Burma Related News - July 27, 2007, 2007.
- From: TIN KYI <mtinkyi@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 26 Jul 2007 18:14:23 -0700
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BURMA RELATED NEWS - JULY 27, 2007.
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HEADLINES
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AP - Philippines asks Myanmar to release Suu Kyi by ASEAN anniversary
AP - Philippines pushes for human rights body in Southeast Asia
AP - U.S. diplomat says China's role in Southeast Asia often
unproductive
AFP - Proposed ASEAN charter likely to include human rights provision
AFP - US sanctions policy on Myanmar has failed: business chief
Kyodo News - U.S. official nixes early resumption of direct talks with
Myanmar
Bernama - Myanmar Bans Smoking At World Famous Pagoda
IANS - India built biogas plant completed in Myanmar
Independent News - Horrified MPs demand huge aid increase
Independent News - Burma: A plight we can ignore no longer
DVB News - Family of bashed NLD member sued for intimidation
DVB News - Deadly dengue fever hits Bago children
DVB News - Surrend defends Myanmar Times ad as fallout hits Rangoon
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Philippines asks Myanmar to release Suu Kyi by ASEAN anniversary
Thurs July 26, 5:41 AM
MANILA, Philippines (AP) _ The Philippines appealed Thursday for
Myanmar to release pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi by November,
when the Association of Southeast Asian Nations marks its founding
anniversary.
``That's a very important milestone,'' Foreign Secretary Alberto
Romulo said.
Romulo said he would convey his appeal to his Myanmar counterpart,
Nyan Win, who is to join an annual meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers
Monday.
Myanmar's spotty human rights record has been raised at every major
ASEAN meeting, but Romulo said there was no other option but to be
patient.
``It's not easy to be waiting all the time, but we must keep our hopes
and optimism,'' he told a news conference. ``We should never get
weary.''
Myanmar ignored international calls not to extend the house arrest of
Suu Kyi earlier this year, provoking new criticism, including from
ASEAN.
ASEAN's 10 foreign ministers are to discuss Myanmar's efforts to
democratize, according to a draft joint ministerial statement, which
reserved a paragraph for the situation in the military-ruled nation.
Southeast Asian countries were hoping Myanmar would also complete a
constitution it has been drafting for years by the time ASEAN leaders
hold their annual summit in Singapore in November.
Myanmar's junta has said that drafting a constitution is the first of
seven steps in a so-called roadmap to democracy that will culminate in
free elections.
Critics say the process is a sham because it does not involve
democracy activists such as Nobel laureate Suu Kyi, who has been in
prison or under house arrest for more than 12 of the past 18 years.
Although bound by an ASEAN edict not to interfere in each other's
affairs, some members, like Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia,
have become more blunt in their criticism, urging Myanmar to show
tangible progress toward democratization.
Authoritarian members, like Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos, have refused
to engage in stinging criticism of Myanmar.
Myanmar's ruling generals took power in 1988. They called elections in
1990, but refused to recognize the results when Suu Kyi's party won a
resounding victory.
Myanmar should have held ASEAN's rotating chairmanship and hosted the
regional summit last year, but it gave up the chance amid protests by
Western governments. The chairmanship, rotated alphabetically, was
abruptly passed on to the Philippines.
Singapore takes over the chairmanship next week.
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Philippines pushes for human rights body in Southeast Asia
Thurs July 26, 5:54 AM
MANILA, Philippines (AP) - The Philippines wants a landmark charter
being drafted by Southeast Asian countries to allow the creation of a
human rights body to deal with violations in the region, Foreign
Secretary Alberto Romulo said Thursday.
Diplomats from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations are locked
in debate over the proposal, he said.
``It's still a work in progress,'' Romulo told a news conference.
Enshrining human rights protection in the charter has been a touchy
issue because some ASEAN countries have spotty rights records, such as
military-ruled Myanmar.
Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines have made strong cases for an
ASEAN human rights commission, but other member states have resisted
their calls. Some fear it could violate the 10-nation group's cardinal
policy of noninterference in each other's internal affairs, Filipino
diplomat Rosario Manalo has said.
A human rights commission, however, would allow the group to deal with
human rights problems in its own way and parry Western criticism of
problems in the region, said Manalo, who heads an ASEAN task force
drafting the charter.
A draft of the charter, obtained by The Associated Press on Wednesday,
calls for the promotion of human rights but makes no mention of
establishing a human rights commission.
The Philippines also wants the charter to allow ASEAN's decision-
making _ traditionally done by consensus _ to include voting on
crucial issues, Romulo said.
The current system, under which a single dissenting voice can derail a
proposal, has been criticized for hampering the group's ability to
rapidly respond to contingencies.
ASEAN, formed in 1967, has decided to draft a charter to become a more
rules-based organization with better bargaining power in international
negotiations. It hopes the charter can be signed at the annual ASEAN
leaders' summit in November.
ASEAN was founded during the Cold War years as an anti-communist
coalition, eventually evolving into a trade and political bloc. It
consists of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
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U.S. diplomat says China's role in Southeast Asia often unproductive
Thurs July 26, 4:33 PM
WASHINGTON (AP) _ A senior U.S. diplomat said Thursday that China's
growing influence in Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos has often been
unhelpful and has contributed to flourishing corruption.
China has worked to increase its economic and political presence
throughout Southeast Asia, analysts say, and has pumped in large
amounts of money meant to help build roads and other infrastructure to
encourage Chinese trade and businesses in the region.
But Eric John, a deputy assistant secretary of state, said that China
does not do enough to link its aid with pressure for the countries to
improve human rights, corruption and other issues of worry.
``We certainly wouldn't want China not to be involved, but, in many
ways, its influence can be unproductive,'' John said at the Heritage
Foundation think tank. ``It's a country that has allowed, for example,
corruption to flourish with its assistance.''
In communist-led Laos, a country of about 6.5 million people with long
borders with Thailand and Vietnam and shorter ones with Myanmar, China
and Cambodia, John spoke of vast Chinese economic influence.
``That leads to political influence and it makes it a tough country to
crack for other countries to be able to positively influence them,''
he said.
Separately, John said that Myanmar continued to suffer under the
military, which has ruled since the early 1960s. ``It's continuing to
get worse,'' he said.
In a recent and rare meeting in Beijing, John pressed senior
representatives of Myanmar's government to free imprisoned Nobel
laureate and pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has spent more
than 11 of the past 18 years in detention.
In Cambodia, John said there had been ``a lot of quiet improvements''
and a steady boost in U.S.-Cambodian ties, in religious tolerance and
in military cooperation with Washington.
But Cambodia still has huge corruption problems and is still ``a
country that, to put it mildly, heavily leans toward the executive
branch in how it governs.''
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Proposed ASEAN charter likely to include human rights provision
Thurs July 26, 5:57 AM
MANILA, July 26, 2007 (AFP) - A mini-constitution for ASEAN would
likely include a human rights commission and a voting mechanism to
address key regional issues, Philippine Foreign Secretary Alberto
Romulo said Thursday.
"These two provisions are still being fine-tuned by a high-level task
force drafting the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations)
charter," Romulo told a press briefing.
"Whether agreement is reached by a simple majority or two-thirds
majority... that's what is being addressed now," he said, referring to
how a future voting system might work.
He denied reports that a provision calling for the setting up of a
human rights commission had been "thrown out."
"That part of the charter is also being sharpened," Romulo said.
The charter is expected to be submitted to ASEAN foreign ministers
during their annual meeting in Manila next week.
It could help ASEAN move beyond its long-held policy of "consensus
building," of not interfering in the internal affairs of a member
state.
The approach has left Myanmar at loggerheads with fellow ASEAN member
states as it continues to ignore international calls to restore
democracy.
Romulo said Myanmar was "not a dead issue" as far as ASEAN is
concerned.
"Myanmar has a road map to democracy. It is drafting a constitution
which will lead to a referendum and democratic elections," he said.
Foreign ministers will study the draft before it goes to ASEAN leaders
for signing in November during the regional summit in Singapore.
Romulo stressed ASEAN's credibility rested on whether the two
provisions -- a human rights commission and voting -- would be
included in the charter.
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US sanctions policy on Myanmar has failed: business chief
Thurs July 26, 5:41 AM
by P. Parameswaran
WASHINGTON, July 26, 2007 (AFP) - US sanction on military-ruled
Myanmar has failed and the next American administration may change
tactics to bring about reforms in the Southeast Asian state, according
to the head of a top US business lobby group in the region.
"We can't escape the conclusion that our policies have simply not
moved Myanmar in the right direction nor do they have any reasonable
prospect of doing so," said Matthew Daley, president of the US-
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Business Council.
"The simple truth is that no country, not even the UK, supports
current American policy in its entirety," he said at a forum organized
by the Washington-based, conservative Heritage Foundation.
Daley said US policy did not have the backing even within ASEAN, of
which Myanmar is a member together with Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia,
Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
"I don't think that the government in Hanoi, the government in
Vientiane, the government in Phnom Penh are going to take or permit
ASEAN to take drastic action against Burma (Myanmar)," he said.
"This is an unpleasant reality, it's inescapable and I think
increasingly recognized and acknowledged by the Burmese community in
exile," he said.
"I think people probably see a change in approach in the future
administration" -- irrespective of whether it is led by a Republican
or Democratic president, he said.
The comments by Daley, the former Southeast Asia head in the US State
Department, came just two days after the US Congress overwhelmingly
passed resolutions maintaining a ban on imports from Myanmar as part
of sanctions for repressing democratic opposition and for human rights
abuses.
Two months earlier President George W. Bush renewed sanctions that
prohibited new investments and exports of financial services and deny
visas to top junta officials.
Eric John, Daley's successor in the State Department, defended the
sanctions policy at the forum when asked whether Washington's move
last month to hold its first high level direct dialogue in many years
with the Myanmar junta leaders in Beijing stemmed from policy failure.
"I won't say that our sanctions policy has failed in Burma ... it's
still a policy that the administration still strongly supports," he
said, citing near unanimity in the administration and strong
bipartisan support in Congress for sanctions.
He chided some countries for undercutting US sanctions by pursuing a
"combination of engagement in isolation" policy with Myanmar by
involving very extensively economically with the gas-rich state.
"We are not going to settle the debate with the international
community of engagement versus isolation. What we try to settle is at
least going in with the same basic message to the (junta) about the
very basic steps it should take if it wishes to engage with the
international community," John said.
Myanmar's military rulers continue to hold under arrest democracy icon
Aung San Suu Kyi -- a Nobel Peace prize laureate whose National League
for Democracy (NLD) political party won 1990 elections but was never
allowed to take office.
She has spent most of the past 17 years under house arrest.
Daley also highlighted what he called the seldom discussed "cost" of
US sanctions policy, including "strategic gains" made by Myanmar ally
China.
He said there was a growing debate in the United States about what
Washington's policy on Myanmar should be, which at one time would have
been a very "risky" affair because of "painful" consequences for
descending from the conventional view.
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Friday July 27, 5:39 AM
U.S. official nixes early resumption of direct talks with Myanmar
(Kyodo) _ A senior U.S. government official voiced reluctance Thursday
to restart direct talks with Myanmar's military junta until Yangon is
ready to discuss the Southeast Asian nation's full democratization.
Eric John, deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asia and the
Pacific, took the stance one month after he pressed Yangon officials
in rare talks in Beijing for the release of Myanmar's pro-democracy
leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
"If we have another meeting, both of us want it to be productive. So I
think we prefer to meet when there is some productive work to do," he
told Kyodo News after a symposium on Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.
The State Department explained after the Beijing talks that they took
place at Myanmar's request. The Chinese capital was chosen because
Myanmar refused to allow John to meet Suu Kyi, who has spent 11 years
under house arrest since she returned to the country in 1988.
The department also said at the time that the talks yielded nothing
that indicates Yangon's willingness to move toward democratization in
the near future.
The latest period of house arrest for Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize
laureate and leader of the opposition National League for Democracy,
began in May 2003 and has been extended each year since then, most
recently in May.
Although the NLD won the 1990 general election by a landslide it was
blocked by the military junta from taking power and thousands of
political prisoners continue to be detained.
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Myanmar Bans Smoking At World Famous Pagoda
YANGON, July 26 (Bernama) -- Myanmar has designated the platform
around its world's famous Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon as tobacco- and
betel-free zone, banning smoking and taking of betel leaf there with
effective from this weekend, local media reported Thursday.
Such practices at the sacred site are prohibited for the first time in
a bid to improve the image of the area in terms of hygiene, China's
Xinhua news agency quoted the Yangon Time as saying on Thursday.
Shwedagon pagoda, where the relics of four Buddhas were enshrined and
built over 2,500 years ago, remains one of the nine wonders in the
world.
Myanmar has also banned smoking in university campuses in the country
starting December last year in an effort to create tobacco- smoke-free
environment for the health of the university students.
The ban also apply to a wide range of public accessible areas such as
school, stadium and mart but not in some specific areas under a
smoking and tobacco product consumption control law promulgated in May
2006.
The law introduces some strict restrictions with regard to sale and
production of cigar and totally bans all forms of tobacco
advertisement including advertising through sponsoring sports matches.
Meanwhile, the Myanmar health authorities have stressed the need to
expand the country's anti-tobacco campaign to rural areas where
smokers, especially women, are high in number.
Noting that most women smokers are poor and uneducated, health
officials pointed out that smoking is more prevalent among women in
rural areas than in urban ones.
Myanmar has been committed to controlling tobacco consumption by
ratifying the International Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
It became a signatory to the convention in September 2003 and was the
11th out of 192 countries to ratify the convention.
Myanmar launched a tobacco free initiative project in 2002.
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India built biogas plant completed in Myanmar
By IANS
Wednesday July 25, 11:32 AM
Yangon, July 25 (Xinhua) An India built biogas plant in Myanmar has
been completed and will be commissioned soon to electrify a village in
northern Mandalay division, Yangon Times reported Wednesday.
The Pesinngone plant in Mingyan, built by India's Tele Corporation, is
part of the cooperation projects of a sub-regional socio-economic
group - Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and
Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC). The bloc has India, Bangladesh,
Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal.
About 200 households in Kokke village will soon be electrified by the
gas generated from the plant, officials of the Ministry of Energy were
quoted as saying.
India presently holds the chairmanship of the group.
There are a total of 13 sectors of cooperation, including trade and
investment, technology, energy, transportation and communication,
tourism, fisheries, poverty alleviation, agriculture, cultural
cooperation, counter-terrorism and crime, environment and disaster
management, public health and people-to-people contact.
Myanmar is to take over the chairmanship of the BIMSTEC from India in
2008 under the rotation system in alphabetical order.
Joined later in 2004 by Bhutan and Nepal, BIMSTEC was formed in 1997
by the five countries of Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and
Thailand around the Bay of Bengal with the objective of promoting
multi-sectoral cooperation for economic and social progress of the
region, initially outlining six areas of cooperation in 1999, which
were later increased to 13 in 2006.
The first summit of the group was held in Bangkok in 2004, while the
second is scheduled in New Delhi in February 2008.
With a population of over 1.3 billion accounting for 21 percent of the
world population, BIMSTEC registered a gross domestic product of $750
billion and a trade volume of 33 to 59 billion dollars under the
BIMSTEC free trade area scheme.
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The Independent News - 26 July 2007 20:50
Horrified MPs demand huge aid increase
By Ben Russell, Political Correspondent
Published: 26 July 2007
The cross-party group of MPs described their visit to the border
regions of the brutal military state as "harrowing", warned of the
"incomprehensible" plight of millions of people and condemned the
"scandal" of aid expenditure that is the lowest for any of the world's
poorest countries.
Burma is a forgotten "nightmare" of dire poverty, disease, rape and
forced labour that makes the plight of its people one of the world's
worst humanitarian crises, according to their report. They called on
Britain to quadruple aid to Burma and pour resources into agencies
working across the country's borders to help huge numbers of people
forced from their homes and subject to a catalogue of human rights
abuses.
Senior opposition MPs joined the clamour for action on Burma as
members of the all-party Commons international development committee
delivered a devastating verdict on the situation in Burma.
The committee said that military rule in the former British colony
whose people were crucial allies in the campaign against the Japanese
at the end of the Second World War, had "systematically torn apart"
the country's industrial and social fabric. They said hundreds of
thousands of people were suffering from "a political, human rights and
humanitarian situation as grim as any in the world today".
They praised Britain for increasing aid to Burma four-fold in the past
six years, but said levels remained "unacceptably low".
Malcolm Bruce, the committee's Liberal Democrat chairman, said: "Burma
receives the lowest aid per head in the world for a poor country.
Given the pernicious human rights abuses and dire poverty levels
within Burma, this is a scandal." He said that officials from the
Department for International Development did not regularly visit
refugee camps on the Thai border.
William Hague, the shadow Foreign Secretary, said: "Our Government,
with cross-party support, should lead the way in supporting democracy-
building, human rights documentation, education, and in providing
humanitarian aid to the most vulnerable the refugees and the
internally displaced people of Burma."
Sir Menzies Campbell, the Liberal Democrat leader, also called on
ministers to back aid with increasing pressure on the regime to end
human rights abuses.
As many as 500,000 people have been displaced in eastern Burma, while
hundreds of thousands more live in refugee camps.
A spokesman for DfID said: "The UK is committed to helping vulnerable
people in Burma and the aid we provide has gone up from £2m in 2002 to
over £8m a year, with a view to further increases in the near future.
We remain one of the big three donors to the country. None of our aid
is given to the military regime.
"We work with many NGOs and the UN to help provide basic services for
the poor, to tackle Aids, tuberculosis, malaria and to help get more
children into primary schools."
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The Independent News - 26 July 2007 20:53
Burma: A plight we can ignore no longer
The people of Burma endure human rights abuses on an unimaginable
scale. Rape, torture and forced labour are facts of their lives. So
why does the world refuse to act? A cross-party group of MPs has
returned shocked by what they discovered there
By John Bercow, MP
Published: 26 July 2007
Burma suffers a political, human rights and humanitarian situation as
grim as any in the world today. The country is run by an utterly
illegitimate government that spends 50 per cent of its budget on the
military and less than a $1 (50p) per head on the health and education
of its own citizens.
The thugs and impostors who rule the roost practise some of the most
egregious human rights abuses known to mankind. Rape as a weapon of
war, extra-judicial killings, water torture, mass displacement,
compulsory relocation, forced labour, incarceration of political
prisoners, religious and ethnic persecution, and the daily destruction
of rural villages are all part of the story of savagery that has
disfigured Burma.
People lack access to food, water, sanitation and the most basic
health and education provision. Twice over the past three years, I
have met just a handful of the 500,000 internally displaced people in
eastern Burma and the 100,000 living in refugee camps in Thailand,
victims of the wanton savagery of the Burmese Army.
Harrowing accounts of children dying from malnutrition, women
perishing in childbirth and people succumbing to HIV, malaria and
tuberculosis will remain indelibly imprinted upon my mind if I live to
be 100. Most shocking of all was the experience of meeting children
who told me they had seen their parents shot dead and parents who were
forced to watch their children's summary execution.
Infectious diseases are approaching epidemic levels and 71 per cent of
the population are at risk of malaria. A 2006 estimate of the child
mortality rate in eastern Burma was 221 per 1000, compared to 205 in
the DRC. Health spending is the lowest in the world (0.5 per cent of
GDP) and 60 per cent of households have no education at all.
Yet Burma receives the lowest aid of all Least Developed Countries.
The DfID's current budget of £8.8m is paltry compared to countries
with similar poverty levels and human rights records. It amounts to
just a quarter of the budget for Zimbabwe.
DfID has long prioritised working in-country, despite the draconian
access restrictions imposed by the regime. By contrast, it has spurned
the opportunity to support cross-border assistance which alone is
capable of meeting the needs of some of the most vulnerable and
destitute. It was only after concerted pressure earlier this year that
DfID even allowed its funds to be spent on cross-border work. Yet this
belated shift of policy was itself an empty gesture as it offered not
a penny extra for the purpose.
Our Committee visited refugee camps on the Thai-Burma border and was
astonished to hear DfID visits them so infrequently. We were deeply
dismayed that DfID plans to relocate all its staff to Rangoon, despite
the importance of working with exile groups on the Thai border and the
limitations of working with the regime in Rangoon.
DfID policy needs to change at once. First, it should quadruple its
budget for Burma by 2013.
Secondly, its programme must include complementary in-country and
cross-border approaches to ensure even coverage of the most vulnerable
people across the country.
Thirdly, it should begin appropriate funding for exile groups, such as
trade unions and women's organisations, to support them in raising
awareness, giving assistance to IDPs and building capacity to prepare
for transition to democracy.
Good work is undoubtedly done in Burma by dedicated international
public servants and experienced NGOs. Yet the blunt truth is that we
are failing the people of Burma. Co-ordination is abysmal,
communication with border groups and exile organisations is pitiful
and the policy response to the continuing humanitarian crisis is
frankly dysfunctional.
Douglas Alexander is nobody's fool and he clearly relishes his new
job. I urge him to see the weakness of current policy and to heed the
International Development Select Committee's advice to change it
decisively for the benefit of millions of people in Burma who have
suffered too much for too long with too little done to alleviate their
plight.
MPs who went to Burma
Malcolm Bruce, Chairman, Gordon Liberal Democrats; John Battle, Leeds
West, Labour; Hugh Bayley, City of York Labour; Mr John Bercow,
Buckingham, Conservative; Richard Burden, Birmingham, Northfield
Labour; Mr Quentin Davies, Grantham and Stamford, Labour; James
Duddridge, Rochford and Southend East, Conservative; Ann McKechin,
Glasgow North, Labour; Joan Ruddock, Lewisham, Deptford, Labour; Mr
Marsha Singh, Bradford West, Labour; Sir Robert Smith, Aberdeenshire
West and Kincardine, Liberal Democrat
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Family of bashed NLD member sued for intimidation
July 26, 2007 (DVB)-Four family members of National League for
Democracy member U Than Lwin, who was brutally bashed by a man wearing
a knuckle duster, faced court on Tuesday after being charged with
threatening the Union Solidarity and Development Association.
U Than Lwin's family and five other Mandalay NLD members appeared at a
Mandalay court to defend themselves against a lawsuit filed by the
Maddaya USDA secretary U Kyaw Min who has accused the group of
'intimidation'.
U Than Lwin, an elected member of parliament, was bashed in the street
by a man wearing a knuckle duster on June 15. While the attacker
remains unidentified, he was reportedly seen by a number of witnesses
fleeing into a Mandalay USDA office after the incident.
Four unnamed members of the NLD leaders family along with Maddaya NLD
members U Nyo Gyi, Ko Kyaw Swe, Ko Thaung Naing, U Nyo Lay and Ko Nyi
Nyi were later accused by U Kyaw Min of threatening to attack the USDA
offices if the assailant was not handed over.
"Kyaw Min has accused them of threatening to beat up USDA members and
burn down the USDA office if they didn't hand over the attacker," U
Than Lwin told DVB yesterday.
"The court said they would drop charges against anyone who could prove
they were not involved or if they could give a reasonable explanation
for what happened. The court is now preparing to let them go on bail,"
he said.
U Than Lwin said that it was impossible for the group to have tried to
intimidate the USDA since their only contact with the pro-government
organisation over the incident had been in the presence of a number of
police officers.
The next hearing for the case is set to be held on August 1.
*****************************************************
Deadly dengue fever hits Bago children
July 26, 2007 (DVB)-The number of children suffering from deadly
hemorrhagic dengue fever in Bago division's Min Hla township has
escalated dramatically in the past few weeks, according to residents.
While it is unclear how many have been killed in the area by the
disease, local doctors told DVB that more than 10 children suffering
severe fevers were being admitted to hospital every day.
"My clinic receives about 10 children with hemorrhagic dengue fever
every day," a doctor from a private clinic in Min Hla said.
"But there are a lot of clinics like mine in town so it's difficult to
tell how many children have been suffering with the fever. Children
from the villages suffer from the disease more than children in the
cities because of the higher numbers of mosquitoes," the doctor said.
Residents said that many children admitted to the Min Hla hospital
were being transferred to better equipped facilities in Tharawaddy and
Rangoon as their conditions were considered life-threatening.
In a recent statement, Burma's Ministry of Health said that 30 of the
estimated 3000 children who suffered from hemorrhagic dengue fever in
the first half of this year died. If correct, the estimates show that
death rates from the disease are higher than in 2006.
*****************************************************
Surrend defends Myanmar Times ad as fallout hits Rangoon
July 26, 2007 (DVB)-The Danish satirical art group Surrend yesterday
defended its decision to place a hidden message calling Than Shwe a
'killer' in a Myanmar Times advertisement, as fallout from the
incident hit the media industry in Rangoon.
Reports emerged yesterday that a number of Myanmar Times staff had
been taken to the office of the press scrutiny board and interrogated
about the ad in the early hours of Tuesday morning and that
journalists from a variety of other publications feared a fresh
censorship crackdown.
DVB also received reports saying that many shops in Rangoon had been
forced to take the issue of the newspaper off the shelves while others
had become too scared to stock it. Two staff from the Press Scrutiny
and Registration Division have reportedly been sacked over the
incident.
An ad planted by Surrend appeared in the latest English-language issue
of the weekly Myanmar Times on Monday containing the word
"Ewhsnahtrellik", which was later revealed by the group to be 'killer
Than Shwe' spelt backwards.
Surrend founder Jan Egesborg told DVB in an interview yesterday that
while the Burmese military's reaction was unfortunate, it was entirely
the government's responsibility.
"We knew that there would be some reaction from the regime . . . As a
satirical artist you go for the mighty ones and you know that there
often will be a harsh reaction," Egesborg said.
"Of course we are very sorry for the people . . . but if [the
authorities] do something like that it says something about the
regime."
A number of journalists working for newspapers and magazines in
Rangoon said yesterday that news of the incident had spread like
wildfire through the former capital, causing serious concern over a
potential media crackdown.
The publisher of one weekly newspaper said that the censorship board
was likely to react to the "prank" by more closely monitoring the
contents of publications, making it harder for politically sensitive
material to slip through.
"It is quite clear that the authorities are now very upset. We fear
they are going to lay even more limitations on our works," the
publisher said on condition of anonymity.
A former reporter from Rangoon said that while the intention behind
Surrend's decision to place the ad was likely honourable, their
tactics would not be effective in Burma because of the nature of the
censorship regime.
"Normally this would be effective . . . but this would only be good if
the Myanmar Times could be in a position to defend themselves to the
government and say 'We didn't place this ad. It's not our fault'," the
reporter said.
"But this is impossible in Burma's case. In this situation [the
Myanmar Times] will be forced to support the government and this is
bad."
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