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Farmers’ helper jailed for two years

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Sept 25, 2009 (DVB), A Burmese opposition party member has been sentenced to two years' imprisonment after pledging to help two farmers facing charges of damaging government property.

Aye Myint, vice-chairperson of Magwe division's National League for Democracy (NLD) branch, was sentenced yesterday on charges of threatening a civil servant.

His arrest on 17 September followed an announcement made in a teashop owned by a forestry department official that he would assist two farmers whose land had been confiscated by the forestry department.

He had said that he would help the two file a complaint to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in Rangoon.

The two farmers, Nyan Myint and Thura Aung, were accused by police of cutting down a tree on the confiscated land, bringing charges of damaging public property.

Aye Myint told DVB on 23 September, the day prior to his sentencing, that he was expecting to be imprisoned.

"I have many reasons to think like that. My family has been under watch by authorities," he said.

On two occasions he said members of the government proxy Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) had come to his house and thrown rocks.

Yesterday's sentencing coincided with a visit to the town by ILO's Burma liaison officer, Steve Marshall, regarding a land dispute between 108 local farmers and local authorities.

Marshall was denied a meeting with Nyan Myint and Thura Aung, reportedly because he had missed visiting hours.

Reporting by Nan Kham Kaew

Burma to introduce largest currency note

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Staff Reporter
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Sept 25, 2009 (DVB), Reports that Burma is soon to introduce its largest banknote has been met with concern by economists who fear it will increase inflation in an already fragile economy.

The 5,000 kyat note is due to circulate from 1 October, the state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper said today. Official exchange rates in Burma would make that equivalent to around $US850, although blackmarket rates are 1,000 kyat to the dollar.

Burmese economist Sein Htay said that inflation in the country was "already very high" due to the government printing excess money for development projects.

The bulding of the new capital in Naypyidaw and various national security projects, he said, were the principal reasons for inflation.

"If you need to buy a car or a house nowadays, you have to carry the money in huge bags to pay the price," he said.

"[The government] is printing banknotes with a larger value so we don't have to carry as many notes as before."

Mass inflation was one of the key triggers behind the September 2007 monk-led uprising, after the government nearly doubled fuel prices over a short period, while it was currency devaluation that sparked the 1988 uprising.

Burma's first military ruler, Ne Win, famously scrapped all currency notes not divisible by nine, his favoured astrological number, a move that had a significant impact n the health of the economy.

Banks have now lost the trust of the people, Sein Htay said, given that interest is now "showing minus" and people are not investing.

"The basic production cost must be reduced such as lowering price of fuel, raw materials and the labour," he said. This would help the banks to regain trust.

"Burma needs a very balanced kind of plan to solve the problem," he said. "This started because of mismanagement of the country's economy and in order to solve this, we have to go back and fix it from the beginning."

Reporting by Khin Hnin Htet

Thai nationals sentenced to death

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Sept 25, 2009 (DVB), Two Thai nationals found guilty of the murder of four Burmese men in western Thailand have been sentenced to death by a court in the town of Mae Sot, close to the Burmese border.

The four men, all of whom were migrant labourers, had been working on a corn plantation in Ban Jaidee Koh, near to Mae Sot, when in September 2007 they were handcuffed and taken to a nearby village.

They were then shot dead. A fifth man who had also been taken was shot, but managed to escape to another village, where he was then taken to hospital.

The two Thai men, identified as Nai Payom, 45, and Nai Phalom, were sentenced on Tuesday. They have been given a month to appeal the verdict.

Speaking to DVB yesterday, the aunt of one of the victims, 35-year-old Ah Htun, expressed her continued anger at the murder. "I feel like eating those guys alive," she said.

The exact number of Burmese migrants living in Thailand is unknown, although estimates range up to two million.

Many of these are have no legal status in Thailand, and therefore struggle to acquire the same labour rights that registered workers do.

A system set up by the Thai government was put into action in July this year that would see the verification of Burmese migrants at various centres along the Thai-Burma border.

Reporting by Maung Too

Suu Kyi welcomes US policy change

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Staff Reporter
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Sept 25, 2009 (DVB), Burma opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has welcomed a revision of US policy to Burma that will see Washington step up engagement with the ruling junta, her lawyer said yesterday.

Lawyer Nyan Win quoted Suu Kyi as saying that she had no objections to the announcement that the US will push for greater dialogue with Naypyidaw, despite maintaining sanctions.

Results of the policy review were announced on Wednesday by US secretary of state Hillary Clinton, who was speaking on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

"Daw Suu said that the idea for engagement is good and that she would not argue on that. She said that engagement may bring a good outcome," Nyan Win said.

A statement is due to be released by her National League for Democracy (NLD) party, following discussions on the new policy.

Suu Kyi, who was sentenced in August to 18 months under house arrest, met with her lawyers at her compound yesterday, primarily to discuss her sentence appeal.

Nyan Win said that a letter was being drafted by the defence team that questions the eight conditions of her house arrest, said to be stricter than conditions set in previous years. Suu Kyi is due to approve it today, before it is sent to the court.

The lawyers reportedly brought Suu Kyi a batch of Newsweek magazines and the biography of US president Barrack Obama.

Her house arrest conditions stipulate that only visitors given permission by the Burmese government may enter her compound, and she is forbidden from accessing media not authorised by the state.

The US had previously followed a tough line of sanctions and isolation on the Burmese regime, which received support from the NLD and other opposition groups.

Clinton acknowledged in February however that sanctions had failed to pressure the junta into change and that a policy review would be undertaken.

Reporting by Htet Aung Kyaw

US citizen arrest a ‘political smear campaign’

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Staff Reporter
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Sept 24, 2009 (DVB), The recent arrest of a US citizen in Burma on grounds that he was part of a plot by an opposition group to launch terrorist attacks has been dismissed as political smearing by the group's chief.

Nyi Nyi Aung (also known as Kyaw Zaw Lwin), was arrested on 3 September upon arrival at Rangoon International Airport, and is currently being held in Rangoon's Insein prison.

Since his arrest, three others have been detained on related charges of planning "to instigate unrest and launch terrorist attacks", although the state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper today asserted their connection to a series of bomb blasts that hit Rangoon on the 16 and 17 September, four days after their arrest.

The newspaper claims that Nyi Nyi Aung "had contact with" members of the All Burma Student Democratic Front (ABSDF) and Thailand-based Forum for Democracy in Burma (FDB).

The groups in turn are alleged to be close to "saboteurs of AASYC [All Arakan Students and Youth Congress]".

The general secretary of the FDB, Dr Naing Aung, told DVB today that the connection between Nyi Nyi Aung's arrival in Burma and the Rangoon bomb plot "is a funny joke. They didn't even dare to show how these two things are connected."

The accusations, he said, are "ridiculous, incorrect and twisted as usual. It is a half-truth and tailored it to what they want to tell".

ABSDF leader Than Khe confirmed that Nyi Nyi Aung had been a member of the ABSDF, a group that played a key role in the 1988 Burma uprising, although he had had no contact with the group for some time.

"It is a political smear campaign by the [government]; they are always trying to frame us as a terrorist organization," he said.

It remains unclear why Nyi Nyi Aung visited Burma. Than Khe denied knowledge of why he had returned, and said that "he has his own plans not relating to ABSDF".

His aunt told DVB today that US embassy staff who visited him in prison reported that he had been denied food for eight days and showed signs of being beaten.

Reporting by Joseph Allchin

Mystery illness hits 2,000 in eastern Burma

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Staff Reporter
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Sept 24, 2009 (DVB), Nearly 2,000 people, mostly children, have been infected with an unknown illness in two states in eastern Burma, with fears that it may be either the H1N1 virus or a mass dengue fever outbreak.

Five villages in Kachin state have so far been hit after children at a local primary school came down with the illness on 13 September.

According to Burma Campaign UK (BCUK), 1,600 people in total have been infected in Kachin state, with around 900 described as being in a serious condition. The majority of these are aged between two and 15 years old.

Around 300 villagers in Karen state have also been affected, the majority in Pa-an town, the capital of Karen state. The area is under control of the Karen National Union, Burma principal ethnic armed opposition group.

No deaths have yet been reported in Karen state, according to Naw Thaw Thee Phaw of the Backpack Medics, an international medical group that operates in the region.

"There are clinics in the area and medical workers are now conducting workshops to educated people [about the disease]," she said.

Symptoms were similar to that of dengue fever, she said, adding that outbreaks of dengue fever and malaria at this time year are common, although only one person was tested positive for malaria.

A statement released by Burma Campaign UK said that locals had reported symptoms such as bleeding noses and sore throats, and voiced concern that it could be the H1N1 swine flu virus.

"Dealing with a serious outbreak of swine flu or similar illness will be very difficult because of the restrictions on aid delivery and lack of money spent on health by the dictatorship," said Nang Seng, campaigns officer at BCUK.

In 2000, the World Health Organisation ranked Burma's healthcare system the second worst in the world, one above Sierra Leone.

Many civilians in eastern Burma frequently cross into Thailand to seek medical help, given the lack of adequate facilities in Burma.

Reporting by Naw Noreen

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