Democratic Voice of Burma |
- Bullet Points
- 200 protest hospital corruption in Myaungmya
- Ceasefire language must be ‘simple and coherent’, says Thein Sein
- Govt aims to muzzle press before 2015 elections, says Press Council
- KIA requests two deserters be handed over by Burmese army
| Posted: 15 Jul 2014 04:59 AM PDT On today’s edition of Bullet Points: Residents in Irrawaddy's Myaungmya town are calling on the government to investigate alleged rampant corruption at the local hospital. Five reporters from weekly news journal the Bi- Noon Day Sun have been charged with causing public alarm and undermining state security. Reporters in Prome staged a silent protest and refused to cover a visit by Burmese Vice President Nyan Tun on Tuesday. A Burmese programmer has designed a solution to a government ban on the sounding of sirens to mark the moment of Aung San's death. |
| 200 protest hospital corruption in Myaungmya Posted: 15 Jul 2014 04:46 AM PDT Some 200 residents in the Irrawaddy Division town of Myaungmya protested on Sunday, calling on government authorities to investigate the town's public hospital for alleged extortion and misappropriation of medical supplies. Chanting slogans as they marched through town, the protestors claimed that doctors and staff at the hospital refuse to treat patients unless they pay gratuities or additional fees – a practice that has claimed lives from those who could not afford the costs. "We are protesting extortion by doctors at the Myaungmya public hospital who refuse to see patients who cannot pay bribes," protest leader Sitt Aung said. "They only treat those who will pay extra – perhaps 80,000 kyat [about US$80] for an 'exclusive' operation and 40,000 kyat for an ordinary procedure." "Patients have died from struggling to pay for their treatment," he added. Other residents attested to seeing hospital staff yank tubes out of patients after realizing that they could not afford to pay or turning away people in need just because they looked poor. Aye Mon Soe told DVB that she lost her child because the hospital staff would not provide adequate care after she told them she could not afford the 15,000 kyat fee – a mere $15. "I told the doctors that my child could not handle an IV drip and that giving him glucose would make him worse, but they administered it anyway," Aye Mon Soe said. "He died after two drips." She added: "The doctors and nurses here have no compassion, no heart at all." Irrawaddy Division Finance Minister Win Ko Ko said at a town hall meeting on 9 July that an independent investigation team had been formed and divisional authorities were looking into the allegations of corruption among hospital staff. Observers say the Myaungmya case is by no means an isolated incident; public hospitals in Burma are typically rife with corruption, with staff members frequently demanding "tea money" or "facilitation fees" before agreeing to provide basic health care. Burma currently allocates 3.38 percent of the national budget to the health sector, an amount the UN has said is inadequate – especially when compared to developing countries in the region. |
| Ceasefire language must be ‘simple and coherent’, says Thein Sein Posted: 15 Jul 2014 04:15 AM PDT Burmese President Thein Sein has recommended that the final text of the nationwide ceasefire agreement between ethnic armed groups and the Burmese military employs simple and coherent language, according to mediators in the peace process. During an informal meeting in Chiang Mai on Sunday between the Nationwide Ceasefire Coordination Team (NCCT) and the Myanmar Peace Centre (MPC) – which acts as mediators in the long-running peace process – the MPC delivered advice from Thein Sein, said Khun Okkar of the NCCT. "The MPC offered us a piece of advice from the president and discussed the concepts within the ceasefire agreement. But some of these issues can only be negotiated when they become part of the official text," he said. Khun Okkar added that the president had also urged that the ceasefire agreement be drafted in line with existing laws, as it will have to be signed in accordance with legal procedures. So far, the government has proposed 13 suggestions for the ceasefire agreement, while the NCCT has proposed nine. Khun Okkar said that the two sides would need two or three more meetings before they can finalise the document. Beside Khun Okkar, who belongs to the Pa-O National Liberation Organisation, Gen. Gun Maw of the Kachin Independence Organisation and David Thakabaw of the Karen National Union headed the ethnic bloc at Sunday's meeting, while the MPC was represented by Hla Maung Shwe, Nyo Ohn Myint, Min Zaw Oo and Maung Maung Than. According to Nyo Ohn Myint, the MPC delegation also met on Sunday with representatives of the Shan State Army- South (SSA- S) – which is not part of the NCCT alliance. "We met with the SSA-S to explain what the government has done so far, what the MPC can do in this regard, how we can overcome certain obstacles and how we can provide the relevant information for the ceasefire talks," said Nyo Ohn Myint. |
| Govt aims to muzzle press before 2015 elections, says Press Council Posted: 15 Jul 2014 12:02 AM PDT The recent jailing of five media workers from Unity Weekly and the subsequent threats of legal action against reporters by the Burmese government is hindering the free press in the lead-up to the upcoming 2015 national elections, representatives of the Interim Press Council said on Monday. Zaw Thet Htwe, a member of the Interim Press Council, said the jailing of DVB video journalist Zaw Pe, the recent sentencing of the Unity Weekly news journal staff to ten years in prison with hard labour, the recent interrogation of Bi-Mon Te Nay Weekly news journal editors, and the probe into private news organisations' finances by the police's Special Branch are all a gradual silencing of the free press in the run-up to 2015 national elections. "We feel an indirect threat to press freedom ahead of the 2015 elections and urge media workers to stay alert for the sake of the country," Zaw Thet Htwe said. Pho Thaukkyar, a veteran journalist and committee member of the Myanmar Journalists Association, echoed Zaw Thet Htwe's assessment, adding that independent news coverage in the 2015 elections and this year's by-elections are likely to be muzzled by these recent examples. "I see that it is unlikely there will be media freedom in the upcoming by-elections, tipped in December this year — let along the 2015 elections," said Pho Thaukkyar, adding that the Burmese press do not fully enjoy the rights provided by the 2008 Constitution. Since the nominally civilian government of Thein Sein came into power in March 2011, the media has seen a series of reforms that purport to allow greater press freedom. Yet the recent sentencing of ten years with hard labour for five Unity Weekly media workers – for reporting on an alleged chemical weapons facility in Magwe Division – and the Special Branch's efforts to interrogate independent private media organisations on their finances have shown an apparent backslide in these reforms, say local and international press advocacy groups. |
| KIA requests two deserters be handed over by Burmese army Posted: 14 Jul 2014 08:33 PM PDT The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) has reportedly requested the Burmese government forces hand over two of their soldiers captured late last month. Speaking to DVB last week, San Aung, a mediator at ongoing peace talks between the two sides, said the Kachins raised the issue during the bilateral Conflict Negotiation and Resolution Joint-Committee monthly meeting on 5 July. He said the KIA, armed wing of the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO), requested the two men be turned over to them because they were wanted in connection with drug abuse and had deserted their posts when they fell into the Burmese army's hands. The KIA's administrative officer Hpukjang Ze Lum and Lt. Brang Seng from the KIA's 6th Battalion based in jade-mining town Hpakant, were captured on 28 and 30 June respectively by Burmese government troops. "The KIA representatives at the meeting said the two have a history of occasional drug abuse and were warned to lay off the habit by their superior officers amid the group's narcotics suppression programme," said San Aung. "After receiving multiple warnings, they went into hiding for a time to evade arrest by their commanders but they ran into the Burmese army and got captured. "The KIA is asking for the men to be handed over so they can take action against them in accordance with their own procedures." The KIA's spokesperson La Nan denied knowledge of the cases, and said such issues are for the Conflict Negotiation and Resolution Joint-Committee to deal with. According to the Kachin News Group (KNG), Brang Seng was allegedly tortured by Burmese soldiers after his capture and hospitalised in Myitkyina with a broken arm and a gunshot wound to this thigh. The report did not allude to any allegations of drug abuse, however KNG cited a named KIA source, Lt-Col Naw Bu, saying that the Kachin delegation had requested the two men be handed over into their custody at the 5 July meeting in Myitkyina, the Kachin state capital. The Conflict Negotiation and Resolution Joint-Committee consists of representatives from both the KIA and the Burmese military, and was formed in May this year as part of a bilateral agreement to kick-start peace talks. |
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