US envoy to visit Myanmar again
From Al Jazeera
Kurt Campbell, left, last met detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in November
The most senior US envoy for East Asia is set to visit Myanmar for the second time in six months.
Kurt Campbell’s visit on Sunday is expected to include talks with senior military government officials and a meeting with the country’s detained opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.
Yet another lesson the Burmese military junta is learning from the one-party authoritarian PAP Singapore. Besides providing sanctuary for its military top brass and other rich Burmese, the PAP government is now helping the illegitimate regime in Burma on how to manipulate and control the minds of the people by assisting it to run a new international television channel.
Pompously named Myanmar International TV (MITV), the station is staffed by foreigners hired from Singapore whose presenters themselves in its state-owned MediCorp are mainly foreign imports. Not only that, the entire communications media in Singapore, including all the newspapers, radio and television, is owned and controlled by the government.
Hypocrisy replaces hope after the NLD decision
Source: The Irrawaddy
There’s no shortage of hypocrites when Burma’s the subject, and recent events have given them ample room on the world stage.
The show started in New York, where UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Friday that the military junta’s efforts to make the upcoming election inclusive, free and fair were “frustrating” and “disappointing.”
How many times has he expressed this frustration and disappointment? In 2009, Ban claimed that he had a good meeting with junta leader Snr-Gen Than Shwe in Naypyidaw, receiving from the general a promise that the election would be free and fair.
NLD Says ‘No’ to Election
Source: The Irrawaddy, March 29, 2010
Burma’s main opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), on Monday decided against registering for the general election this year, a party spokesman told The Irrawaddy.
“Without any objections, all the party leaders reached a consensus not to register the party and join the election because the junta’s election laws are unjust,” said senior party official Khin Maung Swe who attended the meeting at the party’s Rangoon headquarters. “We also agreed to call for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and all other political prisoners.”
Suu Kyi Against NLD Joining Elections
Source: The Irrawaddy
Detained National League for Democracy (NLD) leader Aung San Suu Kyi has rejected her party’s participation in the polls, but she is leaving the final decision to her party, said her lawyer, Nyan Win, after meeting Suu Kyi on Tuesday.
Speaking with The Irrawaddy after his meeting with Suu Kyi, Nyan Win said “Suu Kyi would not even think of registering under these unjust [election] laws.”
He said, “She wanted party members to know that the party would have no dignity if it registers and participates in the election.”
Suu Kyi demands response to ‘unjust’ law
Burma’s detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi Thursday called on her people to respond to an “unjust” election law issued by the junta that bars her from the vote, her lawyer said.
Under the laws enacted Monday, which have sparked international anger, Suu Kyi faces exclusion from her own National League for Democracy (NLD) and is prevented from standing in the elections expected in October or November.
It has recently come to the attention of FBCSG that the Burmese junta is engaging an Australian company, Twinza Oil, to develop an oil and gas project. A Norwegian company, Seadrill Ltd, is being sought to provide drilling equipments for this purpose.
In view of this disturbing development, FBCSG has recently addressed a letter to Seadrill Ltd’s office in Singapore and to the Norwegian Embassy.
We reproduce the letter below:
Burmese Army Mortar-Bombs Schoolchildren
Source: Burma Campaign UK
One schoolboy has been killed and two more injured when the Burmese Army fired a mortar bomb at a school in Northern Karen State. The attack took place at 9am on Friday 19th February, in Mutraw (Papun) district in Northern Karen State.
Burma Campaign UK sources say the school was in a temporary village for internally displaced people, and that the attack happened without warning. The Karen Human Rights Group and Free Burma Rangers have also confirmed details of the attack.
Saw Raw Bee Moo was just 15 years old. He was taken to three different villages in a desperate attempt to get medical assistance and equipment to save his life, but died at 3am on 21st February.
Burma’s junta continues to clamp on activists
Source : UPI Asia
Bangkok, Thailand — Burma’s junta sentenced four women activists to two years imprisonment with hard labor on Monday, the same day U.N. special envoy Tomas Ojea Quintana arrived for a five-day visit to evaluate progress on human rights in the country.
The four women were arrested on Oct. 3, last year, after being accused of offering Buddhist monks alms that included religious literature, said Nyan Win, spokesman for the opposition National League for Democracy headed by detained Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
Free Burma Campaign Singapore statement on the 2010 Burma elections
Today, February 12, marks the 63rd anniversary of the Union Day of Burma. To commemorate this important date, Free Burma Campaign Singapore (FBCSG) is issuing a statement with regards to the upcoming 2010 elections.
We call upon the regime to respect the voices and choices of the people by carrying out a free and fair election. Before the elections take place, we insist that the regime meets three crucial benchmarks:
- The immediate release of all political prisoners, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
- National reconciliation: Inclusive dialogue with key stakeholders from democracy groups and ethnic nationalities, including a comprehensive review of the 2008 Constitution.
- Total cessation of the systematic abuse of human rights and criminal hostilities against ethnic groups, political activists, journalists and civil society.
These benchmarks must be fulfilled before the elections in order to provide equal opportunities for opposition politicians and Burmese society at large. The elections cannot be presumed free and fair without first meeting these conditions.
We at FBCSG also express concern at the fundamentally flawed structure of the Constitution, which binds the electoral process and beyond.
A high proportion of parliamentary powers is allocated to the military; any proper mechanism for the protection of human rights is lacking. Any election that takes place without a thorough review of the Constitution will not bring about any political and social change in Burma.
Contact us at burmacampaignsg@gmail.com
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