KAOWAO NEWS NO. 101
Newsletter for social justice and freedom in Burma
December 10-31, 2005
Readers’
Front
Authorities order villagers against fire hazards
Fire destroyed nineteen houses in Beeluu Kyun
Sudden rise in illegal importation of vehicles to Burma
Burmese migrants flooding into Thailand
Discovery of ancient town of Mon King
Local villagers forced into government positions
Arakanese observes the Day of the Downfall of Arakan Kingdom
We Need More Living Leaders: By Min Khin Kyaw
U.S. Sees Burma as 'Test Case' in Southeast Asia
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Readers’ front
Dear readers,
We invite comments and suggestions on improvements to Kaowao newsletter. With your help, we hope that Kaowao News will continue to grow to serve better the needs of those seeking social justice in Burma. And we hope that it will become an important forum for discussion and debate and help readers to keep abreast of issues and news. We reserve the right to edit and reject articles without prior notification. You can use a pseudonym but we encourage you to include your full name and address.
Wish you all a very Happy and Prosperous New Year 2006.
Best Wishes,
Kaowao Team
[email protected], www.kaowao.org
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Debate on “Proposal Towards Correct and Peaceful Political Solutions in Burma”
All discussion by Nai Thet Lwin, Thant Zin Htun and Pago Hongsar is great. Different views are wonderful. Exchanging feeling is to get understanding the differences. Any way, in my mind why don't we find the way how to get over thrown the military junta whatever the name they were, BSPP, SLORC, SPDC, or so on.
We all one citizen should concentrate on to get
1. A Democratic Federal Government
2. State Government every state (but) No DIVISION only 8 state.
To run the government, we need the representative from Federal Parliament and state parliament. How are we going to introduce to get these federal, state and local government? In this case, not every one eligible to enroll or register to become as a representative for their ability. If we are too far in nationalism, we won't be getting Union Country. Are we going to run ethnic state as independent country with different government, constitution, social law, immigration law and so on? Your comment is always welcome.
Nai Peace (Australia)
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Authorities order villagers against fire hazards
(Kaowao: December 30, 2005)
Moulmein -- The SPDC authorities in Mon and Karen States have warned people in remote areas about using fire for cooking, since there are no fire trucks to put out fires in case a fire breaks out, sources said.
Sources say the authorities have issued a time limitation on using fires for cooking along with a warning to those who will be fined if they light fires before and after the specified times set by the local authorities, sources said.
“Authorities warn us not to cook (with wood) food after a certain time,” one woman from Mon State said. “We have to cook in the early morning to 9 am and from 1 pm to four pm daily.
The fact that most houses are small and in close proximity to one another are other major factors in fires, many houses in Kre Nar (Taranar in Burmese) village, Kyaik Maraw Township, Mon State burned down even though the village had their own fire brigade and emergency vehicle. Villagers buy their own vehicle through a fund raising program since the government is unable to provide services.
Most people in lower Burma do not have access to cheap electricity and gas. “It’s not easy to get a one meter box, we must pay about one million Kyats to get it,” one Mon villager from Kaw-kareik township, Karen State told Kaowao on the phone.
“The local people are forced to bribe the authorities to get power for special events,” he added.
Most rural people cannot afford electricity and women whose duties are to manage cooking must also gather the firewood on the outskirts of the village in the surrounding jungle for cooking.
“To cut down on serious accidents, the women pour water to extinguish the fire completely after cooking” said a young woman from Pha-ann Township.
Since the women are responsible for cooking they must also manage their fires and cooking time to fit in with the warnings issued by the authorities.
The authorities usually restrict cooking time during the winter and summer seasons and not during the rain season in Burma.
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Fire destroyed nineteen houses in Beeluu Kyun
(Kaowao, December 29, 2005)
Moulmein -- Nineteen houses have been completely destroyed in a fire in Muheil village of Chaung Zone Township (Beeluu Kyun Island) in Mon State according to local sources.
Local villagers and firefighter truck were called to the scene but the truck unable to drive to the blaze.
Ms. Mi Dut of the Muheil village said, “the fire was due to cooking accidents on December 23. The local authorities had collected money from the villagers for repairing the old fire truck but it was still out of order and we could not use it in the case of emergency. Some houses are valued over 10 million Kyats (Burmese currency).”
Most households in Mon State use wood and coal for cooking. House in the rural and some urban areas hang plastic packs full of water out front of their houses for emergency to douse a fire. Since most fires are due to cooking accidents, people are ordered to cook on the ground and not in houses. The people use wood and coal for cooking and to boil water to make it safe to drink because no electricity or power. People use small twigs, the major culprit in house fires, for cooking, which are highly flammable.
Every house in the rural and some urban areas hang plastic packs full of water out front of their houses for emergency to douse a fire. The same way they did during the era of Burma Socialist Programme Party when Burma adopted communism.
Beeluu Kyun Island (Takoh Khamine) is a major island township in Mon State comprises of 64 villages and it is well known for agriculture and home industry.
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Sudden rise in illegal importation of vehicles to Burma
(Kaowao: December 24, 2005)
Three Pagodas Pass -- The SPDC in the Mon and Karen States have not seized any recent imported unlicensed vehicles from Thailand after two years of cracking down on illegally imported vehicles and motor bikes, sources from the area said.
Karen ceasefire groups and some SPDC soldiers and policemen in Karen State illegally import motorbikes by truck to sell in Mon and Karen State, a source from Myawaddy town said.
“They transport them on big trucks from Myawaddy and Mae Sod border and then import them to Pha-ann township (capital of Karen State) and Moulmein (capital of Mon State),” a Mon businessman in the town said.
The illegal motorbike market in Three Pagodas Pass has received more motorbikes over the past two weeks after the motor road of Three Pagodas Pass, Thanbyuzayat Township, Mon State reopened.
Sources say even Karen ceasefire groups such as the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army and the Karen Peace Force are involved in the illegal vehicle business.
The price of unlicensed motorbikes in Mon and Karen States is starting to rise due to a high demand. As a result, the smugglers also try to buy used motorbikes from Thailand to sell, a situation different from two years ago.
Sources from central Mon and the capital of Karen States said that many unlicensed motorbikes are being used.
“People bribe the motor vehicle policemen so they can drive the illegal vehicles around in a limited area only,” said Nai Rot Htaw to a Kaowao reporter.
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Burmese migrants flooding into Thailand
(Kaowao: December 19, 2005)
People from Burma continue to enter neighboring Thailand, a source from Three Pagodas Pass said today.
“About one hundred people have been arriving to Three Pagodas Pass, one of the main crossing points for Burmese migrants, on a daily basis after the access of motor road from Mon State reopened two weeks ago,” a town resident said under the condition of anonymity for security reasons.
The town authorities allow the people to stay in the town after paying 500 Baht to the immigration office.
“They must pay five hundreds Baht to the immigration office soon after arriving to the town by truck from inside (Burma) before going to human smugglers who arrange a temporarily camp for them,” the resident said.
Most migrants are Mon people from Mon State and southern Karen State and most of the human smugglers are Mon.
One young Burmese Dagon university tutor said that he spent three days in the jungle inside Thailand to get to Bangkok even though he paid 10,000 Baht to a human smuggler and cahoot. He must find his own way and trek the mountain range for about five hours.
Ten days ago, one truck transporting migrants was fired at by Thai security guards in Kanchanaburi and the driver and one of the migrants was wounded, a source from Sangkhlaburi said.
The residents from Three Pagodas Pass and Sangkhlaburi say that senior police officers are involved in working with the smugglers. They questioned that nobody can take the detainees out without senior polices.
Most migrants pay extra for a more secure and safe trip against arrest. Cahoots can draw them from detention centers if they are arrested. To get to Thailand from the border, they pay around 10,000 and 11,000 Baht for a special trip, the normal trip is less then 10000 Baht, he said.
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Discovery of ancient town of Mon King
(IMNA: 12 December, 2005)
In what is an important finding, an ancient town built by a Mon King was discovered by the Mon History Research Group recently in Mudon township, southern Burma.
The town is now called Kaw-Paraing by the local Mon community and is situated in southwest Mudon Town, in the middle of farmland. It is about 20 Kilometres from Mudon town and it is home to a lot of ancient bricks and other artifacts.
“One of our elders said “Kaw-Pa-Rank” which means ‘island beach town’, a resident of the town explained. The Mon National Democratic Front (MNDF) group discovered the town. The MNDF Chairman Nai Tun Thein led the history research group to the town in the third week of November.
There are many pictures in the likeness of women fashioned on the stones, along with ancient pots in the temple, ancient walls made of ancient bricks and a pagoda. It also has an ancient well.
The engraved pictures had been drawn on ancient bricks and pots, said Nai Khin Maung Lay and Nai Tun Thein who are in charge of the ancient town, called the Kaw Pa-Rank King Town” which was founded at the time of Par-Da Kingdom (Rangoon).
Nai Khin Maung Lay and Nai Tun Thein have worked with Dr. Nai Pan Hla who published “Yar-Zar-Di-Rit-A-Yay-Daw-Pone”, the life of a famous Mon King Rae-Jae-Dhi-Raj, who had waged war for 40 years against the Burmese King “Byin-Min-Khung”.
All three are historians who have published many books on ancient Mon tradition and culture, and the Mon inscription. Nai Khin Maung Lay was also in charge of Mon Traditional and Culture Museum in Moulmein, the capital of Mon State.
Because there are many ancient Mon towns in the Mon area, in southern Mon State, a group of Burmese professors wrote a textbook on its history after visiting “Wae-Kha-Ruu” an ancient town near Thanpyuzayart town.
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Local villagers forced into government positions
(Kaowao: December 24, 2005)
Burmese military government forces people to work into government positions against their will in local administration, according to Mon community source from Karen State.
People live in fear of SPDC troops and officials who force them to take up the government posts, says Mr. Nai Gore, a Mon businessman from Pha-ann Township.
“You cannot evade the military, there’s no way to avoid the position once you are chosen. If a person refuses a position in local administration they will ask why and you will be accused of looking down on the military and you will become an easy target,” the businessman added.
“A friend of mine was forced to accept a joint secretariat position in November even though he didn’t attend the meeting when voting for village level administration positions came up in his village by the Karen State administration,” he explained.
“Although the SPDC claims that appointing a village chairman is done democratically, by vote; however, they slip fake votes in the box,” says Nai Wongsa (not his real name), another man age 36, who has witnessed the event.
“The SPDC has already chosen who the chairman will be; it depends on the next incoming chairman who can bribe the military. Young residents avoid meetings in local administrative affairs and leave the village on the day of appointing village headmen, he explained.
Sources from inside Karen and Mon State claim that most village chairmen bribe their way into the position; however many do not want to be involved in local administration.
Nai Buu, a recent graduate from Karen State College was beaten by a Karen State officer after refusing a government position.
There are three levels to bribing. First, they must bribe the township officer, then the township police, and finally the local commanders, etc. The businessman said that the village headmen must do everything according to the orders of the local commander and Karen State officer.
“If the chairman cannot bribe the higher authorities, he will be told to quit,” Nai Gore said.
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Arakanese observes the Day of the Downfall of Arakan Kingdom
Aung Aung Oo (Narinjara News)
Arakanese exiles in Bangladesh hold a ceremony in the Capital Dhaka to observe the 221st anniversary of the Downfall of the Arakan Kingdom which comes today, 31st December.
"Today, the 31st December, is the most sorrowful day in the history of Arakan. On this day in 1784 A.D, the Burmese invading forces intruded the Royal Palace of Arakan and seized the state's sovereignty" says the statement issued by the ceremony organizing committee.
Dozens of the Arakanese including the representatives of the Arakanese Political Parties attended the ceremony, which was held under the banner of '221st Anniversary of Downfall of Arakan Sovereignty', and the Acting President of the Arakan League for Democracy (Bangladesh Branch) U Khaing San Lunn chaired the ceremony.
"What we are suffering today is due to the lack of our sovereignty and we (Arakanese) have been becoming underdog under the continual colonial rulers" said U Khaing San Lunn in his opening speech, urging the Arakanese who are living inside and outside of the Arakan to strive for the cause of restoring the national sovereignty.
The Arakan termed as ‘the Lost Kingdom in Southeast Asia’ by the world historians is now a state in the western part of military-ruled Burma.
"Our revolution for regaining our land, freedom and sovereignty successfully is not an easy matter. We should self-criticize very carefully if we are primarily revolving to eliminate the barriers or enemies those are near our households and inside ourselves", remarked Daw Saw Mra Raza Lunn, the President of Rakhaing Women Union, in her speech at the ceremony.
All the speakers in the ceremony reviewed that the lengthy Arakanese revolution against the colonial rulers is still unfruitful due to the lacks of competent leadership and national unity among the Arakanese people.
According to the Arakanese history, the Arakan had enjoyed its independence for 5109 years before the invasion of Burmese king Bodaw Maung Wain in 1784. In the aftermaths of the Burmese invasion, the Arakan have been consecutively ruled by a number of colonial powers; (1784-1824) by the Burmese, (1824- 1942) by the British, (1942-1945) by the Fascist Japanese, (1945-1948) by the British and (1948- 2005) by the Burmese. The present Military Junta State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) is the latest colonial ruler of the Arakan.
"The Burmese military regimes are the worst among the colonial rulers of the Arakan. The present Junta SPDC is not different from those of Bodaw Maung Wain's invading forces which occupied the Arakan in 1784. We, the Arakanese, are just the colonial slaves, who are denied of their basic rights in the military empire of the SPDC", added the statement issued by the ceremony organizing committee.
The committee at the conclusion of its statement demands the SPDC Military Junta to immediately release all the political prisoners, to regard the 1990's general election and to hand over the state power to the elected people's representatives, etc., and also request the members of the UNSC to intervene the political crisis in Burma.
Meanwhile, the SPDC is reconvening the National Convention for drafting constitution with their hand-picked representatives, ignoring the world's pressures for reforming the country into a democratic state.
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Opinion/Analysis
We Need More Living Leaders
It’s a pity that some of the poor turn against other fellow poor by stealing, robbing and suppressing them. They exploit the people of the same fates down there, powerless to powerless, but no hope of getting better condition and better life. They tend to be immoral because they’re poor! They tend to behave in low type characters because they’re not educated. And they are objects used as scapegoats by the authorities. They become as stupid as hunting thugs to kill their kind and other unfortunate ones for the sake of appraisals of their owners. But they become as cleaver as mosquitoes spreading diseases by sucking the bloods whilst their owners swallow the kills whole. Instead of uniting and sharing interests so that they could make a good change and solve the problems they’re facing now by taking the courage in their own hands, they solve problems selfishly by taking advantage upon others. Why don’t they know this will take them only into the dungeon of loss and deepest misery? There are definitely different kinds of peoples.
But do the poor have the chance to unite and fight against the common enemy? By what mean will they get the chance so they don’t have to hurt each others? How will they realize to stop shameful and self- destroying behaviours? As most people become poorer and poorer, their resources are getting smaller and smaller; how will they invest for preparation to hold the next major uprising when a suitable moment arrives?
Burmese people are seriously in need of good leaders in all levels.
We need the leaders who will appear directly to the people taking a good role to inform them warmly in order to open their eyes, to change their attitude, to improve their lifestyle. We need the leaders to approach the people as close as possible so they can share their thoughts regardless of different educations and intellectual levels, so the leaders will have the chance to listen and can educate themselves to get the clear views of what really going on everywhere, and realize how things need to be done. Leaders have to see through clearly, so they can see now and future so they can have good plans. We need the leaders with clear visions and who are also good planners. The leaders who are regarded as true leaders can soothe the pain of people, can approach people and make them listen and act together in instructed ways and in the most necessary way, as the people themselves are equipped with good skills, strategies and ideologies, in order to achieve the goals intended that can be done only by mass. The leaders should appeal directly to the people to unite and can unite them, to love and help each others so they’ll know they can love and how to help each other. The leaders should have clear instructions so that the people can work together in suitable patterns as taking their different roles of various sectors in all levels. A good leader is always a good role model who has good working attitude, undisputed reputation, respectable manners, trustworthiness and loving kindness that can be imitated by the mass in various ways so they can become more and more united as they can get along with each others better and better.
There can be leaders who work alone, who work in isolation but their works are always for all and humanity. Leaders are who can show the goals to succeed that are achievable, the good ways that will lead to peace and happiness and the most suitable directions that will simply lead to the intended goals. The mindset of a good leader is to be practicing what he/she says the words with honesty, integrity and good will.
Some of the good characters of good leaders are:
1) able to give generously, favor the followers like a father to son and a big brother to younger brother, take responsibility of own action and the misbehavior of the followers by adjusting them.
2) Always avoid misbehaviors and be morally right.
3) Always be righteous, courageous, active, and kind. A leader should be calm, never panic, and never emotional, never act without proper consideration, and never make a move without sufficient good judgments.
4) Always be just and fair, treat equally to all, undivided, not neglectful, and not negligent, so always listen carefully and solve the problems properly.
5) Always speak with the right tack with the right amount by avoiding unkind, harsh, coarse, suppressing and vain languages and actions.
6) Always keep the unity, and keep peace and enjoyment of the people, never discriminate among the people.
7) Always be decisive as being able to visualize ahead, able to encourage the afraid and able to give right direction to the daring.
8) Able to capture the people’s mind and characters so able to know the others’ need.
9) Always improving the people’s life by improving their skills, prosperity, generosity, morality and unity.
10) Always encouraging people to be wise, to avoid dangers and misbehaviors, always preparing for the people their defense and security. When a danger appears, if unavoidable, always go forward as a leader wisely.
11) Etc.
Actually, they’re the flesh, the blood, the bone, the life and death of a leader. Thus, a living person taken a position of a leading role but lacking those characters is a dead leader.
These kinds of leaders are needed, especially during crises. We can look over the human history for glorious moments and achievements of mankind. Actually, leaders are not actors who only need to do their parts done but leaders are who can show so that people will see the reality of right and wrong, who can lay the pavement so that people can go on safely. Leaders are needed mainly for the sake of peace of the populace. Prosperity can come only in peaceful time but leaders must have the guts to point out what cheating and bullying are, what right and what wrong with realistic reasons. Leaders must have wisdom so that they can lead their followers on the right ways to the right direction. Leaders must approach their followers in flexible ways of good friend, coach, teacher, parents and sculptor. The goal is universally the same- moral happiness.
We might have a very few leaders like this but need many, many more.
In the case of Burma, the regional leaders should see how Burmese people could achieve a good leadership to change their current situations. As Burma is a member of ASEAN, it’s the group’s responsibility to implement peace and stability in Burma as it is a part of the region. If Burma is not a problem for the region, Burmese migrants should be treated humanly and their dignity must be valued equally like those international citizens even though they’re illegally living in the regional countries for both economy and political reasons. They shouldn’t be treated as unwanted guests as they’re not criminals. Now the relatives of the victims do not even dare to claim the bodies to give proper burial- for example. It’s time for ASEAN for a genuine approach toward the reality in Burma and Burmese people. It’s great as ASEAN has done its first step for a real reform in Burma but this first step is yet just a half pace to be a step.
The world has been helping and organizing for the Burmese people achievements. But the pace is very slow as the world is overloaded with so many other major problems. However, the world has enough resources to do better for Burmese people. A gigantic obstacle is a few countries have turned a blind eye to the Burmese military regime- worse that they have interests to share with this kind of regime. What kind of advantages and what kind of meaningful achievements they would make by siding with one of the worst a bunch of organized brutal criminals- who fear losing their grip of powers, etc, that will record them into the concrete book of human history are a puzzle to me? The United Nations is yet has to unite the nations to act on the right things with integrity and dignity in order to lead humanity toward better life so that no country would have to endure the way Burmese people have to wait for the peace not yet delivered.
Min Khin Kyaw
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U.S. Sees Burma as 'Test Case' in Southeast Asia
By Glenn Kessler, Washington Post Staff Writer: December 28, 2005)
The Bush administration has mounted a diplomatic offensive against the military government of Burma, suggesting to nations in the region that it is a "test case" for whether they hold the same values and standards as the United States.
The effort was jump-started in October after President Bush spent 50 minutes meeting in the Oval Office with a persuasive 24-year refugee named Charm Tong. Bush followed up by pressing leaders at an Asian economic summit in November, winning a written pledge from the president of the Philippines that she would back an effort by the United States to bring the issue before the U.N. Security Council.
Other officials, such as Undersecretary of State R. Nicholas Burns, also worked the phones to win the nine votes needed to call a meeting of the 15-member council. The effort resulted in the first-ever discussion of the situation in Burma by the council earlier this month.
That meeting was held in private -- a move required to preserve a consensus -- but U.S. officials said they will push for the Security Council to take up a resolution on Burma, perhaps by next month.
Some nations on the council have questioned whether Burma presents an international security problem. U.S. officials have responded by offering a raft of reasons that the Burmese government threatens the stability of the region, including huge refugee flows, a record of forced labor and government-sponsored drug trafficking. A number of aid groups have pulled out of the country in the past year because the government has imposed increasingly tough restrictions.
Ibrahim Gambari, the U.N. undersecretary general for political affairs, privately told the Security Council that Burma is an international concern, where the people "have many of their essential rights and calls for democratic reform denied" and there is no evidence the government is interested in investigating abuses, according to a copy of his remarks. He said villages have been relocated, with at least 240 destroyed; forced labor is widespread; and there is a growing "humanitarian emergency" of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.
The United States, by itself, has little leverage over Burma, which is also known as Myanmar. The country has faced a ban on exports to the United States since 2003 after authorities placed under house arrest Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who was prevented by the Burmese military from taking office after her party won a landslide electoral victory in 1990. She has been in detention for 10 of the past 16 years, and her most recent confinement began after a bloody campaign by government-sponsored gangs against her and her supporters in May 2003.
But until recently, the administration's diplomatic efforts had little success in Asia. Burma's neighbors -- and their umbrella group, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) -- were content to continue doing business with the repressive government, in part because many feared that a break in relations would give China greater leverage in the resource-rich country.
India, Burma's neighbor to the west, and Thailand, on Burma's eastern border, have also been eager to look the other way while they pursue business deals, U.S. officials said. Japan, which maintained close links because it ended British colonial rule during World War II, also refused to pressure the regime.
The approaches taken by ASEAN, India and Japan "were not producing results and enabling worse behavior by the regime," said a senior administration official, who like other U.S. officials spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to more freely discuss the administration's strategy.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice labeled Burma one of six "outposts of tyranny" in her confirmation hearings. But although the administration routinely denounced the government, its diplomatic efforts were low-key.
That changed after Bush met on Oct. 31 with Charm Tong, one of several dissidents he has brought to the White House in recent months, including a North Korean defector, a Liberian refugee and the Dalai Lama, spiritual leader of Tibet.
Charm Tong was born in Shan state, home of Burma's largest ethnic minority, and was smuggled out of the country by her parents at age 6. She co-wrote a report titled "License to Rape," which caught the attention of the State Department three years ago with its accounts of attacks against hundreds of Shan women and girls. The State Department sent an investigator to verify the findings, which the Burmese government adamantly disputed.
During the meeting, Charm Tong stressed to the president that Burma has 50 million people, making it the second-largest country in Southeast Asia, as a way to emphasize the large number of people who would be positively affected by a determined U.S. push.
U.S. officials say such sessions energize Bush and give him a human face to a policy problem. "When the president has a personal affinity with someone, that dictates policy," one senior official said. "That's the case here."
As a result, the president headed to the Asian economic summit scheduled a couple of weeks later determined to make progress on the issue. Coincidentally, the Burmese government announced on Nov. 7 that it had moved its capital about 200 miles north to a town without running water, adding to the disquiet in the region.
Part of Bush's message was that "Burma is very important; it is a test case for our whole agenda in the region," the official said. For instance, the administration is trying to build a relationship with India based on common values, and the Indians have been told their approach to Burma is a way to prove their seriousness. The Chinese were told that certain standards of behavior will be key to the U.S.-Sino relationship, and one test will be how China deals with governments with unsavory reputations.
Japan, one of the closest allies of the United States, was especially reluctant to challenge Burma, but Tokyo has abruptly shifted position, U.S. and Japanese diplomats said. The key, U.S. officials said, is that Bush gave a speech in Kyoto during his trip in which he extolled their common love of democracy -- and the Japanese were bluntly told they would look silly if they continue to prop up Burma.
The one key ally that has proven a disappointment is Thailand, U.S. officials said. The family of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, a telecommunications billionaire who took office in 2001, is reported to have business interests in Burma, and the Thai government believes stability is essential to keep the lid on drug smuggling and human trafficking, officials said.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/27/AR2005122700983.html
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