NLD Youths Reject Party Registration

National League for Democracy (NLD) youth leaders decided today to reject party registration for this year's
planned election, according to members of the NLD's youth wing who attended a meeting at the party's
headquarters in Rangoon on Friday.
“Today we all decided not to register to contest the
election. This was the main topic of discussion at our
meeting, and we came to a unanimous decision,” said
Nay Myo Kyaw, an NLD youth leader from Magway
Division.
He said that all 51 NLD youth leaders who attended
the meeting agreed to continue their peaceful struggle
for democracy together with the public.
“Even if the party decides to contest the election, we
have already decided against it,” said Myo Min Soe, a
youth leader from Rangoon Division.
If the party is dissolved, the NLD youths will find
another way to pursue their political goals, he said,
without providing any further details.
Youth members of National League for Democracy line up to
welcome guests during the party's 21st founding anniversary The youth leaders also decided to uphold the NLD's
celebration at the party's headquarters in Rangoon last year. Shwegondaing Declaration, which calls on the
(Photo: AP) Burmese junta to review the 2008 Constitution, and
expressed support for Aung San Suu Kyi, the party's
detained leader.
They vowed to follow the decisions of Suu Kyi and other NLD executive members, and asked Tin Oo, the
party's vice chairman, to lead the NLD youth until Suu Kyi's release.
They also called on the NLD Central Executive Committee to choose five NLD youth representatives to join the
party's highest decision-making body.
In October 2008, more than 100 youth members of the NLD resigned from the party, complaining that they
were not allowed to participate in decision-making. The mass resignation came soon after NLD Chairman
Aung Shwe announced the appointment of six new youth advisers and a plan to assign ten others to lead youth
activities.
The NLD Central Executive Committee and more than 100 party leaders from around the country will gather at
the party's headquarters on March 29 to decide whether the party will register or not.
Suu Kyi, who has been legally banned from taking part in the election, recently spoke out against registration,
but said she would leave it to the party to decide for itself what it wants to do.
Source :http://www.irrawaddy.org/election/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=200:nld-
youths-reject-party-registration&catid=37:news&Itemid=118

Censorship Board Issues Political Parties Order

Burma's notorious press censorship board, the Press Scrutiny and Registration Division (PSRD), has issued a
statement saying that registered political parties can publish election-related materials, but with several
conditions.
In the statement––dated March 17 but not made public––obtained by The Irrawaddy on Friday, the PSRD
said that political parties can apply to the censorship board to publish materials in accord with the 1962
Printing and Publishing Act within 90 days of their official registration with the Election Commission.
The order said that the PSRD will not consider applications submitted by parties beyond the prescribed 90
days.
The order reads: “According the 1962 Printing and Publishing Act, the registered political parties can publish
the election-related materials such as pamphlets, journals and booklets without the approval of the PSRD.”
However, political parties must not oppose the ruling State Peace and Development Council, make any attempt
to break the armed forces, and should conform with the restoration and prevalence of law and order, the
statement said.
The PSRD order will charge political parties for registering to publish materials a sum of 100,000 kyat (US
$100), with 500,000 kyat ($500) laid down as a deposit.
To date, only the 88 Generation Student Youths (Union of Myanmar) and the Union of Myanmar
Federation of National Politics parties have applied to register for the election.
Source :http://www.irrawaddy.org/election/index.php?
option=com_content&view=article&id=199:censorship-board-issues-political-parties-
order&catid=37:news&Itemid=118

Party literature cannot criticize military: Junta

(Mizzima ) - The Burmese military junta, which has rolled out harsh electoral laws for political parties, making
it difficult for many to contest, has now come up with rules for political parties while printing their pamphlets,
books or election-related printed matter.

Elections have been declared for this year but no date has been announced yet.

The announcement on party literature on March 17, says parties have to register for printing election-related
matter with the government under the 1962 Printers and Publishers Registration Act.

For permission to print, the political party needs to seek permission from the country’s notorious Press
Scrutiny and Registration Board (PSRB) within 90 days after they register with the Election Commission. The
party literature cannot criticize the military and the present regime, the announcement says. The printed
material cannot disturb “law and order and tranquility” of the nation, it added.

Moreover, a political party has to deposit 500,000 Kyat (USD 500) for permission to print. The amount will be
fully or partially forfeited by the PSRB if a party violates the stringent rules announced.

The 1962 Printers and Publishers Registration Act prohibits publications or materials that go against the
interests of the government. The penalties for violators of this Act range from the banning of an article to seven
years in jail.
Source :http://mizzima.com/news/breaking-and-news-brief/3728-party-literature-cannot-criticize-military-
junta.html

Burma faces critical challenges: Ban

(Mizzima) - The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon today told reporters in New York that Burma faces critical
short and long challenges and the United Nations will continue help realise the aspirations of Burmese people.
He was speaking at the UN building after the closed door meeting of the "Group of Friends on Myanmar" that
discussed the country's recently announced electoral laws by the junta.
He said the member countries in the group stressed the need for this year's election "to be inclusive,
participatory and transparent in order to advance the prospects of stability, democracy and development" for
the people.

"We encourage all parties to work in the national interest. The government must create conditions that give all
stakeholders the opportunity to participate freely in elections. This includes the release of all political
prisoners - including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi -- and respect for fundamental freedoms," Ban said.

He also reiterated his earlier statement that the announced electoral laws so far do not meet what is needed for
an inclusive political process.

The Group of Friends on Myanmar, founded in December 2007, comprises 14 countries including Burma's
neighbours and one regional bloc. They are Australia, China, the European Union, France, India, Indonesia,
Japan, Norway, Russia, Singapore, the Republic of Korea, Thailand, the United Kingdom, the United States
and Vietnam.

Today's meeting also stressed the need to work for a better standard of living for people in Burma, Ban told
reporters.

He also added that member countries are disappointed that there has not been progress for the country's
national reconciliation process.

"This reflects our view that Myanmar's political, humanitarian and development challenges should be
addressed in parallel and with equal attention."

Detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has said that she cannot accept the "unjust" electoral laws of the
Burmese junta. The laws that were announced in the second week of March bars anyone who is serving a
prison sentence to be a member of a political party, to form a party or to contest the elections.

Moreover, the laws are entirely based on the 2008 constitution that has been widely ciriticised both at home
and abroad as constitunalising the military's leading role in country's politics. It prevents any action to be
taken against the military leaders for their human rights violations.

Some individuals and political groups have already announced their intention to participate in the election and
they see the election as an opening to gradual transition from military dictatorship to democracy. The National
League for Democracy, Aung San Suu Kyi's party, the main political force that swept the 1990 elections, is
likely to decide on whether to contest the elections or not at the end of this month. The party will be outlawed if
it decides not to contest this election, the first in 20 years.

Earlier, the UN Security Council also met to discuss Burma but ended without any resolution. China's
representative defended Burma's right to have its electoral laws as a sovereign nation at the meeting.

Meanwhile, a rights group, the Christian Solidarity Worldwide, has welcomed the decision of the British
government to support the establishment of a UN Commission of Inquiry to investigate crimes against
humanity and war crimes committed by the Burmese junta.

Britain’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Mark Lyell Grant, said yesterday that Britain would support the
referral of a case to the International Criminal Court (ICC). Tomas Quintana , UN Special Rapporteur for
Human Rights in Burma, in his report to United Nations Human Rights Commission earlier this month in
Geneva has recommended for the establishment of a commission of inquiry. Australia also supported the
move.
Source :http://mizzima.com/news/election-2010/3726-burma-faces-critical-challenges-ban.html
Political economics students float party
Rangoon (Mizzima) - In the fray in the 2010 elections in Burma, will be Rangoon-based scientific political
economics students after registering their political party.

The party dubbed the ‘New Age People’s Party’ will be registered in the beginning of April after the leaders
from across the country have discussed party registration procedures.

“To confirm the name of the party on March 30, we invited leaders from the States and Divisions. The party
will be registered at the beginning of next month,” said general secretary Tun Aung Kyaw.

They will cooperate with the military government for a genuine democracy based on the market-oriented
economic system, in keeping with one of the junta’s mottos, “to build a modern developed disciplined
democratic nation with the participation of political parties”.

According to the political parties’ registration law announced by the military junta, a party’s candidate
contesting the election can spend at most 100,000 Kyats.

The party’s fund and the candidate’s own money can be used as the party’s expenditure.

Tun Aung Kyaw said, “There are enough funds with the party. So, we don’t need help from others.”

Though there’s a rumour circulating in Rangoon that the political economics students group will join hands
with the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA), the members of the students group have
denied it. But, a member of the USDA (Rangoon Division) said that they are cooperating with Brig-Gen Mayor
Aung Thein Lin to provide non-profit health services for people.

A Rangoon based journalist criticized the monetary policy in the junta’s electoral laws, and said “to set up a
political party, funding is very important. Without enough money, one can’t do anything. So, the political
parties that want to have an alliance with the junta have an advantage.”

The rules and regulations related to political party’s registration dated March 8, state that a party has to
register with the Election Commission within 60 days and the registration fees for a political party is 300,000
Kyats. For a party’s representative, the registration fees are 500,000 Kyats.

The New Age People’s Party has seven central executive committee members, and 15 central committee
members. The general secretary is Tun Aung Kyaw and the joint secretary is Tin Soe.

Source :http://mizzima.com/news/election-2010/3732-political-economics-students-float-party.html

Junta urged to free political

prisoners
By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESS
Published: 26 March 2010
Burmese military rulers must free all political prisoners, including Aung
San Suu Kyi, and ensure that upcoming polls are inclusive and
transparent, a group of UN member states said Thursday.
The call came at a meeting of the so-called Group of Friends of Burma
convened by UN chief Ban Ki-moon to review the country’s new electoral A demonstrator holds a sign with a
laws that disqualify Suu Kyi ahead of what will be the first national polls in picture of Myanmar's opposition
20 years. leader Aung San Suu Kyi during a
protest against the Burmese junta
The group comprises Australia, Britain, China, the European Union,
© REUTERS/Carlos Barria
France, India, Indonesia, Japan, Norway, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, the United States and
Vietnam.
“The group stressed the need for elections to be inclusive, participatory and transparent in order to advance
the prospects of stability, democracy and development for all the people of Burma,” Ban told reporters after the
meeting.
He said participants also urged all parties to work in the national interest and the government to “create
conditions that give all stakeholders the opportunity to participate freely in elections.”
“This includes the release of all political prisoners, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi — and respect for
fundamental freedoms,” he added.
Ban deplored the fact that despite the government’s engagement with key parties to the national reconciliation
process, “it is disappointing that we have not seen the progress that we had expected.”
And he pointed to his comments earlier this month that Burma “published electoral laws and the overall
electoral environment so far do not fully measure up to what is needed for an inclusive political process.”
The new laws relate to the registration of political parties and bar anyone serving a prison term from being a
member of an official party.
Wednesday, the UN Security Council also examined Burma’s new electoral laws, with several members also
voicing concern about their impact on the upcoming polls.
Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) has yet to announce whether it will take part in the polls,
which are expected in October or November although the government has still not set a date.
The 64-year-old opposition leader has been in detention for 14 of the last 20 years since the previous elections.
She was already barred from standing as a candidate under a new constitution approved in a 2008 referendum
that stipulates that those married to foreigners are ineligible. Her husband, British academic Michael Aris, died
in 1999.
The Nobel Peace laureate was sentenced to three years’ jail last August over an incident in which a US man
swam to her lakeside home. The sentence was commuted by junta supremo Than Shwe to 18 months under
house arrest.
Source :http://www.dvb.no/elections/junta-urged-to-free-political-prisoners/

Human Rights Watch call on the G8 to discuss

Burma
By JOSEPH ALLCHIN
Published: 26 March 2010
Ahead of a planning meeting before the June summit of the G8 group of
industrialised countries New York based Human Rights Watch (HRW) has
urged ministers to include Burma on the agenda.
The G8 is a grouping of 8 of the leading economies, formed by France in
1975 it also includes the US, Japan, Italy, Canada, the UK, Germany and
Russia. This year’s gathering will take place in the Canadian city of
Toronto in June.
“One of the reasons that we sent this letter to the G8 is to say; for an
international policy towards Burma to have more effect it’s actually got to
have more unanimity”… “That’s why we talked about the commission of
enquiry and targeted financial sanctions and the elections” said David 8 leaders return to the Gleneagles
Mathieson, HRW’s Burma analyst. Hotel following a group photo at
the end of the G8 summit in
The letter points to four main issues. The commission of inquiry refers to Gleneagles, Scotland July 8, 2005.
Tomas Ojea Quintana, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in © REUTERS/Kevin Coombs
Burma, who recommended on 8 March, after his last visit to Burma, that the UN should initiate a commission
of inquiry into the junta’s alleged crimes against humanity.
HRW petition the G8 to support such an inquiry, HRW believe that the grouping; “can play a crucial role in
helping to bring an end to these abuses by supporting an impartial inquiry into violations of international
human rights and humanitarian law ” said the letter.
Targeted sanctions were an area that HRW felt was an “important way to bring about improvements in human
rights” but Mathieson was concerned that; “I am sure the Russians will try to block it because the Russians are
pretty interested in diverting attention from all the murky things that they are doing in Burma”.
The letter urged however that; “those punitive measures to be truly effective and effect change, they must be
strengthened, fully implemented, and better coordinated among influential international actors”. With
Mathieson further labelling US inability to curtail US oil companies operational in Burma as “hypocrisy”.
The elections naturally were included in the letter and it labelled them likely only to “establish a parliamentary
facade for continued military rule” but added that “It may be premature to judge the elections themselves, but
it is essential that the electoral process conducted in such conditions of repression not be endorsed in any way
by the international community.”
The final point was humanitarian assistance with the letter calling for “increased international assistance”
concluding that; “strengthening Burmese communities through humanitarian aid while imposing targeted
sanctions on the country’s senior leadership is the best approach to support positive change in this long-
suffering country”. Mathieson meanwhile asserted that Burma’s dire humanitarian situation could become a
“regional security issue”.
The grouping is made up largely of countries who have been critical of the military junta with the exception of
Russia; “the danger of course is that the Russians will just act petulant and show contempt for human rights
which is what they always do and water down any sought of initiative.”
Source :http://www.dvb.no/news/human-rights-watch-call-on-the-g8-to-discuss-burma/

Time for bold strategies by NLD

(Mizzima) - With Burma’s military rulers having made their intention clear to conduct the 2010 elections
without major opposition by setting several restrictions, it is high time for the opposition, particularly the
National League for Democracy, to take a bold step, if the party’s objectives are to bring some form of
democratic changes in the country.

The electoral law, announced by the junta in early March, effectively bans detained Nobel Peace Laureate Aung
San Suu Kyi and the over 2,100 political prisoners languishing in jails across the country from the election.

With the law, the junta, which has been forcibly ruling the country for the past 20 years, has shown its ugliest
face to the opposition and left the NLD without much options.

For the past 20 years, the NLD had been the most persistent political party to remain within the junta’s legal
fold, and has maintained its existence though without much stink as it is left without claws.

As to the expectations of the diverse Burmese opposition groups, the international community led by the
United Nations, United States, United Kingdom, and others have condemned the junta over its rigid electoral
laws.

However, as had always been, the rhetoric condemnations are limited to words and lacks indications of
consensus action by the international community on the junta’s plans, which would be yet another laughing
stock for the junta, who sees its chances of playing the diverse stand that the international community is
having on them.

But the ultimatum is not on the international community but is directly on the NLD, which has been
maintaining its stand as a reflection of the Burmese peoples’ aspirations. The call is greater than verbal fights
and the hour is urgent and does not have the luxury of internal party conflicts.

Earlier this week, Aung San Suu Kyi told her lawyer Nyan Win her view on the junta’s election plans saying she
believes the NLD should not re-register. But it came as a response to the NLD’s Chairman Aung Shwe, who on
the previous week said the NLD should re-register to survive as a legal political party.

The NLD must realize that it has spent 20 years within the junta’s legal fold and maintained its legal existence,
while the Burmese people gradually suffered under the junta’s degrading rule.

Therefore, the time has no luxury for any internal political disagreement within the NLD and Aung San Suu
Kyi, who is the sole figure that had helped keep Burmese politics alive internationally, must take a bold step, in
keeping with the people’s expectations.

Otherwise, the junta has made the results look crystal clear. There are no disillusions to believe that the
election could somehow bring about a democratic change.

The NLD must realize that there is no more time for refuting the junta’s illogical laws, decrees, and merely
issuing of statements, and appealing for mercy at the stage-managed courts, as all have proved failures.

The NLD, therefore, must to adopt a new strategy from the little options it is left with.

While re-registering under the junta’s electoral laws would allow the NLD to remain legally alive, it would
automatically kill the NLD’s spirit and without Aung San Suu Kyi being able to lead the party, the people would
need a big explanation on why they should support the NLD again, as they have proven their failure during the
last 20 years.

The other few options the NLD has can be to openly challenge the junta’s electoral law. Being the sole legal
political party remaining of the 1990 election, the NLD has the right to reject the junta’s laws and electoral
process and call on a nation-wide boycott. The NLD still has some time before the 60-day registration period
closes on May 6th.

While confrontation and street protests might sound irrelevant and illogical in the face of guns, the NLD
leadership should be able to cleverly mobilize the last of the peoples’ hope that they have on them.

As suggested by Nobel Peace Laureate, the NLD should not re-register but boycott it and call on all political
parties and the people to stop participating in the junta’s elections.

While there would be a number of puppet political organizations still following the junta’s lead, alliance groups
like the Committee Representing the Peoples’ Parliament (CRPP), are likely to follow the NLD’s lead and could
bring back hope for the people.

The NLD must also realize that the UN and the international community including the United States cannot
act without any forces acting internally inside Burma. External pressures would only have meaningful impact if
there are internal forces like the NLD taking a bold lead.

The time requires more than old practices, as it would decide the fate of the Burmese people, but most of all it
would determine the fate of the NLD and the noble sacrifices made by many great leaders including Aung San
Suu Kyi are at stake.

Practically, the junta would do whatever it takes to continue with their plans, and it would be tiring to condemn
them, both internally and internationally, unless there are actions following up.

Therefore, unless the NLD has a new strategy and acts in a timely manner, the people would have no reasons to
believe that the NLD could still bring their aspirations alive at anytime in the future.

Mungpi is a special correspondent of the Mizzima based in Oklahoma City.

Source :http://mizzima.com/edop/commentary/3730-time-for-bold-strategies-by-nld.html

Self-degradation in the 2010 elections

(Mizzima) – Free and fair conduct in the coming general election in Burma is not the issue, rather the issue is
the rule of military dictatorship as the constitution compels civilians to subordinate their will to that of a
military clique. The constitution is designed to control the minds and actions of all civilians, thereby denying
them the right to dignified self-preservation. As the result, voting in and contesting the upcoming election is a
process of democratic choices for self-degradation.

The constitution will divide the citizenship into two levels of status, the permanent ruling military class and the
permanent ruled civilian class. According to the constitution, 25 percent of Hluttaw seats are reserved for
military personnel. Moreover, whenever a clash of interests occurs between civilians and the military, the
elected people’s representatives have no democratic choices, their only option to ignore justice as urged upon
them by the civilians who elected them into office.

Article 6(f) of the new constitution states “the Union’s consistent objective is enabling the Defence Services to
be able to participate in the National political leadership role of the State.” This is important as the provision of
granting political power in the hands of one group is dangerous. Moreover, the interests of military
representatives may or may not be similar to the interests of civilians. As evidenced in the language of the 2008
constitution, the military clique’s emphasis is on non-disintegration of the Union, military rule and justice
according to the law whereas the civilian emphasis is on civilian rule, federalism, democracy and law according
to justice. This clash, however, can only be resolved by the military as the constitution grants them the leading
role in politics.

Most people who are going to contest the election are civilians who love the people. Whoever is elected, they
have a moral and legal responsibility to solve the problems of the people and in particular their constituency. If
the people call for social justice, elected representatives have a moral and legal duty to discuss, debate and
enact the most appropriate political solution. However, the constitution only allows them to discuss the matter
of justice for the realization of non-disintegration of the Union, rather than justice as an end in itself.

Without justice in the political, economic and social spheres, the lives of the people will be hard to live in a
dignified manner. Yet, after enforcement of the constitution, public discontentment to the law of
discrimination might target elected representatives who are actually powerless to fulfil the interests of the
people. As a result, elected representatives would be forced to abdicate their moral responsibility as they are
powerless to enforce justice. If, for example, the people urge the military to reduce its budget, estimated
around 40 percent of annual State income, and instead increase investment in education and health, elected
representatives would be in a dilemma as whether to follow natural justice or the military clique’s imposed
justice.

Even though Burma is composed of 135 National races, the military overlooks the importance of national
minorities, ethnics and indigenous people in the process of state-building. The constitution unequivocally
excludes the term ‘minority’ and the idea of group rights. Instead, it uses the term ‘National Races’. Provisions
regarding National Races are:
Article 354 (d): “Every citizen shall be at liberty in the exercise of the following rights, if not contrary to
the laws, enacted for Union security, prevalence of law and order, community peace and tranquillity or
public order and morality to develop their language, literature, culture they cherish, religion they profess,
and customs without prejudice to the relations between one national race and another or among national
races and to other faiths.”

Article 365: “Every citizen shall, in accord with the law, have the right to freely to develop literature,
culture, arts, customs and traditions they cherish. In the process, they shall avoid any act detrimental to
national solidarity.”
No provision is mentioned in the constitution for the collective enjoyment of people belonging to minority
groups. There is no provision for minority groups to establish and administer their own educational
institutions. There is no provision which allocates political power for minority groups in order to protect and
promote their identity and welfare. Ultimately, ethnic groups are are denied the fundamental rights to protect
their self-preservation and identity because the game of identity politics would be legally criminalised under
the title of non-disintegration of the Union. Therefore, for minorities, voting and contesting elections would
mean the exercise of democratic choices for identity-degradation.

Having a sense of right and wrong, just and unjust, fair and unfair, responsible citizens will surely struggle for
justice, human dignity and identity. Without the administration of justice, the right to dignity and identity will
not be properly safeguarded. On the one hand, soldiers and bureaucrats who have a legal responsibility to work
for the realization of the purposes of the constitution will degrade self-esteem through their self-actions by
violating the natural justice in their professions. The military is responsible for all acts of injustice prevailing in
Burma. In other words, if equality in dignity and human beings is the foundation of justice, peace and
development, inequality in dignity and rights stands for injustice, war and underdevelopment. Therefore any
civil conflicts and poverty are the fault of the military due to their exploitation of the people.

Exploitation of man by man is not merely a matter of self-degradation for oppressed civilians, it is a matter of
non-recognition of civilians as being human. According to the constitution, all civilians, including the 75
percent of elected people’s representatives, are excluded from mainstream politics. Civilians will not be able to
enjoy their inate rights. Ironically, the enslavement of civilians would reaffirm the Basic Principles of the
Union, as mentioned in Article 4: “Sovereign power of the State is derived from the citizens and is in force in
the whole country”. This basic principle does not tell us the specific space or political body to exercise the
sovereign power on behalf of the people. It is not clear that citizens have to give up their fundamental rights.

This argument highlights the powerless nature of the elected people’s representatives to protect and promote
the inherent dignity and identity of those who elected them. For example:
Article 20 (e): “The Defence Services is mainly responsible for safeguarding the non-disintegration of the
Union, the non- disintegration of National solidarity and the perpetuation of sovereignty.”

Article 20 (f): “The Defence Services is mainly responsible for safeguarding the Constitution.”

Amazingly, the constitution empowers the military to safeguard the non-disintegration of the Union and the
constitution. The constitution does not give civilians the power to protect their lives and liberty. Under the veil
of non-disintegration of the Union, the military clique arranges to protect themselves in the name of national
politics no matter the cause of justice. In this context, the constitution cannot even be ammended without
approval from 75 percent of the Hluttaw.

Therefore, respect between the State and individual is not a reciprocal relationship. The constitution grants too
much power to the State. Following the philosophy of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, equality in
dignity and rights of human beings can serve as the foundation of justice, peace and development. However,
the 2008 constitution of Burma is designed to achieve the non-disintegration of the Union over justice. The
scope of justice is thus limited within the concept of non-disintegration so that justice is not for all, but for a
military clique in the name of Unity and Solidarity. Contesting a free and fair election in the context of Burma
would mean voluntary agreement to the limitation of the scope of justice and the voluntary subordination of
civilians to rule via military diktat. Therefore, in such a context the exercising of political rights such as the
rights to vote and contest political office is an exercise in self-degradation.

(The author is a political science scholar living in New Delhi.)

Source :http://mizzima.com/edop/commentary/3729-self-degradation-in-the-2010-
elections.html
Monks and Riot Police Clash in Maungdaw
Maungdaw:
A clash between monks and riot police took place on Thursday at a religious festival in Maungdaw on the
western Burmese border when a group of riot police assaulted locals after drinking alcohol, reports a monk
from the festival.

"As we could not tolerate the misbehavior of the riot police against the people in the festival, we beat them with
sticks and later tied two riot police with a rope in a pile that is erected for tying unruly people in the festival if
they abuse the festival rules," the monk said.

The clash broke out in front of a troupe at the festival around midnight, when the troupe was performing an
opera to a large audience. After the riot police assaulted the locals, several monks beat the unarmed officers,
who later fled leaving two men behind. The monks tied the remaining two riot police to the pile that is erected
at the central part of the festival.

The riot police are reportedly from Riot Regiment No. 13 from Maungdaw, and had come to the festival to
watch the troupe perform.

A witness who attended the festival said, "The incident took place when Shwe Rada Na Troupe presented an
opera. When the clash happened, the festival was disordered but the monks regained control with the help of
the normal police forces."

The festival is held for 100 young boys to become novice monks at 3 Mile Ward in Maungdaw, and about 200
monks from around Maungdaw Township attended the festival.

According to a source, the two riot police personnel who were restrained were handed over to police officers by
senior monks in the early morning. There has been no retaliation by the riot police against the monks since the
incident.

Tobida, a monk who was attending the festival said. "We monks are not guilty in the incident because the
monks attacked the riot police for their misbehavior. If monks did not attack the riot police, it would have been
impossible to continue the festival peacefully."

Most people at the festival supported the monks actions against the riot police, who had abused the festival
rules and insulted people after drinking. Buddhist people in Arakan State traditionally obey monks'
instructions because they are respected as religious leaders.

Monks in Burma are religiously not allowed to be counter-attacked or insulted by ordinary people, including
government officials such as army, police, or riot police officers.
Source :http://www.narinjara.com/details.asp?id=2536

Construction of Gas and Oil Pipelines in Arakan Underway

3/26/2010
Kyauk Pru:
The construction of gas and oil pipelines connecting to
China from Arakan State in Burma began recently at
Madae Island off the Arakan Coast by a number of
Chinese engineers, said a female villager from the
island.

"60 Chinese engineers from Chinese National

Petroleum Corp. arrived at our island in the last few weeks. Now they have started construction of some
buildings on the island with 40 local workers," she said.

Madae Island is located ten miles south of Kyaukpru, the second-largest city in Arakan State, and is the main
staging territory for a gas pipeline that will connect to Yunnan Province in China.

"They are now constructing some buildings and oil tanks on our island but have not started the gas and oil
pipeline. However many large pipes are arriving at our island along with many big machines, including trucks
and lorries. I have never seen such machinery before in my life," she said.

Two companies, Daewoo and Asia World, are leading the pipeline project on the island, and have dispatched
much modern machinery to the island via the Kyaukpru seaport located on Rambree Island.

The source added, "Some officials from Daewoo and Asia World are working on the project along with Chinese
engineers on the island, but we have not had the chance to meet them because the authority has prohibited us
from visiting the restricted area where they are staying."

"We heard the mine explosions every day from a rocky mountain where the Chinese engineers are detonating
mines to quarry stone to build a seaport and road. Now the Chinese engineers are constructing the bank of the
seaport and wharf with the rocks and stone produced from the mountain," she said.

There are two villages, Madae Kyunt Ahet Wra and Madae Out
Wra, which are about two miles from the construction site.

50 acres of farmland owned by villagers was recently confiscated

by Burmese military authority for construction on the project,
with promises of compensation that the villagers have yet to see.

Burma signed a deal with China last March to construct the two
pipelines for gas and oil, which will run parallel to each other.
The pipelines will start on Madae Island in Kyaukpru Township
on the western coast of Burma and enter China at the border city of Ruili in China's Yunnan Province, sources
said.

According to sources, the Chinese National Petroleum Corp. will construct the 771-kilometer overland gas
pipeline from Arakan State, extending along the Bay of Bengal to Yunnan Province as the first phase of the
project.

On 31 October, CNPC began construction on the wharf seaport in Madae Kyunt as the first step in the pipeline
project.

China hopes to build the overland pipeline in order to supply natural gas from Arakan's offshore fields direct to
its southern province of Yunnan, with a planned delivery output of 12 million tons.

The oil pipeline will eventually transfer 20 million tons of crude oil to China from the Middle East and Africa
annually. The natural gas pipeline will be extended by an additional 1,700 kilometers from Yunnan to Guizhou
and Guangxi Zhuang Provinces, moving 12 billion cubic meters of gas, according to an official report.

Source :http://www.narinjara.com/details.asp?id=2535
New constitution needed for genuine
federal system: KNO
Opposition ethnic Kachin political organizations in exile have condemned the junta’s electoral laws and the
forthcoming general election, which holds out no hope for the people. It has urged the Burmese regime to draft
a new constitution if it wants to have a real federal system.

The Chairman of the exiled Kachin National Organization (KNO) Bawmwang La Raw told KNG in an interview
that the junta’s electoral law and the election will hold out no hope for the people but only benefit the military
regime.
“There is no earthly reason to accept this election because we have
not accepted the regime’s constitution,” said La Raw.

“The junta drafted the constitution on its own and it does not reflect
the real will of the people,” he said.

It has to redraft the constitution if the military government really

wishes to grant equal rights and self determination in a genuine
federal system which all ethnic people are demanding, he said.

KNO formed in the late 90’s with Kachin ethnic people overseas, has
always opposed the junta and its oppressive action on ethnic people.

Bawmwang La Raw, chairman of KNO. The KNO leader said, those who are seeking to contest the election
Photo: Kachin News Group. are looking at benefits rather than work for the people.
Whoever seeks to contest the election will be supporting the military junta and will be with the regime not the
people.

At the moment, the northern Burma based, political party Kachin State Progressive Party (KSPP), headed by
former Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) vice president No. 2 Dr. Manam Tu Ja, is preparing to
contest the election.

The KSPP was formed in June 20, 2008 with Kachin Nationals’ Consultative Assembly (KNCA), a former
ceasefire group, now transformed to Border Guard Force (BGF) and the people’s militia group the New
Democratic Army-Kachin (NDA-K) (BGF) and Lasang Awng Wa Peace Group (people’s militia).

The party promises to undertake development of the people in Kachin State in social, cultural, political,
educational and economic sectors.

“I don’t think any party which contests the elections are well intentioned towards the public but will think only
for itself,” said La Raw.

The United Nations and the international community should not accept the junta’s election because it is not for
the Burmese people but will legitimize and continue its stranglehold on power.

Source :http://kachinnews.com/News/New-constitution-needed-for-genuine-federal-system-KNO.html

Arbitrary arrest of local people in Maungdaw, Arakan State

Maungdaw, Arakan State: Police of Taungbro in Maungdaw Township recently arrested innocent people
and harassed them in police custody to extort money, said a local businessman from Taungbro right.
On March 5, four policemen from Taungbro right police camp led by a junior police officer went to the house of
Master Habi Ullah (70), son of Zinnat Ali, hailing from Thay Chaung village of Maungdaw Township and
brought him to nearby Godora Bazaar.

When they reached Godora Bazaar, the police asked Habi Ullah to go to Taungbro right police camp to discuss
with the Officer in Charge (OC). So, they again went to Taungbro right police camp. The OC alleged that Habi
Ullah had a mobile phone, but he promptly denied it, said a friend of the victim.

He was handed over to a police clerk to sort out the matter with money, but Habi Ullah did not agree to pay
money for the false accusation. So, the arrestee was put in police custody for three days.

The victim was an old man, former-primary schoolteacher and he did not have any mobile phone, but the
police forced him to say that he had a mobile phone.

However, on March 9, he was set free after paying Kyat 200,000. This money was paid through Deen
Mohamed, son of Nazu Meah, from Madi village and Maulvi Noor Mohamed, son of Maulvi Shoffique. These
two were witness to the money taken by the OC, said a businessman of the locality.

One of the relatives of the victim said, “Habi Ullah was taken by the police to their camp without any reason.
He is a religious man. The allegation against him by police is bogus and fabricated.”

Source :http://www.kaladanpress.org/v3/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2502:arbitrary-
arrest-of-local-people-in-maungdaw-arakan-state&catid=118:march-2010&Itemid=2

Burma Deports CNN Reporter

The Burmese authorities on Friday deported a CNN correspondent who was officially invited to report on the
anniversary of Burmese Armed Forces Day in Naypyidaw on Saturday.
Dan Rivers arrived in Rangoon on Thursday after he was granted a journalist visa to cover the annual military parade,
the Deutsche Presse-Agentur news agency reported.
Rivers was reportedly approached by a government agent and taken to
Rangoon's international airport for deportation. He was reportedly not
given any explanation.
Rivers was forced to leave Burma in 2008 after reporting on Cyclone
Nargis while in the country on a tourist visa. Rivers, who has covered
several hotspots around the world, was awarded an Amnesty International
prize for his coverage of the plight of Rohingya refugees in Thailand.
The military parade in Naypyidaw is the most significant event on the
Burmese military calender and regime chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe usually
marks the occasion by giving keynote speeches indicating junta policies.

The military regime has recently jailed several journalists working for the
CNN correspondent Dan Rivers
exiled Burmese media.
In 2007, Reporters Without Borders ranked Burma as the world's sixth worst violator of media freedom, after Eritrea,
North Korea, Turkmenistan, Iran and Cuba.
Source :http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=18127
Human Trafficking Increases on Sino-Burma Border
RUILI, China —Thi Thi Win reminisces about a time when she wore traditional Burmese clothes and walked
around her village at sunset. For the best part of her childhood, she considered herself to be lucky—she had two
loving parents and food was plentiful.
Until one day when her family was pushed out of their farm by the Burmese army to make way for a highway.
One of eight siblings, she knew she had to find work to help her family.
While she was selling some of her families clothes in the local bus station, a man approached her saying he
could find her a “factory job” in China. With high hopes, she packed her bags and left for Burma’s booming
neighbor.
“He told me I would no
longer have to sell my
family’s belongings and
could buy presents for
them within a month,” said
Thi Thi Win, who asked
that The Irrawaddy not
use her real name.
She said her trip to the
border was full of
excitement. As she looked
out the bus window, paddy
fields flew past ,and she
dreamed of her new life in
A Burmese woman who worked in a Chinese brothel on the Sino-Burma border in 2009. (Photo: Than Aung/The Irrawaddy) China. At the bus station,
she was greeted by a Chinese man who took her to a teashop where she was given noodles, which she quickly
ate.
“The next thing I remember I was in a small room with Burmese girls—they had drugged me,” she said.
“The next couple of hours I spent chatting with the other girls, and they all had the same story. Then they led
us out into a room, in front of lot of Chinese men —one man pointed at me.”
That was the moment that the man “bought” her, and without delay or discussion, she was taken to his farm in
rural China to be his wife. At first, she refused, and his family was furious. They beat her until she couldn’t take
the suffering anymore, and finally gave in.
Like thousands of girls who are trafficked from Burma to China each year, what followed her forced marriage
was a life of hardship. The family forbade her to leave the house, and her days were spent housekeeping and
cooking, as a way to “repay” the fee they had paid for her.
One day, after a year with the family—what she says felt like a lifetime—the police came to the home and took
her into custody. Treated as an illegal immigrant, she was thrown in prison for three months, without an
interview or assessment.
Treatment of trafficking victims is a major concern for NGOs that work in the region. They say that China is
not doing enough to identify foreign women who have been forced into marriage. Lacking interpreters and
proper screening processes, many trafficking victims end up in jail.
Despite the lack of attention to foreign victims, more work has been done to curb domestic trafficking in China.
With most of the trafficking is related to urban migration, the government has spent large sums educating
farmers about the dangers of trafficking. China has a total of 1,351 Relief Administrative Centers located at
provincial, county and city levels which work with trafficking victims.
Various counter-trafficking training courses have been held for media, trainers, police and key government
officials in collaboration with UN agencies and international NGOs. Legal aid for victims has increased with
more centers being opened across the country, and China is attempting to improve its prosecution procedure.
Last year, the public security ministry launched a special crackdown. Police across the country rescued 3,455
children and 7,365 women from April to the end of December last year. A total of 1,684 human-trafficking
groups were identified and 2,895 trafficking cases were solved with 19 out of 20 suspects arrested.

In March, China's police chief, Meng Jianzhu, called for greater effort in halting trafficking of women and
children, saying the crime "grossly violates human rights." Meng vowed zero tolerance for trafficking cases,
asking local governments to address economic and social problems that are at the root of rampant human
trafficking.

Unfortunately, all this has done little to stop the flow of Burmese women being sold for between 10,000 and
40,000 yuan (US $1,500 to $6,000) into forced marriage. Local grassroots organizations working along the
Sino-Burma border believe that more and more women are trafficked across the border each week

With increasing cases of land confiscation and what the Kachin Woman’s Organization in Thailand calls the
Burmese regime's “mismanagement of the economy,” more and more women are leaving for China to survive.

“They have to work so hard in Burma and make very little. When people tell them about jobs in China they are
ready to leave the next day,” one KWA worker based on the Sino-Burma border told The Irrawaddy.
Also to
blame is
China’s
one-
child
policy
which
has left
many of
the
rural
areas
with an

Burmese women in a brothel in China live in fear of being arrested by police. Many were victims of human trafficking. (Photo: Than Aung/The Irrawaddy)
overwhelming proportion of men. Faced with a life alone, many men jump at the opportunity to buy a Burmese
wife and fulfill their dreams of having a child.

Woman support groups report that in many cases the Chinese men only see their newly acquired Burmese
wives as a means to continue their family line. The coordinator of one underground woman’s group told The
Irrawaddy that once a women gives birth they are often “passed on.”

“All Chinese men want is to have a baby, once the girl has given birth she is often neglected, and we’ve heard
many cases where she is sold on to another husband for the same reason,” she said. “Sometimes they are sold
on three of four times.”
It’s still very hard for the NGOs to work on the border and most do so clandestinely, especially at this moment
of increasing pressure by local authorities.
A US trafficiking reported stated: “Factors that continue to impede progress in anti-trafficking efforts include
tight controls over civil society organizations, restricted access of foreign anti-trafficking organizations and the
government’s systemic lack of transparency.”
Working underground, NGO workers receive countless calls from parents asking them to find their daughters
or from the victims themselves, who are often impossible to reach.
There have been public attempts by the Chinese authorities to work with Burma to prevent trafficking. In line
with a bilateral framework agreement signed in Kunming, liason offices have been set up along the border at
Ruili and Zhangfeng.
When the Chinese authorities correctly identify a woman to be a trafficking victim, their treatment is reported
to be good. However, women are normally returned without rehabilitation and problems often arise when they
ask the Burmese border officials to pay for transportation home.
Burma has made some efforts with the passage of the Prevention of Trafficking in Persons Law in 2005. Burma
is also in the process of drafting a national-level five-year plan of eliminating human trafficking. Burma signed
a memorandum of understanding involving the six-member Greater Mekong Sub region against trafficking in
persons in 2004.
Julia Matrip, the head of the Kachin Woman's Association in Thailand, believes the regime is mainly involved
in pleasing the international community rather than actually dealing with the problem.
“The number of girls coming across is increasing and if the SPDC really cares, they need to address the root
causes of this problem which is economic desperation as a result of their poor management of Burma’s
economy,” she said.
To curb the number of girls being trafficked into China, the Burmese authorities have restricted under-18 girls
from travelling unaccompanied. However, walking around Ruili’s many massage parlors its clear that many
children work in the premises. The women's group recent report titled “Eastward bound” says that 25 percent
of trafficking victims are under 18.
Many of the women and children are never heard from again and may never be found as they slowly accept a
life of solitude and are unable to communicate with anyone. Those who are rescued risk going back to a life of
shame in their villages where their forced marriage in China makes them undesirable as wives.
For Thi Thi Win, she knew she couldn’t return to Burma, because she couldn’t face her village again. Instead,
she remains in limbo on the border working as a sex worker to fuel her methamphetamine addiction.
Thi Thi Win picked up a wedding album of probably the most depressing wedding photos ever taken. A
Burmese girl, lost and scared, standing with a stunned gaze next to her Chinese “husband.”
“Whatever happens after we escape, we all suffer inside for the rest of our lives,” she said, as she turned the
pages of a wedding album of a forced marriage.

Source : http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=18124&page=1

India looks east, prepares to arm junta navy

By JOSEPH ALLCHIN
Published: 26 March 2010
As western governments gathered to condemn the junta’s election at the
UN, India undeterred welcomes Lt Gen Thar Aye to the eastern city of
Kolkata.
He will visit India’s ‘eastern command headquarters’, this comes amidst a
claim by the city’s Telegraph newspaper that India is preparing to sell
Burma new patrol boats.
Lt Gen Thar Aye is the junta’s head of the bureau of special operations and
will no doubt discuss India’s insurgent worries along the shared border. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh shakes hands with his
India’s north eastern states are riddled with separatist movements, whom Burmese counterpart Thein Sein at
the Indian’s allege take shelter over the border in Burma. The Indian the second summit of the Bay of
government has been keen to engage their junta counterparts with a view Bengal Initiative for Multi-
to joint operations to stamp out the rebel groups. This predicament Sectoral Technical and Economic
analysts believe has been occurring for years with limited results. Cooperation (BIMSTEC) in New
Of particular concern is the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA). Delhi November 13, 2008. ©
REUTERS/B Mathur
Captured ULFA soldiers have made the claim that they operate bases in Burma and have links with the Kachin
Independence Army (KIA).
Thar Aye is on most western sanctions lists and holds the position of chief of the Bureau of Special Operations
1 (BSO1), which makes him effectively the ‘field commander’ for the north, north west and central commands,
a higher rank than regional ‘commanders’.
He was promoted to the said position in 2008 and was previously the regional commander of western Sagaing
division. Now he oversees a larger area including Sagaing, but the region is believed to shelter Indian separatist
rebels.
He is scheduled to meet Indian Lt Gen Bikram Singh, in early April, who will take over as chief of India’s
eastern command later this year.
The naval deal was believed to have been signed in February when Vice-Admiral Nyan Tun also visited India.
India has consistently sought closer ties with the junta since the late 90’s when the government seemingly
made a U turn on previous support of the Burmese democracy movements. This U turn was epitomised by the
controversial Operation Leech, in which a number of Burmese opposition activists were lured to Indian
territory only to be killed or arrested.
The reasoning seems to be the increased energy needs of India and a competitive geo-political rivalry with
China for influence over the region.
India has a number of business and military deals with the junta; ranging from the recent inception of a Tata
truck factory to military training and importantly, Indian state owned gas companies operating in Burma’s
lucrative Bay of Bengal gas fields.

Source :http://www.dvb.no/news/india-looks-east-prepares-to-arm-junta-navy/

Village razed in Chin state again

26 March 2010: Nearly the entire village, Ma U in Matupi Township, Chin state western Burma was gutted on
17 March. The fire started from the forest.

“The villagers in Cakheng and Rengkheng had burnt parts of a forest area at a time for cultivation that caused
the fire in Ma U village,” said a local.

However, there were no casualties in the fire. The villagers have now taken refuge outside the village near the
river in temporary tents.

The fire affected villagers are being helped by the Baptist church and Mara church members, who are
distributing rice and clothes. Neighbouring villagers are helping them to construct temporary tents and toilets.

It is learnt that 20 bulls and cows died in a forest fire in Tangku village in Matupi Township last Friday.

Most villagers in Chin state are busy in cleaning farms and burning their cultivated lands in order to cultivate
new plants. But it leads to their homes and cattle even men being burnt. Deaths by fire are not uncommon.

On 11 March, Lungkhin village in Hakha Township was also gutted and about 40 houses were razed to the
ground.

Similarly, Lungkhua village in Falam township was gutted and about 11 houses were burnt out on 24 March.
Meanwhile, 8 houses in Pinlung block (8) in Kalemyo, Sagaing division also gutted. – Khonumthung News
Source :http://khonumthung.org/news.php?readmore=171