*****************************************************
BURMA RELATED NEWS - APRIL 23, 2008
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HEADLINES
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AFP - EU mulls new Myanmar sanctions, as constitution vote closes in
AFP - Top Myanmar activist may go blind: US
AFP - US urges UN statement on Myanmar vote
AP - Myanmar's opposition party says political prisoners denied proper
medical care
AP - UN draft calls on Myanmar junta to take urgent steps to start
talks with opposition's Suu Kyi
Reuters - Malaysia rights panel sees migrant social time bomb
MCOT - Police want to limit Myanmar people visits to Ranong to one day
Economist - Myanmar's awful choice
Irrawaddy - Burma Plans to Rig Constitution Referendum
SHAN - Wa farmers demand return to poppy cultivation
******************************************************
EU mulls new Myanmar sanctions, as constitution vote closes in
AFP - Wednesday, April 23
STRASBOURG (AFP) - - The European Union is preparing to extend and
even boost sanctions against Myanmar, the EU's Slovenian presidency
said Wednesday.
"I hope that the sanctions regime will be extended for 12 months,"
Slovenian state secretary for European affairs Janez Lenarcic told
members of the European Parliament.
"Discussions are underway in the council (of EU ministers) for the
biggest possible financial sanctions," European Commission Vice
President Jacques Barrot told the assembly in Strasbourg.
The EU's sanctions, adopted on November 19, included an embargo on the
im****t of timber, gems and metals from Myanmar. It also extended the
list of Myanmar leaders and their relatives subject to a travel ban
and assets freeze.
EU foreign ministers are to debate them at a meeting in Luxembourg on
Monday and Tuesday, and could choose to broaden, them based on the
military junta's conduct in the future.
Lenarcic, whose country currently holds the EU's rotating presidency,
urged the regime to allow public debate on its new draft constitution,
to be put to a referendum on May 10, and end an opposition crackdown.
"The European Union continues to hope that the Myanmar authorities
will allow a free and fair referendum and that they will allow
international observers to be deployed," he said.
"Only a genuine, open democratisation process can lead to national
reconciliation, stability and prosperity," he said.
"We call on the authorities to cease condemning political activists
and to repeal the law banning criticism of the government," he added.
"We also expect the Myanmar authorities to release political
prisoners."
The call comes just weeks ahead of the plebiscite on a constitution
that activists say was drafted with no public input, and simply
enshrines the military's role in the country it has ruled for nearly
half a century.
******************************************************
US urges UN statement on Myanmar vote
=46rom AFP on 2008-04-23 12:48:05 (posted on 2008-04-23 12:48:05)
UNITED NATIONS, April 23, 2008 (AFP) - The United States will
Wednesday resubmit a draft statement in the Security Council that will
insist on a "credible" constitutional referendum in Myanmar next
month, its ambassador to the UN said.
Zalmay Khalilzad told re****ters that he planned to resubmit the non-
binding text, which had earlier run into opposition from China,
because "there are disturbing signs that the process (in Myanmar) is
not a credible process."
"It is very im****tant that given the upcoming referendum and
elections, the council sends a strong message, a clear message that
the process needs to be credible."
The military regime in Myanmar has said it will hold a referendum on
May 10 to set the stage for multi-party elections in 2010.
Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy
(NLD) and other pro-democracy groups are calling for a "No" vote, but
they have little ability to campaign effectively because the ruling
junta has outlawed speeches and leaflets about the referendum.
The referendum will be the first balloting in military-run Myanmar
since 1990, when Aung San Suu Kyi led the NLD to a landslide victory
that was never recognized by the junta. She remains under house
arrest.
"The people of Burma deserves sup****t from the council, from the
international community," Khalilzad said.
Approval of the non-binding text requires unanimity from the 15-member
council and US diplomats they would try hard to bring China on board.
China, one of the council's five veto-wielding permanent members, is a
major sup****ter of the Myanmar junta, supplying weapons and purchasing
the poor country's natural resources.
Khalilzad said council experts would ****e over the text Thursday.
******************************************************
Top Myanmar activist may go blind: US
Tue Apr 22, 6:39 PM ET
WA****NGTON (AFP) - Military-ruled Myanmar's imprisoned pro-democracy
activist Min Ko Naing may go blind after failing to receive medical
treatment, the US State Department charged Tuesday.
The de facto number two opposition leader after democracy icon Aung
San Suu Kyi "has not received care for an eye infection that, if left
untreated, could cause loss of sight," department spokesman Tom Casey
said.
Student leader Min Ko Naing was arrested in August last year along
with a dozen colleagues after he participated in a peaceful march over
a sudden oil price hike that triggered wide-spread protests later and
a deadly military crackdown.
He sought permission to see an eye specialist but the authorities at
the Insein Prison in Yangon, where he is being held, refused, re****ts
said.
"We condemn the failure of Burma's authorities to provide proper
medical treatment to a number of prisoners, who may suffer irreparable
damages due to the lack of prompt medical attention," Casey said.
Burma is the previous name of Myanmar.
In March, U Myint Thein, spokesman for Aung San Suu Kyi's National
League for Democracy, died in Singa****e from cancer that was left
untreated while he was imprisoned for his role in the September pro-
democracy protests, Casey said.
He also expressed concern that Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi had
still not received the monthly visits with her doctor as had been
agreed with UN Special Envoy on Burma Ibrahim Gambari.
"We urge the regime to release all political prisoners immediately,"
Casey said.
"The intentional withholding of necessary medical treatment for
political reasons is a serious violation of human rights. While these
individuals are in the custody of the regime, they should receive the
medical care they require," he said.
Rights groups say there are about 1,850 political prisoners in
Myanmar, at least 700 of whom were arrested after anti-junta
demonstrations last September.
The military crushed those protests in an operation the UN says killed
at least 31 people.
******************************************************
Myanmar's opposition party says political prisoners denied proper
medical care
AP - Thursday, April 24
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - Myanmar's military junta is deliberately
denying proper medical care to political prisoners, the country's pro-
democracy party said Wednesday.
National League for Democracy spokesman Nyan Win said the junta's
withholding of medical treatment was a deliberate and malicious act.
Nyan Win made the comment a day after U.S. State Department spokesman
Tom Casey said the United States had received re****ts that pro-
democracy activist Min Ko Naing has been denied care for an eye
infection that could cause blindness. He said the U.S. also was
worried that Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who is under
house arrest, has not received promised monthly doctor visits.
Nyan Win said Suu Kyi, leader of the National League for Democracy,
has not been seen by her physician since January.
Suu Kyi is not allowed visitors or telephone contact with the outside
world. She has been in detention for more than 12 of the past 18
years.
Calls to the junta's public relations officials went unanswered
Wednesday.
Nyan Win said Min Ko Naing's eye infection needs urgent medical
treatment.
Min Ko Naing, leader of the 88 Generation Students group, and more
than a dozen other activists were arrested last August after holding
anti-junta rallies. He has been held in Yangon's notorious Insein
prison.
In September monks led nationwide demonstrations. At least 31 people
were killed when the military crushed the protests, sparking global
outrage.
Nyan Win earlier said more than 120 National League for Democracy
members have been arrested since the crackdown. Thousands of other
protesters were also detained and some were given harsh prison
sentences.
Members of the 88 Generation Students were at the forefront of a 1988
pro-democracy uprising and were given lengthy prison terms and
tortured after the military harshly suppressed the protests.
The Assistance Association of Political Prisoners, a group of former
political prisoners based near the Thai-Myanmar border, says Myanmar
authorities have long used denial of medical treatment for political
intimidation.
It said a 70-year-old political prisoner, Than Lwin, lost his eyesight
earlier this year when authorities were slow to allow him medical
treatment while he was imprisoned in the central city of Mandalay.
"When he was sent to an eye specialist, the doctors said it was
already about two months late," the group said in a recent statement.
"There was nothing they could do to help him."
******************************************************
UN draft calls on Myanmar junta to take urgent steps to start talks
with opposition's Suu Kyi
=46rom AP on 2008-04-23 12:49:00 (posted on 2008-04-23 12:49:49)
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - A revised draft Security Council statement
circulated Wednesday calls on Myanmar's government to take urgent
steps to initiate a dialogue with detained pro-democracy leader Aung
San Suu Kyi and allow her all other political actors to fully
participate in the May referendum on a new constitution.
The revised statement, prepared by the United States, Britain and
France appeared to reflect their growing impatience with the failure
of Myanmar's military rulers to start serious talks with Suu Kyi and
open up the political process to all opposition parties. It was sent
to council members and obtained by The Associated Press.
China, which has close ties with Myanmar, had objected to the initial
draft circulated in early April. Since the revised draft is very
similar, it was unclear whether it would sup****t the statement, which
requires approval from all 15 Security Council members.
U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad told re****ters its very im****tant
that the council sends ``a strong message, a clear message'' that the
referendum must be credible.
Asked whether China sup****ted the draft, he noted that since the
initial draft was circulated, council members have watched to seen
whether Myanmar's regime would take ``some of the steps that are
necessary for a credible process.'' Myanmar's junta has not, he said,
so a ``strong message'' is needed from the council to the regime and
to the people and to the world.
``The council cannot be silent, should not be silent in the face of
what has happened and what has not happened,'' he said. ``The people
of Burma deserve sup****t from the council, from the international
community.''
The previous draft, circulated in early April, called on Myanmar's
military rulers ``to take, in a timely manner, concrete, meaningful
steps that result in genuine dialogue'' with Suu Kyi.
The revised draft stresses the need for the government ``to take, on
an urgent basis, concrete, meaningful steps that result in genuine
dialogue'' with the detained pro-democracy leader.
The revised draft reiterates the call ``on the government of Myanmar
to allow full participation of all political actors, including Daw
Aung San Suu Kyi'' in the referendum process and elections in 2010 in
order for it ``to be inclusive and credible.''
``The Security Council further notes the commitment by the government
of Myanmar to ensure that the referendum will be free and fair and
that all will be allowed to participate on equal terms,'' the revised
draft statement says.
The junta's critics charge that the constitution _ a stage on its so-
called ``roadmap to democracy'' _ was drafted in an undemocratic way,
and that it would perpetuate military rule.
Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy, has urged voters
to reject the draft constitution, but longstanding restrictions on
freedom of speech and harassment of pro-democracy activists have made
it difficult to mount a campaign against the proposed charter.
Myanmar has been ruled by the military since 1962. The current junta
seized power in 1988 and refused to honor the results of a 1990
general election won by Suu Kyi's party. The Nobel Peace Prize winner,
who is currently under house arrest, has been in detention without
trial for more than 12 of the past 18 years.
During a visit to Myanmar in March, U.N. envoy Ibrahim Gambari was
rebuffed when he proposed a a U.N. role in the May referendum _ and
when he suggested that the military junta amend its seven-point
roadmap to democracy to include input from the country's pro-democracy
movement and other political parties.
The junta has been under strong international pressure to make
democratic reforms, especially since it quashed peaceful pro-democracy
protests last September. The U.N. estimates at least 31 people were
killed and thousands more were detained in the crackdown.
The revised draft reaffirms the Security Council's ``unwavering
sup****t'' for Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's ``good offices mission''
and for Gambari _ and it adds a line urging the government and all
parties to cooperate fully with the United Nations.
It reiterates the previous draft's expression of regret at the
military government's ``slow rate of progress'' toward meeting the
council's call last September for a ``genuine dialogue'' with the pro-
democracy opposition and the early release of all political prisoners
and detainees.
The revised draft for the first time acknowledges ``the im****tant
role'' that Myanmar's fellow members in the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations, ASEAN, ``continue to play in sup****ting a peaceful
transition to democracy, and sup****ting the United Nations' good
offices mission.''
It reiterates the Security Council's commitment to Myanmar's
territorial integrity, ``and, in that context, to helping the
government and people of Myanmar to bring an early end to military
rule and begin a transition to democracy.''
******************************************************
Malaysia rights panel sees migrant social time bomb
=46rom RTR on 2008-04-23 04:56:02 (posted on 2008-04-23 04:56:02)
By Jalil Hamid
KUALA LUMPUR, April 23 (Reuters) - Malaysia's crackdown on illegal
immigrants is taking a toll on the government as detention camps are
filled to the brim and de****tation plans have hit snags, the country's
rights body said on Tuesday.
"It is like a time bomb," said Siva Subramaniam, a member of
Malaysia's national human rights commission, Suhakam. "There should be
a rethinking of the situation."
Malaysia holds some 10,000 illegal immigrants at immigration detention
camps which rights campaigners say are more like "caves" due to
overcrowding and appalling conditions.
"These are not healthy places and are too overcrowded," Subramaniam
said. "Some people have been langui****ng for too long. Some of them
are mentally disturbed."
His comments came after detainees from Myanmar rioted at a Malaysian
holding camp on Monday, torching a building, after hearing they had
apparently been denied asylum in a third country.
In the incident at the Lenggeng camp just south of Kuala Lumpur, some
72 Myanmarese forced their way into an administrative block and set it
ablaze.
"They were disappointed on hearing the UNHCR (the U.N. Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees) couldn't get a placement for them in a
third country," the Immigration's head of enforcement, Ishak Mohammad
said on Monday.
The UNHCR said no refugees detained in Lenggeng had been delivered any
news that their resettlement request was denied.
There are 75 refugees and asylum-seekers known to UNHCR in Lenggeng.
"Our records indicate that their cases are still being actively
processed by our office," a UNHCR spokesperson in Malaysia said.
Subramaniam said he would lead a Sukaham mission to the camp on
Thursday to investigate Monday's riot.
Malaysia, a magnet for unskilled and semi-skilled Asian labour, is
home to around 3 million foreign workers, 1 million of whom are
working illegally.
In addition, the country has about 39,000 refugees registered with the
UNHCR, the body said.
Home (Interior) Minister Syed Albar said at the weekend the government
was up to its neck with foreign worker problems.
"Malaysia cannot take more foreign workers," he told the Star
newspaper. He said Taiwan, with a population of 23 million people, has
only 400,000 foreign workers. Malaysia has 27 million people.
******************************************************
MCOT
Police want to limit Myanmar people visits to Ranong to one day
BANGKOK, April 23(TNA) - In an attempt to thwart a similar tragedy in
which 54 illegal Myanmar job seekers suffocated to death on April 10
in a truck from occurring again, a senior Thai army officer on
Wednesday proposed Myanmar people visiting the Thai southern border
province of Ranong should not be allowed to stay overnight.
Colonel ****thep Vacharaphun, commander of the 29th infantry unit of
Surasee Task Force, proposed Myanmar people visiting Ranong should not
be allowed to spend one week as was the case now.
Col. ****thep said in order to prevent the suffocation tragedy from
happening again, Myanmar visitors should return to their country on
the same day.
He also suggested long-tail boats carring passengers between Ranong
and Myanmar=92s Koh Song only pickup and drop off passengers at a
fi****ng pier.
Col. ****thep went on to propose Koh Song should be designated as a
point where Thailand could send Myanmar people entering Thailand
illegally back to their own country, like Myawaddy town opposite the
Thai border district of Mae Sot and Tachilek opposite the Thai border
district of Mae Sai.
******************************************************
Economist.com
Asia.view
Myanmar's awful choice
Apr 23rd 2008
A referendum its people cannot win
IN EMBASSIES abroad, voting has already begun in the referendum on
Myanmar=92s new constitution, which will be held in-country on May 10th.
The ruling junta advertises it as an im****tant step forward on its
=93roadmap=94 to democratic, civilian rule. If only.
Rather the referendum is, in the words of Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, the
United Nations=92 special rap****teur on human rights in Myanmar, a
=93ritual without real content=94.
Or perhaps it is even worse than that: a ritual with content,
symbolising and confirming the sheer misery of Myanmar=92s plight and
threatening to make it permanent. A junta-appointed committee took 15
years to draft the constitution, which offers nothing close to
democracy.
AFPAn empty box for empty promises
It gives the army chief the power to intervene in politics at will.
Several cabinet seats would be reserved for army officers, as would
25% of seats in both houses of parliament.
A bizarre clause is apparently tailor-made to bar Aung San Suu Kyi,
the detained opposition leader, from elected office. When Myanmar last
held elections, she was banned because of her foreign connections: she
was married to a foreigner and had spent much of her life abroad.
Her husband has since died, and she has been in Myanmar without
interruption=97mostly under lock and key. Now, however, those whose
=93children or their spouses=94 are foreign are excluded. Miss Suu Kyi=92s
two sons are British, having been deprived of their Burmese
citizen****p.
Despite all this, some of the regime=92s critics used to think the
constitution worth voting for: it is, after all, the only chance of
change that is on offer. And it does envisage some sort of political
process, with a parliament, which implies debate and even, perhaps,
disagreement.
To be blithely optimistic, this process might gather a momentum of its
own. It might, for example, expose the undoubted rifts within the
junta.
And, by bringing in the =93ceasefire groups=94=97representatives of ethnic
insurgencies that are at present quiescent=97it would bring a formal end
to some of the world=92s longest-running armed conflicts.
Now, however, it is hard to find anyone outside the junta itself who
favours a =93yes=94 vote. There are two main reasons for this. The first
is the junta=92s brutal suppression of last autumn=92s monk-led protests.
A much feared and loathed regime proved itself even more hateful.
Second is the strengthening of provisions in the draft designed to
make it hard to change it in future. Amendment will require at least
75% of the votes in parliament=97ie, including those of some of the
soldiers=97and 50% of eligible voters in a subsequent referendum.
So the constitution seems a way of entrenching eternal military
domination.
Any hint of a campaign for a =93no=94 vote in Myanmar has been
suppressed=97=
those caught scrawling graffiti face long jail sentences; T-****rts
bearing the word =93Nobody=94, which were made in Thailand and which
Burmese had taken to wearing in discreet protest, are being removed
from shop shelves.
With no independent poll-monitors, even if there is a =93no=94 vote, we
might never know. The generals will surely remember the embarrassment
of being thrashed in the election they held in 1990.
So the looming vote evokes in some activists not the hope of change,
however imperfect, but desperation over its impossibility. In that
sense, it is comparable to the role of the Beijing Olympics in Tibet=97
almost a last chance to make a futile protest heard.
In a rare (if minor) incident of terrorism in Myanmar, two small bombs
exploded in the centre of Yangon on Sunday April 20th. The government
has blamed a group of exiled dissidents. But the one thing Myanmar is
not short of is angry, desperate people.
******************************************************
The Irrawaddy - Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Burma Plans to Rig Constitution Referendum
By MARWAAN MACAN-MARKER / IPS WRITER / BANGKOK
A rising star within the ranks of Burma=92s military regime is re****ted
to have unveiled a plan to ensure the junta gets its way at the May
referendum for a new constitution, according to information revealed
to IPS.
Lt. Gen Myint Swe told a meeting of some 600 people, which included
senior government officials, that only the last 10 people to vote at
each polling station will be entitled to monitor the counting of the
ballots at the station, revealed a well-informed source close to the
military, who attended the meeting.
Furthermore, the results of the votes counted at the local level will
not be revealed as and when the tallies are confirmed, Myint Swe is
re****ted to have added, the source said of the Apr. 9 meeting, which
was held in the former capital, Rangoon. The junta=92s plan is to reveal
the final results in one announcement from the new capital, Naypidaw.
"This is to control the votes and rig the votes if needed," says Win
Min, a Burmese national security expert lecturing at Payap University,
in northern Thailand. "This is different from the 1990 elections, when
they announced the results by each polling station at the local level,
which makes controlling the result difficult."
At that election, the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD)
won a thumping majority despite the heavy odds it faced and the strong
campaign launched by the junta to promote its own political party.
However the junta refused to recognize the results. It opted, instead,
to establish a national convention to draft a new constitution, a
process that took a record 15 years and is finally awaiting approval
on May 10.
Members of the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA), a
pro-junta organization, will be the ones sent to vote last at each
polling station to ensure access to monitor the vote count, Win Min
added in an interview. "There have been widespread worries among the
ministers, regional commanders, light infantry division commanders and
senior USDA officials that they would be sacked if the referendum is
lost in their respective areas."
Another plan the military has in store is to compel civil servants,
university lecturers and school teachers to vote a week ahead of the
referendum date in the direct presence of senior military officers, an
order that ignores a voter=92s right to secrecy.
"This is voter intimidation," says Win Min. "It shows that the
authorities are worried that these civil servants are likely to vote
=91no=92 if they are free to do so."
The role of Myint Swe in this effort to swing the plebiscite the
junta=92s way has broader implications, since he is known as a close
confidante of the South-east Asian country=92s strongman, Snr-Gen Than
Shwe. Some Burmese analysts concur that what Myint Swe says "reflects
Than Shwe=92s mind."
In fact, the army officer, in his late 50s, has played pivotal roles
in the past to strengthen the military dictator=92s grip on power in
Burma as the junta has renamed it.
In early 2006, in his capacity as the head of the military division in
Rangoon and as head of military intelligence, Myint Swe launched a
campaign to track down citizens in Burma who were feeding the
international media with information. This manhunt in an already
oppressed country included targets that ranged from businessmen and
civil servants to local journalists.
In 2004, it was Myint Swe who Than Shwe turned to when he wanted get
rid of Gen Khin Nyunt, the prime minister and the intelligence chief
at that time. Myint Swe arrested Khin Nyunt at the air****t after
having ordered the soldiers under his Rangoon division to arrest key
men attached to the Khin Nyunt=92s intelligence office.
Myint Swe=92s role to ensure an outcome favorable to the junta is no
different to that of another confidante of Than Shwe, Maj-Gen Htay Oo,
the secretary-general of the USDA.
The latter organization, which Than Shwe founded in September 1993,
has been given the lead role in the forthcoming referendum and the
general elections to be held in 2010.
And Htay Oo=92s role goes beyond ensuring that the USDA, which is
officially re****ted to have 23 million members out of the country=92s 54
million population, campaigns for a favorable vote. He is re****tedly
spearheading a programme of intimidation in the run-up to the
plebiscite.
Currently, an old racecourse in downtown Rangoon, the Kyaik-Ka-San
grounds, has been converted to a training centre for USDA toughs to
learn such skills as beating, threatening and arresting civilians
identified as opponents of the junta, says a Burmese source who has
secured pictures of such sessions.
"Htay Oo is very close to Than Shwe and he is part of the junta=92s
campaign to intimidate voters into saying =91yes=92 at the referendum,"
says Zin Linn, spokesman for the National Coalition Government of the
Union of Burma, the Burmese government in exile. "The training at the
racecourse is under Htay Oo=92s control. No wonder the people regard
them as a mafia."
"NLD members and pro-democracy activists have already been attacked by
these USDA members," Zin Linn added in an interview. "There is going
to be more force unleashed as the days for the referendum draw
closer."
The USDA=92s notoriety as another arm of Than Shwe=92s oppressive regime
was on display in September 2007, when it joined the military and riot
police in the brutal crackdown of the pro-democracy protests, led by
thousands of maroon-robed monks.
In May 2003, the USDA was also implicated in a bloody attack on NLD
members, including its leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, during a political
campaign in Depayin. Nearly 70 NDL sup****ters were killed by the mob
of USDA members and other junta sup****ters.
In fact, the military official who masterminded the Depayin attack=97
aimed at silencing the universally popular pro-democracy leader Suu
Kyi, now under house arrest=97was Gen Soe Win, another Than Shwe ally.
He was subsequently named "the Butcher of Depayin" by Burmese
dissidents for his ruthlessness. But Than Shwe viewed his confidante
differently, rewarding him with the role of prime minister following
Khin Nyunt=92s arrest.
Since it grabbed power in a March 1962 coup, the Burmese military has
regularly served up officers prepared to unleash acts of repression as
a pledge of loyalty to the dictator in power. Among the earliest in
this Burmese military tradition was Brig. Gen. Sein Lwin. As a young
commander, he gave soldiers the order to first shoot university
students demonstrating and then to blow up the students=92 union
building at the Rangoon University with students trapped inside.
For such brutal acts in July 1962, Sein Lwin was dubbed "the Butcher
of Rangoon" by the Burmese opposition at the time. Yet it hardly came
in the way of his rise within the military regime under Gen Ne Win.
Sein Lwin was rewarded for implementing his master=92s policies as Myint
Swe is being rewarded today. The latter is re****ted to be Than Shwe=92s
second favorite after Gen Thura Shwe Mann, the third-most powerful
military officer in Burma and the one Than Shwe re****tedly favors as
his successor.
******************************************************
Shan Herald Agency for News
Wa farmers demand return to poppy cultivation
by admin =97 last modified 2008-04-23 05:02
A growing number of impoverished farmers in the Wa region on the Sino-
Burma has been calling on the Wa authorities to allow a return to
poppy culture that was suspended almost 3 years ago, according to both
official and unofficial sources.
=93We=92ve been pleading with our local officials since August,=94 said a
middle-age elder from Pangyang, some 30 miles west of Panghsang, the
Wa capital. =93They said they would forward our petition to the Central.
No reply has been received so far and we are quite desperate,
especially when our relatives in Mawfa (Burma Army controlled Wa
territory since 1980, now renamed Markmang aka Metman town****p) are
boasting a good harvest.=94
One official in Panghsang acknowledged the fact saying, =93The world
says we are wicked when our people grow opium. But when we stop it,
the Burmese military government, although it has done nothing to stop
in areas under its control, is praised for doing a good job.=94
All town****ps surrounding the United Wa State Army=92s territory,
designated by Naypyidaw as Shan State Special Region #2: Hsenwi,
La****o, Tangyan, Monghsu, Markmang and Mongkhark, except those under
the control of Kokang and Mongla ceasefire groups, have re****ted
increased output.
Housewives are most articulate about the prevailing conditions:
=93Before the ban, I was able to go to the market, held once every 5
days,=94 said a mother of two children, =93but now, only once a month.
Every time I go to the market, I see fewer buyers and fewer sellers.
Many former marketeers who are my friends say they can no longer make
a living as traveling salespeople so they are doing something else.=94
Another housewife in Panghsang offered SHAN a different aspect of the
plight. =93I used to send my kids to study in Monglem (known by the
Chinese as Menglien, across the border),=94 she said. =93But now they all
go to school in Panghsang, because I can no longer afford the cost.=94
There were 5 middle schools and 240 primary schools in the year 2000,
re****ted Tom Kramer=92s The United Wa State Party: Narco-Army or Ethnic
Nationalist Party? (2007). Education beyond middle school is non-
existent.
Other stories told by migrants from the surrounding hills to the fast
growing slums on the outskirts of Panghsang are more freakish:
=93We were taught how to grow tea,=94 said a 54-year old ex-poppy farmer
who is now making a living by digging and trans****ting sand from
Panghsang=92s Namkha river to the construction sites. =93But they were
even more delicate than newborns and when it failed, our instructors
were never seen again.=94
=93Those who have lowland paddy fields are luckier,=94 he added. =93The
aid
agencies bought them buffaloes to plow their fields.=94
A mother in a make****ft hovel whose roofs leak when the rains come
thought she was lucky to have the job of looking after the rubber
plantations. =93One of my friends, a divorcee with one child, was sold
to a Chinese man by her parents for Y 6,000 ($750),=94 she said.
According to a Wa official, there are 600,000 acres of rubber plants
in areas under its control.
Many other women are working in hotels, restaurants and homes. =93Some
are luckier,=94 she said. =93They have relatives across the border and get
jobs paying Y 200-400 ($25-50) a month.=94
Several sources pointed out that most girls working as prostitutes on
the border, although they may have haild from the Wa region, are not
Wa as most people believe. =93Most Wa have darker skin, which few
customers prefer,=94 said a Panghsang resident. =93So the majority of
those engaging in this profession are those with fairer skin like
Shans, although they may be known as Wa to the outside world.=94
An advertisement in a Chinese website last year boasted: =93Wa men
flaunt their guns , while Wa girls flaunt their bodies.=94
The ex-poppy farmers, on the other hand, are getting their regular
rice donations from the World Food Program (WFP) twice a year, 20 pay
(66.7 liters) each time, which, if mixed with other edibles and
carefully rationed, lasts about 4 months. =93So most are in dire straits
for the remaining 4 months of the year,=94 a Wa from the hills who had
recently moved to Panghsang said. =93But here in Panghsang, we are close
to the authorities and the aid agencies, so our situation is not as
bad as those back in the hills.=94
Taking stock, commented an educated native of the Wa territory, things
have not been getting better since the ban in 2005. =93In fact, it is
getting worse each year,=94 he said. =93But one might be fooled into
thinking that the situation may be getting better, because you are
getting a less number of complaints these days compared to the first
two years, except for the demand to return to poppy cultivation.=94
The reasons are two-fold, according to him:
One, complaints do not bring improvements
Two, people are getting used to their sufferings after three years
=93The generals in Naypyidaw are probably counting on it,=94 he
concluded.
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