Friday, October 30, 2009

ၾကယ္ေၾကြ သတို႔သား

တာရာမင္းေဝရဲ႕ ဇာပနမွာ ကိုမင္းကိုႏိုင္ ရြတ္ဆိုခဲ့တဲ့ "ၾကယ္ေၾကြ သတို႔သား" ကဗ်ာေလးကို မင္းကိုႏိုင္ေမြးေန႔ အမွတ္တရ တင္လိုက္ပါတယ္။

ကိုထိုက္






"ၾကယ္ေၾကြ သတို႔သား"




၁။ သူငယ္ခ်င္း

မင္းဟာ ယံုၾကည္ရာကို ရင္ေသြးလို ေမြးခဲ့တယ္။

၂။ သူငယ္ခ်င္း
မင္းဟာ
ဒဏ္ရာေတြကို ဆီမိးလို ထြန္းခဲ့တယ္

၃။ သူငယ္ခ်င္း

မင္းဟာ
ကိုယ့္အနာကို လွ်ာနဲ႔ျပန္သပ္
ရွင္ျပတတ္ခဲ့ၿပီးၿပီပဲ။

၄။ သူငယ္ခ်င္း
မင္းဟာ
ကိုယ့္အေရျပားကိုယ္လႊာ
ကိုယ့္အရိုးကိုယ္ အပ္လိုေသြး
ကိုယ္ဝတ္စံု ကိုယ္ခ်ဳပ္ခဲ့ရ
က်က်နန မင္းလွျပခဲ့ၿပီးၿပီပဲ။

၅။ သြားႏွင့္ သူငယ္ခ်င္း
ၾကယ္အစင္းစင္း ေၾကြေနတဲ့
ေဟာဒီကမာၻေျမရဲ႕ ဒဏ္ရာေတြကို
စြမ္းသမွ် ကုစားဖို႔
ငါတို႔ေနရစ္ခဲ့ဦးမယ္။

၆။ သြားႏွင့္ သူငယ္ခ်င္း
ေနအစင္းစင္းပူတဲ့
ကမာၻေျမရဲ႕ ဒဏ္ရာေတြကို
လက္ဖဝါးေတြနဲ႔ ကာကြယ္ဖို႔
ငါတို႔ ေနရစ္ခဲ့ဦးမယ္။

၇။ သြားႏွင့္သူငယ္ခ်င္း
ကမာၻေျမျပင္ရဲ႕ ေၾကကြဲျခင္းဓါတ္ျပားမွာ
မင္းကဗ်ာေတြ မာတိကာစီဖို႔
ငါတို႔ ေနရစ္ခဲ့ဦးမယ္။

၈။ သြားႏွင့္သူငယ္ခ်င္း
ေက်ာင္းနံရံတဝိုက္
ေဒါင္းအလံ ျပန္စိုက္မယ့္ တေန႔
ငါတို႔ ....။

မင္းကိုႏိုင္



(Read on the occasion of the death of Shwe Pone Lu a.k.a Taya Min Wai (writer) who died on 6th August 2007; Written and read by Min Ko Naing)


A shooting star


My friend
You nurtured what you believe like a baby

My friend
You lit up your agonies like a candelight

My friend
You licked your bruises and lived your days

My friend
You peeled your skin off
And sharpened your bones as if they wrer needles.
You made your own clothes
And smartly you showed them off.

Go ahead, my friend
To believe the pains
Of this world with many stars falling down
We have to live on

Go ahead, my friend
To protect ourselves with our hands from the pains
Of this world, under many scorching suns,
We have to live on.

Go ahead, my friend
To collect your poems
In Cry of the Earth
We have to live on

Go ahead, my friend
On the day we wave the flag of "fighting-peacock"
In our schools
We will ......


Posted by ကိုထိုက္ at 11:08
ကိုထုိက္ ဘေလာဒ္႔မွ ကူးယူတင္ၿပပါသည္

Arrests journalists, activists in crackdown


Myanmar authorities have arrested up to 50 people including journalists, political activists and students in a security crackdown this month in its biggest city, a Thailand-based human rights group said on Friday.

The arrests include 10 journalists along with a number of opponents to Myanmar's ruling military junta, said Bo Kyi, co-founder of the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a group of former detainees who track those behind bars.

"It's not clear why they were arrested. Their families were not given an explanation," said Bo Kyi.

Witnesses said the arrests coincide with a tightening of security across Yangon in recent days with a larger police presence on streets, more security check-points, police car-searches and tougher security at Buddhist monasteries.

Two years ago, the junta suspected monks of coordinating the biggest pro-democracy protests in 20 years, leading to a crackdown in which at least 31 people were killed.

At least seven people including two journalists were arrested by police and military intelligence officials at their homes around midnight on Tuesday, family and friends told Reuters.

They included Thant Zin Soe, an editor of local private weekly magazine, and Paing Soe Oo, a freelance reporter. The other five are university students in Yangon.

The seven are members of "Linlat Kyei," a group which helps survivors of last year's Cyclone Nargis, which killed nearly 140,000 people.

"We just don't know why they were arrested and their present whereabouts," said one source in Yangon, who asked not to be identified in fear of reprisals.

New York-based press watchdog the Committee to Protect Journalists condemned Paing Soe Oo's arrest and called for his immediate release, saying his arrest undermined the former Burma's claims of moving toward democracy.

"Burma's military government claims to be moving toward democracy, yet it continues to routinely arrest and detain journalists," Shawn Crispin, the group's senior Southeast Asia representative, said in a statement.

The crackdown comes ahead of a U.S. fact-finding delegation expected soon in Myanmar as part of an exploratory dialogue with the junta following the Obama administration's announcement in September it would pursue deeper engagement with Myanmar's military rulers to try to spur democratic reform.

New elections are scheduled for next year under the final stages of a seven-step "roadmap to democracy" drawn up by the junta. A new constitution guaranteeing the army control of the country was passed in a heavily criticized referendum last year.

Thursday, October 29, 2009

NONE-STOP ARREST IN BURMA


About a dozen people including journalists and Nargis Cyclone volunteer relief workers were arrested throughout October as the Burmese government cracked down on overseas private donations for cyclone victims.

According to Burmese journalists, authorities arrested at least 12 people in the past weeks, including eight journalists.

“As far as we know, at least 12 people were detained and eight journalists were among those arrested,” said a journalist based in Rangoon, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

A Burmese human rights group in exile, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners-Burma (AAPP), confirmed that since early October, Burmese authorities have conducted arrest raids on the homes of journalists and activists.

“We confirmed at least nine people were detained,” said Tate Naing, the secretary of the AAPP. “The number of arrests has increased recently. We are following the recent crackdown.”

Tate Naing said former pro-democracy activists were among those arrested.

According to sources in Rangoon, journalists Jay Paing, a freelance journalist; Thant Zin Soe, a news editor at Foreign Affairs; and Min Satta were identified as among those arrested.

However, when contacted by The Irrawaddy, an official at Living Color Media Group, the publisher of Foreign Affairs, said it had no information about whether Thant Zin Soe was arrested or had just disappeared.

“These days, Burmese intelligence agents are closely watching journalists,” said a Rangoon journalist.

Members of the independent relief group, Lin Lat Kyal, were among those arrested, allegedly for accepting relief donations from abroad.

A group of journalists and private citizens founded Lin Lat Kyal shortly after Cyclone Nargis hit Burma in May 2008. Authorities suspect that overseas Burmese students and Burmese living in Singapore and the United Kingdom fund the group with private donations.

A Lin Lat Kyal member said authorities told his arrested colleagues that they wanted information about the group.

In military-ruled Burma, most activities by independent relief works or civil society groups are not allowed by authorities. The regime requires such groups to be under the authority of government agencies or state-sponsored groups such as the Union Solidarity and Development Association.

Dozens of private citizens who responded to help the cyclone victims in the days following the disaster, including the well-known comedian Zarganar, have been arrested during the past two years. Currently, 19 arrested relief workers are being detained.

Sources said businessmen who conducted money remittance transactions were also among those detained recently.

“About seven people who were involved in remittance were taken away by the Special Branch,” said a Rangoon businessman, who spoke on condition of anonymity. He said government agents interrogated them to determine who had received funds from abroad.

In September, the Burmese regime granted amnesty to 7,114 prisoners. Human rights groups said 128 political prisoners were among those released. According to the AAPP, there are currently 2,119 political prisoners in Burma including 46 journalists.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

REWARDING BURMA REGIME


The Obama Administration is starting to worry about Burma's nuclear ambitions. That's the good news. The bad news is that the White House is taking the same failed tack it used with Tehran and Pyongyang and trying to cajole the generals out of their biggest potential bargaining chip.

Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell calls this policy "pragmatic engagement." In testimony to Congress last week, he confirmed the U.S. would soon send a "fact-finding" mission to Naypyidaw, possibly as early as next week. The delegation will discuss "alleged concerns associated with U.N. Resolution 1874," referring to this year's Security Council measure that forbids U.N. members from trading arms with North Korea.

The U.S. is right to pay attention to Burma's burgeoning relationship with Pyongyang. A U.S. destroyer trailed a North Korean military ship, the Kang Nam, for weeks earlier this year as it sailed toward Burma, presumably to deliver weapons. The regime has also built a series of tunnels near the capital which analysts say could be used for military operations or missile storage.

Mr. Campbell claims the dialogue, which comes after the U.S. hosted a high-level Burmese diplomat in September—will "test the intentions of the Burmese leadership and the sincerity of their expressed interest in a more positive relationship with the United States."

But by even showing up, the U.S. team would hand the generals a diplomatic victory. A visit by Mr. Campbell would be the highest-level U.S. delegation to visit Burma since Madeleine Albright's trip in 1995, when she was ambassador to the United Nations.

Meanwhile, the generals have shown no indication to change their behavior. Over the past few months, the regime has intensified its ethnic-cleansing campaign against minorities, placed Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest (again), and detained and tortured a U.S. citizen, Kyaw Zaw Lin, who has ties to the dissident community.

That makes Mr. Campbell's talk of increasing humanitarian aid premature and potentially very damaging. Burma has a highly restrictive environment where many aid groups are beholden to the state. USAID will already funnel some $28 million into Burma-related programs this year, about 40% of which will go directly inside the country.

To his credit, Mr. Campbell has said he would meet with imprisoned opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, ask the generals to release her and all political prisoners, and talk to the political opposition in preparation for elections next year.

But his very presence in Naypyidaw would send a message that the generals' embrace of North Korea is paying off handsomely. Other countries will take note of this lesson, too.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

ေခါင္ေဆာင္ႀကီးႏွစ္ဦးရဲ့ သမီး သမိုင္း၀င္ေတြ႔ဆံုခဲ့ႀကသည္


ရွားပါးသမိုင္း၀င္ဓာတ္ပံု)
http://bigbbrown.blogspot.com/


ဗမာျပည္လြတ္လပ္ေရးဗိသုကာႀကီး ဗိုလ္ခ်ဳပ္ေအာင္ဆန္း၏ သမီး ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္ႏွင့္ ဗမာျပည္၏ ထင္ရွားေသာ လက္နက္ကိုင္ေတာ္လွန္ေရးေခါင္းေဆာင္၊ ေတာင္သူလယ္သမားအေရးေတာ္ပံုမွ ေခါင္းေဆာင္ႀကီး ဂဠဳန္ဆရာစံ၏ သမီး ေဒၚစိန္တို႔ ေတြ႕ဆံုၾကစဥ္ျဖစ္သည္။

၁၉၇၁ ခုႏွစ္၊ ေဖေဖာ္၀ါရီလ၊ ေတာင္သူလယ္သမားေန႔ ခ်ီတက္ပြဲသို႔ ဆရာစံ၏ သမီး- ေဒၚစိန္ႏွင့္ ဆရာစံ၏ သား- ဦးေအး၊ ေျမး- ကိုေအာင္ေမာင္းတို႔ လာေရာက္စဥ္က ဗိုလ္ခ်ဳပ္ကေတာ္ ေဒၚခင္ၾကည္အိမ္တြင္ ဧည့္ခံစဥ္ ႀကံဳေတာင့္ႀကံဳခဲ ဆံုေတြ႕ၾကပံု။

(၁၅၊ ၃၊ ၁၉၇၁) ထုတ္ အိုးေ၀ဂ်ာနယ္၊ အိုးေ၀မွတ္တမ္းတင္ ဓာတ္ပံုသတင္းမွ ရယူမွ်ေ၀သည္။

Friday, October 23, 2009

UN RECORDS HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSE IN BURMA, N KOREA AND PALESTINIANS


Human rights violations in Myanmar are alarming, North Koreans are starving and living in continual fear and Palestinians are suffering amid Middle East tensions, U.N. rights envoys said on Thursday.

Special rapporteurs appointed by the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva described the human rights conditions in each country to a meeting of the 192 U.N. member states.

While Myanmar rights envoy Tomas Ojea Quintana was able to visit the military-ruled Asian country twice, communist North Korea denied entry to envoy Vitit Muntarbhorn and envoy Richard Falk was stopped by Israel from entering Palestinian areas.

"The situation of human rights in Myanmar remains alarming. There is a pattern of widespread and systematic violations which in many conflict areas results result in serious abuses of civilian rights and integrity," Quintana said.

"The prevailing impunity allows for the continuation of violations," he added.

He also criticized the military junta for keeping opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi detained. Western officials fear the government wants to keep her under house arrest during next year's election so that she is unable to run.

Myanmar's representative, who U.N. officials identified as Thaung Tun, described Quintana's report as less than objective, saying insurgents and anti-government groups had been given a "sympathetic ear" and that all the allegations made "should be taken with a grain of salt."

He said steps were being taken to organize 2010 elections in the country, which he said would be "free and fair."

Myanmar also reprimanded the United States and Britain during the meeting for referring to the country by its former name, Burma, while North Korea admonished the United States for not calling it DPRK -- Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

"PERVASIVE REPRESSION"

In North Korea, envoy Muntarbhorn said the food aid situation was desperate with the World Food Program only able to feed about one third of the people in need. He said torture is extensively practiced and described prisons as purgatory.

"Freedoms associated with human rights and democracy, such as the freedom to choose one's government, freedom of association, freedom of expression ... privacy and freedom of religion are flouted on a daily basis by the nature and practices of the regime in power," he said.

"The pervasive repression imposed by the authorities ensures the people live in continual fear and are impressed to inform on each other," he said. "The state practices extensive surveillance over its inhabitants."

North Korea's deputy U.N. ambassador Pak Tok Hun rejected the report and said the country, which has also drawn international condemnation for nuclear and missile tests, was being "singled out for sinister political purposes."

Falk's report on the Palestinian territories focused on human rights concerns related to issues including the war in December and January between Islamist militant group Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, as well as Israel's construction of a land barrier and disputed housing settlements.

He said an Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip means "insufficient basic necessities are reaching the population."

Falk also spoke of the "unlawful, noncooperation" of Israel which prevented him from visiting the Palestinian territories. Israel did not respond to Falk's reports at the meeting.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Regime blocks ASEAN appeal for Suu Kyi amnesty


Burma's Regime has scuttled a plan by fellow ASEAN members to issue a public appeal seeking amnesty for detained pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, a diplomatic source said Tuesday.

"They rejected it two months ago. They rejected the idea," the Southeast Asian diplomat told AFP just days before the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders hold their annual summit in Thailand this weekend.

The source, who asked not to be named, said that while Suu Kyi's plight could not be put on the formal ASEAN agenda, Myanmar could still be discussed during a closed-door "retreat" in which some of the leaders could call for her release.

They could also ask that her party be allowed to contest elections planned for next year, the diplomat added.

The diplomat said he understood that a number of other countries backed Myanmar's position that a public appeal for amnesty for Suu Kyi would amount to interference in its domestic affairs.

Myanmar had vetoed previous efforts to use ASEAN meetings to openly discuss Suu Kyi's fate.

ASEAN senior officials who met in Jakarta in August had agreed to work on an amnesty call for the Nobel Peace laureate convicted in August for allowing an American man stay in her lakeside home after he swam uninvited to the compound.

The 64-year-old Suu Kyi, who has spent around 14 of the past 20 years in detention, got an extra 18 months' house arrest, which provoked international outrage.

Last month, Myanmar judges rejected Suu Kyi's appeal against the sentence.

Suu Kyi led her National League for Democracy to a landslide victory in elections in 1990, but the junta has refused to recognise the result.

Myanmar's military rulers are planning elections next year as part of promised democratic reforms, but critics have demanded that Suu Kyi and her party should be allowed to participate.

As well as Myanmar, ASEAN also groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

MORE BUDDHIST MONKS ARRESTED


Sources familiar with the Sangha, the institution of monks nationwide, said 13 monks from Meiktila and 10 monks from Kyaukpadaung townships in Mandalay Division were arrested in late September, in an effort by the military junta to discourage or break up potential demonstrations by monks.

An official in Meiktila who requested anonymity said monks from the Nagar Yone Monastery in the township were among those arrested.

A Burmese human rights group in exile, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners-Burma (AAPP), confirmed that dozens of monks were arrested in the past two months.

“More than 20 monks were detained throughout September,” Bo Kyi, the joint-secretary of the AAPP, told The Irrawaddy on Thursday. “We’ve gotten reports of seven monks arrested recently.”

The AAPP said the recent arrests took place in Arakan State, and Rangoon, Mandalay and Magwe divisions.

There are 224 monks among the 2,119 political prisoners in Burma, said the AAPP, not including the recent arrests.

In September, the Burmese regime announced an amnesty for prisoners. The number of political prisoners released totaled 127, including four monks, of the 7,114 prisoners who received amnesty.

The All Burma Monks’ Alliance, which led the 2007 demonstrations, has renewed its call for the regime to apologize for the beating and arrests of monks in Pakokku two years ago and to release all monks who were imprisoned during the subsequent crackdown.

The monks set an Oct. 3 deadline for the regime to respond, saying that if there is no apology, monks will start another boycott of alms offered by all military and government personnel, known in Buddhism as “patta ni kozana kan.”

Burmese authorities responded to the monks’ call by increasing security in Rangoon early this month.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Eleven political activists, including one Buddhist monk, were sentenced in Rangoon (Insein Prison)


Eleven political activists, including one Buddhist monk, were sentenced to between five and 10 years on Tuesday at Rangoon Northern District Court in Insein Prison.
The court also passed down a sentence in absentia on two monks, Ashin Pyinnya Jota and Ashin Sandardika, from the All Burma Monks’ Alliance, who have fled abroad.
Sources close to prison authorities in Insein told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that Ashin Sandimar (aka Tun Naung), Kyaw Zin Min (aka Zaw Moe), Wunna Nwe and Zin Min Shein were sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for violating the Explosives Law (Section 3) and the Unlawful Association Law (Section 6).
Meanwhile, Saw Maung, Aung Moe Lwin, Moe Htet Nay, Tun Lin Aung, Zaw Latt, Naing Win and Tun Lin Oo were sentenced to five years for violating Section 6.
In 2008, Ashin Sandimar, Wunna Nwe and Saw Maung were sentenced to eight years imprisonment for violating the Immigration Act (13/1) and the Illegal Organization Act (17/1), while Zin Min Shein and Tun Lwin Aung are already serving 13-year sentences for other offences related to political activities.
Therefore, Ashin Sandimar, Wunna Nwe and Tun Lwin Aung have now been convicted and sentenced to 18 years each, while Saw Maung has received 13 years, and Zin Min Shein a total of 23 years.
Bo Kyi, the joint-secretary of the Thailand-based rights group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma), said, “We can say with certainty there was no free and fair verdict. They [the activists] were tortured during interrogation and were forced to admit violating these acts.”
Sources have said that some of the activists—perhaps even some of those already behind bars—tried to organize demonstrations on the second anniversary of the Saffron Revolution in September, but the authorities caught them and accused them of belonging to illegal organizations, of being terrorists, and of planning to create unrest.
Meanwhile, Burmese-American activist Nyi Nyi Aung (aka Kyaw Zaw Lwin), who was arrested in early September at Rangoon Airport, appeared in court for the first time on Wednesday.
“He has been accused of violating the Cheating Offence - Section 420, and forgery,” said his lawyer, Nyan Win.
Shortly after the arrest of Nyi Nyi Aung, 16 ethnic Arakan youths were arrested—seven in Rangoon and the others in Sittwe, the capital of Arakan State. They were accused of maintaining links with the Thailand-based All Arakan Students’ and Youths’ Congress.
According to Assistance Association for Political Prisoner (Burma), 2,119 political prisoners are being held in prisons across the country.

Friday, October 9, 2009

Detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi to meet Western diplomats on Friday


ruling junta allowed detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi to meet Western diplomats on Friday, a week after she asked for talks about sanctions on the isolated country.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner was driven to a state guesthouse where she talked for an hour with the deputy heads of the U.S. and Australian missions and the ambassador of Britain, which represented the European Union.

It was the third time in six days Myanmar's military rulers have allowed Suu Kyi to attend meetings outside her lakeside home, where she is held under house arrest.

The Australian government said the meeting was organized by Myanmar's rulers at Suu Kyi's request to gather information on Western sanctions that could be used in her talks with the junta.

Australia's charge d'affaires in Yangon, Simon Starr, conveyed a message of support for Suu Kyi's "struggle for democracy," an Australian statement said, describing the meeting as a "positive step" for both Myanmar's authorities and Suu Kyi.

"The message expressed the hope that her sacrifice would in time lead to a better Burma," the statement said, using the country's former name, adding that the 64-year-old National League for Democracy (NLD) party leader appeared in good health.

Suu Kyi has been detained for 14 of the last 20 years and had her house arrest extended by 18 months in August for letting an American intruder stay at her home for two days.

She met Labor Minister Aung Kyi, the designated junta go-between, on Saturday and Wednesday. It was not known what was discussed in either of the meetings.

"We look forward to hearing directly from Aung San Suu Kyi, her views regarding the situation in Burma," said a U.S. diplomat.

Analysts and Suu Kyi's party, which she has not been in contact with, said they believe the meeting was related to her recent offer to work with the reclusive regime to lobby for the lifting of sanctions, which critics say have failed.

Suu Kyi, daughter of Myanmar independence hero General Aung San, has voiced support for a recent change in approach by the United States, which has opted for engagement with Myanmar under the Obama administration, but with its embargoes still in place.

U.S. sanctions were imposed in 1988, when the army that has ruled Myanmar since a 1962 coup violently crushed pro-democracy demonstrations, killing an estimated 3,000 people.

The EU has had sanctions in place since 1996. They were further tightened after a harsh crackdown on monk-led protests in 2007. Australia has visa restrictions on the regime and a ban on defense exports.

Critics say the extension of Suu Kyi's house arrest was intended to minimize her influence on next year's elections, the first since 1990 when her NLD won but was never allowed to rule.

(Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by Jason Szep and Bill Tarrant)

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Switzerland Supports Arm Embargo on Burma military ruler


A veteran Burmese politician on Wednesday appreciated Switzerland’s commitment to support the United Nations arms embargo on Burma’s military regime, even as campaigners seek to shore up a global consensus to overcome opposition by Russia and China at the Security Council.

Switzerland on Monday in a statement said it supports a global arms embargo against Burma’s military rulers and called on all nations to stop exporting armaments to the regime.

Win Tin, a central executive committee member of Burma’s opposition party – the National League for Democracy – echoed Switzerland’s stand saying “Global arms embargo is the best punishment for the ruling regime as it does not impact the people but has a lot of effect on the junta.”

“By having an arms embargo, the people lose nothing but the regime will lose bullets or weapons to suppress the people,” he added.

But he said, he feared that the campaign for a global arms embargo might not be able to overcome the Burmese junta’s allies Russia and China at the UN Security Council, as the two veto wielding countries had earlier blocked a UNSC resolution on Burma in January 2007.

Switzerland, which had introduced an arms embargo on Burma in October 2000, on Monday became the 31st country to join campaigners call to support a global arms embargo on Burma.

The embargo is in keeping with the European Union sanctions against Burma and is being periodically updated, said the statement but called on other countries to stop exporting arms to Burma as only a common action could be effective.

“Thus, Switzerland would welcome and support a coordinated initiative by the European Union and the US at the UN level to stop arms exports to Myanmar [Burma]," the statement said.

Burma Campaign UK said it is working with other campaign groups in building a global consensus on arms embargo on Burma.

Mark Farmaner, Director of the Burma Campaign UK said, despite the US and EU arms embargo, several countries including China, Russia, India, and Israel are continuing to export armaments to the Burmese regime, who use the weapons to crackdown on dissidents.

But Farmaner said the campaign has gained much support though there is still fear that Russia and China would oppose any move at the UNSC to adopt an arms embargo.

“They are going to be the big problem. The only way we can persuade China and Russia not to use veto is to isolate them as the only countries against arms embargo,” Farmaner said.

But he also stressed that in pushing the Burmese regime to implement change, every possible pressure including political, economic and prosecution for crime against humanity, need to be used.

Burma: Playing Games with Super Powers


Burmese generals are playing with China, the United States and the United Nations since its came into power in 1988 for their own benefit to cling on political power. The US and China need to think it is more beneficial for them to find a way and work together for the emergence of democratic governance in Burma for the long run, rather than thinking of how to influence the current military regime which has no interest on its own people and the development of the country.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said at a regular press briefing. "As Myanmar's (Burma's) neighbor, China hopes to see stability and economic development in Myanmar and China always adopts a policy of non-interference”.
China has been the sole protector for the Burmese military regime since it came into power in 1988. China explained to the world that the Burmese regime has the ability to maintain stability of the country. But when 20,000 Kokant Chinese refugees from Burma fled to China on August 28, 2009 , the Chinese regime may need to rethink about their “stability” theory. Is the regime really maintaining stability in the country? Or Burma is like a sleeping volcano, and can erupt any time any moment?

China-Burma relation strained when the Burmese Socialist government created anti-Chinese riots to divert the rice shortage in Burma in 1967 . Many Chinese were killed by the hungry mob and the Chinese Embassy was surrounded by thousands of people. China withdrew its Ambassador and gave tons of arms and ammunition to the Communist Party of Burma (CPB) to punish the so-called Burmese socialist regime.

CPB recruited ethnic Wa, Kachins, and Kokang as their soldiers. Some Wa’s, Kachins and Kokang leaders were sent to Beijing to attend communist cadre classes. The growing of ethnic based communist troops gave an opportunity to the Wa ethnic minority’s group to rise as one of the strongest ethnic resistance groups in Burma after they split with CPB.

On September 18, 1988 the military leaders brutally crushed the nation-wide demonstrations spearheaded by university students. After that incident, China-Burma relations changed dramatically. The West and the US fully supported the 1988 demonstrations which demanded for democratic government and multi party system. On the other hand, Chinese government totally supported the Burmese regime which has a similar style of dictatorial rule in China.

The newly formed military regime announced that they are going to a democratic system and promised to change the close door economic system to an open economic system. Burma’s neighboring countries jumped into the bandwagon to take the lion share from Burma’s rich natural resources, logging, fishing, mining, and gas explorations.

Among them China was the regime’s favorite ally and the most beneficial. China–Burma border was open and trade between the two countries soared from millions to billions. The flow of Chinese immigrants and merchants were unbelievable like a human stream flowing into Burma. Before 1988, Chinese influence in Burma reached to Lasho in Shan states, which is made of 80% Chinese population. But after 1988 the cultural city of Burma; Mandalay, was quickly occupied by the Chinese migrants and local Burmese people were pushed to the out skirts. Burmese immigration offices in China-Burma border became rich by allowing Chinese immigrants into Burma and issuing them as Burmese citizens though they only spoke Chinese.

David I Steinberg wrote “Burmese officials indicate there may be two million illegal Chinese in Myanmar and perhaps half a million Chinese registered with the government. This would be about five percent of the population.”
In his last paragraph Steinberg predicts regarding Burma-China relations that “The Chinese government needs to understand that if they do not push discretely but intensely for economic and political reforms in their own national interests, they may lose out in the longer term.”
Now Than Shwe wants to show its softer face to the USA by attacking Kokang cease fire groups. He also met with the US senator Jim Webb. As a result, Jim Webb was able to take back his country man John Yettaw who unofficially swam across the lake to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi.
Majority of the CPB leadership were Burmese and they were seen as a dominant majority race by ethnic groups including Was, Kokants and Kachins. CPB mutiny erupted in 1989 starting from Kokant leadership led by Phun Kya Shin and was followed by the Wa’s and Kachins.
Ethnic resistance groups are solely dependent on Burma’s neighboring countries, such as China, Thailand, India and Bangladesh. Kachins, Kokang and Wa’s follow what China directed to them and Karens, Karennis, Lahus, Shans, Paos and Mons depend on Thailand for medicines, food, and illegal arms trade. In the same fashion, Chins and Nagas accept what India wants.
Under the Socialist regime Burma practiced closed door economic system which indirectly boosted the black market trade. The unofficial black market border trade between Burma and its neighboring countries flourished between 1962 to 1988. The ethnic resistance groups were well connected with border trade and financially benefitted from it. Competition between different ethnic groups to control the border trade was the main interest for them. Ethnic resistance groups lost their goals for autonomy and enjoyed collecting tax from the black market trade. Ethnic leaders were well treated by the Thais, Chinese and Indians because they were the one who controlled the border trade.
When 1988 nation-wide demonstration occurred, the Karen National Union (KNU) and the New Mon State Party (NMSP) fought each other to control the border trade in Three Pagoda Pass, rather than planning to support the movement inside Burma. This incident proved that there was no strategic planning to achieve their goal for autonomy when the government was temporarily paralyzed by the nation-wide demonstrations.
But after the Burmese regime opened up the economy, the relationship between the Thais and ethnic resistance groups has changed. Thais saw that directly dealing with the military regime was far more beneficial than dealing with ethnic resistance groups. Karen leaders were harassed by the Thai authorities while traveling within Thailand, while in the past were given VIP status. Thais imposed a lot of restrictions on resistance leaders from Burma to please the Burmese military regime, in return getting logging and fishing concessions and later gas deals with Burma.
On the other hand, the ethnic Wa, Kokang, Shans and Kachins split from CPB and reached a cease fire agreement where favored by the regime. They were free to travel in the country and free to do business. This is the significant progress for the ethnic resistance groups living along the China-Burma border. The Wa’s, Kachins, Shans and Kokang along the china border emerged as business partners with the military generals. As a result, opium production soared in the China-Burma and Thai-Burma border. Burmese regime denied that they are not involved in opium trade but after Kokang group was rooted out, they blamed the Kokang leader as an opium warlord. To eliminate the Wa, Kachin and Mongla groups, the regime needed to name them as opium warlords in front of the international arena. It is the best way to persuade the USA to support them to curb the opium production.
But the Burmese generals have no intention to let the cease fire groups free-roaming around the country for life; they are planning to control the whole country after their planned 2010 election. After 2010 there will be no ethnic armies existent in Burma. The only army standing tall will be the Burmese Army which controls the whole country as a dominant institution. Under the new constitution they will get amnesty for their crimes against humanity and human rights violations. Then the generals and their cronies will control politics and economy for decades to come.
To eliminate the ethnic armies they have to make a deal with the Chinese because Wa, KoKang, and Kachin are recognized as ethnic people from China and if the war broke out in China-Burma border, tens and thousands will flee from Burma into China and it will be a big headache for the Chinese to deal with the refugees. The current warning from Chinese authority to the Burmese counterpart is not to harm its citizens. China demands for those who abused the Chinese inside Burma to be persecuted. They’ve called the Chinese citizens from eastern Burma to return to China as soon as possible, proving to us that the Chinese government is concerned about the shaky situation in Burma.
If China agreed to close its eyes, the Burmese troops will be roaming into Wa and Kachin regions to eliminate the ethnic armies. The Burmese will do it in the near future but if China did not approve the ethnic cleansing, Burmese generals need to find a super power which will balance the Chinese power in Asia. It turn out the US is their best option to approach. But China might likely close its eyes if the Burmese offensive starts against the ethnic cease fire groups because China needs gas from Burma urgently for its growing economy and short cut transportation from Burma’s sea to its land locked Yunan province.
The Burmese generals will explain Chinese leaders that Burma needs only one army and they have to get rid of the ethnic armies to consolidate the power for stability and peace. They will promise not to harm the Chinese citizens when war breaks out but within the war a lot of innocent Chinese citizens will die together with the ethnic troops.
On the other hand, they will deal with the high ranking US officials like Senator Jim Webb for backing them to eliminate the ethnic cease fire groups. The regime likes to approach Senator Jim Webb because he was the one who strongly opposed sanction. Even though economic sanction is not directly effective on regime change, it is hurting the regime to some extent. The only thing the regime wants to deal with the US is to show the Burmese people that they have no hope to fight back because now the strong critic like the US government is on their side by using pictures of high ranking US officials shaking hands with General Than Shwe and his cabinet members in their propaganda newspapers and TV stations.
In reality the regime does not care for sanction or western help. They do not care about the country’s economy or its people who are struggling for survival. The only thing they care about is how to use the super powers for their own benefit to cling onto political power. In 2008 Cyclone Nergis proved that the regime did not care about the people, helping the cyclone victims were far less important than maintaining the political power.
The regime used US special Envoy Rezali Ismail to buy time by promising him they would start a dialogue with opposition party National League for Democracy but years passed by without one dialogue.
They will name the cease fire groups as drug kingpins in the near future when the war breaks out. Kokang leader Phum Kya Shin was praised as a nationalist hero when he reached a cease-fire agreement with the regime. But after he refused to transform his army to a border guard he was attacked and named as a drug lord.
In conclusion, both China and USA need to know the mentality of the regime and work together as a team to change Burma as a democratic country. China will get more benefit under democratic Burma rather than favoring and supporting the notorious military regime. Aung San Suu Kyi said China and Burma have a long history of mutual relationship and she intends to keep it as a good neighbor. Burma has no capacity to threat China when it is changed as a democratic nation and it will be less of a headache for China to deal with a democratic government. Under democratic rule in Burma, ethnic issues will be solved on peaceful negotiation rather than using force to fight each other.
The US needs to keep in mind that ASEAN constructive engagement has failed and so did the sanction. The new approach not only needs engagement but also to find and support real potential leaders and not Burmese Chalabis. There are potential leaders who have commitment and capacity to change Burma as a democratic state. Leaders of 88 Generation have come of age and they are ready to lead the country. The US needs to support those leaders in exile with financial, technological, and training for change in Burma rather supporting corrupt so called leaders in Exile who could not show progress within two decades.
BY HTUN AUNG GYAW

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

JAPANESE ENGAGING POLICY ON BURMA (UPDATE)


In an abrupt shift in policy toward Burma, the U.S. government has decided to embark upon direct dialogue with the military junta.

Ever since the military coup 21 years ago, the United States has maintained severe sanctions against the ruling junta in an effort to get the generals to embrace democracy. Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi remains under house arrest, and many others are being held as political prisoners. The junta appears to be tightening its autocratic rule ahead of general elections scheduled for next year.

Why then has the United States chosen this juncture to try to engage Burma in dialogue? Presumably, Washington is concerned that if Burma is left to do as it pleases, the country will become a serious destabilizing factor in world affairs.

New suspicions arose earlier this year that Burma could be building nuclear facilities with the help of North Korea. In June, a North Korean vessel suspected of carrying weapons forbidden under U.N. sanctions was tracked by U.S. forces. The vessel's destination was believed to have been Burma.

If the junta decides to try its hand at developing nuclear weapons, U.S. policy toward Asia would be uprooted from its foundations. There are fears that drug cultivation would spread. Another concern is China's growing influence in the region.

The United States is determined to maintain sanctions while simultaneously opening up a window for dialogue. We hope the U.S. initiative will advance the democratization process. Nothing should be taken for granted, however.

In an address to the recent U.N. General Assembly, Gen. Thein Sein, who holds the title of prime minister in Burma, called for all sanctions to be lifted. This can be read as an announcement of his intentions to hold the elections under the current military leadership and to continue de facto military rule. To begin with, Burma's new Constitution that was adopted last year is designed to aid and abet the military. It stipulates that a quarter of the seats in the parliament should be allocated to military personnel.

Burma's general election must be held in a fair and democratic manner.

The government must allow the opposition National League for Democracy, led by Suu Kyi, to freely participate. The international community will not accept a result in which power is transferred to a democratic government in name only, while real power remains in the hands of the junta.

If Burma truly wishes to return to the international fold, the junta should explain clearly, through dialogue with the United States, how it intends to move toward democratization.

The Japanese government's diplomatic stance on Burma has been to use the carrot and the stick approach. It has placed a basic freeze on all new aid programs while issuing a standing invitation to a Cabinet member from Burma to visit Japan for talks. But this approach has failed to ease the regime's oppression.

Restoring democracy to Burma will be in the interest of not just Japan but the entire Asian region. Such a development would block the possibility of military cooperation with North Korea.

Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada met with his Burmese counterpart last weekend and issued a strongly worded call for Suu Kyi's release and the holding of a free general election. Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, a member of a lawmakers' group that supports Burma's democratization, has spoken over the phone with Suu Kyi. Japan should seize the opportunity offered by the U.S. turnaround in policy toward Burma. It should work together with the United States, China and Southeast Asian countries to strengthen diplomatic pressure against the military regime and urge it to change.

Monday, October 5, 2009

JUNTA TAKES CONFESSION FOR ITS NUCLEAR AMBITION


Japan said on Saturday it had been assured by military-ruled Burma that it was not developing nuclear weapons even though it was working with Russia on a nuclear energy programme.

Burma has remained tight-lipped about its nuclear plans, despite speculation it has been receiving help from North Korea to build nuclear facilities near its remote capital with the intent of developing a weapon.

Burma's Foreign Minister Nyan Win told his Japanese counterpart Katsuya Okada that his country was seeking Russia's expertise, but only in developing a peaceful energy programme for its people.

"(Nyan Win) told Japan's foreign minister that Myanmar has no intention to have a nuclear weapon," Japan's Foreign Ministry spokesman Kazuo Kodama told reporters on the sidelines of a Mekong-Japan ministerial meeting in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

"Myanmar has conducted a consultation to have assistance from Russia for a peaceful use of nuclear energy."

Kazuo did not say if the issue of any nuclear links with North Korea was discussed.

Academic researchers said in August Burma was building a secret nuclear reactor and plutonium facility in caves tunnelled into a mountain, citing intelligence from two defectors.

The defectors also said Burma, which has known reserves of uranium ore, had provided refined "yellowcake" processed uranium that can be used as nuclear fuel to Iran and North Korea.

The isolated country has been under Western sanctions for two decades and analysts say a nuclearised Burma could trigger an arms race in the region.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said at a security forum in Thailand in July that she was concerned about the possible transfer of nuclear technology to Burma from North Korea.

In reference to ties between North Korea and Burma, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell, the top U.S. diplomat for Asia, said there were "some signs that that cooperation has extended into areas that would be prohibited".

However, many analysts have said evidence of attempts to develop nuclear weapons is scant and have questioned the reliability of the defectors' information.

Junta's minister holds talks with Suu Kyi


Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi held a rare meeting with a minister from the ruling junta on Saturday, a government source said, a week after she offered to work for withdrawal of sanctions on the country.

The unannounced meeting between Suu Kyi and Relations Minister Aung Kyi took place at a government guest house near her lakeside home in Rangoon, according to officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, was driven to the meeting in a police motorcade, the officials said. Details of the talks were not immediately known.

"The meeting lasted about 50 minutes, but I don't know what was discussed," an official from the Home Ministry, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters.

It was initially unclear about where the impromptu talks took place, and Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party said it was not told in advance.

Suu Kyi last week made a formal offer to the regime to help negotiate with Western nations to lift sanctions on the country, which critics say have been largely ineffective.

The United States on Tuesday held talks with representatives of the Burmese government but emphasized that the lifting of sanctions would be a mistake.

Aung Kyi, who is also the junta's Relations Minister, has met with Suu Kyi on six previous occasions, the last time in January 2008.

The meeting came a day after a Rangoon court upheld a guilty verdict on Suu Kyi for a security breach committed in May, meaning she will remain under house until after next year's elections, the first in the former Burma since 1990.

DIALOGUE WELCOMED

"I believe it could be related to the letter sent last week to the senior general," said Suu Kyi's lawyer Nyan Win, who is also a spokesman for her opposition party.

"We don't yet know exactly what was discussed, but we welcome this dialogue," he told Reuters, adding that a Home Ministry official he met with on Friday did not tell him a meeting was being planned.

On his last visit two weeks ago, the doctor said Suu Kyi had low blood pressure, but after Friday's visit said she was well, Nyan Win said.

Suu Kyi, 64, the daughter of the late independence hero Aung San, has been in detention for 14 of the last 20 years, mostly held at her home next to the Inya lake.

Critics say her latest stint of house arrest, for allowing an American intruder to stay for two nights at her home, was a ploy to minimize her threat and keep her away from next year's polls.

Analysts say the vote, the first in Burma in two decades, will likely entrench nearly 50 years of army rule, with key ministries remaining under military control and parliament likely to be dominated by retired generals and junta cronies.

In a rare public comment, Burma's reclusive Foreign Minister Nyan Win said the junta was yet to decide on when the long-awaited and widely dismissed polls will take place.

"Our government will release a possible date later," he told reporters on Saturday on the sidelines of the Mekong-Japan Foreign Ministers meeting in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

"Will it be free and fair or not, so far, nobody can judge. After the election will be held you can judge it if that is free and fair or not," he added when asked if the polls would be legitimate.

In a joint statement released during the meeting of Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, Japan and Burma, the ministers said they "believed the upcoming general elections would be transparent, democratic and inclusive," and commended Burma for its recent release of more than 7,000 prisoners.

နအဖေခါင္းေဆာင္ႀကီး သန္းေရႊႏွင့္ မိသားစုအား ဗုဒၶဘာသာအျဖစ္မွ ထုတ္ပယ္ကာ သာသနာဖ်က္ မိစၦာဒိ႒ိအျဖစ္ သတ္မွတ္လိုက္ျခင္း။

ျပည္တြင္းျပည္ပ သိမ္အသီးသီးတြင္ ပတၱနိကၠဳဇၨနကမၼ၀ါရြတ္ဆုိ၍ ေအာင္ျမင္စြာ သပိတ္ေမွာက္ ႏိုင္ျခင္းနွင့္ န.အ.ဖ စစ္အုပ္စုတြင္ တာ၀န္အရွိဆုံး ဦးသန္းေရႊအား ဗုဒၶဘာသာအျဖစ္မွ ထုတ္ပယ္ကာ သာသနာဖ်က္ မိစၦာဒိ႒ိအျဖစ္ သတ္မွတ္သည္။

သံဃာေတာ္အရွင္သူျမတ္မ်ားဘုရား -

န.အ.ဖ စစ္အုပ္စုသည္ ၁၉၉၀ ျပည့္ ပထမအႀကိမ္ ပတၱနိကၠဳဇၨနကမၼ၀ါစာရြတ္ဆုိ၍ သတိေပး တားျမစ္ပါေသာ္လည္း ၀န္ခ်ေတာင္းပန္ျခင္း မရွိသည့္အျပင္ ေထရ္ႀကီး၀ါႀကီး ဆရာေတာ္ႀကီးမ်ား၊ တိပိဋကဓရ ဆရာေတာ္ႀကီးမ်ားကုိပင္ ေထာင္ခ်ႏွိပ္စက္သတ္ျဖတ္ခဲ့ပါသည္။

၂၀၀၇ ခုႏွစ္ စက္တင္ဘာလတြင္ ဒုတိယအႀကိမ္္ ပတၱနိကၠဳဇၨနကမၼ၀ါစာရြတ္ဆုိ၍ သတိေပး တားျမစ္ပါေသာ္လည္း ၀န္ခ်ေတာင္းပန္ျခင္း မရွိသည့္အျပင္ ေက်ာင္းတုိက္ေပါင္း ၆၀ ေက်ာ္ကုိ သူပုန္စခန္းစီးသလုိ ၀င္စီးကာ ေသနတ္နွင့္ပစ္သတ္၊ ၀ါးရင္းဒုတ္နွင့္ ႐ိုက္သတ္ အတင္းအဓမၼဖမ္းဆီး ေခၚေဆာင္သြားကာ ေထာင္ခ်ႏွိပ္စက္ေနသည့္အတြက္ ၂၀၀၉ ခု ေအာက္တုိဘာလ ၃ရက္ သီတင္းကြ်တ္လျပည့္ ပ၀ါရဏာေန႔တြင္ ျပည္တြင္း၊ ျပည္ပသိမ္အသီးသီး၌ တတိယအႀကိမ္ ပတၱနိကၠဳဇၨန ကမၼ၀ါစာရြတ္ဆုိကာ ေအာင္ျမင္စြာ သပိတ္ေမွာက္ ႏုိင္ခဲ့ပါသည္။

န.အ.ဖ စစ္အုပ္စုတြင္ တာ၀န္အရွိဆုံးျဖစ္ေသာ ဦးသန္းေရႊသည္ ဗုဒၶဘာသာ၀င္မွန္ပါက သံဃာေတာ္မ်ား ေတာင္းဆုိထားေသာ အခ်က္ကုိ လုိက္နာရမည္ ျဖစ္ပါသည္။ ယခုအခါ မလုိက္နာသည့္အျပင္ ဆက္လက္၍ ဖမ္းဆီး၊ ေထာင္ခ်၊ ႏွိပ္စက္၊ ညွင္းပမ္း၊ သတ္ျဖတ္ေနသည့္အတြက္ ဦးသန္းေရြႊ+ေဒၚႀကိဳင္ႀကိဳင္နွင့္ သူ၏မိသားစုတစ္ခုလုံးအား ဗုဒၶဘာသာအျဖစ္မွ ထုတ္ပယ္လုိက္သည္။ ဦးသန္းေရႊအား သာသနာကုိ ဖ်က္ဆီးေနေသာ မိစၦာဒိ႒ိ အျဖစ္ သတ္မွတ္လုိက္သည္။

ႏုိင္ငံေတာ္ကုိ အသက္ေပးကာကြယ္ေစာင့္ေရွာက္ရန္ တပ္မေတာ္သုိ႔ ၀င္ေရာက္လာၾကေသာ တပ္မေတာ္သားမ်ားအား အထူးေမတၱာရပ္ပါသည္။

ဦးသန္းေရႊသည္ ႏုိင္ငံေတာ္ကုိ အသက္ေပးကာကြယ္ရမည့္ ဗုိလ္ခ်ဳပ္ေအာင္ဆန္း တည္ေထာင္ထားခဲ႔ေသာ တပ္မေတာ္ကို မိမိအာဏာအတြက္ အသံုးခ်ကာ သာသနာေတာ္ကုိ ဖ်က္ဆီးေနေသာ၊ ႏုိင္ငံေတာ္ကုိ ဖ်က္ဆီးေနေသာ၊ ျပည္သူရြံမုန္းေသာ တပ္မေတာ္ႀကီးျဖစ္ေအာင္ ဖန္တီးေနပါသည္။ သုိ႔ပါ၍ သာသနာကုိဖ်က္၊ ႏုိင္ငံေတာ္ကုိ ဖ်က္ဆီးေနေသာ မိစၦာဒိ႒ိ ဦးသန္းေရႊအား တပ္မေတာ္မွ ဖယ္ရွားေပးပါရန္ တုိက္တြန္းႏွိဳးေဆာ္ပါသည္။

ျပည္သူျပည္သားမ်ားအား အထူးေမတၱာရပ္ပါသည္။

ျမတ္စြာဘုရားရွင္၏ ၀ိနည္းဥပေဒႏွင့္အညီ ပတၱနိကၠဳဇၨနကမၼ၀ါရြတ္ကာ သပိတ္ေမွာက္ထားပါ၍ ၀ိနည္းကံကုိ ေလးစားလုိက္နာျခင္းမရွိေသာ သံဃာေတာ္မ်ားကုိ ပစၥည္းေလးပါး လွဴဒါန္းျခင္း မျပဳၾကပါရန္ႏွင့္ အလွဴခံ၍ ၀ိနည္းဥပေဒခ်ိဳးေဖါက္ကာ န အ ဖ စစ္အုပ္စုခိုိင္းတာ မွန္သမွ်လုိက္လုပ္ေနေသာ သံဃာေတာ္မ်ား၏ ဘဲြ႔အမည္၊ မိဘအမည္၊ ေက်ာင္းအမည္၊ ေနရပ္လိပ္စာ အျပည့္အစံု ေရး၍ ပုိ႔ေပးၾကပါရန္ တုိက္တြန္းႏွိဳးေဆာ္ပါသည္။ န အ ဖ ခုိင္းတာမွန္သမွ် အကုန္လုိက္လုပ္ေနေသာ အလုိေတာ္ရိ စစ္ဗုိလ္၊ မ ယ က၊ ရ ယ က၊ ၾကံံ႕ဖြတ္၊ စြမ္းအားရွင္ စသည့္ ပုဂိၢဳလ္မ်ား၏ အမည္၊ ေနရပ္လိပ္စာအျပည့္အစံုကုိ ေအာက္ပါ အီးေမးလ္သို႕ ပို႔ေပးၾကပါရန္ တုိက္တြန္းႏွိဳးေဆာ္ပါသည္။ ( evillists@gmail.com ) ။

သံဃာေတာ္မ်ားသည္ မိမိသာသနာအတြက္ ႏိုင္ငံအတြက္ အသက္ေတြ ဘ၀ေတြ စေတးကာ ေထာင္က်ႏွိပ္စက္ခံေနၾကရပါသည္။ သာသနာ့အာဇာနည္သံဃာေတာ္မ်ား လြတ္ေျမာက္ေရးသည္ သံဃာေတာ္မ်ားအားလုံးႏွင့္ ျပည္သူလူထုတစ္ရပ္လုံးတြင္ တာ၀န္ရွိပါသည္။

သုိ႔ပါ၍မိမိၿမိဳ႕၊ ရြာရွိ ထင္ရွားေသာ ဘုရားေစတီပုထုိးမ်ားသုိ႔ စုေပါင္းညီညာသြားေရာက္ကာ သံဃာေတာ္မ်ား လြတ္ေျမာက္ေရးအတြက္ သရဏဂုံသုံးပါး ရြတ္ဆုိျခင္း၊ ငါးပါးသီလေဆာက္တည္ျခင္း၊ ေမတၱာသုတ္မ်ား ရြတ္ဆုိျခင္း၊ တရားထုိင္ျခင္း ႏွင့္ မိမိျပဳေသာကုသိုလ္မ်ားကုိ သစၥာအဓိ႒ာန္ျပဳကာ ဆုေတာင္းအမွ်ေ၀ျခင္းမ်ား ျပဳလုပ္ေပးၾကပါရန္ တုိက္တြန္းႏွိဳးေဆာ္ပါသည္။

ျမန္မာႏုိင္ငံလုံးဆုိင္ရာ ရဟန္းပ်ိဳသမဂၢနွင့္ သံဃာသာမဂၢီအဖဲြ႔ ။

KACHIN UNDER THREATENING


If the Burmese junta continues to demand that the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) transforms its troops to serve as a border guard force, armed conflict is likely, the KIO general-secretary said following a meeting with the junta’s northern regional commander.

The KIO general-secretary, La Ja, told The Irrawaddy on Monday, “We want long-term peace, and we don’t want to wage war, but if the junta forces us to transform our troops, the regional peace will be destroyed.”

La Ja and members of the KIO delegation met with the junta’s northern regional commander, Maj-Gen Soe Win, in Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State, on Tuesday and Wednesday.

La Ja said Soe Win asked many questions about various KIO departments and the management of the army, in regard to transforming it into a border guard force.

KIO leaders have met with Burmese military officers eight times to discuss the border guard issue. The KIO has made an alternate proposal to transform its troops into a Kachin regional border guard force.

“We totally agree to change our troops sometime in the future,” La Ja said. “But now is not the time. To change, we need more facts and time.” La Ja has said that KIO troops would only become a border guard force under the central government if there is a political change that brings true democracy to Burma.

The KIO said reports were not true that the government asked the Kachin Independence Army to withdraw Brigade 4 from an area in northeast Shan State near the Chinese border.

The majority of the 17 armed ethnic cease-fire groups have said no to the junta’s proposal to transform into a border guard force under the command of junta officers.

The deadline to respond to the offer is October. Under the new 2008 Constitution, all ethnic armed cease-fire groups are required to serve under the command of junta officers.

BURMESE RESIDENTS HOLD TRADITIONAL BUDDHIST S’ CANDLELIGHT FESTIVAL IN FORT WAYNE (IN)


Friday, October 2, 2009

Court Rejects Suu Kyi’s Appeal


court rejected opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s appeal to overturn her Aug. 11 conviction for breaching a detention order, a spokesman for her party said today.

Lawyers for Suu Kyi will appeal the verdict to the Supreme Court, said Nyo Myint, a Thailand-based spokesman for the exiled wing of her National League for Democracy party. The Nobel laureate was sentenced to three years in jail and hard labor, which the junta commuted to 18 months under house detention, ensuring she won’t be free to participate in elections next year.

The court case “will go on for another three months,” Nyo Myint said. “The regime’s winner-takes-all strategy would be disturbed by her freedom.”

The fate of Suu Kyi and about 2,000 other political prisoners was discussed at a New York meeting between U.S. and Myanmar diplomats this week. It was the first meeting between the countries in “many, many years” as the U.S. shifts its policy to start direct talks with the military junta, State Department spokesman Philip J. Crowley told reporters Sept. 30.

Suu Kyi, 64, has spent more than 13 years in detention since her National League for Democracy won Myanmar’s last elections in 1990, a result rejected by the military. The court found her guilty of breaking her house arrest order by allowing an uninvited American man to stay at her home for two days.

Nyo Mint said the case would be appealed to head of state Senior-General Than Shwe, should the appeal to the Supreme Court be rejected.