Monday, April 28, 2014

Democratic Voice of Burma

Democratic Voice of Burma

Mizzima reporter arrested for protesting media suppression

Posted: 28 Apr 2014 05:04 AM PDT

The organiser of a rally in support of media freedom in central Burma was charged on Saturday under Article 18 of the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Processions Act.

Yae Khe, a local correspondent for Mizzima in the town of Prome, officially known as Pyay, organised the protest in partnership with DVB journalist Min Nyo, calling for greater press freedom and the release of six journalists currently imprisoned in Burma, including DVB video journalist Zaw Pe.

On 19 April, Yae Khe and Min Nyo applied for permission to township authorities in accordance with the controversial law. Their application was rejected on 23 April.

Min Nyo, speaking to DVB on Monday, said that he and Yae Khe received a rejection letter from Prome Township police chief Myint Oo, who raised security concerns regarding the proposed route.

The rally went ahead regardless and included 20 local Prome journalists accompanied by more than 80 media activists.

According to Min Nyo, Yae Khe was charged on Saturday after marchers ignored the demands of local police officers to desist as they marched the streets of Prome on Friday. Police officers did not block the hour-long protest.

"As we were marching, the police told us to stop the protest. We ignored them, but we were told to go to the Prome police office at 10am on Saturday," Min Nyo said.

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"They only wanted to arrest Yae Khe," the DVB journalist said. "When I questioned Myo Myint, a Prome Township police officer, he said that no more arrests would be made. He said the police were only interested in Yae Khe because they believed him to be the chief organiser of the protest."

According to Min Nyo, Yae Khe was released without bail. No court date has yet been set, he added.

Article 18 of the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Processions Act carries a maximum punishment of one year in prison, a fine of 30,000 kyat (US$30), or both.

Min Nyo, who was previously charged three times with breaches of the protest law, said that Yae Khe expects to go to court within the next seven to ten days.

"Each time I was arrested and charged, I was fined 10,000 kyat," Min Nyo said. "Each time I had to wait seven to ten days before trial. Yae Khe expects the same thing. He is the 17th person to be arrested for breaches of the Peaceful Assembly Act in Prome in April alone."

Imprisoned DVB Magwe correspondent Zaw Pe has become the focus of recent international outcry against media suppression in Burma. Zaw Pe was arrested in August 2012 and charged with "trespassing" and "disturbing a civil servant on duty" after he visited Magwe Division education office to investigate allegations of corruption in its allocation of scholarships within a Japanese-funded programme. Earlier this month, the video journalist was sentenced to serve one year in Thayet Prison.

Min Nyo believes that the treatment of Zaw Pe is indicative of a culture of corruption among government officials.

"The government has a strong mindset and officials believe that they should control all information, especially when it has to do with the allocation of funds. This sort of transparency is crucial to the public, but the government is preventing journalists such as Zaw Pe from informing them."

On Friday, a similar protest proceeded unhindered in Mon State, after organisers Southern-Burma Journalists Network and the Myanmar Journalists Association received the necessary permission.

Seventh-day memorials honour Win Tin

Posted: 28 Apr 2014 04:03 AM PDT

A seventh-day memorial was held in Rangoon and several other towns in Burma in memory of NLD co-founder Win Tin, who died one week ago on 21 April.

In Burmese Buddhist tradition, seven days after a person dies a memorial is held to honour the deceased.

In Rangoon, NLD leaders and members of Win Tin's family gathered at his house to commemorate him by offering alms to monks and donating money to charity.

"We offered a meal of Mohinga to ten monks in the early morning at the house where Win Tin lived," said Khin Swe Swe Tun, one of Win Tin's relatives.

"The family also donated robes and alms to the monks and listened to the Dharma Talk in remembrance of "Uncle".

Other well-known faces from the political and literary world, including Aung San Suu Kyi, attended the memorial.

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All donations received will go to the Win Tin Foundation, which provides support for former and current political prisoners, writers and journalists.

Win Tin was honoured in several towns throughout Burma including Mandalay, Magwe, Pyinmana, Prome and Hlegu.

"The commemoration is held with the money chipped in by NLD members in the town. We offered Mohinga to seven monks and to those who attended the event," said an NLD member from Hlegu.

Win Tin was a political prisoner for 19 years and passed away on the 21 April, six years after he was released at the age of 85.

Burma rejects US allegations

Posted: 28 Apr 2014 03:50 AM PDT

Burma's presidential spokesperson Ye Htut has rejected US President Barack Obama's allegation that Burmese Muslims are oppressed, and has refuted US claims that communities in Arakan State have been left in a precarious situation by the absence of international aid workers.

Speaking in Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur on Sunday, the American president praised Burma's political reforms, but warned that the country "won't succeed if the Muslim population is oppressed".

However, Ye Htut on Monday rejected the US president’s criticism. Speaking to DVB from Sagaing on Monday, he said, “There is no discrimination against Muslims in Burma. Islam is an officially recognised faith in the country. The issues [of violence] we are seeing today are taking place at ground level. There is no state-sanctioned discrimination against Muslims, so I would say that our reforms have been successful.”

Communal violence between Muslim and Buddhist communities has racked Burma over the past two years, particularly in northern Arakan State where vicious pogroms against the Muslim Rohingya community have led to the loss of perhaps hundreds of lives, with thousands of houses destroyed and more than 100,000 people now living in shelters for internally displaced persons (IDPs).

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Last month, local Buddhist mobs in Sittwe attacked international aid agencies they accused of siding with the Rohingya IDPs over Buddhist Arakanese victims, a charge the relief groups vehemently deny. INGOs were subsequently forced to close their offices, suspend relief programmes and evacuate staff from the region.

A spokesperson for the US Embassy in Rangoon told DVB on Monday that it is calling on the Burmese government to reinstate all UN agencies and INGO humanitarian operations in Arakan State.

“We continue to have serious concerns about the continuing lack of access by humanitarian aid agencies and personnel to vulnerable communities in Rakhine [Arakan] State. This has left communities in an extremely precarious situation, particularly with respect to access to water, sanitation, food and healthcare. We urge the Burmese government to work closely with the UN and international NGOs to facilitate their return to Rakhine [Arakan] State and to support the immediate resumption of their operations, including by assuring their security,” he said.

Again, Burma’s presidential spokesman begged to differ. “Firstly, we reject the US’ allegations,” said Ye Htut. “Secondly, there has been absolutely no outbreak of any disease, because the Ministry of Health … has stepped up measures to provide healthcare, sanitation and water assistance.

“Thirdly,” he continued, “we are consistently cooperating with UN agencies. But cooperating with the government alone is not enough – the UN agencies and international aid groups also need to work to win credibility from the local [Arakanese] community. And we cannot help them with this – they will have to behave and carry out procedures appropriately to get the locals to cooperate with them. In order to do this, they need to show transparency and impartiality.”

On 9- 10 April, US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Russel visited Burma and met with senior Burmese government officials, including President Thein Sein, Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin, Information Minister Aung Kyi, and Deputy Minister for Border Affairs Maung Maung Ohn.

On 10 April, the US Embassy issued a statement, again commending the Thein Sein administration's political reform agenda but noting concerns about the recent violence in Arakan State.

"We encourage the government to take a more active role in resolving these issues, to work toward a durable solution that addresses the underlying causes of conflict in Rakhine [Arakan] State, and to create the conditions for sustainable peace and development, with which the United States is prepared to assist," the Rangoon embassy said in a press release.

 

Kachin refugees told to go home despite conflict

Posted: 28 Apr 2014 03:14 AM PDT

Hundreds of displaced persons in Kachin State, northern Burma, are under pressure by the Burmese army to go home despite the ongoing conflict in the area, according to aid workers.

La Sang, a coordinator at the Lagat Yang camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs), said that a battalion stationed near the camp in Bhamo District claims that they are too close to the Burmese army base near Panhkam.

"We would really like to go home, too, but it isn’t possible right now," he said. "Fighting is still taking place near our villages, and there are military units operating in the area."

The commander of the battalion reportedly met with camp officials on Sunday, when he asked for a hard departure date and offered to assist evacuation of the area. The IDPs were told that their villages were safe, and that assistance to travel and rebuild their homes would be provided by the central government.

La Sang said the commander suggested that some of the IDPs be resettled in another camp in nearby Man Win Gyi, which aid workers insist is not a viable option, as weeks of renewed fighting have caused an influx of new arrivals to that location, as well.

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Mary Tawm, coordinator of the local aid group Wunpawng Ninghtoi, said the IDPs in Lagat Yang are frequently subject to harassment and coercion by Burmese soldiers.

"The [soldiers] have been showing up in the camp in their uniforms almost every night 'to count the number of people'," she said. "Some were too afraid to open the door for them, and were threatened that their names would be removed from the camp's registrar."

Approximately 227 families — about 800 people — had been living in the Lagat Yang IDP camp since fighting broke out between the Burmese army and the Kachin Independence Army in Mansi Township in November 2013.

Last year's conflict caused thousands to flee the Nam Lin Pa IDP camp and nearby villages, hundreds settling at Lagat Yang.

In early April of this year, additional installment of Burmese troops in the area — assigned to accompany census enumerators — eventually led to territorial conflicts. Several sources have reported that frontline shellfire landed within the camp's boundaries, causing many of the refugees to flee again.

Some fled to nearby Man Win Gyi, while many made a run for the Chinese border. Of those, many have since returned to the Lagat Yang camp. Several hundred IDPs remain in Lagat Yang, originating from various villages and other refugee camps in Bhamo District.

Obama warns against oppression of Burma’s Muslims

Posted: 28 Apr 2014 01:01 AM PDT

Speaking in Malaysia's capital Kuala Lumpur on Sunday, President Barack Obama said the US is committed to help maintain peace and stability in Asia, but he warned that democracy would not succeed in Burma if oppression against the Muslim minority in the country continued.

“I believe that together we can make the Asia-Pacific more secure, and America has the strongest military in the world, but we don’t seek conflict, we seek to keep the peace. We want a future where disputes are resolved peacefully and where bigger nations don’t bully smaller nations, all nations are equal in the eyes of international law,” Obama told groups of Southeast Asian youngsters during a town hall-style meeting in the University of Malaya during his three-day visit to Kuala Lumpur.

In the one-and-a-half-hour talk, Obama also praised the political reforms underway in once-isolated Burma but said the danger of democratisation was that it could unleash religious and ethnic conflicts and that such developments could move Burma in a "bad direction".

“And no country is going to succeed if a part of its population is put on the sidelines because they are discriminated against. Malaysia won’t succeed if non-Muslims don’t have opportunities, Myanmar [Burma] won’t succeed if the Muslim population is oppressed," he said.

Communal violence between Muslim and Buddhist communities has racked Burma over the past two years, particularly in northern Arakan State where vicious pogroms against the Muslim Rohingya community have led to the loss of perhaps hundreds, with thousands of house destroyed, and more than 100,000 people now living in internally displaced person (IDP) shelters.

Last month, local Buddhist mobs in Sittwe attacked international aid agencies they accuse of siding with the Rohingya IDPs over Buddhist Arakanese victims, a charge the relief groups vehemently deny. INGOs were subsequently forced to close their offices and suspend relief programmes while evacuating staff.

A spokesperson from the US Embassy in Rangoon told DVB on Monday that it is calling on the Burmese government to reinstate all UN agencies and International NGO humanitarian operations in Arakan State.

“We continue to have serious concerns about the continuing lack of access by humanitarian aid agencies and personnel to vulnerable communities in Rakhine [Arakan] State. This has left communities in an extremely precarious situation, particularly with respect to access to water, sanitation, food and healthcare. We urge the Burmese government to work closely with the UN and international NGOs to facilitate their return to Rakhine [Arakan] State and to support the immediate resumption of their operations, including by assuring their security,” he said.

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In Malaysia, Obama’s talk was briefly disrupted by a peaceful protest with audiences holding up placards denouncing the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a controversial trade deal that is a central part of the Obama administration's effort at counterbalancing Chinese influence in the region.

Obama said that domestic opposition to trade deals wasn’t surprising and that the United States was willing to be flexible on particularly sensitive areas.

“The trade agreement that we’re trying to create, the TPP, part of what we are trying to do is to create higher standards for labour protection, for environmental protection, more consistent protection of intellectual properties because increasingly that’s the next phase of wealth. All those things require more transparency and more accountability and more rule of law," Obama said.

The deal would connect a dozen Asia-Pacific economies by eliminating trade barriers and harmonising regulations in a pact covering two-fifths of the world economy and a-third of all global trade.

However the TPP has face mass criticism from activist groups who feel the pact is not transparent and would give more power to big corporations, lead to job losses, and harm the environment.

Obama will depart Malaysia for the Philippines on Monday for the last leg of his Southeast Asian tour that also took him to Japan and South Korea.

 

 

 

Arakanese conference kicks off in Kyaukphyu

Posted: 27 Apr 2014 10:24 PM PDT

Representatives of the Arakanese Buddhist community, armed groups and civil society groups will rub shoulders with state government officials and MPs this week as the Arakan National Conference takes place in Kyaukphyu.

Nyi Nyi Maung, the secretary of the conference's organising committee, said, "There are four main topics on the table for discussion: Democracy and Federalism; Natural Resources and Environment Management; Peace; and Social and Economic Situations in Arakan State. We expect positive results from the debates on these issues."

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Central government ministers set to attend the conference – planned from 27 April to 1 May – include President Office Ministers Tin Maung Thein and Aung Min, the latter being the government's chief negotiator at ongoing peace talks between Naypyidaw and ethnic armed groups. Deputy Minister of Border Affairs Brig-Gen Maung Maung Ohn, who heads the commission to probe the most recent bout of mob violence in the region, will also attend.

On 26 April, Aung Min and Arakan State Chief Minister Hla Maung Tin held talks with local community leaders in Kyaukphyu at a meeting that included outspoken Arakanese nationalist historian Aye Chan.

Arakan National Network representative Tin Htoo Aung said the five-day meeting would include vital discussions on ending the various conflicts in Burma, and bringing about peace, security and development in Arakan State.
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