Internet restricted again

Since the new demonstrations by a few hundred monks in Pakokku, central Burma, on 31.10.2007, internet access has been again restricted; only intra-net inside Burma is working. So, people can still access to sites hosted inside Burma and can send emails inside Burma. But the link to outside world-wide-web is very restricted. It is believed to remain restricted until after Mr. Gambari’s coming visit to Burma.

 

SMS & Voice-mail Services Launched in Burma
SMS re-launch: Mobile phone text message (SMS) services, which were temporarily stopped as part of military government’s attempts for news black out in Burma in the aftermath of bloody crack down on Monk-led protests, are now allowed back into action as government has become more and more confident that they have regain complete control on the situations.

New Voice-mail Service: A new service of voice mail, which can also be used by people who do not have their own phones, has been launched recently in Burma. People who do not have their own phones can register a voice-mail number and get a password or pin-number; to receive and store phone voice messages at his registered number and then retrieve and listen to them by using his pin number.

 

New Appointments by Junta

Name	New Post	Previous Post
Lt. Gen. Thein Sein	Prime Minister	Secretary 1 of Junta
Lt. Gen Tin Aung Myint Oo	Secretary 1 of Junta	Secretary 2 of Junta
Aung kyi	Labour Minister (also Liaison Minister)	Deputy Labour Minister
Major Gen. Thein Htay	Deputy Minister (Defence)	-
Major Gen. Kyaw Zwa Khine	Deputy Minister (Heavy Industry)	-
Major Gen. Thein Tun	Deputy Minister (Communication)	-

 

Confidence of defiant junta

On 20.10.2007, Junta’s local authorities in Rangoon and other major cities in Burma are going around town and hailing from trucks that as security and stabilities have been restored they are lifting curfew and assembly ban effective immediately.

….

Hunger in Burma

 poverty stricken malnourished children in Burma

According to the latest World Food Program estimates, about one third of all children and more than five million adults are malnourished and starving and hungry in Burma because of Repressive state policies and a “dysfunctional” market under military-rule.

 

Media News

• Burma’s censor board has banned writers and journalists who offered alms to Monks during their pro-democracy demonstrations. Articles written by such banned writers cannot be published in any journals or any books now.

• In 10.10.2007 issue of junta mouthpiece newspaper New Light of Myanmar, a Burma pro-democracy demonstration photo was printed by mistake in place of an anti-Iraq war demonstration photo.

photo, Niknayman

 

Internet Service up but restricted

Internet in Burma seems to be working again; some reports said it’s working 24 hours a day, but some said works well only between 12:00 - 16:00 and at night and some disruptions still remains.

Some internet cafes are still closed down, and even when they reopen there is likely to be harsher and tighter restrictions to be imposed on them. And authorities have made it more difficult, even when internet is on, for ordinary users to use proxy servers, which are usually used in internet cafes to discretely break through government’s internet-firewall which screens and filters words like democracy, Aung San Suu Kyi, etc.

 

Murderer finally DEAD! (Soe Win on the left)

Butcher of Depayin, Gen. Soe Win, PM of Burmese government under military junta, is really DEAD now!

Recent information from Burma stated that General Soe Win had been taking treatment at Mingalardon military hospital in Rangoon.

His illness had never been officially revealed but he is believed to have been suffering from leukaemia.

Soe Win first became well-known for his restrictive measures against students during the 1988 protests. A devout Buddhist, Soe Win persecuted the Chin Christians when he was regional military commander of the North Western region of Burma. He was also famously nicknamed as “the butcher of Depayin”, for having orchestrated the deadly fatal attacks against the National League for Democracy leader (NLD), Aung San Suu Kyi, and her supporters in Depayin in 2003.

 

Life in Burma

Wooing Monks: In an attempt to woo back angry Monks and the devotees, Junta TVs showed images of junta officers offering alms, medicine and other donations to Buddhist Monasteries, which junta soldiers raided brutally and bloodily just last week.

Gun-shots on Chinese Embassy: It is learnt that four unknown men on motorbikes fired four or five rounds with a small hand gun at Chinese Consulate at the corner of 35th Street and 66th Street in Pyi-gyi-myet-shin Ward, Chan-aye-thazan Township, Mandalay. The shooting coincides with protests against Chinese embassies all over the world with regard to Burma issue. The security forces are now guarding Chinese Consulate and making investigations, Burma Update reported.

Secret Cremations: The Burmese army has burnt an undetermined number of bodies at a crematorium sealed off by armed guards northeast of Rangoon over the past seven days, ensuring that the exact death toll in the recent pro-democracy protests will never be known, timesonline.co.uk reported. Some rumours said that even dying detainees, fatally injured under very severe beatings from soldiers but not dead yet, were also cremated.

Passive Resistance: Although people are now too frightened to go out on the streets to protest, they are still showing passive resistance by switching of their TV sets when Junta broadcast their propaganda news at night. And some youths throw stones or shoot with sling-shots at soldiers patrolling on streets at night.

False Sense of Normal: Junta is trying to create a picture of life in Rangoon going back to normal; in addition to reducing curfew hours, visibility of soldiers on streets has been systematically reduced, and many roadblocks have been removed. But soldiers are still present in large numbers hidden inside government office buildings all over Rangoon. And Rangoon streets are still much quieter than normal. People are feeling tense and worried and frightened, with many businesses and shops still close or running at minimal levels, and only a few buses are running, and some roads are still at least partially blocked, and soldiers and police still present in large numbers albeit a bit hidden now, and midnight raids on monasteries and houses of suspected activists still going on every night.

 

US & Burma Dialogue

The charge d’affaires at the US embassy in Rangoon, Burma, Shari Villarosa met with Deputy Foreign Minister Maung Myint in the remote jungle capital Naypitaw. It was expected she would pass on a “very clear message” to the generals to start “meaningful” dialogue with opposition groups.

 

Collateral Damage:

Activists who sent photos and videos of the protests around the world have now found those weapons turned against them. Security forces also recorded the protests, apparently using the images to hunt down more activists.