Daw Aung San Suu Kyi: ” Those who claim that they will not interfere in the internal affairs of Burma do not hesitate to be involved economically in Burma. As long as they are involved economically, how can they say that they are not interfering in the internal affairs of our country ? If they are prepared to engage economically with our country, then they must also be prepared to do what they can to help us resolve our political problems. There is no way that we can resolve our economic problems without a political situation.”
The Forgotten Minorities of Myanmar Nehginpao Kipgen
8 November 2009 In just over a month from the announcement of the Obama administration’s nine-month long policy review on Burma, the US assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs and his deputy will pay a two-day visit from November 3 to 4, to the military-ruled country.
Kurt Campbell and Scott Marciel are expected to meet with senior military junta officials and members of the opposition, including detained Aung San Suu Kyi as well as representatives of ethnic minority groups. The administration announced on September 23 that it will pursue a direct and high-level engagement with Burma, while retaining sanctions. Though the visit is a short one, it will be a test of the engagement-sanction policy.
There are critics who argue that the US high-level attention validates the brutality of the junta which has waged war against its own people and imprisoned more than 2,200 political prisoners. Proponents of engagement, however, argue that the policy is a way forward to democratisation for the country that has been under military rule since 1962.
The good news is that Suu Kyi, the opposition leader, welcomes engagement for the fact that it is designed to be inclusive of the State Peace and Development Council, the National League for Democracy, and the ethnic minorities. read more…
Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has urged Burma to release detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi before next year’s election, saying Tokyo is willing to provide more aid if democratic reforms in Burma are advanced.
In talks with Burmese Prime Minister Thein Sein in Tokyo Saturday, Mr. Hatoyama said it is extremely important that Burma release Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners before the general election to be held in 2010.
The Japanese leader said that given recent progress being made, including dialogue between the military government and the Nobel Peace laureate, Japan would expand, in phases, humanitarian and human resources assistance to Burma.
Last week, a senior U.S. official was in Burma for talks with the country’s ruling generals, putting in motion U.S. President Barack Obama’s new policy of “pragmatic engagement” with the isolated Southeast Asian nation.
Kaowao
November 7, 2009
Sangkhlaburi – The Burmese Army has closed Three Pagodas Pass border and barred local people from walking across the border to work on Thai soil.
“The closure of the border started this morning. The commander of the Burmese Army Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) No. 283 ordered the closure. This will definitely cost both sides several million baht in revenue,” said Nai Soe Mon, a businessman from the border town.
About three thousand people from Three Pagodas Pass town inside Burma cross the border every day to work in the shoe and sewing industries in Thailand. Business at the border is booming due to cheap labor; workers earn about 70 to 200 Baht per day. Seventy-five percent of these day workers are women.
The local community complained that the shoe, sewing and furniture industries on both sides would suffer from the border closure. The closure affects the many people working in the industries located around Three Pagodas Pass who rely on this main source of income in the border town.
Restrictions on trade and frequent border closures limit border trade on the Three Pagodas Pass border. When the Thai government banned furniture from Burma in 2005, the Burmese Army prevented all Thai goods from being exported across the border. The main check point gate has closed since then but local authorities allow people to walk from other exits unofficially.
1. Brigadiers- Oung Myint (present minister for mine ministry)Paung township, Mon state.
2.Brigadiers- Than Htay ,Mate Tee La, Thar Si township,Mandalay division.
3.Maj_Gen-Thein Sway ,Sittway township, Arakan state.
4.Lieutenant_Col-Nyan Tun Aung ,Na Toe Kyee township,Mandalay division.
5.Col-Thein Nyint ,Ma Oo Pin township,Irrawaddy division.
6.Maj_Gen-Thein Zaw (present minister for communication minitry)Myintkyina city,Kachin state.
7.Brigadiers-Kyaw San(present minister for information ministry)Pa lare township,Sikyane division.
8. U Aung Thoung(present industry no 1 minister)Mandalay city, Mandalay division.
9.U Soe Than(present minister for project and economic ministry)Tome Tay township,Rangoon division.
10.Maj-Gen-Tin Naing thein(present minister for trade ministry) unknow the place from where he wii be participate.
11.Brigadiers-Maung Maung Thein ,k yan township,Rangoon division.
12.Brigadiers-Aye Myint (present minister for sport ministry) Har Kar township, Chin state.
13.Dr-Chan Nyein(present minister for ecucation ministry)Kaint Blu township,Sikyane division.
14.Maj_Gen-Aung Min(present minister for railway ministry)Ka Wa township,Pagu division.
15.Col-Zaw Min(present minister for eletronic ministry)Magway city, Magway division.
16. Brigadiers-Thein Aung(present minister for forest ministry)Ingapu township,Irrawaddy division.
17.Maj_Gen-Htay Oo(present minister for agriculture ministry) Pyaw Bwell, Ya Mee Thin township,Mandalay division.
18. Brigadiers-Aung Thein Lay (Mayor of Rangoon) Rangoon division.
19. Maj_Gen-Soe Naing(present minister for travel ministry)Day Dee yea township,Irrawaddy division.
20.Brigadiers-Lune Thee(present minister for energy ministry)Kune Chan Kone township, Rangoon division.
Translated by Free Burma Project
Maesot, Thailand
Mahtu Naw, leader of Burma’s ethnic Kachin ceasefire group the Kachin Defense Army (KDA) is in a critical condition in Mandalay hospital
Written by KNG
Saturday, 07 November 2009
Mahtu Naw, leader of Burma’s ethnic Kachin ceasefire group the Kachin Defense Army (KDA) is in a critical condition in Mandalay hospital, said hospital sources.
Mahtu Naw, over 60 underwent a surgery recently in Mandalay public hospital after suffering a brain hemorrhage. He also suffered a paralytic stroke, said relatives in Mandalay.
The KDA leader is in a coma in the hospital. His chances of recovery are slim, his relatives told KNG today.
His health deteriorated in September and he was admitted to the hospital in Mandalay from the Lashio public hospital early last month, said KDA sources.
ust before hospitalization, as an ethnic Kachin leader, he was invited to attend two meetings in the capital Naypyidaw by the Burmese ruling junta— with Ban Ki-moon, United Nations’ General Secretary in July and U.S. senator Jim Webb of Virginia in August.
KDA is based in Kawnghka, also spelled Konghka, near Kutkai town in Northeast Shan State and it accepted conversion to a local Kachin militia group under Burmese Army’s control in June.
The KDA, led by Mahtu Naw, is the former 4th brigade of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), based outside Kachin State. It split from the mother group in 1990 and signed a permanent ceasefire agreement with the Burmese ruling junta on January 13, 1991. read more…
Nov 7, 2009 (DVB)–Scores of police from central Burma have been transferred to Rangoon and Mandalay in an alleged attempt to contain possible protests before elections next year.
Police sources have said that since October at least 74 people from 10 townships in Bago division have been redeployed to police battalions, the term the government coined for riot police following the 1988 uprising.
A private police officer who was included in the transfer told DVB that the highest ranking officer to be moved was inspector.
“It was the first transfer of so many to police battalions but our bosses didn’t tell us the reason,” he said.
Locals close to the police said those who have been relocated are not satisfied with the move for a number of reasons.
“They are upset because they have to leave their families behind. Also, when they are in a new place they may not have the same amount of income they can make here,” said a friend of one of those transferred. “Perhaps, they will be used as riot police in the future.”
Riot police were key players in the bloody crackdown on the 1988 uprising in Burma in which around 3,000 protestors were killed.
Later, the military regime changed the name of the riot police force into police battalion.
Sources at the Myanmar Police Force agreed that the transfer might have been carried out to prepare for possible protests in the run-up to the elections. read more…
Feature – KIC
REPORT BY KIC STAFF
TUESDAY, 03 NOVEMBER 2009 16:46
Umphiem Mai-Grandpa Saw Pho De is worried when he sees his six year old granddaughter and 11 year old grandson bring things like plastic jewelry into the house he knows they can’t afford to buy. That’s because there has been a sharp increase in crimes of theft by young children at Umphiem Mai, the Karen refugee camp, in Tak Province, northern Thailand, where the family lives.
The 70 year has been trying his best to care for his grandchildren since his son died and their mother left the camp several years ago. He told the Karen Information Center in a recent interview he can give them rice and wash their clothes, but, cannot pay their school fees or give them pocket money to buy snack foods, which camp children eat a lot of.
He said he is concerned the children have other things he hasn’t seen yet, that could be stolen. He said he is concerned about their futures.
Officials told KIC this family’s situation is not unusual in the camp, located near Mae Sot, that is home to 20,000 mostly Karen refugees, as well as residents from 14 other ethnic groups.
They noted that there were 10 cases of theft by children reported in the camp in 2008. But, there have been more than 10 cases in just the first six months of this year.
They also said the children have begun stealing more expensive items, such as CD and MP4 players, cell phones and vegetables, whereas the earlier cases usually involved theft of snack foods.
So, camp officials and members of community organizations are working together to determine the underlying causes of the increase and find solutions to prevent the thefts from escalating.
Saw Htoo Kleh, of the Sexual and gender Based Violence CBO said in an interview said many of the children who commit the crimes are living under the supervision of elderly grandparents, who cannot discipline them or provide for their needs because they have no jobs and rely on the camp food ration.
Peer pressure is also a contributing factor when small children are influenced by friends who are stealing to feed themselves and obtain things, such as toys, their family cannot provide.
Officials say children who don’t have money for food and toys will turn to theft to provide them if they see other children with them.
Saw Mahn Ya, chairman of the Karen Youth Organization said, “One problem is that there is a difference in the social status among parents and people responsible for the children. If parents have higher levels of education, these parents can get a job in hospital, school or NGO in the camp. Therefore, they can earn some money and can provide money to their children for buying snacks. If parents have no education, they depend on the monthly food ration from the camp.”
He said this disparity can contribute to bad behavior in children.
Camp leaders are also concerned that children who do not attend school are more likely to commit crimes like theft.
KYO chairman, Saw Hkun Mahn Ya, said, “Children between 5 and 18 must attend school in 2010. We suggested to the camp authorities that children who don’t go to school should not receive the food ration. By doing this, children will improve their education which can lead to good behavior.” read more…
