BURMA RELATED NEWS – AUGUST 14, 2011
Aug 14th, 2011
By AYE AYE WIN – Associated Press | AP – 3 hrs ago
BAGO, Myanmar (AP) — Thousands of well-wishers lined roadsides in Myanmar to welcome opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi as she tested the limits of her freedom Sunday by taking her first political trip into the countryside since being released from house arrest.
The military-dominated country’s government had warned that the democracy icon’s journey could trigger riots, but it took place peacefully in two towns north of the main city of Yangon, and Suu Kyi returned home without incident.
The last time Suu Kyi traveled out of Yangon to meet supporters, assailants ambushed her entourage. She escaped harm but was detained and placed under seven years of house arrest, from which she was only released last November.
On Sunday, Suu Kyi met hundreds of supporters in Bago, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of Yangon, and the nearby town of Thanatpin, where she gave a 10-minute speech calling for unity and support for her political party. She also urged residents to persevere despite economic hardships that have forced many to seek jobs abroad.
Addressing a crowd later in Bago, Suu Kyi implied that true democratic change will take time.
“I know what the people want and I am trying my best to fulfill the wishes of the people,” she said. “However, I don’t want to give false hope.”
After half a century of army rule, the country formerly known as Burma organized elections late last year and officially handed power to a civilian administration in March. But Suu Kyi’s party boycotted the vote and decried it as a sham. Critics say the new government, led by retired military figures, is a proxy for continued military rule and that little has changed.
Some 2,000 political prisoners remain behind bars, more than 100,000 refugees live in neighboring countries and sporadic clashes have erupted in the northeast between government troops and ethnic militias who have been fighting for greater autonomy for decades.
On Sunday, Suu Kyi traveled in a three-car convoy followed by about 27 more vehicles filled mostly with journalists and supporters. Security agents, with wireless microphones protruding from their civilian clothes, monitored each stop she made.
Thousands of people lined the roadsides to catch a glimpse of Suu Kyi’s convoy as it passed by, some cheering and waving. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate stopped several times, and well-wishers handed her red roses and jasmine flowers.
Win Htein, a leader of Suu Kyi’s party, said the trip was crucial because it “will test the reaction of the authorities and will test the response of the people.”
One of her party’s spokesmen, Nyan Win, said more trips will follow, but neither the dates nor the destinations have been decided.
Earlier in the day, crowds shouted “Long Live Daw Aung San Suu Kyi!” as she visited a pagoda. A 35-year-old woman watching the scene, Ma Thuza, said, “I can die happily now that I’ve seen her.”
Suu Kyi donated rice and money to a monastery where nearly 2,000 victims of recent floods have sought shelter.
Last month, Suu Kyi journeyed to the ancient city of Bagan with her son on a private pilgrimage that nevertheless drew large crowds of supporters and scores of undercover police and intelligence agents. Suu Kyi made no speeches, and the trip ended without incident.
In June, the government said it would not stop Suu Kyi from traveling to the countryside to meet supporters, but warned that the visits could trigger riots.
While little has changed in Myanmar since Suu Kyi’s release, there have been tentative signs of a detente with the government. On Friday, Suu Kyi held her second meeting with Labor and Social Welfare Minister Aung Kyi, a rare dialogue between the two sides. Few details of the meeting have been revealed, but the state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported Saturday that the two sides agreed to cooperate on national stability and development.
Also Friday, Information Minister Kyaw Hsan urged Suu Kyi to officially register her National League for Democracy as a party, a step that would imply its acceptance of the government’s legitimacy and also allow it to legally take part in politics.
If Suu Kyi’s group reaches an accommodation with the government, it could serve as a reason for Western nations to lift political and economic embargoes on the country that have hindered development and pushed it into dependence on neighboring China.
The previous military government ordered the party’s dissolution after it refused to register for last November’s general election.
By Hla Hla Htay | AFP News – 6 hours ago
AFP News – 4 hours ago Aung San Suu Kyi called for unity in Myanmar as she was feted by thousands of supporters on Sunday during her first political trip outside her home city since being released from house arrest.
Suu Kyi, who was released from seven straight years of detention in November just days after a controversial election, defied a government security warning with a visit to the Bago region north of Yangon, in a key test of her freedom.
Police tried to clear people off roads as hundreds lined the streets to greet the 66-year-old democracy icon as she travelled between towns, many of them shouting and waving banners saying: “We love Mother Suu!”
After visiting a local pagoda, she made similar speeches at the openings of two libraries, the first to about 600 people in Tha Nat Pin and the second to about 2,000 in nearby Bago town, an AFP reporter witnessed.
“We can develop this country only when we all work together,” Suu Kyi told the crowds in her first address.
“Unity is a strength, unity is needed everywhere and it is needed especially in our country.”
She said she had always “tried her best” since she joined politics more than 20 years ago, and would “continue as much as I can”.
A convoy of about 30 cars left Yangon early in the morning for the one-day excursion, also carrying members of her National League for Democracy (NLD), journalists and diplomats.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner told AFP as she embarked on the trip that she was reliant “on the support of the people” — which appeared to be much in evidence in Bago.
“I’m very happy to see her. We all are,” said Win Win Myint, a 23-year-old student. “I haven’t see her in person before.”
Security is a concern as Suu Kyi’s convoy was attacked in 2003 during a political trip, in an ambush apparently organised by a junta frightened by her popularity.
“Our party members will take care of her security and also the authorities will help us,” Nyan Win, an NLD spokesman, told AFP on Saturday.
He has described Sunday’s visit as “political” and said she would try to venture outside Yangon again.
In June the military-backed government warned Suu Kyi that a political tour could spark chaos and riots.
She has since tested her freedom with a trip to an ancient temple city in central Myanmar, although politics was not on the agenda.
The democracy champion has spent much of the last two decades in detention, and some observers believe the government would be quick to restrict her freedom again if she were perceived to threaten its rule.
But there have been signs of a thaw in relations between the government and Suu Kyi recently, with the Nobel laureate holding a second round of talks with labour minister Aung Kyi on Friday.
A joint statement released following the discussions said both sides would work together for “stability” and democratic development.
Also on Friday, the government pledged to continue the dialogue in its first media briefing in the capital Naypyidaw since taking power.
Initial talks in July came just days after the United States called for “concrete” progress towards democracy.
Myanmar is subject to economic sanctions by the US and other western nations who are calling for democratic and human rights reforms.
Last year’s poll was won by the military’s political proxies and was marred by widespread complaints of cheating and intimidation.
The NLD, which won an election in 1990 but was never allowed to take power by the junta, boycotted last year’s vote because of rules seemed designed to exclude Suu Kyi and was stripped of its recognition as a political party as a result.
By Aung Hla Tun | Reuters – 4 hrs ago
YANGON (Reuters) – Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of Myanmar’s democratic opposition, said on Sunday it was too early to comment on signs of a thawing in her relationship with the government, as she ventured outside Yangon to meet supporters and flood victims.
Her trip to Bago and Thanetpin, towns about 50 miles north of the former capital, involved little more than the opening of two libraries, but her party billed it as her first overtly political trip since her release from house arrest last year.
On Friday, Suu Kyi held talks for just under an hour with Labour Minister Aung Kyi and they issued a joint statement afterwards saying they wanted to cooperate to bring stability and economic development to the country.
“I know the people are very eager to know about the details of my talks with Minister U Aung Kyi,” she said on Sunday at the ceremony in Bago, using the honorific “U.”
“In fact, it is not time yet to reveal the details as there are certain things to be carried out specifically. I just don’t want to form false, lofty expectations. Please understand it,” she said.
She called on people to be responsible and do their bit to support her.
Friday’s meeting was the second in just over two weeks between the minister and the 66-year-old Nobel Peace Laureate.
Separately on Friday, at a rare news conference in the capital, Naypyitaw, Kyaw Hsan, the Minister of Information and leader of a newly formed “Spokespersons and Information Team,” held out another olive branch to Suu Kyi and her party.
“In view of national reconciliation, the government is delicately and carefully handling the issue of the NLD, which has no legal right to exist, offering it opportunities to serve the national interest in cohesion,” he said.
OFFICIALLY DISBANDED
The National League for Democracy (NLD) was officially disbanded because it refused to register for a general election last November that led to the end of formal military rule this year.
However, the party has continued to function, apparently without harassment by the authorities. Suu Kyi was released shortly after the vote.
“If the NLD wants to get involved in politics, it should set up a legal party through formal procedures. Anyhow, the government is doing its best to invite the NLD to its national reconciliation process,” Kyaw Hsan said.
Suu Kyi has been careful not to antagonize the government since her release and did not directly criticize the election, which was regarded at home and abroad as a sham that ensured the army retained power behind a veneer of democracy.
The government and military appear to have backed off from their tough stance toward Suu Kyi, occasionally criticizing her in state-run media but allowing her freedom to travel and meet diplomats, journalists and supporters.
NLD spokesman Nyan Win told Reuters there had been some cooperation with the authorities in advance of Sunday’s trip as regards her security.
Toll gates out of Yangon were lifted for her convoy to pass without fuss, and even the payment was waived, according to a worker at the toll booth.
Around 36 cars were in the convoy, including 24 transporting nearly 100 reporters, three carrying Western diplomats and two or three that appeared to be occupied by plain-clothes police.
About 300 and 600 supporters attended the ceremonies in Thanetpin and Bago respectively, listening to Suu Kyi speak and applauding. Hundreds of people lined the route to wave to her as she drove in the area.
She returned home to Yangon without incident in late afternoon.
By ANI | ANI – 6 hours ago
Washington, Aug 14 (ANI): Myanmar’s pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi has joined chorus of alarm over China’s plan to build dams on the nation’s most important river.
Suu Kyi had recently released a letter calling on backers of the Myitsone hydropower project to ‘reassess the scheme,’ citing concerns that dams on Myanmar’s Irrawaddy River would degrade the environment, the Wall Street Journal reports.
She said the dam construction would disrupt rice production, displace minorities, hurt livelihoods and risk unleashing devastating consequences during earthquakes.
“We believe that, keeping in mind the interests of both countries, both governments would wish to avoid consequences which might endanger lives and homes,” Suu Kyi wrote.
The Myitsone project is a 6000-megawatt cascade-style hydropower station being built as a joint venture by government-run China Power Investment Corp.
The project is a major symbol of China’s deepening political and economic relationship with the military regime in Myanmar, the Journal said.
China Power Investment Corp has commented on the matter.
She’s fast gaining popularity with supply crunch of Indonesian and Filipino help
Published on Aug 14, 2011
By Ng Kai Ling
Ms Mya Mya Khaing, 34, is a Myanmarese maid who is now working in Singapore. Drawing an average monthly pay of $380, Myanmarese maids are cheaper than those from Indonesia and the Philippines. If the current supply crunch continues, Myanmar could be the next major source country for foreign domestic workers.
That maid who has just politely greeted you may be from Myanmar.
Maid agencies are now looking northwards to Myanmar, to make up for a shortfall in the supply of foreign domestic workers from traditional places like Indonesia and the Philippines.
The wait for a new maid from these traditional sources now takes about six to eight weeks, compared with four to six weeks previously, due to such factors as a ’supply crunch’ and the current Muslim Ramadan fasting season.
LEAVING HOME FOR BETTER PAY IN SINGAPORE
Myanmar domestic helper Mya Mya Khaing’s wish is to buy a car – not a house or land – after finishing her work stint here.
She thinks it makes more sense, as she can rent it out for use as a taxi.
‘My friend does that. She gets money every month,’ said the 34-year-old when The Sunday Times met her yesterday.
Ms Khaing recently started working for a second family here to better provide for her two schoolgoing children, aged 11 and seven.
She first came here in 2009 and worked for a South Korean expatriate family until last December, when the family moved to Japan.
Asked why she chose to work in Singapore, the former seamstress who had earned about $60 a month, said: ‘Singapore salary is very high.’
She now earns $470 monthly working for a Singaporean family.
The divorcee was apprehensive when she first arrived because she was not sure if she could do the job well.
‘I was very tired. I took care of two children, a three-year-old and a one-month-old,’ said the high school graduate.
She said while she had learnt English for five years, she has difficulty using the language here.
During the interview, her employer, Madam Ee Ah Moi, asked for a cup of coffee. Ms Khaing brought her milk instead.
‘A third of the time she cannot understand me and 70 per cent of the time I have to guess what she is saying.
‘But she is very mild-mannered and willing to learn,’ said the 73-year-old retiree who used to own a maid agency.
Language barrier but she’s willing to learn
‘A third of the time she cannot understand me and 70 per cent of the time I have to guess what she is saying. But she is very mild-mannered and willing to learn.’
MADAM EE AH MOI on Ms Khaing
TM Global HR Consultancy, which specialises in Myanmarese maids, has seen its business increase by about 30 per cent since Ramadan started on Aug 1.
Published Date: August 14, 2011
CATHOLIC and Baptist women displaced by ongoing conflicts in Burma’s Karen state are receiving vocational training from a Church-run organization aimed at improving income potential.
Thirty-five participants are attending a workshop by Karuna Mawlamyine Social Service in the compound of Holy Family Catholic Church in Mawlamyine diocese in Myanmar’s Mon state to learn how to make traditional foods and snacks that they can sell to support their families.
The workshop, which ends tomorrow, also includes training in community leadership and basic budgeting and management of household income skills.
Peter Yoe, program coordinator for Karuna Mawlamyine, said the group hoped to assist vulnerable families in the diocese uprooted from their homes and give them skills that would allow them to earn income wherever they happen to live.
“Poverty and illiteracy have overwhelmed these women because they have been forced to move from place to place to escape fighting in Burma’s eastern ethnic areas. So, their entire livelihood is uncertain.”
Josephine Naw Jo Jo, 46, a Catholic from Thakan village in Mawlamyine, said she supports seven family members and has only a small hillside plantation.
“We face financial problems because we were forced to move to [Thakan] village. For our livelihood, we have to travel to our old village to pick vegetables and sell them in the new village.
She said the two villages are about three kilometers apart and she has to pay 500 kyats (about 60 US cents) for a letter of permission from the village head to make the journey.
English.news.cn 2011-08-14 10:25:35
YANGON, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) — Myanmar aviation authorities will allow private companies to undertake collection of aviation tax for foreign airlines as part of its privatization program, a local media reported Sunday.
The new measure, which will start soon, sets that the monthly tax will be charged in U.S dollar depending on the kind of aircrafts, the Popular News said.
Of the more than 400 aircrafts flying across Myanmar’s air space, those of Thai airline account for most.
Myanmar gained tax revenue of over 50 million USD annually with 59 mln USD shown for 2010-11.
Meanwhile, Myanmar has introduced a new rate of airport tax in line with the international standard, designating that a uniform rate will apply to domestic and foreign passengers leaving the country.
Yangon International Airport saw 510,000 travelers from international airlines and 360,000 local travelers from domestic airlines in the first quarter of this year, a 21.65-percent and 23. 47-percent increase respectively compared with the same period of last year.
There are six domestic airlines in Myanmar including one state- owned, which is the Myanmar Airways, and five private-run — Air Mandalay, Yangon Airways, Air Bagan, Asian Wings and Kanbawza.
There is also another Myanmar international airline, the Myanmar Airways International (MAI), flying solely some foreign destinations.
There are also 13 foreign airlines flying Yangon which comprise Air China, China Southern Airline, Thai Airways International, Indian Airlines, Qatar Airways, Silk Air, Malaysian Airlines, Bangkok Airways, Mandarin, Jetstar Asia, Phuket Airline, Thai Air Asia and Vietnam Airlines.
English.news.cn 2011-08-14 10:25:03
YANGON, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) — Myanmar’s marine products export earnings amounted to 150.78 million U.S dollars in the first four months (April to July) of the fiscal year 2011-12, decreasing by 16 percent from 180.18 million dollars in the same period of 2010- 11, the local Biweekly Eleven News reported Sunday.
Earnings from crab exports ranked first, followed by labeo rohita, hilsa ilisha and prawn.
Myanmar’s border trading activities are mostly done through border points of Tachilek, Kawthoung, Myawaddy, Myeik, Muse, Lwejie, Chin Shwe Haw, Kanbaitee, Sittway and Maunghtaw.
According to the report, Myanmar’s marine products exports amounted to 555.5 million U.S dollars in 2010-11, up 12 percent from 496.39 million dollars in 2009-10. However, it was short of the target of 700 million dollars.
Of the export during the year, that to European countries amounted to 11 million U.S. dollars.
Since private entrepreneurs were granted to engage in onshore and offshore fishing, there have now been 81,000 hectares of fish ponds, up from 2,550 hectares in 1988.
With a long coastline of over 2,800 km and a total area of 500,000 hectares of swamps along the coast, the country has an estimated sustainable yield of marine products at over 1 million tons a year.
A weekend trek along the Burma border? It’s not as far away as it sounds
Published: 14/08/2011 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: Brunch
If we shout, our voices carry into Burma. Voices have strong competition, though; under the full moon, the sounds of the jungle are deafening. Water rushes and warbles over rocks, around our island in the middle of the stream. Insects stridulate in a hum almost electric. Towering bamboos rustle and sway. A frog the size of a kitten hops across the campsite, in the light of the crackling fire, flicking out a long tongue to grab unwary bugs.
NATURAL CONNECTION: Thailand’s longest wooden bridge.
It’s a collective noise that sounds clean, washed by the river, aired by the breeze _ in contrast to the Bangkok cacophony we’d be back to within a day, where rectilinear outlines of concrete and asphalt channel the choke of traffic, the buzz of electric wire, thudding bass line from an underground after-hours club.
Our guide was arrested the night before departure. “For not wearing a helmet,” his replacement, Phi Seng, explained. We’d been in town for several days without seeing any motorcyclist wearing one, so it seemed an odd reason for arrest. But Seng himself had spent time in prison _ many offences are related to registration, since Karen and Mon, peoples of former vast nations, are marginalised between these indistinct, poorly defined borders, without the money to pay minimal police fines or knowledge of the resources available to them.
AFTER THE DELUGE: The Khao Laem reservoir flooded the former village of Sangkhla Buri.
Yesterday we visited Sangkhla Buri’s bridge, lake and temples. Today we hiked six hours through Karen villages and mountain trails, jungle and river to get here. We feast on improvisations: fish, mushroom soup, rice, vegetables growing alongside the river, omelette for dinner _ quite gourmet considering the remoteness of where we are. We sleep on a hard bamboo pallet under a thatched roof, while the two Karen guides, Seng and Mong, sleep in hammocks in the chilly, dewy open. It would be easy to say “This is the life”, but it’s too bizarre for that, city existence too far removed from such equilibrium with nature. It is satisfying, like discovering a new world, only this is just a few hours removed from the metropolitan jungle where we live with over 10 million others.
In the morning we hop on a bamboo raft and navigate the rocks and rapids downstream, then continue on the last leg of the “trek” by car to the Three Pagodas Pass that marks the border.
REMNANTS OF THE PAST: The ruins of Wat Saam Prasob, which are partially under water in the rainy season since the dam was built.
Sangkhla Buri is a fascinating district in the far west of Kanchanaburi province, a mix of Thais, Burmese, Karen and Mon, even a handful of Lao and Westerners. For city dwellers it is easy to visit, accessible from Bangkok in five hours by car, six or seven by minivan or bus. You could conceivably drive after work on Friday, stay a night and in the morning commence on an overnight trek through heavy jungle, then drive home on Sunday afternoon while nursing sore leg muscles.
Inaccessibility is no longer an excuse, and neither, at the moment, is border violence; the Rangoon government controls the Burma side of the border, and while the possibility of crossing the border is still unpredictable, you can often cross for a day trip for 25 baht. There isn’t much to see other than a few shops and markets, but it is still fascinating to experience another country for a few hours.
Three Pagodas Pass.
Many treks are booked through P Guest House (03-459-5061) or the Burmese Inn (03-459-5146), but there are other accommodation options along the lake. Don’t expect five-star resorts. Most treks cost around 900 baht a day and include food and water, overnight stays in makeshift camps in the jungle or at home stays in Karen villages, hiking through thick jungle and crossing shallow but fast-moving streams, rafting and sometimes elephant riding. Guides are usually ethnic Karen who have lived in Thailand for many years and know the local geography intimately. Our guide in a black cowboy hat, Seng, spoke decent Thai but no English, though a translator can join the trip if there are groups of foreigners.
Trekking here used to cater mostly to adventurous farang; now the majority of adventurers seem to be Thai. “Sanook mak!” (It’s great fun) exclaimed the 69-year-old man on his recently completed three-day trek as we began ours. His 55-year-old wife agreed.
If they can do it, how hard can it be?
Friday, 12 August 2011 17:57 Mizzima News
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Lithuania has expressed its support for Aung San Suu Kyi’s struggle for democratic change in Burma.
In a telephone call on Thursday to Suu Kyi, the secretary general of the National League for Democracy, the Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Audronius Ažubalis expressed his support for the democratic forces in Burma and said his country would continue to raise the issue of Burma in bilateral and international forums, according to a statement from his office.
He reiterated that his government did not really see any change in Burma in the wake the November 2010 elections, and that sanctions cannot be mitigated.
Suu Kyi thanked the minister for his government’s position, according to the statement. She said that this is the only way to make the current Burmese government understand that the reforms are necessary.
The opposition leader said that dialogue with the Burmese authorities is possible only after release of all political prisoners and permission for all political parties to participate in elections.
Lithuania actively supported the United Nations Human Rights Council Resolution on the human rights situation in Burma adopted on March 18, 2011.
Sunday, 14 August 2011 17:34 Mizzima News Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Voracious reader Aung San Suu Kyi has called on young people in Pegu to read more and the two libraries she has just opened offer books that allow them to do just that.
On Sunday, National League for Democracy (NLD) Secretary General Aung San Suu Kyi cut ribbons at two libraries in Pegu (Bago), 80 kilometres north of Rangoon, on a one-day visit to the city.
The “Aung San Jarmon” libraries are situated on 23rd Panhaling Street in Bago and Nawayat Koe Twe Street in Thanatpin have a total of over 7,000 books. These two libraries were established by the NLD Bago Region branch and local people. Each library cost over 1 million kyat (US$ 1,330).
There are many books on politics and religion, and novels including a book entitled, “Is this a human hell,” written by NLD central executive committee member Win Tin.
The genesis of the libraries lies in a visit Suu Kyi made to Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State, on April 27, 1989, her first ever political trip out of the Rangoon region since she had returned to Burma.
She was greeted by the people with calls of “Aung San Jarmon,” which in the Kachin language means “Golden Pollen Aung San.”
On this 1989 visit, she stressed the importance of the mental security of the people and that young people were important for the future of the Burmese Union.
“We must lead to a system which can provide us mental security,” she said to ethnic leaders at the Kachin National Democracy Congress (KNDC) office. “We can get economic security only after getting this mental security. So please try politically, please support and help. Establishing a new Union is the duty of all ethnic people in this Union. Please fully perform your duty.”
On her one-day trip to Pegu on Sunday, she urged young people to toughen their minds and read books at the libraries set up by the NLD. This Pegu tour was her first political tour outside of Rangoon since she was released from house arrest in November 2010. This was her second visit to Pegu in 22 years.
The tour coincides with fighting between Burmese government troops and the Kachin Independence Army and its political wing, the Kashin Independence Organization or KIO.
In her open letter dated July 28, Suu Kyi called on government troops and ethnic armed forces to stop fighting and offered to help in the peace process.
During her 1998 Myitkyina tour, she met the aging Duwa Zaw Rit who drafted the roadmap to the Panglong Agreement in 1947 with her father, Aung San, who was assassinated later that year. During her meeting with Duwa Zar Rit she discussed a new Panglong Agreement.
Suu Kyi stressed on that trip to Kachin State her connection with the Kachin people. She is reported to have said: “I always saw the photo hanging on the wall of our dining room since my childhood. In this photo, my father was in Kachin traditional costume. So I have felt Kachin people are my brothers and sisters since my early childhood.”
Starting time
After Aung San Suu Kyi’s release from house arrest in November 2010, the educational networks were constructed. Similarly an education network was constructed in Pegu (Bago) and the party started to build the reading rooms in January 2011.
Rationale for setting up the libraries
Library establishing committee member Myint Oo said when they were young he and his parents could buy books and many people had libraries at home and many homes had a study. “But now the books become expensive,” he said. “Even a weekly journal costs 600-700 kyat (US$ 80-90 cents) per copy. A monthly magazine costs 2,000-3,000 kyat (US$ 2.70-4.00). Other books are not thick as in the past, they are thin yet expensive at over 2,000 kyat, sometimes even 4,000-5,000 kyat (US$ 5.30-6.60) per copy.”
He said when people are stuggling to make ends meet, books are a luxury. “So our people are farther and farther away from books. It is very sorry for us to see such situation where books are not accessible. This is like the gagging and blindfolding of our mouths and eyes. This situation will undermine the development of our knowledge and wisdom. The youths will lose interest in reading. I wish the people especially youth read the books. There are not many Internet cafés here. So it will be benefit them if they come to these libraries. Therefore, we fill this gap.”
The Aung San Jarmon Libraries
There are two separate libraries, namely Aung San Jarmon Reading Room -Bago and Aung San Jarmon Reading Room – Thanatpin.
Meaning
“Aung San Jarmon” means “Golden pollen Aung San”. In the Kachin language, Jarmon means golden pollen.
Aims of the libraries
1. Youth people spend their time reading rather than in a beer pub, billiard parlour, video games shop and soccer matches to make them useful and valuable youths
2. To encourage the youth to develop their lives themselves
3. Easy access to books which were compiled by scholars and academics after devoting many years in research
Location
Aung San Jarmon Reading Room (Bago) – No. 94, 23rd Panhlaing Street, Bago, Bago Region
(At the residence of NLD Bago Region Branch Chairman Myat Hla)
Aung San Jarmon Reading Room (Thanatpin) – No. 128, Nawarat Koethwe Street, Zaypine Ward, Thanatpin, Bago Region.
Capacity
Aung San Jarmon reading room (Bago) – can accommodate over 20 readers
Aung San Jarmon reading room (Thanatpin) – 12’x16’ room, can accommodate 14-15 readers.
Books available
Weekly journals, monthly magazines, novels, cartoons, poetry, biography, politics, economics, social sciences, religion, TOEFL, IELTS, FAT English language learning books and aids
Number of books
Aung San Jarmon Reading Room (Bago) – about 4,000 books in assorted categories
Aung San Jarmon Reading Room (Thanatpin) – over 3,000 books in assorted category. (All of the books were donated by well wishers)
Construction costs for libraries
Each library cost about 1.5 million kyat (US$ 1,330)
Library staff
A librarian and two assistant librarians, besides volunteers will be assigned at these libraries.
Book circulation system
Readers must have library card, named “Book lovers,” that will cost 500 kyat (US$ 00.66) each. These library cards must be renewed every six months and the readers can borrow two books each time for one week with this card. The youths who are attending English classes will have special library cards and they can borrow books free of charge.
There is a special arrangement for monks who want to borrow religious books. Similarly those who want to borrow weekly journals can get them without a library card.
Other programmes
Occasional talks will be held by inviting language and literature scholars and experts.
Sunday, 14 August 2011 18:31 Mizzima News
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – White-shirted youth bodyguards accompanied Aung San Suu Kyi on a one-day political trip out of Rangoon that helped the pro-democracy leader test her political room to maneuver.
Little fanfare surrounded the day trip of the secretary general of the National League for Democracy to Pegu (Bago) to open two libraries and offer a donation to thousands of victims of flooding in the region.
On the face of it, the purpose of the visit to Pegu was to open two libraries set up by her party and named in her honour, part of her party’s drive to help empower young people in a country where the educational system has suffered for decades.
The Aung San Jarmon libraries are physically small but stuffed with thousands of books on everything from poetry to politics to novels. Book lovers can read in the library or use tickets to borrow the books. As the printed prospectus of the libraries make clear, they are aimed to give young people an opportunity to grow and avoid bars, billiard parlours and video game cafes.
As Suu Kyi said in her speech, she stressed the importance of reading and how it was necessary to help young people become mentally strong. One of the programmes of her party is to provide educational help, and Suu Kyi herself has spent much time talking and giving speeches to youth. She, herself, is a voracious reader.
But the trip was also an opportunity to test the water with the Burmese government. Since her release from house arrest last November, fears have been voiced for her safety if she travels outside of Rangoon due to violence she and her supporters experienced in Depayin in May 2003.At least 70 people associated with her party were killed by a government-sponsored mob and Suu Kyi appeared lucky to escape. She was arrested shortly after.
The short trip to Pegu, leaving by road at 5:45 a.m. and returning at about 5 p.m. went off without incident. She was able to open the libraries, visit monasteries, and offer aid to flood victims.
Recent meetings with Aung Kyi, a government minister, are credited with smoothing the way.
Forum for Democracy in Burma (FDB) General Secretary Dr. Naing Aung said Suu Kyi made the trip after meeting with Minister Aung Kyi, which indicated she had “negotiated” with the authorities to allow her visit.
The exiled commentator said that it was good that as a public leader she keeps in touch with the grassroots of the party and the people. He said the result of this first political trip will depend on the range and number of people she meets, including young NLD members.
Aung San Suu Kyi’s political trips
1989 January 14
Aung San Suu Kyi went to Maubin in Irrawaddy Division via a river route for canvassing. The Maubin Township Law and Order Restoration Council ordered the residents not to welcome her; not to wave their hands to greet her; not to give her bouquets of flowers; not to clap and not to leave their homes.
1989 February 11
She travelled to Panglong in Shan State and met with ethnic political parties. She read the ‘New Democratic Union Declaration’ that mentioned about the NLD’s policies and general tasks in front of the Panglong pillar in the Union Square.
1989 April 5
Suu Kyi, accompanied by former NLD vice chairman Kyi Maung, confronts Captain Myint Oo who ordered six soldiers to aim their guns at Suu Kyi in Danuphyu in Irrawaddy Division. Two superior military officers who are captains ordered the soldiers not to shoot.
1989 April 27
Suu Kyi went to Kachin State for canvassing. During her trip, she met with the canvassers of Myitkyina NLD and the residents. Then she visited the office of the Kachin National Democratic Congress and discussed and exchanged ideas with ethnic leaders to establish a ‘Union’ country.
1989 and 1998
She attempted to visit the Irrawaddy Division in 1989 and 1998. But she was prevented by the authorities on her way.
1996, March 13
When she was about to go to Mandalay, the authorities removed a railway carriage in which Suu Kyi would sit, saying the carriage needed to be repaired.
1998 July 23
Suu Kyi and Tin Oo tried to travel to the Pegu Division and Irrawaddy Division in July and August 1998, but were prevented by the authorities. On July 23, armed troops besieged Suu Kyi and her colleagues near Htandapin in Rangoon Division for 13 days.
2000 August 24
Suu Kyi was prevented by the authorities from travelling to Dallah, on the opposite site of the river from Rangoon. She was temporarily detained and then sent back to her home on
September 2.
2000 September 21
Suu Kyi tried to go to Mandalay, but the authorities did not allow her to get of the train at Rangoon Station. Then she was sent back to her home and was put under house arrest for nearly two years.
2003 April 10
She went to Matupi in Chin State as a part of canvassing in upper Burma. Although her trip was successful, Salai Hla Moe who was given the responsibility of Suu Kyi’s security, Matupi Township NLD secretary Salai Aung Htan and NLD youth in charge Salai Par Htan were arrested after the trip.
2003 May 30
During the trip for canvassing in upper Burma, a motorcade carrying Suu Kyi was attacked near Kyi Village in Depayin Township in Sagaing Division by a mob. Her driver Kyaw Soe Lin managed to drive the car and escape from the mob. But Suu Kyi was arrested in Yay-U and sent to Insein Prison. Then she was placed under house arrest.