

Regional EC envoy David Lipman said the contribution showed Europe’s
commitment to help those most vulnerable and needy in Burma.

Australia early last month donated US$3 million in assistance to help
affected communities and families recover from this disaster and provide
essential food, shelter, clean water and sanitation, Ocha said late last
month.

Britain, Denmark, Japan and the United States have also made donations.
____________________________________

December 20 – 26, Myanmar Times
Red Link to up WiFi access points - Nay Zaw Tun

Wireless access points in Yangon provide a refreshing alternative to being
online at home or in the office. Pic: Kaung Htet LOCAL internet provider,
Red Link Communications, is to boost it’s numbers of wireless access
points in Yangon from an existing 13 to more than 60, a company
spokesperson said last week.

As part of their NetNow project customers can purchase a prepaid K5000
card from local outlets and be able to use fast and convenient internet at
quiet locations around the city such as Café Aroma outlets or 365 Café.

Each card entitles users to 15 hours access through a broadband speed
connection; ranging from 128-512 kilo bites per second.

According to the 2010 International Computing and Technology survey, a
locally conducted market research report released earlier this month, more
and more people are beginning to use the internet away from their home or
office. The number of users choosing to frequent internet café’s has shot
from 42percent in 2009 to 67pc in 2010.

“The connection is good and all you have to do is buy a card,” a technical
engineer at Red Link, Ko Aung Kyaw Kyaw said.

Wireless users benefit from a lack of cables and software required to
connect to the net. Each new hotspot will be accessable up to 300ft from
the access point.

Currently the Red Link has 13 zones at Karawait Garden, Mya Yeik Nyo Hotel
(Sport Bar), Sein Le’ Soe Pyae, Dagon Center, City Mart (Myaynigone),
Ocean Super Center East Point, Ocean Super Center North Point, Orange
Super Market (Tarmawe), Shwe Pa Lin & Scarlet (Han Tar Waddy Car Market),
Technoland (Inya Road), Café Aroma (Naypyidaw Cinema), Café Jasper and 365
Café.

____________________________________

December 22, Irrawaddy
USDP Files Lawsuits Alleging Vote Rigging - Ko Htwe

Three Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) candidates have filed
lawsuits accusing the winning candidates  of vote rigging in the election
on Nov.  7.

Sai Kham Hlaing, a USDP candidate who competed in Kunhing Township for a
State and Region Parliament (1) seat, filed a lawsuit against Sai Moon,
the winning candidate representing the Shan Nationalities Development
Party (SNDP).

Sai Saung See, a spokesperson and deputy SNDP chairman, said the SNDP
didn’t violate any rules in the election process and the accusation is
groundless.

“He [Kham Hlaing] must show evidence. The difference in the vote count
between the SNDP and the USDP was nearly 2,000 in that seat. The case is
now being examined in Naypyidaw,” Sai Saung See said.

Kham Hlaing alleged that 50 SNDP members organized within 500 yards of a
polling station and that the SNDP also worked with members of the  local
people's militia, which was transformed from Shan State Army Brigade-7, to
put pressure on local residents to vote for the SNDP, according to a
letter the Election Commission (EC) sent to Sai Moon.

An official poll watcher in Kunhing Township, however, said that, “In
fact, the SNDP lost in the area controlled by SSA Brigade-7.”

Kham Hlaing was set to become a state minister had the won in the
election, according to USDP sources.

SNDP candidate Sai Tun Kyi, who ran for State and Region Parliament (2) in
Kunhing Township, also filed a lawsuit against Sai Nu, the winning USDP
candidate, accusing him of vote rigging. The difference between the two
candidates was only seven votes.

“We have clear evidence in the case,” Saung See said.

Sai Myo Aung, a SNDP candidate who was elected to the State and Region
Parliament in Momauk Township in Kachin State, also faces a lawsuit filed
by the losing USDP candidate, said Saung See.

In the pre-election period, the USDP and the authorities were collecting
advance pro-USDP votes through intimidation in many rural areas across
Shan State, according to sources. The SNDP, the largest ethnic party
contesting in the election in Shan State, complained to the EC about vote
rigging in advanced voting but no action has been taken in response to the
allegations.

The SNDP won 57 of the 156 constituencies it contested in the Nov. 7
election. Most of the constituencies were in Shan and Kachin states.

The Democratic Party (Myanmar)'s chairman Thu Wai told The Irrawaddy that 
party candidate Tin Tin Mar, who won the State and Region Parliament seat
in Chanayetharzan Township in Mandalay Division, also has been named in a
lawsuit filed by the USDP. The EC is expected to make a decision in the
case on Dec. 29, he said.

Thu Wai said most people have been talking about widespread USDP vote
rigging in the election, “so they are trying to refute that” by filing the
lawsuits.

The USDP has alleged that Tin Tin Mar paid local residents 1,500 kyat (US
$1.5) per vote and campaigned in the area of polling stations on election
day.

A  fee of 1 million kyat (US $1,136) is required to file an election fraud
lawsuit with the authorities, and it carries a possible two-year jail term
if the case is lost.

On Nov. 17, the EC told candidates who planned to challenge election
results that they could be fined 300,000 kyat ($340) and sentenced to
three years in prison if their accusations are deemed to be unfounded.

“Both plaintiff and defendant have to pay 100,000 kyat ($100) in the
lawsuit. If one side cannot afford that amount, they forfeit the case. So
we have to collect the money for that lawsuit,” Thu Wai said.

____________________________________


December 22, Narinjara News
Most Ancient Site in Arakan Bulldozed for Railroad

Kyauk Taw - The most ancient city of Arakan, known historically as
Danyawaddy, which existed in the 6 century BCE, was destroyed by
bulldozers for construction of a railroad that passed over the walled
palace grounds, said a historian in the region on the condition of
anonymity.

He said, "We submitted an appeal letter to the minister of railway three
months ago, asking them not to construct the railroad over the ancient
palace of Danyawaddy because it is a precious historic site for Arakanese
people, but they neglected our appeal. Now the railroad is being
constructed over the ancient palace," he said.

The authority started construction of the railroad in the last week and it
is now passing over the site of the palace.

"There are many alternative paths for constructing the railway to bypass
the ancient palace, but the authority always plans to construct the
railroad over the ancient city sites in Arakan State. Every Arakanese
believes the government wants to destroy the invaluable Arakanese historic
sites on the pretense of the railroad," he said.

The current military government is not willing see such historic sites
preserved in ethnic areas in Burma due to its plan of Burmanization.
Because of this, the military authority is often trying to destroy such
historic sites in Burma to remove them from public sight.

He also said, "If the railroad is constructed near the Thari Chaung Creek,
located between Kyauk Taw and Mrauk U Township, the railroad would be very
useful for local people because there are many villages in that area. But
now the authority is constructing the railroad in an isolated area."

At the site of the Danyawaddy ancient palace, there are many features such
as moats, city walls, and ruined Buddha statues. All are likely to have
been damaged in the railroad construction.

According to historical records, the historic sites of ancient Danyawaddy
were active from around 2666 BCE to 788 CE. During that time, King Sanda
Thu Riya cast Mahamuni Buddha and other precious images. The image of
Mahamuni is now in Mandalay after it was forcibly removed and taken there
when Burmese kings conquered Arakan in 1784.

The authority has destroyed not only Danyawaddy palace but also other
ancient sites in Mrauk U, to make way for the railroad. When the authority
destroyed the ancient sites in Mrauk U, many local people, including
monks, protested against the construction and succeeded in getting
authorities to shift it to another path that bypassed many of the historic
sites.

The World Arakanese Organization, based in the USA, also sent a letter to
UNESCO asking them to save the ancient sites of Arakan from further
destruction at the hands of the military.

In the letter, the WAO pointed out that Burma is party UNESCO's World
Heritage Convention, and in 1996 the Mrauk U Archaeological Area and
Monuments was submitted to UNESCO according to Paragraph 1, Article 11, of
the convention for inclusion on the World Heritage List. To protect and
conserve cultural heritage, the Burmese government has its own law called
The Protection and Preservation of Cultural Heritage Regions Law, enacted
in 1998. However, the current military government has been violating this
law and has failed to abide by the World Heritage Convention. The WAO
urged UNESCO to quickly investigate the railroad project and help save
Mrauk U from further destruction by taking necessary measures.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

December 22, Slate
Life on the Margins – Peter Biro

Bangkok, Thailand—The dilapidated concrete building in the Bangkok suburb
of Bang Khun Thian is covered with dirt and green algae stains. Inside,
more than 400 people are jammed inside tiny rooms lining a dark and gloomy
corridor. The hallway reeks from leaking toilets and human waste.

The building's residents are from the neighboring country of Burma. Like
other urban refugees and migrants living in Thailand—estimates range as
high as 3 million—they are desperately poor, and many live illegally in
the shadows of the city.

Soe Naing, a thin 33-year-old man, resides in one of the small windowless
cubicles with his wife and two sisters. "I'm a poor rice farmer," he says.
"At home I was forced to sell over half my yield to the government at a
fraction of what it was worth. It is impossible to survive there."

Soe Naing and his family represent a new global phenomenon. Whereas the
classic image of the refugee is that of a person queuing up for food
rations in an isolated and sprawling tent city, more than half of the
world's 10.5 million refugees assisted by UNHCR, the United Nations
refugee agency, live in the urban slums of cities like Bangkok, Thailand;
Amman, Jordan; Khartoum, Sudan; and Nairobi, Kenya. Like billions of other
people around the world, refugees have been gradually migrating to cities
and towns, mirroring a long-term global trend toward urbanization. There
is no evidence that this development is diminishing. Increasingly, those
fleeing war and natural disasters are settling in cities and towns.
Meanwhile, refugees and other displaced people are opting to remain in
their adopted cities rather than return to their homeland, where they
often lived in remote rural areas.

"Refugees and displaced people who settle in urban areas, unlike those who
settle in official, organized refugee camps, often have more job
opportunities and can earn money," says Kellie Leeson, who runs the Kenya
program for the International Rescue Committee. "But life on the fringes
of society, in poverty and without proper documentation, is often risky.
Urban refugees are vulnerable to exploitation, arrest, and detention.
Because they have few skills or resources, they are often forced into
dangerous and low-paying jobs on construction sites, plantations, fishing
boats, or in factories."

According to a recent IRC report on the plight of Somali refugees living
in Nairobi, police harassment of refugees is routine. Police regularly
demand bribes from refugees and assault those who refuse to pay. Yet many
of the refugees who were interviewed for the report preferred life in the
city, even with its hardships, to desolate, overcrowded refugee camps that
lack job opportunities.

Soe Naing saw no other option but to sell his small plot of land to raise
the money to make the long journey from Arakan state in Burma to Thailand.
"I had to pay bribes at 10 army roadblocks before we could even cross into
Thailand," he says.

Once in Thailand, Soe Naing joined 4,000 foreign workers at a fish-canning
factory in Bang Khun Thian. He works 13 hours a day, six days a week,
gutting fish for 6,000 Baht ($200) a month.

"It's very hard work," he says. "It's extremely hot on the factory floor,
and it's hard to breathe. Every day people faint and fall over. We often
cut ourselves when we clean the fish, or we slip on the wet floor."

Nilar Myaing, an IRC aid worker who works with local Thai organizations
that support refugees and migrant workers, says it is not uncommon for the
new urban refugees to become the victims of traffickers who trap them into
involuntary servitude on farms and factories or in the sex trade.
Meanwhile, most of the refugees, as well as migrants who cross into
Thailand looking for work, are unable to obtain social or health services
or send their children to Thai schools, because they lack legal status. In
addition, most refugees and migrants live in unhealthy and unsanitary
conditions and are especially vulnerable to tuberculosis, malaria,
cholera, and other deadly diseases. In response, the IRC has helped the
Thai government set up health facilities in urban areas and industrial
zones to treat migrants and head off potential epidemics.

After living in Thailand for a year, Soe Naing and his family still lack
permanent housing and can't afford most necessities, let alone a visit to
a doctor.

"We haven't got much of a future here in Thailand," Naing says,
dejectedly. "My dream is that I will be able to save enough money so that
one day in the future, when my country has peace, I will be able to
return."

A slide show on refugees in Thailand: http://www.slate.com/id/2278396/

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

December 20 – 26, Myanmar Times
First phase of Sino-Myanmar link complete - Juliet Shwe Gaung

A construction worker oversees the construction of the new pipline project
in Kyaukpyu, Rakhine State, last October. RESIDENTS of Madae Island in
Rakhine state, say that the first stage of the Sino-Myanmar oil and gas
project is complete as workers break for two months to resume construction
in February 2011.

The initial foundations of the port facility in Kyaukpyu are believed to
be complete as well as the initial stages of civil works. The new port
will slash shipping time of crude oil from the Middle East and Africa into
China as well as reduce the Asian giant’s reliance on the Straits of
Malaca as an energy corridor.

In an interview with China Daily in September, the governor of China’s
Yunnan province, Mr Qin Guangroug said that the new project would help
“quench” southern China’s vast energy requirements.

“It will lessen risks and strengthen China’s ability to cope with the
complex and volatile international situation,” Qin Guangroug said.

The Straits of Malacca are a strategic weak point for China, which relies
on the thoroughfare for its sea imports. Recent tensions with neighbours,
Japan and Vietnam, leave the superpower vulnerable and potentially unable
to fulfil its energy requirements.

The new pipeline project will become China’s fourth means of importing
crude oil; after ocean shipping, the Sino-Kazakhstan pipeline and the
Sino-Russian crude oil pipeline.

Construction on the port began in 2009 and is expected to be finished by
late 2012. The duel pipeline which spans almost 800 kilometres is expected
to carry 22 million tones of crude oil each year as well as an estimated
12 billion cubic metres of natural gas from Myanmar’s A1 and A3 block’s
into China’s Yunnan State.

The new seaport can hold 300,000 tons of crude and includes a 480metre
long pier capable of harbouring 5000 ton oil-tankers, according to figures
obtained by Myanmar officials seen by The Myanmar Times.

Mr Jin Honggen, the economic & commercial counsellor of the Chinese
embassy in Yangon, said that the completion of the port was vital to
ensure that materials for the rest of the project can be brought into
Myanmar.

He said that project had helped further development in the region by
employing locals to work on the project.

____________________________________
DRUGS


December 22, Drug War Chronicle
This Year’s Top 10 International Drug Policy Stories – Phillip Smith

.

Opium is Back in the Golden Triangle

Okay, it never really went away in Laos, Burma, and Thailand, and it is
still below its levels of the mid-1990s, but opium planting has been on
the increase for the last four years in the Golden Triangle. Production
has nearly doubled in Burma since 2006 to more than 38,000 hectares, while
in Laos, production has more than doubled since 2007. The UNODC values the
crop this year at more than $200 million, more than double the estimate of
last year's crop. Part of the increase is attributable to increased
planting, but part is accounted for by rising prices. While Southeast
Asian opium production still trails far behind that in Afghanistan, opium
is back with a vengeance in the Golden Triangle.

http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL


December 22, TG Daily
DDoS attacks against human rights groups on the rise - Emma Woollacott

ShareAttacks against political websites and human rights groups are on the
rise, according to research from Harvard University.

The team found that between August 2009 and September 2010, at least 140
distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks were carried out against more
than 280 sites.

"Independent media and human rights sites suffer from a variety of
different types of cyber attacks, including filtering, intrusions, and
defacements in addition to DDoS attacks, and those attacks interact with
each other in complex ways," says the report.

"Recently, the organization 'Help Israel Win' invited individuals to
install a software package ('Patriot DDoS') on their PCs that would give a
remote administrator the capability to harness the machine in an attack on
a (presumably Palestinian) target."

The researchers say they found a particularly high prevalence of attacks
in the US, Tunisia, Russia, China, Vietnam, Burma, Mexico, Israel, Egypt,
and Iran.

But, they say, they didn't find a single case of a government taking
responsibility for a DDoS attack, whether against its own dissidents,
against activists in another country or against another government -
although they point out that this doesn't mean it hasn't happened.

"In contrast, we found many examples of activists claiming responsibility
for attacks, sometimes against their own governments but mostly against
either governments or activists in other countries — for example the
multiple attacks by the Electronic Disturbance Theater against the Mexican
government," says the report.

"Again, this does not show that activist individuals use DDoS attacks more
often than do governments, but rather that activists evidently have a
greater motivation to claim responsibility for DDoS attacks."

Human rights groups, it says, need to become more vigilant - if they can
muster the resources.

"The rise of DDoS as a technique for silencing human rights and
independent media sites is the symptom of a larger problem: the shortage
of technical talent in administering these websites and the increasing
isolation of the websites from the core of the network," it concludes.
"There is no simple technical solution to this problem."