July 2010 Vol.8 No. 7

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page 9

Junta denies North

Korean nuclear link

Burmese tycoon brokersarms deal with China

Thomas Maung Shwe

Opposition alliance marksSuu Kyi’s 65th birthday

Perry Santanachote

Burmese tycoon continued on page 10 Opposition alliancecontinued on page 7

Members of the 10 Alliances of Burma, a movement for democracy andhuman rights, speak at a June 17 gathering in Bangkok in honor of the

65th anniversary of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Photo: Mizzima

Tay Za

Human trafficking

flourishing in Burma

Interview with Robert

Goebbels, member of

the European

Parliament

page 6

page 5

Thomas Maung Shwe

Washington’s Burma continued on page 6

Javier Delgado Rivera

Chiang Mai – Following theearly June abrupt cancellation ofhis Burma trip, Senator JimWebb has written an open letterto U.S. Secretary of StateHillary Rodham Clinton askingher to examine allegations by

the Assistant Secretary of Statefor East Asian and Pacific Affairsthat Burma had violated UNResolution 1874, which bansNorth Korean overseas militaryshipments.

The veteran lawmaker, whohas publicly advocated

engagement with the Burmeseregime and last year met withSenior General Than Shwe,admitted that Dr. Kurt Campbell’sallegations last month had “frozenany prospect of furtherengagement with the Burmesegovernment.”

Webb, the chairman of theSenate Foreign Relations EastAsian and Pacif ic Affairssubcommittee, also stated thatprior to his departure for Asiahe and his staff had “worked for

Chiang Mai – Burma’srichest business tycoon and closeally of ruler Senior General ThanShwe, went to China early in Juneto broker a deal enabling theregime to buy 50 multi-role jet

bombers for its air force, trustedsources said.

Tay Za was spotted at theKunming regional trade fair onJune 7th in China’s southernprovince of Yunnan. The purposeof his visit was to help theBurmese regime acquire the K-8Karakorum, a two-seatintermediate jet trainer and lightattack aircraft developed in a jointventure between China andPakistan.

Estimates for the price of theaircraft vary widely. Last October,Bolivia announced that it wouldspend US$57.8 million to buy sixof the planes. According to Jane’sDefence Weekly the deal alsoincluded “two spare engines, aKTS2000BW test vehicle, anInteractive Multimedia Instructorsystem, initial spare [parts],training and maintenance

pages 2 & 3

The nucleus of nuclear

Burma

Dr. Tint Swe

page 7

Continued in-depth

coverage of the2010 election

Bangkok – The Ten Alliancesof Burma, a movement fordemocracy and ethnic rights,

joined people around the worldin marking opposition leader AungSan Suu Kyi’s 65 th birthday.Activists and friends of the Burma

July 2010 Vol.8 No. 7

page 2

New Delhi – Burma’s pro-democracyleader, Aung San Suu Kyi, is glad herNational League for Democracy party’smembers are united despite its automaticdissolution in accordance with the junta’sone-sided electoral laws, related theopposition leader in a two-hour meetingwith a lawyer and engineers on June 11th.

Suu Kyi’s comments came during ameeting with her lawyer to discuss therevocation by the Rangoon civic body of apermit allowing her to dismantle a badlydamaged wooden building inside hercompound on University Avenue Road,Rangoon, where she is being held underhouse arrest.

“I’m very glad that all of NLD members,including young members and women, arevery united even at this difficult time,”lawyer and NLD Central ExecutiveCommittee member Nyan Win toldMizzima, quoting Suu Kyi.

“She said it was the duty ofgovernment, political parties and peopleto raise the young people,” Nyan Win said.“She said when we provide moral supportto the nations’ young, it must be done withgenerosity and comradeship.”

Suu Kyi also said party membersneeded to help the people clearlyunderstand democracy. According to her,political parties and the people wereresponsible for understanding democraticvalues and putting them into practice, NyanWin said.

Authorities allowed Suu Kyi to meeton June 11th from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. withlawyer Nyan Win and engineers Khun TharMyint and Htin Kyaw, whom Suu Kyiassigned to monitor renovations at hercrumbling villa beside Inya Lake.

The Nobel Peace laureate’s compoundat No. 54-56 University Avenue Road in

Salai Han Thar San

Suu Kyi ‘happy with party unity’ Bahan Township comprises the mainbuilding, a badly damaged wooden house,a gatehouse and two huts.

The wooden house is 25 feet east ofthe main building and is overrun withbushes. The Rangoon City DevelopmentCommittee on June 4th approved SuuKyi’s application to have it demolished, butthe permit was revoked the following day.

Nyan Win explained the city’sreasoning: “They [the RangoonCommittee] said that as the house[compound] was subject to an inheritancecase…if the wooden house was destroyedthe compound would lose its originalcharacter.”

He said he would submit an appeal toRangoon’s mayor next week.

Meanwhile, Suu Kyi said membersshould celebrate her 65th birthday on June19th at the home of Mogoke member ofparliament May Hnin Kyi at 10 Miles Gonein Mingaladon Township, Rangoon, NyanWin said, amid fears that a gathering atparty headquarters would provoke acrackdown by the junta.

“In accordance with her [Suu Kyi]request, we will donate books and pencilsto underprivileged students,” Nyan Winadded.

Suu Kyi will have to spend her birthdayin detention amid a continuing 18-monthsentence imposed for “entertaining”unwanted American visitor John Yettaw, whoon May 4th of last year swam uninvitedacross Inya Lake and stayed at her housefor two nights. She was then forced to spendher 64th birthday in a special room at InseinPrison as prosecution over Yettaw’s visitproceeded.

Yettaw’s trespass occurred two weeksbefore Suu Kyi’s scheduled release fromhouse arrest on May 27th of last year.

Election 2010

Phanida

New Delhi – Leaders of the NationalLeague for Democracy are conducting aroadshow of states and divisions to meetgrassroots members, explain policies andlisten to the challenges they are facingsince the party was declared illegal anddisbanded by the ruling military junta earlylast month following a party decisionagainst registering under perceived“unjust” electoral laws, a senior leadersaid.

The tour comes at the request of NLDGeneral Secretary Aung San Suu Kyi, saidCentral Executive Committee member OhnKyaing.

Since June 12th, Ohn Kyaing and KyiWin have been on a tour designed to takethem to Moegyoke, Thapatekyin, Mattaya,

Patheingyi, Meikti la, Myinchan,Kyaukpadaung and Nyaung Oo in MandalayDivision and Pakokku in MagwayDivisionhave been on a tour designed totake them to Moegyoke, Thapatekyin,Mattaya, Patheingyi, Meiktila, Myinchan,Kyaukpadaung and Nyaung Oo in MandalayDivision and Pakokku in Magway Division.Similarly, Central Executive Committeemembers Win Tin and Han Tha Myint andBahan Township NLD chairman Aung Myinthave been touring Karen State.

“We will not hold political meetings,issue political statements or direct thegrassroots of the party. But we do need tofind out about conditions on the ground,”Ohn Kyaing told Mizzima. “Aung San SuuKyi told us to meet our political colleaguesand listen to their difficulties.”

Suu Kyi issued the directive to listento grassroots voices when she met herlawyer Nyan Win. During the meeting sheasked leaders to carry the message totownship leaders that although the NLD hadbeen barred from political activities, thegroup should continue working for nationalreconcil iation, human rights anddemocracy as a leading political oppositiongroup.

In the states and divisions visited so farduring the NLD tours, senior party executiveshave explained to grassroots party membersthe nature of the junta’s one-sided andunjust electoral laws and the party’sdecision against re-registering with thejunta’s Union Election Commission (UEC).Party sources claim township members havesaid they support the party’s decisions andwill unanimously follow the leadership of SuuKyi and party policy.

Myint Maung

NLD top leaders take roadshow tolocal level

Ohn Kyaing, prominent political ally ofdetained opposition leader

Aung San Suu Kyi.

Salai Han Thar San

Chiang Mai – Burma’s electoralwatchdog has banned marching inprocession, holding flags, chanting slogansor any other such act aimed at urgingsupporters to protest against the rulinggovernment, further tightening the junta’sstranglehold on public space ahead ofanticipated upcoming national elections.

The bans came in a Union ElectionCommission 14-point directive dated June21st and were followed by criticism frompolitical parties preparing to contest inelections to be held later this year. Partiesmust have at least 1,000 members to takepart in the as yet unscheduled polls.

The directive also bars “disturbances”outside any public places includinggovernment offices, organizations,factories, workshops, markets, sportsgrounds, religious institutions, schools andhospitals. Even if parties plan to holdmeetings at their offices they are requiredto inform local branches of the commissionat least one week in advance, the directivesays. Likewise, if they plan gatheringsoutside their offices they also need to applyfor a permit one week in advance.

Parties are further instructed to ensureno assemblies take place outside buildingsor halls while parties are holding meetingsor making speeches. Moreover, it bansspeaking out against the junta and militaryin speeches and written material.

The United States has already declaredBurma’s polls will “not be free or fair andwill lack international legitimacy.”

The misuse of religion as a politicalweapon appears to be a bid to deny politicalinvolvement of Buddhist monks, who ledprotests in September 2007 known as theSaffron Revolution that inspired a broaderrevolt against the junta.

Forty-two parties have applied to the

Junta election watchdog bans partymarches, slogans

commission for registration, out of which33 have been approved.

One of the directive’s critics, Unionof Myanmar Federation of NationalPolitics party Chairman Aye Lwin, saidthe decrees would create hurdles toparty work in recruiting members. He isbelieved to have close ties to the militaryregime.

“I think it is childish. Even religiousorganizations and soccer teams canwave flags during their activities,” hesaid. “Political parties are officialorganizations so they should have theright to use their flags freely after gettingpermission from the EC [ElectionCommission] to be registered as politicalparties.”

Union Democratic Party ChairmanPhyo Min Thein replied, “Even charityorganizations can use flags to appealfor donations,” adding that he could notunderstand the move.

According to e lectora l lawspublished last March, in Burma’stransition to “disciplined democracy” thecommission can deregister politicalparties if it deems parties have violatedprohibitions and restrictions in theirorganizational and canvassing work.

Meanwhile, the commission has saidnothing about granting parties mediaairtime, despite access to state-runtelevis ion and radio stat ions forcampaigning being granted in the lastelection 20 years ago.

Detained opposition leader Aung SanSuu Kyi’s National League for Democracy,which won the 1990 elections by anoverwhelming majority, has decided notto contest the elections, demanding thatthe regime first amend the 2008constitution and electoral laws. The laws,among other prohibitions, ban politicalprisoners including Suu Kyi from running.

July 2010 Vol.8 No. 7

page 3

Election 2010

New Delhi – Senior General ThanShwe recently told regional militarycommanders at their quarterly meeting tohelp the Union Solidarity and DevelopmentParty (USDP) win the forthcoming election,according to the sources close to themilitary.

The meeting with top-ranking militaryofficers was held late in May at the officeof the army commander in chief in theBurmese capital of Naypyitaw, duringwhich Than Shwe is said to have issuedthe directive to aid the party led by PrimeMinister Thein Sein.

“He also discussed the National Leaguefor Democracy’s attitude to theforthcoming election, and power cuts andwater shortages,” a source close to themilitary said, refusing to disclose details.

State Peace and Development Councilmembers, regional military commandersand cabinet ministers attended.

An analyst on the Burmese military,Aung Kyaw Zaw, who lives on the China-Burma border, corroborated the line thatthe top junta leader was ordering officersto give a boost to the USDP, formed bymembers of the junta’s ultra-nationalistorganization. He said, “I heard that theSenior General had instructed regionalmilitary commanders to help USDP.”

Other issues discussed were frequentpower cuts and widespread watershortages across the nation, despite anabundance of dams and some hydropowerprojects, a source close to the military inNaypyitaw said, without describing any

decisions or plans of action.Moreover, the officers discussed the

issue regarding the decision of the mainopposition party, the National League forDemocracy (NLD) led by Aung San Suu Kyi,that it would not contest in this year’selections but would carry out social work.

The quarterly meeting is usually aforum at which political, economic andmilitary issues are discussed, with regionalmilitary commanders presenting reports ondevelopments in their sectors and takingdirectives from their superiors. They arethen required to hold divisional meetingsand supervise the chairmen of district andtownship peace and development councilsin their regions.

The headquarters of the USDP is inDakkhina Thiri Township, Naypyitaw. TheUSDP formally became a political party onJune 9th.

Political analyst Aung Thu Nyein, basedin Thailand, said the polls this year werelikely to be one-sided as the junta haddenied the people a choice in the May 2008referendum, especially through vote-rigging.

“They shaped the 2008 referendumaccording to their preferences. They mayconduct the upcoming elections in thesame way,” he said.

In the run-up to the referendum, juntaleaders at quarterly meetings told officersto make sure chairmen of district andtownship development councils changedcivilian ballots from ‘no’ votes to ‘yes’ toapprove the 2008 constitution, accordingto one former military officer.

Salai Han Thar San

Than Shwe tells military to aidjunta’s favored party

New Delhi – At least eight branchesof the National League for Democracy(NLD) have joined the row with the splintergroup National Democratic Force (NDF)over the latter’s use of a symbol that beforethe 1990 elections had becomesynonymous with the party led byopposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

NLD members from Rangoon,Mandalay, Magway, Sagaing, Pegu andIrrawaddy Divisions, Kachin and KarenStates and MPs elected from theseconstituencies in 1990 are planning to sendan objection letter to the Union ElectionCommission (UEC) over NDF use ofbamboo hats during campaigning, an MPsaid.

Farmers’ traditional hats became acompelling pro-democracy icon of solidaritywith all levels of society after NLD memberswore them during campaigning ahead ofthe 1990 elections, which the party wonconvincingly. The junta rejected the resultsof the election and refused to relinquishpower to the people.

However, the NDF, formed from seniorNLD members who broke away from theparty over its boycott of this year’selections, has started using the hats,leading to further aggravation betweenformer colleagues, with suggestions thatthe NDF is trading on NLD popularity.

“Using the bamboo hat is an allusionto the people of a connection to the NLDas people know the NLD as Daw Aung SanSuu Kyi’s party and the ‘bamboo hat’ party,”

Hlaing Aye, MP-elect from Pakokku inMagway Division, told Mizzima. “We cannotaccept [the NDF] using our symbol as theirparty emblem and logo. We shall send ourobjection to the UEC”.

MPs-elect Myat Hla from Pegu, AungSoe Myint from Taungoo and Nan KhinHtwe Myint from Pa-an will also join theprotest, a party source said.

The group must send its objection letteragainst the name, flag and emblem of theNDF to the commission by the end of thefirst week of July. The Political PartiesRegistration Law states that an objectioncan be lodged against the fraudulentimitation of other parties’ flags or emblems.NLD party leaders said on July 1st that theywould abide by the commission’s decision.

The NLD responded to the assessedunfair electoral laws by not re-registeringthe party with the commission, effectivelyboycotting the upcoming election anddisbanding the organization as arecognized political entity.

Similar rows over party emblems haverecently occurred, with the commissiondeciding in favor of those who hadobjected. The 88 Generation Students andYouths (Union of Myanmar) party and theUnion of Myanmar Federation of NationalPolitics (UMFNP), both believed to haveclose links to the military junta, tried touse the fighting peacock, originally a symbolof the All Burma Federation of StudentUnions. However, writers, journalists andartists objected to the symbol’s use andthe parties were forced to modify their logosand emblems following the commission’sdecision.

Myint Maung

NLD branches join row over partyemblem

Women in bamboo hats, a symbol of the National League for Democracy, gatheroutside the organization’s Rangoon headquarters to mark its 20th anniversary.

Chiang Mai – The All Mon RegionsDemocracy Party plans to take part in thegeneral election to be held later this year.

The group is made up of 15 mostlyethnic Mon factions from all over Burma.

The Union Election Commission (UEC)officially allowed it to form a political partyon May 24th.

Under UEC electoral laws, the All MonRegions Democracy Party (AMRDP) is the

only Mon political group legally taking partin the impending elections. Many otherMon political groups have declined toparticipate in protest over the junta’scontroversial 2008 constitution.

Party leader Nai Ngwe Thein, 71, is aretired assistant education officer for MonState who hails from Htone Eine village inKaren State. He has also held the posts ofeducation officer for Pegu Division andKachin State, and director of the UpperBurma Basic Education Department.

The party includes veterinary surgeonDr. Nai Hla Aung and other retiredgovernment officers of the education,health and law departments.

Mizzima spoke with Nai Ngwe Theinon AMRDP policy. He listed gainingdemocratic rights, establishing ethnic unity,ridding government of corruption andbribery and working towards socialdevelopment and world social order aspriorities.

He expressed frustration at the currentstate of the economy in that it was underthe total control of the military junta, citingthe example of farmers being unable tosell produce as they wished. Nai NgweThein advocated for free trade to allow

All Mon Regions Democracy Party rolls out platform

Phanida

ethnic people to receive the human, socialand cultural rights of which they aredeprived.

“We shall establish an appropriate andsuitable free-market economy,” Nai NgweThein said. “We will work for growingforeign investment and the developmentof production through modern technology,which means building the industrial sector.”

“Our country will progress only whenwe can develop our industrial sectorsuccessfully. Now the situation is upset andfrustrated,” he added.

The party has had little difficultymeeting the minimum party membershipof 1,000 members. Visiting people in Yay,Thanphyu Zayat, Moulmein and MudonTownships, the group spoke withcommunities about its main policies andgauged interest from prospectivemembers.

Nai Ngwe Thein said many people wereinterested in the party as it was the soleMon party running in the election. Whenasked for his opinion on its rivals, the armedMon State Party, he was reluctant to criticizetheir policies.

He said the AMRDP planned tocampaign mostly in the 10 townships in

Mon State, but that it would also contesttwo townships in Karen State, one inTanintharyi Division and one in PeguDivision, for a total of 14 townships. Hebelieves the party has a good chance ofwinning in those areas, which areinhabited by mostly ethnic Mon people.

“We will contest in all legislativebodies, namely the People’s Parliament[lower house], the National Parliament[upper house] and the States and RegionsAssembly,” he said. “There will be at leastfour candidates from our party in each ofthese townships.”

The National League for Democracyin late March declared it would boycottthe country’s first polls in 20 years becauseof the junta’s perceived unjust 2008constitution and its refusal to releasepolitical prisoners, including party leaderand Nobel Peace laureate Aung San SuuKyi.

Although there are components to theconstitution with which the AMRDPdisagrees, Nai Ngwe Thein said there wasno alternative but to take part in the futuregovernmental practices of Burma.

“Only after contesting and winning inthis election can we say please amendthis one, transfer this one, and such,” hesaid. “No matter whether it is genuine ornot, we shall contest in thiselection…peacefully and honestly.”

Nai Ngwe Thein

July 2010 Vol.8 No. 7

page 4

RegionalBilueekyunn

Chiang Mai – One of China’s biggestarms makers in June signed a contract witha Burmese junta-controlled entity involving“cooperation” in a Monywa copper mine,raising serious questions over the statusof Canadian mining company Ivanhoe’sholdings in the town northwest of Mandalayand raising questions as to whether Burmasanctions have been violated.

Defense contractor China NorthIndustries Corporation (Norinco), one ofthe Chinese military’s biggest suppliers,disclosed in a press release that in the firstweek of June its Chairman, ZhangGuoqing, signed the “Monywa Copper MineProject Co-operation Contract” with Major-General Win Than of the Union of MyanmarEconomic Holdings Limited, a majorrevenue generator for the Burmesemilitary regime.

While Norinco kept disclosed anyfinancial details, it did say the agreementwas signed in the presence of ChinesePremier Wen Jiabao and Burmese PrimeMinister Thein Sein during the former’stwo-day tour of Burma. The firm makes awide range of weapons and has long beenthe subject of intense western scrutiny forits activities. The Bush administrationalleged that Norinco exported missiletechnology to Iran and took steps topenalize the firm in 2003 and 2005.

Norinco’s Burmese copper play wasstrongly criticized by the pro-democracyrights group Canadian Friends of Burma(CFOB), who termed the deal the “arms-for-copper” affair. The Ottawa-based

advocacy group has called for Canadianauthorities to launch an independentinvestigation to assess the presentownership status of the Monywa mine’soperator, Myanmar Ivanhoe Copper CapitalCompany Limited (MICCL).

MICCL was created as a 50/50 jointventure between Canada’s Ivanhoe Minesand a Burmese state-controlled firm, MiningEnterprise No. 1. MICCL has operatedMonywa, Burma’s largest mine, sinceproduction began in 1999.

In a move critics said was a blatantattempt to hide the firm’s Burmeseoperations, Ivanhoe Mines reported inFebruary 2007 that it had “sold” its 50percent stake in MICCL to an “independentthird-party trust” in exchange for aguarantee that Ivanhoe would receivepayment when the trust sold its stake.

Following the September 2007 SaffronRevolution, in which dozens of protestingmonks and citizens were killed by juntasoldiers in Rangoon, Ivanhoe and theMonywa mine made headlines when AndyHoffman of the Canadian nationalnewspaper, The Globe and Mail, reportedthat despite Ivanhoe’s claims it had pulledout of Burma its financial filings showed itwas still receiving profits from its 50percent stake in MICCL, held by theallegedly independent trust.

Ivanhoe claimed in October 2007 thatit had determined it was “prudent to recorda $134.3 million write-down” in the valueof their 50 percent stake, thereby reducingits value to nothing, in what the CanadianFriends of Burma claim was a clever ploy

Chinese arms maker deal raises queries over Canadian stake

Thomas Maung Shwe to avoid revealing any details about theMonywa mine in its regulatory filings.

However, The Myanmar Times quotedMICCL’s general manager Glenn Ford assaying last year that Monywa was in fact“one of the lowest-cost production minesin the world,” despite Ivanhoe’s claim thatthe mine was worth nothing.

When asked to comment on the currentstatus of the Monywa mine, Ivanhoespokesman Bob Williamson told Mizzimathat the independent trust had not sold the50 percent stake to anyone. Since thetrust’s creation, Ivanhoe has refused toreveal any of the individuals or firms whooversee the entity, offering only that theywere not employees of Ivanhoe Mines.

Ivanhoe had said when the trust wascreated that the stake in MICCL would notbe sold by the trust to anyone it termed“excluded persons” – employees or directorsof both Ivanhoe Mines and Rio Tinto, theBritish-Australian firm that controls a sizableminority stake in Ivanhoe. It also said“residents or entities controlled by citizensor residents of Myanmar (Burma) or theUnited States” would also be barred frombuying the stake.

Contrary to that claim, however, asource in Burma’s business community toldMizzima that the independent trustcompleted the sale of its 50 percent stakelate last year to close associates of theBurmese junta who have ties to Chinesebusiness interests.

The alleged secret sale came as nosurprise to Canadian Friends of BurmaExecutive Director Tin Maung Htoo, who

Kyaw Mya

New Delhi – Activists from the FreeBurma Coalition Philippines have called forstronger policies and more concrete actionon democratization in Burma from the newAquino administration.

The calls came on June 30th asBenigno Aquino III was sworn in bySupreme Court Justice Conchita Corpio-Morales at Rizal Park in Manila. Aquino,who last month won the presidentialelections in a landslide, succeeds GloriaMacapagal-Arroyo, who was plagued byabuse of power and corruption allegations.

Egoy Bans, spokesman of the FreeBurma Coalition Philippines, a network of

Filipino activists urge Aquino to takeaction on Burma

Former Filipino President Corazon Aquino, a strong supporter of the Burmese pro-democracy movement.

believed “from the very beginning Ivanhoehas been totally dishonest about itsoperations in Burma and this so-calledindependent trust charade gives IvanhoeChairman Robert Friedland ampleopportunity to keep the mine for himselfor sell it to the regime’s cronies or dowhatever he wants.”

Were Ivanhoe’s stake in MICCL tohave been bought by associates of theBurmese regime, this would violate USand EU sanctions. In January of last year,MICCL was added to the US TreasuryDepartment’s Office of Foreign AssetsControl (OFAC) list of banned entities, anaction that Ivanhoe failed to mention inany of its subsequent statements or filingsthat discuss the independent trust.Ivanhoe also failed to tell its shareholdersthat the European Union had added MICCLto its Burma sanctions list in November2007.

When Mizzima called MICCL’sRangoon office and asked who now ownedIvanhoe’s 50 percent stake in the jointventure, a staff member refused toanswer. Requests to speak to thecompany’s Monywa general manger,Glenn Ford, or even learn his nationality,were similarly declined.

In a tersely worded open letteraddressed to Canadian Friends of Burmathat accused the NGO of running adisinformation campaign, Ivanhoe ChiefExecutive John Macken denied that he hadbeen employed by Ivanhoe Mines asalleged, arguing that “neither IvanhoeMines nor MICCL has been sold, or everoffered for sale, to anybody.”

Meanwhile, local villagers continue toreport pollution and high security aroundthe mine site.

For many years reports from villagersliving in the vicinity of the mine are thatneighboring farmland has become tooacidic to grow crops because of chemicalsused in the mining process, driving manyfarmers into extreme poverty. Villagersalso say that the Burmese regime has longmaintained a heavy security presence inthe area.

Usa Pichai

Migrant workersin fear amid Thai

crackdown

Burmese migrants in Thailand

Filipino activists for Burma, told Mizzimaof the group’s hopes for the newpresidency.

“The new president has made thecommitment in his inaugural address tocontinue working for the restoration ofdemocracy, not only in the Philippines butin the ASEAN region as well,” he said.

Aquino’s official government policyoutlines a push for human rights, so thecoalition hopes that policies strengthen “butwith more concrete actions fordemocratization in Burma and to leadASEAN towards supporting those actions,”Bans explained.

“We are looking for better actions than

those of the previous government, and weare hoping that the new president, Aquino,will follow the lead of his mother, [the late]Corazon Aquino, who was also presidentand a strong supporter of Daw Aung SanSuu Kyi and the democracy movement inBurma,” he added, using the Burmesehonorific out of respect for the oppositionleader and Nobel laureate.

The coalition is specifically looking tothe ASEAN Intergovernmental Commissionon Human Rights (AICHR) to look into thehuman rights situation in Burma andestablish stronger mechanisms for theprotection of human rights, he said.

The Philippines government hadstrongly denounced the elections to be heldthis year by the Burmese ruling junta.

“We want the Philippine government torun with the ASEAN countries towardsdenouncing the election called for by theSPDC [Burmese junta] and to call for a ‘no-election’ policy urging for complete change,”Bans said. He added that the coalitionespecially calls for the “release of all politicalprisoners including Daw Suu, cessation ofthe brutality against ethnic minorities anda review of the 2008 constitution.”

Philippine Foreign Secretary AlbertoRomulo made a call in early January duringthe ASEAN foreign ministers meeting in DaNang, Vietnam, for the regime to releaseSuu Kyi along with other political prisonersin order to make the elections free and fair.He said otherwise the polls would be amere imitation of Burma’s “roadmap todemocracy”.

Bans said that as Aquino had signaledplans to retain foreign minister Romulo, whohas expressed a strong position fordemocratization in Burma, he thought itlikely that the Aquino government could beengaged along similar policy lines.

Migrant workers continued on page 10

Samut Sakhon, Thailand – Migrantworkers in Thailand are living in fear amida police crackdown in mid-June that ledto the arrests of more than a thousandmigrants in several regions around thecountry.

Nida, a Mon worker in the MahachaiDistrict of Samut Sakhon, a provinceneighboring Bangkok on the southernseaboard, told Mizzima that her familymembers and friends who work inThailand were afraid to leave their homes.

“I have a working document but stilldon’t want to go out because some of myfriends were detained even though theyhave documents,” Nida said. “Policejustified the arrests by saying they had toinspect their documents thoroughly.”

Bangkok Metropolitan PoliceCommissioner Lieutenant General SantanChayanont said on June 20th that officershad learned of 1,241 migrant workers of

July 2010 Vol.8 No. 7

page 5

Regional

Human trafficking flourishing inBurma

New Delhi – Burma is among the 13countries that fail to meet US minimumstandards in fighting the crime of humantrafficking, according to the US StateDepartment in its 10th annual traffickingin persons report.

The report reviewed global efforts tostop the trade in people and sexual slaveryand listed 13 countries, including Iran,North Korea, Burma and Cuba, which werelikely to be punished with US sanctions, itsaid.

What is human trafficking?

United Nations definitionoutlined by the Palermo Protocol2000 is:

•The recruitment, transportation,transfer, harbouring or receipt ofpersons, by means of the threat or useof force or other forms of coercion, ofabduction, of fraud, of deception, of theabuse of power or of a position ofvulnerability or of the giving or receivingof payments or benefits to achieve theconsent of a person having control overanother person, for the purpose ofexploitation.

Source: Convention againstTransnational Organised Crime and itsProtocols, UN Office on Drugs and Crime

United States’ TraffickingVictims Protection Act (TVPA)defines “severe forms oftrafficking” as:

•Sex trafficking in which a commercialsex act is induced by force, fraud, orcoercion, or in which the personinduced to perform such an act has notattained 18 years of age; or,•the recruitment, harbouring,transportation, provision, or obtainingof a person for labour or services,through the use of force, fraud, orcoercion for the purpose of subjectionto involuntary servitude, peonage, debtbondage, or slavery.A victim need not be physicallytransported from one location toanother in order for the crime to fallwithin these definitions.Source: US State Department

“The government has yet to addressthe systemic political and economicproblems that cause many Burmese toseek employment through both legal andillegal means in neighboring countries,where some become victims of trafficking,”the report found.

The United States enforcementdefinitions prevented Burma’s removalfrom the list after increases in recordedcases of forced labor, prostitution and debtbondage.

“Burma is a source country for men,women, and children who are subjectedto trafficking in persons, specifically forcedlabor, and for women and children in forcedprostitution in other countries,” it said.“Burmese children are subjected to forcedlabor as hawkers and beggars in Thailand.Many men, women, and children whomigrate abroad for work in Thailand,Malaysia, China, Bangladesh, India, andSouth Korea are trafficked into conditionsof forced or bonded labor or commercialsexual exploitation.”

The report points to the Burmesejunta’s mismanagement of a country withsuch a vast wealth of natural and humanresources.

“Economic conditions within thecountry led to increased legal and illegalmigration of Burmese regionally and todestinations as far as the Middle East. Menare subjected to forced labor in the fishingand construction industries abroad,” it said.

Classification of nations,Trafficking in Persons Report

Tier 1 Full compliance with theminimum standards of the TVPA

Tier 2 Significant efforts to comply withthe TVPA

Tier 2 Watch List Do not fully complywith the TVPA butare making significant efforts to complyAND:

According to the report, despite fearsfor what happens to Burmese trafficked outof the country, internal trafficking remainsthe State Department’s most seriousconcern, and the key factor in keepingBurma in Tier 3.

“The military engages in the unlawfulconscription of child soldiers, and continuesto be the main perpetrator of forced labor

Global human trafficking in figures

Adults and children in forced labour,bonded labour and forced prostitutionaround the world: 12.3 million

Successful trafficking prosecutions lastyear: 4,166

Successful prosecutions related to forcedlabour: 335

Victims identified: 49,105

Ratio of convicted offenders to victimsidentified, as a percentage: 8.5

Ratio of victims identified to estimatedvictims, as a percentage: 0.4

Countries that have yet to convict atrafficker under laws in compliance withthe Palermo Protocols: 62

Nations without laws, policies orregulations to stop victim deportation:104

Prevalence of trafficking victims in theworld: 1.8 per 1,000 inhabitantsPrevalence in Asia and the Pacific region:3 per 1,000 inhabitantsSource: US State Department

The ILO last year saw an increase incomplaints of forced labor, according to thereport, and indicated a lack of follow-up insuch cases.

“Ninety-three cases were submitted tothe Burmese government for action, anincrease from 64 cases in 2008; 54 casesremain open and are awaiting a responsefrom the government,” it said. “Despite areport of a child labor case involving asmany as 100 children on an agriculturalplantation near Rangoon, the regime didnot report any efforts to investigate theallegation.”

The report, further quoting ILO figures,said many victims of forced labor werethemselves prosecuted if they hadcomplained about officials.

“Seventeen complainants and theirassociates in a series of forced labor casesinvolving 328 farmers in Magway Divisionwere prosecuted and jailed by localauthorities for their role in reporting forcedlabor perpetrated by local governmentofficials,” it said. “Burmese courts laterreleased 13 of the individuals, but four ofthe complainants remain in prison.”

It added that the national militarygovernment failed to act against suchabuses.

“The central government did notintervene with local authorities to stop thepolitically motivated harassment, includinglengthy interrogations, of the forced laborcomplainants,” it said. “Such unaccountableharassment and punishment discouragedadditional forced labor complaints.”

On the other hand the, Obamaadministration praised Malaysia andTaiwan for improving efforts to stop sexualand forced-labor exploitation of womenand children.

The US ambassador for humantrafficking issues, Luis CdeBaca, saidTaiwan had for example improved in itsefforts by allowing victims of trafficking towork while their cases were beinginvestigated.

Malaysia earned its spot, according tothe report, with statistics released byMalaysia’s Home Ministry showing that atleast 56 victims of trafficking from Burma,including some underage children, hadbeen rescued from slavery by Malaysianauthorities since February 2008. Thegovernment has granted 292 protectionorders to protect victims from February2008 until March this year.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary RodhamClinton, at the release of the report in June,said “the survey is not about simply givingthe task to NGOs to solve the problem; itwon’t work pointing or blaming, it iseveryone’s responsibility, all of us have tospeak out and act forcefully.”

More than 177 countries are analyzedfor the report, based on the extent of theirgovernments’ actions to combat humantrafficking, categorizing them as “Tier 1”,“Tier 2”, “Tier 2 Watch List” and “Tier 3”(see fact box). Tier 3 countries are thosethat have failed to fully comply with theminimum standards for the elimination oftrafficking as set out in Section 108 of theUS Trafficking Victims Protection Act(TVPA) and are not making significantefforts to do so.

Thirteen are listed under Tier 3, fourless than in last year’s report, while 11remain. They are Burma, Cuba, Eritrea,Iran, Kuwait, Mauritania, North Korea,Papua New Guinea, Saudi Arabia, Sudanand Zimbabwe.

inside Burma,” the report states in itssection on Burma. “The direct governmentand military use of forced or compulsorylabor remains a widespread and seriousproblem, particularly targeting members ofethnic minority groups.

“Mil itary and civi l ian officialssystematically used men, women andchildren for forced labor for thedevelopment of infrastructure and state-run agricultural and commercial ventures,as well as forced portering for the military,”the report contends.

Duean Wonsa, a project manager withthe Anti-Trafficking Coordination Unit innorthern Thailand (Trafcord), also blamedthe junta for Burma’s lack of progress.

“There are overlapping reasons behindthe high intensity of human trafficking inBurma, [but] it is mainly the failure of theBurmese dictatorship to provide protectionto its nationalities, and the suppression ofethnic minorities [that is at fault],” she said.

She added that other reasons behindhigh human-trafficking rates in Burma –such as poverty, lack of education andgeneral life skills, lack of information onsafe migration and the increase of violenceagainst women and children – “combineto make Burma a prime target forinternational criminal traffickers.”

A large proportion of those traffickedto neighboring countries by courierspromising better work were from Burmeseethnic minorities.

Duean corroborated the point:“Families are tricked by traffickers, sayingthat their daughters or sons will have arespectable job in Thailand for example.The families are offered money to makethem believe, later they were brought andsold, and are forced to work in the sextrade.”

“Burmese workers rank the highest innumbers of human-trafficking victims inThailand, and more than half of thepopulation we serve originates fromBurma,” Duean furthered. “The remainderare from Thailand, Laos and China, in thatorder.”

The U.S. also rated the Burmese juntalow in its sub-section on prosecution,revealing that the junta’s reporting toobservers rarely matches reality, wasunjust and that often those who reportedcases of forced labor were themselvesprosecuted.

“There was only one reported criminalprosecution of a member of the BurmaArmy for his role in child soldier cases.[Meanwhile], the government continued toincarcerate six individuals who reportedforced labor cases involving the regime tothe ILO or were otherwise active in workingwith the ILO on forced labor issues,” thereport said, referring to the UN’sInternational Labor Organization.

The report also said it was commonpractice for police to hamper investigationsinto people with official connections. Itfurther cited a lack of transparency,included under-reporting of abuses anddenial of access to public records or courtproceedings by independent observers.

“Police can be expected to self-limitinvestigations when well-connectedindividuals are involved in forced labor cases,”

it said. “Although the government reportedfour officials prosecuted for involvement inhuman trafficking in 2009, the governmentdid not release any details of the cases.”

a) the absolute number of victims ofsevere forms of trafficking is verysignificant or is significantlyincreasing;b) there is a failure to provideevidence of increasing efforts tocombat severe forms of traffickingfrom the previous year, includingincreased investigations, prosecutionand convictions of trafficking crimes,increased assistance to victims anddecreasing evidence of complicity insevere forms of trafficking bygovernment officials; or,c) the determination that a countryis making significant efforts to bringthemselves into compliance withminimum standards was based oncommitments by the country to takeadditional steps over the next year.

Tier 3 No efforts to comply withthe TVPASource: US State Department

July 2010 Vol.8 No. 7

page 6

Editorial/ Interview

The Mizzima Journal

EditorialJuly 2 0 1 0

Brussels – Robert Goebbels, amember of the European Parliament (EP)from Luxembourg, received Mizzima at hisoffice in Brussels in the first week of July.The Socialist member of the EP since 1999is vice-chairman of the delegation forrelations with the countries of SoutheastAsia and ASEAN. He is a member of theProgressive Alliance of Socialists andDemocrats group within the EP, the second-largest bloc in the parliament.

Since the early 1990s, the EuropeanUnion (EU) has maintained a set ofsanctions on Burma that, given the lack ofprogress on human rights and democracyin the country, has been strengthened overtime. These restrictions comprise a travelban on junta leaders, members of thejudiciary and figures associated with thestate-controlled economy, an assets freezeand a ban on the exports of regime-linkedentities working in the industries.

Do the existing EU sanctions onBurma bear any influence on theBurmese military rulers?

I am personally against any policiesbased on sanctions. History has shown thatthey never work. The imposition ofrestrictions only serves the EU to give itselfa good conscience. First of all, restrictionsrarely hit the ruling elites. Cuba, Iraq andnow Iran have evidenced how in the end,this type of embargo only disrupts ordinarypeople. Furthermore, I seriously doubt thatsanctions could ever prove conducive tobring about change in any way.

How can the EU streamline itscurrent range of sanctions if it is topromote human rights and democracyin Burma?

The Burmese regime does not look atthe approval of the West. Besides, the juntastill makes business with a number of EUcompanies [the EU economic sanctions onBurma do not apply to companies operatingin the country prior to the ban]. On top ofthis, the junta’s dealings with a number ofmighty economic allies [China, Russia andIndia for example] secure theestablishment with much-needed foreigninvestment. In its endeavor to persuadethe military regime to pave the way foropening up, the EU would be better advisedif it engages in dialogue with the Burmeserulers.

There are certain policydiscrepancies between the EP and theEuropean Commission (EC) – the EU’sexecutive body – as the latter favorsfurther dialogue with the junta. Whatdo you make of this?

That is true. In the EP there are anumber of members who monopolize thisdebate, and I am afraid that these verypeople tend to be wrong. Some membersof the EP subcommittee on human rightskeep pursuing a misguided strategy on

Burma – one that has largely failed in itsaim to enhance the junta’s respect for itscit izen’s fundamental freedoms.Consequently, I back the EC approach ofgenerating new channels of dialogue.There are some times when we make themistake to act in a paternalistic fashion,dictating to others what they should do.

Since last year, the EC has declined tofinance aid for Burmese refugees livingalong the Thai-Burmese border. Whatwere the EC’s reasons to stop such funding?

I am not informed about the details ofthe EC’s motives. I suspect that most ofthese funds go to NGOs. Despite that, thenon-profit sector plays a very constructiverole in the field. Some NGOs also financethemselves out of the resources providedby the EU. The EC may know better thanthe EP committees concerned what thesituation on the ground is. This would haveprobably prompted its decision.

Does the Burmese issue interferewith relations between the EU andASEAN?

The situation in Burma is alwayspresent in EU-ASEAN talks. Nonetheless,we should bear in mind that the tiesbetween both supranational entities areessentially of an economic nature. In sucha framework, the economic actors do notpay much attention to the human rightssituation in Burma – otherwise, therewould not be so many companiesoperating in the country.

Are you satisfied with the ASEANmethod of not meddling in members’domestic affairs?

Obviously, ASEAN could have a largerinfluence on the junta’s policy making. Yet,it should not be forgotten that variousASEAN member states have themselvespoor records on human rights, whichpartially explains why the organization isnot very vigorous in challenging the junta.Nevertheless, the ASEANIntergovernmental Commission on HumanRights [formed last year] embodies aplatform that should be better brought intoplay when dealing with the Burmeseleadership.

Recently, the EP encouraged thegovernments of China, India andRussia “to stop supplying theBurmese regime with weaponry andother strategic resources.” However,China has just sold 50 jet fighters toNaypyitaw. In the end, China, Russia,India and others are reluctant to stoptheir arms sales and energy dealswith the regime. Could the EU possiblytake any initiative to warn thesestates of Brussels’ annoyance?

I would focus my answer on China, asI do not think that the EU has at its disposalmuch leverage against Beijing. One can saythat China has not friends, only interests.In addition, we should not forget that manyEU member states run vast investments inChina with thousands of joint-venturesproducing goods in China for the EUmarket. A number of European economiesneed China to expand, and the situation inBurma is unlikely to get in its way.

If it were for you to say what theBurmese military should first do toboost the credibility of theforthcoming elections, what would beyour advice?

If the junta were really aiming to holdcredible elections, the regime should inviteforeign observers to monitor the wholeprocess. Following the polls, I am confidentthat the newly established parliament willnot be satisfied with its given powers. Atsome point, the parliament will contest itsoriginal rubber-stamp role. I am positivethat the new assembly will graduallychallenge the military.

Interview with Robert Goebbels,

Javier Delgado Rivera

member of the European Parliament

Washington’s Burma continued from page 1

weeks to seek public clarification” of Dr.Campbell’s allegation but that the StateDepartment had yet to provide one. Hedisclosed that his staff were told by DeputyAssistant Secretary Scot Marciel “that noother nation has joined the United Statesin publicly denouncing Burma” for violatingUN Resolution 1874.

In the letter, dated Tuesday, June 8th,Webb reiterated he had cancelled his visitto Burma “just hours” before he was toenter the country over the allegation bythe Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) thatThan Shwe’s regime had sought NorthKorean assistance to develop a nuclearprogram. Webb requested Clinton alsoexamine this contention.

DVB’s explosive allegations wererevealed in a documentary airedinternationally by Qatar-based Al Jazeera’sinternational English language service andshown in the U.S. on the ABC network.The documentary included interviews withsenior Burmese scientist Sai Thein Win,who provided extensive documentation tosupport his claim that he had participatedin Burma’s burgeoning missile and nuclearprograms.

Until recently a major in the Burmesearmy, Sai Thein Win was trained at homein defense engineering and later in missiletechnology at Russia’s Bauman Moscow

State Technical University in Russia. Hereturned to Burma to work in specialfactories, built to house modern Europeanmachining tools with an aim to produceprototypes for missile and nuclearactivities.

Webb also used the letter to Clintonto call for the appointment of current U.S.ambassador to Thailand Eric John as“American special representative andpolicy coordinator for Burma” inaccordance with the Tom Lantos BlockBurmese Jade (Junta’s Anti-DemocraticEfforts) Act of 2008. Webb pointed out thatthe Jade Act required the President to workwith the Senate to make such anappointment.

The letter further stated Webb’s stanceon several other key issues that relate tohis committee chairmanship, including hisopposition to the recent announcementthat the U.S. State Department is todowngrade Thailand’s efforts againsttrafficking in persons from Tier II to theTier II Watch List. In Webb’s words such adowngrade will have a negative impact onthe Kingdom as it “places the country atrisk for sanctions on U.S. assistance,primarily for democracy and human rightsprograms. Such a downgrade would occurat a time when this type of aid isdesperately needed to bolster politicalreforms in Thailand and to promotepolitical stability.”

As Nelson Mandela was introduced prior to the kick-off of the 2010 World Cupfinals, the assembled crowd in the heart of Kathmandu erupted into applause –even as Nepal continues to reel in the face of impunity and political paralysis.Fifteen years after the historical 1995 rugby World Cup hosted by post-apartheidSouth Africa, the football World Cup finals were in a sense viewed as cementingthe spectacle of sport as a unifying phenomenon.

It is a pleasant sounding hypothesis, but for it to prove accurate the necessaryreforms within society must first be enacted.

This year, viewers were told how for countries such as strife-ridden Honduras,football could serve to go some distance in healing national wounds – it patently didnot. Meanwhile, the first football match ever shown in real-time inside North Korea– presumably to ramp-up national pride – resulted in the 7-0 drubbing of the NorthKorean side by Portugal. Kim Jong-Il could not have been pleased.

Now, Burma’s football association is drawing attention to itself as the chosenhosts of the upcoming Asian Football Confederation President’s Cup, the selectionsomehow conferring further legitimacy upon the blighted country and its leadership.

The visiting list of participants for the finals, however, reads as a who’s who listof troubled countries – Kyrgyzstan’s Dordoi-Dynamo, Turkmenistan’s HTTU Ashgabatand Tajikistan’s Vakhsh Qurghonteppa are also taking part. For the Kyrgyz team,they travel to Burma as the country continues to broil in the flames of violent ethnicclashes between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks that have displaced tens of thousands. ForTurkmenistan, the 2006 death of self-styled leader for life Sapamurat Niyazov hasdone precious little to liberate the lives of the impoverished Central Asian state.

True this is a club tournament, as opposed to the national stage of such eventsas the World Cup, but international football competitions are still highly politicalevents; to this, the Burmese regime is correct in assessing a certain degree ofpolitical capital gained from being chosen as the host venue.

But alas, the celebration of international sport as a benchmark of socio-politicalmodernity is best understood as representative of a country and its constituentauthority’s immediate and relative acceptance – both internationally and domestically.

While the regime may be able to cling to minimal international plaudits gainedas a result of hosting the competition, the country’s ills remain remarkablyunaddressed, the state’s leadership as nationalistically paranoid as ever. A recentboxing contest between Burmese and Japanese pugilists had to be fixed so that aminimum number of Burmese fighters, the host country, would emerge victorious.

The fact is, until the government in Naypyitaw can guarantee a degree ofreforms directed at embracing democratic modernity and meeting the needs of thepopulace, the celebration of sport at the national level will fail to live up to theinternational recognition that can be won when citizens celebrate as equal memberswith a shared vision of the country’s future.

Football in troubled times is just that – football against a tumultuous background.And September’s AFC President’s Cup in Burma will undoubtedly provide yet onemore opportunity to gaze upon the well-documented troubles underlying the Burmese state.

Football in troubled times

July 2010 Vol.8 No. 7

page 7

Commentary

of itssuppressedp e o p l e ,caring onlyabout what theyperceive as theirown nationalinterests.

Indeed, it istrue that the regimebelieves nuclearweapons contributeto immunity, which isbeing sought by thegenerals because theyhave repeatedlycommitted crimesagainst their ownpeople. The Burmesepeople want to know if theperpetrators are immune bypossessing such missiles andweapons of mass destruction.

The Association of Southeast AsianNations (ASEAN), whose members jointlysigned the Southeast Asian Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Treaty in 1995, arenothing but proud of the nuclear motivationof one of its ten members. The junta’sleadership will not accept it if others tellthem that it is against the Bangkok Treaty.Though the junta has been going againstthe principle of upholding international lawwith respect to human rights, social justiceand multilateral trade, the nine otherASEAN countries have continued thepractice of non-interference. And not onlyASEAN. SAARC, the south Asiancounterpart to ASEAN, also wants toembrace the junta. The question is whichbloc is willing to pay more to the go-gettinggenerals.

Information gathering started fiveyears ago revealed a secret nuclear planinitiated a decade earlier. It took only acouple of months for Burmese electedrepresentatives to realize that the militarywould not yield to the results of the 1990election. When they informed theinternational community about it, there wasinsufficient interest and action. Now, thenuclear dream of the Burmese junta hasbeen apparent and known by the word foryears but likewise goes insufficiently

believed. Itis time for theworld to act, to stop the nuclear aspirationsof the junta.

When nuclear experts from Pakistanfled to Burma 10 years ago, no foreignersthought it was true. A similar scenarioplayed itself out when the unholy alliancebetween Burma and North Korea wasreported by Burmese language radiostations. And again in early 2002 therewere warning signs with the suspiciousNorth Korean ship, the Kang Nam I, dockedat Thilawa shipyard. Only America tooksome measures against the North Koreanship. But nuclear materials from NorthKorea, Russia, Germany, Singapore, andEurope are already in existence atThabeikkyin, Pyin Oo Lwin, Myaing andpossibly other as yet unknown other sites.

This credible report is merely the latestof leakages of classified information fromthe junta. In April 2006, Vice-SeniorGeneral Maung Aye paid an official visit atthe invitation of the Russian Federation.General Thura Shwe Mann additionallymade a secret visit to North Korea inNovember of 2008. The leaked information

From time to time Burma draws mediaattention with the news of military coups,people’s uprisings, news of Daw Aung SanSuu Kyi and the like. Typically, gross humanrights violations, state-sponsored forcedlabor practices and the use of child soldiersare issues not appealing enough to createoutside attention. Condemnations andpaper resolutions by world bodies do notgenerally make headlines either. However,the current nuclear news is like volcanicash spreading over the regime’sunwarranted preparations for the 2010election in Burma.

The recent 37-page Nuclear RelatedActivities in Burma report by Robert E.Kelley and Ali Fowle was enough to stirthe responsible media and Americangovernment. The pre-planned visit ofUnited States Senator Jim Webb wascancelled precisely because of this news.Nonetheless, neighboring countries, whichwould be inside the radius of the missilerange supposedly being built by Burma’sgenerals, are yet to express any dissentingopinions on the subject.

Experts call for an independentassessment of the information received bythe Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), aradio and TV broadcasting station basedin Oslo run by Burma’s pro-democracymovement. The writers of the report, fortheir part, have invited official clarificationby the International Atomic EnergyAssociation. For the people of Burma thereis no doubt that the military leaders willdo everything possible to aid their questto remain in power.

The authors of the report, experts inthe nuclear field, wrote that Burma is ruledby a junta having no real politicalphilosophy other than greed – anindictment carrying social ramifications aswell in the predominantly Buddhist country,as it directly contradicts the rightful pathas outlined in Buddhism. Fear has alwaysbeen in the generals’ mindset. They areafraid of losing power and the wealth theynow illegitimately hold, simply desiring tohand it over to trusted friends andrelatives.

Today many countries maintaininternational relations with Burma and inkbusiness deals irrespective of the situation

received by pro-democracy activistsincluded secret reports of those visits aswell as the minutes of a meeting betweenIndian President Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam andBurmese Senior General Than Shwe onthe 6th of March 2006. In January of thisyear Major Win Naing Kyaw and ForeignMinistry official U Thura Kyaw weresentenced to death for revealing statesecrets.

The new hero, Major Sai Thein Win,is in hiding because he does not want tobe the next Mordecai Vanunu, a formerIsraeli nuclear technician who revealed thedetails of Israeli nuclear weaponsprograms in 1986.

There can be no doubt, this latestreport definitively proves the nucleus ofnuclear Burma.

Harboring their non-secret nuclearambition, the generals will not and cannotshare power with parliamentarians fromAung San Suu Kyi’s party. So they keepher under detention and make her partynonexistent. The upcoming election isnothing but a safeguard to keep theirnuclear dream alive.

Opposition alliance continued from page 1

opposition gathered on June 17th, two

days prior to the official occasion, at the

Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand

to honor ‘The Lady’ and her vision for a

peaceful and democratic Burma. 

The Nobel Peace laureate remains

under house arrest after spending around

15 of the past 21 years held by the

Burmese junta in various forms of

detention. Agence France-Presse reported

that Suu Kyi spent her birthday at her

lakeside villa in Rangoon, where she lives

with two female assistants, under guard

and cut off from the world without phone

or Internet access. She remains an

undaunted icon for the country’s struggle

against oppression. The Ten Alliances also used the event

to present the results of its “People’sElections”, a worldwide campaign thatcommemorated the anniversary of thelandslide victory of Suu Kyi’s party, theNational League for Democracy, in the 1990elections. 

On May 27th of this year, Burmesecommunities in more than 20 countriesdemonstrated against the ruling militaryjunta’s proposed upcoming election in theirhome country. In a Global Day of Action,Burmese activists in exile protested againstwhat they coined a “military selection” byholding their own polls. They handed outand collected nearly 40,000 ballots – each

a simple face-off between Suu Kyi andjunta leader Senior General Than Shwe –to send to ASEAN and internationalambassadors along with a plea todenounce the junta’s elections.

Thwin Linn Aung, coordinator of theAll Burma Federation of Student Unionsforeign affairs team who was also anorganizer of the Global Day of Action, said,“The main hope is for the internationalcommunity to mount pressure on themilitary regime to meet our causes…oneis to release all political prisoners, thesecond is to stop the attacks in ethnic areasand the third is to have dialogue thatincludes constitutional review.” 

“If these causes are not met, we wantthe international community to denouncethe 2010 election and not recognize itsresults,” Thwin Linn Aung furthered.

Canadian ambassador Ron Hoffmanwas presented with ballot postcards fromhis country at the event, whilerepresentatives from the American andCzech embassies were also present toaccept ballots from their respectivecountries. 

“There are hundreds of thousands ofCanadians who very much identify withAung San Suu Kyi and the great ideals she’spursuing,” Hoffman said. “Today wereaffirm our commitment to carry thiscollective struggle forward. Canada has andwill continue to impose the toughestsanctions in the world on Burma’s militaryregime.”

George Kent, political council for theUS embassy in Bangkok, compared thejunta’s treatment of Suu Kyi to thatexperienced under the apartheid regimeby Nelson Mandela in South Africa, in thatshe is the key to resolving the country’schallenges.

“It’s simply tragic for the people ofBurma and the country that Burma’sgenerals have rebuffed her efforts and herunshakable commitment to work togetherto find a peaceful path towards a moreprosperous future for the country,” Kentsaid. “Like Nelson Mandela 20 years agowhen he walked out of prison and a nowprosperous South Africa [is] successfullyhosting the World Cup, Daw Suu could bethe greatest possible partner for theregime to manage a successful transitionto a better future without recriminationsor revenge.”

Kraisak Choonhavan, a Thai memberof parliament and president of the ASEANInter-Parliamentary Myanmar (Burma)Caucus, began his speech stating hisfrustrations with the stalemate in Thai-Burmese relations. The grouping oflawmakers from Malaysia, Indonesia,Singapore, Thailand, Philippines andCambodia have continuously called for theunconditional release of Suu Kyi andfreedom for the more than 2,100 politicalprisoners in Burma.

“We’re getting used to this almost-permanency of oppression in Burma,” hesaid. “This is very, very sad because there’s

absolutely no chance for us to combine areal effort of development between the twocountries without harming the people ofBurma. Every single project that we haveseems to hurt the people in Burma morethan it would help.”

Choonhavan lamented that dialoguewith the ruling regime had not worked andneither had sanctions, which he said hadfailed because of greedy businessmen inpursuit of Burma’s natural resources. 

“Who am I to say that?” he added.“Thailand is the biggest income-giver toBurma in the world. We buy gas fromBurma and to a certain extent we aresupporting the SPDC (Burmese regime). Ihave to speak the truth.”

“We support millions of Burmese thatlive in Thailand too,” he added. “But notenough.”

Statistics support his claim. Accordingto a Thai-Burma Border Consortium surveyin April, the 10 camps the alliance of NGOsruns in Thailand house about 140,000refugees. The US State Department saysthe Thai government has issued temporarywork permits to more than one millionBurmese who live outside the refugeecamps, but migrant worker rights groupsestimate that a further million Burmese areundocumented workers in Thailand.

The mood at the event was mostlycheerful, especially as everyone gatheredto blow out candles on the birthday cakefor Suu Kyi – a common wish being thatshe would celebrate her 66th in freedom.

July 2010 Vol.8 No. 7

page 8

World

Chiang Mai – U.S. Senator JohnKerry’s assistant Robin Lerner met seniormembers of the National League forDemocracy on June 22nd to discuss theparty’s stance on upcoming nationalelections, NLD spokesman Nyan Win toldMizzima.

Lerner, a counsel to the SenateForeign Relations Committee who arrivedin Burma on June 19th, met NLD Vice-Chairman Tin Oo and Central ExecutiveCommittee members Nyan Win, NyuntWai, Than Tun, Hla Pe, Han Tha Myint, MayWin Myint and Win Myint. According toNyan Win, the one-hour meeting took placeat the Rangoon residence of U.S. Chargéd’Affaires Larry Dinger, the most senior U.S.diplomat in Burma.

Tin Oo explained the party’s currentsituation and future plans and outlined theparty’s decision not to re-register with thejunta’s Union Election Commission in timefor the junta’s March 29th party-registration deadline.

“In keeping with the junta’s one-sidedelectoral laws, if the party wanted tocontest the election, it needed to expel ourmembers who are in prison,” Nyan Wintold Mizzima. “This would include theparty’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Our Vice-Chairman Tin Oo explained to Ms. Lernerthat we can’t expel the members who arein prison, a point she understood.”

According to Nyan Win, Lerner askedthe NLD how it expected to survive afterthe forthcoming election, with Win Tinresponding that as things were still up inthe air the group could not provide ananswer.

He told Mizzima the NLD leadershipalso told Lerner that other opposition

political parties, which have officiallyregistered with the junta’s Union ElectionCommission, were being prevented fromcampaigning freely and therefore anelection held this year would be far fromfair.

The leaders also told Lernerunequivocally that they could not acceptthe junta’s extremely undemocratic linethat declared members of the military wereable to “participate in the national politicalleadership role of the State”. Thiscontentious clause appears in the firstchapter of the constitution ratified in adisputed May 2008 referendum widelyviewed as rigged.

John Kerry, Chairman of the U.S.Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee,was chosen as the Democratic presidentialcandidate in 2004 but lost to incumbentGeorge W. Bush.

Last August, former Kerry Chief-of-Staff turned pro-engagement lobbyistFrances Zwenig told The Washington Postthat a few months earlier in May, theBurmese regime’s ambassador to the U.S.offered Kerry, who had last visited Burmain 1999, a chance to return. This trip neveroccurred and Webb went instead inAugust.

Zwenig is a controversial figure inWashington, scorned by many Burma pro-democracy activists because she usedpolitical contacts established when sheworked for Kerry to work as a pro-engagement advocate during the 1990’s.Zwenig successfully sought large amountsof corporate money to pay for an October1997 high-level pro-business fact-findingtrip that included three former seniorgovernment officials including two formerambassadors and neoconservative RichardArmitage, former Assistant Secretary ofDefense during the 1980’s.

According to the Post, in July 1997Zwenig’s pro-engagement organizationreceived US$50,000 from Unocal to educateWashington on Burma engagement issues.Unocal, a partner in the Yadana NaturalGas Pipeline, was revealed in a lawsuitlaunched by Burmese villagers against thefirm to have paid the Burmese military tohelp with the Yadana project. Earth RightsInternational, the legal NGO representingthe villagers, documented that battalionsof Burmese soldiers hired by Unocal andits partners violently forced the relocationof thousands and used unpaid forced laborto assist in the pipeline’s construction.(Additional reporting by Thomas Maung

Shwe)

Aide to U.S. Senator John Kerrymeets NLD leaders

The formation of a United Nationscommission of inquiry into alleged crimesagainst humanity committed in Burmaduring the course of the country’s decadeslong civil war and political standoff hasgained a further advocate.

During a June 8th, 2010, debate of theUN Human Rights Council in Geneva,Slovakia became the fourth government tosupport such an inquiry, joining the ranksof Australia, the Czech Republic and UnitedKingdom.

Rosha Fedor, the Slovakrepresentative, in justifying Bratislava’sdecision, told the congress, “[T]he firstnational elections in Myanmar [Burma]could have served as a window to nationalreconciliation, respect for human rights,and democracy, but on the contrary, thenew electoral law fell far belowinternational standards, seriouslyundermined the rights of expression,assembly and association, anddiscriminated on the basis of politicalopinions.”

Either the Human Rights Council orSecurity Council may initiate a commissionof inquiry, though it is generally assumedChina and Russia would automaticallyoppose any such undertaking at theSecurity Council level.

On the basis of historical precedence,it can be assumed that a commission ofinquiry into matters in Burma would includean investigation into violations ofinternational and human rights law, thedetermination of whether or not acts ofgenocide have occurred, the identificationof perpetrators of crimes against humanity,and a means of ensuring that thoseresponsible for violations are held

Commission of inquiry inches closerto realization

accountable.A commission of inquiry would not,

however, have prosecutorial authority,which would instead likely lie with theInternational Criminal Court following UNrecommendation.

Human Rights Watch, advocating forthe creation of such a commission, believesa UN commission of inquiry “wouldpotentially have a positive effect in bringingvarious parties to the negotiations, andpotentially spur multilateral peace talks inBurma.”

Supporters of the motion furthercontend Burma’s generals fearaccountability, and that a commission ofinquiry would awaken those in authorityof the immediate need for action in lightof facing criminal prosecution.

However, there is also concern that acommission of inquiry would only serve topush an already highly xenophobic rulingclique into a further state of isolationism,making dialogue and an eventual solutionto the crisis that much more difficult toinitiate.

In 2004, a commission of inquiry wasestablished to investigate the possibility ofcrimes against humanity in the Sudaneseregion of Darfur. While the commission didnot support allegations of genocide, it didfind evidence of systemic violations ofhuman rights and international law.

Meanwhile, Eileen ChamberlainDonahoe of the United States, during thesame session of the Human Rights Council,gave notice that Washington was alsoconsidering adding its name to thosecountries in favor of a commission ofinquiry into crimes against humanitycommitted in Burma.

Chiang Mai – A scheduled high-levelEuropean Union visit to Burma was recentlycancelled after the Burma’s ruling junta

would be tabled again. She was alsowithout the agenda for the proposedmeeting and had no knowledge of whatwas to be discussed with Suu Kyi.

“I think it’s quite clear why it would behigh on their wish list to meet with ‘TheLady’ herself,” she said. “But unfortunatelythis request was not transferred [sic] bythe government.”

The junta’s Ministry of Foreign Affairscould not be reached for comment.

In response to the junta’s decision tobar EU access to Suu Kyi, the NationalCouncil of the Union of Burma (NCUB), acoalition of Burmese pro-democracygroups and political dissidents, released astatement condemning the military regime.

The council’s joint general secretaryNo.1, Myint Thein of the National Leaguefor Democracy (Liberated Area), calledupon the EU to reaffirm internationaldemands and denounce the junta’supcoming election and its anticipatedresults.

“They still don’t have any plans torelease Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and theother political prisoners,” he said of themilitary regime. “They have refusedproposals from all world leaders to releaseher and have dialogue.”

Myint Thein said the election would beneither free nor fair and that the military

EU cancels visit after request to meetSuu Kyi denied

Robin Lerner The UN Human Rights Council meeting at the Palais des Nations, Geneva, Switzerland

had repeatedly refused to take any stepstowards changing the political situation inBurma. For those reasons he called on theinternational community, including the EU,to take a stronger stance against the junta.Nonetheless, the EU is not yet talking aboutrejecting any election results.

“That would be premature,”Seppalainen said, adding however that theEU was standing its ground. “We’ve beencalling for free and fair elections, this hasbeen the EU line for a while and this hasnot changed.” 

Nobel Peace laureate Suu Kyi remainsunder house arrest after spending around15 of the past 21 years held by the Burmesejunta in various forms of detention. HerNational League for Democracy Party wonthe last elections in 1990 but the juntarefused to allow the party to form agovernment and jai led many NLDmembers. 

The party on May 6th was declaredillegal and disbanded by the rulingmilitary junta after the NLD chose notto re-register for upcoming electionsunder electoral laws it deemed unfairand unjust as they aim to excludeanyone serving a prison sentence,automatically negating the potentialcandidacy of the party’s leader andother imprisoned members.  

German ambassador to Burma, JuliusGeorg Luy

denied a request from the EU PresidencyCouncil to meet pro-democracy leaderAung San Suu Kyi.

German ambassador to Burma, JuliusGeorg Luy, representing the EU Presidencycurrently held by Spain, had on June 15th

asked State Peace and DevelopmentCouncil (SPDC) Foreign Affairs MinisterNyan Win in Naypyitaw for a meeting withSuu Kyi, the world’s most well-knownpolitical prisoner. It was to be part of ahigh-level EU visit, but the junta declinedthe request months ahead of its as yetunscheduled elections.

The SPDC is the Burmese ruling junta’sself-styled title.

“I cannot comment whether themeeting’s been cancelled because of [the]SPDC’s refusal to allow access to Aung SanSuu Kyi or for other reasons,” EU regionaldelegation spokeswoman SuviSeppalainen said.

She added that the high-level meetingwould not take place during the Spanishpresidency of the EU, which ended in June,but was unable to speculate whether it

July 2010 Vol.8 No. 7

page 9

Inside Burma

Chiang Mai – More than 900 peoplein Rangoon Division were infected withdengue fever and six have died in the firstfour months of this year, according to state-run Chinese news agency Xinhua and awell-placed source at the Burmese MedicalAssociation in Rangoon.

Six out of a total 910 people infectedwith dengue died between January 1st andMay 5th and more than 80 people wereinfected with the potentially deadly diseasein the last week of June alone, Xinhuareported on June 30th, citing data fromthe Rangoon City Development Committee,without giving further details.

The medical association sourceconfirmed the figures, saying, “We havelearned that six out of a total of more than900 dengue fever patients died of thisdisease this year from hospital data.”

Though the exact data on affectedareas is still yet unknown, townshipsusually hit in Rangoon Division areDawbon, Thaketa, South Dagon, NorthDagon, Shwepyithar, Hlaingtharyar, Dala,Twante, Thanlyin, Pazundaung,Thingangyun, Phawkan and Insein.

Child dengue fever patients are beingtreated at Rangoon Children’s Hospital inAhlone Township, a doctor on duty at thehospital told Mizzima.

“Some child patients are receivingtreatment for dengue fever but staff arenot authorized to disclose how manypatients are involved,” the doctorelaborated. “You may ask our medicalsuperintendent in person but we are alsonot authorized to give out contactnumbers.”

A high incidence of dengue fever isgenerally found in Rangoon, Pegu, Sagaingand Irrawaddy Divisions and Mon State,especially between June and September,

during the monsoon.Dengue and dengue hemorrhagic fever

are acute infectious diseases transmittedby day-feeding mosquitoes in the tropics.They can be life threatening and arecharacterized by skin rashes, severeheadaches and pain in the joints and back.It is also known as break-bone fever.

Cases in children are generally foundin the 4 to 15 age group. Dengue spreadsin urban areas aided by water leftuncovered, allowing mosquitoes carryingthe virus to breed in places such as drains,garbage dumps, ponds and opencontainers, a family doctor based inRangoon said on condition of anonymity.

“Mosquitoes are the carriers of thisdeadly disease, spreading it from oneperson to another. When contracted, thefirst signs are similar to simple influenzaand then shock signs and symptoms willbe seen three to five days later,” heexplained.

Dengue patients are generally admittedat Rangoon General Hospital, AhloneChildren’s Hospital, Thingangyun Children’sHospital and North Okklapa Children’sHospital.

The best way to cope with the diseaseis via prevention, such as keeping a clean,dry household and preventing mosquitobites, the doctor suggested.

The breeding grounds of mosquitoesshould be sprayed with insecticide to stopmosquito larvae breeding, he added.

Township health department officialsare conducting awareness campaigns onthe disease but are only teaching peoplehow to use the drugs and adjust theirlifestyles for prevention of dengue, sourcessaid. The spraying of insecticides is notincluded.

According to official statistics, 3,129people were infected with dengue last yearand 37 died.

Dengue fever hits Rangoon Division

Kyaw Kha

A family in the Irrawaddy delta, where aid workers are concerned about mosquitoscarrying dengue fever that breed in pools of standing water.

Chiang Mai – Burma’s military junta

has strongly denied recent allegations

made by Burmese media in exile that

Senior General Than Shwe’s regime has

sought North Korean assistance to develop

nuclear weapons, calling the accusations

“baseless”, its Ministry of Foreign Affairs

said in a statement issued June 11th.

In the statement, obtained by Mizzima,

Burma’s reclusive regime argues

allegations of cooperation with North Korea

are manufactured by “defectors and exile

media who want to disrupt Burma’s

national interest.”

The regime’s denial came less than

24 hours after a senior U.S. government

official, Scot Marciel, Deputy Assistant

Secretary of State for Southeast Asia, told

a Senate committee in Washington that if

Burma’s regime obtained nuclear weapons

it would “tremendously destabilize” the

region.

The regime’s claim of innocence was

reiterated at 8 p.m. on June 11th in a state-

run Myanmar TV (MRTV) news bulletin,

which declared that Burma had “no

intention of becoming a state with nuclear

weapons.”

The Burmese regime’s denial also

came one week after Norway-based

Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) released

a hard-hitting investigative documentary

featuring Burmese army defector Major

Sai Thein Win, who provided extensive

evidence to support his claim that North

Korea and Burma were cooperating to

develop nuclear weapons. Major Sai Thein

Win, who provided photos of himself

working in what he described as special

military factories, also said he was sent

by his superiors to study missile technology

at Russia’s prestigious Bauman Moscow

State Technical University.

The documentary, shown

internationally on Al Jazzera’s English-

language news service and on domestic

American television, has proven

embarrassing for Burma’s regime and

those in the west who seek to normalize

relations with what is commonly referred

to as one of the world’s most repressive

regime’s.

“These reports were baseless

accusations that are polit ically

motivated…to undermine the political

process as Myanmar [Burma] is striving

for democracy by holding general elections

this year,” the statement said.

Citing the North Korea allegations

made by DVB, U.S. Senator Jim Webb, a

prominent advocate for economic and

political engagement with Burma’s military

rulers, opted at the last minute to postpone

a planned visit to Burma. Webb’s trip was

set to coincide with the worldwide release

of DVB’s exposé and a high-level visit to

Naypyitaw by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao.

Junta denies North Korean nuclearlink

Chiang Mai – Veteran politician AungMyint, 87, died of a stroke at RangoonHospital on the morning of June 14th afterlong suffering from various symptomsincluding high blood pressure, sourcessaid.

Aung Myint was born in PhyarponeTownship and served as a Chairman ofthe Communist Party of that district. Healso worked as a chairman of theWorkers’ Association under thedictatorship of Ne Win.

Symbolizing a fleeting political linkthrough the country’s tumultuous 20thcentury fight for independence andsubsequent internal divide, he was a

Veteran politician Aung Myint, 87,dies

Phanida member of the Veteran Politicians’ Group,comprising those active since beforeBurma attained independence from theBritish.

“He fought for Burma’s democracyuntil his death. I’m very sad because he ismy comrade and he died when our groupis weak,” colleague Ohn Maung said.

The 23-member veteran’s group wasformed in 1995 out of former members ofthe long since disbanded Socialist Party,Communist Party, People’s Comrade Party,All-Burma Federation of Student Unions,as well as workers’ and farmers’associations of Ne Win’s Burma SocialistProgramme Party. Just 11 memberssurvive.

Chiang Mai – A military helicopter

crash on June 16th during a training

exercise in Shan State killed four air force

personnel including three officers, air force

sources said.

The MI-2 helicopter hit a mountain in

bad weather at around noon near Pindaya

Township, Shan State, killing Major Kyaw

Kyaw Win, two captains and a corporal. A

badly injured lieutenant was taken to

Aungpan Hospital, a source in the Burmese

Air Force told Mizzima.

Kyaw Kyaw Win, from Namsan Air

Base, was holding a training exercise with

another aircraft out of the air force

helicopter school at Meikhtila when he

encountered bad weather, a policeman

from a nearby township said.

“The helicopter, which crashed near

Pindaya, flew from Meikhtila to Namsan on

June 15th. On the next day it was flying

with another helicopter when it crashed,”

another air force source commented.

Burma’s military junta bought 22 MI-2

“Hoplite” helicopters from Poland between

1990 and 1992, according to the Stockholm

International Peace Research Institute’s

arms-transfers database.

The Burmese Air Force has

experienced several such mishaps in the

last few years. In January, an F-7M jet

fighter – a Chinese-built version of the

Russian Mig-21 – crashed at Rangoon

International Airport in Mingaladon

Township, killing the pilot.

Kyaw Kha

Helicopter crash kills four air forcepersonnel

A Mi-17 helicopter belonging to the Burmese Air Force.

July 2010 Vol.8 No. 7

page 10

25-inch Burmese boy reaches forworld record

Chiang Mai – Burmese traditionaldance troupes have had to postpone showsuntil the World Cup ends, putting about2,000 performers temporarily out of work,according to dancers.

The 2010 World Cup in South Africa,which will finish on July 11th, has takenattention away from other forms ofentertainment, forcing traditional theatrecompanies to shut down to avoid financiallosses. The closures have also negatively

affected backstage personnel and anyoneelse linked to such shows.

Forty-eight theatre troupes areregistered with the Burmese TheatricalAssociation and an average of about 40people work for each troupe.

Pantara U Mya Kyi, a member of aSagaing theatre company, commented,“The World Cup has caused us a lot ofproblems. It’s really hit our income.”

In another example, the Moe Win andHanza Moe Win theatre groups fromMandalay had planned to perform onstagein Plake Township, Mandalay, in the middleof June, but the team had to put off theirshows until the end of the World Cupbecause very few people had boughttickets, a group manager related.

“We have postponed our shows, butafter the World Cup we will entertainaudiences again,” a troupe manager fromthe group told Mizzima, adding that threedays of shows cancelled would cost thegroup about 4.2 mil l ion kyats(approximately US $4,200).

Meanwhile, the state-run New Light ofMyanmar newspaper reported FédérationInternationale de Football Association(FIFA) President Sepp Blatter would visitBurma in November at the invitation of ZawZaw, Chairman of the Burmese FootballFederation. He invited Blatter whileattending the 60th FIFA Congress in SouthAfrica.

Kyaw Kha

World Cup kicks traditional dancers off stage

Rangoon – At a mere 25 inches (63.5centimeters) tall, Zaw Bala Aung has loftydreams of breaking a Guinness WorldRecord, but at 10 years old he will notofficially qualify as the world’s shortest manfor another eight years.

The boy, also known as Balagyi, wasborn in a Burmese vil lage calledHtanpoutkone in Kyaukpadaung Townshipon March 10th, 2000, the second child offour and the only son for parents Win Lwinand Khin Hla. However, he is the only oneof his siblings with primordial dwarfism andweighs a mere 10 pounds (4.5 kilograms),with a head circumference of 13 inches (33centimeters).

But despite Guinness specifications, inmid-June he and his family decided it wastime to throw his name in the hat for thetitle of the world’s shortest man, holding apress conference at Karaweik Hall inBurma’s former capital of Rangoon.

“He was medically examined and hismedical record is fine,” said a reporternamed Khin who was representing thefamily. “His bone growth has stopped.”

Khin said they recently sent Zaw Bala

Aung’s measurements and medical recordsto Guinness for consideration. Butunfortunately, he will not pass the age test.

“To qualify for the Guinness WorldRecords title of world’s shortest man,claimants must be 18 years or older(assuming the first year of life is consideredyear 0, and not year 1),” the measurementbody’s website says. “This is irrespectiveof sexual maturity or a society’s legal,ritualistic or religious coming of age.”

Supporting the entire family by sellingshwe yin aye, a traditional Burmesedessert, his father said he was happy thatthey could do this for his son.

Guinness World Records has yet todeclare a successor to He Pingping, whoheld the title until March this year when hedied at the age of 21. He measured 2 foot,five inches or 74.61 centimeters.

However, Zaw Bala Aung hascompetition. Nepalese teenager KhagendraThapa Magar, who is 17 years and eightmonths old and reaches only 20 inches,claims he should be officially verified asthe world’s shortest man. The official body,at least for another four months, hasrejected the claim.

Zaw Bala Aung, who stands a mere 25 inches, attending a press conference atKaraweik Hall in Rangoon on June 22. Photo: Mizzima

Nyein Thu

Burmese, Laotian, Cambodian, Iranian andIndian nationalities entering the Kingdomof Thailand illegally. Most were found tobe working in restaurants and factories.

Santan said that after foreigners werealleged to have stolen 12 million baht froma pick-up truck in front of a bank, policewere bolstering investigations into thehistories of migrant workers who might bedrawn into criminal activities.

“In addition, there is the need toinvestigate the histories of these personsto find out who the mastermindsresponsible are and who they hired toillegally sneak these workers into theKingdom of Thailand,” he said, accordingto a report on the state-run Thai NewsAgency website. “These histories and thisinformation can then be sent to policeheadquarters, including information on thedifferent means illegal workers use tosneak into the country to work.”

A shop owner in Mahachai, an areaknown for its seafood market, added thatpolice had increased the frequency ofchecks on the migrant community there,while some local mafia had also forcedworkers to pay them.

According to the Human Rights forDevelopment Foundation (HRDF), whosestaff work closely with migrants, around830 were arrested between June 17th and19th across all nine of Bangkok’s policeregions. In Mahachai, a total of 150 werealso arrested on the 17th, and on the 19tharound 150 were detained in Sa KaewProvince on the Cambodian border.

The crackdown followed Thai PrimeMinister Abhisit Vejjajiva’s order on June2nd for the immediate launch of a “SpecialCentre to Suppress, Arrest and ProsecuteMigrant Workers who are WorkingUnderground”. Its goal, he said, would beto ensure the effectiveness of the January19th, 2010, Thai cabinet resolution on“nationality verification” for migrantworkers from neighboring countries.

The Thai government expects theprocess to end in 2012, after whichmigrants who work in Thailand must havea passport and work permit.

An official in Mahachai said theprocess was continuing and that moremigrants were applying for verification butthat the Burmese government’s demandto recheck the information of each workerwas causing delays.

Surapong Kongchantuek, DeputyChairman of the Lawyers’ Council ofThailand’s subcommittee on the rights ofstateless persons, migrant workers andmigrants, said police action would fail tosolve the problem as the real trouble wasthat human traffickers remained at large.

“Officials have been employing thispolicy (of arresting workers) for about 20years and the problem is still happening,”he noted.

Adisorn Kerdmongkol, manager of aproject for the well-being of migrantworkers, ethnic minorities, refugees andstateless persons at the Thai HealthPromotion Foundation, added that theupcoming general election in Burma mayrekindle conflict over migrants andrefugees in Thailand amid a continuingdivide between Burma’s military junta andthose ethnic minorities that have rejectedjoining the army’s Border Guard Force.

Activists estimate that there arebetween two million and three millionmigrant workers in Thailand. Of them,around 90,000 have verified theirnationality and carry a passport, whileanother 800,000 have lodged applicationsto do so.

On June 21st, the HRDF released astatement urging the Thai government tocease in the suppression of migrantworkers, which it argues constitutes aserious threat to human rights. It saidBangkok should instead open a new roundof migrant registrations to provide anopportunity for the estimated 1 to 1.4million migrants to register legally.

The group also warned the presentaction would lead to a labor shortage inthe country and that workers would facemore abuses from human traffickers, asthey could be deceived into finding newjobs, which could open a window forofficials to extract bribes from thevulnerable.

Migrant workers continued from page 4

Burmese tycoon continued from page 1

equipment.”Since then, Venezuelan leader Hugo

Chavez has announced that his governmentwould spend US$82 million on 18 of theplanes.

The Burmese Air Force had alreadybought 12 K-8 Karakorum. Sources closeto the air force told Mizzima that Burma’srulers want more ground attack fightersthan strategic fighters such as the Russian-made MiG-29 or its Chinese-built version,the F-5. Such ground attack fighters, it isspeculated, could be used to intimidateethnic groups under ceasefire agreementsthat have refused to bring their troopsunder the supervision of the junta’s BorderGuard Force.

Last year Jane’s Defence Industryreported that K-8’s Chinese manufacturer,Hongdu Aviation, had released a crypticstatement in September saying it had justsecured a contract with an “unnamed Asiancountry” to export 60 K-8 planes. Accordingto Jane’s, the statement disclosed that adeal had been struck between Hongdu, themystery Asian nation and China’s NationalAero-Technology Import and ExportCorporation on September 6th at Hongdu’soffices in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province.

Jane’s speculated that the unnamedAsian partner could be Iran or Indonesia,both seeking to upgrade their air forces.While it is possible that the unnamedpartner was in fact the Burmese regime,Mizzima was unable to determine if this

was the case.According to Jane’s the statement

Hongdu issued in September disclosed thatthe deal would transpire in three stages.The first stage would involve the export of12 aircraft. The second stage wouldinvolve the customer acquiring K-8 relatedtechnologies, equipment and tools, whilethe third would involve the customerproducing the final 48 aircraft under licenselocally.

Mizzima has also learned that Tay Zawas looking to buy an ATR-72 twin-turboprop short-haul regional airliner fromChinese Southern Airlines for his ownairline, Air Bagan. He had previouslybought two A-310 Airbuses from China butwas unable to use the aircraft because theywere grounded in Rangoon for safetyreasons.

China is one of the few places whereTay Za can now conduct businesstransactions with relative ease since hewas put on the American, European,Canadian, Australian and Swiss financialsanctions blacklists. The US government,which commonly refers to Tay Za as “anarms dealer and financial henchman,” wasthe first Western nation to target thetycoon, citing his close financial ties toThan Shwe and the reclusive dictator’schildren.

Yet, despite the sanctions against himTay Za is estimated to have amassed afortune of more than US$10 billon dollars.

Inside Burma

July 2010 Vol.8 No. 7

page 11

Inside Burma

Dhaka – Landslides and flooding afterheavy downpours in Buthidaung andMaungdaw Townships in Arakan State havekilled at least 46 people and injured at leastfour in the western region near the borderwith Bangladesh that features many rivers,flood plains and mountains, Myanmar TVreported on June 16th.

The broadcast came as the UN reportedit was assembling aid convoys in Rangoonand Sittwe and discussing other aidmeasures with Burmese officials.

The news report, telecast by the state-run television station, said, “Landslides inMaungdaw killed 28 and 18 in ButhidaungTownship. And also four were injured inthese landslides.”

The BBC reported landslides in nearbyBangladesh had also killed 53 people.

Torrential rain started on June 14th andhad averaged 340 millimeters a day, theNational Meteorology and HydrologyDepartment said in its weather report.

Of the seven wards in ButhidaungTownship, only a few houses in Ward No.5 were spared the results of the deluge.All remaining houses in that ward and theother six wards were flooded and morethan 200 victims took shelter in State HighSchool No. 1, a teacher from Buthidaungsaid.

Flooding from rain that had started onJune 13th in Maungdaw had receded byabout 9 p.m. on June 16th, but raincontinued overnight and only stopped thefollowing day in Bhutidaung, wherefloodwaters had yet to recede, voiced localresidents.

The United Nations Office for theCoordination of Humanitarian Affairs(OCHA) said access to the area was difficultand that the UN had asked the Burmesegovernment to provide logistical supportfor assessment of damage and risks topeople in the area.

Adding to the area’s isolation and theinherent difficulty in providing relief, it saidseveral bridges had collapsed betweenRangoon and the western port of Sittwe,adding that access between Buthidaungand Maungdaw and between Maungdawand Alel Than Kyaw was cut.

The UN Resident and HumanitarianCoordinator in Burma met the DeputyMinister for Home Affairs on June 16th inRangoon along with a delegation of UN staffand NGOs to offer assistance, the UN reportsaid.

“He [the UN coordinator] requested thataccess is facilitated for rapid assessmentsand that the local authorities facilitatelogistics, including the use of helicopters ifnecessary,” it said.

The Deputy Minister welcomed theoffer and was to lead a fact-finding missionto Buthidaung. A liaison officer had beenappointed for the Maungdaw area, the UNreport added.

UNHCR, the lead relief agency innorthern Arakan State, called anemergency meeting of partners inRangoon and said organizations in the fieldwere assessing needs there. Four teamson the ground included staff from the UNrefugee body, the World Food Program, theUNDP, aid group Malteser, French aid groupAction Against Hunger (ACF) and MédicinsSans Frontières Holland (MSF), the UN aidoffice said.

It reported that about 1,200 people hadbeen made homeless in Maungdaw, butgave no figures for Buthidaung.

“Local authorities, the UNHCR, MSFHolland and ACF have supported therelocation of affected people using boats,”it said.

The teams listed basic needs thatneeded support, including clean water, andsaid ACF had started distributing drinkingwater to the homeless in Maungdaw.Health concerns were raised including thepossible outbreak of waterborne diseasessuch as diarrhea, malaria and cholera, butmost health centers and clinics were open.

A convoy of essential items left on June18th from Rangoon and “emergencysupplies will also be mobilized from thenearby township of Sittwe,” the UN reportsaid. “As roads have been damaged, theuse of boats and commercial flights is[being] explored for the deployment of thefirst emergency supplies.”

In other areas of the state, Reutersreported that flooding had also hit MyaukOo and Kyauktaw Townships, 550kilometers from Rangoon, washing awaythree bridges, although no casualties hadbeen reported there, quoting an official inthe region.

Because of the flooding, riverboattransport between Sittwe and Buthidaunghas been suspended.

Other landslides have also hit theregion hard this year. District bulldozersearly on the evening of June 14th clearedanother massive landslide that had for 17hours blocked the country’s only road toBangladesh and an important trade link,the Buthidaung-Maungdaw Road.

Torrential rain led to the collapse abouthalfway along the road on the approach tothe Tawgaunggyi tunnel, temporarilyblocking the 16-mile (26 kilometer)highway. The 660-feet (200-meter) tunnel,built by the British, passes under a sectionof the Mayu Mountains.

Nyein Chan and Suu Mya

Landslides, floods kill 46 in ArakanState

Chiang Mai – Karen rebel forcesrecently launched three separateambushes against junta troops – withunconfirmed reports of 14 Burmese Armysoldiers killed, and 27 wounded – afterintercepting radio communications andlearning of Burmese military plans for anoffensive against them, a militia spokesmansaid.

Karen National Liberation Army’s(KNLA) sixth brigade spokesman CaptainHte Nay said the KNLA launched theguerrilla strikes after listening in onmessages between junta troops in theirarea and Military Operation Command(MOC) No. 8 in Tavoy Township,Tenasserim State.

“We realised their plans for a militaryoffensive by listening to interceptedcommunication with our wireless sets, andheard instructions [from officers] for them[troops] to launch an attack against us,”Captain Hte Nay told Mizzima.

“We made pre-emptive strikes tocontain their operations”, he said.

According to the interceptedmessages, the junta would regroup itsforces stationed in KyarinnseikkyiTownship, Karen State, and attack the sixth

KNLA ambushes kill 14 junta troops

A KNLA soldier stands guard as displacedvillagers cross a military road in Karen

State.

brigade, the captain said.With this intelligence in hand, KNLA

troops closely monitored the movementsof junta troops stationed along theperiphery of the areas under their controland launched guerrilla attacks against juntatroops.

In the latest attack on June 14th, aKNLA three-man team from the 16thBattalion’s

B Company ambushed about 60personnel from the first column of thejunta’s Light Infantry Battalion 284,seriously wounding three junta soldiers.

On June 10th, Major Pho Tun and aKNLA private lobbed grenades into a truckcarrying arms and ammunition, killing 13soldiers and wounding 21 during anambush in Thanphyuzayat Township. Thejunta troops from Light Infantry Battalions401 and 409 under the command of No. 2Strategic Command, MOC 8, were torelieve troops from battalions under No. 3Strategic Command stationed inKyarinnseikkyi.

The KNLA made another assault in theafternoon of the same day nearMyaingtharyar village, killing a junta soldierand wounding another.

The three clashes this month resultedin a total of 14 junta soldiers dead and 27wounded, according to KNLA sources.However, no independent confirmation wasavailable.

The Karen rebels suffered nocasualties, which was attributable to theirsuperior local knowledge, contendedCaptain Saw Hte Nay.

“In these guerrilla attacks we sent justtwo or three soldiers who employed hit-and-run tactics. We have better knowledge[than government troops] of the terrain inareas under our control,” he said.

New Delhi – Aspiring trade unionistshad their request to form a nationalindustrial and farm workers union flatlyrejected in the third week of June by policecarrying an official response from juntaleader Senior General Than Shwe,according to the workers’ representatives.

Rangoon Division Western DistrictPolice Colonel Aung Daing met sevenworkers representatives at his station andtold them forming a trade union would beunlawful and that police would take actionif they went ahead.

Twenty-two trade union activistsincluding eminent labor rights lawyer PhoPhyu had told the junta leader in a letterthat they intended to form a “Trade Unionfor the Protection of National IndustrialWorkers’ and Farmers’ Interests” andasked for permission to do so.

“No right at all to form such union. It’sunlawful, they told us,” Pho Phyu said.

According to Pho Phyu, theyresponded to authorities that to protect therights of workers and farmers they wouldgo ahead anyway with their plan at therisk of being arrested and imprisoned.

“The working people and Burmesecitizens have suffered bitterly for manyyears, even many decades. Now it’s timefor a trade union for them,” he furthered.

But this was not the first rejection orfierce reaction from authorities Pho Phyuhas experienced. He also representedfarmers whose lands were seized by thearmy, before he himself was imprisonedlast March. He was released from prison

just three months ago.If they go ahead with their trade union

itwill be considered an unlawful associationand a violation of the law. Moreover,publicizing this organization will be inviolation of the Printers and Publishers Actand will be subjected to stern action, AungDaing explained to the workersrepresentatives.

Labor Department Director-GeneralThet Naing Oo also met trade union leadersand advised them to wait until the newgovernment takes office after the generalelection.

Though it was a private meeting, about20 intelligence personnel watched theunionists and took photographs and videorecordings.

Tin Oo, Vice-Chairman of the mainopposition party, the National League forDemocracy, said the government shouldnot make such a prohibition.

Additionally, Federation of TradeUnions of Burma joint general-secretary Dr.Zaw Win Aung commented, “The regimeshould enact laws permitting freedom toform trade unions and they shouldeliminate all hurdles and obstacles to thatend.”

Successive military regimes since 1962have banned unions and deprived Burmeseof the right to freedom of association, butrebellion against these abuses has recentlyincreased.

Workers at private industries havestaged at least 10 strikes since December,demanding better wages and workenvironments.

Establishing trade unions unlawful,police say

Myint Maung

July 2010 Vol.8 No. 7

page 12

Mizzima Monthly Journal

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Rationing felt at private petrol stations

A motorist refuels at a private petrol station in Rangoon on June 17 following the imposition of fuelrationing. Photo: Mizzima.

Chiang Mai – Burma’s ruling

military junta has issued petrol-

station permits to the sons of

Senior General Than Shwe and

General Thura Shwe Mann, in

addition to close business

associates, according to an

Energy Ministry report.

Myanmar Naing Group,

owned by Than Shwe’s son Tun

Naing Shwe, has obtained

permission to run a total of six

petrol stations in Rangoon and

Mandalay Divisions, and in Shan

State, revealed a Ministry of

Energy report received by

Mizzima.

Tun Naing Shwe’s company

also operates a jade-mining

business in Pharkant in Kachin

State, in the country’s north. He

additionally holds the controlling

share of J-Donut outlet in Rangoon,

a retail pastry shop styled on

Dunkin’ Donuts and frequented by

the children of Burma’s ruling elite.

Since Burma’s oil sector was

privatized on May 15th, Ayar

Shwewa/Shwe Yamone and

Zaygabar, linked to two sons of

military chief of staff Thura Shwe

Mann – Aung Thet Mann and Toe

Naing Mann – have been given

permission to open private petrol

stations. The former company was

licensed to run 12 stations, the

Sons of top generals handed fuel-station permitslatter two.

Other concessions to the

likely lucrative petrol-station

business went to the junta’s social

organization, the Union Solidarity

and Development Association, and

Myanmar Economic Holdings – a

cash cow of the junta. The two

entities received 15 and 14

stations, respectively.

Additional companies,

maintaining close relations with

the ruling junta to have been

awarded petrol station licenses

are Tay Za’s Htoo Trading,

Shwetaung Development, Shwe

Than Lwin, Nilar Trading, Asia

World and Kanbawza.

Kyaw Kha

Chiang Mai – Burma’s rulingmilitary junta has imposedrationing of fuel sold at thecountry’s new private petrolstations, two days after itprivatized its retail oil sector,according to a sales manager atone of the stations on June 16th.

The Ministry of Energyordered the stations to limit salesto no more than 12 gallons (45liters) of fuel per car per day fromJune 12th onwards.

A sales manager from aDagon International private petrolstation in Kyaukmyaung,Rangoon, said the BurmaPetroleum Products Enterprise(MPPE), a ministerialdepartment, was failing to meetprivate petrol station fueldemand.

The junta had said it plannedto allow private companies todistribute and import fuel, butprivate petrol stations must stilldepend on supplies from theEnergy Ministry during their 60-day trial period. Distribution ofnatural gas is still controlled bythe government and stations canonly distribute petrol and dieselto end-users.

The ministry sells petrol toprivate stations for 2,350 kyats(about US$2.35) per gallon andall private stations are required toresell to end-users at the fixedprice of 2,500 kyats (aboutUS$2.5) per gallon and 2,900kyats (about US$2.9) per gallonfor diesel. The limitation, however,is only to last two months, afterwhich the price wil l bederegulated, allowing privatestations to sell fuel at variableprices.

“They [stations] record alltransactions in their databases. Ifa customer tries to buy [fuel] twotimes within a day, they will notsell,” a private petrol stationcustomer in Rangoon said.

According to the CIA’s WorldFactbook, as of January 2008Burma consumes 43,140 barrelsof oil per day and produces 21,900barrels per day. It estimates thatBurma has more than 50 millionbarrels of petrol stored foremergency use.

Some 261 of the 271 petrolstations across the country havebeen privatized, with most in thehands of close business associatesof the junta.

On January 23rd, a fuel

businessmen’s association wasformed with 138 members. ItsChairman is Tay Za and Vice-Chairman Aung Thet Mann, a sonof General Thura Shwe Mann, thethird-highest-ranking member ofthe State Peace and DevelopmentCouncil, the ruling junta’s officialtitle.

Since the dictatorship of NeWin commenced 48 years ago,the government has controlledfuel import and distribution andpeople can only buy fuel withinlimited quotas.

Burma watchers have alsosaid that the junta may beimposing further controls on thefuel market to avoid the kind ofinflation seen as the main causeof widespread protests in 2007.

In August of that year, theruling junta failed to announceits decision to remove fuelsubsidies, which caused the priceof diesel and petrol to risesuddenly by as much as 66percent and the price ofcompressed natural gas forbuses to increase fivefold in lessthan a week, leaving manypeople out of pocket or stranded,as they refused to payconsequent increased bus fares.

Chiang Mai – Publishers inBurma have expressed concernover the formation of newcensorship teams under thejunta’s tough media watchdog,fearing even further difficultiesfor their publications under aregime already infamous for itsstranglehold on the press.

The media is concernedover potential publishing delaysafter system changes at thePress Scrutiny and RegistrationDivision (censor board) under theMinistry of Information.Previously, five teams comprisingthree members each censoredpublications, but a single 12-member team was establishedin the end of June, promptingpublishers to worry about theteam’s ability to finish their workas quickly.

“We are worrying abouttimely completion of theircensorship work as they [teammembers] have to scrutinizemore than 20 journals,” aRangoon-based weekly journaleditor said. “We are concernedover delays in our publicationsand possibly more complicationsin the process.”

The current board directoris Major Tint Swe, with LieutenantColonel Myo Myint Maung joininghim earlier this year.

However, Tint Swe will soonbe promoted to deputy directorgeneral of a department underthe Information Ministry, and MyoMyint Maung will assume thedirectorship.

The latter has already beenworking in news censorship,tightening rules on politicalreports. Journals used to be ableto submit supplementary news orbreaking news a day later whenthe office was under the controlof Tint Swe. Myo Myint Maunghas changed this system,however, and ordered thatjournals submit work during

office hours, the editor ofanother journal said.

“According to this newsystem, we have to completeour draft copies on time andearly. Previously we wereexempted from their rules andhad an understanding withthem,” he told Mizzima. “Now wecannot do this. We must presentour draft copies before 3 p.m.while their censorship workshopis in progress. We cannot submitbreaking news we get in theevening.”

The censor board consistsof one director, two additionaldirectors, two assistant directorsand four officers.

Media outlets can publishonly after the censorship teamhas read their draft copies,forwarded them to higherauthorities and obtained finalapproval from the director. Draftcopies must be submitted threedays in advance. The boardtakes two days to read them andprinting takes another two days,which means it takes a week topublish journals.

“They [the board] havetightened the rules on politicalnews, political education articlesand opinions,” a journal editorremarked. “They do not giveapproval on political partymovements and their electioncampaigns. We must submitpolitical news in our first draftcopy. They do not acceptsubmitting it in supplementarycopies.”

Journals must submit draftcopies in two parts. Previously,they first had to submit newscopies and then three more pageson A4 paper as a second draft.However, the office has reducedthe number of A4 papers to two,a journal editor said. Moreover,additional political news cannot beincluded in these two pages, MyoMyint Maung reportedly told ajournal editor on June 29th.

Publishers fear delays withnew censor board

Phanida