BI Weekly No. 355

September 9th - September 15th, 2008

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

Inside Burma

Border

International

UN to consider request for replace Burma junta's seat
US and Britain call for more pressure on Burma
Burmese activists in Japan begin a hunger strike
PRESS RELEASE: Burma Human Rights Yearbook 2007 now available online

Burma pushes agricultural development projects

Burma is pushing projects for agricultural development and planning to set up a special agricultural zone in Dagon Myothit, one of the several satellite towns in Rangoon division. Private companies are being encouraged by the government to take part in the regional project, according to Sunday’s newspaper New Light of Myanmar.

Prime Minister General Thein Sein said that “Despite a lot of arable land and manpower (in the country), the yield of paddy is not as good as it should be because of farmlands with different type of soil, growing of conventional paddy strains and lesser use of fertilizer.” There are 20 million acres (8.1 million hectares) of monsoon and summer paddy in the country, according to the report.

The prime minister stressed the need for cooperation between local farmers and private entrepreneurs to set up such cultivation areas as a special agricultural zone in the satellite town.

Meanwhile, Burma is making arrangements to introduce a contract farming project in the division, and so far, 10 private entrepreneurs have joined the project.

Under the plan, the country’s biggest business organization — the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI) has taken some steps to ensure sufficient rice supply at home by initiating inter-agreements with rice traders.

The rice traders, who signed the agreements with the UMFCCI on the normal rice supply within the country, were from Rangoon, Mandalay and Magway divisions and Kachin state.

"Myanmar pushes projects for agricultural development" China View: September 15, 2008

Burma's junta has relaxed some restrictions placed on the opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, her lawyer said.

The military regime will now allow the 63-year-old Nobel peace prize winner to receive mail regularly from her family and read some foreign news publications.

The apparent concessions come amid concern at Suu Kyi's hunger strike in protest at her long detention. She has refused daily food deliveries to her home for more than three weeks.

"She will most probably accept her food deliveries as some of the conditions she had asked for were smoothed out," said her lawyer, Kyi Win.

The junta has not made any comment.

Among Suu Kyi's requests were to be allowed mail from her two sons, who live in Britain, and other family members, Kyi Win said. Up to now some mail had been permitted and some blocked, he said.

The lawyer did not say how long Suu Kyi has been denied access to foreign news publications, but said she had now been given permission to read "Time, Newsweek, etc".

"Burma regime allows Suu Kyi to receive mail" Guardian (UK), September 12, 2008

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2-killed in explosions in Pegu Division

Two people were killed and nine seriously injured when two explosions occurred in Kyaukgyi town in Pegu division, Burma on Thursday evening.

The explosions, which were believed to be caused by landmines, occurred almost simultaneously near a video parlour and in front of a shop in the centre of the town, when a movie goer at the parlour came out and stepped on the mine, local residents said.

Though armed rebel groups, fighting the ruling junta, are reported to be resent in Kyaugyi town, such blasts are considered rare.

"Two killed nine injured in explosion in Burma's Pegu division" Mizzima News, September 12, 2008

Despite the ruling State Peace and Development Council’s claims that Burma has a 94 percent literacy rate, Burmese educationalists say the reality on the ground is very different.

Dr Thein Lwin, who works on education issues with migrant workers and their children in Thailand, said some children had not had any access to education.

“In my experience, there are many people, particularly from Shan State,
Karen state and some from central Burma, who have never attended school,” he said.

The SPDC brought in free education last year and said decreed that all children should have access to education, but there are regular reports of parents being asked for fees and additional contributions.

A high school teacher in Rangoon said there are notices up on school walls to say that children do not have to pay to attend school, but donations are still being demanded from parents on various pretexts.

Thein Lwin praised the around 4000 traditional monastery schools which provide free education to children throughout Burma.

"Educationalists concerned by Burmese literacy rate" Democratic Voice of Burma, September 10, 2008

UN to consider request for replace Burma junta's seat

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will ask a committee to consider a request from the winners of Burma's 1990 elections to replace the country's current military junta representatives at the United Nations, the U.N. said Wednesday.

The letter from pro-democracy candidates elected to parliament 18 years ago challenged the legitimacy of the military government that refused to cede power after a landslide victory by opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy. The junta has ruled Burma ever since.

U.N. spokeswoman Michele Montas said any decision on who should represent a country at the United Nations is up to the General Assembly's Credentials Committee, which will meet soon after the 63rd session of the assembly opens on Sept. 16. World leaders will arrive the following week for their annual ministerial meeting.

Daw San San, vice president of the Members of Parliament Union (Burma), said in the letter obtained by The Associated Press that the organization has set up a permanent mission to the United Nations and has appointed U Thein Oo, an elected representative from Mandalay, as its permanent representative to the U.N.

"UN to consider request for Myanmar junta's seat" Associated Press, September 11, 2008

The United States and Britain called for more pressure on Burma to end its defiance of demands for democratic progress and the release of political prisoners, including opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said the United Nations Security Council should review UN mediation, which is being led by special envoy Ibrahim Gambari, and pressure the military government to yield results.

The UN has been demanding that the government hold a political dialogue by all parties for national reconciliation. It has also called for the release of all political prisoners. But there has been no progress on these two main issues despite four visits by Gambari to Burma.

"It's time to review what is needed to be done more effectively and bring results," Khalilzad said following a closed-door session of the 15-nation council, which Gambari attended.

British Ambassador John Sawers agreed with Khalilzad, saying that Gambari's diplomatic efforts had been constrained by the military government. Neither Sawers nor Khalilzad was specific about the kind of pressure they would like to impose on Burma.

"US, Britain demand more pressure on Myanmar for democratic progress" Deutsche Presse Agentur, September 11, 2008

Burmese political activists in Japan have begun a hunger strike to demand the release of detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and to call on the United Nations and Japan to take action on Burma, according to the Joint Action Committee of the Burmese Community in Japan (JAC).

Than Swe, a spokesperson for the JAC, told that five members of Japan-based Burmese organizations began a 72-hour hunger strike yesterday at 6 p.m. in front of the UN office in Tokyo.

He described the move as a “first step” in a series of planned protests.
“For the second step, five other participants will start another 72-hour hunger strike” after the first strike is finished, said Than Swe. This will be followed by an unlimited hunger strike, he added.

The five activists taking part in the first hunger strike were identified as Moe Tint Tint Khine, Aung Tun Lin, Nyi Nyi Nge, Kyaw Min Tun and Tin Aung.

“We are awfully worried about Aung San Suu Kyi, who has refused to accept food for three weeks,” said Moe Tint Tint Khine, one of the participants.
“We began the hunger strike to get action on Burma from the international community.”

"Activists in Japan begin hunger strike" Irrawaddy, September 10, 2008

The Human Rights Documentation Unit (HRDU) announced the release of the Burma Human Rights Yearbook 2007.

The Burma Human Rights Yearbook 2007 reveals that the human rights situation confronting the people of Burma has not improved since the very first Burma Human Rights Yearbook was published fourteen years ago. On the contrary, widespread human rights violations continued to be perpetrated in Burma with near impunity throughout 2007. Across the country, members of the civilian population have continued to be subjected to egregious abuses including, but not limited to forced labour, extortion, arbitrary arrest, summary execution, rape, forced relocation, the confiscation and/or destruction of land and property, religious persecution and ethnic discrimination.

The Burma Human Rights Yearbook 2007 documents the suppression of human rights in 18 primary areas of concern, including the systematic oppression of the freedoms of expression and assembly, manifested in the brutal crackdown on the September 2007 Saffron Revolution protests.

The Burma Human Rights Yearbook 2007 is also available for download from NCGUB website at www.ncgub.net and from the Online Burma Library.

Questions, comments and requests for further information may be forwarded
to the HRDU via email at <enquiries.hrdu@gmail.com>.

"Burma Human Rights Yearbook 2007 now available online" Human Rights Documentation Unit, September 10, 2008

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