WOMAN ACTIVIST IN JAIL AND ASEAN REPORT UNDER FIRE

Accused of illegally handling foreign currency, Khin Moe Aye, 40, a prominent social and political activist, was sentenced to three years imprisonment, along with former student leader Kyaw Soe, at Rangoon’s Insein prison court on Thursday, according to her lawyer, Khin Maung Shein.
Former political prisoners Khin Moe Aye and Kyaw Soe were arrested by military intelligence officers in Kyaikto Township in Rangoon’s northeastern suburbs on December 12.

Khin Moe Aye has been imprisoned by the military junta three times before. Her first arrest was in 1990 when she was jailed for one or two months. She was rearrested in December 1991 for her role in leading student demonstrations in honor of Aung San Suu Kyi winning the Nobel Peace Prize. She was sentenced to 10 years in jail, but was released in May 1992.
While continuing her pro-democracy activities, she was arrested again in February 1998 and was sentenced to seven years imprisonment for assisting an author, Aung Tun, in documenting a history of the Burmese student movement. She was released on May 4, 2003.

In recent times, Khin Moe Aye has worked to provide aid, food and education to orphaned children and has founded an orphanage in Rangoon.
Tate Naing, secretary of the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners-Burma (AAPP), told The Irrawaddy on Friday that Khin Moe Aye actively participated in the 1988 popular uprising as a student leader of Rangoon University’s student union and was an active member of the All Burma Federation of Students Unions.
“She was often pressured by the military authorities for her involvement in social and political activities,” he said.

Aid groups blast ASEAN-led report
The Burma Partnership, which represents 19 aid organisations, released an "alternative" report to provide what it said was a more accurate picture of the response to Cyclone Nargis, which left 138,000 people dead or missing in May.
"When we studied the Post-Nargis Joint Assessment report prepared by the UN, ASEAN and the Burmese regime, we realised that it failed to describe the obstruction of aid and human rights abuses committed by the military regime in the areas affected by the cyclone," Khin Ohmar of the Burma Partnership told a press conference.
"As independent civil society organisations, we felt the need to tell the other side of the post-Nargis story."
The generals ruling Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, drew international outrage by refusing to allow a foreign-led aid response in the immediate aftermath of the storm.
But they dropped their resistance after coaxing from Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) chief Surin Pitsuwan.
The official joint report was released to much fanfare at an ASEAN conference in Singapore in July.
But Ohmar said it failed to highlight issues such as blocking and misappropriation of aid and substandard treatment of survivors at relief camps.
It omitted cases of human rights violations such as orphans turned into child soldiers, survivors forced to do reconstruction work and farm land confiscated by the military regime, she said.
The coalition's recommendations include an independent system to monitor aid distribution and for all relief agencies to make public their activities.
"We hope international governments will consider using the new report to ensure funding reaches people who need the most help and that the recovery process will be implemented with the most transparency and accountability," Ohmar said.
Thai MP and coalition member Kraisak Choonhavan criticised Surin for failing to meet the organisers to discuss the alternative report.
He said he felt "let down" by Surin's late cancellation of a meeting in Jakarta, home to the ASEAN secretariat.
"They did not give any reason for cancelling. I feel let down and it makes it necessary for us to be more vocal. I am very disappointed," he said.