Date:
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(1) Students Hunted
For Anniversary Statements In Sittwe
(2) India-Burma
Relationship in Year 2004
(3) A small volcano
erupts in Arakan
(4) Arakan National Council holds ceremony commemorating the
fall of Arakan
(5) TWO REFUGEE GIRLS
RAPED IN
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Opinion &
Analysis
(A) "LONG
MARCH" TO DEMOCRACY, NOT A TRANSITION
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Students Hunted For
Anniversary Statements In Sittwe
====================================================
Mizzima News
Authorities have been investigating students suspected of
spreadingpamphlets
in Sittwe by searching every family with members who
are university students since
yesterday morning, according to a leader
of a Bangladesh-based youth
organization.
Kyaw Han, president of the All Arakan
Students and Youth Congress
(AASYC), said the statements
about the fall of Arakan were distributed
by an unknown group on the 20th
anniversary, he was informed by sources
from Sittwe,
capital of
University students, including former
activists. were searched.
"The statements mention the fall of Arakan
and call for struggle against
the dictatorship," Kyaw Han
said. "We don't know which organization
spread the statements, but they
(authorities) want to disturb the
students because only students were
searched. Arakanese have the right
to express their opinions. They
have the right to distribute their
national statement. I can't
understand why the military junta tries to
arrest them while saying they are marching
toward democracy," he added.
No one has been arrested yet.
Arakanese believe their land was
independent for more than 5,000 years.
It was invaded by Burman king Bodaw
Maung Wine in 1784 and became a
Burmese colony.
Mizzima still cannot get independent
confirmation of the case.
Some MIs forced to retire in Arakan
Some Burma Military Intelligence (MI) personnel based in Sittwe have
been forced to retire, some
detained and others permitted to join their
respective former battalions.
Sixty-five MI personnel, ranking from private to surgeon,
were forced to
retire with salary allowances for
15 years, and six were being
investigated for alleged corruption
in a case regarding money donated by
devotees to Maha
Myat Muni pagoda. The rest
of the 120 members were
permitted in their respective
battalions.
The palace belongs to the former headquarters of MI 10 in Sittwe that
was replaced by the No. 22 light
infantry.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
India-Burma
Relationship in Year 2004
=====================================
Surajit Khaund,
Mizzima News (www.mizzima.com)
It was an eventful year for
Both countries had come closer to further cementing their
relations. In
the field of trade both
countries agreed to increase the volume of
trade up to US$1 billion by
2006. The new Congress-led Indian
government appeared more pro-active
towards
steps including extending a $7
million credit line to the crisis-hit
to get the Burmese market through
the land routes, it opened a new trade
point (Rih)
across the border.
The year also marked the visit of State Peace and
Development Council
(SPDC)Chairman Than Shwe along with
senior ministers of the Junta. Than
Shawe had a series of meetings
with the heads of Indian companies and
sought their investment in the
country. The year 2004 will probably be
remembered by
car rally.
The rally, organized to strengthen relations among ASEAN
countries,
received a positive response from
the people. Late in the year, to gear
up more trade, the Indian Commerce
Ministry relaxed norms on currency,
allowing Indian traders to accept
all currency during export and import
with
After the
was widely appreciated by the trade
bodies.
On the other hand, in the field of drug trafficking, which had been
creating a serious problem over the
years between the countries, both
enforcement agencies.
The two countries had signed an accord deciding to fight
jointly.
had also provided new equipment to
menace. Similarly, for tackling the
insurgency problem,SPDC
Chairman
Than Shwe assured full cooperation with the Indian
government to root
out militants taking shelter in
bordering areas of the country. His
assurance brought a sigh of relief
to the Indian Home Ministry, which
has been fighting insurgency for
the last several
decades.
Though several Indian opposition parties had been mounting
pressure on
the Congress-I to take
pro-democracy steps, the present Indian
government did not pay any
attention, rather it seemed busy appeasing
the Junta, which evoked sharp repurcussions among opposition parties.
influence and the insurgency
problem. To overcome these problem, the
Indian Government ignored the pro-democracy
movement.
By and large, the complete year was smooth for both
++++++++++++++++++++++++
A small volcano
erupts in Arakan
================================
Narinjara News
Akyab, January 2
A small volcano erupted in
earthquake on 26 December, said an
official living near the incident.
The volcano is situated in the
Island,which
is near the central Arakan coast.
The eruption of the volcano lasted only 2 minutes and the
eructation
went as far as 1900 feet.
Because of the eructation, 3 islands that were emerged in
the sea are
now up 5 feet on the ocean water
level.
One local person told Narinjara
last 3 days ago that the sizes of the
new islands are large and there
were not previously any islands near
Government officials are currently inspecting the area of
the volcano
eruption and the central government
seeks further information regarding
the situation, said a local
official.
A similar event happened in the sea 10 miles north of
where a large ball of fire emerged
from the sea, which was immediately
followed by the heavy waves that
broke out in the sea.
At least 12 people dead in Arakan
state including 5 people from
Sandoway, or Thandwe,
a town in the southern district of Arakan, due to
the heavy tidal waves. One victim
was identified as Ko Ray Win (52) from
the Sin Kaung
village, under Sandoway.
There were few extinct volcanoes in
time of small volcano eruption in Arakan's recent history.
++++++++++++++++++++++++
Arakan National Council holds ceremony
commemorating the fall of Arakan
=======================================================================
Narinjara News
The 220th Anniversary of the fall of Arakan
was commemorated by the
Arakan National Council (ANC) in
Eighty, exiled Arakanese from
attendees included monks, students
and youths, representatives of women
and labour
organisations.
The current president of the ANC, the ANC’s secretary and
Reverend U
Sandaw Batha
chaired the ceremony. Representatives of Arakanese
organizations delivered speeches.
The ANC also issued a statement, stressing the need for a
federation of
the independent peoples of
was an independent country for more
than 5,000 years. It was only in
1784 that the King Bodaw Maung
Wine invaded Arakan. Since this illegal
invasion,
Arakan became a Burmese
colony. After 42 years of Burmese colonial
rule, Arakan
became part of the
Anglo- Burmese war in 1826.
The Arakanese cooperated with
people from other ethnic groups including
Burman to gain independence from the
British in 1948. However, the rise
of the
of the chance for the genuine
federalism and the Arakanese became a
colonised
people again by the Burman fundamentalist-nationalists.
In the statement, the ANC aimed to achieve (1) unity of the Arakanese
people, (2) rid Arakan
of the dictatorship from
and self-determination for every
ethnic nationality.
According to the statement issued by the Arakan
League for Democracy
(ALD), it demands for a genuine national solidarity between
different
ethnic groups and a federal union
where equality and self-determination
are part of everyday life.
The Bangladesh Branch of the All Burma Student League (ABSL)
also sent a
letter stressing the need to learn
from the historical wrongs to
establish a genuine and peaceful
democratic country in future
The ceremony was concluded at
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
Two Refugee Girls
Raped In
=====================================
KALADAN NEWS Date:
Two Rohingya Arakanese
refugee girls were raped by local goons at nearby
place of Nayapara
camp under the Cox’s
Ahmed, a refugee from the camp.
The victims are identified as Begum, 10, and Khatun, 11, (not real
name), registered refugees from Nayapara camp. They bear all the
official documents with their
parents. Both of them were born and
grownup in refugee camp in
environment of crowded population,
he further said.
Shamsul Huda,
21, son of Kasim and Mohammad Noor,
23 son of Noor
Mohammed hailed from Leda village, closed to the refugee
camp, and raped
the aforesaid girls at about
relative of a victim on condition
of anonymity.
The said local goons had been waiting intentionally for
sexual violence
against the refugee girls for a
long time. The local goons grabbed and
forcibly took away the girls to
nearby bush while the girls were washing
clothes at a creek that placed on
the western side of the camp and raped
the girls closing their mouths. On
hearing of their hue and cry, nearby
refugees rushed to the spot and rescued
the girls with profuse bleeding,
while the rapists managed to
escape, he continued.
Refugees took the victims to the camp health center for
treatment, while
the doctor referred the case to the
office of the Camp-in-Charge, Mr.
Mohammad Siddik and Mr. Asaduzzaman, the deputy In-Charge of the Camp,
said Mujib,
a staff of the camp health center.
The Camp-in-Charge, seeing the condition of the young girls,
a case was
logged by the officials against the
rapists in local police station of
Teknaf but no rapist is arrested
till filling of this report. The said
victims are under medical treatment
and now their health is improving,
he added.
At present, refugees of the camp are under the fear of
localities as on
anger of logging case against the
local goons while they feel unsecured.
**News End**
++++++++++++++++++++++++
"LONG
MARCH" TO DEMOCRACY, NOT A TRANSITION
============================================
By: B.K. Sen
In 1988, pro-democracy demonstrators rocked the foundations
of an
authoritarian regime. The movement
at that time seemed to have joined
the tide of opinion sweeping across
came in 1990 raised hope that the
demand for democracy was real and the
army would have to abandon power
immediately. Democratic upsurge emerges
out of the unique conditions of its
own society. The events of 8.8.88
have their roots in a particular
historical and cultural context.
However, the military dictators outmaneuvered the opposition
and remains
entrenched in power.
movement. Socialism inspired the
nationalist generation in colonial
days. The two came together under Ne Win to form the order "Burmese way
to Socialism" that collapsed
in 1988. Socialism has been abandoned, the
politicalized
army dominates the state and introduced the new fake
concept of "disciplined
democracy" a la National Convention.
The May 1990 election, however, was a great setback for the
army and it
became the watershed in Burmese
politics. The National League for
Democracy(NLD) won the election
with about two-thirds of the votes and
80 % of the seats in the 485-member
legislature. The UNLD also won. The
election convincingly revealed the
illegitimacy of continued military
rule. The vote was more for ending
junta rule than for forming a
government by political parties for
whom they voted.
The country is faced with the question, "Will the army
really relinquish
power to a civilian
government?" Are we in the period of transition to
democracy or is the Army trying to
rebuild its power for another quarter
century? In neighboring countries,
events suggest that a transition is
possible but not rapid.
In these countries emergence of a national savior
facilitated the
democratic transition. In
has taken control of the situation,
yet the movement has been stalled.
It should be borne in mind that the anti-colonial movements
were
basically urbanized and the
leadership urban. The vast majority of
peasants were never drawn into the
vortex. The independence
was negotiated, no doubt on the
basis of position of strength. The
weakness of mass awareness also was
evident during the Japanese
occupation period. Only when the
World War II tide turned and the Allied
Army entered
Japanese forces and brilliantly outmaneuvered them.
But in no sense could it be characterized as a peasant
rebellion or mass
upheaval. The post-independence did
show militancy on the part of ethnic
nationalities and the Burma
Communist Party (BCP), once a part of the
AFPPL. But the tragedy was that the
AFPPL which was the vanguard in the
post-war freedom movement, itself
got vertically split. There was an
absence of firmly rooted political
parties. There was a vast gap between
the "elite and mass"
peasantry and the urban elite.
In the May 1990 election, the victory of the NLD came
despite the arrest
and detention of many of its
leaders including Daw Aung San Su Kyi, and
constrained campaign conditions
ruled out rallies and open debate.
Throughout the history of modern
political role. The 1920 university
boycott, 1930-36 strikes, 1962
blowing up of the
closure of universities off and on
are all landmarks in students'
movements. The demographic changes
in the community and the brutal
military rule of half a century
have caused societal complexity.
Emergence of full-fledged democracy is unlikely to appear in
the near
future. The
interests in
is a convenient and costless way in
which they can display their
advocacy of democratic/ human
rights.
The upheaval of 1988 and the 1990 election were necessary
steps toward
creation of the institutions for
stable democracy in
tolerance and dialogue are
prerequisites. Social stagnation and
political repression cannot nudge
the country toward change. At the same
time, it is naive to follow a
wait-and-see policy. The military will not
change by themselves. The
stakeholders will have to accelerate the
grassroots demand for resumption of
dialogue, and end of the Civil War.
The National Convention has been put in place to kill the
results of the
1990 election and the peaceful process of
dialogue. This does not mean
we have to resort to violent
movements culminating in a national
upheaval. That will lead to
intensification of the Civil War.
The centrality of the army in Burmese politics can hardly be
denied.
The prospects of an NLD or coalition government coming to
power in the
near future remain remote. The
army's views have been shaped by nearly
50 years of deep involvement in politics. It is major prop
of the state.
It has now conceded it has no right to rule alone as
envisaged in the
104 principles of the National Convention.
Defeating various
insurgencies, communists and
ethnics, a constant feature of
politics since independence, has
given it confidence to rule. It has
withstood sanctions and decade-long
international pressure. The
neighboring countries,
support to it.
of the power struggle is in
The sensitive issue of whether the army will concede
significant
regional autonomy if a negotiated
settlement of current conflicts should
be reached, is a question. The
weakness of civil society is obvious.
as an appendage of political
parties. Institutions such as Christian
churches and trade unions are
non-existent. The Buddhist monkhood
(Sangha) has no institutional
independence and has come nder the
tutelage of the Ministry of Home
and Religion Affairs and has been
largely neutralized.
The prospects for emergence of democracy seem more
unfavorable than at
any time in the past decade. The
potential for transformation of
authoritarian military regime
nevertheless remains. The National
Convention exercise may end in widening conflict. Ne Win's exercise of
the BSPP Constitution of 1974 put
the junta in greater crisis.
There is no doubt whatsoever that at the end of the day when
the seven
steps of the Road Map are crossed,
it will collapse like the 1974
Constitution.
But will the opposition be in a position to seize the
opportunity and
end military rule? The treatment
applied for political sickness from Ne
Win's time (the sham constitution) continues (National
Convention) to
worsen the illness and cannot be
right.
Recent events, such as the sacking of Khin Nyunt, disbanding
the MI,
arresting more NLD workers, should
not obscure our objective. The
extension of the house arrest of
Daw Aung San Su Kyi for another year
and withdrawal of her personal
security are significant no doubt, and
should be regarded as provocations
to foment violent acts. They in fact
reveal the desperate position in
which the junta under General Than Shwe
has come to.
can overcome this period, the
turning point of history will start. It is
prudent to think of a "long
march" rather than a simple transition to
democracy. When the National
Convention fails or is "successful," the
junta will have to modify its
behavior.
Stalemate, material and political costs that far exceed
returns,
together with the collapse of its
goals, will persuade it to give way,
provided the potential of the
movements of rage are significantly
eruptive. That is the history of
the tragic end of all hard-line
authoritarian rule.
**End**
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Burma News International is a network of nine exiled media
groups
such as Mizzima
News, Shan Herald Agency for News, Kao Wao News Group,
Khonumthung News Group, Narinjara News, Kaladan Press
Network,
Independent Mon News Agency, Karenni Information
Network Group and Network Media Group.
.........................
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