Ethnic Nationalities Council chair clarifies groups’ position
Southern Wa troops on the move
Armed Faction Splits from Mon Party
Thailand: We Won’t Send Back Refugees
Myanmar’s Suu Kyi meets junta minister: official
Report: Tension mounts on Bangladesh-Myanmar border
Human Rights Watch Honors Four Activists
Burma border clashes likely as poll nears
Border security chief: We won’t force refugees back to Burma
Unemployed Myanmar workers return from abroad
Myanmar steps up security measures in industrial zones after bomb explosions
International butterfly museum to be built in Myanmar
Youth activist’s sentence extended by 10 years
Migrant group welcomes UN report
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Ethnic Nationalities Council chair clarifies groups’ position
News – Mizzima News
Report by Nem Davies
Wednesday, 07 October 2009 11:16

New Delhi (Mizzima) – The Chairman of the Ethnic Nationalities Council in exile, a coalition of ethnic political organisations, on Monday made it abundantly clear that the Council’s position does not support the Burmese military junta’s 2010 elections plans.

The clarification by Khu Hte Bu Phe, Chairman of the ENC, came days after a letter sent in the name of the Council to US Senator James Webb, a strong advocate of engagement with the Burmese regime, before hosting of a Congressional hearing on Burma.

The letter, signed by the Secretary General of the ENC and dated September 28, explained to the US Senator of ENC’s position on the Burmese junta’s 2010 election plans saying, in principle the ethnics in Burma do not accept the 2008 constitution and the forthcoming 2010 elections.

But since the citizens of Burma will be forced to cast their votes, the ENC’s short-term policy is to support eligible ethnic groups in running for office in the 2010 in order to ensure that ethnics will have a voice in Burma’s politics and to allow ethnics to participate in governance and development of their homeland, the letter said.

In the long-term, the letter said, ENC hopes to work on developing a civil society that could hold an elected government accountable to the people.

But the ENC chairman, in his statement on Monday denied knowledge of the letter sent to Senator Webb and said the Council does not accept the junta’s 2008 constitution and 2010 elections.

“It [the council] has already adopted a position that it will not oppose or attack ethnic organizations and individuals wanting to contest the elections, or the people who will vote in the elections,” said Khu Hte Bu Phe.

“This is, therefore, to let all know that the letter to Senator Webb is not the position of ENC…” Khu Hte Bu Phe said.

Meanwhile, on Monday the National Democratic Front, a coalition of ethnic armed resistance groups, in a statement said the group reaffirms its position expressly rejecting the junta’s 2010 elections, which will be based on the 2008 constitution that is adopted by force and fraudulent means.

The NDF said, the junta’s elections will neither resolve the political crisis faced by the Burmese people nor will it lead to national reconciliation and democracy but is a process that will turn Burma into a further ‘failed state’ and allow continuance of the junta.

“We regard the reactionary political wind blowing at home and abroad, viewing the 2008 constitution and the 2010 elections as ’something that is better than nothing’ and promoting the attitude to “take whatever opportunity is available’ as merely an attempt to sanitize the SPDC and perpetuate the existence of military dictatorship,” said the NDF, referring to the junta by its official name – State Peace and Development Council (SPDC).

The statement also said, the junta’s threat to use force on ceasefire groups, which have rejected their proposal to transform into Border Guard Forces, shows the junta’s unwillingness to solve ethnic issues peacefully.

“We the NDF would like to earnestly urge the entire people to explicitly oppose the 2010 elections of the SPDC…,” the statement said.

Similarly, the Karen National Union (KNU), the longest surviving insurgent group in Burma, on Monday issued a statement saying the ENC’s letter to Senator Webb, which is “appearing to state that the SPDC’s elections due in 2010 could present some kind of opportunity for change, has caused some confusion.”

“We would like to reaffirm our statement of April 24, 2009 that elections due in 2010 do not represent any kind of progress towards democratization in Burma,” said the KNU, which is also a member of the NDF.

David Takarpaw, Vice-Chairman of the KNU and also holding the Chairmanship of the NDF, in an interview said, the KNU as well as the NDF are in a position to reject the junta’s 2008 constitution and the forthcoming 2010 elections as the junta has made no progress to prove that the elections would be free and fair.

“With the 2008 constitution not being amended, political prisoners still remaining behind bars, and no freedom of association and campaigning, the elections cannot bring any progress,” David Takarpaw said.

He said, without such conditions being implemented, even if the ethnics join the election, the nature of the 2008 constitution does not guarantee the rights for ethnic groups.

The KNU also urged the international community not to be content regarding the junta’s elections plans and not to “wait and see” as the election plan will only escalate repression and instability.
http://www.bnionline.net/news/mizzima/7176-ethnic-nationalities-council-chair-clarifies-groups-position.html
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Southern Wa troops on the move
News – Shan Herald Agency for News
Report by Hseng Khio Fah
Wednesday, 07 October 2009 11:12

Units of the United Wa State Army (UWSA)’s southern region along the Thai-Burma border has been on the move, especially during night, sources said.

On October 3, four ten-wheel trucks of the Wa force in Mongyawn, Shan State East’s Monghsat Township, opposite Thailand’s Mae Ai district, were reportedly moving to a Wa stronghold, Wanhoong, east of Monghsat. About 50 men were on each truck, said a local source.

“But the trucks disappeared before reaching Wan Hoong,” he said.

The next day, six more trucks reportedly went again to Wanhoong. Two of them dropped some soldiers on the way and the rest went on to Wanhoong, he added.

Since September 18 and 19, the southern Wa has been reinforcing their troops along the road of Hopang-Hoyawd in Mongton township, opposite Chiangmai’s Fang district. The number of soldiers deployed along the road was about 400, according to a source close to the Wa leadership.

“Elderly people, children and young soldiers were left at the main bases,” he said.

Similarly, the Burmese Army based in Nam Zarm, east of Monghsat also withdrew its troops to west of the Kok River. Nam Zarm is where the road branches off to the Wa strongholds in Mongyawn.

At the same time, tension along border areas between two sides has also increased, said a source.

“People are questioned and searched by both sides. On the Wa side, people holding Burmese ID cards especially Burmans and Indians are bearing the brunt of the questioning,” he said.

Early this month, Wa authorities in Mongyawn issued a directive urging Burmans and Indians to leave within the month. The Wa will not take any responsibility for them if they continued to stay, according to a resident.

“Only Shans and Chinese are left alone,” she said.

On October 5, the area commander of Pongpakhem sub-township, Mongton Township, opposite Chiangmai, Col Kyaw Thu was reported to have visited Hwe Pakhee (Lahu village) 18 miles (29 km) north of BP1, the border pass between Mongton and Chiangdao, to construct a school and a hydropower plant, said a local villager.

Most junta-backed militia units in Shan State East are Lahu. With regard to the commander’s visit, local people say the military is doing a favour to Lahus so it could use them in the fighting against Wa or Shan State Army (SSA) ‘South’.

The Southern Wa area, known as the 171st Military Region, stretches from Mongton Township to Tachilek Township opposite Maehongson, Chiangmai and Chiangrai, Thailand.
http://www.bnionline.net/news/shan/7174-southern-wa-troops-on-the-move.html
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Armed Faction Splits from Mon Party
Wednesday, October 7, 2009

About 50 members of the Mon National Liberation Army (MNLA), the military wing of New Mon State Party (NMSP), have broken away from the Mon party in recent months, according to sources close to the party.

The soldiers are believed to be supported by some party leaders who oppose the junta’s 2010 election.

Mon party leaders are reportedly split on whether or not to participate in the election.

About five members of the NMSP central committee have resigned in recent months following a disagreement among party leaders over the election issue, sources said.

The NMSP signed a cease-fire with the Burmese military in 1995.  Since then the numbers of soldiers have been shrinking. The party had an army of about 700 soldiers before.

The Mon party is among 17 cease-fire groups that are being pressured by the regime to transform their troops into a border guard force led by government officers.

At a meeting to discuss the border guard force issue in Moulmein on Aug. 28, Maj-Gen Thet Naing Win, the regional commander of the junta’s Southeast Command, told Mon leaders to order their members not to take part in political campaigns in Thaton District.

According to the junta’s 2008 Constitution, all ethnic cease-fire groups must be controlled by the Burmese government.
Copyright © 2008 Irrawaddy Publishing Group | www.irrawaddy.org

http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=16950
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Thailand: We Won’t Send Back Refugees
By SAW YAN NAING        Wednesday, October 7, 2009

A leading Thai security official predicted on Tuesday that more than 200,000 refugees from Burma would flood into northern Thailand if fighting broke out again in northern Burma, but added that refugees would not be forcibly repatriated, according to a Bangkok-based daily The Nation.

Speaking at a conference on Thailand-Burma relations at Chulalongkorn University, Bhornchart Bunnag, the director of the Bureau of Border Security Affairs at the National Security Council, said that the outbreak of hostilities between Burmese government forces and the United Wa State Army (UWSA) could force more than 200,000 refugees into northern Thailand’s Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai provinces.
Soldiers from the United Wa State Army ride in a vehicle in a street in city of Namteuk near the Chinese border. (Photo: Reuters)

He was quoted by The Nation as saying that Thai border authorities would continue to abide by the current policy of not forcing refugees back to unsafe areas.
“Any repatriation of displaced people would be voluntary,” he reportedly said.

Bhornchart’s statement is likely to raise eyebrows given the Thai government’s anti-narcotics policy and the fact that the 20,000-strong UWSA is frequently cited as one of the world’s biggest drug trafficking groups, notorious not only for opium and heroin production but for the manufacture of methamphetamines in recent years.

Observers said the Thai authorities will be very busy if Wa civilians in southern Shan State flee into northern Thailand. However, they generally acknowledged that the Thais will probably look to using the situation as part of a plan to eradicate drugs in the region.

Saeng Juen, an editor with the Thailand-based Shan Herald Agency for News, said the Thai authorities will accept Wa civilians from a humanitarian perspective, but would move against those they considered linked with the drug trade.

The UWSA’s second in command, Wei Hsueh-Kang, is wanted in Thailand and the United States.

Four years ago, the US indicted eight Wa leaders after a court described the UWSA as “a criminal narcotics trafficking organization.”

Win Min, a Burma expert based in Chiang Mai, told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that “Thailand wants Wei Hsueh-Kang, for sure.”

However, he said he doesn’t think an attack against the Wa can put an end to drug trafficking in the region.

“If the entire UWSA collapses, that will be another story,” said Win Min.

Hla Kyaw Zaw, a senior member of the Communist Party of Burma, based on the Sino-Burmese border, however, said that the Burmese government will try to discredit the UWSA leaders as drug traffickers as justification for attacking them.

The UWSA is widely rumored to rely on its drugs profits to maintain its large army and keep it equipped with arms. Its other sources of income are reported to be logging, zinc mining, casinos and taxation.

Thailand recently accepted a wave of refugees from Burma when an influx of some 3,000 to 4,000 displaced Karen were temporarily sheltered in  Tha Song Yang District following an offensive by the Burmese government’s troops and their allies, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, against the Karen National Union (KNU) in June.

However, observers generally agree that the backgrounds of the KNU and the UWSA are very different.

“Thailand will likely agree with the Burmese regime’s attack against the Wa,” said Saeng Juen.
Copyright © 2008 Irrawaddy Publishing Group | www.irrawaddy.org

http://www.irrawaddy.org/highlight.php?art_id=16951
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Myanmar’s Suu Kyi meets junta minister: official
AFP

YANGON (AFP) – Detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi met Wednesday for a second time in five days with a minister from the ruling junta, a Myanmar official said.

The opposition leader met labour minister Aung Kyi, who is the official liaison between Suu Kyi and the government, for 30-minute talks at a state guest house in Yangon, the official told AFP.

On Saturday the pair met for the first time since January 2008, for talks likely to have centred on how to get sanctions against military-ruled Myanmar lifted, according to her lawyer Nyan Win.

That meeting came a day after Suu Kyi’s appeal against her extended house arrest was rejected.

Judges upheld her conviction over an incident in which an American man swam uninvited to her house in May, earning her an extra 18 months detention and provoking international outrage.

Washington in particular, which recently unveiled a major policy shift to re-engage the junta, has repeatedly pressed for the release of Suu Kyi, who has spent much of the past 20 years in detention.

The US held its highest-level talks with Myanmar in nearly 10 years last week, but warned against lifting sanctions until there is progress towards democracy.

Suu Kyi herself, who welcomed America’s re-engagement, appears to have eased her stance after years of advocating punitive measures against the junta.

It emerged last week that she had written to military regime leader Than Shwe offering suggestions for getting Western sanctions lifted.

After the Nobel Laureate met with Aung Kyi at the weekend, her lawyer Nyan Win said he thought that their discussions would be related to her letter.  http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091007/wl_afp/myanmarpoliticssuukyi
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Report: Tension mounts on Bangladesh-Myanmar border
South Asia News

Oct 7, 2009, 6:50 GMT

Dhaka – Tension has mounted along the Bangladesh-Myanmar border after Myanmar military authorities resumed the construction of border fences, newspaper reports said Wednesday.

Bangladesh has reinforced its paramilitary troops along the south-eastern border in the hilly Bandarban district, canceling troopers’ leaves, the English-language New Age newspaper reported quoting a top official of the Bangladesh Rifles border force.

‘Troop deployment at the border has been reinforced and all-but-essential leaves of BDR personnel have been cancelled,’ chief of the paramilitary force Major General Mohammad Mainul Islam was quoted by the paper as saying.

He said the BDR troops had been deployed along sensitive areas on the border and other preparations had been made.

The recent troubles between the two neighbouring countries started in November 2008 when a Myanmar naval ship allegedly intruded into Bangladesh’s territorial waters for hydrocarbon exploration in the Bay of Bengal.

Bangladesh, which also sent warships into the bay to counter the alleged intrusion at that time, had managed to defuse tension after involving China in negotiations.

Bangladesh also resumed negotiation with Myanmar to define their maritime borders in 2008, after about three decades of uncertainty, but a series of discussions are yet to make any headway in resolving the issue.

The tension surged again when Myanmar began erecting barbed-wire fencing along the border with Bangladesh early this year. It was stopped after Dhaka sent a note of protest to Yangon.

But the Yangon authorities resumed the fencing project again recently and also deployed troop reinforcements on their side of the border, according to Bangladesh intelligence reports.
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/southasia/news/article_1505481.php/Report-Tension-mounts-on-Bangladesh-Myanmar-border
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Human Rights Watch Honors Four Activists
Defenders Work to End Abuses in Burma, Congo, Ethiopia, and Russia
October 7, 2009

These extraordinary individuals confront tremendous challenges every day, yet they work selflessly to end human rights violations and bring abusers to justice. We hope this award, named for Alison Des Forges, will inspire and protect them as they struggle to uphold human rights in their countries.
Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch

(New York) – Four courageous and tireless advocates of human rights – from Burma, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia and Russia – have been awarded the prestigious Alison Des Forges Defender Award for Extraordinary Activism, Human Rights Watch said today. The four work to uphold freedom of expression, to protect women in conflict, and to ease the plight of political prisoners, despite threats and persecution from the authorities.

The awards are named for Dr. Alison Des Forges, senior adviser to Human Rights Watch’s Africa Division for almost two decades, who was tragically killed in a plane crash in New York on February 12, 2009. Des Forges was the world’s leading expert on Rwanda, the 1994 genocide and its aftermath, and Human Rights Watch’s annual award honors her outstanding commitment to and defense of human rights.

The four winners of Human Rights Watch’s 2009 Alison Des Forges Defender Award for Extraordinary Activism are:

* Daniel Bekele, lawyer and activist from Ethiopia;
* Bo Kyi, co-founder of Burma’s Assistance Association of Political Prisoners;
* Elena Milashina, reporter for Novaya Gazeta, Russia’s leading independent newspaper; and
* Mathilde Muhindo, women’s rights activist working to stop sexual violence in Democratic Republic of Congo.

“These extraordinary individuals confront tremendous challenges every day, yet they work selflessly to end human rights violations and bring abusers to justice,” said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. “We hope this award, named for Alison Des Forges, will inspire and protect them as they struggle to uphold human rights in their countries.”

Human rights defenders are critical partners for Human Rights Watch staff conducting investigations in more than 80 countries around the world. The award winners will be honored at the 2009 Human Rights Watch Annual Dinners in Chicago, Geneva, Hamburg, Houston, London, Los Angeles, Munich, New York, Paris, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, Toronto, and Zurich.

Daniel Bekele, Ethiopia

In the ever-shrinking space for freedom of expression in Ethiopia, Daniel Bekele, a prominent anti-poverty activist and human rights lawyer, has faced heavy-handed government repression. After leading a grass-roots effort to promote voter education and participation in Ethiopia’s controversial 2005 parliamentary elections, as well as election monitoring and reconciliation after the vote, Bekele was arrested and spent two-and-a-half years in prison on charges of inciting violence against the government. Human Rights Watch honors Bekele who, at great personal risk, challenges the Ethiopian government to uphold the civil and political rights that protect all people.

Bo Kyi, Burma

As a former political prisoner and co-founder of the Assistance Association of Political Prisoners (AAPP), Bo Kyi works tirelessly to secure the release of Burmese people who have been jailed for their political independence and activism. Over the last 20 years, Bo Kyi has demonstrated unfaltering courage, sharing his story and those of other political prisoners and exposing the Burmese military junta’s numerous abuses. Human Rights Watch honors Bo Kyi for his heroic efforts to speak out against Burmese repression and to advocate on behalf of those who have dared to criticize the military junta.

Elena Milashina, Russia

As a leading investigative journalist for Novaya Gazeta, Russia’s most prominent independent newspaper, Elena Milashina exposes the truth about human rights abuses and widespread government corruption. Despite Russia’s attempts to silence its critics and hide abuses, Milashina remains outspoken, publishing accounts of enforced disappearances, extrajudicial executions, and torture. She also continues to investigate the 2006 murder of her newspaper colleague and mentor Anna Politkovskaya, calling for accountability at the highest level. Human Rights Watch honors Milashina for her courage in confronting Russia’s deeply problematic human rights record.

Mathilde Muhindo, Democratic Republic of Congo

As director of the Olame Centre, a women’s rights organization, Mathilde Muhindo empowers women to fight against the pervasive discrimination and horrific sexual violence that are endemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo. She led a coalition of local women’s organizations to advocate successfully for a comprehensive law on sexual violence. Human Rights Watch honors Mathilde Muhindo for her tireless dedication to the safety, health, and rights of the often-forgotten women in eastern Congo.
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/10/06/human-rights-watch-honors-four-activists
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Burma border clashes likely as poll nears

* Published: 7/10/2009 at 12:00 AM
* Newspaper section: News

Thailand needs to guard its border more closely in response to a possible spillover of fighting in Burma ahead of the national election there next year, a former chief of the National Intelligence Agency says.

Vaipot Srinual, also a former deputy permanent secretary for defence, yesterday said Thailand’s border security should be better prepared to respond to possible threats or low-scale conflicts between factions inside Burma before the election.

“It is within our rights and capabilities in light of what’s going on with our neighbour right now,” Gen Vaipot said.

“But at the same time we need to maintain a security dialogue through such mechanisms as the Asean Regional Forum and other non-state actors to better understand and be better understood by our neighbour.”

Gen Vaipot yesterday addressed a forum, “Thailand’s Position, Role and Policy Towards Burma”, organised by the Institute of Security and International Studies at Chulalongkorn University.

Burma’s main problems involving its approach to democracy and human rights should be resolved internally, he said.

Outsiders, including Thailand, should be on standby in readiness to assist Burma, not pressuring or pushing it on these issues, he said.

Bhornchart Bunnag, director of the Bureau of Border Security Affairs under the National Security Council, said Thailand and other countries in the region would have to shoulder the impact of the increasing roles of the superpowers manoeuvring inside Burma.

“Their influence or clash of influences in Burma, be it security, economic or political, and whether [it is] in a negative or a positive light, will affect Thailand in particular,” Mr Bhornchart said.

“So we should be better prepared to respond to the problems or to reap the benefit of more economic transactions between foreign countries and Burma.”

Mr Bhornchart said Thailand was heavily dependent on Burma for its energy supplies, and this needed to be weighed against the need to call for democracy in that country.

“We need to have a well-balanced approach as there are certain risk factors if we cannot handle our relations with the country now that we rely on our neighbour for more than 20% of our energy supplies,” he said.

Kraisak Choonhavan, chairman of the Asean Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus, said Thailand, as Asean chair this year, was in a weak position in dealing with Burma but the region and the international community should not succumb to such a scenario.

“If we let the Burmese government lead Asean’s voice, the regional organisation will be dragged down to hell in 2010 because it will be Asean’s eventual and inevitable job to endorse that non-inclusive and non-credible election,” he said.

Thailand should be firmer in differentiating itself from the West’s policy toward’s Burma, said Sunait Chutintaranond, director of Chulalongkorn University’s Institute of Asian Studies.
About the author

Writer: ACHARA ASHAYAGACHAT
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/25156/burma-border-clashes-likely-as-poll-nears
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Border security chief: We won’t force refugees back to Burma
By Kornchanok Raksaseri
Don Pathan
The Nation
Published on October 7, 2009

Thailand will not forcibly repatriate Burmese refugees residing along the border provinces, even after the upcoming general election in Burma, the director of the Bureau of Border

Security Affairs and Defence at the National Security Council (NSC) said yesterday.

Attending a conference on Thailand-Burma relations at Chulalongkorn University, Bhornchart Bunnag said the government would continue to abide by the current policy of not forcing refugees back to unsafe areas.

“Any repatriation of displaced people would be voluntary,” Bhornchart said.

Moreover, Bhornchart said, the refugees’ situation could become worse if the Burmese army launched more attacks against cease-fire groups, such as the Shan or the Wa rebels.

The August attack along the Sino-Burma against Kokang Chinese had sent several thousand ethnic Chinese and hilltribes’ people across into China.

Thai security officials along the border said an attack on the 20,000-strong United Wa State Army (UWSA), an outfit with strongholds on the Thai and the Chinese borders, could force more than 200,000 refugees into Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai provinces.

Much of yesterday’s debate centered on the new US strategy of engaging Burma, one of the world’s most reclusive regimes.

But while the idea of talking to the Burmese junta has won support across the spectrum, Democrat Party MP Kraisak Choonhavan passionately urged the international community not to overlook the plight of displaced people, namely the Karens and the Shans, inside Burma and residing in camps along the Thai border.

Asst Prof Puangthong Pawakapan, a political scientist at Chulalongkorn University, dismissed suggestions that conflict and human rights violations inside Burma were purely domestic problems.

“Be it suppression of their own people, clashes with the rebel groups, the lack of good governance or the influx of illegal workers and refugees, Thailand will always be at the receiving end of Burma’s internal problems,” Puangthong said.

“Thailand doesn’t have a coherent policy on Burma. On the one hand, we want their cheap labour and their natural resources, such as logging along the border. But we don’t seems to realise that the Burmese junta are displacing their own people so we can have these concessions,” she added.

Kraisak pointed to a report, License to Rape, saying the atrocities committed against minority women by Burmese troops are taking place in resource-rich areas which Thai and foreign businesses were looking to exploit for financial gain.
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2009/10/07/national/national_30113935.php
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Unemployed Myanmar workers return from abroad
www.chinaview.cn 2009-10-07 11:04:23

By Feng Yingqiu

YANGON, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) — A total of 188 Myanmar workers, including women, who were unemployed in Malaysia, have returned to Myanmar under the arrangement of the two countries, sources with overseas employment agencies said on Wednesday.

A large number of Myanmar citizens left the country for jobs over the past few years and were mostly destined to South Korea, Singapore, Japan, Thailand, Qatar and Dubai in addition to Malaysia.

Further arrangements are being made to bring back the remaining2,700 Myanmar workers meeting job difficulties in the Southeast Asian member country, the sources said.

According to the sources, the government is creating jobs at home for the returnees, outlining some agricultural work including oil palm growing.

In December last year, Myanmar Prime Minister General Thein Sein urged the country’s citizens working abroad to come back home for jobs when they are unemployed there out of global financial crisis.

“As workers are still in demand in teak plantation, timber extraction, fisheries and salt industry, jobs are ready for Myanmar nationals who will come back home when they are out of work abroad,” Thein Sein said.

“The impact of global financial crisis on Myanmar is insignificant. More jobs will emerge if the entire national people make concerted efforts in all seriousness, and this will undeniably fulfill the food, cloth, shelter needs of the people,” he said, adding that ” As the nation has been able to make progress on the basis of own strength, own capital and own education and knowledge even though it has been subject to economic sanctions imposed by Western nations, it will in no way ignore the interest of the national people”.

He assured that the government’s three ministries of foreign affairs, labor and agriculture and irrigation are ready to help those who come back home on account of losing their jobs abroad.

He also said the global financial crisis does not affect the demand and products that can be exported as much as it can produce, saying that the main export markets of the country are neighboring ones in Asia and the main export items are foodstuff — rice, beans and pulses, and meat and fish.

Pointing out that Myanmar has no contact with West bloc banks and monetary organizations, he held that there will be no loss in the monetary sector as the foreign loans are few compared with other countries.

He also denied economic effect on the country as the government is building infrastructures on self-reliant basis with its own technology and money.

He welcomes those out of 2 million Myanmar workers working abroad illegally to return home for employment.

In most recent years, the Myanmar government worked to seek about 50,000 jobs abroad for its country people annually.

Through 70 local overseas employment agencies making contacts foreign nations, the 50,000 overseas jobs opportunities were created, local reports said.

The Ministry of Labor set each of the overseas employment agencies to generate 100 jobs annually, it said, adding that the majority of Myanmar migrant workers got employed in Malaysia’s factories, workshops, restaurants and hotels, and construction projects while higher-educated workers won jobs in Singapore.

Along with the two southeast Asian countries, Qatar and Dubai also stand destinations for the agents to send Myanmar migratory workers. Over the past two years, the government issued temporary passports for Myanmar workers to work in neighboring Thailand and more such workers were encouraged to do so under bilateral cooperation between the two countries.

According to earlier report, of about 300,000 Myanmar migrant workers in Thailand, only 80,000 hold official labor cards issued by the Thai Labor Ministry, while about 120,000 have only stay visas and the rest or 100,000 are living in that country without having any legal documents.

It was warned that some illegal Myanmar workers in Thailand are facing labor exploitation by human traffickers who gave false promise of finding lucrative jobs in other countries.

The Myanmar labor authorities urged the country’s migrant workers to go through formal procedures to get jobs in Thailand to prevent from being deceived by such traffickers.

Overseas employment statistics show that Myanmar migratory workers mostly sought overseas jobs in Singapore during the period between 1996 and 2001 and the number working in the country reduced starting 2001 with Malaysia becoming the market for overseas employment.

According to earlier local report which quoted Malaysian official sources, Myanmar migratory workers accounted for the majority out of 1.84 million overseas workers working in Malaysia.

In 2005, Myanmar allowed for the first time overseas job seekers to work in Qatar in the Middle East, a region once the country considered too dangerous and too susceptible to unrest for Myanmar workers.

More than 500 Myanmar workers arrived Qatar annually since then where demand for labor is high, overseas employment agencies said.

The government’s opening up of the overseas job opportunity to work in Qatar came after the launching in January 2005 of a direct flight to Yangon by the Qatar Airways, which stands the region’s airline.

In the past few decades, Myanmar has been encouraging its people to work overseas as part of its bid to ease domestic employment problem, and thousands of Myanmar job seekers worked in Asian countries with the majority in Malaysia, followed by in South Korea, Singapore and Japan.

Meanwhile, Myanmar seafarers working in overseas shipping lines have increased in recent years. According to official statistics, of the 60,000 registered seafarers in Myanmar, over 12,000 work in overseas shipping lines, up from only 9,000 in 1996.

Meanwhile, under an agreement reached between the Myanmar Foreign Ministry and the Thai Labor Ministry in 2007, Thailand offered to grant 10,000 Myanmar workers to work in industries, factories and restaurants in Thailand. In this regard, the Myanmar authorities have opened temporary passport issuing offices in three border towns of Myawaddy, Kawthoung and Tachilek linking Thailand to facilitate Myanmar workers to work in that country crossing border.

According to earlier Thai statistics, there are 500,000 to 600,000 Myanmar migrant workers in Thailand accounting for 80 percent of the total.
Editor: Zhang Xiang  http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-10/07/content_12190062.htm
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Myanmar steps up security measures in industrial zones after bomb explosions
www.chinaview.cn 2009-10-07 12:29:09            Print

YANGON, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) — The Myanmar authorities have stepped up security measures in industrial zones in suburban Yangon following seven series of bomb explosions within two days in three industrial zones in the former capital last month, sources with the industrial zones administration said on Wednesday.

The security measures cover the addition of more street lighting factory-wise in the zones, increase of patrolling by security staff and asking help from the police force for inaccessible areas.

A series of seven small bombs blast in different outskirts in Yangon on Sept. 16-17 without causing casualties but slight damage.

The bombs exploded at different locations in the industrial zones of Hlaingtharya, Shwepaukan and Mingalardon townships at some intervals within four hours’ duration from mid-night to next morning.

Another bomb, suspected to be a time-bomb, was seized at the Mingalardon industrial zone in Yangon but was defused by the authorities, the report said.

Meanwhile, the Myanmar authorities have arrested some members of various anti-government organizations for allegedly plotting riots and sabotage in the country during this year.

These anti-government group members, charged with instigating unrest and terrorist attacks during the year in collaboration with the All Burma Students Democratic Front (ABSDF), included two members of the All Arakan Students and Youth Congress (AASYC) and some individuals.

Among them was Nyi Nyi Aung with naturalized U.S. citizenship, who entered Myanmar for eight times and was charged with creating anti-government mass movement, especially a planned uprising in September involving monks.

The authorities linked Nyi Nyi Aung with the above series of seven bomb blasts in the three industrial zones.

Editor: Chris http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-10/07/content_12190279.htm
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International butterfly museum to be built in Myanmar
www.chinaview.cn 2009-10-07 11:47:34

YANGON, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) — An international butterfly museum will be built in Pyin Oo Lwin, a northern city of Myanmar, in December this year, aimed at promoting tourism industry of the country, sources with the National Kandawgyi Garden (NKG) said on Wednesday.

Over 40,000 butterflies and insects from home as well as those from China, Africa, Malaysia and Thailand will be kept in the museum established in the NKG’s orchid garden, the sources said, adding that butterfly fossil from across the country will also be shown there.

There is a national wildlife park in snow-capped region in Myanmar where wildlife and rare animals, including butterfly, takes anctuary. The wildlife park lies at Putao between Mularoti and Zayar mountains.

Meanwhile, a huge flower festival is scheduled to take place in the NKG in the first week of December this year.

Over 50 kinds of flowers, which broom in the cold season, are to be displayed in the third festival of its kind.

The first such flower festival was held at the NKG in December 2006 to mark its diamond jubilee while the second was in December 2008.

The NKG was established in 1915 as a botanical garden and was later expanded in different areas reaching 177 hectares in 2000 which comprises lake, natural forest, observation tower and rose, orchid and bamboo gardens.

Statistics show that about 400,000 people have visited the NKG annually since it was reopened in 2001.

Pyin Oo Lwin, lying 69 km east of the second largest city of Mandalay and at over 1,000 meters above sea-level, enjoys cool and pleasant weather all year round. The flower city is well known for its pine trees, eucalyptus and silver-oak abounding in town.
Editor: Chris http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-10/07/content_12190227.htm
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Youth activist’s sentence extended by 10 years

Oct 7, 2009 (DVB)–A Burmese youth activist currently serving eight years in Rangoon’s notorious Insein prison yesterday had his sentence extended by 10 years, sources close to his family said.

Nyein Chan, a member of the Generation Wave (GW) activist group, was yesterday found guilty of breaching the Electronics Act, a charge that has been used to imprison numerous activists, journalists and politicians in Burma.

“He was previously sentenced to eight years in prison by San Chaung district court under the Unlawful Association Act and still has two more trials to face at the same court,” said the source, speaking under condition of anonymity.

Nyein Chan’s initial sentence of eight years was handed down in February this year after he was caught distributing leaflets to mark the one-year anniversary of the founding of GW.

The source said that the multiple trials he is facing that force him to attend court up to three times a week are “damaging his physical and mental health”. He said the total prison sentence could be more than 20 years.

Burma currently holds around 2,120 political prisoners, including 244 monks and 270 students, according to the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners – Burma (AAPP).

The ruling junta last month announced an amnesty of more than 7,000 political prisoners, nearly 130 of which were political prisoners.

Critics of the junta cautiously welcomed the amnesty, but claimed it was done for cosmetic reasons. AAPP, who comprise of former Burmese political prisoners, said the move was a “cynical ploy” to deflect international criticism of the junta.

Reporting by Khin Hnin Htet http://english.dvb.no/news.php?id=2930
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Migrant group welcomes UN report

Oct 7, 2009 (DVB)–A recent UN human development report that takes a positive stance on migration has been welcomed by a Thai-border based Burmese migrant workers group.

The UN Development Programme (UNDP) report, ‘Overcoming Barriers’, states that “migrants boost economic output” and recommends the “lowering of barriers to movement and improving the treatment of movers”.

The report highlighted an agreement between Burma and Thailand to issue Burmese migrant workers with temporary passports, although said that “continuing complaints suggest that delays and demands for bribes remain common”.

Moe Swe, the head of Yaung Chi Oo migrant group in Thailand’s Mae Sot, welcomed the focus of the report, but added that there remains “a lot of confusion” surrounding the temporary passport scheme.

When registering for a passport in Thailand, the Thai authorities seek verification of their nationality with Burmese officials across the border, who then refer the case on to local government authorities.

He said that local authorities often demand money from family members of the worker, with “some migrants…threatened by local authorities”.

He added that “economic problems, unemployment and the unstable political situation” were causing more Burmese to cross into Thailand in search of work.

The report noted that someone born in Thailand “can expect to live seven more years, to have almost three times as many years of education, and to spend and save eight times as much as someone born in neighbouring Myanmar”.

Moe Swe said however that there is a “problem of implementation” of many of Thailand’s labour laws, particularly in Mae Sot.

Discrimination of Burmese workers by employers is also a big problem, and is compounded by the fact that employers are often “very close to the local [Thai] authorities”.

The report also highlights nations, including Burma, that restrict the departure of migrants, with discrimination common among female migrants. Alongside Sudan and Zimbabwe, Burma was labeled an “extreme case” of internal migration.

“Sudan, Myanmar [Burma] and Zimbabwe each had more than 500,000 crisis-affected people who were beyond the reach of any humanitarian assistance,” the report said.

Reporting by Joseph Allchin http://english.dvb.no/news.php?id=2929