BI Weekly No. 352

August 12th - 18th, 2008

The BI Weekly archive is available on our website: www.burmaissues.org

Inside Burma

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International

Burma extends Suu Kyi house arrest

Burma's military government has extended the house arrest of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi for another year.
The junta’s decision will keep Aung San Suu Kyi under detention for more time than the county’s law allows. She has already been under house arrest for four and a half years, and the maximum limit is five years without charges being filed.
The pro-democracy leader met with her attorney Sunday to discuss legal issues.
The junta has confined Aung San Suu Kyi in her home for 12 of the last 18 years. Her latest house arrest began in 2003 and has been periodically renewed.
"Aung San Suu Kyi detention extended" CNN International, August 11, 2008 

The mayor of Rangoon has confirmed that security will be heightened in the former capital in the coming weeks, as Burma approaches another sensitive anniversary, this time marking last year’s monk-led uprising against military rule.
Speaking to local journalists on August 13, Rangoon mayor Brig-Gen Aung Thein Linn said that the number of security forces in Burma’s largest city would be increased in response to reports of a terrorist threat.
The military presence in Rangoon has been noticeably greater since late July, according to local residents, who said that soldiers and riot police in full uniform had been deployed around the city center in advance of the 20th anniversary of the “Four Eights” uprising of August 8, 1988. The security may continue because the anniversary of the monks’ uprising is coming.
In addition to barricades and security forces wielding batons or assault rifles, residents have reported seeing plainclothes agents near university campuses, monasteries, pagodas and other public areas that have traditionally served as focal points for protests.
“The security around Shwedagon, Kabar Aye and Kyaik Ka San is very tight right now, with soldiers and riot police everywhere,” said another local resident, naming three pagodas that were at the center of last year’s demonstrations, the largest since 1988.
Meanwhile, four Buddhist monasteries in Pakokku, where harsh handling of protesting monks last August fueled much larger demonstrations the following month in Rangoon, are also being closely watched by local military authorities.

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Former child soldier re-arrested while escape from hard labour

A former child soldier who escaped from a hard labour camp after being jailed for desertion has been re-arrested while trying to compile a case to submit to the International Labour Organisation, his uncle said.

Maung Htut San Oo’s uncle Ye Tun Zaw claimed his nephew was recruited into Burma’s armed forces at the age of 11 and tried to escape on several occasions.
“In early May 1999, when he was 11, he went swimming at Insein swimming pool and was abducted by a soldier on his way back home – he was later taken to a soldier recruitment center where he was enlisted as a soldier,” he went on.
Htut San Oo made two attempts to escape from the military, the second of which was successful, but when he turned 16, he reenlisted at South Dagon’s soldier recruitment centre after learning that the government hunted down military deserters.
Ye Tun Zaw said officials at the South Dagon recruitment centre changed his date of birth on his registration papers to say that he was 21, the minimum legal age for enlistment being 18.
“About two years later, when he was 18, he was arrested for deserting the army and was sentenced to two years in prison,” he said.
“He was assigned to hard labour on a private rubber plantation. The prisoners were given no holiday or benefits and were beaten when they couldn’t work.”
Ye Tun Zaw said Htut San Oo managed to escape from the work camp when Cyclone Nargis hit Burma in early May, and began to assemble documents to report his case to the ILO.
He was arrested at his local ward Peace and Development Council office where he went to get a copy of his householder list.
He is now being detained in Insein prison’s where he is being kept in shackles.
"Former child soldier re-arrested for desertion" Democratic Voice of Burma: August 15, 2008

Bogalay residents have complained that the Htoo trading company, which was engaged in redevelopment projects in the area, has pulled out after two months without paying local workers for their labour.

Htoo trading is owned by Tay Za, a Burmese tycoon with close links to the ruling junta.
Residents said the company had stopped the project because it was not profitable.
“The Htoo trading used labour from daily paid workers in Bogalay to rebuild houses destroyed by the cyclone,” a resident said.
“But after two months, they decided the project was not going to make profit and they abandoned it without settling payments for the labour.”
Htoo trading used Bogalay workers to build houses in the Kyein Chaung Gyi village area, which were sold to locals for 1.5 million kyat to be paid in installments.
 "Htoo trading leaves Bogalay workers unpaid" Democratic Voice of Burma: August 14, 2008

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NMSP states 'SPDC may force diversity alongside reconciliation'

The plans of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) may force diversity alongside reconciliation with political minorities in Burma, one of the ethnic ceasefire groups, the New Mon State Party (NMSP) has warned the junta on the 61st Anniversary of Mon Revolution Day.

The constitution is necessary to move away from a military government to a civilian one, but will only stand the longer test of time with the support of the people, including political groups across the country.  It may force successful reconciliation and continued diversity among the ethnic groups who stand by the 'triple type dialogue' to solve political problems, the NMSP warned on Aug 16 in its statement marking the Anniversary of Mon Revolution Day.

The NMSP has had a ceasefire agreement with the Burmese military government since June 29, 1995 seeking to solve political problems with triple type dialogue: military regime, democratic groups and ethnic groups.

The NMSP marked the revolution day at their headquarters, Moulmein and in their control area, the Japanese Well (Plaing Japan) Village at Three Pagodas Pass and other divisions.

"SPDC may force diversity alongside reconciliation: NMSP" Kaowao News, August 18, 2008

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As Karen people around the world observed Karen Martyrs’ Day on August 12, leaders of Burma’s largest and longest-running ethnic resistance movement called for unity among their people.

David Htaw, a spokesperson for the Karen National Union (KNU), used the occasion, which commemorates the assassination of KNU founding president Saw Ba U Gyi and eight of his colleagues 58 years ago, to highlight the dangers of disunity.
“If we look at the assassinations of our President Ba U Gyi and our General Secretary Padoh Mahn Sha, we can see that they were the result of plots by the Burmese government and some opportunists to divide our Karen people,” he said.
David Htaw also pointed to the formation of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA)—the largest Karen splinter group—in 1995 as further evidence of the Burmese regime’s divide-and-rule tactics.
The KNU, one of the oldest surviving rebel groups in Southeast Asia, has been struggling for autonomy since 1949. Although it has taken part in peace talks with the Burmese junta on several occasions, it has never signed a ceasefire agreement.
In 2004, Gen Bo Mya, the former KNU chairman, visited Rangoon for peace talks with then Prime Minister Khin Nyunt. The resulting “gentlemen’s agreement” technically stayed in force until Bo Mya’s death in December 2006, even after Burmese military offensives in the early part of the year forced an estimated 30,000 Karen villagers to flee.
Zoya Phan, the international coordinator for Burma Campaign UK, also attributed the failure of the Karen to achieve their political goals in part to their lack of unity. But she also blamed the Burmese regime for perpetuating the decades-old conflict.
She added that the Karen people should continue to firmly follow the four guiding principles of Saw Ba U Gyi. These principles are: There shall be no surrender; the recognition of the Karen State must be complete; we shall retain our arms; and we shall decide our own political destiny.
"Karen Martyrs’ Day marked by calls for unity" Irrawaddy: August 13, 2008

Heavier monsoon rain has led to severe flooding throughout Burma, especially in Karen and Mon states and along the Mekong River.

The flooding from torrential rains began the first week of August causing extensive damage to homes and displacing hundreds of people in Pa-an located on the Salween River in eastern Burma.
Heavy rain also cause a landslide which occurred about 35 miles from the Thai-Burmese border, cutting the main trading route from Myawaddy to Pa-an in Burma’s Karen State, disrupting Thai-Burmese transport and trade in the Mae Sot border area.

According to a Pa-an resident, the flooding was the worst in his lifetime. Heavy rain continued for several days, extensively disrupting transportation.
“Newly planted rice fields are covered with water and more than 100 people who lived on the bank of the Salween have taken refuge in schools building,” he said.
Communities in Moulmein and Mudon also faced torrential rains and flooding.
Meanwhile, villagers who live near the Mekong River in Shan Sate and in several provinces in Laos and Thailand also faced severe flooding as the water level in the river rises.
On Thursday, Tuenjai Deetes, a Thai human rights activist and former senator, visited affected areas in Chiang Rai Province, where more than 30 villages were flooded, said the flooding is a long-term concern for people living along the Mekong River which run through China, Thailand, Burma, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.  One of the main problems, she said, is a series of river dams built by China in the past decade, according to a report on the Mekong Post Web site.
Local residents said the Mekong flooding is increased when the dams in China open their water gates to lower the water level in the reservoirs, effecting countries downstream.
"Heavy rains, Chinese dams lead to flooding", Irrawaddy: August 15, 2008
"Landslide disrupts Thai-Burmese border trade" Irrawaddy, August 14, 2008

A five-member delegation from the Burmese exiled Members of Parliament Union attended an Indonesian parliamentary function to mark the 63rd anniversary of Indonesian independence on 15 August.

The MPU delegates were invited as official guests to present a report about the current political situation in Burma and to make their case in the Indonesian parliament.

U Win Hlaing, one of the MPU delegates, said the delegates had told Indonesian parliamentarians how the Burmese regime had focused its attention on the 2010 elections while neglecting what was truly needed.

“[The regime should focus on] achieving national reconciliation, establishing foundations for democracy which is the true aspiration of the people of Burma, and holding a genuine inclusive national convention in which all stakeholders can participate,” he said.

From Indonesia, the delegation will go to Singapore to discuss the issue of the MPU being admitted to the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly, U Win Hlaing said.

On 13 August, MPU secretary U Khun Myint Tun testified before the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Philippines House of Representatives.

U Khun Myint Tun said he had told the committee that ASEAN’s constructive engagement policy on Burma had been a failure because it allowed the SPDC to avoid political dialogue.
“Another point I raised is that a tripartite dialogue [between the military, ethnic leaders, and the NLD] was imperative if national reconciliation is to be achieved in our country,” U Khun Myint Tun said.

“The [SPDC's] roadmap and its constitution need to be rejected and I suggested that the Philippine president and government take the lead within the ASEAN to initiate the move,” he continued.

Following his proposal, the Philippines Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee passed a resolution to step up pressure for tripartite dialogue in Burma, said Khun Myint Tun.

“The key resolutions passed are to recognise the results of the 1990 elections, to work for the emergence of a tripartite dialogue, and for the Philippine and other ASEAN governments to censure SPDC for its human rights violations and suppression of democratic forces in Burma,” he said.

"Burmese MPs in exile call for ASEAN support" Democratic Voice of Burma, August 18,2008 

Burma remains silent on Asean Mutual Energy Security Pact

The Burmese government has remained silent about proposals for energy security within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).

Burma’s energy minister recently attended a special energy forum in Bangkok at which representatives from Japan, China and South Korea were also present.

Asean has agreed to draw up what it calls a “roadmap” to create a joint oil stockpile, which could be drawn on by member countries in a crisis.

There has also been talk of pooling Asean energy assets such as natural gas, which Burma has large quantities of, and electricity generated by hydropower dams on rivers, which Burma is currently allowing several countries to develop.

“One of the chief problems for this mutual energy security concept for Asean is that some member countries draw a large part of their national income from exporting oil and gas to non-Asean countries,” industry consultant Collin Reynolds in Bangkok told The Irrawaddy.

“It remains to be seen whether mutually beneficial energy security plans can override national economies as part of Asean’s much talked about common market ambitions.”

"Junta Silent on Asean Mutual Energy Security Pact" Irrawaddy, August 16, 2008

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