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HEADLINES
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AP - Myanmar security tight on anniversary
AFP - Suu Kyi banned from Myanmar Martyrs' day gathering
AFP - ASEAN rights panel aims to finish work next year: official
NST - Fate of Myanmar trio uncertain
Straits Times - Thailand should stop returning Myanmar refugees: rights group
The Times of Malta - Extending a helping hand to Myanmar victims
EARTHtimes.org - Myanmar once again likely to steal ASEAN show
The Aspen Times - Myanmar: Buddhist beauty and government oppression
Daily Yomiuri - Envoy giving Myanmar helping hand
UNICEF - Aid for cyclone-affected schools, still struggling in remote areas of Myanmar
Mizzima News - Martyr's Day marked by Burma's opposition amidst tight security
Mizziam News - Foreigners need permits from War Office to visit cyclone-hit areas

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Myanmar security tight on anniversary
Sat Jul 19, 5:37 AM ET

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - Hundreds of riot police and soldiers ringed a monument in downtown Yangon on Saturday as officials gathered to commemorate the shooting death 61 years ago of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's father.

Myanmar independence hero Gen. Aung San and other government leaders were assassinated by gunmen during a Cabinet meeting on July 19, 1947, shortly after Britain granted independence to the Southeast Asian colony.

Flags were flown at half staff in the capital to mark the day, a state holiday. Unlike past years, foreign diplomats were not invited to the tightly guarded wreath-laying ceremony at the Martyr's Monument located near the famed Shwedagon pagoda.

Opposition activists have suggested that the ruling military junta is trying to downgrade the importance of Aung San's legacy as a way of undercutting the popularity of his daughter, who remains under house arrest.

Diplomats in Yangon said the Foreign Ministry had informed them that the government intended this year to hold a low-key ceremony because it comes just two and a half months after Cyclone Nargis devastated much of the region south of Yangon, leaving at least 85,000 people dead and about 50,000 missing.

Police cordoned off the monument, putting up heavy metal barriers and coils of barbed wire across roads.

Dozens of policemen carrying assault rifles and shotguns manned the barricades during a heavy downpour.

Security was also tight around the headquarters of Suu Kyi's political party, the National League for Democracy, which said it would hold a separate ceremony.

In a statement, the NLD urged the junta to "immediately and unconditionally" release Suu Kyi and other detained pro-democracy activists.

Suu Kyi has been detained for more than 12 of the past 18 years.

Myanmar, also known as Burma, has been under military rule since 1962.

Suu Kyi's party swept the last general elections in 1990, but the military refused to hand over power.

The international community has increased pressure on the junta since it violently quashed peaceful mass protests last September. At least 31 people were killed and thousands more were detained.

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Suu Kyi banned from Myanmar Martyrs' day gathering
Sat Jul 19, 5:31 AM ET

YANGON (AFP) - Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi was kept under house arrest Saturday as others gathered to pay tribute to her late father on Martyrs' day.
Suu Kyi had not been invited to attend the annual ceremony by the ruling military, according to an official from her National League for Democracy party.

"She wasn't invited to attend the ceremony although the authorities used to send her an invitation," the official told AFP.

Martyrs' day commemorates the assassination of General Aung San and eight other leaders on July 19, 1947 while they were holding a meeting for Myanmar independence from Britain.

The military government hosted a short memorial early Saturday morning at the Martyrs' mausoleum close to the famous Shwe Dagon pagoda in the country's main city Yangon.

The mayor, Brigadier General Aung Thein Linn, some government officials and family members of the country's late leaders all attended the 61st anniversary event.

But invitations to foreign embassies were cancelled by the foreign affairs ministry without reason, the diplomats confirmed.

Suu Kyi was only two-years-old when she lost her father. Myanmar got its independence a year later in January 1948.

Aung San Suu Kyi has spent most of the last 18 years under house arrest and has currently been detained since 2003.

About 300 NLD members gathered in front of party headquarters on Saturday morning, saluting the spot where the leaders were gunned down.

Amid tight security and with armed police trucks present, the gathering was peaceful with no shouting or marching as has been known in previous years.

But the NLD reiterated its call for the immediate and unconditional release of Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners.

Earlier this month 14 Suu Kyi supporters were charged for protesting against the extension of her house arrest.

Myanmar has been ruled by the military since 1962. The NLD won a landslide victory in 1990 elections but the junta never allowed them to take office.

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ASEAN rights panel aims to finish work next year: official
Sat Jul 19, 6:40 AM ET

SINGAPORE, July 19, 2008 (AFP) - A panel that will draft terms of reference for a Southeast Asian human rights body aims to complete its work within a year, a regional official said Saturday.

Each member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will nominate two people to join the 20-member panel, said the official.

He said the panel hopes to complete its work in time for submission to an annual meeting of the group's 10 foreign ministers in Bangkok about one year from now.

"The terms of reference for the human rights body hopefully would be ready for submission to the ASEAN ministerial meeting next year," the official said.

As an example of those who could join the panel, he said one country will likely nominate an ambassador and an academic who specialises in human rights, he said.

The official was speaking after senior regional officials met with the Working Group for an ASEAN Human Rights Mechanism, a coalition of experts, non-governmental representatives, officials and human rights commissioners.

Their talks came ahead of the annual foreign ministers' meeting which begins in Singapore Sunday night.

Singapore's foreign ministry, which will chair the meeting, said in a statement that during their gathering the ministers intend to meet with the panel which will draft the rights body's terms of reference.

At their annual summit last year in Singapore, ASEAN leaders signed a charter which committed member states to notions of democracy and human rights and for the first time set out principles and rules for the group.

Under the charter, a human rights body would be established in a region that includes countries with poor human rights records, such as Myanmar.

Activists fear ASEAN, which cherishes a policy of non-interference in domestic affairs of members, could establish a toothless rights mechanism.

Tommy Koh, of Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said last month there was a division within ASEAN between Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand, which have national rights commissions, and Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.

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Fate of Myanmar trio uncertain
The New Straits Times - 2008/07/19

KUALA LUMPUR: All efforts to secure the release of the three Myanmar women who are on their 25th day at the Lenggeng detention camp have proved futile.
Tenaganita programme coordinator S. Florida said it had exhausted all efforts to secure the release of the women, who were now facing the possibility of deportation despite them being legal workers.

Further complicating matters, she said, were the inconsistent replies from the authorities, with the Malacca Immigration Department saying they would be deported and Putrajaya saying they were being detained pending further investigation.

Florida said it was unfair for the women to be held much longer.

The New Straits Times on July 11 highlighted the plight of Tin Tin Khing, Aye Aye Aling and Myint Myint Khang, who were detained by the Immigration Department at their hostel following a report from their employer that they had run away.

(Tenaganita had argued that by arresting them at their hostel proved that the employer had lodged a false report as the latter had claimed the women had run away).

The women had on June 11 lodged a report at the Brickfields police station claiming to have been harassed and threatened by the factory's kitchen supervisor.

They claimed to have also reported him to the company's management but instead of taking action against the supervisor, it cancelled their work permits and reported to the Immigration Department that they had run away.

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Thailand should stop returning Myanmar refugees: rights group
The Straits Times - July 19, 2008

BANGKOK - A LEADING rights group urged Thai security forces on Saturday to stop returning refugees to neighbouring Myanmar.

New York-based Human Rights Watch said ethnic Karen groups faced persecution by the Myanmar military if forced to leave a Thai refugee camp near the border.

'Forcing civilians back into an active war zone may be an easy answer for Thailand, but it's brutal - a completely inhumane and unacceptable solution,' said Mr Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

'The Thai government should cooperate with international relief agencies and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to ensure that it upholds the rights of civilians under international law,' he added.

HRW said some 35 refugees, part of a larger group of 280 who fled a military offensive in eastern Myanmar in early 2008, were sent back across the border on Thursday.

It accuses Myanmar soldiers of forcing Karen civilians to leave their homes, burning their villages and food stocks to clear them out of the area.

Human Rights Watch called on the United Nations, the European Union, the United States and other nations to pressure the Thai government to provide sanctuary to those fleeing Myanmar.

Almost 140,000 Karen refugees have been living in Thai refugee camps for up to 20 years.

The minority ethnic group fled their country in 1995 following a major offensive by the Myanmar government army against the Karen National Union.

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Extending a helping hand to Myanmar victims
The Times of Malta - Saturday, 19th July 2008

The situation in Myanmar, where the cyclone Nargis hit in May killing at least 22,000 people, remains fragile with a lot of people still jobless and without a home, many orphans and shocking poverty.

A delegation from SOS Malta's Sri Lankan partner, Healing Hands, has just returned from an aid visit to Burma and will now work to further assist with the setting up of a sewing circle, including a sewing class for girls and pig, duck and hen breeding programmes.

The organisation wants to help set up rain water harvesting, provide the local monastery with a much-needed boat and build a Buddhist temple for the villagers.

Kumari Kulatunga, the director of Healing Hands, said she led a delegation to the country on behalf of SOS Malta, which sponsored the trip, between July 2 and 8.

The trip started in the capital Yangon from where Healing Hands took a ferry to Bogaley, one of the biggest towns where all the houses and buildings were damaged by the cyclone.

Clothes, food, cooking utensils, candles and washing powder were bought and a boat was boarded for the village of Sarmaleut, where the school was destroyed and the children are taking shelter in a monastery. The cyclone also destroyed the monks' boat.

In this village there are 67 families made up of 346 people. The cyclone killed 136 of them and the village now has five orphans and 18 children with one parent.

From there, Healing Hands proceeded to Thar Pyan Gyi where women now till the fields after they lost their three sewing machines. Before the cyclone they had a lot of pigs but are now left with only two.

The local Catholic priest informed Healing Hands that representatives of Unicef visited the village and distributed plastic sheeting for houses. When Nargis hit, most of the residents sheltered in his church.

Healing Hands also visited another village with a population now numbering 279, including nine orphans. The cyclone killed 146 people from this village, including 43 children.

Ms Kulatunga said Yangon was still full of debris and broken pavements and buildings but things were slowly picking up. The people have started working hard in the fields and building new houses.

Although the children have no books and stationery, they are going to school and doing their best under the circumstances.

The people, Ms Kulatunga said, were economically deprived, isolated, vulnerable and living in poverty.

SOS Malta would like to continue helping the people of Myanmar and is calling on the Maltese for assistance.

One can donate at APS, account number 20000245111, HSBC, account number 006070932050; or BOV, account number 40013974950.

Donations can also be sent to SOS Malta, 9, Camilleri Court, Testaferrata Street, Ta' Xbiex XBX1407.

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Myanmar once again likely to steal ASEAN show
EARTHtimes.org - PREVIEW:
Posted : Sat, 19 Jul 2008 05:21:02 GMT

Singapore - Ministers from the Association of of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) are expected to tackle soaring fuel and food prices and a barrage of other problems and their meeting Monday, but Myanmar is once again likely to steal the show. Senior officials from the 10-member grouping well remember how the signing in November of the landmark ASEAN Charter - meant to transform the 10-member grouping into a legal entity - was set to be a historic event.

It was abruptly overshadowed by the Myanmar regime's decision to call off a scheduled ASEAN leaders meeting with UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari, an embarrassment for the organization and host Singapore.

With an assessment report of the damage wrought by Cyclone Nargis to be presented Monday at the ASEAN foreign ministers meeting, Myanmar will again take centre stage.

The United Nations is hoping for an outpouring of 480 million dollars over the next year in emergency relief for the victims of Cyclone Nargis.

"It's been a long year, quite an eventful one year" under Singapore's chairmanship of ASEAN, said city-state Foreign Minister George Yeo.

The cyclone in early May led to a stand-off between a suspicious Myanmar government and a global community eager to render aid but kept at bay as the ruling junta initially rejected outside assistance and foreign relief workers. ASEAN was the catalyst to get the aid moving, but it was nearly three weeks after the disaster.

In a positive move, Myanmar has become the latest to sign the ASEAN charter, leaving Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam as the only ones yet to do so.

The charter commits ASEAN members "to strengthen democracy, enhance good governance and the rule of law, and to promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms."

The ministers will focus on two key components of the charter: creation of a human-rights council and a mechanism for dispute settlement.

On human rights, Yeo said that ASEAN wants to build an agreed foundation of common human rights that would serve the group's regional construction and the interests of its people.

"Whether or not the human right body we establish will have teeth, I don't know. But it will certainly have a tongue, and I hope it will have a sharp tone," he said.

Myanmar's dismal human rights record has prompted sanctions by both the United States and European Union.

Senior officials preparing for the ministerial session want a recommendation that Myanmar release all political detainees included in a joint statement to be issued after the ministers' meeting.

If accepted, it would indicate a further toughening of ASEAN's stance.

"ASEAN could have done much more in responding to Cyclone Nargis if the Myanmar government had been forthcoming earlier to the receipt of international assistance," said K Kesavapany, director of the Institute of South-East Asian Studies.

"Despite this, it was ASEAN's persistence which finally enabled the international community to gain entry into Myanmar and facilitate the flow of trade."

The rotating ASEAN chairmanship passes to Thailand on July 24.

ASEAN includes Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Myanmar.

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Myanmar: Buddhist beauty and government oppression
The Aspen Times - Saturday, July 19, 2008
Story and photos by Paul and Marjorie Hilts

MANDALAY, Myanmar — As the sun began to set behind the hills on the far side of Mandalay, the valley below turned a dusty red. The small trash fires burning constantly along the roadsides contributed to the eerie scene. We had made the 700-foot climb to a shrine on Mandalay Hill that purportedly held three sacred bones from the Buddha. (Considering how many other sites in Southeast Asia claim to hold similar relics, the Buddha must have been a huge figure before his bones were picked clean.)

As we gazed at the scene below we were approached by three Burmese natives, a woman and two male companions. They started a conversation with the usual “Where are you from?” and “What is your name?” questions. They wanted to practice their English and we were happy to oblige. The woman, Thanda, came from a small village to the north and taught children at a local school. She helped them learn English and computer skills, two keys to escape a life of grinding poverty that most Burmese people face (at least those not connected to the military junta). As it turned out, we would stay in touch with Thanda via e-mail, both during the rest of our 2007 trip to Southeast Asia and after we returned to the U.S.

Not long after, we were joined by two monks with maroon robes and shaved heads. After exchanging pleasantries they glanced around to see who was watching and, feeling like the coast was clear, they began to berate their government and its secretive, brutal military leaders. As the sun disappeared and we began our descent, the monks pointed out the prison where several of their brothers were being held and tortured. They expressed appreciation for the pressure being applied to the junta by American and European governments. They also told us they were happy we had come to their country, so we could see first-hand what was going on.

They related a story about one of their friends, who had spoken to a foreign journalist; the journalist took a few photographs and later quoted the friend in an article. Soon after, the monk was arrested and had been in prison for the past three years.

By the time we reached the bottom of the hill, the black, tropical night had descended on the city. The trees were alive with animals, birds and insects, whistling and howling. The air was thick with fires cooking what food was available for dinner. The monks disappeared into the inky, hazy void. We said good-bye to the school teachers and made our way back to our hotel.

Mandalay, Myanmar’s second largest city, sits on the Irrawaddy River, 450 miles north of Yangon, also known as Rangoon, the country’s largest city and former capital. It was controlled by the British in the late 1800s until the Japanese overran it in 1942. It is home to one of Myanmar’s holiest pilgrimage shrines, the Mahamuni Pagoda. Built in 1784, it houses a 12-foot-high bronze Buddha covered in four inches of gold leaf. Every day at 4 a.m., the monastery’s monks wash its face and brush its teeth to prepare for the long day of greeting visitors ahead.

The site also is a popular place for the traditional ear-piercing ceremony, which symbolizes a young girl’s passage into womanhood and, for young boys, ordination as novice monks for short periods.

As I watched one such ceremony, hired photographers and videographers filmed the spectacle for wealthy families. Outside, a procession of elephants brought in the new arrivals and hauled away those on their way to the monastery, where their heads would be shaved and they would trade in their sequined costumes for monk’s robes.

(e-mail from Thanda)

How are you? I’m still trying to improve my English. Now I’m teaching children who can’t attend school and are very poor. As you know there are a lot of children who don’t know real education. They don’t even know what a computer is so I want them to know.

Our government does not do much for them. They can only do one thing and that is take care of their own family. Now they change our national flag and song. It’s not good for us but for them. They still don’t give a chance to open our class again. How bad they are.

Now I look for one place to teach the children but fare is very expensive for me. Now I’ve to save money to buy one computer. I promise you I never give up and I’ll try my best as much as I can.
May you and Marjorie be healthy and happy.
Thanda

Bagan

We traveled on to Bagan, the “plain of 10,000 temples” and one of the two great sacred sites in southeast Asia, the other being the temples at Angkor Wat, Cambodia. More than 13,000 temples were built by Buddhist kings, to “make merit” and seek good karma, between 850 and 1287 AD. The city was overrun by Mongol emperor Kublai Khan in the 13th century, and fewer than 2,000 temples remain today. But the 16 square miles of ruins still make for an astonishing site.

The military junta, which never misses an opportunity to profit from tourism, has built a golf course nearby and a huge concrete viewing tower that rises awkwardly amid the ancient ruins. Tourists and Burmese guides alike avoid the tower and its $10 entry fee, not wanting to support anything the government does.

Of course, with so many temples there were nearly as many souvenir-hawkers and young kids trying to extort payment for various services. These kids were charming and bright, however. We asked one young boy how he had learned so much English.

“In school. They teach us English in school,” he replied.

“And what other languages do you speak?” I asked.

“I speak a little French and a little German.”

“Do they teach that in the schools, too?”

“No. We follow the tour groups around and learn some from the guides and the tourists from these countries,” he said.

Remarkable, I thought.

“And do you learn any Chinese in school?” thinking that China was an emerging force in both Asia and the world economy, and that the Chinese were tolerant of the Burmese ruling junta.

“No, they do not teach us Chinese in school and we don’t really care about it anyway.”

I was taken aback.

We hired a pony cart to haul us around the dirt tracks between the various temples. Soe-Soe, the 21-year-old who ran the operation, spoke quite a bit of English. He said he did not own the cart and pony, but was trying to save money to buy one someday. “It is $250 for the cart, $250 for the horse and $200 for the license. It is very difficult but I think I can save the money in two more years. I have been very lucky lately.”

He told us his lucky number was 7 and his cart number was 77 and we had been his seventh customers in the past seven days.

This kind of thinking is not unusual in a country that moved its capital from Yangon to the backwater town of Naypyidaw recently because of an astrologer’s assessment. The astrologer even provided the most auspicious date and exact time when the move would begin — 4:34 a.m.

Soe-Soe seemed to be a “horse whisperer,” constantly making little noises that the animal seemed to respond to. The various noises were quiet, almost imperceptible at times.

Finally one day I asked him if he was talking to his horse. He looked at me with a funny little grin and said, “Yes.”

“Does he understand you?” I asked.

“Yes, of course.”

“What did you just say to him?”

“I told him he was very lazy and he needed to go faster.”

All that in a few short humming sounds and, amazingly, the horse went faster.

Late one afternoon we went to a temple recommended by a guidebook as one of the few sites left where you could climb up for a better view of the surrounding plain and temples at sunset or sunrise. To our surprise the place was fenced off and closed, but two hawkers had set up shop to catch uninformed tourists like us.

After checking for spies, one of the hawkers blurted that the temple closure had been perpetrated by the government. “It is a joke, a very bad joke, by the government. The government built that big tower over there (pointing to the concrete viewing structure) and they charge foreigners $10 to go up there to watch the sunset. That is why they have closed this temple,” he explained. He was not allowed to sell souvenirs near the tower.

The people’s contempt for their government manifested itself in many ways. In fact, the country’s name-change from Burma to Myanmar was actually a gesture by the ruling junta to reflect the nation’s various ethnic groups; “Burma” was derived from the name of just one group, the Burman people. But the change to the more inclusive name seems to have backfired, since most Burmese use the old name as a small act of defiance.

Anti-government sentiment also was present in Thanda’s e-mails, which continued after Cyclone Nargis hit the country in May 2008 and killed hundreds of thousands.

Hello! my brother

I couldn’t open my email since last three weeks because of the cyclone. Did you hear about our country? All the news about the cyclone are right. It is not good for our peoples. The cyclone did not touch Mandalay. I and all my family are good but my teachers village near Yangon was destroyed, so I’m sorry for him.

Some of the monks are trying to send aid. I don’t have money to send aid but am trying to help them. How should I try? If I do something I’ll be in ruin. I feel something in my heart. I feel sorry for my people.

Now I met with four childrens who really want to learn English but they don’t have enough money to attend class so I have to try to teach them and find good job. I also don’t have enough moneys to support my family. You know, things do not always happen that we wish or we want.

But I never give up. Please pray to your god for us to be healthy and happy.
Thanda

Inle Lake

A few days later we were at Inle Lake in Shan State, home to the Intha people. The isolated, 14 mile-long lake sits at 3,000 feet above sea level in a valley surrounded by terraced hills and mountains. This bucolic setting belies its reputation as a hotbed of dissident activities. According to several locals it is not uncommon for people to disappear for years at a time.

Many of the Intha inhabitants live in floating villages or houses on stilts. They carry out all daily functions on, in and above the water. Their markets are on the water, they bathe in the water, they brush their teeth in the water, and all of their waste ends up in the water. The area is known for its silk weaving, silversmithing and floating gardens, making its people totally self-sufficient.

One early morning we were treated to one of the most astounding sights I have ever seen anywhere in the world. Some 1,500 novice monks were beginning a week-long initiation, which is quite typical in Buddhist countries throughout Southeast Asia. But this ceremony took place on the water.

The procession began at 7 a.m. and the first vessel in line was a 40-foot-long golden dragon barge with Buddhist prayer altars inside. Next came two long boats with young girls dressed in traditional lime-green costumes, dancing and rowing to amplified Shan music. Then came the initiates, accompanied by the full-time adult monks in a procession of several hundred flat-bottomed boats. The locals rowed out, to make merit by serving up donations of rice and noodles for the week ahead. Within a half-hour the procession spread out over nearly two miles as the boats circled around the lake and then headed back to the monastery. The parade lasted about an hour, and then it was gone.

Yangon

We arrived in Yangon a few days later to visit the Shwedagon Pagoda at sunrise. The main stupa, or temple, stands nearly 321 feet high, is estimated to be covered in 53 metric tons of gold and is topped by a 76-karat diamond.

Legend has it that construction began nearly 2,500 years ago to house four hairs of Gautama Buddha, but work on the building tourists see today began in the 14th century and has continued ever since. Not only is the Shwedagon the most important pilgrimage site in Burma, but it has been a rallying point for political demonstrations throughout its history. Independence protesters against the British in the 1800s, student protesters in the 1920s, oil field workers in the 1930s and pro-democracy demonstrators in the 1980s all used the Shwedagon temple complex to make their points. In August 1988, Nobel honoree Aung San Suu Kyi addressed a rally of more than 500,000 people in her bid to become the first democratically elected leader of Burma. She succeeded, only to be jailed and denied her post by the military junta. She has been held under house arrest at her home in Yangon off and on for nearly 20 years now.

Most recently, in September 2007, thousands of Buddhist monks and nuns marched at the Pagoda to protest the junta’s decision to reduce or remove food and fuel subsidies.

The monks’ protest highlighted the burden placed on an already impoverished people to spend more and more on daily necessities. During the ensuing crackdown, hundreds of monks and sympathetic demonstrators were killed or arrested, while many more were held under house detention in their monasteries.

Dear friends,
Our group at the free education center are trying to help cyclone sufferers. The people in northern Myanmar are good. It appears that most of the damage occurred in the south of our country. We asked the people who live in northern part of country to offer some money and old clothes and foods to help cyclone sufferers. I’m really happy to help them and I will go to the south of our country.

Now I’m teaching to students at their house. I don’t have a place to teach with my own class. It’s expensive to hire a place for me. As for my family, we are hand to mouth peoples and every day is exactly the same for us. I think I have to try for my family, because when I was young they treat me well and give me shelter and decent education so I have to support my parents again.

Now I’m really mad that I want to help cyclone sufferers but I can’t help my family. I hope the suffering of our people will end soon.

With best wishes,
Thanda

It is estimated that as many as 130,000 people have died from Cyclone Nargis. Aid to victims has been slow to reach survivors and in some cases was diverted for other purposes by the junta. At the same time it is estimated that the government has already spent $4.5 billion dollars on its new capital at Naypyidaw.

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Envoy giving Myanmar helping hand
IN THE NEWS /
Daily Yomiuri - Jul. 19, 2008
Kazuki Matsuura / Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondent

ROME--Shin Imai, recently appointed as the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization' s representative in Myanmar, has a wealth of field experience, which he plans to use to help Myanmar as it struggles to overcome the damage wrought by a cyclone earlier this year.

He was dispatched to the cyclone-ravaged country on June 20 because of his extensive experience assisting international agricultural development projects.

According to Imai, 59, formerly of the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry, he has worked for projects aimed at promoting Japan's overseas cooperation since the 1970s.

From 2001 to September 2007, he was loaned from the ministry to the FAO to assist Indonesia and Laos as a regional coordinator in Asia.

Imai assisted by promoting a method that helped nations develop by providing them with loans instead of aid.

This method, he said, better utilizes the knowledge of local farmers. "[The distribution method] utilizes repaid money for upcoming projects," he added.

The FAO praised Imai's achievements, giving him the B.R. Sen Award in November. In May this year, the FAO appointed him its representative in Myanmar.

Before the cyclone, Myanmar was one of the world's largest rice producers, exporting a surplus. But the May disaster severely damaged a large part of its southern delta regions.

According to Imai, "About 70 percent of [Myanmar's] farmlands are still unusable."

If the situation continues, Myanmar may experience a serious rice shortage.

"I must work to help change the situation as quickly as possible," Amai said, indicating he believes there is little time to waste helping the country to rebuild.

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UNICEF  - Aid for cyclone-affected schools, still struggling in remote areas of Myanmar

NEW YORK, USA, 17 July 2008 – In the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis, up to 1 million people were displaced from their homes and villages in Myanmar. Over the past two months, a massive effort has sought to repair the damage caused by the storm – especially in the Irrawaddy Delta, where it hit hardest.

To help restart classes for students whose schools were damaged or destroyed by the disaster, UNICEF has supplied 1,400 schools with supplies such as chalkboards, textbooks, desks and ‘School-in-a- Box’ kits. Where school buildings are no longer standing, UNICEF has furnished school tents in which teachers can hold classes for students in a safe environment, with children protected from harm and able to learn essential life skills.

Going to school can re-establish the rhythm of normal life for these children and jump-start their recovery.

UNICEF is also helping to ensure that teachers can return to work. “We have been looking at the needs of teachers that have been affected by the cyclones who have lost their homes,” said UNICEF Myanmar Chief of Education Niki Abrishamian.

‘A logistical nightmare’

One of the biggest remaining challenges is to reach the remote areas of Myanmar that have yet to receive proper aid. Ms. Abrishamian described the process as “a logistical nightmare” but added that “being able to transport the almost one-tonne weight of those school tents via boat [to hard-to-reach villages] and raising these tents has just been fantastic.”

Across the Irrawaddy Delta region, the rebuilding process has been gradual. For many of the families affected by the disaster, economic hardships faced by parents are threatening their children's education. Many families are now making the difficult decision to remove children from school in order to help earn household income.

According to Ms. Abrishamian, this could have a major impact on school attendance and reflects the need to provide support for families with children.

Just having a presence on the ground is important for UNICEF and its partners, she said, so cyclone survivors can see that “there are people that are thinking of them and they have not been abandoned or left alone.”

Yangon returning to normal

Meanwhile, in Myanmar’s former capital, Yangon, life has started to return to normal. Most of the wreckage from the cyclone has been cleared away, and the phone lines and electricity have all been repaired.

Cyclone Nargis still consumes the attention of Myanmar’s media – but the unending coverage has had a salutary effect.

“In the magazines, even the comic strips are about the cyclone. Everything is about the cyclone,” said Myo Min Aye Win, an 18-year-old resident of Yangon. “Television is encouraging people to donate and offer help to the people from the delta region.”

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Martyr's Day marked by Burma's opposition amidst tight security
Mizzima News - Saturday, 19 July 2008 13:19

New Delhi – Amidst tight security and stepped up vigilance by the Burmese ruling junta, the country's main opposition political party – the National League for Democracy – on Saturday held a commemorative programme on Burma's Martyr's Day.

Eyewitnesses said more than 1000 members of junta-backed civil organizations – like the Swan Arr Shin and the Union Solidarity and Development Association – assisted by riot police and fire fighters, were seen taking up positions in and around the NLD head office in West Shwegondine Street in Bahan Township, Rangoon.

Similar security measures were also seen in the surrounding areas of the residence of detained Burma's pro-democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in University Avenue, eyewitnesses said.

Despite the heightened security, nearly 400 members of the NLD as well as invited guests, including diplomats and journalists on Saturday, held a commemorative service in honor of the 61st Martyr's Day , a NLD youth member told Mizzima.

Burma's Martyr's Day is a special day in the country's history, when the architect of the country's independence Gen Aung San, father of Nobel Peace Laureate and current opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, along with nine of his comrades were assassinated on July 19, 1947.

Burma has traditionally observed this day as a day to honour Gen Aung San as well as other fallen heroes in the history of Burma's struggle for freedom. Burma's national anthems and Gen Aung San's independence speech used to be aired through the state-run radio, until the current batch of military dictators assumed power in 1988.

But the essence of Martyr's Day had been largely diminished since 1988, when the present dictators grabbed power after brutally crushing a student-led democracy uprising.

As the first part of the programme in the NLD headquarters, the attendants remained silent for a few minutes and offered their salutation to Gen Aung San and other fallen heroes of Burma.

The NLD youth member said, the programme is continuing, despite the tight security, and is now entering the second phase.

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Foreigners need permits from War Office to visit cyclone-hit areas
Mizzima News - Saturday, 19 July 2008 14:15
Nam Davies   

New Dehli — Foreigners wanting to visit cyclone-hit areas in Irrwaddy Division would have to acquire prior permission from the Ministry of Defence. A directive to this effect has been issued by the Ministry of Hotel and Tourism to tour companies.

Tourists must get prior permission through tour companies to go to cyclone-hit regions.

"In our directive, we have told tour companies not to go into these regions on the basis of their own programme and tour plan. There are some restrictions imposed by local authorities so tourists are not allowed to go to these areas without permission from the War Office (Ministry of Defence)," Hlaing Myint, Director of Hotel and Tourism Department, said.

To seek prior permission, tour companies must submit applications to the Ministry of Hotel and Tourism in Naypyidaw (the new capital city).

"The tour companies shall submit their package tours to our department and then we forward them to the ministry. The ministry in turn will forward it to the War Office. The War Office usually gives permission to all applications forwarded by our department. This is a hassle free process," Hlaing Myint said.

Foreign tourists are barred from going to armed insurgent controlled areas where clashes usually take place. These are remote areas far away from the central government's control and other restricted areas. They need to get special permission to go to these regions. The restricted areas include cantonment and military operation areas.

"Most foreigners plan their trips to the delta region in Irrawaddy Division through NGOs. Our tour companies usually do not arrange these tours. But our buses are hired. They need to submit their applications seeking permission to the Home Ministry which usually takes at least two weeks to one month to process it," a tour company operator said on condition of anonymity.

But foreigners are not restricted from donating to cyclone victims, he added.

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