+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Aung San Suu Kyi Fearless Voice of Burma
Junta pretends to help cyclone victims
MWAF urges eradication of trafficking in Burmese women
Recent Burma News (03-07-08)

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Aung San Suu Kyi Fearless Voice of Burma: Second Edition
 (Paperback)
by Whitney Stewart (Author)

Synopsis
When Aung San Suu Kyi returned to her native Burma to tend to her ailing mother, no one could have known that, within a few months, the quiet woman would become a leader of her people. In 1989, after Suu Kyi had worked only a year in Burma's renewed struggle for democracy, the military government place her under house arrest. The following years, while still confined to her home, Suu Kyi led Burma's National League for Democracy to victory in a national election. The military government refused to recognize the election. In 1991, still under arrest, Aung San Suu Kyi won the Nobel Peace Prize. Upon her release from house arrest in 1995, thousands flocked to Suu Kyi's home in Rangoon to hear her speak. There she offered hope that democracy may yet blossom in Burma. Whitney Stewart's biography, based on personal interviews with Aung San Suu Kyi and those around her, illuminates the dangers endured and the triumphs enjoyed by this inspiring woman, who has been put back under house arrest in her homeland. Additional materials by Burmese authors brings this fascinating biography right up-to-date, including the Saffron Revolution of 2007.

·  Publisher: iUniverse.com; 2 edition (11 Jun 2008)
·  Language English
·  ISBN-10: 0595483208
·  ISBN-13: 978-0595483204

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal
Grade 7-10. This is an interesting, easy-to-read biography of the leader who, despite her politically active background, lived a peaceful scholar's life in England until she returned to Burma to care for her ailing mother in 1988. Suu Kyi became involved in the great resistance movement for democracy in her homeland, which eventually led to her house arrest from 1989-1995. She became an inspiration to her people and ultimately was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. Stewart emphasizes that democracy has not been fully achieved in Burma and that Suu Kyi's resolve continues to give hope to her country. Full-color and black-and-white photos add much to this inspiring biography, which presents more personal information on Suu Kyi and her family than John Parenteau's Prisoner for Peace (M. Reynolds, 1994). A fine introduction to the current quest for change in Burma.

Judy R. Johnston, Auburn High School, WA. ©1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Gr. 6^-9. Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Prize winner and a leader in Burma's struggle for democracy, is profiled in this biography based on personal interviews. Suu Kyi, the daughter of a popular Burmese politician who was assassinated, married an Englishman and was living in Cambridge when, during a visit home, she decided to stay and help the Burmese struggle for democracy. Within a year, she was put under house arrest but continued her fight from captivity, winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. The book is at its best when chronicling this stirring time. Unfortunately, before readers get there, they must wade through a long history of Burmese politics that is probably necessary for background (although less detail would have aided readability). Personal photographs, both in color and black and white, add to the appeal. A thorough, well-documented effort.

Ilene Cooper

From Kirkus Reviews
A solid and informative entry in the Newsmakers Biographies series. Almost from birth Aung San Suu Kyi was involved in the political movement to free Burma from first the British and later from a series of corrupt and repressive regimes. Her father, a general in the Burmese army during WW II, was a prime mover in the struggle to free his country from the British and had just about come to terms with them when he was brutally assassinated. Having lost both her father and any hope of freedom, Suu Kyi resolved to carry on in his place. Stewart covers Suu Kyi's marriage and travels, her experience on the world political scene, the events that took her back to Rangoon in 1988, and the reasons that she remains there, now the recipient of the Nobel Prize for peace, to this day. The tone is admiring but balanced in this sturdy, well-researched volume, illustrated with both full-color and black-and-white photographs. (notes, bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 10+)
Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Buy it on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Aung-San-Fearless-Voice-Burma/dp/0595483208/

Whitney Stewart - Children's Book Author
http://whitneystewart.com/aung_san.htm

Burma Library entry:
http://burmalibrary.org/reg.burma/archives/199703/msg00204.html

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Junta pretends to help cyclone victims
IMNA
July 3, 2008

Burmese military junta authorities have only pretended to help victims in some parts of cyclone ravaged areas, claimed villagers.

The Military South-West Commander visited the area and promised to build houses for victims in Higyi Kyun Island Township .

But local people said, the authorities just built a few houses and they staked houses on land 15-20 feet wide in Chaungwa village where more than 600 villagers were killed by the cyclone.

Villagers said, they doubted the government's promise because naval troops were given the responsibility.

Naval troops visited the village, when MRTV was documenting that the Navy was helping the villagers in building houses for the victims by carrying woods, bamboo and other material.

"After the MRTV went back, all materials were carried away immediately, " a Chaungwa villager told IMNA.

According to villagers, they got enough aid from private donors, the UN and INGOs. But recently military government reported on it The New Light of Myanmar , that they will build 6000 houses for victims.

The government authorities and naval troops also used shipping routes from Bassein (Pathein) to Chaungwa by force without paying, villagers said.

Because of this many aid workers also faced difficulties in sending aid to rural areas.
……
For further information please contact to imna_news@yahoo. com ,
www.monnews- imna.com
Contact Editor: 66 (0) 81 3659140 (or) 66 (0) 892 072 825,
Please visit Burma News International Web-site: www.bnionline. net, in which IMNA is a member.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
MWAF urges eradication of trafficking in Burmese women
IMNA
July 3, 2008
Mon Son

The Myanmar Women's Affairs Federation (MWAF) has urged doing away with trafficking in women in Burma while observing Myanmar (Burmese) Women Day in the country today.

The Chairman of MWAF in Moulmein Daw Khain Myat Htwe called on Burmese women to eradicate trafficking in women in Burma , explained its current activities and provided finance to help Burmese women who are jobless, said a MWAF member who attended the Myanmar Women Day.

According to the MWAF member "MWAF gave loans to Burmese women to the tune of 7 million kyat in each township in Mon state. The women have to pay 2 percent interest per month."

Despite MWAF's support to jobless Burmese women it cannot solve the condition of women in Burma , the secretary of Women's League of Burma, Nan Yin said.

Arrests and help to women migrant workers alone will not prevent trafficking in women. The MWAF should take stock of the economic situation in Burma and should spend money to support Burmese women, she added.

Nay Yin said that "if they want to help Burmese women, they have to find a way to resolve the political situation in Burma and fight basic problems of women."

MWAF, which was founded in 2003, also held competitions such as feature writing, longest hair, and Miss Beautiful on Myanmar Women's Day.

MWAF observes Women's Day on the day the military government formed the Myanmar Women's Affair Committee on June 3, 1996. But opposition party and activists in exile such as WLB hold it on the birthday of pro democracy Leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

MWAF has wives of military government leaders as members. A majority of the members are teachers, civil servants and are pro-junta.
……
For further information please contact to imna_news@yahoo. com ,
www.monnews- imna.com
Contact Editor: 66 (0) 81 3659140 (or) 66 (0) 892 072 825,
Please visit Burma News International Web-site: www.bnionline. net, in which IMNA is a member.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Recent Burma News (03-07-08)

UN to Take Up Burma Issue Again
Today, July 03, 2008, 6 hours ago
The UN Security Council will take up the political impasse in Burma this month, the US Ambassador to the United Nations, Zalmay Khalilzad, said on Wednesday. No agreement on the date of the discussion.. .

Burmese Officials Ordered to Listen to Exile Broadcasts
Today, July 03, 2008, 6 hours ago
Burmese government officials, military personnel and police officers are reportedly being urged to listen to Burmese exile radio broadcasts in order to counter their news reports with regime propagand...

Oil Prices Hit New Record amid Fears of Strike against Iran
Today, July 03, 2008, 6 hours ago
Oil soared beyond a record US $144 a barrel on Thursday in Asia, fueled by concerns over a larger-than- expected drop in US stockpiles and the threat of conflict with Iran. Expectations that the Europe...

Grenade Blast Kills 3, Injures 11 in Southern Philippines
Today, July 03, 2008, 6 hours ago
Suspected communist guerrillas hurled a grenade in front of a shop that refused to pay extortion demands in the southern Philippines, killing three people and injuring 11 others, the military and poli...

Myanmar steps up 'surveillance'
Today, July 03, 2008, 11 hours ago
Thursday, July 03, 2008 YANGON: A small bomb at the offices of a pro-junta group in Myanmar has prompted the government to step up its surveillance of Buddhist monasteries and dissidents ahead of an...

Parties to register for election: junta - Wai Moe
Today, July 03, 2008, 17 hours ago
Burma’s military junta will make an announcement in the coming months that all political parties must register in advance of the 2010 election, sources told The Irrawaddy.

7,000 Laputta refugees told to return home - Saw Yan Naing
Today, July 03, 2008, 17 hours ago
At least 7,000 cyclone survivors sheltering in three temporary camps in Laputta town, in the Irrawaddy delta, are under renewed pressure from the local authorities to return home, according to sources...

Burma steps up surveillance as protest dates loom - Aung Hla Tun
Today, July 03, 2008, 17 hours ago
A small bomb at the offices of a pro-junta group in Burma has prompted the government to step up its surveillance of Buddhist monasteries and dissidents ahead of anniversaries that sometimes serve as ...

‘Warriors’ claim responsibility for Rangoon blast
Today, July 03, 2008, 17 hours ago
A Burmese armed student rebel group, Vigorous Burmese Students Warrior (VBSW), on Tuesday claimed responsibility for the bomb blast on Monday in a suburban township in Burma’s former capital Ran...

Censor board clerk demoted for allowing publication of poem - Nem Davies
Today, July 03, 2008, 17 hours ago
Close on the heels of sacking the editor of Cherry magazine for publishing a poem, the Censor Board demoted its own senior clerk from the publishing license department on June 24, according to sources...

Damaged monastery forced to turn down students - Naw Say Phaw
Today, July 03, 2008, 17 hours ago
The Sasana Rakhita monastery school for orphans in Rangoon’s South Okkalapa township has been unable to accept new students due to a lack of funding to repair damage caused by the cyclone in May...

UN firm on commitment to change in Burma
Today, July 03, 2008, 17 hours ago
New Delhi - Burma’s main opposition party - the National League for Democracy - said on Tuesday that it welcomed the United Nations Secretary General’s firm commitment to bring about political cha...

Burma beefs up troop levels - Subin Kheunkaew
Today, July 03, 2008, 17 hours ago
Burma has reinforced its troops in the disputed area of Doi Lang mountain, which an army source said might result from its “misunders tanding” over a Thai military exercise in the b...

Hearing of Ecovision reporter case fixed for July
Today, July 03, 2008, 17 hours ago
Chiang Mai - Burma’s authorities on Tuesday remanded Eint Khaing Oo, a reporter of a Rangoon based Weekly Journal ‘Ecovision’, who was arrested while stories on the woes of cyclone survivors, withou...

Flooding in Kachin state kills 5
Today, July 03, 2008, 17 hours ago
A local resident, speaking on condition of anonymity, told DVB that the Laizar creek in northern Kachin state, which is used as a border marker between China and Burma, overflowed on 28 June and cause...

Cyclone takes toll on building boom in Myanmar capital
Today, July 03, 2008, 17 hours ago
Two months after deadly Cyclone Nargis struck Myanmar, the military regime’s new capital is suffering the economic ripple effects, as construction crews leave to rebuild devastated towns.

More cyclone victims in Myanmar found infected with TB
Today, July 03, 2008, 17 hours ago
More cyclone victims in Myanmar have been found infected with tuberculosis (TB) in the aftermath of the storm disaster that stroke the country early last May, the local weekly 7-Day News reported Wedn...

Refugees from Burma strain U.S. - Ken Kusmer
Today, July 03, 2008, 17 hours ago
Zathang gets a lift to his job at a pharmaceutical warehouse because he doesn’t speak enough English to pass a driver’s license exam. His ethnic Chin family picks through donated clothes i...

Burma’s politics roiled, but junta grip firm - Denis D. Gray
Today, July 03, 2008, 17 hours ago
Buddhist monks are regrouping after the battering they took nine months ago, civil society groups are emerging and foreign aid workers - often agents of political change in the wake of humanitarian cr...

All of Burma is a prison - Min Zin
Today, July 03, 2008, 17 hours ago
Why is my brother in Insein? On Feb. 15, the military raided the offices of the Myanmar Nation and took my brother, the weekly journal’s editor in chief, to jail. His crime? Possession of a U.N. repor...

Food rations sustain thousands in cyclone-hit south
Today, July 03, 2008, 20 hours ago
LABUTTA, 2 July 2008 (IRIN) - “Our whole village was washed away. We have nothing,” Than Tun, a former fisherman, told IRIN. “We lost everything. With this food, we at least have a chance,” Than Tun, ...

Thai Minister Cuts Krabi Visit after Protests
Yesterday, July 02, 2008, 11:53:30 PM
Thai Interior Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung has cut short his scheduled three-day visit to Krabi to discuss a controversial land issue with local officials after being confronted by anti-government demo...

Gunmen Fatally Shoot Philippine Journalist
Yesterday, July 02, 2008, 11:53:28 PM
Gunmen killed a Philippine journalist and slightly wounded one of his daughters, whose sister pretended to be dead and escaped unharmed, police said Tuesday. Two gunmen on a motorcycle ambushed Bert S...

Indonesian Homemakers Turn Trash into Fashion Frills
Yesterday, July 02, 2008, 11:53:26 PM
Used detergent labels and toothpaste tubes from Indonesia are going from landfills to fashion frills on bags and wallets sold in Singapore, Australia and the United States. The fad known as “trashion”...

Is Political Change Afoot in Myanmar
Yesterday, July 02, 2008, 8:16:22 PM
(AP) Buddhist monks are regrouping after the battering they took nine months ago, civil society groups are emerging and foreign aid workers “ often agents of political change in the wake of hum...

Anwar Faces New Charges, Launches Counter Attack
Yesterday, July 02, 2008, 7:43:38 PM
Malaysia’s opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, facing a fresh sodomy charge, accused the national police chief and the attorney general Tuesday of fabricating evidence against him in his previous sod...

Envoys of Dalai Lama and Chinese Government in Secret Talks
Yesterday, July 02, 2008, 7:43:36 PM
Secret talks between envoys of the Dalai Lama and the Chinese government entered a second day on Wednesday, with the goal of easing tensions following anti-government riots in Tibet in March. The self...

Malaysians Rally in Support of Anwar Ibrahim
Yesterday, July 02, 2008, 7:43:33 PM
More than 7,000 people turned up at an impromptu rally late on Tuesday night in a show of support for Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, who faces charges of sexual assault against a young aid...

Asian Currencies Fall Amid Inflation Worries
Yesterday, July 02, 2008, 7:43:31 PM
Most Asian currencies fell on Wednesday, with the Philippine peso hitting a nine-month low, on fears that inflationary pressures in the region would significantly impair growth. Currencies also weaken...

Karen rebels recapture outpost
Yesterday, July 02, 2008, 7:43:19 PM
Chiang Mai - The Karen National Union, one of Burma’s longest operating ethnic insurgents, claimed it had recaptured a camp, which it lost a few days ago to a joint force of its splinter group, the ...

Myanmar-ASEAN cyclone fund-raising soccer match to be held in Myanmar
Yesterday, July 02, 2008, 4:59:49 PM
Myanmar national soccer team and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) dream team will play a fund-raising soccer match here for the victims of deadly cyclone Nargis which hit five divisi...

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++