Myanmar, China agree to build rail link to seaport
Myanmar, China agree to build rail link between landlocked Chinese province, new Myanmar port
On Thursday April 28, 2011, 10:32 am EDT

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Myanmar and China plan to build a railroad together that will link China’s landlocked Yunnan province to a deep-sea port being built in Myanmar’s Rakhine state.

The state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported Thursday the project will start with a 79-mile (126 kilometer) rail link between the border town of Muse and Lashio in Myanmar’s northeastern Shan State. That first phase is expected to be built in three years.

The completed railroad will extend to a port China is building in Myanmar’s Kyaukphyu town in northwestern Rakhine. China National Petroleum Corp. already is building a 480-mile (770-kilometer) pipeline from Rakhine to Yunnan.

The newspaper said the memorandum of understanding was signed Wednesday in the capital Naypyitaw.

The Nation – Burmese workers seize plant, take security officer hostage
Thursday 28th April, 2011

Phetchabun – Burmese workers staged a protest and seized a frozen chicken factory and held a security officer hostage Wednesday evening.

The hostage taking drama continued until Thursday while police tried to negotiate for the workers to end the protest.

At the height of the protest, the number of protesters grew to about 1,000 and they also took the manager of the plant and a police officer, Pol Sgt Thongsuk Thongthai, hostages.

The factory is located in Tambon Kanju in Bueng Samphan district.

The protesters released the manager late at night and released the policeman in the morning but they continued to hold the security officer hostage.

The protesters claimed that their peers were harmed by security officers of the plant and they demanded better living and working conditions.

At press time, the number protesters dropped to about 400 and the tension has eased, police said.

The Malay Mail – Myanmar stabs wife over alleged affair
Aizat Sharif
Thursday, April 28th, 2011 14:37:00

KUALA LUMPUR: A Myanmar national who stabbed his wife in her abdomen after suspecting she was having an affair was arrested by police in Ampang here on Saturday, two days after the incident at the couple’s house at Pandan Indah Commercial Park.

The suspect, an odd-job worker in his 30s who does not have valid travel documents, has been remanded for two weeks to facilitate investigations.

“He will also be handed over to the Immigration Department for deportation,” said Ampang Jaya district deputy police chief Supt Md Nazri Zawawi.

It is learnt the couple had been arguing frequently over the past several months over an alleged affair by the wife.

The woman was stabbed after she woke up her husband for ’subuh’ prayers. A neighbour who heard her screams called the police but the suspect fled.

People’s Daily Online – Myanmarese killed by countrymen in Malaysia
10:53, April 28, 2011

A Myanmarese was killed after being attacked by his countrymen using sticks, iron rods and a parang knife, or a Malay machete.

According to the Malaysian police, the incident took place in Kuala Lumpur Wednesday morning, when five Myanmarese workers were drinking in a factory hostel.

Investigations revealed that the victim, in his 20s, had squabbled with another four suspects over some misunderstandings.

He sustained multiple injuries over his body, but it was believed that he succumbed to severe head injury at the scene.

The police have arrested three suspects aged between 21 and 25 years old, while the other man has escaped from the hostel.

The suspects were being investigated under Section 302 of the Malaysian Penal Code for murder, which carries the death penalty upon conviction. Source: Xinhua

UN to chart out future devp agenda for 49 most vulnerable LDC
PTI – Thu, Apr 28, 2011 10:36 AM IST

New Delhi, Apr 28 (PTI) Amid growing concerns over the failure of the global community to meet its obligations towards the MDGs, the UN is set to chart out the future development agenda for the 49 most “vulnerable nations”, five of them in India’’s immediate neighbourhood.

The 4th UN Conference on the Less Developed Countries (LDC) in Istanbul next month will frame a new programme of action to determine the development paradigm for the future.

“The exercise, though crucial, will not be easy,” said Nagesh Kumar, chief economist and director, Macroeconomic Policy and Development Division of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN-ESCAP).

“The developed world is seeking to shift its responsibility following the 2008 global economic crisis. They are reluctant to contribute the much-needed resources in the face of unemployment and economic crisis in their own countries,” he said at a workshop organised by UN Information Centre here, ahead of the conference in Turkey from May 9-13.

Of the 49 LDCs, which are also “most vulnerable to natural and climate change related disasters”, five of them are Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar and Afghanistan.

Seventy-five per cent of the 885 million people constituting the LDCs live on less than USD 2 a day and “suffer from diseases long eradicated in other parts of the world”.

LDCs” food import bill has surged from over USD 9 billion in 2002 to USD 24 billion in 2008.

“After the worst economic downturn in generations, the Official Development Aid (ODA) has become complicated as Western nations are cutting back on international aid due to their own problems,” said Syed Nuruzzaman, head of Countries with Special Needs (CSN), Macroeconomic Policy and Development Division, UN-ESCAP.

For Nuruzzaman the LDCs need to stop looking to Western capitals for aid and deepen South-South and regional cooperation.

“Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar are fortunate to be located close to a rapidly growing India,” said Nuruzzaman, a Bangladeshi who saw tremendous potential in regional cooperation.

Citing the example of Indo-Sri Lanka trade ties, which has expanded by 300 per cent in the past seven years, Kumar underlined the need for the LDCs of the sub SAARC region to take advantage of India’’s growth.

He said Nepal and Bhutan already have direct access to the huge Indian market. Bangladesh and Myanmar could use their proximity to India to graduate out of the LDC.
“The challenges are here, but the solutions are also here,” Nuruzzaman underlined.

Asked about Indo-Bangladesh economic ties, he said, “Unlike 30 years ago, today you have the right kind of policy cooperation, and the political will to implement it.”

The Irrawaddy – Import of Illegal Cars into Burma Up Sharply
Thursday, April 28, 2011

MAE SOT — The illegal import of second-hand Japanese cars from Thailand into Burma has recently increased threefold, according to Burmese car brokers doing business at the border.

“Now at least 100 Japanese cars are carried by boats into Burma every day,” said a Burmese car broker working in the Thai border town of Mae Sot, which sits opposite Burma’s Myawaddy Township.

After arrival at Thailand’s ports from Japan, second-hand cars are transported to Mae Sot by Thai companies. Hundreds of Japanese cars are sent to Mae Sot every day, and this week an estimated 4,000 cars were waiting to be carried across the Moei River to Myawaddy, according to an employee of a Thai company.

Observers say that traders are exploiting a legal loophole in the Thai Board of Investment (BOI) law known as the Alien Business Law of 1972 (ABL), which grants an exemption from import duties, export duties and business taxes on certain designated machinery, spare parts and raw materials that are imported into Thailand but not sold in the country.

The price of an illegally imported Japanese car ranges from 200,000 to 300,000 baht (US $5,979 to $8,968), and the average cost of transporting a car is 10,000 baht ($334.50), said a car broker.

The Mae Sot—Myawaddy border crossing is a major trading point between the two countries, but it has been closed by Burmese government since July 2010. The broker said that despite the border closure, the illegal import of cars into Burma has not been affected.

Local car brokers allege that because the illegal import of cars is such a lucrative business, high-ranking Burmese military officials and their family members are either directly involved or have to be bribed to allow transport of the cars to destinations inside Burma.

Illegal vehicles are regularly smuggled into Burma across the Thai-Burmese border. Smugglers usually bribe border security forces and local authorities to transport the illegal vehicles into the country.

Normally, Burma allows only a few thousand cars to be imported officially each year through the Union of Myanmar Economic Holding Ltd (UMEHL), a military-run conglomerate, and businessmen close to the ruling generals.

Since early last year, the Ministry of Commerce has deregulated the import of cars and allowed some private-owned companies to import buses and heavy machinery.

Burma’s import restrictions have skewed the prices of cars—both new and used—to prices that would be considered absurd in neighboring countries.

The Irrawaddy – Mae Sot Police to Raid Burmese Opposition?
Thursday, April 28, 2011

MAE SOT — Thai police is likely to begin raiding buildings and apartments in the border town of Mae Sot that Burmese opposition groups rent for offices and residences, according to sources close to Burmese police.

The plan was agreed in a meeting on Wednesday in Myawaddy—the Burmese town across the border from Mae Sot—attended by Thai police from Mae Sot and Burmese police from Myawaddy.

“Burmese and Thai police held a special meeting yesterday. The Burmese police asked the Thai police to take action regarding anti-human trafficking, anti-drug trafficking, border affairs and Burmese dissidents in Mae Sot,” said a government servant close to the Myawaddy police.

“The Burmese police gave detailed information, addresses and photos of offices and houses which have been rented by Burmese dissidents,” he added.

Burmese police accused the Mae Sot-based Burmese dissidents of conducting terror-style attacks such as armed attacks and bomb blasts in Myawaddy, the source said.

Therefore they asked the Thai police to take immediate action against Burmese dissidents.

Based on the bilateral agreement in the meeting yesterday, some observers in Mae Sot said that the Burmese and Thai police will likely soon speed up criminal cases on the Thai-Burmese border.

Bilateral anti-human trafficking measures and criminal cases on the border were also discussed during the meeting, which Tak Province’s Pol Maj-Gen Chamlong Nomsian attended. Thai immigration officials and border committee members also attended the meeting, said border sources.

In the past, Thai police have occasionally launched raids and cracked down on Burmese dissidents.

In October 2009, Thai security forces raided the homes of 10 leaders of the Karen National Union (KNU) in Mae Sot. Also, in February 2010, Thai police in Mae Sot raided the office of Karen journalists, the Karen Information Center and the home of David Takapaw, the vice chairman of the KNU.

The Irrawaddy – Burma Severely Restricts Religion, Says US Commission
By LALIT K JHA Thursday, April 28, 2011

WASHINGTON — Asserting that the Burmese government remains one of the world‘s worst human rights violators and that it severely restricts religious practice, an independent, bipartisan US federal government commission on Thursday urged US President Barack Obama to retain targeted sanctions against the Burmese military junta until it takes steps to meet benchmarks established in UN resolutions and US law.

The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), whose members are appointed by the US president and the Congress, in its latest annual report, titled “International Religious Freedom 2011,” has placed Burma alongside countries of particular concern such as Egypt, Pakistan, China, Sudan, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam.

“The SPDC [State Peace and Development Council] severely restricts religious practice, monitors the activity of all religious organizations, and perpetrates violence against religious leaders and communities, particularly in ethnic minority areas,” the report said.

Based on the recommendation of USCIRF, the US State Department in previous years has placed Burma on a list of “countries of particular concern.”

USCIRF alleged that in the past year, the Burmese government has engaged in severe violations of the freedoms of religion and belief, including: the arrest, mistreatment, and harassment of Buddhist monks who participated in peaceful demonstrations in 2007 or are suspected of anti-government activity; the severe repression and forced relocation of the Rohingya Muslim minority; the banning of independent Protestant church activities; and the abuses, including forced labor, relocations, and destruction of religious sites, against ethnic minority Protestants.

Noting that religious freedom improvements and democratization are closely linked in Burma, USCIRF in its report recommended that targeted sanctions should remain until the Burmese government takes active steps to meet benchmarks established in UN resolutions and US law.

“The administration should fully implement the provisions of the JADE Act and coordinate sanctions implementation and diplomatic actions with the EU and other regional allies, particularly the democracies of Southeast and South Asia,” it said.

The US administration announced its support for a UN commission of inquiry on Burma and has worked to build international backing for this mechanism, USCIRF said, adding that US assistance funds should be targeted to empower Burmese civil society groups organizing humanitarian assistance, conducting human rights and religious freedom documentation efforts, and providing public advocacy, leadership and legal training to Burmese living in and outside of Burma.

USCIRF said the Rohingya minority in particular is subject to pervasive discrimination and a relocation program that has produced thousands of refugees. “In ethnic minority areas, where low-intensity conflict has been waged for decades, the Burmese military forcibly promotes Buddhism and seeks to control the growth of Protestantism through intimidation and harassment of religious groups. A 2009 law essentially bans independent-house church religious venues, and Protestant religious leaders in Rangoon have been pressured to sign pledges to stop meeting,” it said.

The report alleges that Christians and Muslims have been forced to engage in the destruction of mosques, churches and graveyards and to serve as military porters. “They reportedly have also been forced to … donate labor to build and maintain Buddhist pagodas and monasteries,” it said.

In its set of recommendations, USCIRF urged the government to organize a coalition of democratic nations in Asia to replace the moribund Bangkok Process in order to construct a road map outlining concrete steps Burma must take to end economic and political sanctions and engage with Burma‘s top leader on issues of concern, including: addressing humanitarian and human rights abuses; the release of all political and religious prisoners; finding a durable solution for refugees; and achieving both a peaceful transition to civilian rule and a truly representative government.

The Irrawaddy – China and India Warm to Burma
By WAI MOE Thursday, April 28, 2011

China and India are the two most populous countries in the world, and in recent years have proved that their emerging economies are set to shape the 21st century. But both New Delhi and Beijing have a dirty secret—their respective desires to exploit and control Burma.

In the days following the New Year holidays from April 13-21, Burma’s new President Thein Sein’s government has been busying itself arranging meetings with foreign guests, especially Chinese and Indian diplomats and businesspeople.

According to Burmese and Chinese state media, China and India signed memoranda of understanding( MoUs) separately on Tuesday and Wednesday in Naypyidaw.

China’s MoU with Burma, according to The New Light of Myanmar, concerned the strategic Sino-Burmese railway line from Burma’s western deep seaport, Kyaukpyu, to the Chinese border town of Muse. The project is a part of a 2.5 billion-dollar oil and gas pipeline deal that will link Kyaukpyu to Kunming, the capital of China’s Yunnan Province.

China’s Xinhua news agency reported: “The first phase of the overall project of Muse-Lashio-Kyaukpyu [more than 1900 km-long railway] is from Muse to Lashio in Shan state which stretches as 126 kilometers [sic] with 41 big and small bridges, 36 tunnels and seven railway stations to be added along the route.”

Burmese new vice president, ex Gen Tin Aung Myint Oo, the former secretary-1 of the military junta, witnessed the MoU signing.

As the chairman of the Trade Policy Council, Tin Aung Myint Oo oversaw all investments in projects of Burma during the previous administration. His presence at Wednesday’s MoU signing indicates that he has not lost his influence at the Myanmar Investment Commission since the current regime was sworn in on March 30.

India’s MoU was not such a big deal in comparison—a simple agreement on “cultural cooperation” between two countries regarding renovations of an ancient pagoda, Arnanda, in Pagan.

However, many observers are reading more into the Burma-India MoU than a few building repairs to a temple.

The New Light of Myanmar reported on Thursday that the secretary of the Indian government’s Research and Analysis Wing left Rangoon on Wednesday, but added that senior military officers had both welcomed the Indian delegation on its arrival at Rangoon international airport and provided a hospitality escort for the Indians on their departure.

Apart from the visit, the Indian ambassador to Burma, Villur Sundararajan, also met Burma’s Minister of Home Affairs Lt-Gen Ko Ko and Agriculture and Irrigation Minister ex Lt-Gen Myint Hlaing in Naypyidaw on Tuesday, Burmese state media reported.

Corruption in Burma, Part V: Applying for a passport
Thursday, 28 April 2011 18:29 Kyaw Win

Rangoon (Mizzima) – If you’re a Burmese citizen eager to obtain a passport, you need to be patient and willing to wait, unless you stoop to grease the wheels.

The Myanmar Passport Office on Pansodan Street in Rangoon is a busy place. As one applicant found recently, standing for ages in line, filling out forms, running up and down stairs, and paying various fees gets you only so far. The applicant, John Htay, a pseudonym, then faced the prospect of waiting for a month to have his passport issued.

The passport process in Burma is said to have been improved. The office used to be notorious for red tape and complicated procedures. But as John Htay found, the process was still laboured and paying a relatively large sum of money could speed things up.

‘I had come to this office in order to then seek a job in either Singapore or Malaysia and to avoid being an unemployed graduate’, he said.

‘If you want the passport urgently, you must pay a tout at the passport office 200,000-300,000 kyat (US$ 234-351) but you have to contact this tout daily’, he said.

John Htay decided to go it alone. Unfortunately, he had chosen a Monday, which is a particularly crowded day to commence the process.

The people standing in the queue rushed towards the office as soon as the gates were opened. Iron bar barriers are erected outside with two rows, one for entry and another for exit.

John Htay said he rushed to the entry gate, only to be stopped by a security guard, who told him to leave his bag outside. That cost him a small fee for looking after the bag, even before entering.

‘Full of anxiety, I entered the office with a lot of papers in my hand. Then I asked a police officer about the complicated procedures of this office. He explained to me in detail from A to Z and also suggested I look at the procedures pasted on the office wall’.

Passport application in any country is seldom a simple process, although some countries have tried to improve their systems or outsourced the process to commercial firms.

But in the Myanmar Passport Office, there are a number of hurdles to jump.

First, he had to get his photo taken, which cost him 3,500 kyat ($4). Then he lined up in another queue, to verify the details of his household registration and his ID card. He handed over 1,000 kyat, as people ahead of him in the queue did, because he had heard this would ease passage.

Then he walked upstairs to buy a set of passport application forms for 2,000 kyat. It was hard to find a space in the crowded room to fill them out. While he was standing in a queue of over 100 people to pay the passport application fee, he filled out a cash remittance form, following the example of a sample form pasted on the wall.

He paid the $22 passport fee and a $1.20 service fee. ‘I don’t know why they charge for this unpleasant and uneasy service of standing in a long queue, which made me dizzy’, he complained.

On the next day, he returned to pick up his passport photos. He photocopied his cash remittance receipt and then had to pay another small fee, which was said to be for the cost of passport ink, paper and maintenance of office equipment. He was then to go upstairs to buy another form, paying $2.34.

He said he felt exhausted and upset with all the forms to fill out that included spaces for the names of cousins, brothers and sisters, both maternal and paternal. Then he had to have the forms checked and verified. The woman behind the counter checked the forms thoroughly. John Htay said the clerk told him the process was much more user-friendly than it used to be, but then asked him if he wanted the process finished in one day. When he said yes, she said it would cost $35. He bargained the price down to $29. After some time, the process was finished and an appointment date was set to then submit another form.

At this point, it was made clear that if he wanted his passport issued within a few days, he would have to pay 150,000 kyat ($174) to a tout, otherwise it would take a month. He paid the extra fee.

Clearly, he said, the smartly dressed policemen with their mobile phones are busy, even in their lunchtime, with this lucrative business.

But as John Htay said, even once he had his new passport in hand, he still would have to pay for the tax clearance forms he needed to fill out to hand in at the airport on departure. This was one more expense in the greasing of the wheels.

Five ethnic parties call for release of political prisoners
Thursday, 28 April 2011 16:49 Ko Wild

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – The festering issue of a general amnesty for political prisoners was addressed again this week, this time by five ethnic political parties who issued a joint statement urging the government to release all political prisoners for the sake of national reconciliation.

The statement was issued in Rangoon on Wednesday by a group calling itself the Brotherhood Forum, made up of the  Shan Nationalities Democratic Party, the All Mon Region Democratic Party, the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party (RNDP), the Phalon-Sawaw Democratic Party and the Chin National Party.

“The government should announce a general amnesty’, said RNDP secretary Hla Saw, adding that he is a former political prisoner who was released from prison in 1980 under a general amnesty.

The release of political prisoners has so far not even been mentioned by the leaders of the new government. Consecutive Burmese governments have repeatedly said that there are no political prisoners in the country, contending that all those in prison are there because they violated laws. However, international organizations and the Burmese democratic opposition say that there are more than 2,000 political prisoners.

According to the new Constitution, the president has the power to grant amnesty in accordance with the recommendation of the National Defence and National Security Council.

Other issues raised in the joint statement included the need to find a way to permanent peace in ethnic regions, to narrow the developmental gap between the states and regions and to seek help from the international community for underdeveloped ethnic regions which have suffered from long periods of war.

In early April, the Group of Democratic Party Friends, an alliance of six political parties, urged the new government to hold an all-inclusive Union Conference to seek a solution to end the civil conflicts in Burma and to declare a general political amnesty.

In his inaugural address, President Thein Sein said the government would carry out it duties in accordance with the Constitution. Thein Sein, who is also chairman of the Special Project Implementation Committee, said on April 22 the government needs to implement special development projects in the states and regions.

However, he has said nothing about the issue of amnesty for political prisoners.

Standing with her head high
Thursday, 28 April 2011 13:03 Aye Hnin Nyo

(Mizzima) – Ma Kay Thi has done well for herself. The student, now in her early 20s, is about to finish an engineering degree at Mandalay Technical University.

It could all have been so different.

Ma Kay Thi’s father is an alcoholic and a gambler. But her mother, who brought seven children into the world, wanted to make sure her children in her poor family had a future. Pressed for money, she did what a good mother would do––she made sure her kids got an education.

Children who miss out on school face a bleak future in Burma. Girls, in particular, may find at the best only poorly paid work or worse slip into prostitution.

Ma Kay Thi’s mother took her two eldest daughters to Aye Yeik Mon School in Mandalay. This is a welfare school co-sponsored by the AYM Girl’s Orphanage Association and The Mandalay Projects to help girls who are orphans or come from poor families. Ma Kay Thi’s mother knew what the school was like, having studied there herself.

The school provides boarding school accommodation as well as vocational skills such as tailoring and dressmaking. Typically, the girls go to a local government school during the day and return to Aye Yeik Mon School to sleep and get extra tuition and the support of staff and fellow students.

Orphanage centers and schools for deprived kids are mushrooming in the towns and cities of Burma. A few outstanding youth like Ma Kay Thi grab the opportunity offered and excel, though many merely get by with passable grades or struggle.

Aye Yeik Mon School offers a refuge. Aye Yeik Mon means a ‘peaceful and pleasant venue’, a place where the Buddhist nuns running the school, Taung-Goo and Chaung-U, provide not just good food and shelter, but an education and good moral grounding.

As the nuns know, many of the children who turn up on their doorstep have had troubles with their family and faced trauma at home. So the nuns provide counseling and a loving, cozy environment.

Aye Yeik Mon School has a claim to fame. A Burmese movie titled, Kyi Pyar, was based on the story of the school. Written by Shwe Thinzar and directed by Kyi Myint, it was awarded three academy prizes––the Burmese equivalent of the Oscar Award––for outstanding film, the best director and the best actress (film star May Win Maung) in 1980.

Not that notoriety from decades ago helps the kids today. As Ma Kay Thi found, some children at the local government school she attended before going on to university did not want to befriend her and her friends because they were looked down on as kids from a girls’ shelter. The teachers also did not pay them much attention because they did not provide fees or money for extra tuition. The nuns provided payment of any mandatory government school fees.

But the atmosphere at Aye Yeik Mon School was all so different. As Ma Kay Thi said, there is a feeling of camaraderie at the school with the elder kids helping the younger kids with their homework and lessons. Volunteers offer extra classes, including practical vocational skills.

Education is becoming more competitive in Burma. Children who can afford it study in extra tutorial classes after school and parents often push their kids to excel.

Still, Aye Yeik Mon School can boast of success. Many students from Aye Yeik Mon have passed their high school exams and some are even going to university like Ma Kay Thi or doing vocational training courses.

The school has a good reputation locally and Mandalay residents often come to donate food and clothing. When that happens, the nuns call on the children to publicly express their gratitude. After all, without the support of outside donors, the school would have difficulty in surviving, and children like Ma Kay Thi might not have a future.

For more information on the Mandalay Projects go to: www.themandalayprojects.net

DVB News – Authorities issue petition warning
By AYE NAI
Published: 28 April 2011

Locals in Taungdwingyi have been ordered to sign a statement promising they will not put their names to a nascent signature campaign targeted at Burma’s president, Thein Sein.

Private tutors in the Magwe division town were warned on Friday last week that activists would encourage locals there to sign the petition, which urges the release of political prisoners, among other demands.

A member of the National League for Democracy (NLD), a key driving force behind the campaign, said that it was already “achieving some success”.

“The people are very keen to see the release of political prisoners,” he told DVB, requesting anonymity. “The new government… has a responsibility to release these people who worked to contribute to society.”

Activists in Mandalay have begun collecting signatures after 408 “prominent and influential figures” in Rangoon leant their support. Phyo Min Thein, one of the campaign’s organisers, said 450,000 more petitions were sent across Burma on Tuesday. The final tally will be sent to Thein Sein on 25 April.

“It is necessary for the people to know their rights when establishing a democratic system,” said Phyo Myo Thein. “We have the right to express our demands to the rulers of the country, who were elected by the people.”

Accompanying demands to release Burma’s 2,100 political prisoners are calls for the safe return of refugees and political exiles and an end to intractable conflicts with armed ethnic groups.

Activists in Burma however face significant risks, with hundreds behind bars for similar protestations at what they claim is injustice by the government.

The prospect of a prisoner amnesty had been mooted as one of the first signs of appeasement by the new government, which was sworn in last month, but nothing has yet taken place.

DVB News – Fishery owners protest Thai arrests
By MAHN SAIMON
Published: 28 April 2011

Fishery owners in the Thai border town of Ranong are protesting arrests of Burmese migrant workers whom police allege have no legal permits to work in Thailand.

Around 100 protesters led by the province’s Fisheries Association on Tuesday parked 20 container trucks in roads leading to the Ranong governor’s office. They claim the spate of arrests has thwarted their work, causing fish to decompose. The Thai government has been asked to adopt more constructive policies in order to solve the problem of illegal migrants.

Authorities are now negotiating with the protestors, according to the chairperson of the Advisor Committee of the Ranong Fisheries Association, Nai Tawee Boonying. He said the fishery owners had threatened to dump rotting fish on every road in the town, which has become a hub for Burmese seeking work in the Kingdom.

According to Thai Outsourcing Department, Burmese migrant workers are the main source of labour in Ranong’s fishing industry in Ranong, which is the biggest processor of Thai fishing produce.

More than three million Burmese migrants are estimated to live in Thailand, the majority working in low-skilled industries such as fishing and construction, where safety is a concern. The quasi-legal status many of them hold means they often struggle to claim compensation.

Moe Wei, migrant affairs coordinator at the Thailand-based Grassroots Human Rights Education and Development (GHRED) group, said: “There are around 80,000 Burmese migrant workers in the fishing industry, making up most of its labour.

“There are also Thais but they mostly take up supervisor positions. The fishing industry in Thailand will be halted without the Burmese migrants.”