Thursday, August 7, 2014

Democratic Voice of Burma

Democratic Voice of Burma

Bullet Points: 7 August 2014

Posted: 07 Aug 2014 05:25 AM PDT

On today’s edition of Bullet Points:

Calls for John Kerry to maintain pressure on Burma ahead of ASEAN meetings.

Greater government scrutiny required over Rangoon building standards.

Rangoon's Hlegu Township has been inundated with heavy flood waters.

Mae Tao clinic launches campaign for Dengue prevention.

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

Hlegu village overwhelmed by sustained floods

Posted: 07 Aug 2014 04:28 AM PDT

A village in Rangoon Division's Hlegu Township has been inundated by floods for the past two weeks, with no sign of water levels abating due to a block in the drainage system.

Hlegu Township has been hit especially hard during this rainy season due to its proximity to the Ngamoeyeik Creek and the Pegu River. More than 1,000 homes and 3,000 people have been affected in Ngwenanthar, Malit, Sinhpon, Sitpinmyauk and Yaekyaw villages.

However, for Tadagyi, a largely rural village on the outskirts of Rangoon that is referred to by locals as Balar, the problem lies in the drainage systems, which has been blocked by aquatic plants. Residents are demanding that authorities construct a new piping system – which would be about 3,000 feet long – to resolve this seasonal issue.

"As the land is wet all season, the weeds keep multiplying and it blocks the drains off," Tun Tun, a resident of Tadagyi village, said. "Now, it's the worst since there are other types of shrubs growing. The only way to get the water out of our village is to construct a new draining system."

Water levels have reached as high as the villagers' hips, and the residents travel around Tadagyi in a boat. Village administrator Zaw Tun said that this season has brought a higher volume of rains. Combined with the overflow from rivers in neighbouring villages, he said, Tadagyi is in urgent need of government assistance. Hlegu Township officials recently visited the area to survey the damage.

"There has been more rain this year than last year, and the flooding in the rivers around the region is also an added factor to this situation," Zaw Tun said. "With the water hyacinth [which blocks the drainage system], the villagers can clear that up themselves. But with this other type of plant, they need help from the authorities."

Other areas in Burma within range of major rivers, such as the Salween River and Sittwe River, are expected to suffer more severe floods, but the water levels are expected to subside more quickly, according to an official from the Department of Meteorology and Hydrology.

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In Karen State's capital of Hpa-an, residents were hit by floods on Monday due to overflowing from the Salween River, and water levels remained at 6 cm above the warning level, while flood-hit residents of Pegu Divison's Madauk saw water levels reach about 20 cm due to its proximity to the Sittwe River.

The official said that these water levels will start abating after 48 hours, and that these areas are prone to floods in August.

In Mon State, heavy rains in Thaton, Kyeikhto and Bilin towns have led to fatal floods, with one woman killed during a landslide when shop stalls collapsed in Kyaikhto's Kyeikhtiyo Hill – the site of the famous Pagoda on the Golden Rock.

Khin Saung, a local physician in Kyaikhto, said that around 800 residents have been evacuated to flood shelters.

"The road, flooded by downhill stream water, now cannot be used for small vehicles as the current is too strong. A residential area next to the road was also inundated and around 800 residents were evacuated to the flood shelter in a nearby monastery," said Khin Saung, adding that the water on the road begun subsiding on Wednesday morning.

Activist sentenced to one year for false claims of NLD coup

Posted: 07 Aug 2014 02:13 AM PDT

An activist was sentenced to one year in prison with hard labour by a Rangoon court on Tuesday for distributing leaflets that falsely claimed that an opposition party leader and ethnic political leaders formed an interim government.

Htin Kyaw, a member of the Myanmar Democratic Current Force (MDCF), is an activist known for leading a demonstration in downtown Rangoon to protest against a commodity price hike in early 2007 when the country was still under military rule. He was arrested later that year for his involvement in protests against a fuel price increase, which sparked widespread public demonstrations dubbed the "Saffron Revolution".

Released from his sentence under a presidential amnesty by the nominally civilian government of Burmese President Thein Sein in January 2012, Htin Kyaw resumed his activist role, and has been detained and prosecuted repeatedly under Section 18 of the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Act for leading protests without gaining permission from the authorities.

Currently, Htin Kyaw faces trials in six separate courts across Rangoon for the same charge of defaming the state for his distribution of leaflets in June claiming that NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi and ethnic party leaders were forming an interim government.

Robert San Aung, Htin Kyaw's lawyer, said that prosecuting his clients against multiple townships for the same offence is against the legal procedures provided by the Code of Criminal Procedure.

"According to Article 234 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, a person accused of committing the same offence three times within one year should stand trial concurrently for the offences," Robert San Aung said. "But now, they are prosecuting my client in different townships — the way pickpockets were dealt with under the Burmese Socialist Programme Party — which indicates a weakness in the judicial sector."

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He added that it was the responsibility of district level courts to address these procedural irregularities of the township courts to ensure the protection of citizens' rights. Activists are forced to serve lengthy, compounded imprisonments levied by multiple courts for a single offence, and there is lack of accountability on the part of judicial officials, Robert San Aung said.

Htin Kyaw is scheduled for a hearing at Kyauktada Township court for this same offence on 18 August, along with his colleague and fellow MDCF member Naung Naung.

Burma Govt denies president’s role in 88 crackdown

Posted: 06 Aug 2014 11:18 PM PDT

Government spokesman and newly-appointed Information Minister Ye Htut has rejected allegations that Burmese President Thein Sein played a significant role in the violent dismantling of nationwide protests in 1988.

"The president's personal background has been widely reported on by various media since he took office," Ye Htut said. "There is nothing to hide."

In advance of the 26th anniversary of the 1988 pro-democracy uprising, London-based activist group Burma Campaign UK (BCUK) on Monday urged the public to email the president demanding that he disclose his complete military record and explain his role in the crackdown.

Questions about the president's role in the incident arose from a cache of US Embassy cables published by anti-secrecy organisation WikiLeaks, saying that Thein Sein had "distinguished" himself during the brutal crackdown of students and pro-democracy supporters in the 1988 uprising, which resulted in the massacre of countless civilians and has never been independently investigated.

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According to the cable, US officials provided a brief biography of Thein Sein and the new prime minister, Soe Win, titled "Tough(er) Guys Move Up in Rangoon", which said that Thein Sein was serving as a commander of 55th LID in 1988.

"In that capacity, he distinguished himself, as did Soe Win, in the crackdown against the 1988 uprising in support of democracy," read the cable, signed by then-US Embassy chargé d'affaires Carmen Martinez.

Ye Htut told DVB that President Thein Sein was posted in the remote town of Kale in Sagaing Division and not in Rangoon where the massacre took place.

"Back in 1988, he was serving as the commander of the 89th Infantry Battalion based in Kale. He was neither in Rangoon nor was he posted in the 55th LID, and this is not a secret," the president's spokesman explained. "Based on BCUK deliberately spreading this kind of information and claiming it comes from WikiLeaks, you can pretty much judge the level of their dignity and integrity."

BCUK was quick to respond that the president may have missed the point. "It’s not about where he was, but what he did, or didn’t do. If he publishes his military record we’ll have a better idea," BCUK director Mark Farmaner told DVB in an email.

"Ye Htut [has] dismissed our media release ‎by saying Thein Sein was in Kale, not Rangoon," said Farmaner. "We already know that. We have never said he was in Rangoon. The crackdown took place all over Burma over several weeks."

The 1988 demonstrations began as protests against Burma's woeful economic situation and the shock devaluation of the currency initiated by then-dictator Ne Win, but quickly grew as anger over wider abuses came to the surface.

A general strike beginning on 8 August 1988 brought massive crowds into the streets of every major city in Burma. Authorities struggled to contain the protests over several days, and were eventually given the order to fire directly at them.

Some have estimated that thousands were killed by Burmese authorities in what is now known popularly as the '8888 uprising', but the true number of casualties is still a mystery.

 
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