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.
No comments:
Post a Comment