Democratic Voice of Burma

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• Factory workers end strike
• SSA-North pushed back by Burmese army assault
• Thailand, Burma aim to speed up Dawei development
• Suu Kyi vows to keep pushing for constitutional amendments
• Bangladesh parliament debates birth control for Rohingya refugees

Factory workers end strike Posted: 24 Sep 2013 05:16 AM PDT Striking workers from the Home Shin cold storage factory closed down their rally site outside City Hall in Rangoon at around 7pm on Monday after successfully negotiating terms with the factory owner and officials from the Labour Ministry. Striking workers from the Home Shin cold storage factory close down their rally site outside City Hall in Rangoon. (DVB) According to the agreement, workers who had worked at the factory for over three years are to be compensated with five months' salary while those working less than three years will receive the cash equivalent of three months' wages. More than 100 workers from the Dagon Port township factory staged a protest in central Rangoon on Sunday after their employer, a Chinese national, had closed the factory and laid them off with what they considered to be inadequate compensation. Holding placards that read: "For Workers' Unity!", "For Workers' Equality!" and "Non-dissolution of the Home Shin Workers Union!", the strikers laid out a series of demands: a clear explanation as to why the employer decided to shut down the cold storage facility; a guarantee from the owner and the government that if the factory reopens the same workers would be rehired; and additional compensation. But although the strike action has been concluded satisfactorily, a lawsuit filed by the factory owner remains in place against the workers' union chairman Min Min and secretary Thiha. The two were earlier charged under Penal Code Articles 341 (Wrongful restraint); 427 (Mischief causing damage); 114 (Abetting a crime); and 506 (Intimidation). Min Min said that during the previous day's negotiations, the factory owner promised to "do his best" for them, but has not yet formally dropped the lawsuit. Related Stories The face of defiance Protesting the protest law Women's group slams 'violent' arrest of Latpadaung activists

SSA-North pushed back by Burmese army assault Posted: 24 Sep 2013 04:48 AM PDT The Shan State Army-North (SSA-N) endured a six-hour clash on Monday morning with the Burmese army in northern Shan state's Namtu township, a spokesman for the ethnic army told DVB. Capt Sai Phone Harn of the SSA-N information team said the group engaged in a six-hour exchange of small arms with the Tatmadaw in the early hours of 23 September in Namtu's Mongyin village-tract which was the scene of a shorter battle one week ago. He said the Burmese army's Light Infantry Battalion 504, reinforced by troops previously mobilised from Lashio township, launched an assault before dawn on SSA-N forces positioned across the Namtu River prompting the rebels to return fire. "The fighting started around 4:30 am when the government forces came across the river and launched an attack on us," said Sai Phone Harn. He said hostilities ended after the Shan troops withdrew into a nearby forest, but did not rule out the possibility of further clashes at any time as the Burmese forces still remained in their positions. Sunday's clash forced Buddhist monks and novices to flee from a monastery in nearby Konmon village and caused panic among residents in the village, he said. Sai Phone Harn told DVB on Tuesday that the SSA-N had reached out to the Shan state government's Border Region and Security Affairs Minister Col Aung Thu, urging him to use his influence to stop the Burmese army's advance. In response, the minister promised to raise the matter with senior government officials, the SSA-N spokesman said. Related Stories If not now, then when? The need for a nationwide ceasefire Shans fear repatriation to Burma UN aid reaches Laiza for first time in almost two years A similar approach was reportedly made to Aung Thu last week after the clash, but apparently without success. Sai Phone Harn said the SSA-N also urged Union Minister Aung Min to prevent further fighting when they sat down for talks on 20 September with the government's Peace-making Work Committee in state capital Taunggyi. Although the SSA-N and the government have reached ceasefire agreements at state and union levels, more than 100 clashes and skirmishes have been reported over the past year.

Thailand, Burma aim to speed up Dawei development Posted: 24 Sep 2013 03:27 AM PDT Thailand and Burma have agreed to speed up the development of the Dawei Economic Zone, following talks between Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and Burma's parliamentary speaker Shwe Mann on Monday, the Bangkok Post reported. Shwe Mann is on a five-day trip to Thailand, which will conclude on Thursday. Yingluck reportedly told him that officials from various state enterprises were conducting an economic study on infrastructure in Dawei, such as transportation and power and water supply. “Thailand and Myanmar [Burma] must work together to move this project forward and inform the public about the benefits of the Dawei deep-sea port,” the Thai premier is reported saying. Related Stories Thein Sein courts wary investors on ambitious port project FDI and Burma's future development Thai PM set to visit Naypyidaw in September However, last week, villagers gathered to protest against the construction of a highway which will connect the Dawei special economic zone on the Andaman coast of Burma's Tenasserim division to Kanchanaburi in Thailand. According to a local civic group, Community Sustainable Livelihood and Development (CSLD), 38 families have still not been compensated for the loss of their land due to the highway construction between the towns of Thitgadon and Myitta in 2010. "Therefore, on 9 September 2013, the affected villagers gathered at Thabyu Chaung Village to give an accurate answer to the compensation payment process," CSLD said in its statement. "In order to obtain the public attention to their concern, the villagers detained three vehicles owned by the ITD on 9 September which [they later] released on 11 September." The civic group released a statement on 18 September calling on the industrial zone's main developer, Italian Thai Development PLC (ITD), to respond immediately to the locals' claims for compensation. However, to date, ITD has not replied nor did they respond to requests for comment from DVB. CSLD said that in the process of constructing the Dawei-Kanchanaburi Highway since 2010, ITD has displaced 149 villagers or households, 111 of whom were paid compensation. The Thai construction firm has also destroyed many betel nut, rubber and cashew nut plantations, the main livelihoods of the local farmers, the group said.

Suu Kyi vows to keep pushing for constitutional amendments Posted: 24 Sep 2013 02:58 AM PDT Burma's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi pledged on Monday to push ahead with efforts to amend her country’s constitution before the next election in 2015. Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy considers the current constitution undemocratic because it gives the military a substantial percentage of parliamentary seats and disqualifies Suu Kyi from running for president. “This constitution has to be changed if we are ready to make the transition to democracy,” Suu Kyi told a news conference during a visit to Singapore. “I will continue with efforts to have the constitution amended,” she said, adding there will be problems if it is not done by 2015. Suu Kyi said it was “a bit premature” to say what would happen if the constitution isn’t amended. Related Stories Ethnic peace forum concludes with call for nationwide ceasefire Suu Kyi: “Reconciliation needed between all groups” Suu Kyi warns weak Rule of Law may scare off investors Burma's parliament established a committee in July to review the constitution. The 109-member committee includes lawmakers from all parties in parliament, including Suu Kyi’s party and President Thein Sein’s ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party, along with the military’s allotted representatives. Possible changes might allow ethnic minorities increased self-rule, including allowing ethnic minority parties to elect their own chief ministers in their regions, rather than have them appointed. The current constitution was drawn up under the previous military regime to ensure its continuing influence in government. Since coming to office in 2011, Thein Sein has instituted a series of political and economic reforms after almost five decades of repressive army rule. A major achievement was persuading Suu Kyi’s party to rejoin the electoral process after decades of government repression, and her party won 43 of 44 seats it contested in by-elections last year. “I will challenge you to show me another party in Burma that is as capable as the NLD,” Suu Kyi said in Singapore. “This is the only party to date that has been constructed democratically … I am confident of the capacity of my party to carry our people with us, and that is what is important.”

Bangladesh parliament debates birth control for Rohingya refugees Posted: 24 Sep 2013 12:11 AM PDT A parliamentary panel in Bangladesh has recommended birth control measures for Rohingya refugees, according to reports in Bangladeshi media. In reporting the move, Dhaka-based news site bdnews24 claimed on Saturday that many of the 30,000 refugees registered at two camps in Cox's Bazaar strive to have bigger families "to secure more rations". The report said that from the day a Rohingya refugee child is born, he or she qualifies for the full UN ration of 12 kg of rice each month, and that was the incentive for Rohingya couples to have large families. The standing committee at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Dhaka has reportedly recommended stopping rations for any more than two children per family. The news comes soon after calls were made in neighbouring Burma to introduce a policy limiting the Rohingya community to two children per family. Neither Burma nor Bangladesh recognises the Muslim Rohingya community as citizens, and both governments have made efforts to force the other to accept the stateless Rohingya – one of the world's most persecuted minorities, in the words of the UN. "Myanmar [Burma] has ignored repeated calls by Bangladesh to take back its citizens," said bdnews24. "Dhaka claims the illegal Rohingyas are involved with various criminal activities. They have also been caught while accepting fake Bangladeshi passports." The parliamentary move to place restrictions on food aid to the Rohingyas with large families follows comments made last month by Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Dipu Moni who told a representative of the UN's refugee agency, UNHCR, that Bangladesh was "already hosting a huge population of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar [Burma] and could not take in more." But Chris Lewa, coordinator of the Arakan Project, pointed to the fact that there are already cases of chronic malnutrition in the Cox's Bazaar refugee camps in southern Bangladesh. “Cutting food rations to already malnourished children will put their lives at risk," she said. Related Stories Rohingyas continue to be persecuted despite Nasaka disbandment 87 Rohingyas escape from Thai detention centre UN envoy faces protestors in Meikhtila

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