ျမန္မာႏိုင္ငံက အက်ဥ္းေထာင္ေတြမွာ ရဟန္းသံဃာေတြကို အာဏာပိုင္ေတြ ႏွိပ္စက္ ညွဥ္းပန္းပံုေတြအေၾကာင္း ေရးသားထားတဲ့ “သံတိုင္ေနာက္က မွတ္တမ္းမ်ား” ဆိုတဲ့စာအုပ္ကို ျပည္ပအေျခစိုက္ သာသနာဥေသွ်ာင္အဖဲြ႔ႀကီးက ဒီရက္ပိုင္းအတြင္း ထုတ္ေဝ ျဖန္႔ခ်ိလိုက္ပါတယ္။

The Burmese pro-democracy leader pushes for release of all political prisoners.

U.S. diplomat meets with Burma’s opposition leader.

Joseph Yun talks to reporters after his meeting with Aung San Suu Kyi in Rangoon, May 19, 2011.

A senior U.S. official said he held a “very good” meeting with Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi Thursday, discussing the country’s new government leadership and future plans for U.S. engagement to induce reforms.

Joseph Yun, the deputy U.S. assistant secretary for East Asia and Pacific affairs, held a one-hour meeting with the Nobel laureate in Rangoon as part of a four-day visit to the country ending Saturday.

Yun met on Wednesday with the country’s new foreign minister, Wanna Maung Lwin, and plans to hold talks with a number of other opposition members and civil society leaders before his visit ends.

Win Tin, a spokesman for Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party, said the talks, which were closed to the media, focused on each side’s current actions and opinions of the new nominally civilian government, which took power in March following November elections.

“The NLD explained to Yun and the other members of his delegation about our activities, and Yun explained what the U.S. has been doing, including plans to assign a special envoy to the country. Mr. Yun also explained what he had discussed with the new foreign minister,” he said.

Yun suggested that the two sides had made progress in their meeting, describing the talks with Suu Kyi as “very good,” though he did not reveal details of the discussion.

“We have a policy of engagement,” Yun told reporters, referring to the U.S. position on Burma in light of the new political landscape.

“But certainly I will take back what I learned from Daw Aung San Suu Kyi as well as Naypyidaw,” he added, referring to the Burmese capital where he held talks with the foreign minister.

After the meeting, Yun met with the NLD Central Executive Committee (CEC) and the Committee Representing the People’s Parliament (CRPP), an umbrella organization consisting of parliamentarians elected in the country’s last polls in 1990 who were prevented from taking office by the ruling junta.

Win Tin said Aung San Suu Kyi also participated in the follow-up meeting.

“The NLD talked about their activities and their future plans. The U.S. delegation explained what they will do after the special envoy arrives in Burma,” he said.

Limited amnesty

Win Tin said the two sides also discussed the recent limited amnesty granted by the Burmese government, which commuted the sentences of prisoners on death row to life in prison and reduced the jail terms of all prisoners by one year.

The announcement resulted in the release of only a handful of Burma’s estimated 2,200 political prisoners, many of whom are serving double-digit jail terms for peaceful political activism.

“Amnesty means ‘all-inclusive’—freedom for all prisoners. This so-called ‘amnesty’ included only 55 political prisoners, as far as I can tell. Aung San Suu Kyi said, ‘We cannot call this amnesty’.”

Win Tin said Yun’s delegation also discussed ongoing efforts by the U.S. government to select an envoy to situate in Burma as part of efforts launched by U.S. President Barack Obama in 2009 to engage the Burmese leadership.

“The U.S. president has nominated a special envoy and submitted the appointment to the U.S. Senate. After the Senate approves, the envoy will travel to Burma shortly after—maybe in the next couple of months,” Win Tin said.

“I expect the new Burmese government will accept the envoy.”

A domestic journalist who attended a press briefing after the meetings, which was held at Suu Kyi’s home in Rangoon, said the NLD leader informed the press that she and Yun had discussed their opinions of the new Burmese government and their expectations of future policy in Burma.

“When I asked her how the U.S. views the new government, Aung San Suu Kyi told me that I had best ask Yun myself,” the journalist said.

“The U.S. diplomat didn’t say much at the briefing, just a few words, and then he left,” he said, adding that Yun’s delegation consisted of seven members.

UN visit

Yun’s trip to Burma follows a three-day visit by Vijay Nambiar, the top aide to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. Nambiar’s visit, which also marked the first by a top U.N. official to Burma since the new government took office, ended Friday.

As his visit concluded, Nambiar said he was “encouraged” by statements made by the government about “concrete steps” it plans towards reform, raising international expectations of an amnesty for the country’s estimated 2,200 political prisoners.

Instead, newly installed President Thein Sein announced Monday that the government would grant a limited amnesty to all of Burma’s prisoners.

Opposition groups and human rights watchdogs reacted angrily to the announcement.

Human Rights Watch called the decision “a slap in the face to a senior United Nations envoy who had just called for the release of all political prisoners in Burma” while the U.S. Campaign for Burma said it served as a reminder that the country’s new government is “merely a continuation of military rule and military mindset under a veneer of civilian guise.”

Aung San Suu Kyi was herself set free following the November elections after spending most of the past two decades under house arrest.

But despite her release, Burma continues to face heavy criticism from Western powers who have pledged to keep sanctions against the nation in place until the new government demonstrates a capacity for change.

Suu Kyi told reporters that the U.S. had likely maintained sanctions against the country “because they do not think there has been significant change in Burma.”

“This is very much in line with U.S. policy all along. The sanctions will be lifted when they think that there has been significant change.”

Reported by Tin Aung Khine for RFA’s Burmese service. Translated by Soe Winn. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

Partial pardons fail to address concerns regarding Burma’s political prisoners.

Guards stand at the entrance to Insein Prison in Rangoon, Sept. 18, 2009.

2011-05-13

Aung San Suu Kyi and Vijay Nambiar speak to the media after their meeting in Rangoon, May 12, 2011.

A U.N. official says Burma’s new government has pledged ‘concrete steps’ towards reform.

A top United Nations official has called for the release of Burma’s political prisoners at the conclusion of a three-day visit to the country where he met with officials from the newly installed government and members of the opposition.

Vijay Nambiar, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s special adviser for Burma, told reporters at a press briefing in Rangoon on Friday that the Burmese government had assured him it would soon take “concrete steps” in reforming governance, human rights, and sustainable development in the nation.

“In all my meetings I stressed that this must include the release of all political prisoners and inclusive dialogue with all segments of society, as well as greater outreach to the international community to ensure that the proposed reforms enjoyed broad buy-in,” he said.

“Only then can there be greater confidence that the efforts undertaken will indeed serve to meet the long-standing needs and aspirations of the people of [Burma]. There is no time to waste if [Burma] is to move forward.”

During his first visit to the country since members of the newly elected government took power in late March, Nambiar also met with National League for Democracy (NLD) leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other members of the political opposition.

Nambiar had also visited Burma shortly after elections were held last November.

According to NLD spokesman Nyan Win, Nambiar indicated that progress was being made in efforts to secure the release of Burma’s nearly 2,200 political prisoners.

“There is a plan for the release of the political prisoners, although it is difficult to say exactly when it will happen,” Nyan Win told RFA.

He added that Nambiar had requested that the U.N. station a permanent special envoy in Burma to monitor further political developments in the country.

“Nambiar’s last visit was purely a fact-finding mission, but during this visit he was hard at work,” Nyan Win said.

“We don’t know the details of what he discussed with the government officials, but we are convinced that the U.N. is working hard to help solve Burma’s problems.”

Opposition coalition

On Friday, Nambiar also met with the Democratic Party Friends (DPF), a group of 11 political parties which took part in the November 2010 elections, at the United Nations Development Program office in Rangoon.

Than Nyein, chairman of NLD splinter group the National Democratic Front (NDF), took part in the meeting and said that DPF members had welcomed the newly elected Burmese government’s commitment to political, economic, and social reforms.

But he said that much work remained for the government to demonstrate real progress in their implementation.

“In the meeting, we suggested to Nambiar that the government should announce a general amnesty law releasing all political prisoners,” he said.

“We also believe that the government should hold a union conference to bring all concerned parties together to end 60 years of infighting.”

Than Nyein said the DPF recommended that the government allot more resources to Burma’s economy, education, and health care and urged the U.N. to provide more aid for these sectors to match what it donates to other countries in the region.

“The U.N. faces restrictions on what it can do because it represents many different countries. It has tried many times in the past to solve Burma’s problems but has been largely unsuccessful,” he said.

“Now, the situation in Burma has changed and if they make an effort, there is a good chance they will get better results.”

Democracy icon

Following her meeting with Nambiar on Thursday, Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi had been more cautious on whether the new government would take meaningful steps forward in areas such as human rights, including the release of Burma’s political prisoners.

“We will have to wait and see… but we do not want to be negative,” she said.

Nambiar’s visit is his second to Burma since taking over the position of special envoy from Ibrahim Gambari, who last visited in June 2009.

Nambiar met with Suu Kyi during his first visit in November, shortly after her release from house arrest.

He has said that Suu Kyi, whose NLD party won general elections in 1990 but was prevented from taking power by the military junta, should have a place in Burma’s new political environment.

Critics say Burma’s election lacked a legitimate opposition and was staged to ensure that members of the military junta would continue to hold the country’s top political positions in a nominally civilian government.

In the 2011 edition of its annual report, released Friday, Amnesty International condemned the Burmese government’s continued detention of political prisoners, saying it shows that little progress has been made since elections were held last year.

“The [Burmese] government may have tried to assuage some of the intense international and regional criticism by releasing Aung San Suu Kyi only a week after holding parliamentary elections,” the report said.

“But the ongoing detention of thousands of prisoners, many of them held in horrific conditions, countered any pretence of real concessions.”

Reported by Nyan Winn Aung and Win Naing for RFA’s Burmese service. Translated by Soe Win. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

Burma’s opposition wants assistance in pushing for democratic reform from the new government.

AFP Aung San Suu Kyi speaks with Vijay Nambiar at her home in Rangoon, Nov. 27, 2010.

Burma’s opposition parties say they want the United Nations to press the country’s leadership for “true” political reforms as U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s special envoy made his first visit to the Southeast Asian state since a newly elected government took power in March.

Vijay Nambiar, Ban’s chief of staff and special advisor to Burma, arrived Wednesday for a three-day visit during which he will meet leaders of the government and various political parties, including National League of Democracy (NLD) party leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Ohu Kyaing, NLD’s information chief, said the U.N. must be part of a dialogue to push for “true democratic changes in Burma.”

“For a peaceful transition to democracy, the decision makers must take part in this dialogue. Now, with the new government in Burma, we propose a dialogue to facilitate these aims and the U.N. Secretary General’s special envoy should use his position to mediate in this situation,” he said.

Burma’s military junta disbanded after November 2011 elections and turned over power to the new nominally civilian government but the cabinet members are mostly former military figures.  Parliament proceedings remain behind closed doors.

Ohu Kyaing said the U.N. should step in to check what he called human rights violations committed by the military in Burma’s ethnic regions.

Political prisoners

He also cited the estimated 2,000 political prisoners who continue to languish in jail.

“Armed conflict in these [ethnic] regions has escalated following the November elections and is very dangerous for the country. The U.N. should mediate a truce or ceasefire for peace for the whole country,” he said.

“The freedom of political prisoners is also necessary for the stability and development of the nation, so the U.N. should work towards securing their freedom.”

Han Shwe, a Central Executive Committee member of the National Unity Party (NUP), a former regime linked party, also called for the release of all political prisoners through a general amnesty.

“We will ask the U.N special envoy for the freedom of Burma’s political prisoners. We oppose the jailing of all political prisoners and prisoners of political conscience,” he said.

“We are asking for a general amnesty. We expected a general amnesty following the elections, but we have seen no progress yet. We are still waiting.”

Call for assistance

Khin Maung Swe, the leader of the National Democratic Front (NDF), a splinter group of Suu Kyi’s NLD
Party, said he will urge the U.N. to increase its regular aid and assistance to the people of Burma in the hope that it would hasten democratic progress.

“It is important to receive this aid from the U.N. and from other international organizations … Democracy will come to Burma after we have solved the nation’s social troubles and difficulties,” he said.

“We will urge the U.N. and other organizations to continue to provide aid for health, education, and the economy.”

Thu Wai, the chairman of the Democratic Party of Myanmar (DPM), said the U.N. should use its leverage to push the new government to make “a substantive transformation” of the country.

“The U.N. should urge the new government to use flexibility [in its policies] by not only making recommendations, but also by using means of persuasion.”

High-profile visit

Nambiar was scheduled to meet with Burmese government officials on Wednesday in the capital Naypyidaw and is expected to hold talks with Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi on Thursday in Rangoon. He is also to meet with a number of other opposition officials on Friday.

Nambiar’s visit is his second to Burma since taking over the position of special envoy from Ibrahim Gambari, who last visited in June 2009.

Nambiar met with Suu Kyi during his first visit in November, shortly after her release from house arrest. He also urged members of the ruling military junta to address concerns of fraud following a widely-dismissed election held earlier that month.

Critics say Burma’s election lacked a legitimate opposition and was staged to ensure that members of the military junta would continue to hold the country’s top political positions in a nominally civilian government.

Nambiar is a former Indian ambassador to China, Burma’s biggest political and economic ally.

He has said that Aung San Suu Kyi, whose NLD party won general elections in 1990 but was prevented from taking power by the military junta, should have a place in Burma’s new political environment.

The UN’s special rapporteur on human rights in Burma, Tomas Ojea Quintana, last visited the country in February 2010, but was refused access to Suu Kyi, then under house arrest. His requests to visit her since have also been rejected by authorities.

Ban last visited Burma in July 2009, when he met then-junta chief Than Shwe, but was also prevented from visiting the detained Suu Kyi.

Reporting by Khin Khin Ei for RFA’s Burmese service. Translated by Soe Win. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

Copyright © 1998-2011 Radio Free Asia. All rights reserved.

2011-05-01

Missing an arm and a leg, an ex-Burmese soldier wages a battle of a different kind.

Every week from his home in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Burmese refugee Myo Myint writes about some episode in his life and then broadcasts it back into Burma. His story is so remarkable that on May 18, U.S. cable television network HBO is releasing a documentary film about him, titled Burma Soldier.

It provides the first look at Burma’s marauding army from the inside.

A common soldier who was appalled by the actions of the army toward ethnic minorities, Myo Myint went so far after discharge as to enlist in the pro-democracy movement and speak publicly against the military regime and its atrocities, something unheard of among army veterans.

He was arrested, tortured, and imprisoned. Later, he was sent to prison again twice for long sentences with hard labor for refusing to abandon his political activities. Three times he rejected offers to be set free early in exchange for silence.

In all, he served 14 years, 11 months, and 26 days—a large part of it in solitary confinement. Meditating for hours a day helped him survive.

After his last release in 2004, he obtained banned books and educated himself about Burma’s recent history. He resumed his political activism, but when threatened with 25 years hard labor, he fled to a refugee camp on the Thai border.

After four years in the camp, he was resettled in 2008 the United States, where he has family, but he continues to work in many ways against the regime and with refugees. He broadcasts portions of his life story into Burma over RFA.

Charisma

Though he lost a leg, an arm, and an eye to a mortar round as a soldier, Myo Myint possesses a charisma that at times makes one forget his disability.

He has a radiant smile, the looks of a leading man, and at 48 years old, appears much closer to 38. He cuts a fine figure and wields his crutch with an athlete’s grace. Keenly intelligent, he seems to have picked up American ways quickly.

His disinterest in small talk and personal questions betray his sense of purpose. For him, the cause of Burmese freedom and democracy is all.

Every day, he says, he thinks how he can help political prisoners, refugees, and soldiers—all lives he has led.  Outwardly there is no sign of the nightmares that torment him most of the night.

Myo Myint grew up in Rangoon with four older and four younger siblings, the son of an army medical warrant officer. All his siblings graduated from college,but there was no money to send him and few jobs were available, so  at 17 he joined the army.

Even then, in 1980, the army was fighting against ethnic minorities, civil strife that still rages, but Myo Myint did not know it was routinely committing war crimes.

Mines

Taught that ethnic peoples are inferior and collaborators with insurgents, government soldiers regularly burn villages and make villagers serve as forced labor and human minesweepers.

Myo Myint found that soldiers regard rape of ethnic women as normal “as eating and drinking.” He dared say nothing about these crimes lest he be reported as disloyal. Any soldier in his unit could have been a secret member of internal security.

He says he himself took part in no atrocities, but he was sometimes ordered to place mines near villages and saw villagers trigger mines, perhaps his, and be blown up.

Where once he took pride in being a soldier, he came to despise himself. But he had signed a 10-year army contact, and only when severely wounded was he allowed to leave.

As a civilian, he had time to think, and he made it his mission to end the civil war and its suffering. He met twice with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and joined the pro-democracy movement. He spoke out often and, during a major uprising in 1988, addressed 8,000 people at a rally and convinced 200 soldiers nearby to join the protests, leading to his first arrest.

Film

He was in a refugee camp years later when Irish photojournalist and author Nic Dunlop discovered and interviewed him and decided to make a film of his life.

“What makes Myo Myint’s story so compelling,” says Dunlop, is “he did this u-turn in a very spectacular way and really paid a very heavy price for doing so … he did it very publicly and he also persuaded members of military … to join the pro-democracy movement.”

Myo Myint started working with opposition groups in the refugee camp and has continued in Fort Wayne. He belongs to an association of former Burmese political prisoners and sends money every month for aid to the nearly 2,100 still held and their families.

Burmese prisons hold the country’s real leaders, he says, calling for their unconditional release, so they can return to politics. “Without them,” he asks “how can we get our country back?”

He has spoken publicly about Burma to groups in the Fort Wayne area many times. His laptop has all sorts of information about Burma that he can flash on a screen.

Fort Wayne is home to 6,000 Burmese, the largest population in the country, and Myo Myint spends much of his time helping them as a volunteer. He interprets for Burmese crime victims and others who go to court or clinics and hospitals. He translates official documents into Burmese.

Two nights a week he teaches English as a second language. He and a friend produce a weekly 30-minute public television program for the Burmese community. He helps edit and finance a monthly magazine that educates Burmese in American ways. He organizes pro-democracy events.
 
The past still torments him. Keeping terribly busy, he says, is a way to avoid thinking about it.

Reported by Peter Slavin. 

Copyright © 1998-2011 Radio Free Asia. All rights reserved.

2011-04-28

In a program broadcast on April 22, Aung San Suu Kyi calls for talks between Burma’s government and the democratic opposition, discusses the importance of preserving the languages and literature of Burma’s ethnic groups, and expresses concern for Burmese refugees living in camps.

Q: I am a student at the University of Maryland in the United States. What do you think will happen in this world in the coming new year? What will happen in Burma? What will you and the NLD [National League for Democracy] do in the new year? I would also like to listen to your new year’s message for the people of Burma.

A: I can really only answer your questions regarding what the NLD will be doing and what I would like for the people of Burma. I do not have the ability to know what will happen in the world. The NLD will continue to work in activities that will benefit our political future, such as work for democracy and human rights, and also in social activities that will benefit the people of Burma.

With regard to what I would like for our people: I would like them to take steps in the new year to work toward building the type of country they would like to have, with a full sense of self-confidence based on a spirit that is strong and resolute. I would like to wish all of the people of Burma to be full of spirit and be healthy.

Q: You were detained under house arrest for many years. While you were in detention, and despite the heavy security that was placed around your house, a foreigner was able to get into your house. Consequently, you had to face several court cases. What do you think of this incident? I would also like to know the present condition of your health, since your health is very important if you intend to continue working for democracy in Burma.

A: I would have to say that I was quite surprised that a person could get through the heavy security that was placed around my house. I think that it is better not to look at the bad side of things in this matter, as I do not wish anyone to be blamed for this. My health is good, and I thank you for your concern.

Q: Now that a new government has come into power in Burma, could you tell us what kinds of efforts are being made to meet and have discussions with the government of President U Thein Sein?

A: We will let the people know as soon as possible by releasing news if and when we start to talk about and work toward such discussions. But please understand that at this moment we have not begun anything with regard to this matter.

Q: I arrived in India during the [2007] Saffron Revolution. The NLD rejected the 2008 Constitution and objected to [proposed] elections. Additionally, they rejected the 2010 elections. Because of this, we thought that you and the NLD would object to the new government that won because of “absentee votes” and was formed by that constitution. But we heard on the question-and-answer program of an RFA broadcast that you have accepted the new government as a “fact of reality.” Could you explain what you mean by this?

A: Our NLD has for over twenty years resolutely called for discussions with the SLORC [State Law and Order Restoration Council] and its successor the SPDC [State Peace and Development Council] in the interests of the country. Similarly, and aiming at national reconciliation, we will strive to work toward holding discussions with this present government, without ignoring its existence. Just as the NLD objected to the actions of the SLORC and the SPDC in the past, we will continue to appropriately object to the actions of the new government as well.

Q: Recently, United Nations forces were sent to the Ivory Coast to remove a former president who had lost elections but would not transfer power to the new president. In our country, back in the 1990 elections, you and your NLD party won those elections, and even though the military government did not transfer power to the NLD, we did not see the United Nations being sent to our country to remove the military government from power. Was this because our opposition groups were ineffective in calling for U.N. help, or because of biases in the U.N.?

A: When the NLD won the elections, I was under house arrest. As far as I know, the NLD made an effort to resolve the issue and waited to have discussions between the two sides. Now in the Ivory Coast, the former president who lost the election was removed with the help of French troops only after nearly causing a civil war and great suffering for the country and people. [In Burma], we would have had to consider whether we would want to bring about a change in government in ways that could lead to bloodshed and scars of enmity among our people. To achieve the kind of change the majority of our people want, I think we would have to opt for methods that would have the least [negative] impact on the people.

Q: I was formerly in charge of foreign affairs in the [ethnic] New Mon State Party. If ethnic literature is lost, the ethnic nationalities themselves will also fade away—just as the Pyu, Kanyan, and Thet peoples disappeared once their literature was lost. This is why I believe that ethnic literature and languages should be permitted to be taught together with the Burmese language at government schools in the ethnic states. The present military government absolutely does not have that kind of an educational policy.

A: Our NLD is of the view that we must encourage the preservation and development of ethnic languages and literature, both in terms of ethnic nationalities policy and educational policy. We also believe that it would be appropriate to teach ethnic languages in the ethnic areas as much as possible. I am neither really happy nor satisfied that I myself do not speak any ethnic language apart from Burmese. Wouldn’t it be really nice if I were to speak the Mon language now and wish you a very Happy New Year?

Q: Many Burmese refugees have been living in camps for over 20 years now, though some have been relocated to third countries by the U.N., and there is now a new generation of Burmese children who have been born in the camps. The refugees are not given permission to find work outside the camps, assistance from the U.N. is inadequate, the chances of resettlement are uncertain, and there is little hope of returning to Burma because the political situation there is unstable. On behalf of all the refugees, I would like to ask you to help in any way you can.

A: Just like you, I am also very worried and concerned for the suffering that Burmese refugees face in the refugee camps. Democracy activists have recently written an appeal to [Burma’s] President U Thein Sein, asking him to create conditions in the country that will allow Burmese people abroad—especially the refugees—to return to their homeland with a sense of peace and security. The NLD is actively involved in collecting signatures for this appeal, and I myself have signed it.

But that is for the future. For the present, we have established a democracy network where the Burmese people abroad are getting together to help the refugees as much as they can. We have also asked donor countries to provide more assistance to the refugees, and we will continue to do this. I will also get in touch with the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and will discuss these matters with them, including the points you have alluded to.

Copyright © 1998-2011 Radio Free Asia. All rights reserved.