Sunday, August 31, 2014

Democratic Voice of Burma

Democratic Voice of Burma

Suu Kyi urges NLD youth to take on more responsibility

Posted: 30 Aug 2014 11:57 PM PDT

Burma's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has encouraged the new generation within the National League for Democracy (NLD), to take more responsibility within the party as it pushes towards a general election next year.

Addressing NLD youth members in Rangoon on Saturday, Suu Kyi noted that party policy – established during the military era when organizing youth activities were limited – dictated that the age limit was 35 within the youth ranks. Despite this, she said, those middle-aged members among the group should strive to fulfill duties "befitting of their age".

She pointed out that many young Burmese, including university graduates, currently face unemployment, and that there is a fear that such feelings of hopelessness could develop into "dangerous situations of instability".

Around 150 people from across the country attended the meeting on 30 August, including members from the youth wing of the NLD who have been active since 1988.

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NLD chairman for Rangoon region, Myint Htay, one of the organisers of the summit, spoke about how the NLD youth had helped win the 2012 bi-elections.

"The first youth meeting was held in 2011 and those who campaigned for the NLD helped us win the 2012 bi-elections," he said. "Now, we are facing bi-elections again this year and a general election in 2015. This conference was staged to encourage those who had previously worked with the NLD youth to work together with the current members to implement the goals of the party at the upcoming elections."

NLD veteran Tin Oo, said that changes will be implemented before the end of the year.

"The previous generation must now hand over the reins to the current youth members," he said.

In July, the NLD organised a nationwide youth conference in Rangoon where party chairperson Suu Kyi urged youth members to adhere to the party agenda.

 

The power of protest: Nay Myo Zin

Posted: 30 Aug 2014 08:10 PM PDT

DVB spoke with prominent activist and former Burmese army captain, Nay Myo Zin, this week about participating in peaceful protests and how it can lead to clashes with the government. His fellow activists — Htin Kyaw, leader of the Movement for Democracy Current Force, and Win Cho, a prominent community organiser and member of Myanmar Social Development — were recently charged under Section 18 of the Right to Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Act. The two activists say they were peacefully exercising their freedom of expression.

 

Q: Recently, you met Htin Kyaw in police detention, where he was charged for insulting the state. What did he tell you about these protests and demonstrations?

A: Ko Htin Kyaw told me that he doesn’t believe in the current democratic transition process and the union government because the government hasn’t delivered what they promised to the people. He asked me to urge the people to continue making demands on the government until their actions are in line with what they promised.

We are now facing several charges. These are unjust. Every citizen has a right to express what he/she believes. The main thing is that the government has the duty to maintain trust from the people. But it is not a sign of good governance to charge those who say they don’t believe them.

Q: Earlier this week, Win Cho and Wai Lu were sentenced under Section 18 of the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Act. Win Cho has faced several similar charges. Can you comment on those charges?

A: It was last year, 2013. I was also charged 12 times, under Section 18. It is sorrowful to see this pattern of police charges. Police take pictures of everything during a protest or a demonstration or a march. Then they press charges against those they are familiar with or whose phone number they have. It's not important to them who leads the protest or who express what or how many people are involved. They just care about whatever familiar person took part in the event.

The actions of these law enforcement agencies are not aimed towards the interest of the nation, but to make a show in the news that they are dutifully arresting people. In the case of Win Cho, there were about 2,000 farmers that joined him, and he was sentenced to three months of imprisonment. He was the only one charged among 2,000 participants because the police know his name. Today's charge is also similar. He was there to prevent people from causing violence. But since he was the one police know, he was the one charged.

Q: The 2008 Constitution states that every citizen has a right to express one’s will. Don't these charges violate that right?

A: I think it is a failure of the government to not allow the people to practice the rights enshrined in the Constitution. The government itself should lead, show the way, practice the rights and prove that they respect the Constitution. Instead, they think those who use their constitutional rights are threatening their power, so they arrest them. I think it's bad practice for a government that claims to want to instate democratic changes.

Q: Before the current government, people didn’t dare to demonstrate or even criticise the government in public. Now the situation is different. There have been many protests across the country. Do you think the people are getting what they demand?

A: If you are asking whether there are benefits to the recent changes, we can say that there are, to some extent. But, in some cases, there are also abuses. But if you keep quiet, there is no way to hold accountable people who commit injustices. So protest is a tool we can use to help the people.

If responsible persons are addressing the needs of the people in accordance with the law, if the administrative mechanisms follow what the president has said before — which is that the government should act in the people's interest – then we, the people, would have no need to protest. We choose to demonstrate because the ones who are responsible are ignoring the will of the people.

 

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Black Lung in the Golden Land

Posted: 30 Aug 2014 07:58 PM PDT

For decades, miners have converged on the goldfields of central Burma in the hope of striking it rich. Small-scale miners and fossickers drill and pan on the fringes of the open pit and tunnel mining operations of giant natural resource companies.

One such area is in Chaung Gyi, near Pwin Oo Lwin in Mandalay Division. There, in the heart of a country known as the Golden Land, miners who have arrived with the hope of striking it rich are dying.

In Chaung Gyi, physician Dr. Aung Kyaw Oo has been treating miners since 1989. He says that as many as 500 have died from what he diagnoses as Silicosis Pneumacosis. It is a disease known in the big pits of Europe and the United States as Black Lung. Burmese miners are calling it Drillers Disease.

"Locally, it's called driller's disease," he began. "It results from inhaling heavy dust particles while drilling the rock."

"Workers aren't taking the necessary health precautions, such as covering their faces as they drill," he added.

"Instead, they are breathing in sulphates and other chemicals released from the rock."

 The lack of worker protections is part and parcel of an industry that promises so much and often winds up delivering so little. Now, spiraling medical costs are forcing family members to commit to toiling in the mines, despite being aware of the hazards.

 Across the village of Chaung Gyi, widows mourn the loss of their husbands. Adding to the misery is the fact that many families are forced to send healthy men and women down into the mine, despite knowing the hazards. Costly medical supplies and frequent trips to the doctor leave little other choice.

 One woman in the village tells of losing her son after having to ask him to labour in the mine to keep the family going.

 She cradles his orphaned son.

"My 18-year-old died. I only had one child, and I had to take him out of school and send him to work.

“I didn’t want him to die in the hospital. I wanted to take him home but he died right there in Mandalay hospital."

 Dr. Aung Kyaw Oo explained that the disease is often misdiagnosed as Tuberculosis, due to similar x-ray patterns. He says doctors are often prescribing TB drugs to the suffering miners, which worsens their already poor health.

The disease is silicosis pneumoconiosis. However, it tends to show a similar x-ray pattern to TB. Occasionally the patients are prescribed with TB drugs, which can be very damaging."

"The silicosis patients often struggle to breath, and develop coughs with black sputum or blood."

The use of mercury and cyanide in the extraction process is exacerbating the situation. Miners inhale noxious by-products as the mineral is loosened from the earth. The deadly chemical pools in the miner's lungs, as well as in groundwater, poisoning the environment and the workers alike.

Miner Ma Moe's family has been hard hit by driller's disease. Three sisters have contracted silicosis, as has one brother. A fifth sibling Ma Moe, is caring for her sick husband.

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"We have already lost two of our family," says Ma Moe's mother.

"Now, my youngest son-in-law is sick and being treated in Mandalay. But we cannot afford to send Ma Moe's husband. We have been treating him at home for 5-6 years already.”

Financial woes are forcing Ma Moe to cut corners when caring for her husband.

 "Sometimes I have no money to buy syringes. I know these are single-use disposables, but I have to clean them with boiling water and reuse them," she admits.

 "We just can't afford to buy fresh ones every day."

 At Chaung Gyi, families are resigned to losing loved ones to this debilitating illness. And the ambition that brought them to the gold fields has long since evaporated.

"I have to work hard day and night to feed these children," says one widow, now working in the mine.

"I suppose I’ve gotten used to it. It has become my life. In the past, I used to cry every day. Now I have no tears left."
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