By Lally Weymouth, NAYPYIDAW, Burma
Since Thein Sein took office as Burma’s president nine months ago, the country’s famous opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, has been freed from house arrest, political prisoners have been released and the United States has normalized bilateral relations with Burma, also known as Myanmar. This week, Sein granted The Post’s Lally Weymouth his first interview with a foreign journalist. Excerpts:
President Sein: I would like to welcome you to our capital and I know The Washington Post is a renowned newspaper in America. This is the first time to meet with the foreign media. This is our foreign minister, our minister of information and our minister of labor.
Q: The West has been watching the changes you have brought about in your country — the freeing of political prisoners, enabling Aung San Suu Kyi’s party to run in the upcoming April election and the cease-fires you’ve declared with some of the ethnic groups. You have made extraordinary changes in a short time. What motivated you to want to change your country and to start this reform process?
A: With regard to the reform process we are undertaking in our country, there is a lot of encouragement from our people. The reform measures are being undertaken based on the wishes of the people [who want] to see our country have peace and stability as well as economic development. To have internal peace and stability and economic development, it is important to have good relations with the political parties that we have in our country. That is why we have had engagement with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. In my meeting with Daw Aung Sang Suu Kyi, we were able to reach an understanding between the two of us.
People would like to see peace and stability and that is why we have had engagement with the ethnic armed groups. That’s why our reform process is based on the wishes and the will of the people.
The people could not had this reform process without your leading it. You decided to release the political prisoners, you met Aung San Suu Kyi. . . . What is next? Will you continue with this pace of reforms?
With regards to our future perspectives, we’d like to see transparency. I hope that we can and will be able to maintain friendly relations with countries of the world.
Can you share with us what is next in the reform process? What your vision is?
I believe that you need to know our aims, and they are to have peace and stability and economic development in our country. For the future, we need to continue to take necessary actions to achieve these goals.
You have normalized relations with the U.S., you have released political prisoners and achieved cease-fires with some of the ethnic groups. Do you have a definite next step?
The parliament also made amendments to the election commission law so that Aung San Suu Kyi can contest the upcoming by election [April 1]. Now, The National League for Democracy — her party, the NLD — has registered as a political party, and Aung San Suu Kyi will be contesting the upcoming by-election. If the people vote for her, she will be elected and become a member of parliament. I am sure that the parliament will warmly welcome her. This is our plan.
Another thing I would like to shed some light on is the ethnic armed groups we have in our country. First of all, we need to build confidence between the two sides. We have reached agreements on certain things. This requires the two sides to sign an agreement and return to the legal fold without carrying arms.
You made a cease-fire with the Karen group.
There are a total of 11 armed groups in our country. We have engagement with all the armed groups. We also have agreements with some of the ethnic armed groups. But this is not over yet. We are continuing negotiations.
What did you mean when you said they should return to the legal fold? Is that after reaching an agreement with the government?
This is based on the agreement between the two sides. Soon we will try to achieve an eternal peace in the country. However, this will require time.
If she does well in the upcoming election, would you think of giving Aung San Suu Kyi a cabinet post?
It depends on the elections and if she was voted for by the people or not. Once she has been elected, she will become a member of parliament. All of the cabinet ministers that we have now are appointed based on the agreement given by the parliament.
Would you like to see her become a cabinet minister?
If one has been appointed or agreed on by the parliament, we will have to accept that she becomes a cabinet member.
What is your vision for U.S.-Myanmar relations in the future? What are your hopes for that relationship and how would you like to see it evolve?
With regard to U.S.-Myanmar relations, I would like to make three points. First, we already have engagement with the United States. Secretary of State [Hillary] Clinton visited our country and just today we were visited by Senator Mitch McConnell. The second point is that we are not represented by [diplomats at the] ambassadorial level. We hope the representation can be upgraded. The third point I would like to make is that the U.S. and the E.U. have had economic sanctions on our country. It has been [for] nearly 20 years now. I would like to see them ease . . . and eventually get rid of the sanctions. . . .
Secretary Clinton announced last week that relations would be normalized and that the U.S. and Myanmar will exchange ambassadors.
Yes, I have heard that news also. Until today it has not been announced that there has been an appointment of an ambassador.
There are three requirements that Western countries would like to see us do. First is the release of political prisoners. Second is to hold the [parliamentary] election. Thirdly, to have Aung San Suu Kyi and others participate in our political process. I believe we have accomplished these steps already. What is needed from the Western countries is for them to do their part. In taking actions with regard to the three points I have mentioned, we have done it not because others were putting pressures on our country. We did it because we felt it was necessary to do for our country.
It was not [Your reforms were not motivated by] because of the pressure from the sanctions? Didn’t sanctions work?
Sanctions were aimed at harming our government but, actually, they harmed the interest of our people. Nor did they affect the previous government, which actually laid down the procedures so they could hand over a democratic system for our country.
You are speaking about the seven-step program outlined in 2004?
The previous government laid down the seven-step program so they could implement a democratic system in our country. They have taken the necessary measures step by step.
They laid out the program so they could implement democracy?
Yes, it’s true.
People are wondering, why are you reforming now. Your answer is that this was planned a long time ago and it has been moving along in stages?
When a system needs to be changed, it cannot be done overnight. Some countries that have tried to change overnight have deteriorated. That is why we laid down the seven-step road map and have taken step-by-step measures. You can see we are a democratically elected government.
But 25 percent of the government is reserved for the military, and most of the members of the government, including yourself, are former members of the military. Democracy to us means a civilian government that has power over the military.
The military is no longer involved in the executive body. Even if you look at our parliament, one-fourth is reserved for the military. We cannot leave the military behind because we require the military’s participation in our country’s development.
The U.S. perspective would be that you have to have a strong military but the civilians have to have the power. Our president is more powerful than our chief of staff of the armed forces. That to us is democracy. So how far can you take this reform process?
I hope that you can study our constitution. [Under it] the president has to appoint the commander in chief of the armed forces in our country, too.
The U.S. is also concerned about your relationship with North Korea. Senator [Richard] Lugar recently stated that your country might be developing a nuclear program with the help of the DPRK. Could you comment on this? Are you willing to sever military ties with North Korea?
We have diplomatic relations with the DPRK [but] we don’t have any relations with regard to a nuclear program or military cooperation. These are only allegations. In the international arena, our country is one that stands for the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons. We have always abided by the resolutions of the United Nations and these are only allegations. We don’t have any nuclear or weapons cooperation with the DPRK. The DPRK is not in a situation to provide assistance to our country, and we don’t have the financial means to implement a nuclear program.
Are you willing to let IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] inspectors into your country?
We are in the process of signing the additional protocol of the IAEA. This requires a study, which has to be submitted to our parliament for approval.
Is there anything you would like to say to American readers?
My message is that we are on the right track to democracy. Because we are on the right track, we can only move forward, and we don’t have any intention to draw back. Our government is only about nine months old. In terms of democratic experiences and practices, we still have very little experience and practice. I don’t think that we can compare with the United States — a country that has been practicing democracy for over 100 years. For democracy to thrive in our country there are two main requirements. First is to have domestic peace and stability. Second is that we need economic development and we are taking necessary measures for our economy to develop so our people will have a better livelihood. . . . About 3 million of our people are working in other countries. We have about a 26 percent poverty rate. That is because for over 20 years sanctions were placed on our country. Sanctions hurt the interest of our people. For that reason, there were no job opportunities in our country. If you would like to see democracy thrive in our country, you should take the necessary actions to encourage this by easing the sanctions that were placed on our country.
If you want to build up your economy and develop it, would you be willing to privatize some industries and let foreign investors come in?
We welcome foreign investors and we have made necessary amendments to our law as it relates to foreign investment. But foreign investors will only come once sanctions have been eased up on our country.
But investors will ask for rule of law and for courts.
I don’t think there are any difficulties for foreigners to make investments in our country. The only difficulty they [would have] is sanctions.
Are you willing to allow a free media in this country, to abolish the 1962 media law, allow daily papers to be published and also allow for private ownership of the media?
With regards to freedom of the media, you can see that it is not like it was before. We have a daily journal published in our country and [the media] can express freely in the paper. However, we still require democratic practices. The media needs to take responsibility and proper actions. Media freedom will be based on the accountability they have.
Credit here
SUBMISSION TO THE COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD
Issues to be raised concerning the situation of stateless Rohingya children in
Myanmar (Burma)
The Arakan Project, January 2012
QUOTES FROM ROHINGYA CHILDREN
Being hungry is very painful; I cannot explain this. When I am hungry I feel like
crying.
-- Anwar, 9 years old,(Interview #1)
*******
I am a Muslim and my country is Burma; so I am a Burmese Muslim. I don’t feel that I am a Rohingya. I have never heard the word Rohingya in Burma. I only heard about Rohingya when I visit Bangladesh. I don’t understand the difference between a Rohingya and a Burmese Muslim. We look the same and we speak the same language. But my identity is that I am a Burmese.
-- Enayet Hussein, 11 years old (Interview #3)
*******
If children are not in their family list they cannot stay in the village. Like my brother. My parents could not include my younger brother’s name in their family list. That is why they had to leave the village. Some parents still live in the village without registering their children but they have to hide them. Or they have to register them with other parents. Like me. I am registered as the son of my grandmother.
-- Anwar, 9 years old (Interview #1)
*******
I have no future; I am afraid to think about the future. I only want to feed my brother and sisters. I want to live together with them; I cannot think of anything else. Every day I want to see a smile on their faces.
-- Rafique, 12 years old (Interview #4)
*******
Despite all this [forced labour], I continue my studies and I attend school as much as possible because I want to become a teacher.
-- Karim Ali, 11 years old (Interview #5)
Issues to be raised concerning the situation of stateless Rohingya children in
Myanmar (Burma)
The Arakan Project, January 2012
Submitted by
Chris Lewa
Coordinator/Researcher
The Arakan Project
Bangkok, Thailand
Email: chris.lewa@gmail.com
____________________________________________________________
QUOTES FROM ROHINGYA CHILDREN
Being hungry is very painful; I cannot explain this. When I am hungry I feel like
crying.
-- Anwar, 9 years old,(Interview #1)
*******
I am a Muslim and my country is Burma; so I am a Burmese Muslim. I don’t feel that I am a Rohingya. I have never heard the word Rohingya in Burma. I only heard about Rohingya when I visit Bangladesh. I don’t understand the difference between a Rohingya and a Burmese Muslim. We look the same and we speak the same language. But my identity is that I am a Burmese.
-- Enayet Hussein, 11 years old (Interview #3)
*******
If children are not in their family list they cannot stay in the village. Like my brother. My parents could not include my younger brother’s name in their family list. That is why they had to leave the village. Some parents still live in the village without registering their children but they have to hide them. Or they have to register them with other parents. Like me. I am registered as the son of my grandmother.
-- Anwar, 9 years old (Interview #1)
*******
I have no future; I am afraid to think about the future. I only want to feed my brother and sisters. I want to live together with them; I cannot think of anything else. Every day I want to see a smile on their faces.
-- Rafique, 12 years old (Interview #4)
*******
Despite all this [forced labour], I continue my studies and I attend school as much as possible because I want to become a teacher.
-- Karim Ali, 11 years old (Interview #5)
READ THE FULL REPORT HERE
One minor student killed, another one serious wounded in Buthidaung
Thursday, 19 January 2012
Buthidaung, Arakan State: One minor Rohingya student, aged 9-year was killed, another one aged 8 -year was become unconscious state by school guard (Rakhine community) on January 10, at about 8:00 pm, while on the way to home after finishing their annual school farewell party of Myoma Zedidaung middle school, said a close relative of the victim.
The dead body of Ma Asma after autopsy
“The students are identified as Ma Asma alias Khin Ma Cho (9), daughter of Maulana Yunus, and Ma Hawthiza (7), daughter of Hafez Mohammed Hussain, hailed from Zabber Para (village) of Buthidaung, nearby Railway Station. They are learning at class II of Zedidaung middle school.”
The young two little girls joined the annual school farewell party at 2:00pm on January 10 and finishing at 5:00pm, but, the school guard kept the two students after finishing the school event till dark and try to snatch the ear rings of Hawtiza while the two students were trying to go back to their home as the area become dark, according to victim.
The two students screamed for help but the guard twisted the neck of Asma which made her to died and throttled Hawtiza with his bare hands. He kept the two students inside the bushes at the bottom of hill which is near the school.
Family with Asma dead body
As both girls did not come back home till 9:00 pm, their parents accompanied by other relatives went to the school to look for their daughters. But on the way, they heard a howl from Haetiza, so they rushed to the spot and found that the 9-year-old girl was already dead and the 7-year-old was lying on the road with unconscious state near a hillside at the last part of the Rakhine village. There were many wounds on the bodies, said another relative of the victim.
“The dead girl had already been buried after taking permission from the authority concerned, and the other one has been taking medical treatment at the Buthidaung general hospital. Hawtiza was released from hospital on January 12.”
After released of Hawtiza, the authority arrested the school guard and kept in the police station for intergradation. The authority didn’t give any decision and didn’t process the school guard to the court for trail.
- Issues to be raised concerning the situation of Rohingya children in Myanmar (Burma) By Chris Lewa , Read the full Report HERE
Press Release
The below-named Rohingya organisations strongly disapprove the statement, dated 14 January 2012, of the Burmese Home Minister Lt. General Ko Ko where he said, “the 13 persons arrested form Arakan border last year, for having connection with Taliban and taking explosive training, will be further detained.”
The arrested persons are innocent Muslim Rohingya villagers. They have had neither links with any terrorist groups or Taliban nor had they taken any explosive training. They are peace-loving people held in high esteem and honour in the society.
Following a rumour that two persons from Bangladesh entered and held meetings with villagers in the border area of Kammongseik in Maungdaw Township in March 2010, Nasaka forces arrested about 80 Rohingya villagers and inhumanly tortured them into admitting links to insurgents.
During general elections held on 7 November 2010, there were clashes between two rival groups of SPDC backed United Solidarity Development Party (USDP) and Rohingya political party of National Democratic Party for Development (NDPD). Most villagers supported the NDPD candidates for which the local authorities, Nasaka collaborators and USDP supporters were very angry. All the arrestees supported the NDPD and so it was done for revenge.
The Nasaka director Lt. Col. Aung Gyi in a public meeting held in the madrassa of Maungnama village on 21 March 2011 said, “the rumour of ‘Taliban link’ is a false report. It is a creation out of the rivalry between the supporters of USDP and NDPD. After investigation, all innocent people arrested on suspicion will be released soon on the recommendations of the village authorities and religious leaders.” Despite this politically motivated cases were framed against them under Sections 17(1) and 17(2) of Unlawful Association Act under the instruction of the authorities. They were tried in Maungdaw district court. Quoting a lawyer of Maungdaw the Irrawaddy reported on 8 April 2011, “Although the trial is being presided over by the local court, the Nasaka is taking a leading role in the case.” So justice could not be done to the defendants due to executive interference.
The Narinjara, an online electronic media of the Rakhine community based in Bangladesh, is largely blameable to intricate and provoke the matter by affixing to its report a highly controversial and unrelated picture of masked Taliban fighters of Afghanistan, with intent to confuse them with Rohingyas, in order to mislead the minds of the people and to make it more sensitive, with racial hatred. Here its editor had violated the media ethic and the principles of freedom of speeches which need the judgement of right and wrong.
It was a false tale with false alarm. The allegations against them are largely unsubstantiated. The head of the Thailand based Arakan Project Chris Lewa told DVB that “there was no evidence to link the group to Mujahideen group”.
We, therefore, urge upon the government of U Thein Sein to conduct an independent and impartial inquiry in to the case of so-called ‘Taliban link’ in the interest of the rule of law, peace, security and justice. We also request the President to release them on humanitarian grounds.
Organisations:
- National Democratic Party for Human Rights (in exile) Contact: + 33629258793
- Arakan Rohingya National Organisation (ARNO) + 880-1558486910
- Burmese Rohingya Association in Japan (BRAJ) +8180-30835327
- Burmese Rohingya Community in Australia (BRCA) +61- 433231202
- Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK) +44+7888714866
- Rohingya Community in Norway (RCN) +47 92428989
Photo: David Swanson/IRIN
More than 700,000 Rohinya live in MyannmarBANGKOK, 19 January 2012 (IRIN) - An estimated 40,000 Rohingya children are believed to be unregistered in Myanmar, according to a new report.
"Despite recent reform efforts in Myanmar, the government has reaffirmed its deeply discriminatory policies against the Rohingya, and the children bear the brunt of this," Chris Lewa, director of The Arakan Project and author of the report, told IRIN before a session of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in Geneva on 19 January.
These include the requirement of government authorization for marriage and a "two-child policy". These restrictions have made children "evidence" of unregistered marriages, an act punishable with up to 10 years in prison, while third and fourth children who are unregistered are essentially "blacklisted" for life - unable to travel, attend school or marry.
Under Myanmar's 1982 citizenship law, Rohingya children - both registered and unregistered - are stateless and hence, face limited access to food and healthcare, leaving them susceptible to preventable diseases and malnutrition. Many are prevented from attending school and used for forced labour, contributing to a Rohingya illiteracy rate of 80 percent. More than 60 percent of children aged between five and 17 have never enrolled in school, the report said.
Source here
Looking at my beloved country I recollect Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev, the last Komissar of the Soviet Union who tried his level best to save the Communist system through long-necessary reforms, as what the Burmese regime is doing now in releasing hundreds of political prisoners.
It also catches two birds with a stone in placating the maximum impression on European and American diplomats and "human rights" organizations to lift their punitive sanctions which they so crave in order to legalize their personal wealth.. Not that I am predicting that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi will be the Boris Yektsin of Burma as she has famously put it: "It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it, and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to It." but because the system of the dictatorial regime is rotting beyond repair and is crumbling. The Nargis Constitution following the Nargis Cyclone of May 2008. exposed not only reveal the dictator's inability to cope with a natural disaster but its inability to deal with those offering help, from both home and abroad that clearly proves how much the corruption has been that have eaten the foundation of military dictatorship resulting more than 100,000 unnecessary deaths, and the suffering of millions of survivors and lost of billions of dollars.
Cease fires with the ethnic nationalities must be followed up by stopping the ethnic cleansing policies because in modern Burma is that the ethnic nationalities have been residing in their specific area long before the Myanmar race came into Burma.[1] The Generals using their pocket army the Tatmadaw is endeavoring these “undesirable" population due to religious or ethnic discrimination, political, strategic or ideological considerations, or a combination of these to satisfy their grip on powers will soon come to an abrupt end. This forcible deportation of a population - is defined as a crime against humanity under the statutes of the International Criminal Court which "constitute crimes against humanity and can be assimilated to specific war crimes.[2] Furthermore such acts could also fall within the meaning of the Genocide Convention." The UN General Assembly condemned "ethnic cleansing" and racial hatred in a 1992 resolution.
In 1985 Anti Slavery International (ASI) was the first Non Burmese organization to raise the issue of concern at the United Nations. In March 1987 in response to growing reports of an alarming catalogue of human rights abuses by the BSPP (Burmese Socialist Programme Party), ASI sponsored a visit to Europe of a delegation from the Karen National Union. This was the first time since Burma gain independence in Jan 1948 the ethnic nationality delegation from one of “Asia most war torn countries” had entered such an international forum where its delegation speak to the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva.
The ethnic cleansing of the Burmese regime has become a worldwide international concern and experiences of other multi ethnic countries, such as Afghanistan, Yugoslavia, Burundi, and Rwanda. It shows how desperate these conflicts can become if left unresolved. It could easily become an all out civil war. Human rights abuses in ethnic nationality areas are the single most important cause of conflict-induced internal displacement in Burma and the scale of atrocities committed by the Burmese army is unparalleled within Asia. Surges of attacks by the Burmese army since autumn 2005 have compelled thousands to flee, especially in the Karen state where 11,000 people have been reported displaced during the months of March and April 2006 alone.
While an increasing number of people in the country face a deteriorating humanitarian situation, Burma’s internally displaced like the Kachins are particularly vulnerable and face acute humanitarian problems in health, nutrition and education. The Thailand Burma Border Consortium (TBBC) has carried out the most reliable existing survey of internal displacement in eastern Burma. According to this study, which covers 37 townships in the Tenasserim and eastern Pegu divisions and the Mon, Karen, Karenni and Southern Shan States, the total number of people who have been forced or obliged to flee their homes over the past decade and have not been able to return, resettle or reintegrate into society is estimated to be at least to be half a million There are no similar surveys from other parts of the country, but other studies conducted by human rights groups have estimated that 650,000 are internally displaced in the border areas and at least one million countrywide.[3] Between 700,000 and one million people are also believed to have fled Burma to Thailand, India, Bangladesh, Malaysia and other countries to escape human rights violations.[4] The large majority of the internally displaced, 340,000 people, are in temporary settlements in ceasefire areas controlled by ethnic minority groups, while at least 92,000 civilians remain in hiding and another 108,000 are in relocation sites after being forcibly evicted from their homes by the army. [5] Army attacks to increase control over areas in eastern Karen state, close to the Thai border, have displaced at least 11,000 people and over 15,000 people have fled to refugee camps in Thailand.[6]
Human rights violations are the single most important reason for displacement than fighting between the Burmese and the resistance armies. In conflict areas, the army has for decades implemented a so-called “Four Cuts Policy” which aims to consolidate control in ethnic nationalities areas by eliminating the access of armed opposition groups to new recruits, information, supplies and financial support. In implementing this strategy, the Burmese army is accused of widespread human rights abuses such as forced relocation, expropriation of land and livestock, extortion, forced labour, threats and intimidations, sexual abuse and other forms of violence.[7]
As the Burmese Tatmadaw substantially expanded its control over ethnic nationalities areas during the late 1990s, more than 2,800 villages have been destroyed and about one million people forcibly relocated to government-controlled areas.[8] In Shan state, approximately two thirds of the villages situated in the hills were relocated to lowland areas from 1996 onwards, and villages are still being destroyed.[9] People forcibly relocated by the Tatmadaw are commonly given about one week’s notice to leave their village and move to poorly equipped relocation sites, after which government troops loot any remaining belongings and destroy buildings and food crops to discourage return.
A development program, launched in 1989 to promote infrastructure in the border areas, have primarily served to consolidate military control over the ethnic nationalities population. Road building and natural resources extraction has led to easier access for the military and an increased threat of human rights abuses against the local population. A large hydro-electric project which will lead to the building of four dams along the Salween river in Karen and Shan states, has already led to forced evictions of 60 villages along the river and threatens to displace thousands of people when implementation starts in 2007. [10]
In Western Burma, particularly in Arakan, the Muslim Rohingya and other ethnic groups have been displaced as a result of brutal discrimination policies, including the construction of "new villages" for trans-migrants from central and northern Burma. Many of those displaced have fled to Bangladesh, where conditions of asylum are very harsh, and where they face the prospect of forced repatriation.[11] The Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Burma has repeatedly expressed concern about the situation. The Na Sa Ka (e p u), a border task force believed to be under the direct command of the regime is said to be the main perpetrator of abuses against the Rohingya population. Although UNHCR is present on the ground after a mass repatriation in 1994-1995 of Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh, abuses go on unabated.[12]
In urban areas, whole neighborhoods, mainly in poor areas, have been forced to move due to “security reasons” or to make way for infrastructure projects, including roads, bridges and “urban development programs”. Hundreds of thousands of residents of Rangoon and other towns and cities have been moved to “satellite towns” that have been established in recent years.[13] A sudden move of key government ministries from Rangoon to Naypyidaw reportedly also led to the forced relocation of surrounding villages and forced labor. [14]
Anti-personnel mines are a major risk in Burma, affecting nine out of 14 states. The concentration of landmines is especially dense along the border with Thailand and Bangladesh. Most of the land mines were laid by the Tatmadaw and they lay mines close to areas of civilian activity to prevent relocated villagers from returning to their native villages. There is no systematic collection of information about mine casualties, but there is evidence that Burma is among the countries with the highest number of casualties each year. The mine threat has been identified as one of the main impediments to any future return of IDPs and refugees.[15]
While the general humanitarian situation in the country has deteriorated over the past years, the situation is particularly critical for internally displaced in eastern Burma. The TBBC documented the extreme vulnerability of the displaced populations, among other in terms of mortality and malnutrition rates which are significantly higher than for the rest of the population. Tens of thousands are in urgent need of basic medical assistance, food aid, shelter and education, but no assistance is reaching them and surely this is but one way of ethnic cleansing.
The large majority of people needing assistance in Burma are cut off from international relief. The Burmese government generally refuses to permit any external involvement in its border areas and does not allow international organizations[16] access to war-affected populations.
After a period of expanded humanitarian space to some areas in eastern Burma, access has again been curtailed, that further restrict assistance by international organizations.[17] The tight surveillance imposed by the regime has led the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to terminate grants and Médecins Sans Frontières – France to cease its activities inside Burma. [18] Even the ICRC, which has a long-standing presence in Burma, has recently been restricted in carrying out its work, including prison visits. [19] Cooperation with the government has been complicated further by the sudden relocation of key ministries to Pyinmana in southern Mandalay division.[20]In ceasefire areas, relocation sites and in areas of mixed administration, the main method of minimizing threats is to comply with extortion and follow orders. [21]
The impending collapse of the Burmese military dictatorship system are political and economic because of the result of the Burmese military culture and totalitarian system The poor Burmese consumers turned to imports and black market to satisfy their needs because all the needs were swallowed up by military and there were no quality goods to balance imports except in extractive economy. These economic factors were linked to political and psychological factors. "the gloomy background of the worsening market situation ... has a depressing effect on people." Their gloom deepened as a result of policy failures such as the war against the ethnic nationalities and democracy movement
. Another factor was the lack of honest information, the secrecy and propaganda that is central to the culture of dictatorship. As contradictions mounted as the people of Burma became more and more cynical about the propaganda of government-controlled media. It was common to hear an average Burmese say that you could find truth anywhere except in government news This was exacerbated by the free press of the dissidents, the BBC, VOA and Radio Free Asia
Secrecy and distortion of information have disastrous economic as well as political effects. Secrecy and restricted movement, the hallmarks of militarism and bureaucracy, pervaded the Burmese society as all levels of the system, from institutes to ministries, were isolated from each other, both by barriers to communication and by an attitude that one should mind one's own business. Economic indicators were routinely suppressed or falsified to the point that when the final economic collapse was imminent there were no published figures to indicate the points of weakness.
All of these factors accumulated on top of a profound alienation of the Burmese people that had grown up over the years as the country remained in the grips of the culture of war. Information was controlled in the form of propaganda and dissidents were sent to jail. People did not feel free to discuss this, resulting that most people did not participate in governance. In the Burmese military dictatorships all citizens were deprived of the basic rights and freedoms of organization, speech, thought, press, movement, residence, conscience and religion; full trade union rights for all workers including the right to strike, and one person one vote in free and democratic elections were in non existence. There is no free flow of honest information. which is against the principles of a culture of peace and development?
The Generals are desperately gasping and no Western country should be in a hurry to reward the vehemently hated Burmese Generals. I would agreed with David Steinberg’s comment “We foreigners should remember how marginal we are in helping the downfall of the Burmese military dictatorship, the real heroes are the people of Burma f all ethnicities” [22]
[1] The Mon has been in Burma much earlier than the Burman/Myanmar
[2] Established pursuant to Security Council Resolution 780
[3] see Human Rights Watch, June 2005
[4] UNNS, 28 October 2005
[5] Thai Burma Border Council , October 2005, pp. 2, 24
[6] Reuters News, 26 April 2006
[7] Amnesty International, Sept. 2005 and UNGA, 12 August 2005, par. 65
[8] Thai Burma Border Consortium, October 2005, p.22
[9] SRDC, 2006, p.3; S.H.A.N., 7 March 2006 SRDC, 2006, p.3; S.H.A.N., 7 March 2006
[10] KDRG, 2006, p.2; TBBC, October 2005, p.20; HRW, June 2005, p. 42
[11] Forum Asia, June 2003; FIDH, 9 March 2004; AI, 19 May 2004
[12] Amnesty International , 29-9- 2005; IPS, 6-12- 2005; Kaladan News, 16-3- 2006
[13] USDOS, 8 March 2006; KWN, September-October 2003
[14] UN Human Right Commission , 7 Feb. 2006, para. 36
[15] Human Rights Watch, June 2005, p.13
[16] Human Rights Watch, June 2005, p. 60
[17] Mizzima News, 13 February 2006
[18] COE-DMHA, 20 December 2005; MSF, 20 March 2006
[19] Mizzima News, 24 February 2006
[20] UN Commission for Human Rights , 27 February 2006, para 7
[21] TBBC, October 2005, pp.55-56
[22] Steinber; David J Myanmar: On Claiming Success in The Irrawaddy 18-1-2012
The cosmetic change in the traditionally military-run country is unmistakable. In recent months, it has become easier for ordinary citizens to access the Internet and local magazines and journals are able to publish articles on topics that would have been unthinkable only a year ago. Pictures of pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, who spent 15 of the past 21 years under house arrest, are now for sale in markets not only in the former capital Yangon but also in small upcountry towns.
The United States government, for more than two decades the fiercest critic of successive military-dominated regimes in Myanmar, promised enhanced engagement in exchange for "further reforms" immediately after Friday's prison release. As a first step, the US is going to send an ambassador to its embassy in Yangon, which has been headed by a charge d'affaires since Washington decided to downgrade relations with Myanmar in 1990 in response to a brutal crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators.
Many Myanmar citizens undoubtedly welcome the easing of the extreme authoritarian pressure they have lived under as long as they can remember. But critics maintain the loosening is not tantamount to a "reform process", which would require changes in the country's fundamental power structure, and that the US may have other diplomatic objectives in mind over concerns for human rights and democracy.
Meanwhile, some Myanmar dissidents are beginning to ask, albeit in hushed tones, the hitherto unthinkable: is Suu Kyi being used by the Thein Sein's military-backed, civilianized government as a pawn in its efforts to break the country's long isolation from the West? And, has she come under pressure from the US and possibly other Western powers with a stake in Myanmar's future geopolitical role to strike a deal with her former military adversaries?
Less than a year ago, Suu Kyi was known to have said to visiting foreign diplomats that she was apprehensive about talking to the new government that assumed office after a blatantly rigged November 2010 election. At the time, she reportedly said that the main problem was the new constitution, which was adopted after an equally fraudulent referendum in May 2008 and guarantees the military 25% of the seats in parliament.
For instance, the charter's Chapter 12 lays out the complicated rules for constitutional amendments, which effectively give the military veto power over any proposed changes. The upper house currently consists of 168 elected representatives with a quarter, or 56 delegates, directly representing the defense services; the lower house is made up of 330 elected MPs and 110 appointed to represent the military. The ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), meanwhile, is widely viewed as a vehicle for the military's political interests.
Minor constitutional changes may be considered by the bicameral parliament if 20% of MPs submit a bill. However, a tangle of 104 clauses mean that major charter changes can not be made without the prior approval of more than 75% of all MPs, after which a nationwide referendum must be held where more than half of all eligible voters cast ballots.
This complicated procedure, coupled with Myanmar's record of holding bogus referendums - the first in 1973 for the 1974 constitution was as lacking in credibility as the one held in 2008 - make is virtually impossible to change those clauses, which in various ways and means legally safeguard the military's now indirect hold on power.
For instance, one of the first sections of the constitution guarantees the military's "national political leadership role of the State" and, in case of an "emergency", the "Commander-in-Chief of the Defense Services has the right to take over and exercise State sovereign power" after consulting the president. "No legal action" can be taken against the military for what it does while exercising such emergency powers, according to the constitution.
Another clause bars anyone whose parents, spouse or children who "owe allegiance to a foreign power" from becoming president. Suu Kyi's late husband, Michael Aris, was a British citizen, as are their two sons. The military's right to appoint a quarter of all seats in what is otherwise an elected parliament is also guaranteed, as is military control of one-third of all seats in local assemblies.
In 2008, Myanmar's generals got the constitution they wanted and through rigged elections now controls a solid majority of all seats in the parliament. Consequently, they can now afford to make some minor political concessions in response to international pressure. Allowing MPs from Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) to take part in a by-election on April 1 for 40 seats in the lower house and six in the upper chamber left vacant by the appointment of ministers, will not affect Myanmar's fundamental power structure with the military at its apex.
Reversible reform
The semblance of reform, however, has improved Myanmar's standing in the international community, as are other steps expected to be taken by Thein Sein's government, including new laws allowing for limited public protests and the creation of labor unions.
Since the constitution bars Suu Kyi from becoming president, some observers speculate that if she wins a seat in parliament she will be appointed minister of health or education, two positions which she would consider important but will not give her substantial political power and certainly no influence over the military.
"She would be an excellent choice for a person to be sent abroad to solicit aid for health and education programs and to attend international AIDS conferences and the like," says a veteran Myanmar politician who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Few would doubt that Suu Kyi remains Myanmar's most popular politician - and for many the country's main hope for a better future. But for the first time critical voices of her role are also being heard. In an unusually candid interview with The Australian on January 6, Win Tin, one of the original founders of the NLD in 1988 who was imprisoned for 19 years for his beliefs, said that the "reforms" taking place in Myanmar "are a ploy by the country's dictatorship to seduce foreign governments and neutralize Aung San Suu Kyi".
Other dissidents - former political prisoners and leaders of local civil society groups - complain that Suu Kyi meets readily with one foreign visitor after another but has no time to see them. "One comment I hear frequently is, 'what was the NLD fighting for if Daw Suu [Aung San Suu Kyi] will run for the by-elections and by that accepting the 2008 constitution'?" lamented one non-governmental organization worker in Yangon.
Ongoing fighting between ethnic rebels and government forces are another point of division. "In particular the Kachin are disillusioned that there is no compassionate speech or letter [from Suu Kyi] to their community, although some of the Catholic Bishops have explicitly asked Daw Suu to send such a message," said one civil society activist. Since June last year, heavy fighting has been raging between government troops and the rebel Kachin Independence Army in the country's far north.
Tens of thousands of civilians have fled the fighting to the Chinese border, or taken refuge in churches and community halls in towns in the predominantly Christian state of the Union. Farmers have been forced to abandon their crops and most refugees are living as destitutes in border areas under constant threat of being pushed back by unsympathetic Chinese authorities.
Some critics argue that Suu Kyi has grown old and tired - she will turn 67 this year - and the present, slight opening, however flawed, may be her last chance to achieve her vision of a more democratic Myanmar. But it is equally plausible that Myanmar's close relationship with China, and, more menacingly, its military partnership with North Korea, have prompted Western powers to push her into accepting some kind of accommodation with Thein Sein's government. Without her engagement with the new regime, it would be hard for the US and European Union to justify a dramatic change in policy towards Myanmar.
When US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met Thein Sein during her historic visit to Myanmar last December - the first by such a high-ranking US official in half a century - China was tellingly high on her diplomatic agenda. The first agenda item raised by Thein Sein during the meeting was the importance of Myanmar's relationship with China, which Clinton apparently did not object to. However, she emphasized that relations with the US would "if reforms maintain momentum" - thus leaving the door open for Myanmar to diversify its foreign relations.
After Washington decided in mid-January to establish full diplomatic ties with Myanmar, Clinton said the US "will further embrace" Myanmar if "the government releases all remaining political prisoners, ends violence against minorities and cuts military ties with North Korea". After her December visit, she said that the US would agree to and support assessment missions to Myanmar by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, a first step toward renewed multilateral lending for badly needed infrastructure.
Myanmar's staunchly nationalistic military may be willing to lessen its dependence on China, and even cut its ties with North Korea, provided the US and its allies can offer something substantial in return, including an eventual removal of economic sanctions. However, if one reads the 2008 constitution carefully, Myanmar will not become a genuine democracy any time soon, but rather a thinly disguised authoritarian state that the US and the West can cynically live with to counterbalance China's influence.
That is not what many pro-democracy activists, both at home and in exile, have been fighting for since the bloody, nationwide uprising against military-dominated rule in 1988, when thousands of protesters were mowed down by the military, and when they overwhelmingly voted for the NLD in the 1990 election, a democratic result that the military refused to honor. In the case of any future "emergency", the limited new freedoms that Myanmar's people are now enjoying can also be curtailed, perhaps next time by constitutional means rather than the barrel of a gun.
Bertil Lintner is a former correspondent with the Far Eastern Economic Review and author of several books on Burma/Myanmar, including Aung San Suu Kyi and Burma's Struggle for Democracy (Published in 2011). He is currently a writer with Asia-Pacific Media Services.
credit here
By ကိုဝိုင္း -ခ်င္းမိုင္ (မဇၥ်ိမ) ။ ။
FDB တပ္ေပါင္းစု အဖြဲ႔ဝင္ ဒီမိုကေရစီႏွင့္ ဖြံၿဖိဳးတိုးတက္ေရးအင္အားစု-NDD ဒါ႐ိုက္တာလည္း ျဖစ္သူ
ေဒါက္တာႏိုင္ေအာင္က သက္ဆိုင္ရာ အဖြဲ႔အစည္းဝင္မ်ားကို အေၾကာင္းၾကားထားၿပီး ဇန္နဝါရီ တတိယပါတ္ အတြင္း ေဆြးေႏြးၿပီးမွ တရားဝင္ျပန္ၾကားမည္ဟု ဆိုသည္။
FDB တပ္ေပါင္းစုကို ၂ဝဝ၄ ခု ႏွစ္ဆန္းပိုင္းတြင္ “ေကာင္းမြန္ေသာ အစိုးရ အုပ္ခ်ဳပ္မႈစနစ္ရွိေရး၊ တရားဥပေဒ စိုးမိုးေရးႏွင့္ တရားမွ်တမႈရရွိေရး တို႔ကို အုတ္ျမစ္ခ်ႏိုင္မည့္ ဒီမိုကေရစီ အသြင္ကူးေျပာင္းေရး ကာလတခု ေပၚထြန္း လာေရး” အတြက္ ၁၉၈၈ ခု ဒီမိုကေရစီအံုၾကြမႈအား စစ္တပ္က ႏွိမ္နင္းၿပီးေနာက္ နယ္စပ္သို႔ ထြက္လာသူမ်ား ပါဝင္သည့္ အဖြဲ႔ ၇ ဖြဲ႔ျဖင့္ အဓိကထား ဖြဲ႔စည္းခဲ့သည္။
ေဒါက္တာေက်ာ္ရင္လိႈင္က လူ႔ေဘာင္သစ္ဒီမိုကရက္တစ္ပါတီ ဥကၠဌ ဦးေအာင္မိုးေဇာ္ ကိုလည္း တေန႔ထဲတြင္ ဖံုးဆက္ေၾကာင္းၾကားျခင္းျဖစ္ၿပီး ပါတီအစည္းအေဝး ေခၚရန္ စီစဥ္ေနသည္ဟု သိရ သည္။
ဦးေအာင္မိုးေဇာ္က “ဝန္ၾကီးဦးေအာင္မင္းလာတဲ့အခ်ိန္မွာ ေတြ႔ဖို႔ေပါ့ဗ်ာ။ ရက္အတိအက်ေတာ့ ေနာက္မွ အေၾကာင္းၾကားမယ္ေျပာတယ္။ ေတြ႔တာေတာ့ ေကာင္းပါတယ္။ အေသးစိတ္ေတာ့ က်ေနာ္တို႔ ဒီရက္ပိုင္း အတြင္း ဗဟိုေကာ္မတီ အစည္းအေဝး ထိုင္ရမယ္” ဟု မဇၥ်ိမကို ေျပာသည္။
အလားတူ အက်ဳိးေဆာင္ ဦးလွေမာင္ေရႊက ၿငိမ္းခ်မ္းေရးလုပ္ငန္းမ်ားတြင္ ပံ့ပိုးေပးသူ ထိုင္းအေျခစိုက္ ဦးညိဳအုန္းျမင့္မွ တဆင့္ ဖိတ္ၾကားခဲ့ေသးသည္။
“အက််ဳိးေဆာင္ ဦးလွေမာင္ေရႊမွတဆင့္ သူတို႔ႏွစ္ဖြဲ႔ကို ဝန္ၾကီးက တရားဝင္ ေတြ႔ခ်င္ပါတယ္။ ေနာက္လဆန္း မွာ ထိုင္း-ျမန္မာနယ္စပ္တေနရာမွာ ေတြ႔ဖို႔ အစီအစဥ္လုပ္ေပးပါဆိုၿပီးေတာ့ ေျပာတဲ့အတြက္ က်ေနာ္က pass လုပ္ေပးေတာ့ ဦးေအာင္မိုးေဇာ္တို႔ဘာတို႔ကလည္း လက္ခံပါတယ္” ဟု ဦးညိဳအုန္းျမင့္က မဇၥ်ိမကိုေျပာသည္။
လူ႔ေဘာင္သစ္ ဒီမိုကရက္တစ္ပါတီ-DPNS ဥကၠ႒ ဦးေအာင္မိုးေဇာ္ (ဓါတ္ပံု FDB)
သမၼတ၏ ၿငိမ္းခ်မ္းေရး အထူးကိုယ္စားလွယ္ ဦးေအာင္မင္းက ျပည္ပအေျခစိုက္ ဒီမိုကေရစီ
ႏုိင္ငံေရးအင္အားစုမ်ားႏွင့္ ေဖေဖာ္ဝါရီ ပထမပါတ္အတြင္း ႏိုင္ငံေရးအရ ေဆြးေႏြးလိုေၾကာင္း ၾကာသာပေတးေန႔တြင္ အက်ဳိးေဆာင္မ်ားမွတဆင့္ ကမ္းလွမ္းလာသည္ဟု သက္ဆိုင္ရာ ေခါင္းေဆာင္မ်ားက ေျပာသည္။
အဖြဲ႔ဝင္ ၇ ဖြဲ႔ႏွင့္ တသီးပုဂၢလတခ်ဳိ႕ပါဝင္သည့္ ျမန္မာႏိုင္ငံဒီမိုကရက္တစ္အင္အားစု-FDB ႏွင့္ ေတြ႔ဆံုရန္ အတြင္းေရးမႉးခ်ဳပ္ ေဒါက္တာႏိုင္ေအာင္၊ လူ႔ေဘာင္သစ္ ဒီမိုကရက္တစ္ပါတီ-DPNS ႏွင့္ ေဆြးေႏြးရန္ ဥကၠ႒ ဦးေအာင္မိုးေဇာ္ တို႔ကို ၿငိမ္းခ်မ္းေရးအက်ဳိးေဆာင္ ဦးလွေမာင္ေရႊ၊ ေဒါက္တာ ေက်ာ္ရင္လိႈင္တို႔မွ တဆင့္
ႏႈတ္ျဖင့္ သီးသန္႔စီ ဖိတ္ၾကားလာေၾကာင္း ေဒါက္တာႏိုင္ေအာင္ က ေျပာသည္။
“FDB နဲ႔ DPNS ကို အလြတ္သေဘာေဆြးေႏြးႏိုင္ဖို႔အတြက္ တရားဝင္ကမ္းလွမ္းတယ္လို႔ ေျပာပါဆိုၿပီး ၾကားတယ္။
ေဖေဖာ္ဝါရီ ပထမပါတ္ ပတ္ဝန္းက်င္ ျဖစ္ႏိုင္တယ္။ ကိုေက်ာ္ရင္လိႈင္ ဖံုးေခၚ တယ္။ က်ေနာ္ တေယာက္ထဲ မဟုတ္ဘူးေပါ့ဗ်ာ၊ FDB က ေခၚခ်င္တဲ့လူ ေခၚလာေပါ့” ဟု မဇၥ်ိမကို ေျပာသည္။
FDB တပ္ေပါင္းစု အတြင္းေရးမႉးခ်ဳပ္ ေဒါက္တာႏိုင္ေအာင္ (ဓါတ္ပံု FDB)
ႏုိင္ငံေရးအင္အားစုမ်ားႏွင့္ ေဖေဖာ္ဝါရီ ပထမပါတ္အတြင္း ႏိုင္ငံေရးအရ ေဆြးေႏြးလိုေၾကာင္း ၾကာသာပေတးေန႔တြင္ အက်ဳိးေဆာင္မ်ားမွတဆင့္ ကမ္းလွမ္းလာသည္ဟု သက္ဆိုင္ရာ ေခါင္းေဆာင္မ်ားက ေျပာသည္။
အဖြဲ႔ဝင္ ၇ ဖြဲ႔ႏွင့္ တသီးပုဂၢလတခ်ဳိ႕ပါဝင္သည့္ ျမန္မာႏိုင္ငံဒီမိုကရက္တစ္အင္အားစု-FDB ႏွင့္ ေတြ႔ဆံုရန္ အတြင္းေရးမႉးခ်ဳပ္ ေဒါက္တာႏိုင္ေအာင္၊ လူ႔ေဘာင္သစ္ ဒီမိုကရက္တစ္ပါတီ-DPNS ႏွင့္ ေဆြးေႏြးရန္ ဥကၠ႒ ဦးေအာင္မိုးေဇာ္ တို႔ကို ၿငိမ္းခ်မ္းေရးအက်ဳိးေဆာင္ ဦးလွေမာင္ေရႊ၊ ေဒါက္တာ ေက်ာ္ရင္လိႈင္တို႔မွ တဆင့္
ႏႈတ္ျဖင့္ သီးသန္႔စီ ဖိတ္ၾကားလာေၾကာင္း ေဒါက္တာႏိုင္ေအာင္ က ေျပာသည္။
“FDB နဲ႔ DPNS ကို အလြတ္သေဘာေဆြးေႏြးႏိုင္ဖို႔အတြက္ တရားဝင္ကမ္းလွမ္းတယ္လို႔ ေျပာပါဆိုၿပီး ၾကားတယ္။
ေဖေဖာ္ဝါရီ ပထမပါတ္ ပတ္ဝန္းက်င္ ျဖစ္ႏိုင္တယ္။ ကိုေက်ာ္ရင္လိႈင္ ဖံုးေခၚ တယ္။ က်ေနာ္ တေယာက္ထဲ မဟုတ္ဘူးေပါ့ဗ်ာ၊ FDB က ေခၚခ်င္တဲ့လူ ေခၚလာေပါ့” ဟု မဇၥ်ိမကို ေျပာသည္။
FDB တပ္ေပါင္းစု အတြင္းေရးမႉးခ်ဳပ္ ေဒါက္တာႏိုင္ေအာင္ (ဓါတ္ပံု FDB)
FDB တပ္ေပါင္းစု အဖြဲ႔ဝင္ ဒီမိုကေရစီႏွင့္ ဖြံၿဖိဳးတိုးတက္ေရးအင္အားစု-NDD ဒါ႐ိုက္တာလည္း ျဖစ္သူ
ေဒါက္တာႏိုင္ေအာင္က သက္ဆိုင္ရာ အဖြဲ႔အစည္းဝင္မ်ားကို အေၾကာင္းၾကားထားၿပီး ဇန္နဝါရီ တတိယပါတ္ အတြင္း ေဆြးေႏြးၿပီးမွ တရားဝင္ျပန္ၾကားမည္ဟု ဆိုသည္။
FDB တပ္ေပါင္းစုကို ၂ဝဝ၄ ခု ႏွစ္ဆန္းပိုင္းတြင္ “ေကာင္းမြန္ေသာ အစိုးရ အုပ္ခ်ဳပ္မႈစနစ္ရွိေရး၊ တရားဥပေဒ စိုးမိုးေရးႏွင့္ တရားမွ်တမႈရရွိေရး တို႔ကို အုတ္ျမစ္ခ်ႏိုင္မည့္ ဒီမိုကေရစီ အသြင္ကူးေျပာင္းေရး ကာလတခု ေပၚထြန္း လာေရး” အတြက္ ၁၉၈၈ ခု ဒီမိုကေရစီအံုၾကြမႈအား စစ္တပ္က ႏွိမ္နင္းၿပီးေနာက္ နယ္စပ္သို႔ ထြက္လာသူမ်ား ပါဝင္သည့္ အဖြဲ႔ ၇ ဖြဲ႔ျဖင့္ အဓိကထား ဖြဲ႔စည္းခဲ့သည္။
ေဒါက္တာေက်ာ္ရင္လိႈင္က လူ႔ေဘာင္သစ္ဒီမိုကရက္တစ္ပါတီ ဥကၠဌ ဦးေအာင္မိုးေဇာ္ ကိုလည္း တေန႔ထဲတြင္ ဖံုးဆက္ေၾကာင္းၾကားျခင္းျဖစ္ၿပီး ပါတီအစည္းအေဝး ေခၚရန္ စီစဥ္ေနသည္ဟု သိရ သည္။
ဦးေအာင္မိုးေဇာ္က “ဝန္ၾကီးဦးေအာင္မင္းလာတဲ့အခ်ိန္မွာ ေတြ႔ဖို႔ေပါ့ဗ်ာ။ ရက္အတိအက်ေတာ့ ေနာက္မွ အေၾကာင္းၾကားမယ္ေျပာတယ္။ ေတြ႔တာေတာ့ ေကာင္းပါတယ္။ အေသးစိတ္ေတာ့ က်ေနာ္တို႔ ဒီရက္ပိုင္း အတြင္း ဗဟိုေကာ္မတီ အစည္းအေဝး ထိုင္ရမယ္” ဟု မဇၥ်ိမကို ေျပာသည္။
အလားတူ အက်ဳိးေဆာင္ ဦးလွေမာင္ေရႊက ၿငိမ္းခ်မ္းေရးလုပ္ငန္းမ်ားတြင္ ပံ့ပိုးေပးသူ ထိုင္းအေျခစိုက္ ဦးညိဳအုန္းျမင့္မွ တဆင့္ ဖိတ္ၾကားခဲ့ေသးသည္။
“အက််ဳိးေဆာင္ ဦးလွေမာင္ေရႊမွတဆင့္ သူတို႔ႏွစ္ဖြဲ႔ကို ဝန္ၾကီးက တရားဝင္ ေတြ႔ခ်င္ပါတယ္။ ေနာက္လဆန္း မွာ ထိုင္း-ျမန္မာနယ္စပ္တေနရာမွာ ေတြ႔ဖို႔ အစီအစဥ္လုပ္ေပးပါဆိုၿပီးေတာ့ ေျပာတဲ့အတြက္ က်ေနာ္က pass လုပ္ေပးေတာ့ ဦးေအာင္မိုးေဇာ္တို႔ဘာတို႔ကလည္း လက္ခံပါတယ္” ဟု ဦးညိဳအုန္းျမင့္က မဇၥ်ိမကိုေျပာသည္။
လူ႔ေဘာင္သစ္ ဒီမိုကရက္တစ္ပါတီ-DPNS ဥကၠ႒ ဦးေအာင္မိုးေဇာ္ (ဓါတ္ပံု FDB)
၁၉၈၈ ခု ဒီမိုကေရစီအံုၾကြမႈကာလအတြင္း ျပည္တြင္း၌ ေပါက္ဖြားလာသည့္ DPNS သည္ ၁၉၉ဝ ခု ေရြးေကာက္ပြဲ ကာလတြင္ ပါတီဝင္ တသိန္းခန္႔ရွိၿပီး ၁၉၉၁ ခု ဇန္နာဝါရီလတြင္ ပါတီေခါင္းေဆာင္တခ်ဳိ႕ နယ္စပ္သို႔ ထြက္ခြာ လာခဲ့ၿပီးေနာက္ ဖ်က္သိမ္းခံခဲ့ရသည္။
သမၼတ ဦးသိန္းစိန္ႏွင့္ အစိုးရအဖြဲ႔ဝင္မ်ားက ျပည္ပေရာက္ ျမန္မာႏိုင္ငံသားမ်ားအား ျပန္လာၾကရန္ ဖိတ္ေခၚ
ေနေသာ္လည္း ႏိုင္ငံေရးရည္မွန္းခ်က္ျဖင့္ ေရာက္ေနသူမ်ားအတြက္ တိက်သည့္ ဥပေဒ စည္းမ်ဥ္း စည္းကမ္းမ်ား ထုတ္ျပန္ရန္ လိုအပ္ေနသည္ဟု ေထာက္ျပသည္။
“အခုဟာက ေခၚတယ္သာေျပာတာေလ။ လက္ေတြ႔က်က် ဘယ္လိုအခ်က္အလက္ေတြ၊ တိတိက်က် သေဘာထား
ေရာ၊ ႏွစ္ခုလံုး ေဆာင္ရြက္တာ ေကာင္းတယ္လို႔ထင္တယ္။ ကိုမင္းကိုႏိုင္ ေျပာသလိုပါပဲဗ်ာ လမ္းၾကံဳလို႔ ေျပာတာမ်ဳိး မျဖစ္သင့္ဘူးေလ” ဟု ဦးေအာင္မိုးေဇာ္က ေျပာသည္။
၂ဝ၁၁ ခုႏွစ္ ဒီဇဘၤာလ ၁၂ ရက္ေန႔ကလည္း ဦးလွေမာင္ေရႊ ဆက္သြယ္ေပး၍ ဦးေအာင္မင္းႏွင့္ မဲေဆာက္ၿမိဳ႕တြင္
ေတြ႔ဆံုခဲ့ဖူးေၾကာင္း ေဒါက္တာႏိုင္ေအာင္ က ေျပာသည္။
ထိုစဥ္က ၎အေနႏွင့္ ဦးေအာင္မင္းအား အခ်က္ ေလးခ်က္ ေဆြးေႏြးခဲ့ရာ “ျမန္မာျပည္ ႏိုင္ငံေရး အင္အားစုအားလံုး ပါဝင္သည့္ ႏိုင္ငံေတာ္ ျပန္လည္တည္ေဆာက္ေရး အစီအစဥ္ကို ႏိုင္ငံေရး ေဆြးေႏြးပြဲျဖင့္ အားလံုးသေဘာတူ
ေဖာ္ထုတ္သင့္ေၾကာင္း” ထည့္သြင္းေဆြးေႏြးခဲ့သည္ဟု ဆိုသည္။
ျမန္မာအစိုးရက တိုင္းရင္းသားလက္နက္ကိုင္ အင္အားစုမ်ားျဖစ္ၾကသည့္ ကရင္ KNU၊ ရွမ္း SSA-S၊ ခ်င္း CNF၊ ဝ’ UWSA၊ မိုင္းလား စသည့္ လက္နက္ကိုင္ ၅ ဖြဲ႔ႏွင့္ အပစ္ရပ္စဲေရး သေဘာတူၿပီးေနာက္ ဒီမိုကေရစီ အင္အားစုမ်ားကို ပထမဆံုးအၾကိမ္ ကမ္းလွမ္းလာျခင္း ျဖစ္သည္။
ေဖေဖာ္ဝါရီလဆန္းတြင္ ေတြ႔ဆံုရန္ စီစဥ္ေနမႈတြင္ ကရင္နီအမ်ဳိးသားတိုးတက္ေရးပါတီ-KNPP၊ မြန္ျပည္သစ္ ပါတီ NMSP၊ ပအိုဝ္းအမ်ဳိးသားလြတ္ေျမာက္ေရးအဖြဲ႔ခ်ဳပ္ PPLO၊ ဝ’ အမ်ဳိးသားအဖြဲ႔ တို႔ႏွင့္လည္း အပစ္ရပ္ေရးကိစၥမ်ား
လည္း သီးသန္႔ေဆြးေႏြးရန္ အစီအစဥ္ရွိေၾကာင္း ဦးညိဳအုန္းျမင့္ က ေျပာသည္။
သမၼတ ဦးသိန္းစိန္ႏွင့္ အစိုးရအဖြဲ႔ဝင္မ်ားက ျပည္ပေရာက္ ျမန္မာႏိုင္ငံသားမ်ားအား ျပန္လာၾကရန္ ဖိတ္ေခၚ
ေနေသာ္လည္း ႏိုင္ငံေရးရည္မွန္းခ်က္ျဖင့္ ေရာက္ေနသူမ်ားအတြက္ တိက်သည့္ ဥပေဒ စည္းမ်ဥ္း စည္းကမ္းမ်ား ထုတ္ျပန္ရန္ လိုအပ္ေနသည္ဟု ေထာက္ျပသည္။
“အခုဟာက ေခၚတယ္သာေျပာတာေလ။ လက္ေတြ႔က်က် ဘယ္လိုအခ်က္အလက္ေတြ၊ တိတိက်က် သေဘာထား
ေရာ၊ ႏွစ္ခုလံုး ေဆာင္ရြက္တာ ေကာင္းတယ္လို႔ထင္တယ္။ ကိုမင္းကိုႏိုင္ ေျပာသလိုပါပဲဗ်ာ လမ္းၾကံဳလို႔ ေျပာတာမ်ဳိး မျဖစ္သင့္ဘူးေလ” ဟု ဦးေအာင္မိုးေဇာ္က ေျပာသည္။
၂ဝ၁၁ ခုႏွစ္ ဒီဇဘၤာလ ၁၂ ရက္ေန႔ကလည္း ဦးလွေမာင္ေရႊ ဆက္သြယ္ေပး၍ ဦးေအာင္မင္းႏွင့္ မဲေဆာက္ၿမိဳ႕တြင္
ေတြ႔ဆံုခဲ့ဖူးေၾကာင္း ေဒါက္တာႏိုင္ေအာင္ က ေျပာသည္။
ထိုစဥ္က ၎အေနႏွင့္ ဦးေအာင္မင္းအား အခ်က္ ေလးခ်က္ ေဆြးေႏြးခဲ့ရာ “ျမန္မာျပည္ ႏိုင္ငံေရး အင္အားစုအားလံုး ပါဝင္သည့္ ႏိုင္ငံေတာ္ ျပန္လည္တည္ေဆာက္ေရး အစီအစဥ္ကို ႏိုင္ငံေရး ေဆြးေႏြးပြဲျဖင့္ အားလံုးသေဘာတူ
ေဖာ္ထုတ္သင့္ေၾကာင္း” ထည့္သြင္းေဆြးေႏြးခဲ့သည္ဟု ဆိုသည္။
ျမန္မာအစိုးရက တိုင္းရင္းသားလက္နက္ကိုင္ အင္အားစုမ်ားျဖစ္ၾကသည့္ ကရင္ KNU၊ ရွမ္း SSA-S၊ ခ်င္း CNF၊ ဝ’ UWSA၊ မိုင္းလား စသည့္ လက္နက္ကိုင္ ၅ ဖြဲ႔ႏွင့္ အပစ္ရပ္စဲေရး သေဘာတူၿပီးေနာက္ ဒီမိုကေရစီ အင္အားစုမ်ားကို ပထမဆံုးအၾကိမ္ ကမ္းလွမ္းလာျခင္း ျဖစ္သည္။
ေဖေဖာ္ဝါရီလဆန္းတြင္ ေတြ႔ဆံုရန္ စီစဥ္ေနမႈတြင္ ကရင္နီအမ်ဳိးသားတိုးတက္ေရးပါတီ-KNPP၊ မြန္ျပည္သစ္ ပါတီ NMSP၊ ပအိုဝ္းအမ်ဳိးသားလြတ္ေျမာက္ေရးအဖြဲ႔ခ်ဳပ္ PPLO၊ ဝ’ အမ်ဳိးသားအဖြဲ႔ တို႔ႏွင့္လည္း အပစ္ရပ္ေရးကိစၥမ်ား
လည္း သီးသန္႔ေဆြးေႏြးရန္ အစီအစဥ္ရွိေၾကာင္း ဦးညိဳအုန္းျမင့္ က ေျပာသည္။
Source here
Looking at my beloved country I recollect Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev, the last Komissar of the Soviet Union who tried his level best to save the Communist system through long-necessary reforms, as what the Burmese regime is doing now in releasing hundreds of political prisoners. It also catches two birds with a stone in placating the maximum impression on European and American diplomats and "human rights" organizations to lift their punitive sanctions which they so crave in order to legalize their personal wealth.
Not that I am predicting that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi will be the Boris Yektsin of Burma as she has famously put it: "It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it, and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to It." but because the system of the dictatorial regime is rotting beyond repair and is crumbling. The Nargis Constitution following the Nargis Cyclone of May 2008. exposed not only reveal the dictator's inability to cope with a natural disaster but its inability to deal with those offering help, from both home and abroad that clearly proves how much the corruption has been that have eaten the foundation of military dictatorship resulting more than 100,000 unnecessary deaths, and the suffering of millions of survivors and lost of billions of dollars.
Cease fires with the ethnic nationalities must be followed up by stopping the ethnic cleansing policies because in modern Burma is that the ethnic nationalities have been residing in their specific area long before the Myanmar race came into Burma. The Generals using their pocket army the Tatmadaw is endeavoring these “undesirable" population due to religious or ethnic discrimination, political, strategic or ideological considerations, or a combination of these to satisfy their grip on powers will soon come to an abrupt end. This forcible deportation of a population - is defined as a crime against humanity under the statutes of the International Criminal Court which"constitute crimes against humanity and can be assimilated to specific war crimes. Furthermore such acts could also fall within the meaning of the Genocide Convention." The UN General Assembly condemned "ethnic cleansing" and racial hatred in a 1992 resolution.
In 1985 Anti Slavery International (ASI) was the first Non Burmese organization to raise the issue of concern at the United Nations. In March 1987 in response to growing reports of an alarming catalogue of human rights abuses by the BSPP (Burmese Socialist Programme Party), ASI sponsored a visit to Europe of a delegation from the Karen National Union. This was the first time since Burma gain independence in Jan 1948 the ethnic nationality delegation from one of “Asia most war torn countries” had entered such an international forum where its delegation speak to the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva.
The ethnic cleansing of the Burmese regime has become a worldwide international concern and experiences of other multi ethnic countries, such as Afghanistan, Yugoslavia, Burundi, and Rwanda. It shows how desperate these conflicts can become if left unresolved. It could easily become an all out civil war. Human rights abuses in ethnic nationality areas are the single most important cause of conflict-induced internal displacement in Burma and the scale of atrocities committed by the Burmese army is unparalleled within Asia. Surges of attacks by the Burmese army since autumn 2005 have compelled thousands to flee, especially in the Karen state where 11,000 people have been reported displaced during the months of March and April 2006 alone.
While an increasing number of people in the country face a deteriorating humanitarian situation, Burma’s internally displaced like the Kachins are particularly vulnerable and face acute humanitarian problems in health, nutrition and education. The Thailand Burma Border Consortium (TBBC) has carried out the most reliable existing survey of internal displacement in eastern Burma. According to this study, which covers 37 townships in the Tenasserim and eastern Pegu divisions and the Mon, Karen, Karenni and Southern Shan States, the total number of people who have been forced or obliged to flee their homes over the past decade and have not been able to return, resettle or reintegrate into society is estimated to be at least to be half a million There are no similar surveys from other parts of the country, but other studies conducted by human rights groups have estimated that 650,000 are internally displaced in the border areas and at least one million countrywide. Between 700,000 and one million people are also believed to have fled Burma to Thailand, India, Bangladesh, Malaysia and other countries to escape human rights violations.
The large majority of the internally displaced, 340,000 people, are in temporary settlements in ceasefire areas controlled by ethnic minority groups, while at least 92,000 civilians remain in hiding and another 108,000 are in relocation sites after being forcibly evicted from their homes by the army. Army attacks to increase control over areas in eastern Karen state, close to the Thai border, have displaced at least 11,000 people and over 15,000 people have fled to refugee camps in Thailand.
Human rights violations are the single most important reason for displacement than fighting between the Burmese and the resistance armies. In conflict areas, the army has for decades implemented a so-called “Four Cuts Policy” which aims to consolidate control in ethnic nationalities areas by eliminating the access of armed opposition groups to new recruits, information, supplies and financial support. In implementing this strategy, the Burmese army is accused of widespread human rights abuses such as forced relocation, expropriation of land and livestock, extortion, forced labour, threats and intimidations, sexual abuse and other forms of violence.
As the Burmese Tatmadaw substantially expanded its control over ethnic nationalities areas during the late 1990s, more than 2,800 villages have been destroyed and about one million people forcibly relocated to government-controlled areas. In Shan state, approximately two thirds of the villages situated in the hills were relocated to lowland areas from 1996 onwards, and villages are still being destroyed. People forcibly relocated by the Tatmadaw are commonly given about one week’s notice to leave their village and move to poorly equipped relocation sites, after which government troops loot any remaining belongings and destroy buildings and food crops to discourage return.
A development program, launched in 1989 to promote infrastructure in the border areas, have primarily served to consolidate military control over the ethnic nationalities population. Road building and natural resources extraction has led to easier access for the military and an increased threat of human rights abuses against the local population. A large hydro-electric project which will lead to the building of four dams along the Salween river in Karen and Shan states, has already led to forced evictions of 60 villages along the river and threatens to displace thousands of people when implementation starts in 2007.
In Western Burma, particularly in Arakan, the Muslim Rohingya and other ethnic groups have been displaced as a result of brutal discrimination policies, including the construction of "new villages" for trans-migrants from central and northern Burma. Many of those displaced have fled to Bangladesh, where conditions of asylum are very harsh, and where they face the prospect of forced repatriation. The Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Burma has repeatedly expressed concern about the situation. The Na Sa Ka , a border task force believed to be under the direct command of the regime is said to be the main perpetrator of abuses against the Rohingya population. Although UNHCR is present on the ground after a mass repatriation in 1994-1995 of Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh, abuses go on unabated.
In urban areas, whole neighborhoods, mainly in poor areas, have been forced to move due to “security reasons” or to make way for infrastructure projects, including roads, bridges and “urban development programs”. Hundreds of thousands of residents of Rangoon and other towns and cities have been moved to “satellite towns” that have been established in recent years. A sudden move of key government ministries from Rangoon to Naypyidaw reportedly also led to the forced relocation of surrounding villages and forced labor.
Anti-personnel mines are a major risk in Burma, affecting nine out of 14 states. The concentration of landmines is especially dense along the border with Thailand and Bangladesh. Most of the land mines were laid by the Tatmadaw and they lay mines close to areas of civilian activity to prevent relocated villagers from returning to their native villages. There is no systematic collection of information about mine casualties, but there is evidence that Burma is among the countries with the highest number of casualties each year. The mine threat has been identified as one of the main impediments to any future return of IDPs and refugees.
While the general humanitarian situation in the country has deteriorated over the past years, the situation is particularly critical for internally displaced in eastern Burma. The TBBC documented the extreme vulnerability of the displaced populations, among other in terms of mortality and malnutrition rates which are significantly higher than for the rest of the population. Tens of thousands are in urgent need of basic medical assistance, food aid, shelter and education, but no assistance is reaching them and surely this is but one way of ethnic cleansing. The large majority of people needing assistance in Burma are cut off from international relief. The Burmese government generally refuses to permit any external involvement in its border areas and does not allow international organizations access to war-affected populations.
After a period of expanded humanitarian space to some areas in eastern Burma, access has again been curtailed, that further restrict assistance by international organizations. The tight surveillance imposed by the regime has led the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to terminate grants and Médecins Sans Frontières – France to cease its activities inside Burma. Even the ICRC, which has a long-standing presence in Burma, has recently been restricted in carrying out its work, including prison visits. Cooperation with the government has been complicated further by the sudden relocation of key ministries to Pyinmana in southern Mandalay division. In ceasefire areas, relocation sites and in areas of mixed administration, the main method of minimizing threats is to comply with extortion and follow orders.
The impending collapse of the Burmese military dictatorship system are political and economic because of the result of the Burmese military culture and totalitarian system The poor Burmese consumers turned to imports and black market to satisfy their needs because all the needs were swallowed up by military and there were no quality goods to balance imports except in extractive economy. These economic factors were linked to political and psychological factors. "the gloomy background of the worsening market situation ... has a depressing effect on people." Their gloom deepened as a result of policy failures such as the war against the ethnic nationalities and democracy movement.
Another factor was the lack of honest information, the secrecy and propaganda that is central to the culture of dictatorship. As contradictions mounted as the people of Burma became more and more cynical about the propaganda of government-controlled media. It was common to hear an average Burmese say that you could find truth anywhere except in government news This was exacerbated by the free press of the dissidents, the BBC, VOA and Radio Free Asia
Secrecy and distortion of information have disastrous economic as well as political effects.
Secrecy and restricted movement, the hallmarks of militarism and bureaucracy, pervaded the Burmese society as all levels of the system, from institutes to ministries, were isolated from each other, both by barriers to communication and by an attitude that one should mind one's own business. Economic indicators were routinely suppressed or falsified to the point that when the final economic collapse was imminent there were no published figures to indicate the points of weakness.
All of these factors accumulated on top of a profound alienation of the Burmese people that had grown up over the years as the country remained in the grips of the culture of war. Information was controlled in the form of propaganda and dissidents were sent to jail. People did not feel free to discuss this, resulting that most people did not participate in governance. In the Burmese military dictatorships all citizens were deprived of the basic rights and freedoms of organization, speech, thought, press, movement, residence, conscience and religion; full trade union rights for all workers including the right to strike, and one person one vote in free and democratic elections were in non existence. There is no free flow of honest information, which is against the principles of a culture of peace and development?
The Generals are desperately gasping and no Western country should be in a hurry to reward the vehemently hated Burmese Generals. I would agreed with David Steinberg’s comment “We foreigners should remember how marginal we are in helping the downfall of the Burmese military dictatorship, the real heroes are the people of Burma f all ethnicities”
Footnotes:
The Mon has been in Burma much earlier than the Burman/Myanmar
Established pursuant to Security Council Resolution 780
see Human Rights Watch, June 2005
UNNS, 28 October 2005
Thai Burma Border Council , October 2005, pp. 2, 24
Reuters News, 26 April 2006
Amnesty International, Sept. 2005 and UNGA, 12 August 2005, par. 65
Thai Burma Border Consortium, October 2005, p.22
SRDC, 2006, p.3; S.H.A.N., 7 March 2006 SRDC, 2006, p.3; S.H.A.N., 7 March 2006
KDRG, 2006, p.2; TBBC, October 2005, p.20; HRW, June 2005, p. 42
Forum Asia, June 2003; FIDH, 9 March 2004; AI, 19 May 2004
Amnesty International , 29-9- 2005; IPS, 6-12- 2005; Kaladan News, 16-3- 2006
USDOS, 8 March 2006; KWN, September-October 2003
UN Human Right Commission , 7 Feb. 2006, para. 36
Human Rights Watch, June 2005, p.13
Human Rights Watch, June 2005, p. 60
Mizzima News, 13 February 2006
COE-DMHA, 20 December 2005; MSF, 20 March 2006
Mizzima News, 24 February 2006
UN Commission for Human Rights , 27 February 2006, para 7
TBBC, October 2005, pp.55-56
Steinber; David J Myanmar: On Claiming Success in The Irrawaddy 18-1-2012
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Foreign & Commonwealth Office Written Ministerial Statement
16 January 2012
The Foreign Secretary’s Visit to Burma
The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (William Hague): I would like to update the House on my visit to Burma on 5-6 January.
This was a historic visit; the first by a British Foreign Secretary since 1955. It was an pportunity to show that we recognise the efforts of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the government to drive forward important reforms. I also wanted to set out clearly to the government the changes that we would want to see before we could support lifting EU sanctions.
I met the President, the Foreign Minister and the Speaker of the Lower House. I welcomed progress made so far, including the dialogue between the government and opposition leader
Aung San Suu Kyi and the changes in the law that allowed her party to register for the forthcoming by-elections, the initial releases of political prisoners, and the moves towards greater media freedom. I informed them of the allocation from the Department for International Development of £10 million of existing aid for microfinance for the Burmese people, and announced an additional £2 million of humanitarian aid to benefit people in Kachin State, the site of some of the worst ethnic conflict.
I set out clearly with all my interlocutors the steps which would be needed before a more fundamental shift in our relationship could take place. These are: the release of all political prisoners in time for the by-elections on 1 April; the free and fair conduct of those by elections; and humanitarian access to conflict areas, particularly in Kachin State, alongside a clear process of reconciliation. I made clear that if these three conditions were met the UK would support the easing of the EU sanctions.
I was assured by the President that the reforms would continue, that further political prisoner releases would go ahead, and that by-elections would be free and fair. He was confident that the Burmese government would soon achieve ceasefires nationwide, and acknowledged the need for humanitarian assistance in conflict areas.
I raised with the Foreign Minister the discrimination suffered by the Rohingya community, who have been denied citizenship and access to basic services and rights. We will continue to press the Burmese government on this issue.
I held two meetings with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and assured her of the UK's continued support for her efforts to promote reform and democracy in Burma. She repeated her core priorities: the release of all political prisoners and an improvement in the rule of law; and the need for the by-elections to be free and fair as well as progress on the complex ethnic situation.
I met representatives from other opposition groups, including the 88 Generation Leaders and former political prisoners. I also met a range of representatives from ethnic communities, including the Kachin, Rohingya, Shan, Rakhine, Chin, Mon, Karen and Karenni to hear more bout their concerns and aspirations. We will continue to stay close to these and other ethnic groups to ensure we remain seized of the issues they face.
I am delighted to say that following my visit, there have been significant further developments on some of the issues I raised with the government.
On 12 January, the government and the Karen National Union signed a cease-fire after 63 years of conflict. There is still a long way to go to rebuild fully trust between the parties, but
this is an important step in the right direction.
I also warmly welcome the release of a significant number of political prisoners on 13 January. Exact numbers are still being verified but those released include Generation 88 and ethnic leaders. This is another positive step on the road to reform in Burma.
The British Government will continue to follow developments in Burma closely. We will support progress, while remaining vigilant on human rights issues, especially in areas, affected by ethnic conflict.
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Zoya Phan
Campaigns Manager
Burma Campaign UK
28 Charles Square
London
N1 6HT
Direct Tel: 020 7324 4712
Main Office: 020 7324 4710
Fax: 020 7324 4717
Email: zoya.phan@burmacampaign.org.uk
By FRANCIS WADE
Rohingya children who fled to Bangladesh bathe using water from a pond at a refugee camp in Cox's Bazaar (Reuters)
Despite recent tentative steps towards democratic reform in Burma, the government has continued with a discriminatory policy against the Rohingya ethnic group in the country’s western Arakan state that includes banning Rohingya children born out of wedlock from obtaining travel permits, attending school and, in the future, marrying.
The racial profiling of children immediately after birth contradicts the praise heaped on the pseudo-civilian government by world leaders in recent months, says The Arakan Project, which is this week submitting a report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC).
The UN body is currently reviewing the situation of children’s rights in Burma, and The Arakan Project claims the blacklisting of Rohingya babies stands in stark contrast to pledges of reform by the Thein Sein administration.
Chris Lewa, director of The Arakan Project, says the new government continues to ignore the existence of the Rohingya in its state party reports to the CRC, and has refused to implement the body’s recommendations first made in 2004.
“Rohingya children bear the full brunt of the state’s policies of exclusion, restrictions and arbitrary treatment,” she said. “These systematic policies gravely impair their physical and mental development as children and will affect the long-term future of their community.”
Successive Burmese governments claim the Rohingya, a Muslim minority group, are of Bengali origin, and thus have consistently denied them citizenship – The Arakan Project says their status in Burma “relies entirely on the political will of the government”, which is predominantly Buddhist and whose current representative at the UN, Ye Myint Aung, said during his prior tenure as Consul-General to Hong Kong that Rohingya were “ugly as ogres”.
Rohingya support groups say however that there is evidence that Islam existed in Burma prior to the now-dominant Theravada Buddhism, and that the Rohingya’s roots in Arakan state go back centuries.
For decades the government has meted out hefty treatment against the group, forcing hundreds of thousands to flee the country. Up to 400,000 Rohingya are living as refugees in neighbouring Bangladesh, with hundreds attempting perilous journeys by boat each year to Thailand and Malaysia. Various NGOs have described them as one of the world’s most persecuted minority groups.
Those that remain in Burma suffer persecution at the hands of government officials as well as from local Arakan communities, where anti-Muslim sentiment, reinforced by the government, is strong and where many inhabitants consider them illegal immigrants.
“If children are not in their family list they cannot stay in the village,” a nine-year-old boy told researchers working on the CRC submission. “Like my brother – my parents could not include my younger brother’s name in their family list. That is why they had to leave the village.
“Some parents still live in the village without registering their children but they have to hide them. Or they have to register them with other parents. Like me. I am registered as the son of my grandmother.”
Another boy, 12, told the group that he was a “prisoner in [his] own village” and could not leave the confines of his village without travel documents. An 11-year-old said he was often made to skip school when local authorities forced him to help repair nearby roads, with no pay.
The Burmese government justifies this treatment of the Rohingya on national security grounds, claiming that the policy is aimed at managing “illegal migration”. A ban on Rohingya parents producing more than two children stems from alleged “control on population growth”, The Arakan Project says, and unauthorised marriages can result in a 10-year prison term.
The group estimates that more than 40,000 Rohingya children have been left unregistered, with parents fearing punishment if they come forward with children born out of wedlock. Those not registered face severe difficulties accessing education and healthcare.
The government has mooted a programme of registering blacklisted children and adding them to population censuses, but progress has been slow. In addition, “Despite [UN refugee agency’s] advocacy efforts to address their lack of status with the government, little progress has been achieved to date,” says the report.
Lewa urged the government to “build on its reform credentials and mark a break from past regimes by taking immediate steps to end all discriminatory policies and practices against the Rohingya”. The group warns that racial profiling by the government “has demoralised the Rohingya community, resulting in increased refugee outflows since September 2011”.
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ကၽြန္ေတာ္တို႔ တိုင္းျပည္အေနနဲ႔ ယခုအခ်ိန္ကာလဟာ ဒီမိုကေရစီ အသြင္ကူးေျပာင္းေရးကို ႀကိဳးပမ္းလုပ္ေဆာင္ေနတဲ့၊သမၼတႀကီး ဦးသိန္းစိန္ေျပာၾကားခဲ့တဲ့ ေကာင္းမြန္ေသာ အုပ္ခ်ဳပ္ေရး၊ သန္႔ရွင္းေသာ အုပ္ခ်ဳပ္မႈကို ေဖာ္ေဆာင္ဖို႔ ႀကိဳးစားေနတဲ့ကာလျဖစ္ပါတယ္။
ဒီလိုဒီမိုကေရစီလမ္းစဥ္ကိုက်င့္သံုးဖို႔ ႀကိဳးပမ္းေနစဥ္ကာလမွာ သမၼတႀကီး ေျပာၾကားခဲ့တဲ့ စကားေတြကို အေလးအနက္ထားေဖာ္ေဆာင္ေပးမယ့္ အေရးႀကီးဆံုးေမာင္းႏွင္အားက အစိုးရယႏၲရားရဲ႕ လည္ပတ္မႈပါပဲ။ အစိုးရယႏၲရားကို အဓိကေမာင္းႏွင္ေနသူေတြဆိုတာ ထိပ္ဆံုးအဆင့္ ၫႊန္ခ်ဳပ္ မွသည္ ေအာက္ေျခအဆင့္စာေရးအထိပါ၀င္ေသာ ျပည္သူ႔၀န္ထမ္းမ်ားပဲ ျဖစ္ပါတယ္။
သမၼတႀကီးက တိုင္းျပည္ကို ပိုမိုေကာင္းမြန္တဲ့၊ တိုးတက္တဲ့ ႏိုင္ငံအျဖစ္ ထူေထာင္လိုေပမယ့္သူတစ္ေယာက္တည္း စြမ္းအားနဲ႔ေတာ့ မျဖစ္ႏိုင္ပါဘူး။ အစိုးရယႏၲရားထဲမွာ ပါ၀င္ထမ္း ေဆာင္ေနၾကတဲ့ ျပည္သူ႔၀န္ထမ္းမ်ားက အစိုးရယႏၲရားရဲ႕မူ၀ါဒဦးေဆာင္သည့္အပိုင္းျဖစ္ေသာ သမၼတဦးေဆာင္သည့္ ၀န္ႀကီးအဖြဲ႕၊ အစိုးရအဖြဲ႕၏ ေကာင္းမြန္ေသာ စိတ္ ဆႏၵအမွန္ကို ရွင္းရွင္းလင္းလင္းနားလည္သေဘာေပါက္ၿပီး ထိေရာက္မွန္ကန္ စြာျပဳမူဖို႔ လိုပါတယ္။
၎တို႔ရဲ႕ စြမ္းေဆာင္ရည္ျမင့္မားေအာင္၊ Effectiveness and Efficiency အျမင့္ဆံုးရရွိမယ့္ စီမံခန္႔ခြဲမႈပံုစံေတြ၊ ႀကိဳးပမ္းအားထုတ္မႈေတြ၊ ဒီလိုႀကိဳးပမ္းအားထုတ္လိုတဲ့စိတ္ေစတနာေတြနဲ႔ အစုိးရယႏၲရားကို ေမာင္းႏွင္ဖို႔အလြန္အေရးႀကီးပါတယ္။ အစိုးရ ယႏၲရားကို မူ၀ါဒျဖင့္ ဦးေဆာင္ေပးေသာ သမၼတႏွင့္ ၀န္ႀကီးအဖြဲ႕ကလည္း ကိုယ္ခ်မွတ္တဲ့ မူ၀ါဒတကယ္အေကာင္အထည္ေပၚလာေစရန္လိုအပ္ေသာပတ္၀န္း က်င္အေနအထားကို ဖန္တီးေပးဖို႔၊ မူ၀ါဒကို လိုက္နာလာေအာင္တြန္း အားေပးဖို႔တာ၀န္ရွိပါတယ္။
ျပည္သူ႔၀န္ထမ္းဆိုသည္မွာ ျပည္သူ႕တို႔၏ အက်ဳိးစီးပြားကို ကာကြယ္ေစာင့္ေရွာက္ေပးရမယ့္၊ တိုးပြားစည္ပင္လာေအာင္ ကူညီေပးရ မယ့္၊ ျပည္သူ႕လူထုအခက္အခဲကို ၀ိုင္း၀န္းေျဖရွင္းေပးရမယ့္သူေတြလို႔ အၾကမ္းဖ်င္းနားလည္ သေဘာေပါက္ထားပါတယ္။ ဒါေပမဲ့ လက္ရွိအေျခအေနကေတာ့ ျပည္သူလူထုကို ကိုယ္စားျပဳေပးမယ့္၊ ျပည္သူ႕အသံေတြကို နားေထာင္ေပးမယ့္ ျပည္သူ႕၀န္ထမ္းေတြ အလြန္ပါးရွားပါေသးတယ္။ အမ်ားစုေသာ ျပည္သူ႕၀န္ထမ္းမ်ားဟာ အစိုးရ၀န္ထမ္းအျဖစ္ခံယူၿပီး ၎င္းတို႔ ကိုယ္၎တို႔ အာဏာပိုင္မ်ားအျဖစ္ အထင္ေရာက္ကာ ဘယ္လိုအာဏာကို အသံုးျပဳျခယ္လွယ္ရမလဲဆိုတဲ့ စိတ္ဓာတ္မေပ်ာက္ၾကေသးပါဘူး။
စီးပြားေရးလုပ္ငန္းမ်ားႏွင့္ ဆက္စပ္ပတ္သက္ေနေသာ ေနရာမ်ားမွ ျပည္သူ႕၀န္ထမ္းမ်ားရဲ႕ အက်င့္စ႐ုိက္နဲ႔ စိတ္ဓာတ္မ်ားဟာ ပ်က္ယြင္းမႈပိုမ်ားပါတယ္။ နယ္ၿမိဳ႕မ်ားတြင္ အုပ္ခ်ဳပ္မႈအပိုင္း၌ရွိေသာ ျပည္သူ႔၀န္ထမ္းမ်ားမွာ ဘုရင္တစ္ပါးအလားျဖစ္ေနၾကသည္။ ဒါ့အျပင္ ဟိုသို႔ဒီသို႔ အာဏာျပအႏိုင္က်င့္မႈမ်ားမွာ နယ္ၿမိဳ႕မ်ားတြင္ အလြန္အျဖစ္မ်ားေနေသာကိစၥမ်ားျဖစ္ ေနဆဲပါ။
၀ိသမေလာဘစီးပြားေရးသမားမ်ားကလည္း အာဏာပိုင္မ်ားအႀကိဳက္လိုက္ေပါင္းၿပီး အားနည္းေသာ ျပည္သူလူထုကို အႏုိင္က်င့္အျမတ္ ထုတ္ေနတဲ့ ျဖစ္ရပ္ မ်ားမွာလည္းအမ်ားအျပားပါပဲ။ ဒီလိုျဖစ္ရပ္မ်ားဟာ အလြန္မွအ႐ုပ္ဆိုးအက်ည္းတန္လွပါတယ္။ ျပည္သူ႕၀န္ထမ္း ဆိုတာ ျပည္သူေတြရဲ႕ ယံုၾကည္ကိုးစားမႈရေအာင္၊ ျပည္သူေတြရဲ႕အျမင္မွာ အားကိုးသင့္ အားကိုးထိုက္သူျဖစ္ေအာင္ ျပည္သူ႕၀န္ထမ္း ဂုဏ္ကိုထိန္းသိမ္းသင့္ပါတယ္။
တိုင္းျပည္ဖြံ႕ၿဖိဳးတိုးတက္မႈအတြက္ အေရးႀကီးတဲ့ ေဒါက္တိုင္အျဖစ္ရပ္တည္ေနတဲ့ ျပည္သူ႕၀န္ထမ္းမ်ားဟာ မိမိတို႔ရဲ႕ေဒါက္တိုင္ တာ၀န္၀တၱရားမ်ားကို ေက်ပြန္စြာ ထမ္းေဆာင္ရမယ့္အျပင္ လက္ရွိအသိပညာဖြံ႕ၿဖိဳးမႈအားနည္းေနေသးတဲ့ျပည္သူလူထုရဲ႕ ေဒါက္တိုင္ကိုပါ ကူညီေထာက္ပံ့ေပးရမယ့္ အေနအထားျဖစ္ပါတယ္။ ဒါကို လ်စ္လ်ဴ႐ႈၿပီး မိမိတို႔အဆင္ ေျပသလို အခြင့္အေရးယူေနျခင္းဟာ တိုင္းျပည္တိုးတက္ဖို႔ အတြက္ အေႏွာင့္အယွက္ျဖစ္ေနၿပီလို႔ ျမင္တတ္ဖို႔ အေရးႀကီးလာပါၿပီ။
ဒီလို အသြင္ကူးေျပာင္းဆဲကာလအေရးႀကီးေသာ အခ်ိန္အခါမွာ ျပည္သူ႕၀န္ထမ္းမ်ားဟာ မိမိတို႔က်င့္ႀကံရမည့္ အျပဳအမူမ်ားနဲ႔ ထားရွိရမည့္စိတ္ဓာတ္ကို ရွင္းလင္း ျပတ္သားစြာနားလည္ဖို႔လိုအပ္ပါတယ္။ ျပည္သူ႔ဒီမိုကေရစီ ကို ကိုယ့္ဒီမို ကေရစီလို က်င့္သံုးခ်င္ေန တဲ့ ျပည္သူ႕၀န္ထမ္းမ်ားအေနနဲ႔ ယခု လိုအခ်ိန္ကာလမွာ အခ်ိန္မီျပင္ဆင္သင့္ေနပါၿပီ။ ျပည္သူလူထုကလည္း မိမိတို႔အဆင္မေျပ အခက္အခဲျဖစ္ေနေသာကိစၥရပ္မ်ားကို ရဲရဲ၀ံ့၀ံ့ေဖာ္ထုတ္အသိေပးဖို႔ လိုပါတယ္။ ထိေရာက္ႏိုင္ သည္ျဖစ္ေစ၊ မထိေရာက္ႏိုင္သည္ျဖစ္ေစ တရား၀င္လမ္းေၾကာင္းမွ ဆိုင္ရာသို႔တိုင္တန္းျခင္းကို တြန္႔ဆုတ္ေနဖို႔ မသင့္ပါဘူး။
တိုင္ၾကားခ်က္မ်ားကို အေရးတယူရွိမႈ တုံ႔ျပန္အေရးယူျခင္းတို႔ ထိေရာက္မႈ၊ မထိေရာက္မႈဆိုသည္မွာ မတရားျပဳက်င့္ခံရျခင္းအေပၚ မမွ်တစြာေဆာင္ရြက္ျခင္းအေပၚ မေက်နပ္မႈကို ေဖာ္ထုတ္ျပသသည့္ အႀကိမ္အေရအတြက္ႏွင့္ လူဦးေရေပၚတြင္လည္း မူတည္ေနပါတယ္။ လူအမ်ား၊ ျပည္သူအမ်ားက လက္မခံေတာ့ဘူးဆိုရင္ ပ်က္ယြင္းေနတဲ့အက်င့္စ႐ုိက္ေနေတြ၊ စိတ္ဓာတ္ေတြကို ျပည္သူ႔၀န္ထမ္းေတြအေနနဲ႔ လက္ခံက်င့္သံုးဖို႔ ရွက္ေၾကာက္တတ္လာမွာပါ။ အမွန္တရားကို ေဖာ္ထုတ္ရမွာ၊ တရားတေဘာင္ရင္ဆိုင္ရမွာ၊ မေက်နပ္ ခ်က္ေတြကို ဆိုင္ရာသို႔ ရဲရဲ၀ံ့၀ံ့တင္ျပရမွာေတြကို မေၾကာက္ရြံ႕ဖို႔ လိုအပ္ပါတယ္။
အစိုးရယႏၲရားရဲ႕ အျမင့္ဆံုးအဆင့္ဆင့္မွာေမာင္းႏွင္ေနေသာ ဦးေဆာင္သူမ်ားကို အသိေပးႏိုင္မွသာ ခ်ဳိ႕ယြင္းခ်က္ကို အခ်ိန္မီသိျမင္ျပဳျပင္ႏိုင္ၿပီး ေခတ္မီဖြံ႕ၿဖိဳးတိုးတက္ေသာႏိုင္ငံသစ္ဆီသို႔ ခ်ီတက္ႏိုင္မယ္လို႔ ျပည္သူလူထုအေနနဲ႔လည္း နားလည္
သေဘာေပါက္ထားဖို႔လိုအပ္ပါတယ္။ ျပႆနာေသးေသးပဲျဖစ္ျဖစ္၊ ႀကီးႀကီးပဲျဖစ္ျဖစ္ အဆင္ေျပသလို ခါးစည္းခံေနမယ္ဆိုရင္ မိမိတို႔အတြက္လည္းႀကီးစြာေသာ အခက္အခဲမ်ားႀကံဳေတြ႕ၿပီး တိုးတက္မႈမရရွိသလိုတိုင္းျပည္အတြက္လည္း အႀကီးအက်ယ္နစ္နာမႈႀကီးကို ပါ၀င္ပတ္သက္ေနသလို ျဖစ္ေနမယ္ဆိုတာ သိျမင္ထားရမွာျဖစ္ပါတယ္။
အစိုးရယႏၲရားရဲ႕ အဆင့္ဆင့္ေသာ တာ၀န္ရွိသူမ်ားကလည္း ျပည္သူ႕၀န္ထမ္းမ်ားအက်င့္ပ်က္အာဏာျပမႈမ်ားကို ျပတ္ျပတ္သား သားအေရးယူမွသာ ဖြင့္ဟေဖာ္ထုတ္လာေသာ ျပည္သူလူထုကို ပိုမိုဖြင့္ဟလာေအာင္ အားေပးရာေရာက္မွာ ျဖစ္ပါတယ္။ တိုင္သာတိုင္၏ အက်ဳိးမရွိ ျဖစ္ေနပါက လည္း ျပည္သူလူထု၏ ယံုၾကည္ကိုးစားမႈကို ရရွိႏုိင္မွာမဟုတ္ပါဘူး။ ရွင္းလင္းျပတ္သား ေသာလမ္းေၾကာင္းခ်ျပၿပီး ထိုလမ္းေၾကာင္း မွ ေသြဖည္ေနေသာ ျပည္သူ႔၀န္ထမ္းမ်ားကို ထိေရာက္ေအာင္ အေရးယူျခင္းျဖင့္ တိုင္းျပည္ရဲ႕ အဓိကေဒါက္တိုင္တစ္ခုျဖစ္တဲ့ ျပည္သူ႕၀န္ထမ္းမ်ားရဲ႕ အခန္းက႑ကို အျမန္ဆံုးျပဳျပင္လိုေစသျဖင့္ ေရးသားလိုက္ပါတယ္။
ႏုိင္ႏုိင္ေဇာ္
Source :7Day News Journal အတဲြ (၁၀)၊ အမွတ္(၄၄)
The Rohingya
Rohingya is a generic term referring to the Sunni Muslim inhabitants of Arakan, the historical name of a Myanmar border region which has a long history of isolation from the rest of the country. Since 1989, this region has been officially designated as the Rakhine State. However the majority of people of concern are from the northern part of the Rakhine State, from the three townships of Maungdaw, Buthidaung and Rathedaung.
It is thought that the Rohingya are of mixed ancestry, tracing their origins both to outsiders (Arabs, Moors, Turks, Persians, Moguls and Pathans) and to local Bengali and Rakhine. They speak a version of Chittagonian, a regional dialect of Bengali which is also used extensively throughout south-eastern Bangladesh.
The Rohingya are virtually friendless amongst Myanmar’s other ethnic, linguistic and religious communities. They were not formally recognized as one of the country’s official
national groups when the country gained independence in 1947, and they were excluded
from both full and associate citizenship when these categories were introduced by the 1982
Citizenship Act.
As well as being stateless, Myanmar’s Rohingyas are confronted with other forms of persecution, discrimination and exploitation. These include (but are not limited to) forced
labour, extortion, restriction on freedom of movement, the absence of residence rights,
inequitable marriage regulations and land confiscation. The Rohingya also have limited
access to secondary and tertiary education as well as other public services.
As a result of such deprivations, large numbers of Rohingya have left Myanmar and
taken up residence elsewhere. While there is a general lack of precision with respect to the
number of people involved, there are estimated to be up to 400,000 in Bangladesh, a similar
number in the Gulf states, some 200,000 in Pakistan, 20,000 in Thailand and 15,000 in
Malaysia. UNHCR estimates some 750,000 Rohingyaremain in northern Rakhine state and
other parts of Myanmar.
Rohingya is a generic term referring to the Sunni Muslim inhabitants of Arakan, the historical name of a Myanmar border region which has a long history of isolation from the rest of the country. Since 1989, this region has been officially designated as the Rakhine State. However the majority of people of concern are from the northern part of the Rakhine State, from the three townships of Maungdaw, Buthidaung and Rathedaung.
It is thought that the Rohingya are of mixed ancestry, tracing their origins both to outsiders (Arabs, Moors, Turks, Persians, Moguls and Pathans) and to local Bengali and Rakhine. They speak a version of Chittagonian, a regional dialect of Bengali which is also used extensively throughout south-eastern Bangladesh.
The Rohingya are virtually friendless amongst Myanmar’s other ethnic, linguistic and religious communities. They were not formally recognized as one of the country’s official
national groups when the country gained independence in 1947, and they were excluded
from both full and associate citizenship when these categories were introduced by the 1982
Citizenship Act.
As well as being stateless, Myanmar’s Rohingyas are confronted with other forms of persecution, discrimination and exploitation. These include (but are not limited to) forced
labour, extortion, restriction on freedom of movement, the absence of residence rights,
inequitable marriage regulations and land confiscation. The Rohingya also have limited
access to secondary and tertiary education as well as other public services.
As a result of such deprivations, large numbers of Rohingya have left Myanmar and
taken up residence elsewhere. While there is a general lack of precision with respect to the
number of people involved, there are estimated to be up to 400,000 in Bangladesh, a similar
number in the Gulf states, some 200,000 in Pakistan, 20,000 in Thailand and 15,000 in
Malaysia. UNHCR estimates some 750,000 Rohingyaremain in northern Rakhine state and
other parts of Myanmar.
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