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School pupils allegedly beaten after being detained for arson

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Staff Reporter
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3

Mar 11, 2009 (DVB), Three pupils of Rangoon's Mayanggone township State High School (1) have been beaten after being detained on suspicion of arson, a local resident said.

They were arrested on 28 February after allegedly entering the school and trying to burn exam papers because they could not answer the questions.

A local Rangoon resident however said that the police have been beating the pupils during interrogation.

"A friend of mine was at Bayintnaung police station and saw the three children," he said.

"Their eyes could not be seen and their faces were swollen."

A police officer on duty at Bayintnaung said that the three pupils are being detained at Kabaraye youth training school.

He said that they are yet to charged, and are still being interrogated under Act 380-54, which would accuse them of theft.

"The children must have thought that they would pass their exams by burning papers out of desperation, but I heard that their crime is big," the resident said.

There were no comments available from the school.

Reporting by Naw Say Phaw

Son of KNU leader joins pro-junta splinter group

By
Staff Reporter
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1

Mar 11, 2009 (DVB), A son of the late Karen National Union leader, Bo Mya, has joined a pro-government Karen splinter group led by General Htein Maung, KNU General Secretary (1) Hla Ngwe said.

Nay Soe Mya met with Htein Maung in Rangoon on 15 February, when UN human rights envoy Tomas Ojeas Quintana was there. When news of this visit reached the KNU, he was expelled, said Hla Ngwe.

He then went to Naypyidaw to meet with Major General Yeh Min.

"You can say that he joined them after he went there," said Hla Ngwe.

Bo Mya and his wife Lar Poe, who is the chairwoman of the Karen Women's Organisation, have four sons and three daughters. Nay Soe Mya is the sixth child.

"We didn’t give him the permission," said Hla Ngwe. "He went there of his own accord, and his mother tried to stop him."

Nay Soe Mya had reportedly told the KNU that he went to see his uncle and only visited Rangoon.

"We warned him not to do this kind of thing, and he disappeared," said Hla Ngwe. "We thought he went to Bangkok, and we learned later that he went to Mr Quintana on 18 March.

"We expelled him after that."

"His father did his revolutionary activities from the start to his death under the leadership of our organisation," continued Hla Ngwe. "His children and wife became central committee members.

"We persuaded Nay Soe Mya to carry out the revolution like his father, and not to do like his uncle," he added.

"Even his family could not stop him when it comes to anti-revolutionary self-interest and personal thinking."

Reporting by Aye Nai

Economic crisis causes thousands of Burmese migrants to lose jobs

By
Staff Reporter
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1

Mar 11, 2009 (DVB), The number of Burmese migrant workers in Thailand and Malaysia that are losing their jobs as a result of the global economic crisis is soaring, according to a Bangkok-based migrant workers group.

Thousands of migrant workers have lost their jobs in the last year and some factories have had to be closed down, said Kyaw Thaung of Burmese Association in Thailand.

"Within two months, the number became thousands," he said.

"A garment factory that makes clothes for foreign countries has to fire 15 workers every week, and last week a factory that makes sports garments fired 60 workers on the pretext of finding tuberculosis on them."

A worker at a factory in Bangkok said that 25 workers were made jobless last week.

"Given that there is no proper reason, employers are firing them by means of finding faults with them such as having diseases," said Than Zaw Oo.

About 60 Burmese workers were fired from a knitting factory on the pretext of lacking in skills.

Many of these workers are not going back to Burma, hoping that they will get a new job where they are, Thant Zaw Oo said.

Malaysia has also seen cuts in employee numbers, and the Malaysian government is allowing some migrant workers to return to their countries without being prosecuted for not having legal status.

But many workers say that they will not return to Burma and will stay on by any means possible, an official in charge of workers from National League for Democracy – Liberated Areas (Malaysia branch) said.

"Many factories have closed: it might be about 40 per cent, maybe more," he said.

"Burmese workers in their tens of thousands may have lost their jobs."

Burmese PM General Thein Sein said that there are jobs at the ready for workers returning to Burma.

Maung Maung, who is going back to Burma in the coming week, doubts however that there will be a job for him in Burma.

"I will have to hold discussion with my family and do my best," he said.

"No one wants to go abroad and leave their families. We went abroad because we faced difficulties and hoped that we would get a job."

"We have the desire to make our country develop," he added.

"The people who are ruling the country will understand if possible and, if they can do their best, we will not face difficulties like this."

Reporting by Naw Noreen

Students stone Electricity Power Corporation building

By
Staff Reporter
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2

Mar 10, 2009 (DVB), Security has been tightened in Mon state capital, Moulmein, after high school students threw rocks at the state-run Electric Power Corporation last Friday, demanding full electricity while they sit their exams.

A local resident in Moulmein told DVB that electricity was available only to houses of government officials and individuals who could afford to bribe EPC authorities.

He said it was cut off from rest of the town.

Around 50 tenth-grade high school students, who are due to sit exams from 11 March to 20 March, grew frustrated after being unable to study at night.

They gathered in front the EPC building at midnight on 6 March and threw rocks at it.

"The students demanded the EPC to provide full electricity to the town during the exams," said the Moulmein resident.

He said the protest was joined by some local people, and ended after about an hour. The day after the protest, electricity was provided throughout the town for a full day, but was then cut off again.

The resident said that authorities had intensified security in town, deploying full-geared police officers in the streets.

"Police security is everywhere in town, with officers equipped with shields and riot-gear," he said. "They are searching motorbikes at checkpoints."

Some other residents in Moulmein said there was no sign of students staging another protest.

The All Burma Federation of Student Unions in Thailand yesterday released a statement supporting the students.

"While students who are about to sit their exam cannot learn their lessons because of too much electricity going out, there is full power supply in military areas and it can highlight the big difference between military and civilian life," it said.

Reporting by Thurein Soe

Two NLD members in unspecified arrest

By
Staff Reporter
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0

Mar 10, 2009 (DVB), Two more Rangoon NLD members have been arrested, the party’s news and information committee said.

Sein Hlaing of Sanchaung township was arrested on 6 March, and Shwe Gyoe from Hlaing township on the 7 March.

It is still not known exactly why they were arrested and where they were taken to, party spokesman Nyan Win said.

"Shwe Gyoe is the father-in-law of someone who was arrested last year and who died in detention from torture," he said.

Three of the nine NLD members arrested last year for a protest demanding the release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi remain imprisoned at Insein jail. The other six were released in January.

Reporting by Nan Kham Kaew

Myingyan fire leaves hundreds homeless

By
Staff Reporter
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1

Mar 10, 2009 (DVB), A fire broke out at Myingyan in Mandalay division yesterday, destroying around 70 homes, including hostels belonging to the local technical college, and leaving hundreds homeless, local residents said.

It started from northern part of the town but the cause is still unclear.

"About 200 students from Government Technological Collage lost their places to stay and some of them have gone back to their towns while some are staying at their teachers' hostels," a resident said.

It is not known exactly how many people in total were left homeless, nor whether any were injured or killed.

"The fire started at Kadotekyin ward at about 2.15pm and finished at 3.30pm," he said. "People are on the streets and I saw some crying female students."

Around 200 monks helped to extinguish the fire, the resident added, while the seven fire engines that eventually turned up had no water ready.

"Authorities in town have done nothing so far to help the fire victims," he said. "They are taking shelter in nearby pagodas."

"They do not tend to give people help when 100 to 200 houses are burnt down," he said. "They only issue materials when 500 to 600 houses are burnt down."

Another resident who lost his house also voiced concern over whether the victims would even retain their plots of land, claiming that authorities often kept hold of them and relocated residents to areas outside of town.

"It always takes about two months by the time authorities grant us permissions to build houses on the land," he said.

An official on duty at the local fire station said, however, that the flames died down at 2.40pm.

He insisted that only 50 homes were destroyed and that government-affiliated groups were preparing to help the victims.

Reporting by Naw Say Phaw

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