Zin Linn

To Promote Regional Peace and Stability, ASEAN must take Initiative to tame its unprincipled member

2007-10-14T23:51:00.000-07:00

Mon, 2007-10-15 05:25

By - Zin Linn

The United Nations Security Council has finally adopted a presidential statement issued by the previous President of the Council, Ghana's UN Ambassador Leslie Christian, on Burma's ruling military junta, which brutally crackdown on pro-democracy activists during the ‘Saffron Revolution.’ Despite the fact that the original draft strongly condemned the military junta, the final statement released on 11 October 2007 only says, "The Security Council strongly deplores the use of violence against peaceful demonstrations in Myanmar and welcomes Human Rights Council Resolution S-5/1 of 2 October 2007." The statement also calls on the junta and all other parties concerned to work together towards a de-escalation of the situation and a peaceful solution.

It also calls for the early release of "all political prisoners and remaining detainees," urging the military regime to prepare for a "genuine dialogue" with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. However the statement does not mention the release of the opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The UN Security Council statement was watered down from its original draft to win the consent of China -- one of Myanmar's closest allies -- and Russia, which have previously vetoed resolutions for the establishment of a democratic regime in Burma.

Amnesty International welcomes the statement from the Security Council on Myanmar (Burma) which "strongly deplores" the use of violence against peaceful demonstrations in Myanmar. Irene Khan, Secretary General of Amnesty International said, "Obviously, we wish the Council had spoken out much stronger and had called for the immediate unconditional release of Aung San Suu Kyi and other prisoners of conscience. Clearly such releases are essential if there is to be any progress on the 'genuine dialogue' and 'national reconciliation' the Security Council seeks. The Council should also have stressed accountability for the grave human rights violations committed,"

But, the fact is that there was no immediate response from the junta's senior-general, who stubbornly refused to meet the opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi for the past 20 years. Meanwhile, the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma), a human rights watch group, reported on 10 October 2007, that Win Shwe, a 42-year-old member of the National League for Democracy, died in a police torture-chamber during the police interrogation. As he died result of torture, his body was not sent back to his family and the interrogators indicated that they had cremated his remains instead. According to Democratic Voice of Burma, a 48-year-old detainee, U Than Aung, died on 4 October at a detention center in Rangoon. He was arrested on September 27, and he suffered severe internal injuries, and died as he was not given immediate medical attention.

The opposition asserted that thousands were arrested in the September crackdown. The regime says 10 people were killed including the Japanese journalist Kenji Nagai, 50, in the crackdown and 2,100 people detained, but diplomats and dissidents revealed that the toll is much higher and as many as 6,000 people were taken into custody.

Rumours are rife that hundreds of demonstrators especially monks were killed. The security forces launched cruel cracked down on the peaceful and unarmed demonstrators with guns, batons and clubs. Many dead bodies and seriously injured persons were cremated, buried or thrown into to the river. Some dead bodies of monks have been seen floating in the river in Rangoon in early October. In addition, many detainees have been tortured during interrogation. There are 5 detention centers in Rangoon Division - (1) Kyaikkasan Police Detention Center.(2) Hmawbi Riot Police Detention Center.(3) Than-lyin (Syrium) Riot Police Detention Center.(4) Aung-tha-bye Detention Center. (5) Govt. Technical Institute (GTI) – and in each center over 1000 monks and civilians were detained.

Although there were detainees with serious injuries, they were not provided with medical treatment by the authorities. Moreover, captives have not been given enough food and drinking-water. It was a kind of torture that detainees have to sit all the time due to overcrowding of the cells they were held. According to reports, well over 700 people were held locked in a 30x70 feet room. The most terrible thing was that there were no lavatories and detainees had to use plastic bags for easing them. According to a released monk, at least 30 detainees died under harsh condition within 8 days while he was in GTI detention center. It was a nerve wrecking experience hearing beatings, kicking, torturing and screams or sobbing of the victims, said the eye-witness.

The beleaguered junta lashed out at Western countries and international media, accusing them of encouraging the ‘September Protests’. The state-owned newspaper, New Light of Myanmar described protesters, who continue to be hunted by the military across the country, as "stooges of foreign countries putting on a play written by their foreign masters."

Meanwhile, the junta has been going on with its cruel manhunt throughout the country. The main opposition party, National League for Democracy (NLD) has made an announcement on 11 October 2007, in which it confirmed that, so far, 216 members including 15 Members of Parliament were taken into custody by the junta .

A popular Burmese film-star and social activist, Kyaw Thu, and his wife, Myint Myint Pe Khin, were also arrested on 10 October. Kyaw Thu had openly supported the protest and helped setting up a committee for offering food, water and medical treatment to the protesting Buddhist monks. Kyaw Thu's colleague, Zarganar, a comedian known for his anti-government mockeries, was arrested on September 26. It was not known of their fates after arrests. On 12 October, a prominent leader from the 88 Generation Students' Group Htay Kywe and three other activists Aung Thu, Thin Thin Aye (alias) Mie Mie and Ko Ko, were also arrested. All of them are members of the 88 Generation Students' Group, which comprises student leaders who were active in the 1988 pro-democracy uprising. The London-based rights group, Amnesty International said in a statement that it believes that these high-profile opposition figures are at grave risk of torture and mistreatment.

Although the Security Council strongly deplored the use of violence against peaceful demonstrations, Burmese regime defied U.N. calls for an end to its crackdown on pro-democracy protesters. Current situation in the military ruled country is very seemingly a country under ‘invasion.’ People dare not sleep at night fearing that soldiers could break the doors enter their homes at any given time, without a legal authorization as rule of the jungle prevails. Families of political prisoners who have been detained over last two weeks were worried as they have not heard the whereabouts of their kiths and kin.

People seriously need the help of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to scrutinize all places of detention in order to protect the innocent lives languishing in the military dungeons. Families of missing protesters and local journalists are also hoping helps from the ICRC to get information or whereabouts of their loved-ones.

Although the UN Security Council's members agreed on the need to create the necessary conditions for a genuine dialogue, Burma's military junta rejected the UN statement calling for dialogue with the pro-democracy opposition, sticking to its own seven-step roadmap toward development, but political analysts say that it is a sham proposal, aimed at military prolong its grip on power.

The Security Council’s statement expresses support for the early return to Myanmar, the UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari, who visited the restive Southeast Asian country to defuse the crisis, "in order to facilitate concrete actions and tangible results."

To relieve the people's concerns, Mr. Gambari should press the junta as a priority task for ICRC to have access to all detainees. An "early release" of all political prisoners and detainees should be also pressed. Genuine Dialogue between Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, all concerned parties, and ethnic leaders should also be either supervised or facilitated by the United Nations. People of Burma put their hope upon Mr. Gambari of facilitating for such pre-conditions that may pave way toward promising phase of National Reconciliation and peaceful solution in this impoverish country.

As for the ASEAN countries, it is not enough urging restraint and calling for a peaceful transition to democracy, the grouping must come forward to support the good offices of the UN Secretary-General Mr. Ban Ki-Moon and his envoy Mr. Gambari. Up to date, ASEAN member countries have been only appealing. A form of ‘lip service’. At least, ASEAN countries should convince Myanmar junta that the continued human rights abuses will damage the image of the 10 nations’ Association. In addition, Red Cross and Red Crescent missions have to explore ways of offering humanitarian assistance, especially medicine and sustenance to the masses who have been starving since the economic collapse due to the mismanagement of the country’s economy by the military junta.

Therefore, ASEAN should abandon its passive policy on Burma/Myanmar and help actively implementing reform processes in the military ruled country together with the UN's good offices. If ASEAN failed in its obligations and responsibilities for the people of Burma, there would be a danger of the spillover effects of disease, human trafficking and drug-related transnational crimes increasing rapidly in those countries in the near future. ASEAN should not believe in the junta's deceptive words that Burma's internal crisis is a solvable question without outside helps. As a civilized grouping, it must take note of the suffering and miseries Burmese people are experiencing due to the dictatorial regime of the military junta, nearly for the last five decades.

Mon, 2007-10-15 05:25

- Asian Tribune - http://www.asiantribune.com/index.php?q=node/7825

Burmese generals ride roughshod over a hapless populace

2007-09-04T03:37:00.000-07:00

By- Zin Linn

September 4, 2007 - The people of Burma have been publicly protesting against the massive increase in fuel prices since the middle of August 2007. The spontaneous protests that started in Rangoon have been spreading to various parts of Burma despite a brutal crackdown by the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). The junta has launched a big manhunt and has been detaining hundreds of peaceful protesters including 88 generation student leaders and active members of the National League for Democracy (NLD).

The state-owned media of Burma (Myanmar ) said last week that the increase in fuel prices in Myanmar on August 15 corresponded with the global trend among governments of withdrawing fuel subsidies to deal with the rising cost of oil. The price of petrol in the military ruled country went up from Kyat 1500 to Kyat 2500 a gallon, while price of diesel rose from Kyat 1500 to Kyat 3000. The biggest jump was for compressed natural gas (CNG), which rose from Kyat 10 to Kyat 50 a litre.

Officials from the Yangon (Rangoon ) Division Transport Supervisory Committee said that bus fare increase in the city since 15 August was a fall out of the massive rise in fuel prices. As a result of the increase bus fares that were previously Kyat 40 have gone up to Kyat 100, Kyat 60 fares have risen to Kyat 150, and Kyat 80 fares to Kyat 200, said the official. But in some instances, passengers have to pay more.

Justifying the increase in fuel prices, the junta explained through its media that oil prices have touched US$78.8 a barrel and several countries have resorted to raising the prices by cutting subsidies to fuel-consuming sectors. The global oil market has been at an angle, as demand for fuel grows in developing countries whose governments use subsidies to keep oil prices at well below the free-market price. As a result, growing oil demand in China, India and the Middle East has driven the free-market oil price even higher in developed countries. Egypt withdrew its oil subsidies for the electricity sector on August 14, one day before Burma/Myanmar raised its fuel prices. Egypt's Trade and Industry Minister, Rachid Mohamed Rachid, said the reduction in subsidies would save the government £15 billion in the next three years.

The editor-in-chief of Yangon-based International Economic Journal, Khin Maung Nyo (Economy) said he thought last week's rise in fuel prices in Myanmar had resulted from a reduction in oil subsidies by the government. "The governments of many countries are having trouble offering fuel subsidies as oil prices go up. We saw petrol prices in Myanmar go from Kyat 180 to Kyat 1500 a gallon after the government reduced subsidies in 2005," he said.

The junta's Information Minister and the state media also highlighted that even though CNG now costs Kyat 190 ($0.15) a gallon in Myanmar/Burma, the price is still lower than the countries where subsidies are still government policy. For example, CNG is about $3.04 a gallon in Thailand and $3.86 in Singapore, says the Myanmar Times Journal.

The junta's Information Minister failed to mention the minimum wage in is currently 191 baht ($ 5.62) a day in Bangkok, Thailand and slightly less in the provinces. The Minister Kyaw San also did not talk about the minimum wage in Burma which is currently Kyat 1000 or less than 35 baht ($1) per day in Rangoon and Naypyidaw. The monthly salary of a university professor in Burma is only Kyat 170, 000 ($ 130 or 4,485 baht) and it means $ 4.01 (138 baht) a day. Currently, two kilos of middle grade rice is around Kyat 1200 ($ 1 or 35 baht). The real question is that there are not enough jobs providing payments in line with neighbouring countries for the Burmese people. The unemployment problem in Burma is now spilling over the region. Out of a 55 million population in Burma more than five million are working not only in the neighbouring countries but also through out the world.

The military regime always refuses to listen to its general public who are only asking for fair prices for fuel and essential commodities. The stubbornness of the generals has pulled the country down to an abyss of starvation. The people have no other way out than a protest. The protests are the legitimate expression of dissatisfaction over the widely suffered effects of the regime's economic mismanagement and bad governance. These peaceful protests, triggered by the junta's precipitous increases in fuel prices, are the logical consequences of many years of political repression and irresponsible administration.

Burma's economy has remained moribund in 2006-2007, as inflation has gone up as much as 50 percent. According to the UN reports, 75 percent of the people live under the poverty line and 25 percent of households are below minimum subsistence level, half of rural families are landless, 2.2 percent of adults are suffering from HIV positive and around 50,000 die yearly. Moreover, one-third of the children are undernourished and one-tenth of them die before five years of age. According to the UN Development Programme's 2006 Human Development Report, public health expenditure equaled only 0.3 percent of Burma's GDP. High infant mortality rates and short life expectancies further highlight poor health and living conditions. The HIV/AIDS epidemic poses a serious threat to the Burmese population, as do tuberculosis and malaria. In 2006, the UNDP's Human Development Index, which measures achievements in terms of life expectancy, educational attainment, and adjusted real income, ranked Burma 130 out of 177 countries.

Due to the economic downturn caused by the military's mismanagement, there is an estimated two to three million Burmese living in Thailand. There are numerous documented human rights violations, and internal displacement of ethnic minorities is still rampant. Over a million Burmese, many of them ethnic minorities have fled for economic and political raison d'être to Bangladesh, India , China, Malaysia, and Thailand to seek work and asylum. More than 150,000 Burmese live in nine refugee camps along the Thai-Burma border and roughly 30,000 live in two camps in Bangladesh. Roughly 30,000 Burmese, most of them are from Arakan and Chin States, have fled to Malaysia.

According to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), referring Asian Development Bank (ADB), the total public sector deficit reached around six percent of the GDP for 2004-2005. Heavy losses by the country's state-owned enterprises (SOEs) typically account for over 60 percent of the overall deficit. The junta's fiscal position is also weighed down by high off-budget spending on its huge armed forces. Such corollary has resulted due to the junta's draconian policies that led to economic and social downturn resulting in sky rocketing commodity-prices and rates of hyperinflation.

The price increase in the fuel sector is result of the junta's dishonest policy which tends to put the overall deficit on the shoulders of the people. If the military leaders are benevolent towards the people, they should not have resorted to such a policy. Instead, they should subsidize fuel prices for domestic consumption to help the poor majority population. The financial assistance to subsidize fuel prices may not be more than $300 million while the regime has already earned $2600 million from natural gas exports to Thailand in 2006-2007.

Instead of listening to the voice of the people, the military junta continue to commit institutionalize human rights abuses through the use of gang of ruffians or the Swan-ar Shin. The blood-thirsty Swan-ar Shin have been violently cracking down on unarmed civilian protesters, who have been peacefully demonstrating because of their desperate economic situation. More and more families are facing starvation because the price of rice has doubled, there are no public transportation services to take people to work, and worse proceedings may follow. If the SPDC continues its ferocious crackdown in reaction to the growing protests, it will drag the country into an anarchic state. The crackdown is more like state-sponsored terrorism.

Supporters of democracy around the world including the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour condemned the violent crackdown on pro-democracy activists by the Burmese military junta and called for the immediate and unconditional release of the arrested. Even the United States President George Bush has strongly condemned the ongoing actions of the Burmese junta in arresting, harassing, and assaulting pro-democracy activists for organizing or participating in peaceful demonstrations. He also warned that the junta should heed international calls to release the detained activists immediately and stop its intimidation of those Burmese citizens who are promoting democracy and human rights. President Bush also called on the junta to release all political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi, and to lift restrictions on humanitarian organizations that seek to help the people of Burma.

It is obvious that the latest precariousness in Burma is part of a long stream of problems inflicted on the people by the foolish military regime. By systematically violating the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of the people and blocking genuine reforms, the junta has established itself as the main threat to national and regional stability. Political and economic oppression of the people does not go with a roadmap to democracy.

The people of Burma have a dream of a new dawn in order to enjoy basic rights of freedom, and it is the role of the international community, especially regional players Japan and ASEAN members, to act for changes in Burma. Last August in the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA) that was held in Kuala Lumpur, Charles Chong, and a Singaporean Member of Parliament made a prediction. "All of us—ASEAN, China and India —will suffer if Myanmar's [ Burma's] situation continues to deteriorate," Chong said at a gathering of more than 20 national legislators from Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore to discuss Burma/Myanmar's politics. Problems sparked by the Burmese military's grip on power have hurt the region, sending refugees to Thailand and Malaysia, producing illegal drugs that spill over to China and wrecking ASEAN's efforts to be seen as an influential grouping, Chong said.

The governments of the ASEAN countries should take into account Mr. Charles Chong's far-sighted opinion. The UN Security Council members, especially China and Russia, should also think over their vetoes on the Burma issue in sympathy with the poor Burmese population who has been facing heavy taxes, starvation, diseases, arbitrary arrests and extrajudicial killings.

http://www.mizzima.com/MizzimaNews/EdOp/2007/Sep/04-Sep-07.html

Burmese left with no choice but to protest in wake of fuel-price hike

2007-08-31T20:08:00.000-07:00

The people of Burma have been publicly protesting since August 21 against the arbitrary and dramatic increase of fuel prices announced six days earlier.

The Nation: Published on September 1, 2007

The protests that started in Rangoon have been spreading to other parts of Burma despite a brutal crackdown by the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). The junta has arrested hundreds of peaceful protesters including "1988 generation" student leaders and active members from the National League for Democracy (NLD). The military authorities and their militias have been violently cracking down on unarmed civilian protesters, who have been peacefully protesting against their desperate economic situation.

The people of Burma are hoping that the international community, especially regional players Japan and Asean members, will push for changes in Burma. Two other important players are China and Russia. They should think over their vetoes on the Burma issue in sympathy with the poor Burmese people, who have been facing heavy taxes, starvation, disease, arbitrary arrests and extrajudicial killings.

Zin Linn

Bangkok

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2007/09/01/opinion/opinion_30047329.php

“Burmese People's Protests Against Fuel Prices Hike Amid Ruffians' Attacks ”

2007-08-31T07:03:00.000-07:00

	31 August, 2007: New Era Journal The financial assistance to subsidize fuel prices may need not more than $300 million while the regime has already earned $2600 from natural gas export to Thailand in 2006-2007. Zin Linn
	The Burmese Military authorities continue to commit institutionalised human rights abuses through the use of gang of ruffians or the Swan-ar Shin. The people of Burma (Myanmar) have been publicly protesting against the arbitrary and dramatic increase of fuel prices since 21 August 2007. The protests that started in Rangoon (Yangon) have been spreading to other parts of Burma despite a brutal crackdown by the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). The junta has arrested hundreds of peaceful protesters including 88 generation student leaders and active members from the National League for Democracy (NLD). The military authorities and their gang of blood-thirsty Swan-ar Shin have been violently cracking down on unarmed civilian protesters, who have been peacefully protesting against their desperate economic situation. More and more families are facing starvation because the price of rice has doubled, there are no public transportation services to take people to work, and worse proceedings may follow. If the SPDC continues its ferocious crackdown in reaction to the growing protests, it will drag the country into an anarchic state. The crackdown is more likely practicing state-sponsored terrorism. Supporters of democracy around the world including the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour condemn the violent crackdown on pro-democracy activists by the Burmese military junta and call for their immediate and unconditional release. State media of Burma (Myanmar) including the Myanmar Times Journal said last week that an increase in fuel prices in Myanmar on August 15 was corresponding to a global trend among governments of withdrawing fuel subsidies to deal with the rising cost of oil. The price of petrol in military ruled country went from K1500 to K2500 a gallon, while diesel rose from K1500 to K3000. The biggest jump occurred with compressed natural gas (CNG), which changed from K10 to K50 a liter. The officials from the Yangon (Rangoon) Division Transport Supervisory Committee said that bus fares increases in the city since 15 August was in reaction to a massive rise in fuel prices. As a result of the increases, bus fares that were previously K40 have gone up to K100, K60 fares have raised to K150, and K80 fares to K200, said the official. But, according to local passengers, K100 for just a stop to the next and from suburb area to downtown costs K400 for one way. So, it will cost K800 for a round-trip while a daily wage-earner can make K1000 in average. An excuse to raise the fuel prices, the junta explained through its media that oil prices have reached as high as US$78.8 a barrel and several countries have taken action to the high prices by cutting subsidies to fuel-consuming sectors. The global oil market has been at an angle, as demand for fuel grows in developing countries whose governments use subsidies to keep oil prices at well below the free-market price. As a result, growing oil demand in China, India and the Middle East has driven the free-market oil price ever higher for developed countries. Egypt withdrew its oil subsidies for the electricity sector on August 14, one day before Burma/Myanmar raised its fuel prices. Egypt’s Trade and Industry Minister, Rachid Mohamed Rachid, said the reduction in subsidies would save the government £15 billion in the next three years. The editor-in-chief of Yangon-based International Economic Journal, Khin Maung Nyo (Economy) said he thought last week’s rise in fuel prices in Myanmar had resulted from a reduction in oil subsidies by the government. “The governments of many countries are having trouble offering fuel subsidies as oil prices go up. We already saw petrol prices in Myanmar go from K180 to K1500 a gallon after the government reduced subsidies in 2005,” he said. The junta’s Information Minister himself and the state media also highlighted that even though CNG now costs K190 ($0.15) a gallon in Myanmar/Burma, the price is still lower than the countries where subsidies are still government policy. For example, CNG is about $3.04 a gallon in Thailand and $3.86 in Singapore, says the Myanmar Times Journal. The junta’s Information Minister failed to mention the minimum wage in Thailand is currently 191 baht ($ 5.62) per day in Bangkok and slightly less in the provinces. The Minister Kyaw San also did not talk about the minimum wage in Burma which is currently 1000 kyat or less than 35 baht ($1) per day in Rangoon and Naypyidaw. The monthly salary of a university professor in Burma is only K170, 000 ($ 130 or 4,485 baht) and it means $ 4.01 (138 baht) for a day. Currently, 2 kilos of middle grade rice is around K1200 ($ 1 or 35 baht). The real question is that there are no enough jobs providing payments in line with neighbouring countries for the Burmese people within the country. The unemployment problem of Burma is now spilling over the region. Out of 55 million population of Burma more than 5 million is working not only in the neighbouring countries but also through out the world. The military regime always refuses listening to its general public who are only asking fair prices for fuel and commodity goods. The stubbornness of the generals pulled the country down to an abyss of starvation. The people have no other way out than a protest. The protests are the legitimate expression of dissatisfaction over the widely suffered effects of the regime’s economic mismanagement and bad governance. These peaceful protests, triggered by the junta's precipitous increases in fuel prices, are the logical consequences of many years of political repression and irresponsible administration. Burma's economy has remained moribund in 2006-2007, as inflation is going up as much as 50 percent. According to the UN reports, 75 percent of the people live under the poverty line and 25 percent of household are below minimum subsistence level, half of rural families are landless, 2.2 percent of adults are suffering HIV positive and around 50,000 die yearly. Moreover, one-third of the children are undernourished and one-tenth of them die before five years of age. According to the UN Development Programme's 2006 Human Development Report, public health expenditure equaled only 0.3% of Burma's GDP. High infant mortality rates and short life expectancies further highlight poor health and living conditions. The HIV/AIDS epidemic poses a serious threat to the Burmese population, as do tuberculosis and malaria. In 2006, the UNDP's Human Development Index, which measures achievements in terms of life expectancy, educational attainment, and adjusted real income, ranked Burma 130 out of 177 countries. Due to the economic downturn caused by the military's mismanagement, there is an estimated 2 to 3 million Burmese living in Thailand. There are numerous documented human rights violations, and internal displacement of ethnic minorities is still rampant. Over a million Burmese, many of them ethnic minorities have fled for economic and political raison d'être to Bangladesh, India, China, Malaysia, and Thailand to seek work and asylum. More than 150,000 Burmese live in nine refugee camps along the Thai-Burma border and roughly 30,000 live in two camps in Bangladesh. Roughly 30,000 Burmese, most of them are from Arakan and Chin States, have fled to Malaysia. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), referring Asian Development Bank (ADB), the total public sector deficit reached around six percent of the GDP for 2004-2005. Heavy losses by the country's state-owned enterprises (SOEs) typically account for over 60 percent of the overall deficit. The junta's fiscal position is also weighed down by high off-budget spending on its huge armed forces. Such corollary has resulted due to the junta's draconian policies that led to economic and social downturn proved by sky rocketing commodity-prices and rates of hyperinflation. The current raising-price in fuel sector is the junta’s dishonest policy which tends putting the overall deficit on the shoulder of the people. If the military leaders have benevolence towards the people, they should not have been done such policy. Instead, they should subsidize fuel prices for the domestic consumption to help poor majority population. The financial assistance to subsidize fuel prices may need not more than $300 million while the regime has already earned $2600 milloin from natural gas export to Thailand in 2006-2007. It is obvious that the latest precariousness in Burma is part of a long stream of problems inflicted on the people by the foolish military regime. By systematically violating the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of the people and blocking genuine reforms, the junta has established itself as the main threat to national and regional stability. Political and economic oppression of the people does not go with a roadmap to democracy. The people of Burma are hoping for a new dawn in order to enjoy basic freedom, and it is the role of the international community, especially regional players Japan and ASEAN members, to play for changes in Burma. Another two important players or the UN Security Council members, China and Russia, should also think over their vetoes on Burma issue in sympathy with the poor Burmese population who has been facing heavy taxes, starvation, diseases, arbitrary arrests and extrajudicial killings.

Burma may not get out of Constitutional Quagmire, Regardless of Self-determination

2007-08-14T20:59:00.000-07:00

New Era Journal
14 August, 2007; Tuesday

- by – Zin Linn

Burma is bogging down in a constitutional quagmire rooted in the question of equality for all nationalities or democratic rights for all citizen of the nation. The ethnic nationalities in Burma have a strong political aspiration to establish a genuine federal union as highlighted in the 1947 Panglong Agreement. But, that burning aspiration was disregarded by the successive Burmese military regimes. As a result, the civil war has been going on because of the failed promise guaranteed in the Panglong Agreement. Contrary to the Panglong Contract, Burma’s 1947 Constitution which was completed in September failed to meet equal rights of ethnic nationalities had lasted for only fourteen years. Similarly, the 1974 Constitution, which also failed to meet establishing a Federal Union based on the principle of self-determination, had also lasted for merely fourteen years.

Now, as a consequence of the failed 1947 and 1974 constitutions, Burma has been still struggling in the constitutional quagmire. Burma's military junta has continued holding the last session of its controversial national convention on 18 July this year. While the final session of 14-year-old junta's National Convention is underway, the two strongest ethnic ceasefire groups - the KIO and United Wa State Army (UWSA) are threatened militarily and economically by the ruling junta. Recently KIO officials told Kachin News Group (KNG) that they have no reason to surrender weapons if the junta keeps denying autonomy for Kachin State which it has repeatedly demanded of successive ruling juntas. Relations between KIO and UWSA are strong and they seem to be alert their military units in order to resist inevitable military threats by the ruling junta, added news sources.

At the same time, New Mon State Party has cautiously sending an observation team to the final session of the controversial National Convention, according to Kaowao News Group. Meanwhile, the Mon civilians from both inside and outside the country are concerned about pressure by the military regime during or after the National Convention. The Mon population has grown disenchanted with the so-called ‘Road Map’ and its purpose to disarm the cease-fire groups without standard appreciation. Although the junta is pressuring the ceasefire groups, the NMSP stands decisively to uphold its four principles; not to dissolve the NMSP, not to disband its military wing, Mon National Liberation Army (MNLA), not to separate the party from its army, and not to give up the 14 territorial positions that were agreed during the cease-fire deal in 1995.

Under the menace of the military junta (SPDC), brushing aside the majority of people’s representatives-elect and allowing pro-military hand-picked delegates, how could it be a free and autonomous convention to make any social-contract. While contentious national convention is underway, the junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Association, together with members of the local authorities and police, brazenly assaulted on human rights defenders in Burma.

Hence, this current convention may not represent a democratic mechanism as the military regime put aside the question of equality for all nationalities or democratic rights for all citizen of the nation. The junta’s pledges of democratic and economic reforms are merely rhetorical propagandas. Moreover, respect for the rule of law and human rights continue to be empty speechifying. It is, in fact, a magic show appeasing the ASEAN and China that the Burmese junta is working to perform a mufti-clad regime.

Accordingly, United Nations Secretary General Mr. Ban Ki-moon issued a statement on 18 July 2007, in which he urged the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) of Myanmar/Burma to seize the current opportunity to ensure that this and subsequent steps in Myanmar's political roadmap are as inclusive, participatory and transparent as possible, with a view to allowing all the relevant parties to Myanmar's national reconciliation process to fully contribute to defining their country's future.

Meanwhile, more than 50 British MPs have strongly called for the release of detained Burmese Parliamentarians who have been imprisoned under the military dictatorship. The British Parliamentarians are demanding that the UN Special Envoy to Burma and the British government step up efforts to release those parliamentarians, and all political prisoners in Burma.

In the mean time, on 1^st August 2007, 92 Elected Members of Parliament in 1990 Elections submitted a letter to Mr. Ban Ki-moon. In the letter, they expressed that they all are relentlessly working for political dialogue. And declaring, they will not accept any solution made by unilateral action of the SPDC with use of force, threat, pressure and manipulation. The group of 92-Mps also mentioned, the SPDC has been embarking on the path to legalize its military rule with a new constitution through the seven-step road map, in which the national convention with its selected delegates is the first step.

The peoples' representatives are not allowed to participate in this constitution drafting process. All delegates are forced to agree on the SPDC's readymade chapters and basic principles, which grant the military's Commander-in-Chief the supreme power. General populations are threatened not to raise their voice about the future of their country with the SPDC's decree No. 5/96, which is designed to punish lengthy imprisonment to those who dare to criticize the national convention.

Looking back into times of yore, it's easy to perceive the real culprit holding up national reconciliation and democratization in Burma. The people of Burma still have vivid memories of the August massacre in 1988. It took place 19 years ago, on 8th August of 1988, the people of Burma from all walks of life including soldiers and police force marched through the streets of the country demanding for political and economic changes and an end to the one-party or totalitarian rule.

The military opened fire on the protesters and it is estimated that in the five days from August 8 to 12, more than 3,000 demonstrators were cold-bloodedly shot down throughout the country by the armed forces. But the brutal shootings of the heavily armed troops could not do away with the protest. The people continued to carry on the street demonstrations with their demands for restoration of democracy and human rights in the nation. When the then totalitarian socialist government could not afford to halt the swelling people’s protests, the military dictators re-entered into the power game on 18th September 1988 with the bloody coup.

The 8^th August Uprising was a nation-wide people's movement, which broke out on an unprecedented scale in the history of Burma. Three totalitarian presidents had to step down from power due to massive pressure of the people's demonstrations all over the country. Nonetheless, the 8888 people’s protests paved way for the 1990 elections; these were however invalidated by the military. The National League for Democracy (NLD) led by Aung San Suu Kyi and its ethnic allies won over 90 % of parliamentary seats in a 1990 general election.

Actually, the result of 1990 elections clearly showed the genuine desire of the people from all walks of life. But, the crooked junta has played a trickery game of national convention to buy the time. The junta first promised in its 1/90 declaration that the task of the convention was to draft a constitution and all of the elected representatives must be participated in the process. But, when the 11/92 Declaration of the junta came out, it allowed only 99 Members of Parliament out of 485 or 15.24 percent of elected representatives only. In the current session, there are merely 12 representatives-elect and they are all pro-junta delegates.

Although the military regime is yelling towards disciplinary democracy, it has debarred nearly 200 Members of Parliament who disagreed with the No.6 objective – for the Tatmadaw (Army) to be able to participate in the national political leadership role of the state.) – laid down by the junta and 13 representatives-elect are continue languishing in various prisons together with 1200 political prisoners.

Although democracy and human rights are yet to restore in Burma, the democracy activists both inside and outside the country continue to be unwavering in their commitment to carry out the struggle for restoration of democracy in Burma. Governments, international institutions and the United Nations General Assembly have condemned the military junta for human rights abuses in the country and for not transferring power to the elected Members of Parliament.

On this historic occasion of the 19th Anniversary of "8^th August Uprising", the 92 members of parliament in 1990 elections submitted a proposal to the UNSG that the United Nations’ good offices might play important role to avoid the upcoming national crisis in Myanmar/Burma.

Especially, to modify the step two of the road map as a meaningful political dialogue between the SPDC and the elected representatives from the NLD and ethnic political parties. In the dialogue, various national issues and procedures and time frame to implement the rest of the road map, as well as the role of elected representatives from the 1990 elections during the transitional period should be discussed and agreed.

If the SPDC continues to put into practice its seven-step road map without cooperating with the representatives-elect and without listening to the real aspiration of the people and repeated requests from the international community, including the UN, the SPDC's orchestrated constitution would be definitely challenged by the people (including ethnic nationalities) of Myanmar (Burma). The group of 88 generation students, the group of 92-MPs and numerous dissident groups inside and outside the country are declaring to join with those challenging citizens who oppose this sham-constitution and taking part to educate and organize the people to vote against the military-monopolized constitution in the referendum.

It has been undisputable that Burma’s constitutional crisis becomes one serious case on the global stage. For instance, Ibrahim Gambari’s important global diplomatic tour is noticeable to the Burma-watchers. He started a four-nation (Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia) trip on 6 August 2007 consulting on the topic of Burma, before a final leg to military-ruled country, according to a UN statement. Gambari was appointed as the UN secretary-general's special adviser on Burma in late May. In last July, he had made a diplomatic-tour to China, India, Japan, Russia and some European countries to seek advice bringing about “national reconciliation, the restoration of democracy and the protection of human rights” in Burma.

However, Burmese and non-Burmese people are worrying that whether Mr. Gambari himself understands the root of the question or not. According to some critics, Gambari should not hope a good result from the junta’s orchestrated constitution drafting assembly or the sham national convention. According to people’s vigilance, the convention is just for a show to International Community in the absence of the representatives-elect in the 1990 elections. The convention on the draft constitution has taken an appearance of being a democratic option, but it is being carried out under an indisputably undemocratic and unfair political environment.

The key factor for Burma’s key players is to concentrate upon the question of equality for all nationalities and fundamental rights for all citizen of the nation. The sixty-year-long civil war that stem out from a constitutional crisis of the country may not be ceased simply, if this current national convention fails to provide self-determination for every nationality.

http://www.khitpyaing.org/english_page/august07/14-8-07_zinlin.php
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Forced Labor: The Junta’s Revenge

2007-08-13T23:54:00.000-07:00

The Irrawaddy, Vol. 9 No. 7 – August-September 2001

A political prisoner discovers a suffering greater than his own, as he learns the real reason behind the massive use of forced labor in Burma.

By Zin Linn

“The generals were extremely angry with the masses for demanding democracy. As retaliation, they decided to ‘re-educate’ the people once and for all. They were determined to suppress the democratic soul forever. What they wanted was nothing less than total revenge against their own people.”

These remarks, made by a former high-ranking police officer, were almost unbelievably shocking to me, even though I, as a political prisoner in Burma’s notorious Insein prison, had already experienced the generals’ brutality firsthand.

The year was 1996. I was serving a seven-year sentence under Section 5 (J) of the 1950 Emergency Provisions Act. For years, I had been held in solitary confinement in Cellblock 5, Cell 10. Then, one day in September, seven gentlemen unexpectedly appeared in Cellblock 5. Suddenly, my years of isolation of isolation came to an end, as one of them was put into Cell 10 with me.

This was completely contrary to the standard practice of keeping political prisoners apart from other inmates. Under normal circumstances, the authorities would never think of putting newcomers in with prisoners of conscience, as it was feared that we would “infect” them with our thoughts. But these men were no ordinary prisoners: They were high-ranking police officers.

One of them was U Tin Maung Nyo, my new cellmate , who had served as the deputy-director of the Central Intelligence Department (CID) for Rangoon Division. Another was U Kyaw Paing, a former infantry major who had once served as a personal assistant to the Interior Minister; at the time of his arrest, he was in charge of the police force in Rangoon’s Yankin Township. Another, U Htin Kyaw, was a thirty-year veteran of the police force. U Kyaw Htin was a senior officer in the CID. U Shwe Oo, an ex-army captain, was in charge of the Pabedan Township police force in downtown Rangoon. U Tun Lin served as a senior officer in the Bureau of Special Intelligence. And U Aung San Myint was the police-station master in Pabedan Township.

How did men of such standing end up in prison? According to their accounts, they were luckless pawns in a power struggle between the ruling junta’s Secretary-1, Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt, and Secretary-2, Lt-Gen Tin Oo. They said that they belonged to S-2’s group, and that during a struggle for decision-making positions, they had fallen into a trap set by their rivals.

They explained that the S-1 group had orchestrated a crackdown on a brothel that serviced the top brass. The Military Intelligence Services (MIS), under the direction of Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt, “persuaded” the proprietor, Tin Maung Lwin (a.k.a. Lin Maung Thet), to state in court that the seven police officers regularly took bribes from him. In fact, he had never seen any of these men before. But Tin Maung Lwin’s testimony was enough to earn each of these men a seven-year prison sentence. This, very briefly, is how they found themselves in our company.

This remarkable story was not the only thing that excited our attention at that time. We political prisoners, who often received information from sympathetic wardens, learned that there was an incessant turnover of ordinary prisoners. By our calculations, 1,200-1,500 new prisoners were entering the prison each day, while at least 1,000 a week were being transferred to prison labor camps. As many as 5,000 were being shipped out each month, but the total prison population never dropped below 12,000. What was going on?

The wardens informed us that every day at dusk, each of the more than 40 townships in Rangoon was required to send around 30 detainees to Insein Prison. Within a week or two, each of these prisoners would be “tried” and automatically receive a sentence ranging from six months to three years. Prisoners were warned that if they protested, their sentence would be doubled. The judge also told them that top generals had made the decision to punish them, so they would understood that it was futile to appeal to justice.

Unlike our new cellmates, the overwhelming majority of these new prisoners were drawn from Rangoon’s vast underclass. They were typically held under Articles 54 or 13 (d) of the Criminal Code. Article 54 permits the authorities to detain persons on suspicion of committing a crime, while 13 (d) allows for the detention of those who are caught hiding under the cover of darkness.

Eventually, we came to understand the significance of these mass arrests. In order to build roads, bridges, railways, airports, dams, irrigation canals, and even pagodas, the junta relies heavily on forced labor. To meet the demand for workers, law enforcement officials and the courts, under the direction of the junta, conspired to round up members of the lower classes and send them to labor camps. Ironically, the junta undertook many of these infrastructure projects to demonstrate to the international community that it was ruling Burma in a noble-minded manner. The generals didn’t seem to realize that their use of citizens as slaves would meet with condemnation from the rest of the world.

As Burmese, the use of forced labor was nothing new to us, although it was disturbing to witness this system at work on such a massive scale. What did come as a shock was the insight into this phenomenon that we gained from talking with the former senior police officers who had so recently become our fellow inmates.

Three of these men had once been close to the Interior Minister, so they were in a good position to understand the inner workings of the junta’s cabinet. My fellow political prisoners and I asked them many questions concerning this issue, and received excellent answers. On one occasion, I had an opportunity to ask my cellmate about the motivation behind this systematic exploitation of the poorest members of Burmese society. It was then that I received the shocking reply that has stayed with me ever since. It was, in fact, so unbelievable to me that I made an effort to speak to the other former police officers to confirm whether what my cellmate had said was true or not. They all told me exactly the same story.

At one cabinet meeting, they explained, the junta came to the conclusion that the 1988 democracy movement derived its greatest support from the poorest members of society. This was why, soon after they had successfully suppressed the people’s uprising, they forcibly relocated many of the poor—particularly those from areas that were most active during the struggle to end military rule—to the so-called “new townships” on the outskirts of Rangoon and other cities. But this did not satisfy the country's new rulers, who also devised a “re-education” scheme that involved arresting many of the poor on the slimmest of pretexts, and forcing them into prisons and labor camps. There, their jailors taunted them, explaining that this was their chance to “taste democracy”.

We learned much about conditions at these labor camps through other prisoners. Min Khin was a prisoner who had escaped from the Taungzun quarry site near the Sittaung Bridge, on the border between Pegu Divison and Mon State. After he was recaptured, he was put in shackles and sent to Insein, where he told us about his experiences at this infamous labor camp.

Min Khin recalled that the prisoners awoke every day at 4 a.m. and began work no later than an hour later. There were eleven units at the Taungzun camp, each with about 120 prisoners. Every day, each unit lost at least one prisoner to starvation, exhaustion, illness or mistreatment. Prisoners who were too sick to work were often taken behind nearby bushes and killed. Many others, unable to bear the crushing labor and brutal persecution any longer, committed suicide by throwing themselves under passing lorries or over cliffs. Thus the first event of the day was a mass burial of dead prisoners. After this and a breakfast that consisted of a mug of plain boiled rice, the workday began, usually lasting until 9 p.m.

The enormous death toll at Taungzun never came under investigation, because the administrator of the camp, Thein Tun, never failed to bribe the relevant authorities, including the Home Minister. He could easily afford to do this, because every day he forced his prisoners to quarry double the daily quota of 25,00 tonnes per unit. This surplus was sold to private contractors, giving Thein Tun an income of two million kyat a day.

Every day, the mountain at Taungzun was dynamited to produce huge masses of rock. The prisoners hammered the rocks into small pieces and carried them by hand to railway carriages for transport to construction sites. Prisoners were never allowed to slow down, and were permitted to urinate just once a day. To maintain this grueling routine, Thein Tun had a loyal assistant, known to the wardens and prisoners as Dah Tint Swe, who persecuted the prisoners mercilessly. “Dah” is the Burmese word for a sort of dagger. It was with this weapon that Dah Tint Swe murdered anyone under his supervision who failed to keep up with the pace demanded by Thein Tun.

The worst thing, according to Min Khin, is that prisoners at labor camps are forced to wear iron shackles, reducing them to the level of mere beasts. Not counting smaller camps, there are at least 300 camps like the one at the Taungzun quarry located around Burma. Conditions at each one of them are every bit as degrading and inhumane as those described here.

Labor camps represent just a fraction of the forced labor that exists in Burma. In war zones along the country’s borders, civilians are regularly forced to act as porters for soldiers, while on countless infrastructure projects, normal citizens are called upon to “volunteer” their services. People of all ages and both sexes are required to work long hours under sub-human conditions, all in the name of “development and prosperity”. Women are often subjected to rape, in addition to the abuses faced by all forced laborers. To refuse to submit to these horrific demands would mean torture, or worse.

“It’s an unbelievable story, I know,” remarked my cellmate after he revealed the junta’s underlying motive for inflicting such suffering on the Burmese people. “But it’s true. In 1988, I lost many relatives and friends in my native town. At first, I couldn’t even believe that the army shot them down in cold blood. But it really happened. No man can erase history, no matter how hard it is to accept.”

Zin Linn is a former political prisoner based in exile.

Burma: The Verdict of the People Can not be Stamped Out

2007-08-13T23:29:00.000-07:00

Asian Tribune
Tue, 2007-05-29 04:40

by - Zin Linn*

2007 is an important year for the democracy movement in Burma. Political and diplomatic analysts are unanimous on this score. This is notwithstanding the latest Junta decision to extend the detention of symbol Burmese hope, Suu Kyi, for another year. For the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), a priority is drafting of the Constitution by the National Convention this year.

It also has a dream, a day dream at that a referendum on the new constitution followed by elections in 2008. Majority of the people do not agree with the road map designed to put in place military dominated rule. The Junta is going out of its way to court the support of ASEAN and other neighbouring countries especially China and India for its constitutional makeover. At the same time it is riding roughshod over the National League for Democracy (NLD) which is the only challenger to its supremacy at home.

On May 27, the Burmese observed the 17th anniversary of NLD's decisive victory in the 1990 General Elections. NLD had won 392 of the 485 seats on offer in Parliament. NLD allies, the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD) won 23 seats and the Arakan League for Democracy (ALD) bagged 11 seats in what was certainly one of the free and fair elections that had taken place in the South-East Asia region.

In the contemporary history of Burma, that election will remain an important bench mark for decades to come. For a variety of reasons.

After 26 years of military dictatorship, the people got an opportunity to vote for a government of their choice. However, instead of transferring power as it promised before polls, the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) decreed that the newly elected representatives would report to a national convention which would be charged with the task of drafting a new democratic constitution. The decree, 1/90 Declaration was issued on July 27, 1990.

A constitution is a contract between the people and the government of a nation. Only a statute that is willingly accepted by the people will endure the test of time. The National League for Democracy believes that if a genuine multi-party democracy is to be established in Burma, a constitution based on democratic principles is an absolute necessity.

The NLD was set up to usher in a genuine democratic system which lives upto the aspirations and hopes of the people and contributes to building a strong Union of Burma. It believes that the state derives its power from the people. And a democratic nation must have the rule of law and a constitution that guarantees human rights, and basic freedoms - of worship, expression and association. Moreover, the NLD believes that the foundation for a strong, lasting and prosperous union has to be laid through a national convention where all the ethnic groups of Burma are represented and decide collectively the destiny of the nation. The landslide victory in 1990 was a public endorsement of what all the NLD has come to stand for.

Unfortunately, SPDC and its earlier incarnation, SLORC adopted means fair and foul to undo the electoral verdict. First, it invalidated the result, and then it sacked the MPs. They were also disqualified them from standing for elections again. When the MPs resisted pressure to resign, false cases were slapped and they were thrown into jail. Once this exercise was complete and 200 members were eased out, the Junta said "Parliament is not being constituted as we don't have enough elected members".

96 of the 426 elected MPs passed away during the 17 years. Three MPs died in police custody. Tin Maung Win, NLD MP of Khayan Constituency (1), Rangoon Division, passed away on January18, 1991 in the notorious Insein Prison. Hla Than from Coco Islands Constituency (also Rangoon Division) died on August 2, 1996 at the guard ward in Rangoon General Hospital. Saw Win (a.k.a) Kyaw Zaw Lin, who had won Htee Lin Constituency (Magwe Division) on Aug 7, 1998 in Thayawaddy Prison.

Three law makers passed away soon after their release from jail. Kyaw Min of Bassein West Constituency (Irrawaddy Division), died of liver cirrhosis on July1, 1999 in Rangoon General Hospital. San San Win, who represents the Ahlon Constituency (Rangoon Division), passed away in 2000 and Hla Maung who had won Kyainseikkyi seat from Karen State died November 27, 2003.

Win Ko who represented Ye Oo Constituency (Sagaing Division), was assassinated in Kunming, China, on Nov 1, 1992 and Hla Pe, (Pyaw Bwe Constituency, Mandalay Division), was eliminated on the outskirts of Bangkok on June 16, 1993. At least 12 law makers are languishing in the Junta's notorious prison. And the appeals by the international community -United Nations General Assembly including for their release have gone in vain. In fact, there are some 1000 political prisoners. They include the 1991 Nobel Prize winner, Aung San Suu Kyi but the Junta has withstood the pressure calls for their release.

Suu Kyi and NLD stand for dialogue as they firmly believe in Gandhian values and concepts. But the Junta has cold shouldered NLD and ignored its dialogue offer. So NLD has no place at the National Convention the Junta has convened. The second-largest pro-democracy party, the Shan National League for Democracy (SNLD), did not turn up dubbing the convention as undemocratic. The United Nationalities Alliance (UNA), which represents the ethnic parties of Shans, Karens, Kachins, Chins, Arakans, Mons and Karennis also declared ahead of the convention that they would not go to the forum in the absence of the NLD.

It goes without saying that minus NLD the junta's national convention becomes a farce with no genuine democratic principles and objectives. SPDC's Convention has three foremost objectives. First whitewash the premeditated massacre at Depayin. Second do away with the result of the 1990 General Elections. Third persuade regional governments to support a sugar-coated military-monopolized parliament as a legislative body of Burma.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi says: " Democracy means pluralism. That means many parties, many strands of thought. That means that we have to be able to disagree. That means we have to be able to agree to disagree. Because of that, the holding of political prisoners saps peoples' confidence in the possibility of change. If people are going to be arrested for expressing their opinions, their political opinions, then how can we say that there is a hope for political freedom in Burma, and without political freedom, how can there be democracy? So, we repeat, again and again, we reiterate, that the release of political prisoners is the most important thing for all those who truly wish to bring about change in Burma.

However, present situation in Burma shows that the military junta has been adamantly marching along the anti-democracy road. For instance, 29 pro-democracy activists including Su Su Nway, the winner of the John Humphrey Freedom Award, were arrested on 15 May as they bumped into plain clothes security police and members of the junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) on their way to a pagoda in Insein Township. On the same day, 13 NLD members from Hlaingtharyar township of Rangoon were arrested. Another 15 members of the National League for Democracy (NLD) who staged prayer services at a pagoda in Mingaladon were also temporarily detained by the military authorities. The authorities charged them with trying to stir up unrest by exploiting religious practice.

The state-run newspaper the New Light of Myanmar said the arrests were made by peace-loving people to prevent instigators from trying to cause insecurity and strife. The '88 Generation Students', a student group, condemned the action. It is improper and immoral to assault, perturb, harass and detain those praying peacefully for Aung San Suu Kyi. The student group urged the government to release Aung San Suu Kyi for the sake of national reconciliation.

In an unprecedented gesture, 59 former presidents and prime ministers around the world have sent a signed appeal for the unconditional release of the Nobel laureate who has been in the jail for past 11 years. The appeal followed an initiative taken by a former Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC) made a similar demand. Both appeals have fallen on deaf ears.

ASEAN countries and the international community have been frustrated by the slow pace of political reform in Burma. The military junta should review its policy on the NLD, stop brutal and inhumane oppressions and act in accordance with international standards of human rights.

On 30 April 2007, a seminar on Burma held on the sidelines of the 116th Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) meeting in Bali openly acknowledged that the Myanmar military junta's misrule had a spill over effect on the region and its stability. Speaker of the Indonesian Parliament Agung Laksono said that all parliamentarians have a role in encouraging the restoration of civil, political and democratic rights in Burma. There is agreement that all lovers of Burma must rally in support of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution on Burma.

On the 17th anniversary of Burma's 1990 General Elections, the key regional players China, India, Japan and ASEAN should recognize their obligation to Burma. They must urge SPDC to give up its fruitless policies and unproductive plans. If the junta is reluctant to recognize the will of its own people, the consequences that follow may not be to its likings. People's will cannot be wished away nor their aspirations just as the verdict in a popular election cannot be brushed aside for days no end.

*Zin Linn is a Burmese journalist living in exile. He is an executive member of the Burma Media Association (BMA).

- Asian Tribune - http://www.asiantribune.com/index.php?q=node/5926

“Burma Media Watch: Ups and downs in 2006”

2007-08-13T21:29:00.000-07:00

2006 BMA Conference Paper

Burma did earn a good reputation for press freedom after it gained independence from Britain between 1948 and 1962. The 1950s were the golden period for press freedom in Burma. As the country was freed from the yoke of British colonialism, there were around three dozens newspapers, including English and Chinese dailies. Every newspaper had its own network of reporters to gather news from across the country. Foreign news came in directly from respective news agencies, wire services and media companies. The news media was free to publish any thing that they believed fit and fair and worthy of circulation to the public. At that time media were no need to undergo a censorship board.

But it was really a short period that came to an end when the military seized power in March 1962. In the wake of the military coup, the junta nationalized all media outlets and introduced harsh publishing legislation. It also established a Press Scrutiny Board (PSB), which has been imposing the strictest censorship codes on all forms of publications including calendars, advertisements and obituaries.

The military dictators' major instrument of censorship is the Printers and Publishers Registration Law of 1962, which was promulgated shortly after the military coup by Gen. Ne Win. Then Burma becomes one of the world's most repressive countries for media. Actually, Freedoms of Expression, and the press have been practically non-existent in Burma since then. All forms of printed matter are under the Press Scrutiny and Registration Division (PSRD). The PSRD took over the censorship duties from the MIS-run Press Scrutiny Board since October 2004.

Let's look into the year 2006. It began with an unpleasant note for the media in Burma. Major Wunna, whose pen-name is "Mar Jay", was dismissed from his job. His senior position in the Air Force did not afford to protect him since the Junta displeased with his satirical articles in Yangon Times weekly. Mar Jay contributes satirical writings to make fun of the relocation of the capital to Pyinmana and the National Convention, which has been dubbed as a sham exercise by both the international community and the oppositions. The sack order was delivered at his residence after his two articles appeared in the weekly.

Another abuse of press freedom took place in March, 2006. Two senior journalists U Thar Cho(52) and Ko Moe Htun(42) were sentenced to three year jail term later. Their sentences were imposed by a court in Yamaethin, which found them guilty of violating article 32 (A) of the Television and Video Act. The court made the judgment on 21 June 2006, reportedly without hearing any witnesses. According to their lawyer, U Khin Maung Zaw, the Television and Video Act don’t forbid taking pictures in authorized areas.

Also in March, two student Aung Than & Zeya Aung, and two civilians Maung Maung Oo & Sein Hlaing were arrested near the Thai-Burmese border town of Myawaddy. They were all charged with publishing an unlawful book of poems. Under the Emergency Provisions Act and the Printers and Publishers Registration Law of 1962, Aung Than and Zeya Aung were sentenced to 19 years in prison for writing the poems; Maung Maung Oo and Sein Hlaing were sentenced to 14 years and 7 years in prison respectively.

Then, the ban on Zargana came. A well-known comedian and movie director Ko Thura, 46, better known as Zargana was banned from all of his professional activities - performing, directing and acting in videos/movies and writing articles – due to participating in a BBC Burmese Service cultural radio program aired in April.

The regime also does not allow public access to the Internet; in particular the military monitors all incoming and outgoing e-mails. Web mails are blocked by the military's secret police and people have no chance for advance Information Technology and update news.

Possessing or using a modem or fax machine without government permission is unlawful in Burma. The Computer Science Development Law which promulgated on 20th September, 1996 says '' Whoever sets up a computer network or connects a link inside the computer network, without the prior sanction of the Ministry of Communications, Posts and Telegraphs shall, on conviction be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend from a minimum of 7 years to a maximum of 15 years and may also be liable to a fine.'' While denying 'free media' to the people and the opposition, the Generals have been using the media to disgrace the democratic opposition and to propagate their xenophobic ideas.

Right at the moment, all news media in Burma is strictly censored and tightly controlled by the military junta—all daily newspapers, radio and television stations are in government hands. Most media businesses and publication companies are owned by generals and their cronies. Whatever few privately-owned journals and magazines are there, they are strictly under the censor's scanner. No printed matter can be seen in the book stalls without 'permission'. Photos, cassette tapes, movies and video footage also need the censor's stamp before delivering the people.

Burma Media Association (BMA) says that at least 18 media persons are in detention by the end of October 2006. All of them are held under life-threatening conditions and some of them are suffering from serious physical and mental illness having remained behind bars for over a decade. Take example the case of U Win Tin, a former editor-in-chief of Hanthawaddy Newspaper and Secretary of National League for Democracy. He has been languishing in the notorious Insein Prison, where over 130 political dissidents died in recent years. He has not seen the world outside for the past 17 years. Now, it seems his 77th birth day on coming March 12 has to observe in the hellish cell.

Anyhow, let's try to find out something that may become beneficial to Media in Burma. In 2001, the number of the journals was not more than a dozen. But, in this 2006, there are over 150 journals apart from scores of magazines. One can find more than 20 fresh journals a day in the market. In addition, quality control of the journals becomes more improve than ever. According to a source, 36% of the audience love to read the journals. The consequence is that the journal industries turn out to be competitive and demand more and more new journalists. And the journalism trainings are allowed to fill the gap. Another reason is the junta's policy change to counter the influence of foreign media.

Then, the military backed-USDA (Union Solidarity and Development Association) is sponsoring lessons in basic journalism. In last October, 53 USDA members from various regions are attending the ten-week course. Besides journalism training, they will be taught national and international developments, the New Light of Myanmar said. And there are also series of workshops and training for Burmese journalists in foreign countries. Whoever sponsored the journalism training is not so important. When these trainees worked in their respective field, the practical experience would show the way they should act.

However, these new-born journalists may change their minds in accordance with the changing world towards freedom and democracy. In a democracy, the people have the rights to choose their government. In making intelligent choices, people need to know what members of the government are doing. They must be able to get news that is not interfered with or controlled by the government. Newspapers and other news organizations must be able to report freely and fearlessly. That's why journalism has become the fourth pillar of a democracy after the legislature, the executive and the judiciary.

Free Press and Democracy compliment each other. People become participants in the democratic process of their country only when they can depend on the integrity, profundity and conscientiousness of the media.

In Burma, the entire media network is in the clutch of military-dictatorship. Both censorship and self-censorship are commonplace in Burma and these have severely restricted political rights and civil liberties. People are witnessing a gloomy epoch where generals and their cronies have started owning media and making it a profitable business. The more control they have on media and Internet, the higher the danger for the society. The junta is abusing the media as its tool to control and influence people's thinking.

Burma mired in a Constitutional tangle?

2007-08-11T05:10:00.000-07:00

By – Zin Linn

August 11, 2007 - Burma is being bogged down in a constitutional quagmire rooted in the question of equality for all nationalities or democratic rights for citizens of the nation. The ethnic nationalities in the country have a strong political aspiration to establish a genuine federal union as agreed by 1947 Panglong conference. But, that burning aspiration was disregarded by successive Burmese military regimes. As a result, civil war has been going on because of the failed promise guaranteed in the Panglong Agreement. Contrary to the Panglong spirit, Burma's 1947 Constitution which was completed in September failed to meet equal rights of ethnic nationalities had lasted for only 14 years. Similarly, the 1974 Constitution, which also failed to meet establishing a Federal Union based on the principle of self-determination, had also lasted for merely 14 years.

Now, as a consequence of the failed 1947 and 1974 constitutions, Burma has been still struggling with a constitutional dilemma. Burma's military junta has continued holding the last session of its controversial national convention on 18 July this year. While the final session of 14-year-old junta's National Convention is underway, the two strongest ethnic ceasefire groups - the KIO and United Wa State Army (UWSA) are threatened militarily and economically by the ruling junta. Recently KIO officials warned that they have no reason to surrender weapons if the junta keeps denying autonomy for Kachin State which it has repeatedly demanded of successive ruling juntas. Relations between KIO and UWSA are strong and they seem to have alerted their military units in order to resist inevitable military threats by the ruling junta.

Meanwhile, the Mon ethnic nationalities cease-fired group New Mon State Party stands decisively to uphold its four principles; not to dissolve the party, not to disband its military wing, Mon National Liberation Army (MNLA), not to separate the party from its army, and not to give up the 14 territorial positions that were agreed during the cease-fire deal in 1995.

Under the menace of the military junta (SPDC), brushing aside the majority of people's representatives-elect and with military hand-picked delegates, how could it be a free and autonomous convention to make any social-contract. While the contentious national convention is underway, the junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Association, together with members of the local authorities and police, brazenly assaulted human rights defenders in Burma.

All the delegates in the National Convention are forced to agree to the SPDC's ready made chapters and basic principles, which grant the military's Commander-in-Chief the supreme power. The general population is threatened not to raise its voice about the future of their country with the SPDC's decree No. 5/96, designed to punish through lengthy imprisonment to those who criticize the national convention.

The junta's pledges of democratic and economic reforms are merely rhetorical propaganda. Moreover, respect for the rule of law and human rights continue to be empty speechifying. It is, in fact, a magic show appeasing the ASEAN and China that the Burmese junta is working to perform a mufti-clad regime.

The United Nations Secretary General Mr. Ban Ki-moon issued a statement on 18 July 2007, in which he urged the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) of Myanmar/Burma to seize the current opportunity to ensure that this and subsequent steps in Myanmar's political road map are as inclusive, participatory and transparent as possible, with a view to allowing all the relevant parties to Myanmar's national reconciliation process to fully contribute to defining their country's future.

More than 50 British MPs have strongly called for the release of detained Burmese Parliamentarians who have been imprisoned under the military dictatorship. The British Parliamentarians are demanding that the UN Special Envoy to Burma and the British government step up efforts to release those parliamentarians, and all political prisoners in Burma.

In the meantime, on August 1, 2007, 92 Burmese MPs elected in 1990 elections submitted a letter to Mr. Ban Ki-moon. In the letter, they expressed that they all are relentlessly working for political dialogue. And declared they will not accept any solution made unilaterally by the SPDC with use of force, threat, pressure and manipulation.

Looking back in time, it's easy to perceive the real culprit holding up national reconciliation and democratization in Burma. The people of Burma still have vivid memories of the August massacre in 1988. It took place 19 years ago, on 8th August of 1988, when the people of Burma from all walks of life including soldiers and police force marched through the streets of the country demanding political and economic changes and an end to the one-party or totalitarian rule.

The military opened fire on the protesters and it is estimated that in the five days from August 8 to 12, more than 3,000 demonstrators were shot down in cold blood throughout the country by the armed forces. But the people continued to carry on the street demonstrations with their demands for restoration of democracy and human rights in the nation. When the then totalitarian socialist government could not afford to halt the swelling people's protests, the military dictators re-entered the power game on 18th September 1988 with the bloody coup.

Three totalitarian presidents had to step down from power due to massive pressure of the people's demonstrations all over the country. Nonetheless, the 8888 people's protests paved way for the 1990 elections; these were however invalidated by the military. The National League for Democracy (NLD) led by Aung San Suu Kyi and its ethnic allies won over 82 percent of parliamentary seats in a 1990 general election.

However, the crooked junta has played the game of national convention for buying time. The junta first promised in its 1/90 declaration that the task of the convention was to draft a constitution and all of the elected representatives must participate in the process. But, when the 11/92 Declaration of the junta came out, it allowed only 99 Members of Parliament out of 485 or 15.24 percent of elected representatives only. In the current session, there are merely 12 representatives-elect but only advocates of militarization.

Not surprisingly, the military regime is yelling for military guidance to democracy, it has debarred nearly 200 Members of Parliament who disagreed with the No.6 objective – for the Tatmadaw (Army) to be able to participate in the national political leadership role of the state.) – laid down by the junta and 13 representatives-elect continue languishing in various prisons together with 1200 political prisoners.

If the SPDC continues to put into practice its seven-step road map without cooperating with the representatives-elect and without listening to the real aspiration of the people and repeated requests from the international community, including the UN, the SPDC's orchestrated constitution would be definitely challenged by the people (including ethnic nationalities) of Myanmar (Burma).

It has been indisputable that Burma's constitutional crisis becomes one serious case on the global stage. For instance, global diplomatic tour of Ibrahim Gambari, the special adviser of the UN secretary-general is noticeable to Burma-watchers. He started a four-nation tour in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia after his trip to China, India, Japan, Russia and some European countries to consult the issue of Burma, before a final leg to the region's problem child.

However, Burmese and non-Burmese people are worries whether Mr. Gambari himself understands the root of the question or not. Gambari should not hope for good results from the junta's orchestrated constitution drafting assembly or the sham national convention. The convention on the draft constitution appears to be a democratic option, but it is being carried out under an indisputably undemocratic and unfair political environment.

The main factor for Burma's key players to consider is the question of equality for all nationalities and fundamental rights for all citizens of the nation. The 60-year-long civil war that stems from a constitutional crisis of the country may not simply cease, if this current national convention fails to provide self-determination for every nationality.

Burma long stuck in a constitutional morass

2007-08-10T22:04:00.000-07:00

The Nation: Saturday, August 11,2007: 8A

Burma is sinking in a constitutional quagmire rooted in the question of equality for all nationalities or democratic rights for all citizen of the nation. The ethnic nationalities in Burma have long had strong political aspiration to establish a genuine federal union as highlighted in the 1947 Panglong Agreement. But, that agreement was disregarded by the successive Burmese military regimes. As a result, the civil war has been going on because of the failed promise guaranteed in the Panglong Agreement. Burma’s 1947 Constitution failed to provide equal rights for ethnic nationalities and lasted for only 14 years. Similarly, the 1974 Constitution, which also failed to meet establishing a Federal Union based on the principle of self-determination, also lasted for merely fourteen years.

Now, as a consequence of the failed 1947 and 1974 constitutions, Burma remains in this constitutional quagmire. Burma's military junta held the last session of its controversial national convention on 18 July this year. The convention is just for a show to International Community in the absence of the representatives-elect in the 1990 elections. The convention on the draft constitution has taken an appearance of being a democratic option, but it is being carried out under an indisputably undemocratic and unfair political environment.

Meanwhile, the 92 Members of Parliament in 1990 elections submitted a proposal to the United Nations that it play an important role to avoid the upcoming national crisis in Burma.

If the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) continues to put into practice its seven-step road map without cooperating with the representatives-elect and without listening to the real aspiration of the people of Burma and repeated requests from the international community, including the UN, the SPDC's orchestrated constitution would be definitely challenged by the people (including ethnic nationalities) of Burma.

The main factor for the key players to consider is the question of equality for all nationalities and fundamental rights for all citizen of the nation. For the 60-year-long civil war that stem from a constitutional crisis of the country may not cease, if this current national convention fails to provide self-determination for every nationality.

Zin Linn
Bangkok

Journalists In A Prison State

2007-07-27T07:36:00.000-07:00

07.11.2005: BMA Conference Paper:

Zin Linn

Agreeing to disagree is a fundamental right only of those who live under a democratic system. Under a military dictatorship system, disagreeing or dissident opinion can be seen as a crime.

Today, Burma is still under the yoke of an inhumane military dictatorship. The downfall of Gen. KhinNyunt and the promotion of Gen. Soe Win showed the factional conflict in the military which the generals used to say indivisible army. It's a showdown between the infantry force and the military intelligence service. According to analysts in Rangoon, It's a counter coup in the military. As some people dream, it is not a conflict between soft-line democrats and the hard-line autocrats. It does not show a political reform nor a policy shift of the junta.

People of Burma have shown their opinion very clearly in the 1990 General Elections, in which the National League for Democracy won a landslide victory. That means people disagree with the military dictatorship system. For that reason, the military regards its own people as its opposition and it changes the whole nation into a prison state. The regime never allowed people expressing a different opinion and it tightly controlled all types of media to be its propaganda network.

In the latest history of mankind, no dictator loves to promote the press to be a free media. No dictator loves to allow the existence of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, especially the Article 19. On the question of Burma, it is also not an exceptional case and the right to freedom of opinion and expression has been under the boots for over 40 years together with the Article 20 or the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.

According to today people's general opinion, the freedom of expression becomes one of the most important human rights issue in these days. Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights says that everyone has the right to freedom of expression. There is no question of difference of race or difference of nationality or difference of religion. Protecting Article 19 is the major challenge to the journalists as well as the democrats of today.

The International Community is pressing the Burmese junta to abandon the autocracy and to go along on a right track of democratic reform. But the junta's Senior General Than Shwe turns a deaf ear to the International Community including his own people and entrenches himself in military absolutism.

Burma's military regime has long been ostracized by Western governments for its poor human rights record. Burma is also notorious for suppression of press and journalism. That's why Burma becomes '' the largest prison for journalists in Asia ''. The political situation in Burma continues to stall at an impasse between the democratic oppositions and the military regime. The media is strictly censored and political opposition parties are denied permission to have computers or to publish their own bulletins. All the publishers of journals, magazines and publications must apply to get a permission or registration license. A publisher also needs clearance of military authorities which is a testimony of not involving with politics. Actually, this kind of license is no other than a yoke of the dictatorship that put on the shoulder of a writer or a journalist.

It is usual for the SPDC to ban freedom of speech, press, assembly, association, and travel. The regime also continues to systematically monitor citizens' movements and communications. They search homes without warrants at any time. They open and check parcels and mails which they suspect. To tap a phone is a common job of the military intelligence personnel. In such a country, no body dares to express his or her opinion fearlessly. To choose a career of journalism in Burma under dictatorship is the most dangerous thing of all. For they have to live under the watchful eyes of the military intelligence service.

Here, for instance, I would like to explain the SPDC or junta's day-to-day administrative system. The basic administration is done by the ward-ship council. Every ward-ship council has a detailed map which shows the situation of all streets, building and houses. If you are a civil servant then your house will be colored green in the map. If you are an NLD or a political dissident, your house is marked with red color. And a house of writer or journalist is painted black. Moreover, every ten-house has one head-man. The ten-house headman must watch the people who live there. He has to inform the situation of those houses to local authorities in daily basic. The military backed USDA members are also the informers of the respective authorities. Therefore, the situation of each family is looked like living in a prison-cell. Because of such system, Burmese people are feeling as if they were prisoners. Then, Burma becomes notorious as a prison state.

Then you may imagine, a journalist in Burma is almost alike a prisoner in his own country. Here, the case of Ne Minn (a former BBC stringer) is a good example. In 1989, according to official Rangoon radio, Ne Minn was charged with spreading false news and sending the anti-government documents to the BBC. He was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment by a military tribunal in Insein Prison and served 9 years. Ne Min was re-arrested in last February by the MIS accusing him of reporting false news to unlawful organizations outside the country. He and 4 other ex-political prisoners were sentenced to a long-term imprisonment on 7 May 2004.

Another example was about Than Win Hlaing, a writer and journalist, who was secretly thrown into Tha-yet Prison. Ation was taken against him in the summary court under the Publication Act 17/20, and he was sentenced for 7 years imprisonment in June 2000.

He published a book around 1995 titled '' Historic Sculptures that tells the Most Prominent Figures of Burma '', and then in 2000 he republished it as second edition with some rewritten passages.

The second edition was submitted in accord with the censor-board's rules and getting permission from publication scrutiny board or the PSB. The problem was that one of the articles was portrayed about General Aung San, father of Aung San Suu Kyi, and the essence of the article seemed directly criticizing the junta's policies. Although the PSB had already permitted, the Military Intelligence Service (MIS) charged the author under the Publication Act 17/20. He was sentenced for 7 years imprisonment in June 2000.

Burma did earn a good reputation for press freedom after it gained independence from Britain between 1948 and 1962. At that time there were over 30 private newspapers and no need to undergo a censorship board. But it was really a short period that came to an end when the military seized power in March 1962.

In the wake of the military coup, the junta nationalized all newspapers and introduced harsh publishing legislation. It also established a Press Scrutiny Board (PSB), which has been imposing the strictest censorship codes on all forms of publications including calendars, advertisements and obituaries.

The military dictators' constant companion or major instrument of censorship is the Printers and Publishers Registration Law of 1962, which was promulgated shortly after the military coup by Gen. Ne Win. According to this law, all forms of books, magazines, periodicals, scripts of songs and films must be submitted to the Press Scrutiny Board (PSB). Believe it or not, even brand-name papers for consumers' goods must be passed through the censorship process.

Manuscripts for books must be submitted to the PSB before printing and again afterwards put forward for checking that no changes have been made. Magazines are more risky that the editors must submit printed-copies for censorship. If the PSB objected an article, the editors have to remove it and rearrange the pages orderly. Sometime it was not allowed to bring out for the respective month blaming every line in the magazine opposed the regime. Tightly controlled by the Military Intelligence Service (MIS), the PSB has full power to decide on both the number of circulation and the content of the publication. Moreover, the cover designs and paintings of the publications must be taken permission separately from the PSB.

If a rejected painting or article brought out, the editor and publisher would deserve a severe imprisonment for breaking the 1962 Printers and Publishers Registration Law.

In such a manner, Burma has held the title of the world's worst suppressor of the press and journalism for more than forty years,. It still retains its notorious reputation for jailing writers, poets, editors, publishers, photographers and journalists for supporting democratic idea in their writings and publications.

The next example was about the banning of fortnightly Khit-Sann Journal. On 1st September, the military junta's Board of Censorship made a decision to ban the privately-owned Khit-Sann Journal, which covered update international affairs. It was recently summoned and told that the journal was too "pro-American."

The Burmese junta's spokesman said that financial problems had led to Khit-Sann¹s closure. But information obtained by Reporters Without Borders and the BMA showed that the magazine¹s financial situation was healthy. The two organizations have challenged the military junta's denial that the bi-monthly Khit-Sann was closed for political reasons.

The Khit-Sann or New Age Journal was managed and published by Kyaw Win, the chief editor of the periodical. Kyaw Win spent in prison for twice totally 15 years as a political dissident. In 1982, during Ne Win's era, he was thrown into prison for 5 years. And in 1989, while he was taking responsibility as a central executive committee member of the Ever Green Youth Organization, the current junta accused him of in connection with unlawful organization and put him in prison for ten years. After serving his prison terms, he became a staff editor of Thint-ba-wa(Your Life) Magazine together with two prominent writers, Tin Maung Than and Maung Thit Sinn who are now living in exile in the United States.

After Tin Maung Than and Maung Thit Sinn quit from the magazine, he became the chief editor of the Thint-ba-wa Magazine in 2000. But, the magazine was shut down by the PSB without having a good reason. Then he became chief editor of the Khit-Sann or New Age Journal. Due to his supervision, the Journal was also well-established among the intellectuals and young people throughout the country.

Being an editor of the famous Khit-Sann Journal, he is on the watching list of the Military authorities. And in last June, the junta's mouthpiece newspaper (The New Light of Myanmar) published a pro-military article using his pen name (Kyaw Win) on purpose of misunderstanding in the public. Then Kyaw Win made a strong protest to the military authority telling not to break the journalistic code of ethics. His protest was a rare one and it caused annoyance to the authorities.

Afterward, the PSB summoned Kyaw Win and seriously warned that the journal must change its policy of thinking highly upon the United States and the European Union. Actually, it's a little bit strange because the junta's accused him as a communist and kept in jail for ten years in 1990s. But now, it branded him of a pro-western bloc.

In the same month, Shwe-ba-zun, a monthly magazine published in Rangoon, was also banned by the PSB without giving a reason. The Shwe-ba-zun editor-in-chief May Thinn-gyan Hein received an order to stop the magazine, while her September issue magazine was waiting for the PSB's permission. According to an unnamed senior member of PSB, editor May has been learning English at the British Council English Language Center in Yangon. In addition, she has already finished a journalism course sponsored by the Embassy of the United States of America in Yangon.

The next fault is that her father Htun Htun Hein is an elected representative for Naung-cho constituency in Shan State of the National League for Democracy (NLD). It may be a major question of banning the magazine.

The editor is also popular for her realistic news reportages that portrayed misery of the poverty-stricken families of the present days under the regime. According to literati source in Yangon, it's a dirty game of the junta towards freedom of expression.

The next example was about documentary filmmaker Lazing La Htoi who took records of extreme flooding that hit Myitkyina, the capital of the northern Kachin State, in late July. Lazing La Htoi's video included footage of a dead body and an interview with a local resident citing as many as 50 casualties resulting from the flooding, according to CPJ sources. Local authorities arrested him on July 27 while he was copying the footage.

In 1999, two documentary-filmmakers were arrested similar to Lazing La Htoi's case. Aung Pwint, a documentary filmmaker, editor, and poet, and Thaung Tun, an editor, filmmaker, and poet better known by his pen name, Nyein Thit, were arrested for filming footages in the daily life of poverty-stricken societies in Burma, including miseries in rural areas. The two circulated their documentaries through underground networks. They are still in junta's inhumane jail so far. The two journalists are really deserved to the CPJ's 2004 International Press Freedom Awards

At the same time, the military is trying to deceive the world, as if it were a pro-democracy regime starting to implement the human rights practices. The case was that the regime has prescribed human rights text books for the eighth and the ninth grades students. But, not all 30 Articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights were included in the text books. It mentions only one-third of the 30 Articles.

The worst is the text does not mention the Article 19 and it emphasizes that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights should not be accepted as unquestionable rights. Teachers and students must accept it as relative terms, according to the situation of the country. That means the military regime even does not reluctant to censor the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to prolong its military power.

Censorship is imposed in the name of national security. Those found owning pamphlets, books, magazines, cassettes or videotapes that are interpreted as hostile to the ruling junta are arrested and usually serve jail-terms of seven to twenty years.

Although there are some privately owned journals and magazines in Burma, they are subject to an even stricter censorship regulations by the PSB, which can delay their publication by many months.

Some writing never gets permission to be published. To obtain a publishing license, which can be revoked at any time, a would-be publisher has to bribe various military authorities with a great deal of money. Even though, it is still uncertain of getting permission.

So many topics are strictly forbidden for publication. Writers, journalists, poets, cartoonists, photographers, editors and publishers must obey the rules and regulations of the PSB.

All publication-related people must also submit their autobiographies to the Home Ministry. Stories and essays about the poor are never permitted for publication. Articles on sociological crisis, economic difficulties, natural disasters, shipwrecks, train or plane crashes are usually not released.

For instance, at one meeting of the censorship organ of the Home Ministry, warned publishers and editors of journals and magazines that they would face severe punishment if they wrote about the country's banking crisis including the money laundering stories. Similarly, politics and economic crisis as well as misconceived policy of the regime are also taboo subjects for the media and public discussion.

The regime also does not allow public accessing to the Internet, in particular the military intelligence, monitors all incoming and outgoing e-mails. Web mails are blocked by the MIS and people have no chance for advance Information Technology and update news.

Possessing or using a modem or fax machine without government permission is a crime in Burma. The Computer Science Development Law which promulgated on 20th September, 1996 says '' Whoever sets up a computer network or connects a link inside the computer network, without the prior sanction of the Ministry of Communications, Posts and Telegraphs shall, on conviction be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend from a minimum of 7 years to a maximum of 15 years and may also be liable to a fine.''

So it is illegal to own an unregistered modem or fax in Burma. In addition, lack of electricity and expensive charges for Internet services are other factors that block public access to the Internet. Fax machines must be licensed and to obtain a cellular phone permit not only costs $3000 but there is also a years-long queue to apply. Phone lines are often tapped and oversea calls frequently cut. So, not only the journalists but also the average citizens have been disconnected with the outside world intentionally by the regime. That's why Burmese people feel as if they were put into a prison.

Burma has been notorious as "the world's largest prison for journalists" and over thirty journalists continue to languish in jail so far. The country's most respected journalist and art critic, former editor-in-chief of the Hanthawadi newspaper and vice-president of the Association of Burmese Writers, 75-year-old U Win Tin, has spent the last fifteen years of his life in prison.

The military practices absolutism over all aspects of freedom in Burma. The junta has never tolerated any democratic opinions or ideas from citizens.

The laws most commonly used by the junta are - - -

- the 1950 Emergency Provisions Act,

- the 1957 Unlawful Associations Act,

- the 1962 Printers and Publishers Registration Law and

- the 1975 State Protection Law.

Each provides for long periods of imprisonment for citizens judged guilty of criticizing the ruling junta. In addition, the use of systematic torture and summary courts are the major forces backing suppressive laws and decrees.

As freedom of expression depends on the progress of democratization in Burma, international media and human rights watchdogs should keep supporting the democratic movement against military dictatorship. That's why people of Burma asking for genuine sympathy from the International Community. Detaining over 1500 political prisoners, mostly students, intellectuals, lawyers, doctors, journalists and including the Nobel laureate of the nation while denying access to the media, Burma has no hope of changing into a true democratic federal union.

In such a situation, it may be out of question that a free press is the best guarantee for sustaining political and economic reforms in Burma. Free press is also a necessary force to establish transparency and accountability towards a democratic society.

[The Computer Science Development Law which promulgated on 20th September, 1996]

CHAPTER X

Offences and Penalties

Whoever imports or keeps in possession or utilizes any type of computer prescribed under sub-section(a) of section 26, without the prior sanction of the Ministry of Communications, Posts and Telegraphs shall, on conviction be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend from a minimum of 7 years to a maximum of 15 years and may also be liable to a fine.

Whoever sets up a computer network or connects a link inside the computer network, without the prior sanction of the Ministry of Communications, Posts and Telegraphs shall, on conviction be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend from a minimum of 7 years to a maximum of 15 years and may also be liable to a fine.

Whoever fails to comply with a prohibitory order issued by the Council, or the 'Ministry of Education or the Ministry of Communications, Posts and Telegraphs ill respect of the type of computer prescribed under Sub-section(a) of section 26 shall, on conviction be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 6 months or with fine or with both.

Whoever commits any of the following acts using computer network or any information technology shall, on conviction be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend from a minimum of 7 years to a maximum of 15 years, and may also be liable to a fine:-
(a) carrying out any act which undermines State Security, prevalence of law and order and community peace and tranquillity, national unity, State economy or national culture;
(b) obtaining or sending and distributing any information of State secret relevant to State security, prevalance of law and order and community peace and tranquillity, national unity, State economy or national culture.

Whoever violates any order relating to control issued by the Council under Sub-section(c) and Sub-section (d) of section 7 shall, on conviction be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 3 years or with fine or with both.

Whoever imports or exports any type of computer software or any information prescribed by the Council under sub-section (g) of section 7 shall, on conviction be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend from a minimum of 5 years to a maximum of 10 years and may also be liable to a fine.

Whoever fails to comply with an order abolishing any computer association, issued by the Council under sub-section (j) of section 7 shall, on conviction be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 3 years, or with fine or with both.

Whoever attempts or conspires to commit any offence under this law or abets in the commission of such offence shall, on conviction be punished with the same penalty prescribed in this Law for such offence.

The Court shall, in ordering a penalty for any offence under this Law, confiscate or destroy or dispose of the exhibits relevant to the offence in a accordance with the stipulations.

Burma:: Buddhist Abbot to be hanged

2007-07-27T07:31:00.000-07:00

Date : 2003-12-06

Asian Tribune

By Zin Linn

Much to everybody's shock and consternation, the Burmese military regime has again condemned, this time a Buddhist abbot. The military court in Mandalay Prison has sentenced to death a venerable Buddhist abbot Sayadaw U Cendhimar from Kyauk-se, a reliable source in Mandalay said.

Earlier, in mid-October, religious unrest broke out in Kyauk-se, a town in central Burma, which is located not far away from Mandalay. The unrest spread to the city of Mandalay and then to the capital Rangoon. Burma’s junta confirmed that there had been sporadic clashes between people professing different faiths and slapped a dusk-to-dawn curfew in the areas where the religious unrest was rampant.

According to reports, the religious unrest broke out with a minor dispute, as someone threw a stone into a Buddhist monastery compound and it sparked the anger of the Buddhist monks, who mistakenly believed that the occupants of a nearby mosque were responsible for the alleged stone throw.

Subsequently, number of Muslims were attacked and injured in the religious riot that ensued, while others fearing for their lives sought shelter in the homes of the neighbouring Buddhist families.

According to local populace, many Buddhist monks in Mandalay rushed to Kyauk-se, caused tension thus sparking riots and arson, which left a dozen people dead, including a pregnant woman.

Following the untoward incidences, Buddhist monks were ordered to observe curfew and monasteries and mosques came under surveillance of the state officials, witnesses said.

The ruling junta took swift action against the Buddhist clergies before public unrest broke out, anticipating that the riot could have been termed as protests against the regime. However, people suspected that that the religious riot was a state orchestrated one.

The Sangha Mahanayaka (Chief Buddhist Prelate) or Buddhist monks’ administrative body issued an instruction, banning all monks not to leave monasteries between 19:00 and 04:00 hours.

Security personnel also monitored mosques and monasteries and watched closely the activities of the monks.

During the religious unrest in October, the military intelligence services arrested at least 315 people including monks.

Moreover, according to confirmed reports, two monks and a dozen people were killed in the incident.

One abbot, the venerable Kyauk-thin-baw Sayadaw from Kyauk-se and his follower Pho Zaw were murdered at Letpanhla village on October 16. The two Buddhist monks were killed while on their way to Kyunhla village for religious purpose.

On October 19, eleven Muslim were also killed in the religious riot in Kyauk-se..

A monk was shot dead during a demonstration in Mandalay, on 27 October.

Accordingly, in the religious unrest which rage the country in October, 14 lives were lost and the junta arrested over 300 people.

But according to reliable sources, there are no major conflict between the Buddhist and Muslim religious factions. In the past 40 year the country experienced time and again religious and racial riots, and it was alleged that the military dictators were the culprits, who from the backstage pulled strings in order to derail public outrage against the political or economic crisis.

It's surprising that, out of 315 detainees, the Venerable Abbot U Cendhimar, who is the chief monk of the Nyein-chan-ye (Peace) monastery in Kyauk-se, was put on trial in the Mandalay Prison and capital sentence passed.

According to information, lawsuit against the venerable prelate was filed on 24 November 2003. In the said case, another 5 accused, who are under 17 years of age, were also found guilty and each of them were sentenced to 10 years imprisonment.

The names of the 5 teenagers were not known as yet. The military intelligence service has threatened the respective officials of the judicial military court to be secretive and not to divulge any information about the case and the proceedings.

Sources inside Burma said that the hearing was conducted secretly and the accused were testified without notifying to the relatives of the accused and also without giving an opportunity for having a lawyer to defend them.

Several when contacted express dissatisfaction with the decision of the junta's special court to condemn with capital punishment the most Venerable U Cendhimar.

- Asian Tribune -

http://www.asiantribune.com/oldsite/show_news.php?id=8195

Junta may not release "Prisoners of Conscience"

2007-07-27T05:21:00.000-07:00

Date : 2004-11-22

Asian Tribune
By Zin Linn

The November 18 announcement was as cryptic as any the Burmese military junta has made till date. Nevertheless, the decree as broadcast over the state run radio that 3,937 prisoners would be set free is welcome news.

These prisoners are among the hundreds and thousands of people who have been randomly picked up and detained in the jails, which, as a former detainee, I can tell you, are hell on earth.

What prompted the rulers to let them free is unclear but the admission that they were all victims of army excesses is a shocking confession about the state of affairs. Coming as it did from the highest in the land; it appears to be a way of atoning for the wrong that was perpetrated on the innocent, though at least on the face of it no remorse is reflected in the decree.

It is for this reason that the decree will remain a reference point in the days ahead to the embarrassment of the junta. Mark the words in the announcement: “It is concluded the National Intelligence Bureau may have used irregular and improper means to put them into prison”.

We don’t know when these lucky ones will begin to breathe free, and, in fact, who these lucky ones are. Because, the broadcast was silent on these basic details.

A guess, rather surmise based on the past experience, is that the criminals may have more chance getting out of jail than the prisoners of conscience.

There is no denying that time is ripe for the Generals to think seriously of releasing all political prisoners and kick start the process of national reconciliation and reconstruction of the economy, which is in shambles.

If the army is sincere, it should release Burma’s Nobel laureate first and then free unconditionally some 1500 political activists who are languishing in jails.

Most of them have been put behind bars by the orders of Gen Khin Nyunt, who had headed the National Intelligence Bureau (NIB), besides being the prime minister of the country till very recently.

Nyunt himself is under house arrest now. And the NIB has been disbanded.

As I observed in my recent columns, the eclipse of Nyunt exposed the battle for supremacy among rival military factions. He obviously incurred the wrath of the Big Man, Senior General Than Shwe (the head of state). That was why he had to go.

More than that, his control of the border trade and drug trafficking channels in his capacity as the director general of Burma’s notorious Military Intelligence Service (MIS) made him neighbours envy.

Burma is the second largest opium producer in the world, after Afghanistan. And Opium trade, legal and illegal, is big money.

The MIS personnel have been acting like the mafia over the years and they have used its elite status to make unbelievable sums of money. The MIS corruption is particularly strong along the border areas where the daily income of a Sergeant far outstrips the pay of a mainstream infantryman.

In addition, smuggling of narcotic drugs by some ethnic groups, which have signed ceasefire deals with MIS, has reached such proportions that early this year, Thailand had threatened to erect a fence along the border to check drug trafficking.

Last September, the MIS directly crossed swords with the army by penetrating into their ‘business’ territories. Two intelligence officers, Maj. Kyi Zin and Maj. Kyaw Kyaw Naing, (who were directly under the charge of Brig. Gen. Myint Zaw, Chief of the Border Affairs Division at the MIS) have claimed that they had been instructed to raise funds for presidential campaign of Gen. Khin Nyunt.

While it is true that the Junta was planning a switch over to Presidential system by adopting a new constitution at a national convention, the calibrated efforts of Khin Nyunt and his cronies to mobilise men and money for a presidential campaign rang alarm bells in the quarter that mattered.

Some analysts aver that the September clamp down was also a result of senior army commanders desire to control the lucrative border trade with China. It may be true.

What ever be the inside tract, out went orders for a raid on a busy check post at Muse, on the border with China. Apparently, the powers that be wanted to use the raid as a test case.

And what they found and finally seized caused a big stir even when it is common knowledge that the Burmese generals are incredibly corrupt and have built their personal fortunes through smuggling rings.

It is said the soldiers seized huge quantities of gold bars, jade, pearls, foreign currencies and other valuables goods from Muse check post. Operation demolition was sent in motion and it was only after the ‘wealth shake-up’ was completed and the 20-year-old clandestine Khin Nyunt empire was demolished, the former prime minister was put under arrest on October 19, 2004.

Khin Nyunt operated several profitable businesses through his MIS. These ranged from karaoke bars to travel agencies and from newspapers and magazines to assortment of business enterprises, big and small.

Khin rivals are busy carving out the business empire of the ousted prime minister and his privileged cronies.

Junta’s strongman Than Shwe is understood to have decided to rid the MIS of the Khin Nyunt elements. So, business firms linked to the former prime minister have been shut down or made to suspend operations temporarily.

At least 17 journals and magazines went out of news paper stands after Khin Nyunt associates lost control of the Censorship Bureau.

According to a reliable source in Rangoon, the military regime has imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew in Kyauk-tan, the native town of the ousted Prime Minister since the first week of November.

The army men are removing posters and pictures of Khin Nyunt. Also removed are marble inscriptions on various buildings because Khin Nyunt's name appeared. Most of the closest relatives of the former MIS chief are living in the town and from the looks; it is a systematic operation of cracking down upon Khin Nyunt's grass roots supporters.

Gen. Thura Shwe Mann, Chief of Staff of armed forces, and Lt-Gen. Soe Win, who replaced Khin Nyunt, are vivying for the top jobs.

Diplomats in Rangoon believe that the man to be watched, however, is Vice Senior General Maung Aye. He is number two in the Junta and in effect, the real commander who is calling the shots.

There is reason to believe that the Senior General Than Shwe is planning to transfer power to ‘the next generation’ in the army. On his part he likes to switch his role to that of a President, once the Junta’s seven-point road map is implemented.

What this transition will mean to Burma? What are the chances of release of political prisoners?

Crystal gazing is difficult at best of times, and certainly in Burma. There may be some trade offs between the Senior General and the Vice Senior General in the matter of new appointments to the cabinet. That may not signal the slackening of army grip over the power structure.

In fact, the army may play the power games more assertively. It is easier playing the game without the Nobel laureate and her party.

But as I said at the outset, if the army is sincere and has the true interests of Burma at heart, it should do what the world expects of them - set free all political prisoners. Without much ado! And without much delay! This is the time for action.

Zin Linn is a freelance Burmese journalist who lives in exile. He is an executive member of the Burma Media Association, which is affiliated with Reporters Sans Frontiers, Paris.

A LIGHT OF HOPE FOR PEOPLE OF BURMA

2007-07-27T05:04:00.000-07:00

New Era Journal:15 June, 2006.

[In commemoration of the 60th Birthday of the people's charismatic leader ]
by - Zin Linn

People of Burma mark 19 June, the birthday of Nobel Peace Laureate and Burma's Democracy Icon Aung San Suu Kyi, as Women of Burma Day. On this June 19, 2005 is the Sixtieth Birthday of Burma's democratic leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. As Suu is the true blood of her father, Burma's National Hero General Aung San, she inherited the Union Spirit and the Traditional obligation for National Reconciliation Cause. Moreover, she earnestly shoulders the task of building a democratic Burma. She also gives up self-interests in order to fulfill the will of all ethnicities in Burma. That's why people recognize Suu as the Bearer of New Hope for Burma.

People from various countries who support democracy and human rights admire Suu as champion of non-violence school together with Martin Luther Kings Jr. (1964 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate) and Nelson Mandela (1993 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate).

People agree that Suu has lots of personality. She's a lady of the highest integrity. She has shown great perseverance in the face of extreme hardship. She has a concentrated mind at her targeted destination. She never allows space for depression and approaches the questions with optimism. She always keeps calm and avoids disappointment while facing harsh oppression.

One remarkable personality is that Suu used to welcome every challenge as an opportunity. To everybody's knowledge, she holds firm to her resolution and never fails to keep her words. In addition, it is her habit to respect time and never allows of time-wasting practice. As Suu has made up her mind to sacrifice her life for the benefits of her country, she's in no mood for thinking of self-congratulation. To stand on the side of justice and to defend on the side of the oppressed is her usual manner as well.

There are two exemplars, Mahatma Gandhi and her father General Aung San, in her life. From Gandhi she takes her commitment to nonviolence, from her father she takes the power of integrity that represented what she called a profound simplicity. Although she got the spiritual power from the two exemplars, she has her own political ideology that represents defending human rights and human dignity in a manner of fearless way.

Human being or man has his right to live in a free society as a dignitary. As a member of human society, everybody must have the right to be respected. In her famous book - Freedom from Fear - she expresses to be fearless as the core of her thought. She says that - It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it. Fearlessness is the best response to governmental violence. In conclusion she writes that "truth, justice and compassion are often the only bulwarks against ruthless power."

Suu often tells the people about fear that caused them to be victimized in the circle of evil life. She encourages the people to get rid of fear as possible as they can. She occasionally shows up of her fearlessness against the military regime, facing guns and bayonets that closely pointed to her while on her trip to grass roots folks. With such examples of courage, firmness and integrity, she becomes symbol of hope for people of Burma similar to her father and Mahatma Gandhi.

It may be the fact that people recognize Suu as their sole savior or the symbol of future Burma, the military junta has continuously disgraced the Nobel laureate by using all dirty tricks. But the regime cannot afford to blacken Suu's reputation and finally they committed a big crime at Dapeyin on 30 May 2003 known as Black Friday. It's a premeditated ambush or political assassination that targeted the National League for Democracy (NLD) and its leadership. But it was in vain for the supporters of the NLD sacrificed their lives defending their charismatic leader and Nobel Peace Laureate. So, it will be in vain for the regime to do away with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi who represents freedom, justice and equality in current Burma.

In the post cold war era, voice of calling for democracy and human rights has been strongly echoing in the main-stream of international politics. It may be a great pity to see that the military junta is still rowing their sinking boat loaded with military dictatorship against the democracy and human rights main-stream. As the generals put their faith in militarism, they do not have enough courage to listen the voice of freedom, justice and equality. They also dare not to face with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi who gets landslide victory in the 1990 General Election. The semi-dictators in the South-east Asia region, who are in the same sinking boat with the junta, also seem to be scared of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her slogan - '' Democracy must come first and foremost ahead of economic development ''.

According to Suu's political point of view, without democracy and basic human rights economic opportunities will not reach equally to all citizens but to the military elite and its cronies. In the absence of freedom, justice and equality, to build a nation's economic development may be a castle in the air. That's why the Nobel laureate of Burma demands to set up a democracy surroundings as a sign of sincerity toward the people.

In fact, the Burmese military dictators cannot afford detaining Daw Aung San Suu Kyi for so long if they do not get supports from the neighboring semi-dictatorial governments.

In other words, the region's anti-democratic leaders are worrying to see the Nobel laureate at the helm of the democratic Burma that may result the renaissance of democracy in the region. Then, she will be crowned as the region's ideological leader for democracy and human rights.

To my individual point of view, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi becomes not only a promising leader of the region but also a world-standard statesman admired by international community. As various parliaments, universities and institutions have conferred honorary awards and doctorates on her, we should recognize her as a prominent ‘statesman’ of the world today.

One outstanding program of the world body is campaign for the Eradication of Poverty. Eradication of absolute poverty and reduce overall poverty substantially in the world. The UN's goal is to reduce the proportion of people living on less than one dollar per day by one half by 2015 through decisive national action and strengthened international cooperation. But to achieve that goal, it is essential to strengthen of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. According to Suu, without these fundamental rights the campaign for Eradication of Poverty means nothing.

Holding such advance ideology and policy, Aung San Suu Kyi is rapidly establishing as an important figure in the world political stage. For that reason, people are going to honor and celebrate her sixtieth birthday as a magnificent event in every part of the globe. This glorious birthday ceremonies show that Aung San Suu Kyi does not only belong to Burma but also to the international community. In addition, the military junta can not neglect the fact of recognizing Suu as a charismatic leader of the country.

If the military dictators refuse to recognize the role of Suu in making of democratic Burma, the Statesmanship of the Nobel laureate will gain more influential power in the political arena. If the dictators tried their utmost to damage the reputation of Suu, it will reversely cause them of exposing their immorality. If the generals tried to disgrace her personality especially of her selflessness, the majority population will denounce the military. If the military regime failed to accept the tripartite dialogue offered by Suu and the NLD, it will bring down the regime together with their farce national convention.

To sum up, due to strong supports by the international democratic institutions all over the world, Suu's glorious sixtieth birthday ceremonies has been transforms into great political rallies that raise her image and dignity overwhelmingly. People of Burma are now too proud to possess a democratic leader like Aung San Suu Kyi. Moreover, Suu has been receiving more and more support from people who love democracy throughout the world. It makes the junta to be isolated more than ever. For instance, the emergence of Burma Parliamentary Caucus in some countries is an apparent progress. Subsequently, the Asean Inter-Parliamentarian Caucus on Democracy in Burma (AICD) was also established in Kuala Lumpur last year.

In reality, such political improvement has come into existence due to Suu's firm resolution. Without such a determined leader, there might not be a better future for Burma. Nevertheless, Burma has a better future under the leadership of a firm, brave, honest and selfless leader. To have such a leader is fortunate not only for Burma, but also for the Asean as well. People who are responsible as leaders of the Asean should not waste this fortune to be useless. It is truly important for them to support faithfully and unitarily the nonviolent political path rather than military's blood and iron policy. Being a democratic politician in the Asean institution, it is also important not to be selfish and narrow-minded searching for one's own country. Asean's political leaders should be fearless persons for genuine peace and prosperity of the region.

As Daw Aung San Suu Kyi represents freedom, justice and equality, people think of her as ‘the Light of Hope’ for future Burma. Asean as well as world leaders should respect the will of the Burmese people and support their new hope.

Burma: Respressive Manhunt in the Leadup to General Khin Nyunt's Road Map

2007-07-27T04:03:00.000-07:00

A Superintendent from the Directorate of Forestry was sentenced to death as he disclosed the true corruption story behind the dismissal of former Minister for Forestry, U Aung Phone

By Zin Linn
Mizzima News (www.mizzima.com)
January 7, 2003

Amazingly, the Burmese military junta has pronounced that it has made up its mind to build a democratic Burma. This will not fool the Burmese people long used to the junta saying one thing and doing another. In a country where thousands of prisoners are languishing in various jails and forced-labour camps, no one will believe words without action.

As every citizen of Burma knows, their country is consistantly on the black lists of organization such as the International Labour Organization (ILO) and Amnesty International (AI). So it's logical thinking by Burmese people that the army cannot afford to build a truly democratic nation without getting help from these international civilian institutions.

On 22 December 2003, following their second mission to Burma, an Amnesty International delegation called on the military junta to release all prisoners of conscience and stop arresting people for peacefully expressing a dissenting opinion. As BBC Bangkok correspondent Kylie Morris has reported, Amnesty International has warned there was a major contradiction between the fine words coming from Rangoon and what was happening in practice. Amnesty also warned that conditions have deteriorated in the country since their first visit.

One of the most serious concerns that Amnesty International has pointed out is to stop the use of repressive legislation to criminalize freedom of _expression and peaceful association. These laws date from the nineteenth century through to the present. Examples of their use in recent months include sentencing people for staging solitary protests or for discussing social and economic issues in personal letters. Authorities have continued arbitrary detention and intimidation and have created an atmosphere of fear and repression that will take more than rhetoric to dispel.

Even while Amnesty International called for legislative reforms on 24th December 2003, a Special Military Tribunal was assembled in Insein jail. U San Min, a Superintendent from the Directorate of Forestry, faced a lawsuit filed by the military authorities, and was sentenced to death. He had been put on trial because he disclosed the true corruption behind the dismissal of former Forestry Minister, U Aung Phone, in a letter to the United States Embassy. In addition, he also disclosed how the new Forestry Minister, Brigadier General Thein Aung, has often rebuked the United States and the National League for Democracy (NLD) with slanderous attacks in his speeches.

In addition to the death sentence, all of U San Min property has been confiscated. Even this has not satisfied the military authorities. His three children, who all work in the civil service, have been sacked without individually doing anything wrong in their respective offices. U San Min's eldest daughter had been working as a public servant in the Rangoon Division of the Directorate of Forestry.

Military authorities continue to commit institutionalised human rights abuse through the use of forced labour. In late December, residents of Twun-te township in Rangoon Division were ordered by the local authorities to rebuild streets and roads in front of their house-compounds and also to repair all old fencing and brick walls. Orders came directly from the township local authorities through the respective wardship administrative councils. All residents in the township were summoned and forced to sign written undertakings to comply with the instruction orders.

On 24th December 2003, Deputy Police Superintendent Myo Aye appeared in the East Kun-gyan Ward and arrested five residents without any lawful warrant for failure to comply with orders given by the local authorities. The five residents are Ko Sa Lun (son of U Sein), U Aung Sein (son of U Hla Khin), Ko Naing (U son of U Han Thoung), Ma Phyu Nu (daughter of U Tin U) and an individual from the Pyit-taing-daung Pawn Shop. Ma Phyu Nu is the mother of a one year old baby.

The above five were brought before a magistrate of the Twun-te Township Court on the 26th December and they were put into police lock-up as prisoners on remand.

According to local residents in Magwe Division, people are whispering in disgust with the MIS that three Buddhist monks from Maha-dhammika-yama Monastery in Magwe were put on arbitrary trial and sentenced to 27 years imprisonment each on 24 December 2003. The MIS accused the monks of being agitators by attempting to instigate a religious riot. The three monks are U Ottara, U Khemasara and U Kauthanla, all of whom study Buddhist scripture at the monastery. According to locals, even the spouse of the judge was disappointed with her husband who made a 'blundering fool of himself' by following the MIS instructions and sentencing the three monks.

At the same time, one Buddhist abbot, Venerable Ashin Verathu, was also charged with preaching propaganda messages against the military regime in downtown Mandalay and was sentenced to 27 years in December 2003. Cassette tapes of Venerable Ashin Verathu's preaching are spreading throughout the country.

Furthermore, two monks, whose titles are unknown, received 27 years imprisonment each during an arbitrary trial accusing them of taking initiative to start a religious riot in Myin-gyan, a major city in Mandalay Division. An analyst in Rangoon has reported that altogether 65 people, including monks, have been held in custody since last October. The military authorities have detained them not because of the religious conflict but under suspicion of being against the SPDC's 'road map'.

On 22 December 2003, the residences of eight members of the National League for Democracy (NLD) from Mandalay Division were raided by the Military Intelligence Service (MIS). A mobile-phone, approximately 300,000 Kyat in cash, books and papers were confiscated and the detainees were taken to an undisclosed location. Those detained in the raids include Daw Tin Myint (F), Ma Hninn Pa Pa Hlaing (F), U Than Win (M), U Win Kyi (M), U Myint Oo (M), U Hla Oo (M), U Hla Soe (M) and Ko Aung Aung (M). So far, family members have not been allowed to meet with the detainees. Three people from Rangoon that were not members of the NLD were also arrested during the same operation.

Most of the detainees were also victims of the Depayin premeditated attack on Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her supporters on 30 May 2003 had only been released very recently. The crackdown occurred shortly after the sixth visit of the UN Special Rapporteur, Professor Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, and the second visit by two Amnesty International (AI) representatives.

News of these latest arrests have spread like wildfire in Rangoon and the charged political atmosphere is affecting the general population who also have to shoulder the burden of high-priced daily consumer goods. As the junta's prime minister is pushing ahead his road map rather than dealing with people's daily problems, a negative view of what lies ahead is sneaking everywhere throughout the country.

As long as the manhunt being carried out by the Military Intelligence Service goes on, all the efforts for a true and constructive national convention will be in vain. All hopes for national reconciliation will not materialise in the near future if the current situation continues.

Ms. Catherine Baber, Amnesty's deputy director for Asia, has called on the international community to keep up the pressure for concrete action to match the rhetoric emanating from the Burmese military regime.

Who encourages the Burmese junta to violate human rights?

2007-07-27T03:42:00.000-07:00

Date : 2004-06-30

Asian Tribune
By Zin Linn

Most people in Rangoon have applauded the European Union's clear-cut decision on principle towards the ASEAN that determined the fate of the military controlled Government of Burma. Burmese people feel dissatisfied with the ASEAN's lopsided engagement policy as furthering the military regime rather than a fair deal. Moreover, the ASEAN leaders stand for their own interests and neglect the democratic principles.

Two scheduled meetings between EU and Asian finance ministers in the coming months have been cancelled amid EU’s objections to the participation in the Talks the military ruled Burma for the junta’s repeated human rights violations. The decision to cancel the talks has caused acrimony between the EU and the ASEAN that make up the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM).

Malaysia is criticizing the European Union for canceling meetings with Asian economic and finance ministers because of the inclusion of Burma’s military junta, calling the decision ‘counter-productive’. "Just because they are dissatisfied with one country, it should not cause a meeting to be abandoned or canceled, that sort of thing is not very productive," Malaysia’s Foreign Minister Seri Syed Hamid Albar told reporters.

He also said that Malaysia believed in its policy of "constructive engagement" with Burma as a measure that would be more successful in promoting democratic reform in the country than any harsher stance.

But it's a pity that the ASEAN countries including Malaysia cannot read the inner mind of the Burmese senior general, who never consider of political reform but to maintain a status quo.

If ASEAN possessed a genuine reasoning power, it would clearly know the reality that a 15-year period was more than enough to carry out reforms. Instead, Burmese military regime is repeatedly claiming towards the emergence of a disciplined-flourishing democratic nation or military-controlled country through its 7-stage road map which foes not receive any popular support. That obviously means military manipulated convention will be held by fair or foul means.

The ongoing the ‘name-sake’ national convention, which was the first step of the junta's 7-stage road map, reconvened on 17 May after an 8-year lapse is a comical circus – a make-believe endeavor. The key question was when the junta failed to accommodate the major political party, led by Aung San Suu Kyi, then the Burma’s second-largest pro-democracy party, Shan National League for Democracy, chose not to attend the so called national convention. The other important ethnic political parties in the United Nationalities Alliance (representing the Shan, Karen, Kachin, Chin, Arakan, Mon and Karenni ethnic groups) have also declared that in the absence of the NLD, they too will not attend.

The military regime itself has admitted in its 1/90 declaration, dated the 27th July 1990, that one of the clause stipulated in the drafting of the Constitution of the Country is the responsibility of the representatives-elect in the 1990 elections. According to 1/90, all elected representatives in the 1990 elections have the right to participate in the national convention, through which mechanism the constitution has to be drawn. But, the current junta's convention has dismissed approximately 400 members of parliament elected in 1990 General Elections and out of the 485 members of parliament, 79 had passed away as of May 17, 2004.

So, according to average Burmese people, the convention is an alienated process which is going on without either the people's approval or mandate.

The European Union has made it clear that it will exert pressure on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to exclude the Burmese junta from the ASEM Summit in October. European Commission President Romano Prodi reiterated the European Union's call for democracy in Burma dated 22 June 2004, while explaining the cancellations of meetings with its Asian partners.

"On the European Union side, there is a principle that we work for the respect of democracy, human rights, minorities, and this is the criteria that we use for our relations with all other people," Prodi said in a joint press conference following a summit with the Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.

In a foreign ministerial meeting earlier this month, the European Union canceled two ASEM sessions, one of finance ministers that had been scheduled for 06 July in Brussels and the other of economic ministers meeting scheduled in mid-September, in The Hague, over the inclusion of the Government of Burma's military junta.

Actually, it is the responsibility of the ASEAN which used to say applying constructive engagement it believes in taming of the rouge regime may succeed. So, Burma's current situation is proved that ASEAN has to find ways and means to get out of the miserable position. ASEAN must confess that its practice of unconditional engagement has only served encouraging the military regime to commit further acts of oppression upon its own people. In doing so, the organization itself has disempowered and weakened its own capacity. The ASEAN should take into cognizance the uncivilized nature of the Burma's junta.

If ASEAN has a good memory, it should remember what the UN has strongly urged the junta.

Guided by the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenants on Human Rights and other human rights instruments, the United Nations General Assembly has been urging strongly the military rulers in Burma to restore democracy and implement the results of the 1990 elections during its sixtieth session in April 2004.

The UN urges the military regime to ensure that the contacts with Aung San Suu Kyi and other leaders of the National League for Democracy move without delay into substantive and structured dialogue towards democratization and national reconciliation. It also urges that at an early stage the regime has to include other political leaders in these talks, including the representatives of the ethnic groups.

Moreover, the UN has repeatedly urged the Burma's regime to end the systematic violations of human rights in Burma and to ensure full respect for all human rights and fundamental freedom. The world body has also told the generals to facilitate and cooperate fully with an independent international investigation of charges of rapes and other civilian abuses carried out by members of the armed forces throughout the country.

To release unconditionally and immediately all political prisoners has become an annual usual call to the regime by the United Nations General Assembly for more than a decade.

But the rogue regime always turns a deaf ear to the voice of the United Nations.

Defying decisions made by the United Nations General Assembly, Burma's military junta continues to rule the country with a rod of iron. It is hard to understand why the ruling generals maintain such a harsh and inhumane stance that caused the country isolated from the international community. The junta should know that genuine democratic reform is the only way for Burma to gain economic recovery through international recognition.
According to people's remarks, the ASEAN is the culprit who encouraged the junta to launch the ongoing national convention unilaterally. The ASEAN backed convention is not a solution for Burma but a design to continue with the army rule in the country.

That's why majority populace of Burma welcomes the EU's decision to cancel two upcoming meetings with Asian finance and economics ministers, casting doubt on an ASEM summit scheduled for October in Vietnam. The EU has long complained about Burmese junta’s crackdown on the democratic opposition party which won landslide in 1990 General Elections but was blocked to organize a parliament by the junta.

Burmese people are very disappointed with the ASEAN of encouraging the Burmese military regime to violate human rights as well as the laws of the civilized world. Without ASEAN's support, the junta has no courage to challenge the UN's decisions. If the ASEAN does not go along with the UN's Burma decisions, the military ruled country will be changed into a regional threat that raised a lot of questions such as - drugs, human trafficking, prostitution, HIV/AIDS, refugee and mass migration etc.

Burma is going to take the ASEAN chair in 2006. The ruling generals call the current constitutional forum the first step toward the democratization of Myanmar, but critics call it a "sham and farce." It is an appropriate description because any constitutional talks that exclude opposition parties, most notably the NLD and SNLD, are meaningless.

Before Burma could disgrace the ASEAN, it should be tamed and harnessed at any cost. ASEAN should reconsider the whole course on Burma and especially, it should not be an advocate of a rouge state.

- Asian Tribune - http://www.asiantribune.com/oldsite/show_article.php?id=1571

The Biggest Forced Labour Camp in the World

2007-07-27T03:21:00.000-07:00

By Zin Linn

 
Now, the military authorities are claiming that they are working  towards democracy - this must be a fantasy. How can authorities, who are so  afraid to grant basic democratic rights to people, build or construct democracy.  The fact is that the present military authorities are in great fear of people  power. Their minds seem to be set on the idea that only by keeping the people  crushed and subjugated can they exist. Such people can never construct  democracy.

Aung San Suu Kyi 
It is regrettable that some people from the international community still  consider the Burmese generals as the only caucus capable of preserving the peace  and prosperity of the nation. They also advocate lifting sanctions currently  imposed on the generals' junta. The reason they give is that sanctions cannot  solve the deadlock between the opposition and the military dictators. Moreover,  sanctions hurt the citizens' interests but not the generals'. 
But why do these people easily forget the misdeeds of the military regime.  
In the last decade the military authorities have launched a series of  crackdowns on the National League for Democracy (NLD) using the available means  in crooked and cunning ways. The NLD won over 80 percent of the parliamentary  seats in the May 1990 elections. Yet the NLD has not been allowed to form a  legal government. Instead hundreds of its members have been imprisoned or  detained for their peaceful political activities, and tens of thousands have  been forced to resign from the League. Anyone who refuses to abandon the NLD, or  other opposition parties, faces a series of social and economic blockades, such  as being denied access to the government's health care centres and hospitals. If  someone from an NLD member's family passes away, the military agents threaten  the public to stay away from the funeral. So, it is the junta that imposes  sanctions, without sympathy, on NLD members and pro-NLD civilians.
In addition, the NLD's offices throughout the country were shut down by force  to silence any opposition and keep the population in a state of fear. Freedom of  expression and assembly has been completely denied by the junta until now. The  year 2000 brought even more repression of peaceful political opposition. For the  time being, NLD leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and many other NLD MPs and members  have been held under arrest due to their peaceful activities. 
The junta has also arrested hundreds of students for their political  activities against militarism. The 1988 pro-democracy movement was led by  students, who have traditionally been at the forefront of political struggle in  Burma. Although thousands of student activists fled to neighboring countries  after the military seized power on September 18, 1988, others continue the  struggle inside the country. They have been subjected to the same fate as the  NLD and other opposition party members who were arrested unlawfully. 
There are about 1800 political prisoners according to Amnesty International's  2001 Report. Political prisoners are at risk of torture with every minute in the  hands of Military Intelligence personnel (MI). They are also vulnerable to  torture and ill-treatment after sentencing, when they can be punished for  breaking arbitrary prison rules or rules contained in the jail manual, such as  possessing writing paper. Moreover, authorities use criminal prisoners to work  in labor-intensive camps, breaking up stones in quarry mines or constructing  roads. Conditions are so harsh that several thousands have reportedly died due  to persecution, overwork, and lack of nourishment and medical care. 
Once, in 1982 during the reign of the Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP),  I was sentenced to two years imprisonment under security Act 5 ( j ). There,  unexpectedly, I met one of my classmates, a junior jail officer, who just came  back from a labor-intensive camp situated on the Rangoon-Mandalay New Highway  Project. As he was a pious Buddhist, he regretted what he had done to carry out  the project. According to his narration, the police, the courts and the prison  authorities are instructed to join together in finding more prisoners to use as  unskilled laborers on the highway projects and quarries. 
In Burmese language these prisoners are called ye-bet. Due to hard labor,  inhumane treatment, persecution, lack of basic needs and medical care the death  toll of ye-bets is terribly high. The junior prison-officer told me that secret  prison- reports to the interior minister stated " Between 1972 and 1982 the  average death toll of ye-bets was as many as 20,000." 
In 1991, I was accused of having connections with the NCGUB and was sentenced  by Military Court No.2 to serve 7 years imprisonment. I was taken to cellblock 4  (short) in Insein Prison along with other prisoners of conscience. 
We, the political prisoners, had some knowledge of the other ordinary  prisoners who arrived constantly each day. We received confidential information  from the wardens who sympathized with our situation. The criminal prisoners, who  were assigned to perform cleaning works in the cell-compound, also told us  first-hand, their experiences as ye-bets. We gathered information routinely. We  exchanged this data with our fellow political prisoners. We assumed it was our  duty to count the prisoners that came in and also those that went out to the  labor-intensive camps, on a daily basis. Most of us, the prisoners of  conscience, had spent over four years in the notorious Insein Prison and had  become familiar with prison practice. Some of us were good at analytical  appraisal. Learning facts from reliable people, we were able to make a good  estimate on the flow of new prisoners. 
There were about 1200 to 1500 new pisoners coming into Insein Prison every  day. At the end of the each day, the prison authorities had to create an exact  prisoners' list. Every day the total number of prisoners would always exceed  12,000 - excluding the prisoners sent to the remote labor-intensive camps. At  least 1000 prisoners a week were being sent to those hellish camps. There was a  period of a month where this figure increased to 5000 yet, amazingly, the daily  total remained above 12,000.What was going on in those days? 
We, the prisoners of conscience, were always alert to the chance of  collecting information from ordinary prisoners, as well as wardens. Most wardens  came to their duty-post without carrying a lunch-box. They had to ask for their  meals from the political prisoners. We were able to provide them with some  preserved food, given to us by our families when they visited. For this reason  the wardens gave us all of their information. We received stories on everything  from the chief jail-master's adultery to a series of corruption scandals  involving MI. So, getting the daily roll of the incoming prisoners was easy.  
There are over 40 townships in the Rangoon Municipality area. Every police  station must send detainees to the Insein Prison as a daily routine at dusk. On  average, each police station sends about 30 detainees. In this way, every  evening, there are over 1200 names in the jail register-book. Within a week or  two, a respective court sentences each detainee. They get a minimum of six  months to a maximum of three years even if they haven't committed a crime. At  the trial, the judge tells them frankly that if they refuse to confess their  guilt, the sentence will be doubled. The judge also tells them that the top  brass generals who make the decisions. Under such conditions, the detainee has  no choice but to accept the sentence. Such summary courts are unacceptable in a  civilized society. According to their stories, most of the detainees are  arrested while on their way to work. Some are arrested on weekends while in  their own homes, having committed no crime. The only mistake they have made is  to not go along with the followers or informers of the MI. 
The MI accuses the detainees of breaking criminal code 54 or 13 (d). Code 54  allows the arrest of a person under suspicion of committing a crime. Code 13(d)  allows the detention of a person who stays or hides in the darkness of night.  Due to a long period of martial law most people are afraid to go outside at  nighttime. The truth is, under these laws, people who are reluctant to support  the regime have to face such a fate. 
There is an example of one U Ba Tu , who lived in South Dagon satellite town.  He was a daily-wage earner in a teashop. As a father of three he had to work 12  hours a day to support his family. However, he made some mistakes. Firstly, he  supported Daw Aung San Suu Kyi wholeheartedly. Secondly, he would not  participate in a labor contributing ceremony that was to build a road in his  township. Thirdly, he refused to enlist in the Union Solidarity and Development  Association (USDA), a pro-junta 'Non-Government Org- anisation.' Moreover, he  refused to offer a cash-donation to the USDA, which was known as an MI  informant. 
Early one morning, on the way to work, he was arrested under code 54. At the  trial, he told the judge sincerely that he hadn't committed any wrongdoing. The  other detainees at the same court were each sentenced to one-year imprisonment.  He got double. 
Another example is a farmer who lived in Kayan, a township in Rangoon  Division. He lived with his family in their farmhouse. His mistake was failing  to appear at a labor- contributing scheme to dig an irrigation canal. The order  was for every farmer on the village track to contribute free labor to the  irrigation scheme for a month, without any financial assistance. Those who  failed to participate in the scheme were arrested and sentenced to one-year  imprisonment with hard labor. During his arrest, the police seized some of his  livestock illegally. In this way, the police became a gang of robbers with a  license.
A great number of lower class citizens are victimized under the junta's  man-hunting scheme and the prisons inside Burma are crowded with innocent  people. 
Why has the junta launched such a violent man-hunting scheme? It is a very  interesting question. Most Burmese nationals know the answer very well. The  junta, in trying to deceive the international community into believing their  administration is noble-mined, has built roads, bridges, railways, airports,  dams, irrigation and even religious buildings. They have accomplished a great  deal of infrastructure. What they hope for in return is to be recognized as a  legitimate government and for current for sanctions to be lifted. 
But they can't see they have made a careless mistake. They have built this  infrastructure with the lives of a great number of forced laborers. Actually,  the junta's man-hunting scheme is nothing less than the conscription of an  enormous mass of forced labor. 
The police forces have become man-hunting units and the courts and judges are  willing supporters of this infrastructure-building program. The prison-officers  and the wardens are the drivers of this forced labor machine. Without adding  small camps and branches there are over 300 labor-intensive camps holding  innocent prisoners. Like Jewish- internment camps under the Nazis, many  prisoners are treated as though they are animals. 
The most deadly camps are at quarry mines. One notorious camp is near the  Sittaung river bridge and is known as Taung-zun quarry site. According to a  reliable source, Thein Tun who was the jail master at Taung-zun quarry may have  come straight from the 'devil's hell'. He has committed many extra-judicial  killings, with one of his assistant officers, Tint Swe, as his accomplice. Both  wardens and prisoners know his assistant as Dah Tint Swe. Dah in Burmese  language is a sword or dagger. Tint Swe has killed many prisoners with his Dah.  When a prisoner's health deteriorates seriously, Tint Swe orders his wardens to  drag the man behind the bushes, not far from the quarry, where he takes the  prisoner's life with his Dah. 
There are 11 units in the camp and a unit is formed with120 inmates. They  have to wake up at 4 a.m. and clean themselves within 30 minutes. But, even  though they are not far from the Sit-taung River, the inmates can't get enough  water. Breakfast is just a mug of ordinary boiled-rice. They arrive at the  quarry no later than 5 a.m. and they have to work for the whole day until 9 p.m.  Their tasks include dynamiting the rocky mountain, hammering the heavy rocks  into small pieces, carrying the huge mass of rocks and then loading the  carriages on the railway line. The stones are then sent for use at every kind of  construction site including highway building. Prisoners are not allowed to walk  slowly. Everyone has to work quickly and they're allowed to urinate only once  for the whole day. If a prisoner is exhausted and slows down, every whip and  stick is ready for him. A unit of prisoners is required to produce up to 25  tonnes of the small stones per day. 
However, under Thein Tun, they actually had to produce twice this amount.  Thein Tun was openly selling the extra 25 tonnes to private contractors for a  daily income of more than two million kyats. According to the reliable source,  Thein Tun was giving one million kyats to the then home minister, every month,  in order to keep his dealings secret. So evidence of the extra-judicial killings  has been buried along with the dead. 
Min Khin was a prisoner who fled from the Taung-zun camp but was recaptured  and put into a cell wearing iron-shackles. He also told us of his experiences.  
Every morning in each barrack there is at least one inmate who never wakes  up. There are 11 barracks so the first event one has to face in the morning is a  mass burial. Lack of nutritious food, fresh water and medical treatment are not  the only causes of a prisoner's death, there are other brutal persecutions. 
In one case, a fellow prisoner was seriously sick and couldn't eat anything.  Thein Tun saw this and prepared a table filled with rice and delicious curries,  placed it before the sick prisoner and ordered him to eat. But he couldn't even  move his hand. Thein Tun told the sick man that if he didn't want to eat the  meal he would use it to feed his dogs. After that the jail-master fed the  delicious food to his dogs in front of the suffering prisoner. Then he told his  wardens to drag the man into the bushes and ordered Dah Tint Swe to follow after  them. 
According to Min Khin, many prisoners commit suicide due to the strain of  hard labor as well as the brutal treatment. This is usually carried out by  throwing oneself under a lorry or train. Some choose to dive from the  mountaintop onto the rocky ground below. Min Khin said the monthly death toll at  the quarry was nearly 300. But no-one in autho- rity notices the rocketing death  toll because all of the prison authorities get a regular share of the bribe. If  one prisoner ceases to be, two more can be found to fill the void. "They don't  care about human life!'' exclaimed Min Khin. "The worst thing is every prisoner  has to suffer this in iron-shackles like a beast!" 
There are numerous prisons and labor-intensive camps throughout Burma. There  are numerous infrastructure construction sites in Burma. How many tonnes of  stone do they need for these construction sites? How can anyone believe that the  value of this stone is equal to the value of a human being's soul? 
There was another ye-bet who fled from the Zin-kyeik labor-intensive camp, in  Mon State, to the Thai-Burma border in mid-July 2001. His name was Ko Kyaw Lwin,  of Pa- an township, and he was sentenced to 7 years, accused of having  connections to the rebels. He was sent to the notorious Zin-kyeik camp, which is  also a quarry site. There are always about 2500 ye-bets working under harsh  conditions at this site. Just like Taung-zun , the prison-authorities treat the  prisoners without sympathy. The working hours are from 4 a.m. to 9 p.m. and the  meals consist of rice with a mediocre, salty fish-paste and a so-called  'vegetable soup'. But, no one ever gets enough rice. 
They hammer the huge rocks into small pieces and are then forced to carry the  stones long distances to load the lorries on the highway. Every one must work  quickly, every minute. Lunchtime is always around 2 or 3 p.m. and there is never  any time for breaks. Work Finishes at 9 p.m. and the prisoners are then allowed  to bathe in the muddy water of a small pond. Dinner is at 9:30pm, and they are  ordered to sleep at 10 p.m. 
Every morning, at least one or two ye-bets never wake up again. There is no  physician or medicine, neither holiday nor rest. That is why the death toll at  Zin-kyeik is always high. If a prisoner tries to escape he is shot dead. Do not  dream of finding sympathy at Zin-kyeik ye-bet camp. According to Ko Kyaw Lwin,  many atrocities and extra-judicial killings have been committed by the  prison-authorities. Therefore, the Zin-kyeik labor-intensive camp is fresh  evidence of forced-labor and human rights abuses by the State Peace and  Development Council (SPDC). At such a terrible moment, Japan's decision to  resume its Overseas Development Assistance is likely to give added support to  militarism in Burma. It is also against the will of the Nobel Laureate, Daw Aung  San Suu Kyi, and the majority of Burmese people.
Japan ought to participate in a concerted effort along side the EU and the US  in raising genuine dialogue between the junta and the opposition parties. It is  regrettable that some governments and organizations have an attitude of leaning  towards and accepting the Myanmar Generals' rule. 
This attitude is not shared by Bill Jordan, Secretary-General of the  International Confederation of Trade Unions (ICFTU). The ICFTU is made up of 216  trade unions from 145 countries. Mr. Jordan spoke at an international teachers'  conference in Bangkok on July 25 this year. 
''Burma is the biggest labor camp in the world,'' he said. "Despite the  junta's claims that it is working to wipe out forced labor, the practice has not  dimnished in any way at all. Any serious investigation would show that the  pronounced initiatives are cosmetic measures for international consumption and  haven't touched the people of Burma.''
  

The Unknown Story of the Twenty Four

2007-07-27T03:06:00.000-07:00

Freedom of Press Movement in Insein Prison 1992-1996
By Zin Linn

Education is the most powerful guardian of a civilization. It is the sole vehicle by which priceless treasures of former generations are carried to the present. It is the mighty force that propels the knowledge of human beings into the IT age and beyond.

All leading cells of society know this very well. Therefore many far-sighted nations have decided to invest heavily in education to protect their bright futures. But some foolish regimes intentionally crack down on educational institutions. They also suppress the students and people who thirst for knowledge.

The State Law and Order Restoration Council (S.L.O.R.C) or State Peace and Development Council (S.P.D.C) of Burmar is a regime of this kind. Under the regime most of the colleges and universities have been sent to the outskirts of cities. The thoughtless junta even recognizes students and people as their enemies or destructive elements.

They inherited this concept from their godfather, the notorious Gen. Ne Win, who declared war on students after the July 7 massacre in 1962. From that day on, students have been under severe suppression and, in some cases, have not been allowed to further their studies.

The junta has systematically ruined the education system, blocking every progressive book and periodical from appearing in Burma. They pay particular attention to any material published in the West. That is why a series of student uprisings have broken out from time to time in Burma. That is also why prisons in Burma are crowded with prisoners of conscience.

Under British colonial rule, prisoners were allowed to read and write while in custody. However, the Myanmar military dictators strictly prohibit this practice in their prisons. They don't even allow a scrap of packing-paper to exist within the cell confines. If a piece of paper is found in the hand of a prisoner he is made to wear iron-shackles and is put into solitary confinement for 3 months.

But we, the political prisoners of Insein Prison, were just like people who lost their way in the desert and were thirsting for water. We thirsted for knowledge, as well as outside news, in that desert-like prison. At last, we made up our minds to take the risk of quenching our thirst.

It was in the middle of December 1992. We, the political prisoners of Insein Jail, had heard that a so-called 'National Convention' was going to be held in January of the following year. Some of the prisoners of conscience welcomed the National Convention but many strongly opposed it. So we all decided to run the risk of getting more detailed information on this conference.

Everybody agreed we should persuade the wardens to accommodate our needs. In short, at the start of the National Convention ( 9th January 1993), we received the Mirror Daily Newspaper with the help of a warden. At that time, there were over 1000 political prisoners in the notorious Insein Jail and over 500 of them were prisoners of conscience.

There are six cellblocks in the cell compound of the prison. No.1 cellblock consists of 14 cells or rooms. No.2 consists of 60 cells. No.3 has 14 cells. No.4 (long) has 18 cells and 4 (short) has 12 cells. No.5 is made up of 22 cells and No. 6 has 10 cells. So, there are 150 cells altogether. Each cell measures 8.5' x 11.5'.

There is also a special cell-compound and a dog-cell compound. Each comprises 10 cells. Special cellblock is very special. Every cell is 12' x12' in area and contains a bathroom with a toilet. However, each cell has two iron-doors covered with iron-grilles.

There are also some cottages for VIPs, such as ex-generals and ministers. The special cell-compound also houses the main interrogation bureau of the Military Intelligence service (MI). There, prisoners of conscience are brutally tortured by MI personnel. Most of the political prisoners suffer inhumane treatment and persecution within this special cell-compound.

We initiated discussions so that everyone, as well as every party, could assist each other in getting organized for the future struggle. We believed that unity alone would safeguard and secure our aim for the restoration of democracy. That is why we knew that we shouldn't fail to keep up to date on outside political developments.

For this reason, members from NLD, DPNS, ABSDF, ABFSU, KNU, CPB and individual politicians exchanged opinions and agreed to cooperate for the common cause. The result appeared as a Joint-Action Committee (JAC).

Under the JAC there were 5 sub-committees:

The Committee to Protect Political Prisoners' Rights (CPPPR)
The Committee for Convening Political Ceremonies (CCPC)
The Media & Information Committee (MIC)
The Hand-written Periodicals Producing Committee (HPPC)
The Medical Assistance Committee (MAC).

The MIC cooperated with the HPPC in delivering periodicals throughout the cell-compound. The two committees smuggled journals, magazines, papers and writing materials into the prison. Eventually, the MIC also succeeded in getting two 8-band pocket size radios. The two committees then cooperated in collecting news from the radio and managed to produce a weekly news bulletin. In this way we got updates from Time & Newsweek as well as Burmese newspapers and periodicals. Then we could exchange our political outlooks through hand-written magazines, such as The Tidal Wave, The New Blood Wave and other annual issues. Moreover the MIC and HPPC took on the task of submitting a report on human rights abuses in prisons to the UN. So, they collected radio-news and recorded firsthand accounts of other prisoners, as well as from the wardens.

Every weekend, the jail authorities assigned the prisoners who were not given a sentence by a law-court to forced labor in prison. Some of them were sent to our cell-compound to do cleaning works. As the JAC had directed us, we tried to gather fresh outside news from these prisoners. Sometimes we came across NLD members. Then we persuaded the warden in charge of our cell-compound to give us an opportunity to chat with these people. In this way we often received important, up-to-date news on the political situation.

Thus, all of us were able to participate in a concerted effort to raise the democracy movement inside Burma-despite being behind the walls of Insein Prison. This was achieved, in the most part, by the MIC & HPPC and their success in overcoming the news and information blackout in the notorious Insein Jail. If we didn't overcome this blackout, most of the political prisoners might have become depressed and lost sight of their political destination. So, the journalistic activity of the MIC & HPPC was an essential service for our comrades and the democratic cause.

Each sub-committee had done well in its respective sector. We were now able to put forward our political attitude of opposing the fake National Convention and show our support for the initiation of dialogue between Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the junta.

All of our comrades were able to thoroughly study the proceedings of the fake National Convention with the assistance of the MIC. We wrote our opinion or commentaries on plastic sheets and exchanged them with each other. At last we reached common ground. We all agreed that the National Convention was indeed a fake and 'just for show' because out of the 702 delegates only 99 were elected members of parliament. Besides, some were from ceasefire groups suspected of being involved in drug trafficking.

The worst thing was the junta itself had written the draft constitution. There were six major objectives in the draft. The sixth objective said that 25 % of the parliament's seats must be filled by military representatives, chosen by the chief of staff. That would mean the whole nation accepted the junta's coup as legitimate. So we, prisoners of conscience, made a decision to notify the NLD delegates of our belief that they should walk out on the sham that was the national convention. Eventually we composed a consensus paper requesting the NLD to refuse to take part in the farcical convention. We smuggled out the consensus paper and a petition of nearly 200 signatures. We heard later that one of the outside NLD members submitted the paper to the NLD chairman.

We could encourage each other to surmount the hardship and tortures of Insein Prison with the help of the JAC. We managed to achieve some success in defying the prison-authorities' oppression. The CPPPR took on this role of defying the authorities' unjust orders. Every prisoner of conscience will remember the committee's historic endeavors forever.

The MAC even managed to smuggle medicines and disposable syringes into the prison cells. Dr Zaw Myint Maung and Dr Myint Naing took responsibility for administering medical treatment and were successful in treating minor surgical cases.

The most important accomplishment was achieved with all 5 committees cooperating to collect data on human rights abuses in the junta's prisons. After collecting the information, a report was finally finished by the famous Hantharwaddy U Win Tin, former editor of the Hantharwaddy Newspaper. It was then sent to Mr. Yozo Yokota, the UN Special Rapporteur for Burma, on July 15, 1995.

The report was a great blow to the junta. So, with severe anger, the prison-authorities and MI commenced a vigorous investigation to uncover those who took leadership roles in smuggling out the human rights report. They eventually got the upper hand with the help of a traitor and ex-sergeant, Tin Win from Thongwa Township. The whole network then fell into the hands of the MI in November 1995.

After 6 months of investigation, using severe methods of torture, 24 out of 37 inmates were accused of taking part. A so-called 'court' summarily sentenced the 24 political prisoners to further imprisonment on 28 March 1996.

All of these 24 prisoners of conscience actively cooperated to show their democratic-spirit. They especially fought for the right of freedom of expression. The junta has taken harsh action upon all of them but it can't destroy their journalistic heart and soul. People throughout the country have heard their story and show their sympathy, recognizing their courage and determination as a marvelous defiance of the infamous junta. These men accomplished a great victory under the most inhumane military dictators.

The 24 prisoners of conscience deserve a genuine honor. The valiant 24 achieved the unthinkable for a genuine democratic cause and freedom of expression in the most notorious of Burmese prisons. Their names deserve to be inscribed in an historical record book as an example to others.

The world today is actively calling for Globalization and moving rapidly into an Information Technology Era. Yet the Burma military dictators are trying to pull the Burmese people backwards. They are still trying in vain to close the eyes and ears of the people. They are enemies of education and wisdom - and their own people. They think by using a palm-leaf they can easily protect themselves against a thunderbolt. What nonsense! Nobody can afford harnessing history to run backwards.None of these supermen can halt the IT Revolution. We are convinced that the junta will be shocked at the great power of the Internet society.

Prisoners of conscience who received additional imprisonments for their involvement in the freedom of press movement are as follows: See details.

U Win Tin
U Win Tin, 72, is a prominent journalist and a founding leader of the NLD. He is also a famous writer, editor and critic. He was arrested on July 4, 1989, during a comprehensive crackdown on the NLD and other opposition parties. He has been sentenced three times. He was originally sentenced to 3 years and since then has received additional sentences of 10 years and 7 years. His total imprisonment will be 20 years with hard labour.

Born on March 12, 1930, U Win Tin received a B.A.degree in English Literature, Modern History and Political Science from the University of Rangoon. In 1953 he became assistant editor of the Burma Translation Society. From 1954 to 1957 he was a consultant editor of Djambartan Publishing Co.(Netherlands). He then became the executive editor of the Mirror Daily in Rangoon and held this position from 1957 to 1969. In 1969 he took on the role of chief editor at the Hantharwaddy Daily in Mandalay until 1978. In 1988 uprising he was vice chairman of the Writers' Association.

U Win Tin was the leading activist in the cell-compound news & information movement. While in prison he has suffered from heart attacks, spondylitis, hernia and also sight and dental problems. Although the junta has tried to change his ideology he stands firmly on the side of democracy. He received UNESCO's Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Award in 2001.

Dr Zaw Myint Maung
Dr Zaw Myint Maung, 48, won a seat in Parliament in the 1990 Election for the NLD. He is the MP for Amarapura Township in Mandalay division. He was arrested for participating in the forming of a provisional government and was sentenced to serve 25 years imprisonment in November 1990.

Dr Zaw Myint Maung was a leading activist in the prison movement and was a brave and active member of Insein Prison's CPPPR as well as the MIC. He is a qualified writer and poet. He is also a very reliable physician and was a member of the MAC in our cell-compound. His work in both fields resulted in two separate sentences: 7 years for code 5(J) and 5 years for panel code 6. His total additional sentence was 12 years. He is now in the Myitkyina Prison.

Dr Myint Naing
Dr Myint Naing, 49, is an elected member of parliament from the 1990 election. His constituency is the Kantbalu Township, which lies in the Sagaing division. He was arrested in November 1990 together with Dr Zaw Myint Maung for forming a provisional government and also received 25 years imprisonment.

Dr Myint Naing contributed his political memoirs in the Tidal Wave magazine, which was published in the cell-compound. He was also a committee member of the CPPPR as well as the MAC. He took responsibility for being a staff editor of the Tidal Wave and was sentenced to an additional 5 years for panel code 6. He is now in Thayet prison, middle Burma.

Kyaw Min Yu
Kyaw Min Yu, (aka) Jimmy, is a member of the DPNS Central Executive Committee and was arrested in 1989. At that time he was only 19 years old. He received 20 years imprisonment.

Kyaw Min Yu was the most active member of the MIC and was responsible for smuggling the 8-band radios into the cells. He wrote many articles about the 1988 students strike, which appeared in the periodicals published in Insein. He was sentenced to 7 years for code 5(J) and 5 years for code 6, totaling 12 years. He is now serving his 32 year sentence in the Tharawaddy Prison.

Myat Tun
Myat Tun, 36, is an NLD Executive Committee member of Kamaryut Township in Rangoon division. He was a 3rd year university student, majoring in Burmese, when charged in connection with the Democratic Alliance of Burma and sentenced to 8 years.

He was responsible for listening to the radio, with earphones, at night. He shared this task with Jimmy and they both took notes. They sent the notes to Myo Myint Nyein who was in room 17 of 4 (long) cellblock.

Myat Tun wrote poems and literary reviews in the Yangon University Annual Magazine. He also wrote satirical short-plays in the Tidal Wave and other issues, which were produced in Insein, and received 7 years imprisonment for this work. He is now in Myingyan Prison.

Thet Min Aung
Thet Min Aung, 35, was arrested in early 1991 for possessing arms and was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment. He is a member of the ABSDF.

Thet Min Aung was an MIC executive member and successfully managed to smuggle papers and writing materials into prison. His duty was to deliver the news bulletins and hand-written magazines to the inmates in cellblock 3. He actively participated in the news and information movement in prison. Moreover, he was chosen as the ABSDF's representative in the CPPPR. Due to his participation in this committee, he was charged with panel code 6 and sentenced to an additional 5 years imprisonment. He is now in Bassein Prison and serving in restricted confinement as he refused to talk about his involvement when the ICRC met him exclusively.

Ko Ko Oo(aka) Bo Bo
Ko Ko Oo is an ABSDF member who was arrested in 1991 for possessing arms and received 10 years imprisonment. He was a member of the HPPC in cellblock 3 and was one of the editorial staff for JAC's magazines. For this he received an additional 7 years imprisonment. He is currently held in Myingyan Prison.

Ba Myo Thein
Ba Myo Thein, 44, is a member of the Democratic United Front and a strong supporter of U Nu, a former prime minister. He was responsible for collecting articles from other cell-compounds and was also the chief editor of the U Nu Memorial magazine. He smuggled the magazine out and sent it to U Nu's daughter, Daw San San Nu. He received a further 7 years and 5 years, altogether 12 years. He is serving this sentence in Tharawaddy Prison.

Soe Myint
Soe Myint, 52, is a qualified veterinarian. In 1975 he was senten- ced to 7 years imprisonment for participating in the students strike. Released in 1980, due to a general amnesty, he was rearrested in 1982, accused of having connections with under-ground movements. He received an 8 year sentence but was released in 1987. In 1991 he was arrested again and sentenced to 10 years for involvement in underground movements.

Soe Myint is a musician and composer as well as being a good short-story writer. He wrote some poems in annual magazines during his student-days.

He contributed songs together with international notes in the Tidal Wave magazine. He also wrote short stories in the hand- written magazines that were circulated in Insein. He received an additional 5 years and 7 years, totaling 12 years. He is now held in Tharawaddy Prison and is suffering from arthritis.

Htay Win Aung (aka) Pyone Cho
Htay Win Aung was a Geology major student. He was a well-known leader of Rangoon Division Students' Union and was subsequently sentenced to 7 years in prison.

He is a good artist and is gifted at embroidery. He illustrated many of the hand-written magazines. His paintings were very attractive and for these decorations he was sentenced to a further 7 years imprisonment.

He is now in Tharawaddy Prison. His younger brother, Thet Win Aung, is also in Kale Prison serving 60years for his involvement in student's strikes in1998.

Yin Htway
Yin Htway, 36, is a Central Executive Committee member of the DPNS and was arrested in early 1990, accused of defiance against SLORC. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison. At the time, he was a 3rd year History student.

Yin Htway was one of the editorial staff of the New Blood Wave magazine, which was brought out in commemoration of Phone Maw, the first fallen student in the 1988 uprising. He also wrote political dialogues in the hand-written issues. He received a further 7 years imprisonment for his work on the New Blood Wave. He is now in Tharawaddy Prison.

Hla Than
Hla Than, 33, is a member of ABSDF. He lived in Tharkeyta Township and was a college student. He was arrested in 1990 for possessing arms and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

As a member of the MIC of the 4 (short) cellblock, Hla Than wrote his memoirs in the hand- written magazines. The court handed down an additional 7 years imprisonment for this work. He is now detained at Tharawaddy Prison.

Aung Myo Tint
Aung Myo Tint, 33, was a student activist arrested for possessing arms and received 20 years imprisonment.

He was an editorial staff member of the New Blood Wave and wrote poems in prison periodicals. He was sentenced to a further 7 years for his activities. He is now in Myaungmya Prison.

Sein Hlaing
Sein Hlaing, 47, was a leading member of the Tri-color group. This group was responsible for the security of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in 1988. He cooperated with Myo Myint Nyein in delivering an anti-government satirical pamphlet called "What is Occuring?''. He was sentenced to 7 years for his involvement.

Sein Hlaing wrote articles in the prison-magazines and took the duty of distributing the periodicals among political prisoners. After participating in this movement he was sentenced to another 7 years imprisonment. He is now in Tharawaddy Prison.

Win Thein
Win Thein was an active and leading member in the Tri-color group. He was also a member of NLD youth. He was arrested for alleged defiance against the junta's unjust law and received a 10-year sentence. Win Thein was one of the editorial staff that produced the New Blood Wave magazine.

He was responsible for keeping and lending Time, Newsweek and Readers' digest as well as other books. He was sentenced to an additional 7 years imprisonment. He is now in Tharawaddy Prison.

Tun Win
Tun Win, 48, was an Arakanese insurgent who participated in the taking of Minbya in 1986. He managed to get a pocket radio and delivered news and information through 4(short) cellblock. He received 7 years in addition to his life sentence.

He is now detained in Tharawaddy Prison. None of his relatives can afford to visit him and he is suffering from gout.

Phyo Min Thein
Phyo Min Thein is a leading member of ABFSU, in Lower Burma. He was arrested in the 1991 December movement and received 10 years imprisonment.

He was responsible for bringing out the Diamond Jubilee National Day Annual Magazine. This annual magazine was very grand with an embroidered cover of a dancing peacock. There were over 100 articles with colorful illustrations. For this work he was seriously tortured and sentenced to a further 7 years imprisonment.

Zaw Min
Zaw Min, 32, was a 4th year Geography major student and a member of ABFSU when he was arrested, accused of having connections with the ABSDF Underground Unit. He was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment.

He cooperated with Phyo Min Thein in bringing out the Diamond Jubilee Magazine. He also worked with Myo Myint Nyein to produce a weekly news bulletin. He wrote poems and drew sketches of the 1988 events. He received a further 7 years imprisonment. He is now at Thayet Prison.

Soe Htet Khine
Soe Htet Khine, 30, is a member of ABSDF and was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. He was an active youth in the 4(long) cell-block and his duty was to deliver news-bulletins and other periodicals. He wrote poems in the handwritten issues. He was also part of the assistance staff on the Diamond Jubilee National Day Annual Magazine (1995). For this reason, he received another 7 years imprisonment. He is now serving in Thara- waddy Prison.

Aung Kyaw Oo
Aung Kyaw Oo,30, was a 1st year History student in Workers' College and a member of ABSFU. Charged in connection with the 208th Battalion of ABSDF, he was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment by No.2 military court in Insein Jail.

He wrote memoirs of the students strike in 1988.He also composed some poems in the Diamond Magazine.One of his poems was titled '' Together With Infinite Strength". He was a member of the news-bulletins producing team.For this, he received an additional 7 years imprisonment. He is now in Tharawaddy Prison.

Zaw Tun
Zaw Tun, 37, was a 3rd year Economics student and a leading member of the Workers' College Students' Union. Due to his connections with ABSDF he received 7 years imprisonment.

Zaw Tun wrote articles on political economy, which was published in the Insein prison issues. He was also one of the prisoners responsible for producing the Diamond Jubilee magazine. He was sentenced to a further 7 years. He now serves in Tharawa- ddy Prison.

Nyunt Zaw
Nyunt Zaw was 24 when he was arrested in 1991, accused of being an ABSDF underground member. He was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment.

He helped to produce the news bulletins and gave them a neat and tidy appearance. He did this under the watchful eye of the jail authorities, at night times, and was industrious and vigilant. He was sentenced to an additional 7 years and transferred to Tharawaddy Prison in September 1996. There he was placed in solitary confinement and he suffered from heart disease. In mid-1999 his health condition deteriorated and he asked the jail authorities for health care. But MI did not give permission and Nyunt Zaw had a heart attack in his cell. He passed away while alone in his cell - nobody noticed. The jail authorities did not even send his death message to his family.

Kyi Pe Kyaw
Kyi Pe Kyaw, 36, is a member of ABSDF and was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in 1990. He and Myo Myint Nyein were the two most responsible for bringing out the weekly news-bulletin for the whole cell-compound. Both of them were in room 17 of 4 (long) cellblock and their cell was the news information headquarters. They made a secret underground hole where they stored everything for the bulletins and other periodicals. Kyi Pe Kyaw was sentenced to another 7 years for his work in Insein Prison. He was sent to Myitkyina Prison in Kachin State in 1996 where his family cannot visit him because of the long journey. He remains in Myitkyina Prison.

Myo Myint Nyein
Myo Myint Nyein, 50, was an editor when he was sentenced to 7 years imprisonment due to his publication ''What is Occurring?", a satirical poem-booklet.

Myo Myint Nyein successfully sent a prisoner's shirt, signed by prisoners of conscience, to the UNHRC annual meeting in1993. He also took responsibility for the editing of the Diamond Jubilee National Day magazine (1995). Moreover he and Kyi Pe Kyaw managed to deliver the weekly news-bulletin regularly. He smuggled the report on the Human Rights Abuses in Prisons to the UN Special Rapporteur Mr Yozo Yokota. He was sentenced to additional 7 years for his activities. Then he was sent to Tharawaddy Prison in 1997.

He remains in Tharawaddy Prison and now suffers from gastritis, migraines, neurotic behaviour and hypertension.

Burma: A Thorny Question for the Region

2007-07-27T02:58:00.000-07:00

By Zin Linn,
Mizzima News (www.mizzima.com)

January 3, 2004

Much to everybody's surprise, the Burmese military junta has recently stepped up its arrests of people for peaceful dissent against the regime in many places around the country. On 22 December 2003, the residences of eight members of the National League for Democracy (NLD) from Mandalay Division were raided by the Military Intelligence Service (MIS). A mobile-phone, approximately one hundred-thousand Kyat, books and papers were confiscated and taken to an undisclosed location.

Those detained in the raids include Daw Tin Myint (F), Ma Hninn Pa Pa Hlaing
(F), U Than Win (M), U Win Kyi (M), U Myint Oo (M), U Hla Oo (M), U Hla Soe
(M) and Ko Aung Aung (M). To date, family members have not been allowed to meet with the detainees.

Most of the detainees were also victims of the Depayin attack on Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her supporters on 30 May when they were arrested and only recently released. The crackdown occurred shortly after the sixth visit of the UN Special Rapporteur, Professor Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, and the second visit by two Amnesty International (AI) representatives. Also, three unidentified persons were arrested in Rangoon on 24 December 2003. According to a reliable source in Rangoon, the detainees had cooperated in gathering evidence relating to the Depayin ambush to present to the UN Special Rapporteur and the two AI representatives.

In addition to the above-mentioned arrests, three other NLD members from Tennasserim Division were arrested in mid December by the local MIS. They are Ma Than Soe (F) from Longlon township and Nyi Nyi Lay (M) and Phoe Pe (M) from Tha-yet-chaung township. Their whereabouts is still unknown. Moreover, two civilians, Nyi Soe from Tha-yet-chaung and Aung Minn from Pu-law in Tennasserim Division were accused of participating in anti-government political activities and later arrested by Captain Tin Maung Win of Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) No 262 in December.

According to the Washington-based Radio Free Asia, three Buddhist monks from
Mahadhammikayama Monastery in Magwe were put on arbitrary trial and sentenced to 27 years imprisonment each on 24 December 2003. The three monks, U Ottara, U Khemasara and U Kauthanla, who were studying Buddhist scripture at the monastery. The MIS accused them of being agitators, attempting to instigate a religious riot.

Actually, the international community wants to see action that clearly demonstrates the State Peace and Development Council's (SPDC) genuine readiness to allow political freedom for all Burma's citizens, including the inclusion of ethnic nationalities representatives in Burma's political
future. The SPDC also needs to demonstrate this readiness by releasing all political prisoners and allowing political parties to become involved in the future of the nation. But the military junta has failed to respect the advice of the international community and continues to act in its usual way contrary to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

On 22 December 2003, after a 17-day visit to Burma, an Amnesty International delegation called on the government to release all prisoners of conscience and cease arresting people for peacefully dissenting against the regime. At a press conference in Bangkok the delegation issued a statement outlining a range of serious concerns substantiated during the visit, and called on the military authorities to take urgent steps to improve the human rights situation, which has deteriorated significantly since the 30 May violent attack on the NLD.

AI, which first visited Burma in February 2003, has documented the arrest of scores of people for non-violent political activities since May 2003, many of whom are now confirmed to have been sentenced to long terms of imprisonment under repressive legislation. At the time, AI strongly urged the SPDC to permit an independent, impartial, and effective investigation into the 30 May events, and to bring those found responsible to justice. The continued absence of such an investigation fuels the climate of impunity in Burma. Neglecting all suggestion from international organizations and well-wishers, the junta is strongly pursuing its 'iron-fist' policy and the political prisoners' list continues to grow.

In the fifteen years since the nation-wide civil uprising in 1988, little progress has been made in the areas of democracy and human rights in Burma. The UN Special Rapporteur Prof Paulo Sergio Pinheiro has repeatedly criticized Burma's Junta, saying its political reforms were going simply too slowly. He occasionally suggested the generals speed up change and insisted that all political prisoners must be freed as a sign of sincerity. But, as long as the generals dilly-dally on the issue of releasing political prisoners, it is clear they still have no intention to restore democracy and embark on a process of national reconciliation in Burma.

The launching of a concerted effort among international community to free political prisoners in Burma is laudable. This issue is not only intertwined with regional politics, but it is also connected with global humanitarianism. For that reason, world leaders should consider pressuring the SPDC to free all political prisoners immediately and unconditionally. It can be argued that military regime takes advantage of releasing prisoners in small numbers in order to reduce international pressure, especially from those who have brought sanctions against the regime. However, the regime should understand that building an appropriate political atmosphere foundational for national reconciliation and the unconditional and immediate release of all political prisoners detained arbitrarily and inhumanely is part of this process. The release of all political prisoners can also spur the country’s economic revival, which is on the verge of collapse.

But the junta has not only repeatedly declined to release of all political prisoners but has also stepped up its arrest of its citizens for expressing dissenting opinions. In doing so, the junta violates Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and challenges decisions on "Burma Issue" by the UN.

Any announcement made by the military regime concerning national reconciliation will continue to be meaningless unless there is political space for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD. This means the Nobel laureate and her colleagues must be released from detention and must be free to travel and communicate with each other, NLD members and supporters. The Burmese people have not been allowed to participate in the nation's political processes. The junta must take the voices of the Burmese people into account in any process of political reform in Burma. At the same time, the regime has no rights to discard the result of the 1990 general elections in which people made clear their desires for the future.

The current spate of arrests and imprisonments may be the outer manifestations of the military regime's inner thinking. World leaders of today should make a concerted effort to help build the tomorrow of the Burmese people. Without the world leaders' genuine sympathy and sincere help, Burma may continue to be a thorny question of the region.

Games Burmese Military Rulers Play

2007-07-27T02:46:00.000-07:00

Date: Thursday, November 18 @ 17:30:41 GMT
Topic: International Politics

By Zin Linn
2004-11-14

Recent developments in Burma (Myanmar for the ruling military junta) are good food for thought for the political observer, political activist and the faithful.

Some consider the chain of events that preceded and followed the sacking of Prime Minister Khin Nyunt as a coup d’etat. Others view them as a counter coup. For some, these are nothing but a simple game of checkmating rivals. In reality, these events are all these and much more and are intrinsically linked to power politics the Junta plays by unleashing a reign of terror.

Yes, allegations of corruption were heard at the height of the on-going turmoil, but there is nothing new about such charges. Corruption is the stick the Junta uses often to discredit any one who falls out of its favour.

This is what they did to axe Prime Minister Gen Khin Nyunt. Read the 18-page booklet the Junta has brought out on November 7 to further discredit Nyunt if you don’t believe me.

But there is more than what meets the eye in the Nyunt tragedy. How the downfall of this most loyal foot soldier of the Senior General Than Shwe is scripted is a comment as much on the self-indulgent style of decision-making of Senior General Than Shwe as on the state of uncertainty prevailing in Burma.

Senior General Than Shwe is egocentric. His rule is a cause for concern for those of us pushing for return of Burma to the democratic path...

Khin Nyunt, as prime minister, headed the most powerful Defence Services Intelligence Bureau (DSIB). Today, he is under house arrest. Many ministers and intelligence officers who worked under him are facing music.

Minister of Home Affairs Col Tin Hlaing and Labour Minister Tin Win, both former military intelligence officers, were forced to retire. Four deputy ministers, Brig-Gen Khin Maung (Agriculture and Irrigation), Brig-Gen Kyaw Win (Industry), Brig-Gen Aung Thein (Livestock and Fisheries), and Nyi Hla Nge (Science and Technology) were fired.

Three high-ranking officials, Brig. Gen. Than Tun, Brig.Gen. Thein Swe, Col. Hla Min and Maj. Moe Thu were sent to jail on a 22-year sentence. The fate of some seniors like Maj. Gen. Kyaw Win, who was DSIB’s vice chief, is not known.

Col. Khin Maung Lin (Director-General of the Customs), Col.Tet Htut (Director-General of the Passport Section, Immigration Dept.) and U Tun Hla Aung (Director-General of the Bureau of Special Investigation- BSI) have been arrested; they are still under severe interrogation.

The Defence Services Intelligence Bureau (DSIB) was formed in August 2001 by amalgamating Military Intelligence Service (MIS) and the Office of Strategic Studies (OSS), a think-tank of the junta. Soon it emerged as the most powerful and influential agency with its footprint covering the entire country.

In domestic affairs, it hammered out cease-fire agreements with 17 major ethnic armed groups. And unleashed an ‘impressive’ propaganda war on ‘dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi. It was Gobbleism at its best.

Gen Nyunt was the key player who brutally suppressed the 1988 mass demonstrations against the military leaving thousands dead. His military secret police was the vehicle for enforcing the Junta’s sugarcoated reforms.

Khin Nyunt and his DSIB had ‘won spurs’ overseas too. They have helped the Junta to become a ‘respectable’ member of ASEAN. And helped to mend fences with China, India, Malaysia and Thailand.

The DSIB is also credited with persuading the Japanese Government not to go along with the Western Bloc on the Burma Policy. With every DSIB success, Nyunt’s stature improved. And the script for his downfall was readied in slow motion.

It’s common knowledge in Burma that every senior military officer possesses more than a million dollars in secret accounts although the salary may not be more than 100 dollars. What this means is that they make money on the sly through a percentage cut in all deals or through the narcotics trade.

All dictators turn a nelson’s eye to corruption amongst their followers. Because, corrupt practices that bring in wealth are seen as the perfect trade off for loyal support.

In 1962, when Gen. Ne Win seized power, his Revolutionary Council charged the civilian rulers of the day with corruption. It promised to root out corruption. Subsequent events showed how the army generals used corruption as a fig leaf to grab power and then exploited national security concerns to entrench themselves.

A dictator is a dictator. He never allows a rival centre of power near him or under him. This truism Gen Khin Nyunt had not remembered and he began to promote his personality cult. Since he remained mired in his own make believe dreams, he could not foresee the axe falling on him.

In that sense, the exit of Gen.Khin Nyunt and installation of Gen. Soe Win in his place spotlights the ‘power politics’ in the military, though the Generals claim that theirs’ is an ‘indivisible army’.

According to one source in Rangoon, Nyunt’s military intelligence had planned a coup but ‘leaking roofs’ alerted Than Shwe and that he quickly took preventive action to the dismay of his rivals.

That is the reason why analysts in Rangoon describe Than Shwe’s action as a counter coup. They refuse to see Khin Nyunt discomfiture in the ‘the power struggle’ as a conflict between soft-line democrats and the hard-line autocrats as some sections of the media tends to project.

In fact, their view is that Than Shwe moves are aimed at neither a political change nor a policy shift of the junta.

Khin Nyunt, as chief of the military intelligence, was a trickster; he managed to project an image of a soft-liner and patriot.

Than Shwe is no less crooked-and-twisted power player. He had masterminded the attack on the Nobel laureate's motorcade at Dapeyin on May 30, 2003.

Major conflict of interest between Than Shwe and Khin Nyunt date back to the time Dapeyin ambush was staged. Nearly a hundred innocent lives were lost in that pre-meditated action.

There are many tell tale marks to show that the Junta had planned and executed the massacre. It was a crude display of brute power to terrorise innocent people.

But when the tragedy sparked off an outcry, the army faced a dilemma on who should be made to bear the cross. Who would take the responsibility for the gruesome killing?

According to a source close to War Office in Rangoon, the plot was stage-managed by Senior General Than Shwe himself and the field-commander of the day, who is none other than the new Prime Minister Gen. Soe Win.

. Than Shwe loyalists executed the plot without Khin Nyunt's knowledge. But, he found himself in the firing line nationally and internationally. There were also demands for a special inquiry mission on Dapeyin to book the culprits.

To cover up the crime against humanity at Dapeyin, Than Shwe made a ‘bargain deal’ with Khin Nyunt. He announced a seven-step roadmap. Khin Nyunt became Prime Minister. The aim was no more than buying time to let the Dapeyin nightmare fade out from people's memory and to strengthen the power base.

Khin Nyunt agreed to go along and play the role assigned because he has his own ambitions; he has to wait for the right time to strike...

People know very well about Than Shwe and Khin Nyunt as birds of a feather; both are up to no good for Burma. None of the generals has a soft corner for Aung San Suu Kyi and her plight in detention. Their concern is power, money and more money. Therefore, her release remains uncertain.

People of Burma have shown their preference very clearly in the 1990 General Elections, when they gave a landslide victory to the National League for Democracy.

That vote shows people disagree with the military dictatorship or the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) as the present regime styles itself. This is the reason why the Junta regards the people as its arch-opposition and transformed the whole nation into a prison state.

It is pertinent to ask as to what had hastened the show down between Khin Nyunt and the forces loyal to the Senior General on October 18 at the Mingaladon Airport in Rangoon, a day before Nyunt was sacked?

As the powerful military intelligence chief, Khin Nyunt maintained tabs on other generals and prepared ‘secret files’ on each one of them. He considered these dossiers as his insurance but never thought that keeping such files in his cupboard could lead to his own downfall.

That was why on October 18, when the Rangoon Divisional Commander Brig. Gen. Myint Swe, one of Than Shwe's loyalists, ‘ordered’ him to surrender, Khin Nyunt was initially surprised and then hesitated. The gravity of the situation sunk in quickly and he gave up without demurring.

Agreeing to disagree is a fundamental right only of those who live under a democratic system.

In military-ruled Burma, disagreeing or dissident opinion against the incumbent dictator can be seen as a crime. The sole dictator is tightly controlling all organs of the state and the media to consolidate his stranglehold.

Addressing the Rangoon business community on October 24, 2004, Gen. Thura Shwe Mann, the number three in the Junta, justified the action against Khin Nyunt.

“He was corrupt and had to go. No one is above the law; everybody is equal before the law”, the General declared.

Then, what about the culprits of Dapeyin Massacre. Why are they still at large?

- Asian Tribune -

http://www.asiantribune.com/oldsite/show_article.php?id=1925

USDA: The junta’s partner in crime

2007-07-27T02:40:00.000-07:00

Mizzima News: - by - Zin Linn
Mon 12 Dec 2005
Filed under: News, Opinion

Published December 11, 2005

The Union Solidarity and Development Association held a press conference at its headquarters on December 6, to clarify the objectives of the organisation.

The groups’ secretary general, Maj. Gen. Htay Oo told journalists the group could become Burma’s newest political party.

The junta obviously has plans to convert the ‘non-governmental organisation’ into a pro-military political force and the USDA could be a trick up the general’s sleeves if they are ever forced to face another election.

Burmese people know the USDA is actually a military-backed terrorist group and is closer to being a military wing than a non-political development group.

Formed in 1993, the group has grown boasting a membership of almost 12 million people across Burma. It is affiliated with the Burmese Red Cross, the Women’s Affairs Committee, military-backed welfare groups and retired military members.

Large sections of the USDA’s charter show it was formed and designed to actively combat Burma’s democracy movement and attack, both physically and psychologically, activists and anti-military groups.

One section of the charter says, “With cooperation and assistance from the authorities, opposition members and their families must be prevented from acting in ways, socially or commercially, that pose a threat to our organisation or to the state.”

Another section says, “The weaknesses that exist within family members of opposition parties must be studied and exploited”, and another states, “Hardheaded opposition individuals will eventually become shaken and agitated and most people will lose confidence in them”.

While the existence of the group is nerve-racking enough, the fact they wield such a large membership is even more perturbing.

Htay Oo boasted at the press conference, “If two people stand on the corner of a street, I can say one of them is a USDA member.” If the USDA was to become a political group they would have a far greater support base than other smaller democracy groups and would certainly give the NLD a run for its money.

The USDA is also disturbingly well organised and members of the association are required to attend a variety of courses including basic military training. They are planned for use by the military to help squash any potential uprisings.

People still remember the incident in November 1996 when Aung San Suu Kyi’s convoy was attacked by people wielding iron bars and motorcycle chains. Many people say they clearly saw USDA members grouping and taking instructions from the military minutes before the incident happened.

Aung San Suu Kyi said military security officials stood by and watched the violent attack. She has also compared the USDA to Hitler’s notorious Storm Troopers.

There is no doubt the USDA’s main patron is Than Shwe and the 1996 incident, like the Depayin massacre in 2003, was a calculated military attack against the NLD.

The Depayin attack, when 250 NLD members were attacked and many shot by a group of 5000 troops, police and USDA members, made it clear the USDA was becoming the one of the nastiest pro-military groups in Burma.

It is obvious the group is capable of all manner of trickery. It is also obvious they were founded with the demise of the NLD in mind.

But the military’s attempts in the past to discredit the opposition and accuse Aung San Suu Kyi of being a ‘neo-colonialist lackey’ have not worked and Burmese people still look to her as the true leader of the country.

After the regime’s failure to win, or even save face, in the 1990 election failed they have had to come up with new ways to prolong their rule, thwart the opposition and make the international community think they are doing the right thing.

So in an act of deception, the junta organised the sham National Convention with the intention of drafting a constitution that would help them maintain their grip on power. Any constitution drafted during the National Convention will be designed to ensure the military has a role in any future Burmese government.

For this reason, many opposition groups, including the NLD, have refused to take part in the meetings, making it impossible for the military to pass them off as constructive or democratic.

The suspicions that former prime minister Khin Nyunt’s road map to democracy would mean nothing but more delays have proven to be well-founded and there is no end in sight to the junta’s bogus political reforms.

The latest session of the National Convention is the same as all the others – full of government supporters and cronies who have an interest in prolonging military power.

Lt. Gen. Thein Sein, chairman of the National Convention Convening Committee, took the podium on December 5 and warned, “External and internal elements are trying to derail the national convention process at a time when it is going smoothly and successfully. Beware of the dangers of subversives.”

Smoothly and successfully are hardly the words most people would use to describe the convention, except perhaps USDA officials.

While it is obvious they should, it is doubtful the military would yield to international pressure and release the country’s political prisoners immediately and unconditionally.

While a national cease-fire and an effective National Convention are in the true interests of Burma the generals and the USDA are unlikely to change their tune.

If the USDA is panning to become a political party, there is little hope for military-backed political and democratic reforms.

Zin Linn is an ex-political prisoner and exiled writer. He is an executive member of the Burma Media Association, which is affiliated with the Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontiers.

Burma: Sanction is a Lesson of Tit-for-Tat

2007-07-27T02:37:00.000-07:00

Date : 2003-08-21

Asian Tribune
By Zin Linn

It happened in last October 2002. Burma's opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi welcomed Foreign Minister Alexander Downer's visit as an attempt to open dialogue with the military that has gripped the country, for the last four decades. At the same time the opposition leader sharply criticized Australia's engagement with the Burmese military junta and described a controversial Australian program of human rights training courses for Burmese officials - “useless and a waste of money.”

Daw Suu said Australia should follow the path of tough economic and political sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union and limit its relations with the junta until it honored promises to start political dialogue.

She reiterated her political stand clearly: ” We cannot change on matters of policy until such time as political dialogue is in place."

On May 30, in another word dubbed as ''Black Friday'' this year; there was a U-turn in Burmese contemporary political history. The junta's crackdown on the democratic opposition has revived calls for tougher sanctions, as the international community seeks to vent its outrage on the Burmese military regime.

The United States led the imposition of sanctions, expanding its visa blacklist and renewing calls for trade sanctions in the wake of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's arrest after the violence of May 30, which the State Department said that it appeared to have been a premeditated attack, mounted by junta-backed thugs.

28 July of 2003, is a memorable date, on this day, George W. Bush, President of the United States of America, signed into law “Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act of 2003,” an executive order sending a clear signal to Burma's ruling junta that it must release the Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, along with all other political prisoners, and move down towards the path of democracy. These measures clearly affirm to the people of Burma that the United States stands with them in their struggle for democracy and freedom.

The Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act is the result of close cooperation between Bush Administration and members of the Congress on both sides of the aisle, a special mention should be made of Senator Mitch McConnell and Representative Tom Lantos. Among the other measures, the legislation bans the import of Burmese products. The executive order freezes the assets of senior Burmese officials and bans virtually all remittances to Burma. By denying the Burmese military rulers the hard currency, use to fund their repression; the United States is providing strong incentives for democratic change and the restoration of human rights in Burma.

Burma's military rulers have described the U.S. sanctions as an "unjust and inhumane act,'' that will cause chaos and anarchy.

" According to the international codes of conduct and the UN Charter, it is obvious that violation of the basic rights of a country by another amounts to intrusion in the internal affairs of the said country. In reality, economic sanctions are the unilateral actions taken only by the big powerful countries on developing countries, ignoring the equality among the nations, which the international community accepts. With the ill intention of hindering the economic, trade and manufacturing sectors of a developing country, the sanctions imposed by a big country on a developing country which is trying to stand on its own feet are inhuman acts. Especially, it is aimed at outbreak of unrest following the difficulties faced by the people and falling a nation in a state of anarchy,’’ the junta's No. 3 leader, military intelligence chief Gen. Khin Nyunt, responded with bitter remarks in his address as Chairman of Nation's Education Committee, at the opening ceremony of the Special Refresher Course No 19 for basic education teachers training took place at the institute in Pyin-oo-lwin Township, Mandalay Division, on 15 August.

But, Burmese people would have to assume Gen. Khin Nyunt's remarks against the present U.S. sanctions as a ridiculous. Burmese people already have enough experiences of "unjust and inhumane act,'' with the practice of sanctions and strictures upon civilians regularly imposed by the military intelligence service (MIS).

For instance, one Member of Parliament belonged to the National League for Democracy (NLD) party was a physician by profession. The MIS personnel noticed him to choose only one - between profession and politics. If he would like to be a physician he must resign his political position and leave the NLD. His family situation constrained him to choose his medical licence. Numerous NLD members were under threats and intimidation in a similar way and they were forced to choose between their professions and politics.

Another type of sanction practiced by the MIS was termed as a gross violation of human rights. Take for example of Mya Mya who passed matriculation with flying colours in 1996, and qualified to enter the Rangoon Medical Institute. But, at that time her father was in Insein prison for a political reason. Being a daughter of a political prisoner, Mya was not admitted to the medical faculty. There are numerous cases of Mya Myas’ in Burma trampled under the jackboots of the army generals, who failed to get equal opportunity in higher education.

The Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights says that everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental levels. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available to all and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.

But the secretary 1 of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) Gen. Khin Nyunt who also takes responsibility as Chairman of Country's Education Committee, seems to be ignorant of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. He's the man who ordered the school-heads to gather forced-donations from the parents for school-buildings, multimedia equipment and all the other requirements needed for the school. If parents were reluctant to come up with donations, their children would be deprived of educational opportunities. This is attributed as one main reason for the yearly increase in the school dropouts in Burma. Though there are several reasons for students’ dropout, the main reason is said to be the families’ inability to pay compulsory donations to the respective schools where their children study. Furthermore, the annual financial allocation for the education is only 0. 5 % of the total budgetary estimate of the country, while the defence budget is always provided well over 50 percent.

Moreover, the MIS used to play an atrocious act as a sanction. The experience of Ma Htay was a good example. Ma Htay is an active Executive Member of Ma-gwe Division NLD. Unfortunately, she underwent an emergency surgery of appendectomy at Thin-gan-gyun Model Hospital. When she just came out of the operation theatre, one secret police officer appeared at the office of the surgical ward and told the chief surgeon to discharge the patient, Ma Htay immediately. When the doctor asked him of who he was and why disturbed his rights, he showed his identity card and said that the patient did not deserve hospitalisation, because she was a member of NLD. In addition, the secret police threatened the doctor of his future. Eventually, Ma Htay was discharged.

A different sort of pressure that comes with the immigration department is also a kind of sanction managed by the military intelligence service. When a citizen comes of age, he has to submit an application for National Registration Card (NRC). He has to take first the recommendation from the respective Head of Ward-ship Peace and Development Council. Then he has to go and seek for the second recommendation from the respective police station. With those two recommendation letters, he has to file his application for his NRC. The important element that looms behind those recommendations is that he must be a member of Union Solidarity & Development Association (USDA). If he is not a USDA member, he cannot get the required recommendation letters. Without USDA membership, he has to expend exorbitant amount in bribe for his NRC. If he is a member of the NLD, he has to resign from party or bribe authorities in 6 digits. Without NRC one cannot work or travel.

Those are kinds of sanctions upon Burmese citizens imposed by the Defence Service Intelligence Bureau (DSIB) which is under the directive of Gen. Khin Nyunt who is the Director-General of the Bureau. At this juncture it is learnt that people have expressed their approval to the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act of 2003, which is meant to curb the atrocious measures adopted by the SPDC against the innocent civilians in the country and still hoping for more effective series of various sanctions from the international community. Only sanction after sanction can tame the brutish military dictators. It's a lesson of tit-for-tat for the Burmese generals.

Burma: A Simple Checkmate Move or Coup d'etat in October

2007-07-27T02:27:00.000-07:00

Zin Linn
Mizzima News
November 13, 2004

Although General Thura Shwe Mann emphasis in his speech that nobody is above the law and everybody is equal before the law, the culprit of the Depayin Massacre is still at large.

There is a common perception in the midst of the intellectual circles in Rangoon that tells the tendency of the current political scenario in Burma. Accordingly the view that prevails in the country is not so conducive. It is said that perspective of democratic Burma has been bogged down to a state of uncertainty because of the present coup operated by the hardheaded Senior General Than Shwe who is a man of egocentric and self-indulgent style of decision-making.

Shwe Mann, the third top brass and Than Shwe's loyalist in Burma's ruling junta, has accused ex-Prime Minister Khin Nyunt of involving in a series of corruption scandals and said Khin Nyunt was ousted before he could unveil findings of his investigation of senior army commanders' scandals.

In his 24 October speech to Rangoon's business community, Shwe Mahn said Khin Nyunt was on a goodwill visit to Singapore in mid-September when 186 people, including military intelligence officials, were arrested at Muse border checkpoint , the Burma-China border. More than $480 million and 42 tons of jade were seized, he said. It was printed as an 18-page booklet on 7 November in three government's mouthpiece newspapers.

Former powerful Prime Minister and the head of Military Intelligence Services (MIS) or the Defense Services Intelligence Bureau (DSIB), was sacked 19 October 2004 and is now under house arrest. Senior General Than Shwe's men are investigating military intelligence chief and his officers including others suspected of having illegal dealings with businessmen. Khin Nyunt was the key player who brutally handled the suppression of the 1988 mass demonstrations against the military leaving thousands dead. He took responsibility to rein the shocked country with his military secret police force using a policy of sugarcoated reformism.

As the DSIB is under crackdown, most of its high-ranking officials are detained by the army. Out of those high-ranking officials, Brig. Gen. Than Tun, Brig.Gen. Thein Swe, Col. Hla Min and Maj. Moe Thu were the first batch that got 22 years imprisonment each. Nobody knows the fate of the other senior officials including Maj. Gen. Kyaw Win who was the vice chief of the DSIB.At the same time, Col. Khin Maung Lin (Director-General of the Customs), Col.Tet Htut (Director-General of the Passport Section, Immigration Dept.) and U Tun Hla Aung (Director-General of the Bureau of Special Investigation- BSI) have been arrested and they are still under severe interrogation.

A clean sweep in the junta continues. Minister of Home Affairs Col Tin Hlaing and Labor Minister Tin Win, both former military intelligence officers, were forced to retire. Four deputy ministers, Brig-Gen Khin Maung (Agriculture and Irrigation), Brig-Gen Kyaw Win (Industry-1), Brig-Gen Aung Thein (Livestock and Fisheries), and Nyi Hla Nge (Science and Technology) were also fired.

The Defense Services Intelligence Bureau (DSIB) was formed in August 2001 and the first move of DSIB was expanding its strength throughout the country. The DSIB was structured with seven major departments - Administration, Foreign Affairs, Counter Intelligence, Domestic Security, Border Areas, Computer & Information Technology and Training - and it was no other than the unification of Military Intelligence Service (MIS) and the Office of Strategic Studies (OSS) or ' Think Tank ' of the junta. The DSIB became an influential institution as it had authoritative power to handle the domestic political affairs and the foreign relations. In domestic affairs, it succeeds to get ceased fire agreements with 17 major ethnic armed groups. Its Propaganda Warfare of Dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi worked to an extent drawing international attention.

In foreign affairs, it could find way for the junta becoming member of the ASEAN. It also succeeds making friends with China, India, Malaysia and Thailand. The DSIB could do well persuading the Japanese Government not to go along with the Western Bloc's Burma Policy. In brief, the institution helped Gen Khin Nyunt becoming influential figure of Burma.

But, Than Shwe was frustrated by Khin Nyunt's power base DSIB.

Its a common knowledge in Burma that every senior military officer possesses more than a million dollar although the salary is not more than $ 100 and it means all of them are involved in corruption or narcotic trades. But the current crackdown on the DSIB is not because of the corruption but for the power struggle among the top brasses. The dictators build their dictatorial institutions by allowing corruptions to their strong supporters. That's why no officer can afford avoiding bribery and corruption.

In 1962, when the Revolutionary Council headed by late General Ne Win of Burma's Army seized power, the council's first and foremost allegation was widespread of corruption in the political parties. However, the vision was clearly seen later that the aim and object of the coup was not because of corruption but to grab the absolute power by a military autocrat in the name of national interest and security. From the very first, people sincerely assumed the council's reason of corruption was a real matter. Afterwards, they convinced that it was just a dirty trick to gain a power play.

Today, Burma is still under the yoke of an inhumane military dictator. A dictator is a beast that never allowed next to him to be a full-fledged dictator. Than Shwe kicked out Khin Nyunt for high dream and building his personality cult. The downfall of Gen. Khin Nyunt and the promotion of General Soe Win spotlighted the factional conflict for power in the military, which the generals used to say ' the indivisible army '. Actually, it's a showdown between the infantry force and the military intelligence service for absolute power.

According to analysts in Rangoon, a coup plot of the military intelligence faction was leaked and Than Shwe took a swift upper hand. Anyhow, as usual in a power game, the loser must face a series of corruption scandals that led him to hell. It's a counter coup in the military. As some people thought, it was not a conflict between soft-line democrats and the hard-line autocrats. It's neither a political change nor a policy shift of the junta. Khin Nyunt, as chief of the military intelligence, was a trickster and he could manage propagating himself a soft-liner and patriot. In comparison, Than Shwe also is a crooked-and-twisted power player who called the tune attacking the Nobel laureate's motorcade at Depayin on 30 May 2003.

Major conflict between Than Shwe and Khin Nyunt started with the Depayin premeditated ambush, which took nearly a hundred innocent, lives. As there were a lot of evidences, people accepted that the Depayin massacre was orchestrated by the junta. Then, a question was popped up in the military regime that who would take the responsibility of the massacre.

A source close to War Office in Rangoon said that the plot was managed by Senior General Than Shwe and the field-commander was no other than new Prime Minister General Soe Win. The plot, said the source, was done by the loyalists of Than Shwe without Khin Nyunt's knowledge. But, there was a backfire afterwards and a voice of forming a special enquiry mission for Depayin was louder internationally.

To cover up the culprit of the crime against humanity at Depayin, Than Shwe made a bargain with Khin Nyunt. Then the seven-step roadmap was created to cover the massacre up and Khin Nyunt became Prime Minister. The aim was no more than buying the time to fade out the Depayin nightmare from people's mind as well as to prolong the power base. Khin Nyunt agreed to play the game as he himself had a different intention. It's really a power game and as a result release of Aung San Suu Kyi was as dim as always.

None of the generals has a soft heart instead an iron fist to grab the power. People of Burma have shown their opinion very clearly in the 1990 General Elections, in which the National League for Democracy won a landslide victory. That means people disagree with the military dictatorship or the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). For that reason, the military dictator regards its own people as its arch-opposition and it transforms the whole nation into a prison state.

It was at the Mingaladon Airport in Rangoon on 18 October, the Rangoon Divisional Commander Brig. Gen. Myint Swe, one of Than Shwe's loyalists, told Khin Nyunt to surrender peacefully as he did in accord with order from his superior. Firstly, there was a tense atmosphere between Than Shwe's loyalists and Khin Nyunt's men but Khin Nyunt knew the situation and showed signs of giving in to the Rangoon Division Troops. That was the end of once powerful military intelligence chief. Khin Nyunt thinks he has the secret files of the other generals. The case was that he never considered of keeping those files would lead him to downfall.

The sole dictator of the regime never allows people expressing a different opinion or different way of thinking and tightly controlled all types of administrative organs including media to consolidate his stronghold. Agreeing to disagree is a fundamental right only of those who live under a democratic system. In military-ruled Burma, disagreeing or dissident opinion against the incumbent dictator can be seen as a crime.

The author, Zin Linn's is a Freelance Journalist, Writer and former political prisoner. He spent totally 9 years in the junta's hellish prison for dissident opinion and now in exile. Now he's working at the NCGUB East Office and also takes responsibility for Burma Media Association, which affiliated with Reporters Sans Frontiers based in Paris.

http://www.rebound88.net/sp/pol/safter-khinnyunt1.html

Burma: A Tale of Make-Believe by Prime Minister General Khin Nyunt

2007-07-27T02:22:00.000-07:00

Among ‘birds of a feather’ neighbouring countries Burma will continue to be the region’s ugly duckling

Zin Linn
Mizzima News (www.mizzima.com)
January 24, 2004

Much to the surprise of the nation, the Prime Minister of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) has called on officials to take measures for the betterment of Burma’s judicial sector. General Khin Nyunt has stated that he wants the people to understand and appreciate the value and protection of law and thus voluntarily abide by the existing laws. He also pronounced that the SPDC has established all necessary laws, rules and regulations and is consistently and fairly putting them into practice. The Prime Minister has emphatically claimed that the rule of law in Burma will pass judgement by any legal expert and that the interests of the people are always safeguarded in accord with the existing laws.

Contrary to General Khin Nyunt’s words, the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva condemn the Burmese military regime each year for committing systematic human rights abuses on a massive scale. The most recent UN yearly resolution has accused the military regime in Rangoon of perpetuating a myriad of human rights violations. The list includes crimes against humanity; summary, arbitrary or extrajudicial killings; rape, torture, inhumane treatment, and forced labour, including the use of child labour and child soldiers; forced relocation and the denial of freedom of assembly, association, _expression, religion, and movement; and delaying the process of national reconciliation and democratisation.

The most damning indictment of the regime is that the country has been lacking an independent judiciary system for more than forty years. Burmese judges and judicial officials are not compelled to respect basic processes of law in ordinary criminal cases nor in political cases. But they must respect and obey the men in military uniforms, especially the military intelligence chief and his agents. Most court-decisions are orders that have been passed on to judicial officials from senior intelligence officers. Judges then only have to read out a ready-made sentence.

Bribery, corruption, the misuse of power above laws, and the manipulation of the courts for political ends continue to deprive citizens of their legal rights. Prisons and hard-labour camps are overcrowded, and inmates lack adequate food, water and health care. According to a reliable source, at least 84 political prisoners have died in custody since 1988. The death toll in one particularly notorious hard-labour camp is known to be at least 30 each month. There are over 300 hard-labour camps under the prison department throughout the country.

The Burmese generals continue to pronounce loudly that the military ruled country is progressing on every sector and has reached a state of peace and prosperity. However, Burmese people are not fooled by the junta's hollow words while the regime continues with their evil deeds. In a country where thousands of prisoners are languishing in various jails and forced-labour camps, no one will believe statements without real action.

General Khin Nyunt made his legal propaganda speech while meeting with judges of the Supreme Court and legal representatives from the Attorney General's Office and from state, division and district courts. This meeting took place on 17 January 2003 at the Institute of Nursing Hall on Bogyoke Aung San Road in Rangoon.

The military junta’s Prime Minister said to the gathering that he acknowledged the important role played by officials of the law enforcement sector. He then reiterated the primary instruction that is given to judicial officials and judges and that is to judge all cases in accord with the following seven principles of the judicial system:

1) That the judicial pillar is free from bribery.

2) To strive to expose the truth in order to win the trust of the people and ensure that those who break the law cannot disrespect the court.

3) Judges, law officers and staff in the judicial sectors are to perform their duties with uprightness to realise the goals of the State.

4) Uphold truth, fairness and sympathy in enforcing the law.

5) Although the lawyers are not service personnel, they are to cooperate with the courts to expose the truth as they are to assist the court.

6) All are to strictly abide by the law, rules and regulations and directives in their judgements in order not to go against the law.

7) Officials are to be aware of the fact that acts of some immoral service personnel who take bribes and their misbehaviour are detrimental to the nation-building endeavours of the military regime.

General Khin Nyunt went on to state that there are still weaknesses in the legal process and he called for the cooperation of local authorities. He warned local authorities not to interfere in the administration of justice. Personal interference in cases by some local authorities goes against the seven principles of fair administration of justice.

In conclusion, he urged judicial officials and law officers to take part in the effort to maintaining law and order, the emergence of a discipline-flourishing democratic nation and the success of the seven-point future policy program.

The unelected Prime Minister totally failed to recognise a major point: that the SPDC is merely a de-facto regime and not a de-jure government or a parliamentary government supported by voters. Without the true support of the people, no one can establish a nation of justice.

Subsequently, people in Rangoon have already made a mockery of the Prime Minister's speech as a tale of make-believe.

A move from bribery and corruption to a just and fair judicial system will never materialise without the twin democratic forces of a people's parliament and a free press. Although General Khin Nyunt urged others to strive to expose the truth and ensure that the ones who break the law are brought to justice in a court of law, he himself and the ruling military elite are always above the law. The most remarkable example in recent times is the Dapeyin premeditated massacre of National Party for Democracy officials and supporters that took place on May 30 2003. This audacious crime that shocked the world was clearly committed by pro-junta thugs. However, no official investigation has even been hinted at up to this point in time, and no arrests have been made. Along with the entire military elite, the junta's Prime Minister has turned a blind eye to the violence that took place at Dapeyin. It is because of travesties of justice such as this and the lack of any action to bring those responsible to justice that the people conclude that the Prime Minister's speech is utterly ridiculous.

Following a 17-day mission to Burma in December 2003, an Amnesty International delegation called on the military junta to release all prisoners of conscience and to stop arresting people for peacefully expressing a dissenting opinion. Amnesty's deputy director for Asia, Catherine Baber, called on the international community to keep up the pressure for concrete action to match the rhetoric coming from the military regime in Rangoon.

One of Amnesty International’s most serious concerns is the use of repressive legislation to criminalise freedom of _expression and peaceful association. These out-of-date laws hark all the way back to the nineteenth century. Examples of their use in recent months includes the sentencing of people for staging solitary protests and for discussing social and economic issues in personal letters. Authorities have continued arbitrary detention and intimidation and have created an atmosphere of fear and repression that will take more than rhetoric to dispel.

Some of the worst state-sanctioned crimes and human rights abuses take place in Burma's ethnic dominated states. According to reports by the United Nations and other Human Rights Watch Groups, the Burmese armed forces in these states are responsible for killings, beatings, rape, and arbitrarily detaining civilians with impunity. A report issued by the Shan Human Rights Foundation and the Shan Women's Action Network accuses the Burmese army of systematic rape and documents 625 sex attacks on Shan women and girls by Burmese soldiers between 1996 and 2001. Soldiers routinely seize livestock, cash, property, food, and other goods from villagers, as well as destroying property. Burmese soldiers know that they are above the law as it stands, and so breaking the law is as common as a habit of daily routine.

According to the junta's Prime Minister, all citizens must strictly abide by the laws, rules and regulations and directives of the regime. In this way, law enforcement can be truthful, fair and sympathetic. It is clear that in reality he means all citizens must abide by the law except for the military elite and their relations.

While neighbouring countries are supporting the Burmese military regime in order to exploit economic benefits, Burmese people are living a life of total misery in the ASEAN region. Eventually the people of Burma will reach breaking point. This can only mean that if the ruling elite is left to their own devices, Burma will be trouble for the region in the years to come.

Burma's (Myanmar) Brand Of Democracy - - Sans Freedom of Press.

2007-07-27T02:16:00.000-07:00

Date : 2004-09-29

Asian Tribune
By Zin Linn

Reporters Without Borders and the Burma Media Association (BMA), fighting for restoration of democracy in Myanmar (Burma), have demanded that the Military Junta's Board of Censorship reverse its recent decision to ban the privately-owned fortnightly Khit-Sann Journal that covers current international affairs.

The junta has claimed that financial problems had led to Khit-Sannนs closure. But information with Reporters Without Borders and the BMA showed that the magazineนs financial situation was healthy. It was expanding and circulation had increased by more than 30% in recent months.

The Khit-Sann or New Age Journal was managed and published by Kyaw Win, the chief editor of the periodical. Kyaw.

Win spent altogether 15 years in prison, serving two terms as a political dissident. In 1982, during Ne Win's era, he was thrown into prison for 5 years. And in 1989, while he was a central executive committee member of the Ever Green Youth Organization, the current junta accused him having links with an unlawful organization and put him in prison for ten years. After serving his prison terms, he became a staff editor of Thint-ba-wa (Your Life) Magazine, along with two prominent writers, Tin Maung Than and Maung Thit Sinn, who are now living in exile in the United States.

After Tin Maung Than and Maung Thit Sinn quit the magazine, Win became the chief editor of the Thint-ba-wa Magazine in 2000. But, the magazine was shut down by the PSB without reason. Then, Kyaw Win negotiated with the owner of the Sa-bae-byu (Jasmine) Magazine to continue his career.

In 2001, the Sa-bae-byu had become one of the best magazines for intellectuals in Yangoon. Kyaw Win himself has made his name within a short period writing many books and articles for the new generation.

Being a popular writer and model of the youth, he is on the watch list of the Military Intelligence Service. And in last June, the junta's mouthpiece newspaper (The New Light of Myanmar) published a pro-military article using his pen name (Kyaw Win) deliberately to create misunderstanding among the public. Then Kyaw Win made a strong protest to the military authority telling not to break the journalistic code of ethics. His protest annoyed the authorities.

Afterward, the PSB summoned him as the chief editor of the Khit-Sann Journal and warned that the journal must change its Pro-US-EU policy. Actually, it is quite strange because the junta's accused him as a communist and kept in jail for ten years in 1990s.

Meanwhile, the Junta is trying to deceive the world, as if it were a pro-democracy regime, starting to implement human rights practices. The regime has prescribed human rights textbooks for the eighth and the ninth grades students. But, not all 30 Articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights were included in the textbooks. It mentions only a third of the 30 Articles.

The worst is the text does not mention the Article 19 and it emphasizes that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights should not be accepted as unquestionable. Teachers and students must accept it in relative terms, according to the prevailing situation of the country. That means the military regime is not reluctant to even censor the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to prolong its military power!

Censorship is imposed in the name of national security. Those found owning pamphlets, books, magazines; cassettes or videotapes that are interpreted as hostile to the ruling junta are arrested and usually serve jail-terms of seven to twenty years.

Although there are some privately owned journals and magazines in Burma, they are subject to an even stricter censorship regulations by the PSB, which can delay their publication by many months.

The regime also does not allow public accessing to the Internet, in particular the military intelligence, monitors all incoming and outgoing e-mails. Web mails are blocked by the MIS and students have no chance for international scholarships through the Internet.

Burma's state-owned Post and Telecommunications is said to be the country's first Internet Service Provider (ISP) and the second ISP is Bagan Cybertech, a semi-government organization established last year by Dr. Ye Nai Win, son of Prime Minister General Khin Nyunt. He is now going on to monopolize the mobile phone network and market in Burma.

It is illegal to own an unregistered modem in Burma. In addition, lack of electricity and expensive charges for Internet services are other factors that block public access to the Internet. Fax machines must be licensed and to obtain a cellular phone permit not only costs $3000 but there is also a years-long queue to apply. Phone lines are often tapped and oversea calls frequently cut.

Burma has been called "the world's largest prison for journalists" and over thirty journalists continue to languish in jail. The country's most respected journalist and art critic, former editor-in-chief of the Hanthawadi newspaper and vice-president of the Association of Burmese Writers, 75-year-old U Win Tin, has spent the last fifteen years of his life in prison.

- Asian Tribune -

http://www.asiantribune.com/oldsite/show_news.php?id=11449

Zin Linn - The author is an exile writer and ex-political prisoner.

BURMA AT A CROSSROADS

2007-07-27T02:02:00.000-07:00

New Era Journal

25 January 2005
Zin Linn

Release Political Prisoners for Democratic Burma

The ouster of Burma's Prime Minister, once powerful Director-General of Burma's notorious Military Intelligence Service, has exposed the comprehensive battle between rival military factions. It also highlighted widespread corruption scandals in the military ruled bankrupt country.

These prisoners are among the hundreds and thousands of people who have been randomly picked up and detained in the jails, which, as a former detainee. I can tell you, are hell on earth.

What prompted the rulers to let them free is unclear but the admission that they were all victims of army excesses is a shocking confession about the state of affairs. Coming as it did from the highest in the land; it appears to be a way of atoning for the wrong that was perpetrated on the innocent, though at least on the face of it no remorse is reflected in the decree.

It is for this reason that decree will remain a reference point in the days ahead to the embarrassment of the junta. Mark the words in the announcement: "It is concluded the National Intelligence bureau may have used irregular and improper means to put them into prison".

We don't know when these lucky ones will begin to breathe free and in fact, who these lucky ones are. Because, the broadcast was silent on these basic details.

A guess, rather surmise based on the past experience, is that the criminals may have more chance getting out of jail than the prisoners of conscience.

There is no denying that time is ripe for the Generals to think seriously of releasing all political prisoners and kick start the process of national reconciliation and reconstruction of the economy, which is in shambles.

If the army is sincere, it should relase Burma's Nobel laureate first and then free unconditionally some 1500 political activists who are languishing in jails.

Most of them have been put behind bars by the orders of Gen Khin Nyunt, who had headed the National Intelligence Bureau (NIB), besides being the prime minister of the country till very recently.

Nyunt himself is under house arrest now. And the NIB has been disbanded.

The eclipse of Khin Nyunt exposed the battle for supremancy amongy rival military factions. He obviously incurred the wrath of the Big Man, Senior General than shwe (the head of state). That was why he had to go.

More than that, his control of the border trade and drug trafficking channels in his capacity as the director general of Burma's notorious Military Intelligence Service (MIS) made him neighbours envy.

Burma is the second largest opium producer in the world, after Afghanistan. And Opium trade, legal and illegal, is big money.

The MIS personnel have been acting like the mafia over the years and they have used its elite status to make unbelievable sums of money. The MIS corruption is particularly strong along the border areas where the daily income of a Sergeant far outstrips the pay of a mainstream infantryman.

In addition, smuggling of narcotic drugs by some ethnic groups, which have signed ceasefire deals with MIS, has reached such proportions that early this year, Thailand had threatened to erect a fence along the border to check drug trafficking.

Last September, the MIS directly crossed swords with the army by penetrating into their 'business' territories. Two intelligence officers, Maj. Kyi Zin and Maj. Kyaw Kyaw Naing, (who were directly under the charge of Brig. Gen. Myint Zaw, Chief of the Border Affairs Division at the MIS) have claimed that they had been instructed to raise funds for presidential campaign of Gen. Khin Nyunt.

While it is true that the Junta was planning a switch over to Presidential system by adopting a new constitution at a national convention, the calibrated efforts of Khin Nyunt and his cronies to mobilise men and money for a presidential campaign rang alarm bells in the quarter that mattered.

Some analysts aver that the September clamp down was also a result of senior army commanders desire to control the lucrative border trade with China. It may be true.

What ever be the inside tract, out went orders for a raid on a busy check post at Muse, on the border with China. Apparently, the powers that be wanted to use the raid as a test case.

And what they found and finally seized caused a big stir even when it is common knowledge that the Burmese generals are incredibly corrupt and have built their personal fortunes through smuggling rings.

It is said the soldiers seized huge quantities of gold bars, jade, pearls, foreign currencies and other valuables goods from Muse check post. Operation demolition was sent in motion and it was only after the 'wealth shake-up' was completed and the 20-year-old clandestine Khin Nyunt empire was demolished, the former prime minister was put under arrest on October 19, 2004.

Khin Nyunt operated several profitable businesses through his MIS. These ranged from karaoke bars to travel agencies and from newspapers and magazines to assortment of business enterprises, big and small.

Khin rivals are busy carying out the business empire of the ousted prime minister and his privileged cronies.

Junta's strongman Than Shwe is understood to have decided to rid the MIS of the Khin Nyunt elements. So, business firms linked to the former prime minister have been shut down or made to suspend operations temporarily.

At least 17 journals and magazines went out of news paper stands after Khin Nyunt associates lost control of the Censorship Bureau.

According to a a reliable source in Rangoon, the military regime has imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew in Kyauk-tan, the native town of the ousted Prime Minister since the first week of November.

The army men are removing posters and pictures of Khin Nyunt. Also removed are marble inscriptions on various buildings because Khin Nyunt's name appeared. Most of the closest relatives of the former MIS chief are living in the town and from the looks; it is a systematic operation of cracking down upon Khin Nyunt's grass roots supporters.

Gen. Thura Shwe Mann, Chief of Staff of armed forces, and Lt-Gen. Soe Win, who replaced Khin Nyunt, are vivifying for the top jobs.

Diplomats in Rangoon believe that the man to be watched, however, is Vice Senior General Maung Aye. He is number two in the Junta and in effect, the real commander who is calling the shots.

There is reason to believe that the Senior General Than Shwe is planning to transfer power to 'the next generation' in the army. On his part he likes to switch his role to that of a President, once the Junta's seven-point road map is implemented.

What this transition will mean to Burma? What are the chances of release of political prisoners?

Crystal gazing is difficult at best of times, and certainly in Burma. There may be some trade offs between the Senior General and the Vice Senior General in the matter of new appointments to the cabinet. That may not signal the slackening of army grip over the power structure.

In fact, the army play the power games more assertively. It is easier playing the game without the Nobel laureate and her party.

But as I said at the outset, if the army is sincere and has the true interests of Burma at heart, it should do what the world expects of them - set free all political prisoners. Without more ado! And without any further delay! This is the time for action. Burmese generals are now at crossroads of the history. Do they wish to avoid a dishonorable motive?

Zin Linn: The author, a freelance Burmese journalist, lives in exile. He spent 9 years in the junta's hellish prison for his dissenting voice. He is an executive member of the Burma Media Association, which is affiliated with the Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontiers.

Time for ASEAN to review Burma question

2007-07-27T01:43:00.000-07:00

by - Zin Linn
Asia Tribune
2005-07-18

It was in 1976 in the Thailand’s Department of Foreign Affairs building in Bangkok, the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) came into existence on August 8, with the signing of 'Bangkok Declaration' by foreign ministers of five original member countries namely Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand.

The five foreign ministers are considered the organization's ‘Founding Fathers,’ and they are Adam Malik of Indonesia, Narciso R. Ramos of the Philippines, Tun Abdul Razak of Malaysia, S. Rajaratnam of Singapore, and Thanat Khoman of Thailand. The ‘Founding Fathers’ envisaged that the organization would eventually encompass all the countries in Southeast Asian region.

Following the founding of the organization, Brunei Darussalam became the sixth member of the ASEAN when it joined on January 7, 1984, barely a week after the country became independent on January 1, 1984. It would be a further 11 years before ASEAN expanded from its original six core members.

Vietnam became the seventh member in July 28, 1995, and Laos and Myanmar joined two years later in July 23, 1997. Vietnam would become the first Communist member of ASEAN. Cambodia was to have joined the ASEAN together with Laos and Myanmar, but was deferred due to the country's internal political struggle. Cambodia finally joined on April 30, 1999, following the stabilization of its government.

Joining of Cambodia brought the completion of ASEAN-10, by which constituting almost all the countries in the Southeast Asia region.
The Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC) in Southeast Asia, was signed at the First ASEAN Summit on 24 February 1976, which declared that ASEAN political and security dialogue and cooperation should aim to promote regional peace and stability by enhancing regional resilience. Regional resilience shall be achieved by cooperating in all fields based on the principles of self-confidence, self-reliance, mutual respect, cooperation, and solidarity, which shall constitute the foundation for a strong and viable community of nations in Southeast Asia.

The Association of the Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) had started facing the first strong challenge from the international community due to Burma or Myanmar's human rights violations on 30 May 2003. The Association was called on to address human rights concerns in the region, including allegations of grave human rights violations at Dapeyin in Sagaing Division of Upper Myanmar, where the country's charismatic leader Aung San Suu Kyi (General-Secretary of the National League for Democracy - NLD) and her entourage were ambushed by the military junta's goons and killed more than 70 innocent people. From that day on, Aung San Suu Kyi and her chief lieutenant U Tin Oo (Vice-Chairman of the NLD) and many others were arrested and kept incarcerated till to date...

As international pressure piled up, ASEAN has to review its noninterference policy. In a departure from the ASEAN policy of "non-interference", the organization issued a statement calling for the early release of Aung San Suu Kyi and other NLD members during the 36th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM) (held on 16, 17 June 2003) in Phnom Penh.

ASEAN’s concern followed a Myanmar junta-backed attack on Aung San Suu Kyi and hundreds of other political activists, where scores of people were killed or injured.

The AMM's statement says – “We discussed the recent political developments in Myanmar, particularly the incident of 30 May 2003. We noted the efforts of the Government of Myanmar to promote peace and development. In this connection, we urged Myanmar to resume its efforts of national reconciliation and dialogue among all parties concerned leading to a peaceful transition to democracy.”

In Myanmar hundreds of the National League for Democracy (NLD) members and supporters were arrested in the context of the 30 May 2003, violence against Aung San Suu Kyi. They have been joining over 1400 other political prisoners who were already in the various notorious prisons throughout the country. Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD senior leadership have been detained since then, amid strong international criticisms and condemnation of the extrajudicial killings and the subsequent repression of peaceful political opposition inside the nation.

In late August 2003, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC or Myanmar's military regime) was reshuffled and a 7-point "Roadmap" was announced by the then newly-appointed Prime Minister General Khin Nyunt. However this “Roadmap” did not include plans for improving the serious deterioration of human rights situation and substantive political reforms in the country.

European and Southeast Asian officials were continuously pressing Myanmar's military government to do away with political restrictions and take responsibilities for political reforms. Burma's human rights record has been a sore point in relations between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the European Union.

Top European Union diplomats said that they had frank discussions about Burma on 10 March 2005 in Jakarta with officials from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Jean Asselborn is the foreign minister of Luxembourg, which held the European Union’s presidency. He said that the European diplomats pointed out their grave concerns about Aung San Suu Kyi, the pro-democracy activist who is being held under house arrest for almost the greater part of the past 15 years by the Myanmar military junta.

"We reiterated the need for the early lifting of all restrictions and we asked for the release of all - all - political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi," Jean Asselborn said.

Burma, a member of ASEAN, is set to take over the organization's presidency in the year 2006. However, many European officials have long advocated democratic reforms in Burma and the issue has caused friction between the European Union and ASEAN.

"We called on Myanmar to grant access to the special representative of the United Nations and to continue effective cooperation with all U.N. agencies," he said. "We discussed ways to promote positive development in Myanmar and agreed to continue dialogue on this issue."

At Cebu city, Philippines on 12 April 2005, ASEAN member nations have failed to reach a consensus on whether to allow Myanmar to take up the association's revolving chairmanship in 2006, as scheduled. Thai Foreign Minister Kantathi Suphamong-khon said Myanmar's military regime would make a decision based on the best interests of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Kantathi reiterated ASEAN's principle of non-interference in the domestic affairs of member countries, adding that Thailand does not want the chairmanship issue for Myanmar to become an obstacle to the ASEAN's unity. The grouping has come under pressure from several member nations, as well as the United States and the European Union, to make Myanmar's chairmanship conditional on an improvement of its human rights record and substantive political reforms.

The issue was raised on the last day of the ASEAN foreign ministers' held at a retreat on Cebu Island in the Philippines. Laos, which chaired the three-day meeting, said foreign ministers would take up the issue again at a meeting in Vientiane, Laos, in July 2005. "It has been agreed that since this is an informal meeting, we should discuss the Myanmar issue at the upcoming Asean ministerial meeting at Vientiane," said Lao Foreign Minister Somsavat Lengsavad, who chaired the meeting at the retreat in Cebu, located in the Philippines.

The issue of Myanmar's impending chairmanship has exposed divisions in the 10-member grouping, with older members such as the Philippines, Singapore and Malaysia demanding real democratic change in the military-ruled country.

Newer members such as Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos have taken a more supportive stand, some invoking Asean's long-held tradition of consensus building and noninterference in the affairs of its members.

Myanmar, which is internationally condemned for political and human rights abuses, including the detention of the Nobel Peace prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, is due to take the alphabetically rotating chairmanship of Asean in 2006. The United States and the European Union, which have imposed economic sanctions on the country, have been pressuring the regional grouping to block its chairmanship.

Filipino Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo at the Cebu retreat predicted that he expected "vigorous debates" over Myanmar amid continued pressure from the West. Romulo also spoke out Manila's position that Myanmar's ruling junta should implement promised democratic reforms, release pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest, give access for the drawing of a democratic constitution and allow the U.N. special envoy to visit the country showing cooperation with the world body.

In June 2005, the Indonesian Parliament's Commission on Defence and Foreign Affairs issued a resolution urging the government to boycott the ASEAN meetings if military-ruled Burma or Myanmar is allowed to take over the chairmanship.

Indonesia's parliamentarians are urging their government to support the resolution, which the parliamentary commission passed.

Malaysian and Philippine legislators, along with pro-democracy groups, have also opposed Myanmar's chairmanship, warning that ASEAN could lose credibility.

However, Myanmar's junta taking over of the chairmanship has become a thorn in ASEAN's side, which has a tradition of non-interference in members' domestic affairs. ASEAN officials say it will be solely up to the military regime in the Association to decide whether to take the helm next year or to retreat.

Because of Myanmar's dismal human-rights record, the United States and the European Union have repeatedly warned to boycott ASEAN meetings and stall development aid to the regional organization if it allows the military regime taking the chair. Most ASEAN nations are anxious to maintain good ties with their major trading partners.

The Asean Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar [Burma] Caucus, or AIPMC, which comprises representatives from Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines and Cambodia, urged their governments to take the situation in the military ruled country seriously. Asean could otherwise lose credibility. At the moment the grouping is bound by its "constructive engagement" policy towards Burma's military regime. The AIPMC was originally formed by Malaysian legislators in May 2004.

Subsequently other legislators - both ruling party and opposition - from the other five Asean countries joined to give the AIPMC a total membership of about 400. The group in Bangkok had previously been in Malaysia and Indonesia to push its Burma proposals, and will now go to the Philippines.

A group of MPs from Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand and Cambodia have formed the Asean Inter-Parliamentary Caucus for Myanmar (AIPMC) as part of a campaign to raise awareness among legislators in their own countries of the situation in Myanmar and put pressure on the junta to free Aung San Suu Kyi and restore democracy.

Led by Datuk Zaid Ibrahim, head of the Malaysian caucus, they are asking that Myanmar, which is scheduled to take over as chairman of Asean by rotation next year, be denied the position unless Daw Aung Suu Kyi is released and other conditions met. This demand - in the Asean context - is surely unprecedented. But Zaid says it could mark the start of a new period of maturity and self-confidence within the region.

There should be a minimum standard of conduct that Asean members have to meet, says Zaid, who insists that this action does not violate the regional grouping's "non-interference" principle. For many years the international community had called upon Asean to take the lead in addressing the situation in Myanmar. These caucuses can be seen as rising to that challenge, he says.

To have legislators throughout the region to come together at both national and regional levels on an issue of human rights and democracy is encouraging not only for Asean, but for each individual country, says Zaid. The AIPMC says despite "constructive engagement" with Myanmar since its admittance into Asean in 1997, little progress had been made towards democracy and genuine national reconciliation.

The ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC) urges the ASEAN governments of Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, and Philippines to respect the stand of the AIPMC that Myanmar should not be allowed to assume the ASEAN Chair 2006 unless Aung San Suu Kyi and all political prisoners are released and a meaningful democratization and national reconciliation introduced in the country. There should be no softening of this stand, which should be formalized by the 38th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Vientiane, Laos on July 25-29, 2005.

Lim Kit Siang, Malaysian opposition leader and AIPMC member, also said it was important that regional leaders tackle Burma's problems before it takes over the Asean chairmanship. He even urged them to expel Burma from the grouping unless there was political progress in the country. He pointed out in his media statement to promote democratization in Burma as well as in the ASEAN countries.

In his statement he emphasized, “ASEAN Parliamentarians should step up the campaign for democratization and national reconciliation in Myanmar in the next two months before the commencement of the 38th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting in Laos on the importance of heeding and respecting growing ASEAN parliamentary and civil society opinion that:

(i) Myanmar should not take the ASEAN Chair 2006 in the absence of meaningful democratization and national reconciliation efforts; and

(ii) Even if Myanmar voluntarily postpones its ASEAN Chairmanship 2006, the AMM should go on record to hold the Myanmar military junta to its undertaking when it was admitted into ASEAN in 1997 to work towards democratization and national reconciliation in Myanmar.

Recently on 11 July 2005, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged Thailand to press the neighboring Myanmar junta to release all political prisoners including Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and move towards a greater openness and democratic reforms. Rice said that the United States was encouraging all of its partners, not just alone Thailand, but all partners who have contacts with Burma or Myanmar to press the case for human rights, to press the case for greater openness, to press the case for human rights for activists like Aung San Suu Kyi to be released forthwith, who represents the democratic movement for of reconciliation in Myanmar.

Since the 30 May 2003 Dapeyin attack, the junta has reconvened a National Convention to draw up a constitution, as part of a 7-step Roadmap to democracy. To everybody's knowledge, 1,076 delegates were handpicked by the junta, while the representatives-elect from the National League for Democracy (NLD) and the main representatives of the ethnic nationalities have been excluded from the process. In addition, the junta refused to release Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other NLD leaders, thus denying them the opportunity to participate in the National Convention.

The United States has previously suggested that it won't send a representative to next year's ASEAN meetings if Myanmar becomes chair of the body. Washington shuns Myanmar's junta for its poor human rights record and failure to hand over power to a democratically elected government.

There are still over 140,000 refugees in camps in Thailand. Approximately 20,000 refugees are in Bangladesh, and an estimated 52,000 Chin and Kachin refugees are in India. There are records of the systematic forced relocation of ethnic villages, and the use of forced labor, human minesweepers, child soldiers, torture, religious persecution, killings and the destruction of villages, rice barns, livestock and crops.

Burma Army has been exercising forced conscription and it has the highest number of child soldiers in the world. According to rights groups, there are about 70,000 child soldiers in the Burma Army, some as young as 11, being taken from bus stops and street corners, or on their way home from school, and forced to join the army.

The systematic use of rape as a weapon of war by the Burma Army has been documented in many reports. Remarkable reports are such as License to Rape (Shan Human Rights Foundation - 2002), No Safe Place (Refugees International - 2003), Shattering Silences (Karen Women's Organization - 2004) and System of Impunity (Women's League of Burma - 2004).

The ASEAN Declaration stated that the Association aims to accelerate the economic growth, social progress and cultural development in the region, in order to strengthen the foundation for a prosperous and peaceful community of Southeast Asian nations. But, how can the Asean fulfill its major purposes with a military ruled member country which neglects norms of the civilized-organization? How can the association build up a prosperous and peaceful community while it has been accepting a rogue State as a member? The ASEAN should review this question objectively.

The next aim of the association is to promote regional peace and stability through abiding respect for justice and the rule of law in the relationship among countries in the region and adherence to the principles of the United Nations Charter. Member countries should thoroughly reconsider this purpose also. While the junta is shutting its eyes, extra-judicial killings, violence against women and children are taking place in daily basic in the military ruled country. There is no law and order at all. With such a lawless country as a member, can ASEAN manage to implement it aims? Actually, ASEAN's constructive engagement policy towards Myanmar (Burma) has been a complete failure.

Burmese people feel that the military regime has been using membership in ASEAN as a shield to protect pressures from the International Community over its dismal human rights record. ASEAN's prestige has been tarnish because of the military regime's membership.

Today's question for ASEAN and European Union as well as Japan is to think over whether Burma a dictatatorial or a democrat state? According to a Burmese saying, a tiger is a tiger and it never lives on grass. Then, if someone says a dictator would build a democratic country, it may be an object of ridicule for the Burmese society.

There are still arguments that the time for ASEAN to abandon its long standing policy of non-interference in another country's internal affairs if the affairs of a country spilled over and affected regional security. ASEAN's policy-makers have to debate on the Burma Question in the 38th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Vientiane, Laos on July 25-29, 2005.

ASEAN should review its policy towards Burma under the military dictatorship for the sake of the association's future.

- Asian Tribune -
http://www.asiantribune.com/oldsite/show_news.php?id=15065

My Prison Life with U Win Tin

2007-07-26T23:58:00.000-07:00

-by- Zin Linn

April 8, 2001

My name is Zin Linn (a.k.a.) Htay Aung. I am an editor and writer by profession. I was sentenced to two years in the aftermath of being a student unionist and activist in Rangoon during my student years in the 1960s. I served my prison term in the notorious Insein jail from 1982 to 1984. So I know very well about the military dictators' hellish dungeons.

In August 1988 I participated in the old Students' Union Association and protested against the dirty Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP) regime. In 1989, I became an Executive Committee member of the Thingangyun Township branch of the National League for Democracy (NLD). Then I became an in-charge of the Rangoon Division NLD office.

In 1990, I was assigned as the chairman of the Thingangyun township election campaign committee for the NLD candidate. After the election, the junta refused to acknowledge the NLD's victory, but I continued my political activities. I had contact with the All Burma Students Democratic Front's (ABSDF) Underground (UG) unit. Then I took on a clandestine duty to distribute the works of the National Coalition Government of Union of Burma (NCGUB) and the Democratic Alliance of Burma (DAB). As a result, I was arrested by the secret police on August 2, 1991 and sentenced to seven years by Military Court No.2. I was put into solitary confinement in the deadly Insein prison for the second round.

There I met Saya U Win Tin, the most valiant journalist in Burma. He is also an outstanding writer and critic. And he is one of the founding members of the NLD. He was arrested on July 4, 1989 and sentenced to 3 years imprisonment without valid evidence that he did anything against the law. The military regime put him in jail not because of any unlawful activity, but because he was an important consultant to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the NLD. U Win Tin and I were put in the same building—Cellblock No.3. He was in Cell 2 alone. I was in Cell 9 with Dr. Zaw Myint Maung (MP for Amarapura) and Dr. Myint Naing (MP for Kantbalu).

We got a chance to meet each other when the warden let the prisoners of conscience have a bath. If the warden was a good-natured one, we could have a chat for around 10 minutes. We often had a chance to exchange our opinions. U Win Tin occasionally told me of his experiences with the military intelligence personnel. The military agents came to see U Win Tin intermittently. They took him to their office in the jail and interrogated him on a lot of issues. They often tried to persuade him to join the junta. But U Win Tin always rejected their offer.

U Win Tin told me about an incident with the junta's men. "It happened in 1991," he said. "They took me out of my cell to an exhibition 'The Real Story under the Big Waves and Strong Winds' held at Envoy Hall on U Wizara Road in Rangoon. The aim of the exhibition was to denounce the 1988 uprising as a riot created by destructive elements and terrorists," said U Win Tin. He told me that there was a big character poster at the entrance of the show saying, "Only when the Tatmadaw [military] is strong, will the nation be strong." There were many galleries in the show. Each gallery highlighted the role of the army and emphasized that it was the only force that could safeguard the country. The show also described the junta's discrimination against the role of the democratic institutions and societies. "Sovereign power is only deserved by the generals. That's the final conclusion," said U Win Tin.

After witnessing the show, the junta's agents asked U Win Tin how he felt about the exhibition and inquired if he would like to join the junta. They gave him some paper and a pen and told him to write down his opinion about the show. "I wrote down my criticism. I used 25 sheets of paper. It was a blunt comment. I made my commentary in a sense of sincerity and openness. But it irritated them severely," he told me later.

First, he criticized the slogan, "Only when the army is strong will the country be strong." "It's the logic of the generals to consolidate militarism in Burma," he explained to me later. "Their logic tells us that they are more important than the people and they expose themselves as power mongers. That means they neglect the people caught in the poverty trap." Thus he wrote: "The slogan tells us that Burma is going against a policy of peace and prosperity." He went on to explain his understanding of the role of the army. He said, "The real thing is that the military comes out of the womb of the people. Thus, the slogan must be like this: 'The people are the only parents of the military.' Anyone who does not care about his own parents is a rogue," he pointed out to the generals.

He also emphasized that if the generals really loved peace and wanted prosperity for the nation, they needed to sincerely reflect on their limitations. The generals might want what's best for the country, but they did not know how to handle the whole situation. They are used to mismanagement. "Eventually, I came straight to the point: The army must go back to the barracks. That will make everything better in Burma," he said to me plainly.

The junta was very displeased with his criticism and accused him of advising Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to defy the junta. Then, they made another lawsuit against him. The junta increased U Win Tin's sentence by 10 more years. They put him alone in his cell. The cell was 8.5 x 11.5 feet. There was only a bamboo mat on the concrete floor. Sleeping, eating, walking and cleaning the bowels were done in the very same place. He could not see the sun, the moon or the stars. He was intentionally barred from breathing fresh air, tasting nourishing food and drinking a drop of fresh water. The worst thing was to stay lonely in such a cage for years. That might cause anyone to have a nervous breakdown. There are many political prisoners who suffer from mental illness.

In such conditions, a 72-year-old journalist has to face a lot of hardship and difficulties. The authorities created an atmosphere of persecution to pressure the writer's spirit to bow down. But it was in vain. U Win Tin would not alter his beliefs to escape this severe hardship. Due to his blunt commentary, the junta seized the apartment he owned in Rangoon. Moreover, they did not take care of his health.

The director of the Defense Services Intelligence, Col. Than Tun, once came to see U Win Tin and U Tin Htut (now in Australia) in Insein jail. I remember that it was in March 1995. At that time, U Win Tin was not healthy. When he met Col. Than Tun, U Win Tin was wearing a surgical collar as he was suffering from spondylitis. He also had a hernia problem. He always had to use one of his hands to lift his hernia. Besides this, he had already suffered from a stroke twice, and his eyes and teeth were in bad condition. The authorities neglected to arrange a general medical check-up. Actually, Col. Than Tun came to U Win Tin to test his morale and soften his firmness. But U Win Tin remained unbowed.

However, the colonel ordered his men to hospitalize the old journalist. The surgeons, who managed to operate on his hernia, said that the action was late by three years. Due to strangulation, the surgeons decided to remove one of his testicles. After the operation the doctors apologized to the famous writer for failing to save it. So he lost a testicle because the authorities did not take care of a dissident. When they sent U Win Tin back to his cell, we, the NLD members, had already decided to gather some data on human rights abuses in prisons. We intended to submit a human rights report to the United Nations Golden Jubilee Assembly.

We sent a letter of notification to fellow prisoners of conscience, inviting them to participate in the movement. There were over 300 inmates in the cell compound. We organized some wardens to assist us in our activities. Because of the influence of the great 1988 uprising, some wardens sympathized and helped us a lot. Fellow prisoners from political parties and student organizations were actively involved in collecting data on human rights abuses. After collecting the data, Dr. Zaw Myint Maung, Dr. Myint Naing and I wrote a draft.

When U Win Tin came back from the hospital all of us agreed to ask him to edit the report. In fact, it was time for him to rest because of his surgery, but there was no one else who could do the editing. The workload was so overwhelming that he got extremely exhausted. The task was not only heavy, but also dangerous. He had to stay in a corner of his cell all the time while finalizing the report. He had to keep his eyes and ears open at all times because of the guards intermittently patrolling the cells. It was a blessing that he came back from the hospital to help us prepare the report. The luckiest thing was that most wardens respected U Win Tin and did not want to disturb him. U Win Tin is a staunch fighter for democracy.

Before he finalized the report, he took the duty of writing reviews on the current political situation. He regularly delivered them to his fellow prisoners. And he welcomed everybody's comments on his opinions. Young students eagerly asked him about politics, economics, history, philosophy, literature and so on, writing their questions on plastic sheets with old nails. He replied to them daily without taking time to rest. Using plastic sheet that were once packing bags, he was always pleased to exchange his opinions with younger prisoners.

U Win Tin often said to us: "The nature of the dictators is that they want to wash our brains. To reverse this situation, we must be industrious to build up our brains with knowledge and ideas. They want to empty our brains. We shouldn't accept their aims. On the contrary, we have to build up our unity and assist each other. Unity alone can overcome the junta's brainwashing method. "If we do not try to get messages and ideas from the outside world, we cannot understand the present situation," he continued. "Then we can't prepare well for the struggles ahead. That will lead us and our country into an age of darkness."

It was in first week of July 1995 that U Win Tin finished the final report. It went around among the fellow prisoners of conscience. They gave their consent to the human rights report by contributing their signatures. About 115 prisoners signed the petition. The rest could not give their signatures because of security concerns. We sent the final report with the signatures to Myo Myint Nyein, a fellow prisoner in Cell 17 of Cellblock No. 4 (Long). He was also an editor of the Pe-Phu-Hlwar magazine. He arranged for the assistance of a reliable warden.

On July 15, 1995, the report, entitled "Human Rights Abuses in the Junta's Prisons", together with the petition, was successfully smuggled out through outside links. Within weeks, they were sent to Mr. Yozo Yokota, the UN Special Rapporteur for Burma, and it was eventually exposed to the international community. The release of both the report and the petition hurt the junta and made the generals extremely angry.

I would like to tell you about another important activity in our prison life. One of them was a fight for prisoners' rights, including the right to read books and listen to the radio. U Win Tin was the first prisoner of conscience who demanded these rights. Then others followed him. The authorities delayed any response. Time was running out and we had zero tolerance for this situation. Then U Win Tin suggested to us that we should strive to fight for these rights until the authorities allowed us our needs. Finally, we succeeded. We received Time and Newsweek magazines by smuggling them in. Jimmy (a.k.a.) Kyaw Min Yu, one of our Media Committee Team members, managed to get a pocket-sized radio. Jimmy (of the Democratic Party for a New Society) and Myat Tun (NLD) were in Cell 8 of Cellblock No. 3. They listened to the radio with earphones at night and noted down the news from BBC, VOA and other radio stations. Then they sent the notes to Myo Myint Nyein in Cell 17 of Cellblock No. 4 (Long). Kyi Pe Kyaw (ABSDF) and Khin Maung Phu (a.k.a.) Tukky (of the Karen National Union) were with Myo Myint Nyein. They turned the notes into a weekly news bulletin. There were six cell compounds and over 300 inmates. Through the help of wardens who sympathized with us, the news bulletin went around among the prisoners of conscience. Moreover, the students in Cellblock No 4 (Long) brought out a magazine called "Diamond Jubilee National Day Annual Issue" and the students in No 4 (Long) also made "The New Blood Wave," an annual magazine as a commemoration to Phone Maw, the first fallen student in 1988. Only a single, handwritten copy of each issue was produced and circulated among political prisoners, with great care and at even greater risk to those who contributed their energies.

I myself was on the editorial staff of Cellblock No 3. We managed to bring out a monthly magazine named "The Tidal Wave" and another commemorating the 50th birthday of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, called "The Democracy Mothers' Day Magazine". In every issue, U Win Tin contributed articles on current political questions as well as the contemporary history of Burmese political science. Everybody in the cells was eager to read his articles. While we were struggling in our own way, the authorities were trying to uncover our secret activities and identify the responsible prisoners, especially those who took a leadership role in smuggling out the human rights report. They searched for our Achilles' heel, and at last they found it.

Tin Win, one of our fellow inmates and a former army sergeant, who was serving a sentence of more than 50 years, was very depressed and wanted to appeal for release. The authorities enticed him to join the secret agents in the prison so that he could be released. In short, Tin Win became a collaborator and the whole network fell into the hand of secret agents. At midnight on September 11, 1995, the authorities raided the prison’s cell compounds for a surprise search. They dug up the concrete floors and found some underground casings, in which there were books, papers, pens, colored pencils, two radios, news bulletins and other small tools. Sixty-three inmates were arrested, handcuffed and put into solitary confinement.

Eight inmates were sent to the hellish "dog cell." They were: U Win Tin, Dr Zaw Myint Maung, Dr Myint Naing, Dr Khin Zaw Win (a former UN staffer), U Nine Nine (NLD MP for Pazundaung, NLD), Myo Myint Nyein (a member of the NLD’s information staff), Ko Tun Win (of the Arakan Communist Party) and me. The secret agents interrogated us all day and all night for a week without letting us take a rest. At that time U Win Tin had just been released from the hospital after his hernia surgery. He was also suffering from a stomach disorder. But the authorities ignored this and forced him and the rest of us to sleep on the concrete floor without drinking water for two full days. Food was just some rice and vegetable soup. The worst thing was, none of us were able to clean our bowels. Nor could we bathe for two weeks.

After a nearly two-month investigation, the authorities decided that 37 prisoners deserved charges. Then they split us into two groups to face charges. The first group consisted of 24 prisoners, while the second consisted of 13. But they didn’t file lawsuits against the second group. Instead, the 13 prisoners in the second group were punished according to the jail manual.

The first group of 24, including U Win Tin, faced lawsuits. During the trial, eight men in the "dog cell," including U Win Tin, encouraged each other and everyone remained steadfast. Eight of us held Diamond Jubilee National Day and U Win Tin delivered a National Day speech from his cell. He had to shout his speech in order for us to hear. We clapped our hands in praise of his speech and sang the national anthem in chorus.

On March 12, 1995, we celebrated U Win Tin’s birthday, held in the "dog cell." All of us sang and prayed for him. We recalled his words: "The junta put us in the ‘dog cell’ to crush our morale, but by doing so our spirits have been hardened and tempered. It is a pity that they don’t even know the law of nature." I still remember some words from his speech. "A true politician will do his best, wherever he is, whether in parliament or in prison. His duty is to implement the will of his nation," he said. "To consider the nation’s future is the most important duty of all of us, even while we are in prison. The dictators can detain only our bodies, but not our souls." He added: "True politicians are like gardeners who grow a long-lasting tree. Although he may never have an opportunity to taste the fruit of the tree, he must tend to it for the benefit of future generations."

On March 28, 1996, twenty-four prisoners of conscience received their sentences from a summary court. They didn’t have attorneys to defend them against the charges laid against them. Four were charged under penal code 5(J), which deals with threats to prison security, and penal code 6, which deals with the formation of anti-junta organizations in prison, and were each sentenced to an additional seven years in prison.

Among those who were sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment were Dr Zaw Myint Maung, Jimmy, Ko Soe Myint and Ba Myo Thein. Two prisoners of conscience, who received five-year sentences, were Dr Myint Maing and Thet Min Aung. The rest of the 18 got an additional seven years each. They were: U Win Tin, Myo Myint Nyein, Phyo Min Thein, Htay Win Aung (a.k.a.) Pyone Cho, Zaw Min, Zaw Tun, Nyunt Zaw, Myat Tun, Soe Htet Khine, Tun Win, Win Thein, Sein Hlaing, Kyi Pe Kyaw, Aung Myo Tint, Ko Ko Oo (a.k.a.) Bo Bo, Aung Kyaw Oo, Hla Than and Yin Htwe.

After that incident, the authorities tightened up security. They built an extension wall for each cell and covered it with an iron grille. Then another iron-sheet door was placed so that prisoners could not see anything outside their cells. Moreover, the jail authorities refused to give real medical care to prisoners. So the situation of U Win Tin, the 72-year-old journalist, became even more critical.

In 1994, US Congressman Bill Richardson met four political prisoners in Insein jail. U Win Tin was one of them. At that time he suffered from various health problems such as spondylitis, hernia, heart disease, failing eyesight, and urethritis, as well as piles. And it is said that he also had tuberculosis. Each one of us was surprised how that valiant journalist was so tough even with so many health problems. For the junta, U Win Tin is really a rocky mountain. Although they wish to crush that mountain, they could never do it.

But as tough as was with his oppressors, his tenderness towards his comrades and his people was boundless. He truly deserves great honor for his sacrifices.

The Irrawaddy News Magazine Online Edition

http://www.irrawaddymedia.com/interview_show.php?art_id=12

The USDA's True Faces Revealed

2007-07-26T23:51:00.000-07:00

Date : 2003-12-11

By Zin Linn

We saw very clearly yesterday that, USDA (Union Solidarity and Development Association) was another face of the Burmese junta. Also USDA is the terror group, a para-military organization within the Burmese state apparatus organized and patronized by the Army generals within the State Peace and Development Council to subdue the populace.

According to Burmese government control media, the USDA was formed on 15 September 1993, and up to 31 July 1999, there have been 16 state and division associations, 63 district-level associations, 320 township-level associations and 14,865 village-tract associations with the total membership of 11,806,009. During the ten-year period, the USDA has been formed at the central level, state/division level, district level, township level and village/ward level.

Under the supervision of the Central Panel of Patrons, the USDA has been organized with Secretary-General, the secretariat and a Central Executive Committee.

The Members of Panel of USDA Patrons (Central) are as follow:

- Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services - Senior General
- Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services
-Commander-in-Chief (Army)
- Commander-in-Chief (Navy)
-Commander-in-Chief (Air)

-Head of the Office of Strategic Studies Department
-Adjutant general
-Quarter master general
-Chief-of-Staff (army)
-Commanders of All Army Commands

- Commanders of All Army Commands are the Patrons of USDA States/Divisions Level. And they are also members of the Central Panel of Patrons.

* Panel of Patrons of USDA (Central)

Patron of the USDA

Senior General Than Shwe.
Chairman of State Peace and Development Council
Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services
Minister for Defence Services

* Members of Panel of Patrons of USDA (Central)

(1) Vice-Senior General Maung Aye
-Vice-Chairman of State Peace and Development Council
-Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services
- Commander-in-Chief (Army)

(2) General Khin Nyunt
- Prime Minister of the State
- Chairman of Myanmar education committee
- Chairman of National Health Committee
- Chairman of the City Housing Estate Project Supervisory Committee
- Chairman of Myanmar Computer Science Development Council
- Chairman of the Working Committee for Development of Border Areas and National Races
- Chairman of Myanmar National Olympic Council
- Chairman of the Central Committee for Ensuring Smooth and Secure Transport
- Chairman of ASEAN Steering Committee of the Union of Myanmar
- Committee for Reorganization of Police Administration System
- Chairman of the Privatization Commission
- Chairman of Housing Project Committee
- Vice-Chairman of Industrial Development Central Committee
- Patron of the Leading Committee for All-round Renovation of the Shwedagon Pagoda
- Patron of Myanmar National Committee for Women's Affairs
- Military Adviser to the Chairman of State Peace and Development Council
- Chairman of the Special Projects Implementation Committee

(3) Lt-Gen Soe Win
- Secretary-1 of the State Peace and Development Council

(4) Lt-Gen Thein Sein,
- Secretary of the State Peace and Development
-Council Adjutant General
-Chairman of Myanmar War Veterans Organization Central Organizing Committee

(5) General Thura Shwe
-Member of the State Peace and Development Council
(6) Lt-Gen Thihathura Tin Aung Myin Oo
-Member of the State Peace and Development Council
-Quarter Master General

(7) Lt-Gen Kyaw Win
-Member of the State Peace and Development Council
-Chief of Armed Forces Training

(8) Lt-Gen Tin Aye
-Member of the State Peace and Development Council

(9) Lt-Gen Ye Myint
-Member of the State Peace and Development Council

(10) Lt-Gen Aung Htwe
-Member of the State Peace and Development Council

(11) Lt-Gen Khin Maung Than
-Member of the State Peace and Development Council

(12) Lt-Gen Maung Bo
-Member of the State Peace and Development Council

(13) Lt-Gen Kyi Min
-Commander-in-Chief (Navy)

(14) Lt-Gen Myat Hein
-Commander-in-Chief (Air)

(15) Maj-Gen Khin Maung Myint
-Commander of Eastern Command
-Chairman of Shan State Peace and Development Council

(16) Brig-Gen Ko Ko
-Commander of Southern Command
-Chairman of Pegu Division Peace and Development Council

(17) Maj-Gen Myint Swe
-Commander of Yangon Command
-Chairman of Yangon Division Peace and Development Council

(18) Maj-Gen Myint Hlaing
-Commander of Northeastern Command
-Chairman of Shan State Peace and Development Council

(19) Maj-Gen Maung Oo
-Commander of Western Command
-Chairman of Rakhine State Peace and Development Council

(20) Maj-Gen Ye Myint
-Commander of Central Command
-Chairman of Mandalay Division Peace and Development Council

(21) Brig-Gen Ohn Myint
-Commander of Coastal Region Command
-Chairman of Taninthayi (Tenasserim) Division Peace and Development Council

(22) Brig-Gen Thura Myint Aung
-Commander of South-Eastern Command
-Chairman of Mon State Peace and Development Council

(23) Brig-Gen Tha Aye
-Commander of North-Western Command
-Chairman of Sagaing Division Peace and Development Council
-During 30 May Premeditated Attack, he was Commander of Coastal Region Command
-Chairman of Taninthayi(Tenasserim)Division Peace and Development Council

(24) Brig-Gen Soe Naing
-Commander of South-Western Command
-Chairman of Irrawaddy Division Peace and Development Council
-During 30 May Premeditated Attack, he was Commander of Commander of North-Western Command
-Chairman of Sagaing Division Peace and Development Council

(25) Brig-Gen Khin Zaw
-Commander of Triangle Region Command
-Chairman of Eastern Shan State Peace and Development Council

(26) Brig-Gen Maung Maung Swe
-Commander of Northern Command
-Chairman of Kachin State Peace and Development Council

Secretary-General of USDA
Brig-Gen Htay Oo
-Minister for Cooperative
- Former Commander of South-West Command
- Chairman of Irrawaddy Division Peace and Development Council)

During 30 May Premeditated Attack, the Secretary-General was U Than Aung who is Minister for Education

The Secretariat of USDA

Brig-Gen Thein Zaw
-Minister for Telecommunications, Post and Telegraphs
-Minister for Hotels and Tourism

U Thaung
-Minister for Science and Technology

Maj-Gen Tin Htut
-Minister for Electric Power

Maj-Gen Kyaw San
-Minister for Information

Central Executive Committee

Brig-Gen Thura Aung Ko
-Deputy Minister for Religious Affairs

Brig-Gen Maung Maung Thein
-Minister for Livestock and Fisheries

Brig-Gen Kyaw Win
-Minister for Industry-1

U Soe Tha
-Minister for National Planning and Economic Development

Brig-Gen Khin Maung
-Minister for Agriculture and Irrigation

Brig-Gen Thein Aung
-Minister for Forestry

Col. Tin Hlaing

Col. Thein Nyunt
-Minister for Progress of Border Areas and National Races and Development Affairs

Brig-Gen Aung Thein Lin
-Chairman of Rangoon City Municiple Committee
- Mayor - Rangoon

Col. Maung Pa
-Vice-Chairman of Rangoon City Municiple Committee
-Deputy Mayor - Rangoon

Brig-Gen Thura Aye Myint
-Minister for Sports

U Than Shwe
-Minister for Office of Prime Minister

Brig-Gen Ohn Myint
-Minister for Mines

U Thein Sein Deputy
-Deputy Minster for Information

Brig-Gen Pyi Sone
-Minister for Commerce and Trade

This is the second part of the two-part news analysis by Zin Linn

Also Read: USDA is another face of the military junta - Exposed

http://www.asiantribune.com/oldsite/show_news.php?id=8262

USDA is another face of the military junta - Exposed

2007-07-26T23:48:00.000-07:00

Date : 2003-12-10

By Zin Linn

The USDA (Union Solidarity and Development Association) is a quasi -government terror organization – one half of it is said to be political, but the whole is a para-military outfit. In fact USDA is the another face of the military junta.

It was formed on 15 September 1993. According to the available information, up to 31 July 1999, there are 16 state and divisional associations, 63 district-level associations, 320 township-level associations and 14,865 village-tract associations, with the total membership of 11,806,009.

During the last ten-year period, the USDA has been formed at the centrall level, state/division levell, district level, township level and village/ward level.

It is a well-known fact, that although USDA claims itself as a non-governmental organization, but in fact it is the military regime's undercover gang of informants, as well as a hit squad.

All members of the association are required to attend various trainings, including crash military courses. The military normally make use of the USDA to create social unrest that would provide an opportunity for the armed forces to interfere to suppress the civilians and subdue them.

People still remember with fresh memories of the November 1996 incident as something that happened yesterday. When talking about that incident, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said some 200 people gathered around her car, who were armed with iron bars, motor cycle chains and other dangerous weapons, and smashed her car windows and windscreen, on 9th November 1996.

The USDA at present is perhaps the most dangerous, a ruthless militant outfit in the Burma’s political arena.

In the 1996, the ugly rowdy incident, media-men saw clearly the gathering of USDA demonstrators on a street behind police lines, taking instructions from a man with a cell phone and a walkie-talkie gadget issued only to regime's security officers.

The Lady and other witnesses when narrating about the episode said that the security forces stood by idly and did nothing. She accused the military-backed civilian political group called the Union Solidarity Development Association, or USDA, of being behind the rowdy incident. After the incident, the Lady made a remark that the USDA is behaving like a fascist organization, compared to the Hitler’s notorious ‘Storm Troopers.’

All most all the Burmese know the patron of the USDA is no other than Senior Gen. Than Shwe. The November 1996 incident was the result of the junta's very calculated offensive against the most popular Leader of the Opposition.

Moreover, recently on 30 May at Dipeyin the premeditated massacre of the 250 NLD members traveling in a motorcade was undertaken and attacked by a group of 5000 soldiers, police, USDA members and convicts from Mandalay Prison, who reportedly made an ambush and assault, as the place of attack was lit with powerful search-lights to make the attackers to easily target their victims.

In the ensuing melee, which lasted for an hour, the attackers harshly beat up the NLD members, using bamboo-sticks and spears. Other than that, soldiers opened fire at the innocent unarmed political activists, killing and wounding a large number of NLD members. The attack was not just making harassment, but committing a well-planned and designed brutal massacre, said escapees from the incident.

Eyewitnesses of the incident were unable to be present to witness the complete harrowing episodes, as they were forced to flee for their lives. But by piecing their narrations together, it became apparent that the casualties might be as high as one hundred, may be a little on the higher side.

With such a notorious history, the USDA is capable of undertaking any kind of crime and people in the country are concerned about the fate of the Nobel Peace Prize Winner, who is under detention by the Burmese junta.

What's the real cause of the junta's assaults upon the NLD? What's the real intention of organizing the USDA?

Sole idea was to crack down on the NLD. In the state-run media, the junta regularly attacked the NLD as the culprit of the country's socio-economic problems. And it also accuses Daw Aung San Suu Kyi of working for the Western Bloc or Neocolonialists and Imperialists.

Actually, the landslide victory of the NLD led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in the 1990 parliamentary general elections was the main grouse of the military regime.

The regime's major earlier anticipated the establishment of a military controlled parliament in the 1990 elections. Burmese generals had dreamt of a victory for the National Unity Party (NUP), which was the old military-backed Burmese Socialist Program Party (BSPP). But, surprisingly, the victory of the NLD heralded as a spoiler of the dreams of the generals.

However, the junta refused to honor the election results and rejected permission for the winning parties to convene the Parliament.

Instead, the junta in an act of deception, organized a sham National Convention with an intention of drafting a constitution that must be paved the way to pepetuate the military rule and to prolong the rule.

In fact the pro-military constitutional convention is latest design declared by the generals to ensure the military domination upon the future political arena in Burma.

That's why in late 1995, after the Nobel Peace Laureate's first session under house arrest, the NLD refused to join a new session of the national convention to draft the constitution. The junta shortly afterwards suspended the convention, which the NLD had rejected as an undemocratic forum.

But now, after a lapse of nearly 8 years, on 30 August, Prime Minister General Khin Nyunt declared a seven-point roadmap for democratic reform, including "free and fair" elections under a constitution to be drafted by national convention, which has stalled since 1996.

Burma's ruling military generals got down the USDA to organise and demonstrate support for their roadmap - a clever ploy to shore up their sinking credentials.

The state media reported that more than 15,000 people attended in each of those sham rallies held in each state capitals and divisions, organised by the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Association. It was said that USDA organised carefully orchestrated mass rallies in a bid to demonstrate strong public support for the SPDC's policies.

At this juncture all freedom loving people in Burma urge the International governments and Institutions including the media world to take notice of the USDA's hidden nature when they consider about the solution of the Burma Issue or the national reconciliation dialogue in Burma.

This is the first part of the two-part news analysis by Zin Linn.
The second part –
USDA’s True faces revealed
Will appear tomorrow - 11 November.
http://www.asiantribune.com/oldsite/show_news.php?id=8250

Burmese military regime is the problem, and not the solution

2007-07-26T23:41:00.000-07:00

Asia Tribune
Date : 2003-08-26
By Zin Linn

It was on August 20 2003, the Work Committee for Development of Border Areas and National Races held its coordination meeting No 4/2003 at the Ministry of Progress of Border Areas and National Races and Development Affairs in Rangoon, with a speech by Chairman of the Work Committee Secretary-1 of the State Peace and Development Council General Khin Nyunt.

In his speech, General Khin Nyunt said, '' Some big nations of the west bloc who would not like to see the prosperity and affluence of the nation instigated the unscrupulous persons and tried to put the nation under their influence, disrupting the stability and peace and imposing sanctions against the nation politically, economically and socially. However much the external elements put pressure on Myanmar, people will have to exert efforts to the best of their abilities in the interests of the nation and the people through diligence and unity.''

He also said that in line with the objective, to put an ultimate end to poppy cultivation and production with the introduction of alternative economic opportunities, the State is rendering assistance to national races residing in the border areas for the establishment of businesses based on agriculture. Up to the present day, the State spent more than K 1,215 million on the construction of 31 agricultural offices, 115 farming camps, 40 dams, 17 dam projects already surveyed, 4 canals and 11 tractor stations. Reclamation of vacant and virgin lands and highlands in border areas are also undertaken and the agricultural sector of border areas is now on the path of development.

'' As a result, local nationalities have given up cultivation and production of poppy on which they previously relied, and they have been able to do other businesses based on agriculture. Success has been achieved in poppy-substitute cultivation projects in the regions where poppy was previously grown. Moreover, poppy-substitute crops are also thriving in Wa, Panhsan, Mongmaw, Namtit, Wanghon, Tachilek, Kokang and Panwa regions,'' said Gen.Khin Nyunt.

According to the narcotic drugs elimination project, he said, the State is implementing the 15-year plan as a national duty and has made remarkable progress. The New Destiny Project aimed at the total eradication of narcotic drugs is being implemented.

Coincidentally, on that same day of August 20, nine Wa militiamen were killed and 500,000 methamphetamine pills confiscated after the 30-minute gunfight near Huay Sala Village, in Chiang Mai's Mae Ai district in Thailand. No one from Thai side was injured. According to news item the clash took place at 5:30am on August 20, at a sting operation where the undercover police struck a deal with smugglers to deliver 1 million pills in exchange for Bt16 million.

According to DEA (The Drug Enforcement Administration) and foreign law enforcement entities,the United Wa State Army (UWSA) is the single largest heroin and methamphetamine producing organization in Southeast Asia. While not a designated foreign terrorist organization, the UWSA cultivates, manufactures, transports and distributes massive quantities of heroin and methamphetamine from its base in the northeastern Shan State of Burma to international markets including Thailand, Hong Kong, China, Australia, Canada and the United States. In the early 1990's, the UWSA signed a cease-fire agreement with the Burmese junta and was given virtual autonomy over the region under their control. Essentially, the UWSA is a government within a government, primarily funded by drug trafficking activities.

In the Asiaweek news magazine issue of 11 February 2000, Anthony Davis reported that in the Mong Yawn valley opposite Thailand's Mae Ai district, the Wa are engaged in a massive construction program, building roads, dams, an electricity-generating plant, underground fuel-storage facilities, military command posts, barracks, schools and a hospital. Ironically, most of the work in building up the Wa base has been done by up to 6,000 Thai labourers employed by Thai companies contracted by the Wa. In the last two years, a newer settlement about 6 km from the border opposite Chiang Rai province has been built by southern Wa boss Wei Xuegang. Wei's credentials as a Wa freedom fighter are not impressive. An ethnic Chinese drug dealer formerly working with Khun Sa, Wei was indicted in 1993 by a U.S. court and carries a $2-million price on his head. Despite his business interests in Keng Tung and Tachilek, the Burmese junta has for years claimed no knowledge of his whereabouts.

Last January, a leading Thai politician excoriated the United Nations drug agency and the Thai government for ignoring the narcotics production of the pro-Rangoon ethnic militia, the United Wa State Army (UWSA).

밫he UN has never talked about methamphetamines. I believe there is a conspiracy among various parties to protect this drug program in the name of national reconciliation efforts with Burma,?said Senator Kraisak Choonhavan.

The Senator suggested that by turning a 밷lind eye?to Wa drug production and trafficking, the United Nations Drug Control Program is condoning the activities of the Wa army, which include the eviction of local Shan villagers from their homeland.

After the August 20 bloody gunfight at Huay Sala Village, Prime Minister Thaksin Shina-watra threatened to send troops into Burma to do away with drug factories if the drug problem has been fallen into a state of neglect by the Burmese junta. Thaksin said that if the Burmese junta got no time to take out these illicit plants, Thai government would go there and do the job by itself.

He said Wa troops were producing methamphetamine pills about 20 kilometres from the Thai border and that the Burmese junta had been told about the plants' locations.

"We must not allow our country to be invaded anymore. We have been talking for a long time about this issue," the Thai Premier said,'' The Thai government would deal with the issue itself."

Thaksin said he had asked the Foreign Ministry to send a letter to the Burmese regime demanding that they should not cover up the illicit activities of the Wa militia. The prime minister lashed out at the Wa and declared Thai troops would shoot to kill. Drugs from the Wa region have gradually killed Thai children and that's why he won't spare the Wa drug-traffickers, Thaksin said. The premier dismissed suggestions that military action against the Wa militia would strain ties with Burmese military regime.

The United States has listed Burma as a nation that has "failed demonstrably" during the past year to meet their obligations under international counter-narcotics agreements. According to the 2003 presidential determination released on January 31, Burma remains "the world's number one producer and trafficker of methamphetamine and the world's second largest producer and trafficker of heroin." Although saying there was progress on some counter-narcotics fronts, the report said that drug gangs operated freely along the Burmese border with China and Thailand, and that the most important trafficking organization within its borders, the United Wa State Army, has yet to be curbed.

Dr. Thaung Htun, Representative for UN Affairs of the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB), the Burmese government in exile formed by the elected representatives of the 1990 general elections, said, "We are keen to see a coordinated international effort to eradicate drugs. And, as Burmese, we feel responsible for the destruction of millions of young lives by opium and heroin originating from Burma. But, we are really sceptical about the seriousness of the regime, which is well known for its collaboration with drug traffickers. The total amount of opium/heroin seized last year was less than one percent of Burma's estimated output, which is about 2,365 metric tons opium in 1997.

The fact is the Burmese military regime is "the problem, and not the solution."

A Newspaper Published by Asian Tribune Co.,Ltd.

http://www.asiantribune.com/oldsite/show_article.php?id=822
http://pnan.org/technote/read.cgi?board=1burma&y_number=38

The Most Distinguished Journalist of Burma has to celebrate his 76th Birthday in Jail

2007-07-26T23:21:00.000-07:00

Date : 2006-03-09
By- Zin Linn

U Win Tin, former editor-in-chief of Hanthawaddy Newspaper and secretary of National League for Democracy Central Executive Committee, celebrates his 76 th birthday on March 12 in the notorious Insein Prison, where nearly 100 political activists died in recent years. He has been languishing in Special cell No.10 for the past 17 years. He is in poor health. Urethral infection led to prostate gland disorders; severe pain engulfs him while trying to urinate and bleeding when he defecates. Yet, this prominent Burmese writer, who co-founded National League for Democracy along Aung San Suu Kyi, has not asked for special treatment, not even special diet. He is putting up with the suffering in the torture chamber, stoically.

Back to 1996, I myself was thrown into solitary confinement in the infamous dog-cell No.2 of Insein Prison. At that time, Dr. Myint Naing (MP) was in the dog cell No.1, Dr. Zaw Myint Maung (MP) in the dog cell No.3, Myo Myint Nyein in No.4 cell, Dr. Khin Zaw Win in No.5, U Naing Naing (MP) in No.7, U Tun Win in No.8 and U Win Tin was in cell No.10. We were charged with a heinous crime. It was exposing the human rights abuses being indulged in by authorities. We smuggled that report to outside world and hence invited the Junta's wrath. By the time we checked into the prison, U Win Tin was unwell. He had undergone a hernia surgery and needed treatment regularly. He was denied a daily bath. He was denied a cup of water when thirsty. He is a man of steel and never shows a sign of depression. Like him, we were also denied facility for daily bath. Even drinking water whenever we felt thirsty. That is the Junta's decree and its minions at the prisons were happy to enforce with a vicarious thrill.

Why U Win Tin was arrested remains a mystery. He was picked up on 4 July 1989 for a crime he never committed. Three months later, on 3 October, he was pronounced guilty and awarded a jail term of three years with hard labor. Subsequently, the sentence was increased by 11- years in June 1992 and by 7 years in March 1996.

On his third trial, U Win Tin was charged with smuggling out of the prison anti-junta political review and a report on human rights abuses in Burmese prisons to Mr. Yozo Yokota, the then UN Special Rapporteur for Burma.

The only outside world outside the solitary prison cell for him is the prison hospital ward, which he frequents regularly. In the recent past, he had suffered two heart attacks; he underwent two operations and has begun to wear a surgical collar for spondylitis. Most of his teeth were lost and he has no hope of getting dentures. His eye-sight has become poor; but there is no hope of new spectacles from authority.

Nonetheless, U Win Tin remains unwavering in his commitment to his ideology. The Junta had told him directly and through intermediaries that he could hope to breathe freely if he could distance from NLD. At least publicly renounce his political beliefs and sign a letter of resignation from the NLD. He listens to his interlocutors, patiently and with a smile; but offers them no reply. The offer is repeated at least once a year by the military authorities. Every time it met with the same response.

U Win Tin was born on 12 March 1930. He is single; according to close friends, he is married to journalism. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature, Modern History, and Political Science from Rangoon University in 1953. He made up his mind to become a journalist after reading Queed, a novel by Henry Sydnor Harrison (1880-1930). He was an assistant editor of the then Burma Translation Society between 1950 and 1954, and went on to be a consultant with the Djambartan publishing company of the Netherlands from 1954 to 1957. His credentials as an editor, and literary & art earned for him a place on the Burmese Encyclopaedia Publishing Board.

A widely travelled person he had brought out Kyemon (Mirror) Daily for eleven years (1957- 1968) as its executive editor. He moved to Mandalay in 1969 to join the Hanthawaddy Daily as its Editor-in-Chief. He was with the paper for nine years till it was closed down in 1978 for publishing critiques of mismanagement by local authorities and satirical cartoons.

The military authorities suspected a clandestine correspondence between U Win Tin and Aung San Suu Kyi when he was undergoing treatment in Rangoon General Hospital. They believe he had advised the Lady to launch a civil disobedience campaign.

U Win Tin was awarded UNESCO's World Press Freedom Prize for 2000 and World Association of Newspapers' Golden Pen of Freedom Award for 2001. Last year, 55 mayors of towns all over France have signed a Reporters Without Borders' (Reporters Sans Frontieres) petition calling for the immediate release of U Win Tin. French monthly, Maires de France, took the initiative for the petition. Amnesty International's London Office has also launched a petition campaign urging the ruling junta to release U Win Tin unconditionally.

Last year, journalists and dissidents outside the country had celebrated U Win Tin's Diamond Jubilee Birthday at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand, in cooperation with Reporters sans Frontieres. Burma Media Association (BMA) brought out a special commemorative magazine to mark the occasion. The magazine featured as many as 11 articles written by U Win Tin himself and other anti-Junta journalists. In a message, Prof. Paulo S. Pinhero said: "Win Tin did not want to discuss his personal condition but wanted to discuss the human rights situation and the conditions of other political prisoners. Despite all the terrible constraints of prison, I must say that I found him very well informed and extremely lucid. He was very strong and remained committed to the cause of democracy, freedom of speech and the respect of human rights".

Aung San Suu Kyi describes U Win Tin as a man of courage and integrity. "He could not be intimidated into making false confessions. He is as clear as ever and his spirit is upright and unwavering".

Now Burma's junta is trying to deceive the International Community, especially the ASEAN, through an undemocratic seven-step roadmap. An undemocratic or pro-military roadmap will produce an authoritarian regime or a fake democracy mechanism controlled by the military council.

By detaining over 1300 political prisoners (including Aung San Suu Kyi, U Win Tin, U Tin Oo, Khun Tun Oo and 13 members of parliament), the military junta has turned a deaf ear to political dialogue and free press as well. Burma has no hope of changing into a genuine democratic federal union. Since December, the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) has been prevented from visiting the prisoners, who, according to the report, are subject to ''torture and ill-treatment.'' Other allegations of human rights abuses in prison ''include food, water, sleep and light deprivation; harsh beatings; forced squatting for prolonged periods; shackling and solitary confinement.''

''No improvement; no improvement at all,'' Paulo Sergio Pinheiro (Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Myanmar) said on 24 February 2006 while addressing a press conference in Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand in Bangkok. ''The situation has deteriorated'', he declared and said his 29-page report on the plight of political prisoners will be presented to the U.N. Human Rights Commission in April 2006.

Burma's ruling military junta has announced several amnesties for political prisoners under pressure from the international community with the fond of hope of avoiding additional sanctions. U Win Tin's name has never figured in any of these lists. Last month, U Win Tin told his friend who visited him in prison not to worry about his release. "If the junta has a plan releasing political prisoners, I might be the last",' he reportedly remarked with a twinkle in his eye.

* Zin Linn: The author, a freelance Burmese journalist and ex-political prisoner, lives in exile. He is an executive member of the Burma Media Association, which is affiliated with the Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontiers.

- Asian Tribune -

http://www.mail-archive.com/zestmedia@yahoogroups.com/msg01198.html

Zin Linn

To Promote Regional Peace and Stability, ASEAN must take Initiative to tame its unprincipled member

Mon, 2007-10-15 05:25

Mon, 2007-10-15 05:25

Burmese generals ride roughshod over a hapless populace

Burmese left with no choice but to protest in wake of fuel-price hike

The people of Burma have been publicly protesting since August 21 against the arbitrary and dramatic increase of fuel prices announced six days earlier.

“Burmese People's Protests Against Fuel Prices Hike Amid Ruffians' Attacks ”

Burma may not get out of Constitutional Quagmire, Regardless of Self-determination

Forced Labor: The Junta’s Revenge

Burma: The Verdict of the People Can not be Stamped Out

Asian TribuneTue, 2007-05-29 04:40

“Burma Media Watch: Ups and downs in 2006”

Burma mired in a Constitutional tangle?

Burma long stuck in a constitutional morass

Journalists In A Prison State

Burma:: Buddhist Abbot to be hanged

Junta may not release "Prisoners of Conscience"

A LIGHT OF HOPE FOR PEOPLE OF BURMA

Burma: Respressive Manhunt in the Leadup to General Khin Nyunt's Road Map

Who encourages the Burmese junta to violate human rights?

The Biggest Forced Labour Camp in the World

The Unknown Story of the Twenty Four

Burma: A Thorny Question for the Region

Games Burmese Military Rulers Play

USDA: The junta’s partner in crime

Burma: Sanction is a Lesson of Tit-for-Tat

Burma: A Simple Checkmate Move or Coup d'etat in October

Burma: A Tale of Make-Believe by Prime Minister General Khin Nyunt

Burma's (Myanmar) Brand Of Democracy - - Sans Freedom of Press.

BURMA AT A CROSSROADS

Time for ASEAN to review Burma question

My Prison Life with U Win Tin

The Irrawaddy News Magazine Online Edition

The USDA's True Faces Revealed

USDA is another face of the military junta - Exposed

Burmese military regime is the problem, and not the solution

The Most Distinguished Journalist of Burma has to celebrate his 76th Birthday in Jail

Asian Tribune
Tue, 2007-05-29 04:40