Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Democratic Voice of Burma

Democratic Voice of Burma

Bullet Points: 5 August 2014

Posted: 05 Aug 2014 05:28 AM PDT

On today's edition of Bullet Points:

An outbreak of Japanese Encephalitis in the Arakan capital of Sittwe has killed eight people since the first of July.

Burma Campaign UK is calling on President Thein Sein to explain his alleged involvement in the violent suppression of the 1988 Rangoon student protests.

Ooredoo's cheap SIM cards are ending up on the black market.

Hundreds of protesters marched through the town of Kanegone in Sagaing Division  to demand the closure of an acid factory.

You can watch Bullet Points every weeknight after the 7 o'clock news.

Army says officers were punished for Namhkam tortures

Posted: 05 Aug 2014 04:58 AM PDT

Two Burmese Army officers who oversaw the beating of a Shan State village chief and community leaders during an interrogation over the deaths of two Burmese soldiers have been transferred out of the region, a community leader said.

Last Tuesday, the bodies of two Burmese Army soldiers belonging to the 88th Light Infantry Division's (LID) 16th Battalion were found dead about half a mile away from Naungmata village in Shan State's Namhkam. Upon this discovery, the battalion immediately summoned the village chairman, secretary and three community leaders for interrogation, during which the five were allegedly brutally tortured over the course of 48 hours.

Frightened villagers, many of whom fled the area in fear, informed the Shan Nationalities Democratic Party about this, and the party ordered the 16th Battalion officials to halt the interrogation.

Sai Hseng Wan, chairman of community group Namkham Development and Assistance Committee, said that the commander of the 88th LID informed him that the commander and deputy commander of the 16th Battalion — the two who supervised the interrogation — were demoted and transferred out of the region.

He added that Burmese Army officials, including 88th LID Commander Thet Naing Oo, met with local state officials, representatives from Shan parties and roughly 100 Naungmata villagers to inform them that the offending officers were disciplined. Thet Naing Oo also urged them to convince the rest of the villagers to return home, and said he wished to apologise to the five victims.

"The major phoned the committee's secretary and said he would like to apologise to the five community leaders who were beaten up during the interrogation," Sai Hseng Wan said, adding that Captain Thant Zin Tun, newly transferred to replace the disgraced battalion commander, promised that no such incident would ever happen again under his supervision.

The Naungmata residents present during Sunday's meeting demanded that the army ensure that no armed group should be allowed to deploy units in their village. They also demanded that the five victims' medical expenses be covered, and for the return of a motorbike that one of the slain soldiers had borrowed from a villager before his death.

The five are currently hospitalised across the border in China's Ruili for their injuries sustained during the torture.

Sai Hseng Saw, a local school committee member and a victim of the beating, said he planned to seek advice on whether he should press charges against the battalion's former commander.

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"The Burmese Army are telling us to come back now, but I stressed to the party representatives who met with the army officials that those responsible for the beating should be held accountable and they should explain themselves before a court or a local tribunal," said Sai Hseng Saw.

A lawyer based in Kachin State's Myitkyina, Mahka — who provides legal assistance to local villagers in court cases — said that the army's claim that the two battalion officers receiving disciplinary action should be treated with the utmost scepticisim as it is not confirmed.

"If the army really saw disciplinary action as they said, then it's good news, but we can't take it as a fact just because they said so," said Mahka.

Sai Aung Win, a member of the Namhkam Township Development and Assistance Committee, also pointed out that disciplinary measures were only a short-term solution to a larger issue: With five different armed groups active in the northern Shan State town, locals are routinely made to suffer as collateral when conflicts break out between them and the Burmese Army, or even sometimes when disputes arise within the organisations.

Black market boom in cheap Ooredoo SIMs

Posted: 05 Aug 2014 03:58 AM PDT

Many of Ooredoo's newly released SIM cards are ending up on the black market, with some shops selling them for up to three times the sanctioned price.

On 2 August, mobile and telecommunications firm Ooredoo launched their services in Burma – one of the world's least connected countries.

Ooredoo SIM cards are now available to buy for 1,500 kyat (US$1.50) each as part of a trial period until the company's official commercial launch on 15 August.

In the run-up to last week's launch, local stores were bombarded with customers eager to nab a cheap SIM. Until now, customers have had to pay more than $200 to get connected.

But in the rush to buy cheaper SIMs, the black market has flourished. Customers have reported that even official Ooredoo dealers are hiking up the price of the cards.

"We went to about five different stores to buy SIM cards," said one customer. "About four of them charged higher prices, saying they came with handsets or because the phone number is auspicious."

Official distributors found to be selling SIM cards at black market prices could face legal action.

Thein Tun Aung from Myanmar Post and Telecommunication, the state-run telecoms provider, said that while these stores are breaking their contracts, SIM cards ending up on the black market would be inevitable.

"The distributors are not supposed to sell the SIM cards at a higher price – they were previously given a directive and this is also in their contract agreements. But the black market always exists," he said.

Myint Zaw, Ooredoo Myanmar's recently-appointed national sales director, said they would be dealing with black market sellers.

"We are planning to hold a meeting with [the dealers] since we have already instructed them that the SIM cards should not be sold for any more than 1,500 kyat."

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CEO of Ooredoo Myanmar, Ross Cormack, said there are 6,500 Ooredoo dealers in Rangoon, Mandalay and Naypyidaw, and customers should not have to pay more than the official price.

"We've got so many SIMs in the market that they will be sold for 1,500 kyats. So just make sure that when you go to the dealers you say, 'that is what I'm going to pay'. If they don't sell it to you then go to the next store dealer," he said.

During the trial period, promotional benefits also included 900 minutes of free calls, free SMSs among Ooredoo phone users, and 20MB internet usage.

Cormack said Ooredoo’s voice and 3G Internet services will initially be available in Burma's three main cities of Rangoon, Mandalay and the capital, Naypyidaw.

The network will cover 25 million of Burma's approximately 60 million people by the end of the year and 97 percent of the population within five years, he said.

Ooredoo's sole rival in Burma, Telenor, will launch its voice and data services in September in the three largest cities, and aims to reach 90 percent of the population within five years, spokeswoman Hanne Knudsen told Reuters.

 

 

 

 

Sittwe court extends Rohingya activist’s detention, again

Posted: 05 Aug 2014 02:41 AM PDT

The detention of a distinguished Rohingya lawyer and rights activist has been extended by a court in western Burma, prompting renewed calls from rights groups for his immediate amnesty.

“What we’re seeing are repeated court appearances without verdict,” said Matthew Smith, executive director of Bangkok-based advocacy group Fortify Rights. “We can’t say with any confidence when we might expect a verdict because the process is opaque and subject to questionable political pressures. The court should move to drop all charges and release him unconditionally.”

Kyaw Hla Aung, 74, has been detained in Sittwe since July 2013, when he was arrested for his alleged involvement in demonstrations against a citizenship verification programme that required ethnic Rohingyas to identify themselves as "Bengali".

On Monday, the Sittwe district court postponed Kyaw Hla Aung's proceedings until 18 August and denied him bail. Authorities in Sittwe could not be reached for comment.

"Rakhine [Arakan] State authorities have kept Kyaw Hla Aung locked up for over a year, demonstrating the urgent need for the central government to intervene to free him," said Smith, adding that the charges are "completely without merit", and are part of a "broader campaign of persecution" against the Muslim minority.

Kyaw Hla Aung now faces six charges that could land him in jail for up to 20 years if found guilty. Charges include rioting, being armed with a deadly weapon, organising or abetting unlawful assembly, robbery, obstructing the duties of public servants and inciting unrest. The last charge falls under Burma's controversial article 505(b), an often-criticised part of the colonial-era penal code that loosely defines violations and has been used against a number of activists in relation to public gatherings.

The charges were brought against him shortly after an April 2013 protest against a population survey in Arakan State, which required stateless Rohingya Muslims to "register" as Bengalis. Many of them refused; the Burmese government and much of the general population deny the existence of a Rohingya ethnic identity, claiming instead that they are illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh.

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Burma's estimated one million Rohingyas are denied citizenship and face severe restrictions on movement, family life and resources. Rights groups, including Fortify Rights, have accused the government of creating unlawful policies of systemic persecution. Burma's former United Nations rights rapporteur, Tomás Ojea Quintana, left his post in March with the warning that crimes against humanity may have been committed against the Rohingya community.

While harmful policies — which include restrictions on marriage and childbearing — are believed to have been in place for decades, remaining freedoms have deteriorated for Burma's Rohingyas since deadly riots erupted in Arakan State in June 2012. Several bouts of violence have left hundreds dead and about 140,000 displaced, many still living in remote, crowded, under-resourced camps that are systematically denied life-saving assistance such as medicine and clean water.

At the end of her first official visit to Burma in July, the current UN rights rapporteur, Yanghee Lee, described the situation in Arakan as "deplorable", emphasising that "the health situation in the Muslim IDP camps is of particular concern".

Lee also said that she has "received continuing allegations of violations against the Muslim community, including arbitrary arrests, torture and ill-treatment in detention, death in detention, the denial of due process and fair trial rights". The rapporteur met with Kyaw Hla Aung and several other Muslim detainees in Sittwe, but did not disclose any details about their treatment or discussions. Concerns remain about Muslim prisoners in Arakan's isolated prisons, precisely because their communications are so tightly controlled.

"It’s important to remember that Myanmar still lacks an independent judiciary, particularly on issues related to the Rohingya," said Fortify Rights' Smith. "This isn’t necessarily the fault of the court. There are a lot of political forces at play."

Kyaw Hla Aung has a long history of political imprisonment; he has been jailed four times since 1986, spending a total of more than ten years in prison for various charges related to his advocacy work.

Upon his arrest last year, numerous rights groups rallied for his release. Amnesty International issued an urgent call for action based on the belief that he was "targeted as an influential human rights defender with connections to the international community".

 

Mahasantisukha monks’ request to countersue Buddhist council rejected, again

Posted: 05 Aug 2014 02:27 AM PDT

A second attempt by five Buddhist monks from the Mahasantisukha Monastery in Rangoon to countersue the government-backed Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee – the highest order of Buddhist monks in the country – has been rejected by a local court.

On 10 June, police and the Sangha Maha Nayaka – more commonly known as the Mahana – raided the Tamwe Township monastery and detained five monks over a longstanding dispute for the monastery. The monks, including prominent Buddhist leader Uttara, were subsequently defrocked and charged for defaming religion, a move widely denounced by the Burmese public and religious leaders.

Last month, the five monks attempted to file charges against the 20 leading members in the Mahana for their "arbitrary detention and arbitrary restraint" at the Bahan Township court, but were summarily rejected.

Uttara said that their second attempt to file charges in the Tamwe Township court was also dismissed.

"Previously, Bahan Township rejected our motion to seek charges against the Mahana on 'administrative grounds', as the case is connected to an ongoing trial at the Tamwe Township court where we are being prosecuted," Uttara said. "So we tried approaching the Tamwe Township court and they also rejected us, citing the ongoing trial against us."

As the ownership dispute simmers between the Mahana and the revered Abbott Penang Sayadaw – who locals around the area consider the rightful owner of the monastery –Uttara said that their lawyers have been unable to adequately defend them without interference.

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"In the 12 June trial, we were trying to present as evidence a letter by the revered Abbott Penang Sayadaw to President Thein Sein, calling on him to mediate the dispute, but the court rejected it," Uttara said. “Our lawyers called to adjourn the trial on the grounds that turning down our evidence constitutes abatement."

With the trial currently on hold, Uttara said that their lawyers have now proposed this piece of evidence at the Eastern Rangoon district court, which will make a decision before the lower court trial resumes on 15 August.
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