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HEADLINES
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AP - UN concerned about harsh prison terms in Myanmar
AP - Myanmar ignores international outrage, sends 13 more dissidents to prison
AP - UN urges ASEAN to ensure food access for poor
AFP - US freezes assets of alleged Myanmar drug traffickers
AFP - ASEAN-UN study finds migrants vulnerable to AIDS
RSF - Jailed poet gets HIV virus from forcible injection in Insein prison
Asia Times - Myanmar's roadmap to undemocratic polls
IRIN - MYANMAR: Shortage of seedlings holds back mangrove recovery
Earthtimes - Myanmar sentences Buddhist monks to more than six years in prison
PTI - Ban asks Myanmar's Junta to free political prisoners
PTI - No danger to health of financial sector in BIMSTEC, says PM
The Hindu - Manmohan pitches for early conclusion of BIMSTEC trade pact
Bernama - Mercy M'sia To Rebuild Five More Hospitals In Myanmar
ReliefWeb - Disaster risk reduction saves lives - It pays to be prepared for climatic natural disasters
Time.com - Signs of Insecurity in Burma Crackdown
The Guardian - Aung San Suu Kyi and western intervention in Burma
The Nation - Prominent Burma dissident welcomes Obama approach
Mizzima News - UN rights envoy says Burma's judiciary system flawed
Mizzima News - Burma should be suspended from BIMSTEC: activists
The Irrawaddy - Regime Tightens Reins on the Internet
The Irrawaddy - Burmese Migrants to Get ‘Passport Documents’
DVB News - U Win Tin says Ban Ki Moon should not visit Burma
DVB News - Army watcher says Burma navy can't compete with Bangladesh's

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UN concerned about harsh prison terms in Myanmar
Thu Nov 13, 5:13 am ET

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) – The United Nations expressed concern Thursday over long prison terms given to more than 30 democracy activists in military-run Myanmar earlier this week.

The activists were sentenced at closed-door trials to prison terms of up to 65 years.

Several of those sentenced played prominent roles ahead of mass pro-democracy protests that were crushed by the ruling junta in September last year.

"The secretary-general is deeply concerned by recent reports of sentences and severe prison terms imposed in connection with the peaceful demonstrations of last year in Myanmar," the U.N. said in a statement.

It reiterated calls for all political prisoners to be released and for all citizens to be allowed to participate freely in the country's political future.

U.N. envoys have visited the country nearly 40 times since 1990, but the world body has had little success in its ongoing efforts to persuade the junta to make democratic reforms.

The junta has scheduled general elections in 2010 as part of a "roadmap to democracy." Opposition groups and other critics dismiss it as a sham meant to perpetuate military rule. The army has held absolute power in the Southeast Asian nation since 1962.

Among those sentenced this week were 14 members of the 88 Generation Students who were at the forefront of a 1988 pro-democracy uprising. They were each given 65 years in prison.

Others sentenced to between two and 20 years included five Buddhist monks, 28-year-old blogger Nay Phone Latt, labor activist Su Su Nway and a poet who was accused of concealing anti-government slogans in his work.

International human rights groups say Myanmar now holds more than 2,100 political prisoners, compared to nearly 1,200 in June 2007, before the pro-democracy demonstrations.

According to U.N. estimates, at least 31 people were killed and thousands of demonstrators detained in last year's protests. Many activists fled the country or went underground.

Myanmar's political prisoners include Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, head of the opposition party, who is under house arrest. She has been in detention for about 13 of the past 19 years.

After Suu Kyi's party won the most seats in 1990 general elections, the military refused to let it take power and instead harassed its members.

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Myanmar ignores international outrage, sends 13 more dissidents to prison
Thursday, November 13, 2008

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) _ Courts in Myanmar sentenced more than a dozen activists to prison Thursday in a continued judicial crackdown on the country's pro-democracy movement that has drawn international condemnation.

The verdicts came after the United Nations, the U.S. and Britain denounced long prison terms given to more than 30 democracy activists in military-run Myanmar earlier this week. Some were sentenced at closed-door trials to 65 years in jail.

They included several who played prominent roles ahead of mass pro-democracy protests that were crushed by the ruling junta in September last year.

Thirteen members of the opposition National League for Democracy party were given jail terms Thursday ranging from 4 to 9 years on various charges including disturbing public tranquility, party spokesman Nyan Win said.

``The secretary-general is deeply concerned by recent reports of sentences and severe prison terms imposed in connection with the peaceful demonstrations of last year in Myanmar,'' the U.N. said in a statement released by its office in Myanmar.

The U.N. reiterated calls for all political prisoners to be released and for all citizens to be allowed to participate freely in the country's political future.

International human rights groups say Myanmar now holds more than 2,100 political prisoners, compared to nearly 1,200 in June 2007, before the September 2007 pro-democracy demonstrations.

They include Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, head of the opposition party, who is under house arrest. She has been in detention for about 13 of the past 19 years.

The United States also condemned the harsh prison sentences. ``These brave democracy activists are peaceful citizens whose only crime was to challenge the regime's illegitimate rule,'' State Department spokesman Robert Wood told reporters Wednesday.

In London, Foreign Office Minister Bill Rammell said those detained had ``done nothing other than exercise their right to express themselves.' '

After Suu Kyi's party won the most seats in 1990 general elections, the military refused to let it take power and instead cracked down on its members.

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UN urges ASEAN to ensure food access for poor
From AP on 2008-11-12 06:40:00 (posted on 2008-11-12 06:37:11)

MANILA, Philippines (AP) - A United Nations' food agency urged governments Wednesday to ensure Southeast Asia's poor have access to an expected bumper harvest of staple crops next year.

U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization official Purushottam Mudbhary said buffer stocks of rice, corn and wheat, along with recent sharp drops in oil prices, should further ease food prices that rose alarmingly earlier this year.

But if the poor, who will be hit hard by the global financial crisis, are not able to buy them, Southeast Asian nations still risk facing malnutrition and social unrest, he warned.

He urged countries to develop job-creating projects, food stamp programs and other livelihood initiatives to help the poor gain better access to food. Most Southeast Asian countries lack adequate support for the unemployed and the poor.

``We expect to have very good harvests in Southeast Asia,'' Mudbhary told a news conference Wednesday at the end of a two-day meeting on food security hosted by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

But the financial crunch battering the world's wealthiest nations will likely hurt the region's exports and spark considerable layoffs, potentially deepening poverty in a region of more than half a billion people, Mudbhary said.

Rapid hikes earlier this year in the price of rice set off riots and protests from Africa to Asia to the Caribbean amid fears of a global food shortage.

Rice has the brightest harvest prospects in Thailand, the world's largest rice exporter. The country is expected to have a surplus of 6 million tons. Vietnam, the world's third largest rice exporter, also expects a robust harvest while Indonesia and Cambodia should be able to produce enough for domestic consumption, Mudbhary said.

The Philippines, the world's top rice importer, has contracted enough rice to fill a 10 percent domestic production gap, officials said.

Soaring food prices, triggered by growing demand, rising fuel costs and cuts in agriculture funding have set off fresh concerns over food security in Southeast Asia.

The stability of the region's food supply will be one of the key issues to be tackled by ASEAN heads of state with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at an annual summit in Thailand next month, diplomats said.

During the conference, ASEAN delegates discussed projects to ensure food security, including a long-standing proposal to set up a regional rice stockpile and the establishment of a database and information dissemination system to alert member countries to any emerging food security problems.

The 10-nation ASEAN bloc comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

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US freezes assets of alleged Myanmar drug traffickers
From AFP on 2008-11-13 12:29:28 (posted on 2008-11-13 12:29:28)

WASHINGTON, Nov 13, 2008 (AFP) - The US authorities said Thursday it had frozen the assets of 26 individuals and 17 firms tied to drug trafficking in Myanmar and prohibited US citizens from dealing with them.

Targetted were those linked to the United Wa State Army (UWSA), the most powerful drug trafficking organization in southeast Asia, and Wei Hsueh Kang, a senior UWSA commander, the Treasury Department said in a statement.

They were named "Specially Designated Narcotics Traffickers" by the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act.

The Treasury said its "action freezes any assets the 43 designees may have under US jurisdiction and prohibits US persons from conducting transactions or dealings in the property interests of the designated individuals and entities."

Corporations found violating the Kingpin Act could be fined up to ten million dollars while corporate officers could be fined up to five million dollars and sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Other individuals could face up to 10 years in prison and fines.

The United Wa State Army "is a major producer and exporter of synthetic drugs, including methamphetamine, " according to OFAC Deputy Director Barbara Hammerle who was quoted in the department's statement.

"Today OFAC is targeting the Wa's lieutenants and the financial holdings of this massive drug trafficking organization. We call on other nations to do the same," Hammerle was quoted as saying.

Under the Kingpin Act, US President George W. Bush identified as significant foreign narcotics traffickers Wei Hsueh Kang, in 2000, and the UWSA, around three years later, it added.

In January 2005, federal prosecutors in New York "unsealed a criminal indictment charging Wei, along with his brothers Wei Hsueh Lung and Wei Hsueh Ying, who are designated today, for narcotics trafficking, " it said.

The US State Department is offering a reward of up to two million dollars for tips leading to Wei's capture.

Others named by the OFAC are Pao Yu Hsiang, Ho Chun Ting and Shih Kuo Neng.

Pao Yu Hsiang, indicted in 2005 with Wei Hsueh Kang, is the commander-in- chief of the UWSA, the treasury said.

In 2005, prosecutors in New York charged Ho Chun Ting and Shih Kuo Neng, among others, with money laundering and narcotics trafficking, it said.

In 2007, Hong Kong authorities arrested Ho Chun Ting, a partner of Wei Hsueh Kang, but Hong Kong later released him for unknown reasons, the treasury said.

Shih Kuo Neng is the manager of the Hong Pang conglomerate of companies, many of which were also named Wednesday.

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ASEAN-UN study finds migrants vulnerable to AIDS
From AFP on 2008-11-13 05:25:15 (posted on 2008-11-13 05:25:15)

JAKARTA, Nov 13, 2008 (AFP) - Millions of migrants across Southeast Asia are vulnerable to HIV infection as they lack access to AIDS-related services and legal or social protection, an joint ASEAN-UN report said Thursday.

In Thailand, which has more comprehensive data, migrant fishermen showed HIV infection rates of up to 9.0 percent, according to the report published here by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the United Nations.

In the Philippines, 35 percent of registered people living with HIV were returning migrants. In Laos, the figure reached 30 percent.

"Migrant workers are a vital force to national economies in Southeast Asia, yet when it comes to protecting their rights and ensuring HIV prevention and treatment, they are often among the forgotten," United Nations Development Programme regional director Ajay Chhibber said.

More than 1.5 million people are living with HIV in the region and most of them are of working age, the report said.

Risk behaviour and HIV infection rates were considerably higher among migrants than in the general population.

"While migrants and their sexual partners are included as a vulnerable group in the national strategic plans of ASEAN countries, comprehensive programmes to address their needs have yet to be developed, funded and implemented, " UNAIDS regional director JVR Prasada Rao said.

The report included for the first time an analysis of current migration patterns along with HIV infection in ASEAN's 10 member countries

In some of ASEAN's worst affected countries, such as Cambodia, Myanmar and Thailand, over 1.5 percent of the adult population had been infected with HIV.

Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, the Philippines and Vietnam have developed pre-departure training on HIV prevention for outbound, documented migrant workers.

However, many of the training sessions were ineffective, the report found.

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Jailed poet gets HIV virus from forcible injection in Insein prison
RSF - 13 November 2008

Reporters Without Borders and the Burma Media Association are appalled to learn that detained poet Aung Than, a member of the opposition National League for Democracy, was probably infected with the HIV virus when he was forcibly injected in Insein prison hospital two years ago. Several people, including his mother, have told the two organisations that he is now in a critical condition.

"This shocking news highlights not only the military government’s criminal nature but also the disastrous health conditions in Burma’s prisons," the two partner organisations said. "Aung Than’s health is getting worse by the day and we call for his immediate release so that he can receive appropriate treatment."

The organisations added: "We also urge the international community to press for the International Committee of the Red Cross to be allowed to visit Burma’s prisons as it was from 1999 to the end of 2005."

Aung Than’s mother, Daw Khin Si, and one of his friends told Reporters Without Borders and the Burma Media Association that Aung Than was admitted to the Insein prison hospital in October 2006 with a prostate problem. While he was there, a member of the hospital staff who was not a doctor wanted to give him an injection. Seeing that the needle was used and knowing that cases of contamination were frequent in Insein prison, Aung Than refused, whereupon the hospital employee injected him by force.

A few months later, his family noticed that his immune system did not seem to be working properly. He had repeated fevers, skin ailments and frequent colds. Concerned about his state of health, he asked to be tested but this was refused. Fellow detainees, who include doctors, say his symptoms are typical of someone with AIDS. Aung Than is certain that he was infected since being imprisoned.

Forcible injections are common in Insein prison. A friend of a Burma Media Association member died of AIDS in prison after being injected by force.

Aged 36, Aung Than was sentenced in June 2006 to 19 years in prison for writing and distributing a collection of poems called "Daung Man" ("The force of the fighting peacock") that was a tribute to Burma’s pro-democracy movement. Three other people from Pegu (north of Rangoon) received prison sentences in the same case: Zeya Aung (a student), Maung Maung Oo (the owner of the press on which the poems were printed) and opposition activist Sein Hlaing.

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Myanmar's roadmap to undemocratic polls
Asia Times - Nov 14, 2008
By Larry Jagan

BANGKOK - Myanmar's military rulers have renewed efforts to eliminate all opposition to their authority in the leadup to planned elections in 2010.

On Tuesday, 14 leading political activists, including five women from the so-called "88 Generation" students group, were each sentenced to 65 years in jail for their involvement in last year’s Buddhist monk-led uprising, which became known around the world as the "Saffron" revolution.

The jail terms are only the latest in a series of harsh sentences that Myanmar's authorities have handed down to artists, activists, bloggers, journalists and lawyers in recent weeks.

"The junta is clearly conducting a major crackdown on all dissent in the country," Zin Linn, a leading Myanmar dissident and former political prisoner based in Bangkok, said. "They want to silence all opposition before the planned elections in 2010."

A military-controlled court, held inside Yangon's notorious Insein prison, sentenced the 14 student leaders to long prison sentences for involvement in the August 2007 mass protests, which were sparked by a hike in fuel prices and rising food costs.

The United Nations has said that at least 31 people were killed when troops were sent in to repress the mass demonstrations, which were led by columns of saffron-clad, shaven-headed Buddhist monks. The protests were the biggest challenge to the State Peace and Development Council since it seized power from another military-run regime 20 years ago.

The 14 convicted included Ko Jimmy and his wife, Nilar Thein, who had to abandon her four-month-old daughter when she went into hiding during the post-demonstration military crackdown in September. Nilar Thein was arrested two months ago after being on the run for more than a year.

The sentences were handed down behind closed doors, while family members and lawyers were barred from the court. "Is this [65 years] all you can do?" one of the activists, Min Zeya, reportedly shouted at the judge.

Nine other leaders of the opposition group, including the top three - Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi and Htay Kyew - were recently sentenced to six months in prison for contempt of court.

According to news reports, they continuously interrupted court proceedings by trying to shout down the judge and refused to accept the court's authority. They vowed to continue opposing the judicial system by using Gandhian tactics of non-violent civil disobedience.

Since the contempt of court conviction, the nine have been moved to Maubin prison in the Irrawaddy Delta, west of the old capital Yangon - an area devastated by Cyclone Nargis in May.

"We fear they will now face harsh treatment at the hands of the authorities there, because it is more isolated and family visits much more difficult," Myanmar activist Khin Omar, who is based in the northern Thai town of Chiang Mai, said. "The conditions in prison for political prisoners are getting worse and worse," she warned.

Pro-democracy forefront
Many of the group's members, who were at the forefront of the mass pro-democracy demonstrations in 1988, were tortured and given lengthy prison terms after the military coup 20 years ago. The activists resumed political activities after they were freed in November 2004, and had spearheaded protests against the junta, usually focusing on the country's deteriorating economy.

Many analysts believe that the junta fears the students even more than the National League for Democracy (NLD), now led by detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The NLD convincingly won 1990 democratic elections, but was never allowed to form a civilian government. Suu Kyi has spent much of the past 20 years under house arrest in her home in Yangon.

"They think they can handle the NLD, but they know they cannot control the students," said a Western diplomat who deals with Myanmar. The sentences will leave them in prison well past the election.

Prominent labor rights activist, Su Su Nway, was sentenced to more than 12 years in jail for her political activities. She served nine months in prison more than two years ago for her work to stop forced labor. Ten members of the NLD from Bogalay in the Irrawaddy Delta were also sentenced to between eight and 24 years in prison.

"These sentences are a clear signal to everyone that the regime will not tolerate any opposition in the lead up to the elections in 2010," Benjamin Zawacki, the Myanmar officer for the Britain-based human-rights organization Amnesty Internationalsaid.

Tuesday's sentences follow the arrest 10 months ago of one of Myanmar's best-known bloggers, Nay Phone Latt, for publishing a cartoon of the country's top military leader, General Than Shwe, on his website. His trial was also held behind closed doors in Insein prison.

The 28-year-old blogger, a former NLD member, was a major source of accurate and detailed information on the events of August and September 2007, both inside and outside the country, according to exiled Myanmar journalists working abroad. He was handed down 20 years and six months in jail.

A well-known poet, Saw Wai, was also recently sentenced to two years imprisonment for "inciting crimes against public tranquility" . He was first arrested in January after his poem which mocked Than Shwe, entitled "February 14", was published in the Ah Chit (Love) Journal.

The discrepancy between the sentences given to the blogger and the poet for essentially the same crime - denigrating Than Shwe - suggests that the regime is particularly worried about the opposition's use of technology, especially the Internet.

Reports, pictures and videos transmitted through the Internet and mobile phones during the "Saffron" revolution, and in the aftermath of the cyclone, apparently had the generals worried.

"They [the junta] are extremely worried about things they don't understand and cannot control," said Zawacki. "The blogger's sentence reflects the greater level of threat they see in postings on the Internet compared to poetry."

Before Nay Phone Latt was sentenced, his defense counsel, Aung Thein, and another lawyer, Khin Maung Shein, were sentenced to four months in prison for contempt of the court. Their crime, Aung Thein told journalists, was attempting to defend their clients in court.

More than 15 journalists are also still in detention awaiting trial, according to the Burma Media Association. Most of them are accused of publishing material on conditions in the cyclone-devastated areas and pointing out inadequacies in the government’s relief effort.

"The sentencing of the 88 group activists and the further arrests in recent days - of journalists, bloggers and forced labor complainants - is further evidence of the extent to which conditions in this country are deteriorating in terms of basic political freedoms," a Western diplomat based in Yangon said. "It clearly shows what we can expect in 2010," he said.

Everyone who is opposed to the regime's roadmap to democracy and the constitution - foisted on the people through a referendum marked by intimidation and manipulation - is being targeted. "It's business as usual," said Zawacki. "They are using draconian prison sentences to warn people not to stand up to the regime. All that's changed is their rhetoric - there's no roadmap to political change," he said.

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MYANMAR: Shortage of seedlings holds back mangrove recovery

YANGON, 13 November 2008 (IRIN) - A shortage of seedlings is undermining the restoration of mangrove forests along the southern coast, six months after Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar, environmentalists told IRIN in Yangon.

"We have very few seedlings this year to replant the [mangrove] trees in Yangon division and the Ayeyarwady delta," Win Sein Naing, chairman of the Mangrove Service Network (MSN), an NGO, which has been restoring mangrove forests in the delta since late 2001, told IRIN. "We also don't have enough funds to rebuild the plantations. "

According to the Post-Nargis Joint Assessment (PONJA) report, 16,800 hectares (30 percent) of mangrove forest were destroyed, while an estimated 20,999 ha of forest plantations were damaged in Yangon and Ayeyarwady Divisions.

In addition, clearing before the cyclone made the area more vulnerable. In recent decades, farmers in the Ayeyarwady Delta cleared vast tracts of coastal mangrove forests to expand rice cultivation and also used the trees for timber and charcoal.

In 1924, mangrove forests were estimated to cover more than 242,811ha. By 1998, only one-fifth, or 48,562ha, remained. Much of this loss was due to a boom in the charcoal industry in the 1970s, when urban demand for cheap cooking fuel resulted in a rapid degradation of the forests.

In the 1990s, agricultural encroachment and the introduction of shrimp farms further cut into the mangrove forests.

Livelihood cost

The loss of mangrove forests and associated ecosystems will have a significant impact on those segments of the rural population that depend on forestry for their livelihoods, environmentalists said. A large number of artisans, fishermen, landless poor and marginal farmers rely on them as a source of direct and indirect income.

Masakazu Kashio, a forest resources officer for FAO in Bangkok, suggested the government establish a proper land-use plan that recognises the need to protect vulnerable areas from high winds, storm surge and flood water.

Most of the thousands of people who perished when Cyclone Nargis hit are believed to have drowned in the 3.5m storm surge that swept nearly 40km inland.

"It will probably take more than half a decade to restore the [mangrove] forest," said U Ohn, general secretary of the Forest Resource Environment Development and Conservation Association (FREDA), a semi-official NGO formed by retired personnel from the Forest Department of the Ministry of Forestry.

U Ohn said the group needed international funding to restore the mangrove forests. The estimated cost of restoring one hectare of mangrove forest is between US$400 and US$500, according to environmental specialists.

Mangrove forests are a source of food and shelter for myriad species. Many types of fish rely on them as nurseries, with fallen leaves supplying nutrient-rich food to fish too small to survive in open waters.

While restoring the forests is of a great importance, educating the people to their environmental value is also crucial, said specialists, who warn that if local residents ignore the value of mangrove forests, it could threaten their food security.

As the forests have been depleted, the fish population has dropped significantly in recent years, they said.

"Nothing will be sustainable, " said U Ohn, "if you're going against nature itself."

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Myanmar sentences Buddhist monks to more than six years in prison
Posted : Thu, 13 Nov 2008 10:12:12 GMT
Earthtimes - Author : DPA

Yangon - A Myanmar court has sentenced five Buddhist monks who participated in last year's Saffron Revolution to six and a half years in prison each, relatives said Thursday.

Insein Prison's Special Court on Wednesday sentenced Zar Naya, Agga Dhama, Wila Theka, Nanda and Ei Dayiya to six and a half years in jail for unlawful assembly, participating in illegal associations, inducing crimes against public tranquility and committing disaffection towards the state and government.

All five monks formerly belonged to the Ngwe Kyar Yan Monastery, a popular temple in Yangon which backed the monk-led anti-government protests in September 2007, that ended in a brutal crackdown that left more than 30 people dead, about a hundred missing and thousands in prison.

The five monks were arrested on November 24, 2007, with 10 other monks when the monastery was raided by security forces.

The monks' long prison sentences were the latest in a spate of court verdicts against anti-government activists apparently designed to sweep the country of dissent prior to a planned general election in 2010.

"They will charge whoever opposes them with a long time in jail," said said Aye Thar Aaung secretary of the Arakan League for Democracy (CRPP).

On Tuesday the same special court sentenced 14 activists, all well-known members of the 88 Generation Students Group, to 65-year prison terms, and labour activist Su Su Nwe was sentenced to 12 years and 6 months in prison.

All 15 defendants played a key role in the anti-government protests of August and September last year that were eventually taken up by Myanmar's Buddhist monks, earning the movement the name Saffron Revolution.

On Monday, the same prison court sentenced popular internet blogger Nay Myo Kyaw, who was better known by his blogger alias Nay Phone Latt, to 20 years and six months in jail.

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Ban asks Myanmar's Junta to free political prisoners

United Nations, Nov 13 (PTI) UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has asked Myanmar's military government to release all political prisoners issued lengthy jail terms for participating in last year's mass pro-democracy protests.

"He calls once again for all political prisoners to be released and for all citizens of Myanmar to be allowed to freely participate in their country's political future as part of an inclusive national reconciliation process," a statement issued by Ban's spokesperson said.

A leading international human rights watchdog had also asked the junta in Myanmar yesterday to immediately "exonerate and free" activists who are being tried by "unfair courts" for their "peaceful participation" in protests in September 2007.

Media reports said that members who were at the forefront of a 1988 pro-democracy uprising were subjected to lengthy prison terms and torture after the rebellion was brutally suppressed by the military.

After they were freed, they resumed their political activities and spearheaded open and legal protests against the military government and played prominent roles in protests leading up to last year's mass pro-democracy demonstration, which were crushed by the ruling junta in September last year.

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No danger to health of financial sector in BIMSTEC, says PM

New Delhi, Nov 13 (PTI) Ahead of his departure for the G-20 meeting in Washington to discuss the global financial crisis, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said that financial institutions in the BIMSTEC region are safe.

"There is no danger to the health of the financial system in the BIMSTEC region (comprising India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and Thailand)," Singh said while addressing a press conference at the end of the BIMSTEC summit here.

Referring to the banks in India, he said they were well regulated and adequately capitalised.

However, he added that because of the slowdown in the developed countries as a result of the financial turmoil, the growth rates in the developing nations might be affected.

Singh, who is leaving for Washington this evening along with Finance Minister P Chidambaram, said that the G-20 should do everything to ensure that the Millenium Development Goals (MDG) are not adversely affected.

BIMSTEC, which stands for the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-sectoral Technical and Economic Co-operation, is a grouping of seven countries -- India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan.

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Manmohan pitches for early conclusion of BIMSTEC trade pact
The Hindu - Thursday, November 13, 2008 : 1750 Hrs

New Delhi (PTI): Pitching for early conclusion of the BIMSTEC Free Trade Agreement, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday said countries in Asia should give a new strategic thrust to the cooperation in the backdrop of global financial crisis.

"We should do something visible in the area of trade and economic cooperation as a manifestation of our ability to do something big together," he said while inaugurating the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) summit here.

Observing considerable progress has been made towards BIMSTEC Free Trade Agreement for trade in goods, Singh said early conclusion of such an agreement would be a shining example of cooperation among the members.

"We also look forward to the next stage of an agreement in the area of investment and services," he told the Summit being attended by BIMSTEC leaders from Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and Thailand.

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Nepalese Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda', Bangladesh's Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed, Myanmar Prime Minister Thein Sein, Bhutanese Prime Minister Jigmi Y Thinley and Thai Premier Somchai Wangsawat are attending the day-long second summit.

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Mercy M'sia To Rebuild Five More Hospitals In Myanmar
November 13, 2008 21:21 PM 

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 13 (Bernama) -- Mercy Malaysia will begin reconstructing five more hospitals in the Irrawaddy Delta region, which were devastated by the Nargis Cyclone, next month.

Mercy vice-president Dr Ahmad Faizal Perdaus said that with that, there would be a total of 12 healthcare facilities projects undertaken by Mercy in Myanmar.

"All the buildings will be equipped with anti-cyclone elements, which could withstand any recurrence of cyclone," he told a news conference on Post-Cyclone Nargis Project Updates here, Thursday.

Cyclone Nargis killed about 85,000 people while more than a million more were reported missing and displaced when it swept through the Irrawaddy Delta on May 2.

Dr Ahmad Faizal said that to date, Mercy Malaysia had received RM5.7 million in donation for the Cyclone Nargis Fund, of which about RM3.5 million was channeled to reconstruction and rehabilitation of the healthcare facilities in the affected areas.

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Disaster risk reduction saves lives - It pays to be prepared for climatic natural disasters
Source: Government of Denmark
ReliefWeb - Date: 13 Nov 2008

Much of the loss of life in the great cyclone Nargis in Myanmar could have been avoided. Humanitarian organizations urge governments to take action before the disasters hit.

Every year natural disasters are becoming more frequent and the humanitarian consequences of global climate change more devastating. But much could be done to predict storms, floods and droughts and to communicate them effectively, UN Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees L. Craig Johnstone stated Wednesday at public seminar in Copenhagen.

- Much of the loss of life in the great South Asian Tsunami could have been avoided if an alert system had been in place to inform coastal residents of the impending catastrophe which was knowable in many areas a full six hours before the Tsunami struck. So too, in Myanmar that the country was going to be hit by an exceptional storm was known two days before it hit. Much more could have been done. The technologies are there; they need to be harnessed, key note speaker L. Craig Johnstone told participants at the seminar: Linking Climate Change Negotiations and Disaster Risk Reduction organized by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Cooperation with The World Bank, Danish Red Cross and International Strategy for Disaster Reduction.

In the past twenty years the incidence of major storms had doubled from 200 to 400 a year. Disasters caused by flooding have risen from 50 to 200 during that period and the damage is more extensive than previously. Also conflicts in Darfur and Somalia have changing climate as one of the causes.

The delegates coming from North and South discussed how to ensure that mechanisms are prioritized where the most vulnerable population groups live.

- We need to take responsibility and pay and for damages already done, Madeleen Helmer Head of Red Cross Climate Centre in the Hague stated.

Though local governments have to take responsibility much of the money for action should come from the rich part of the world. Many communities struggle with basic needs like access to water and sanitation and do not have resources to think about future risks.

For further information, photos and video interviews from the seminar please see www.humanitarian- space.dk

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Signs of Insecurity in Burma Crackdown
Time.com - By HANNAH BEECH
Thu Nov 13, 5:55 am ET

The years piled up fast. Sixty-five years in prison each for 14 former student activists. Twenty-and-a- half years for a blogger. Twelve-and-a- half years for a labor leader. Six-and-a-half years for five Buddhist monks. Two years for a poet. In the space of just three days this week, more than 30 Burmese were sentenced to prison or hard labor by the country's ruling junta, a chilling legal onslaught that sent a clear message to other potential dissidents: speak out, and get used to life in a prison cell.

Even for a notoriously repressive regime, the jail sentences were unusually harsh. Last year, the generals who control Burma, also known as Myanmar, violently crushed a peaceful, monk-led protest movement calling for economic and political reforms. Hopes that an influx of foreign aid - dispersed after Cyclone Nargis devastated the Irrawaddy Delta last spring - would convince the junta to take a softer approach were dashed by the rash of detentions that accelerated in late October. Last week, two journalists were jailed, while three lawyers representing political activists have also been sentenced to prison. "These last few weeks show a more concentrated crackdown on dissent clearly aimed at intimidating the population," said Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, in a statement from the New York-based rights group. "These peaceful activists should not be on trial in the first place, let alone thrown in prison for years after unfair trials."

Burma has scheduled multi-party elections in 2010. The polls are considered a charade by many international observers, who note that the leader of the main opposition party, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, is under house arrest and is barred from participating. But even after locking up a woman whose National League for Democracy won the 1990 elections that the junta then ignored, Burma's ruling brass still appears spooked by the power of the people. "Burma's leaders are clearing the decks of political activists," says Pearson, "before they announce the next round of sham political reforms." Overall, one Burmese exile group based in Thailand estimates that 2,120 Burmese now languish in jail for their political activism, nearly double the number who were in prison before last year's anti-government demonstrations.

Despite the predictable expressions of condemnation issued this week by countries like the U.S. and Britain, there's little that the West appears able to do to convince the junta, which has ruled since 1962, to treat its citizens more humanely. Economic sanctions by the U.S. and the European Union are undercut by the eagerness with which China and other Asian countries do business with Burma's generals. Although one of Asia's poorest nations, Burma holds a wealth of natural resources like timber, natural gas and precious stones.

The country's leaders have grown rich from the land's bounty, even as most Burmese struggle just to feed themselves. Roughly one-third of civilians live below the poverty line. Last month, many Burmese, who get their news from clandestine radio broadcasts, were shocked by a BBC Burmese service report that claimed a daughter of junta leader Than Shwe had spent more than $80,000 on a gold shopping spree in the city of Mandalay. Than Shwe himself brooks no dissent. The offense of Saw Wai, the poet who was sentenced to two years in prison? Writing a love poem published in a weekly magazine in which the first words of each line spelled out a brazen message: "Power Crazed Senior General Than Shwe."

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Aung San Suu Kyi and western intervention in Burma
The Guardian - Letters
Thursday November 13 2008 00.01 GMT

Cathy Scott-Clark and Adrian Levy are to be commended for their unusually frank reporting on Aung San Suu Kyi's weak leadership of Burma's democratic opposition (G2, November 11).

The role of western intervention must not be forgotten. It was western backing that emboldened Suu Kyi in adopting a confrontational stance against the military in 1990. Her attempt to wield western power against the generals, including her calls for sanctions and disinvestment, has only entrenched the military's suspicion of her. The west's insistence on peaceful change, combined with Suu Kyi's own religiosity, led her to demobilise an enraged population that had managed to overthrow the Burmese Socialist Programme party regime in 1988.

While Suu Kyi remains popular, the resulting passivity has disillusioned many, while the hoped-for western rescue has, unsurprisingly, never come.

Western NGOs have used Suu Kyi's iconic status to impose counterproductive policies on Burma, locking western states with no better ideas, and no courage to face down activists' shrill demands, into a course of confrontation and sanctions. The failure of these policies has been manifest for a decade. They may assuage the consciences of western liberals, but have a cost: sanctions have harmed only the poor, while the military remains entrenched in power.

Western policy needs a rethink. Sanctions should be ended immediately and normal aid relations restored. A political approach based on a realistic appraisal of the balance of domestic forces must be substituted for doctrinaire democracy promotion: only a process acceptable to the military and Burma's powerful neighbours has any chance of success.

Lee Jones
Rose research fellow in international relations, Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford

What qualifies Cathy Scott-Clark and Adrian Levy to write their morally and journalistically disgraceful condemnation of Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma's democratically elected leader, who has demonstrated for two long decades the kind of courage unseen in our times? Would they have attacked the incarcerated Nelson Mandela in the same cowardly terms? They sneer at Suu Kyi for her "failure" to speak out while suppressing the known facts that (1) she is mostly prevented from communicating with the outside world by her jailers and tormentors and (2) when she has spoken out, she has been acutely aware of the personal consequences for her allies and supporters within the nightmarish tyranny that is Burma. Do they not feel any compassion for a woman kept in such extreme isolation for so long? What do they know of the pressures upon her? Have they talked to her, as I have, looking over our shoulders at the steel helmets at her gate? Along with this odious article, the headlines - "The myth of Aung San Suu Kyi" and "Not such a hero after all" - belong in the gutter.

John Pilger
London

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Prominent Burma dissident welcomes Obama approach
The Nation - November 12, 2008
By Deutsche Presse Agentur

Rangoon - US president-elect Barack Obama is expected to take a more multilateral and "effective" approach to Burma's transition to democracy than the outgoing administration of President George Bush, a prominent dissident said Wednesday.

Win Tin, formerly Burma's longest-serving political prisoner and an executive member of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) party, said he expected Obama to maintain support of Burma's democracy movement as was demonstrated by his fellow Democrat former president Bill Clinton.

Bush and his wife, Laura, have likewise been staunch supporters of Burma's democracy movement and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner who has been under house arrest since May 2003, but the Obama approach to military-ruled Burma was expected to be more multilateral under Obama, Win Tin said.

"Obama could show a greater ability to cooperate with others like the European Union, the Association of South-East Asian Nations and UN than the current Bush administration, and this would be more effective for Burma's democracy transition," Win Tin told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Win Tin, 79, also urged Obama to think "more deeply" on Burma's political challenges than his predecessor.

Win Tin was released from prison on September 23 after serving almost 20 years.

A former journalist, Win Tin was one of 9,002 prisoners released in a general amnesty in September. He continues to be an outspoken critic of the ruling junta.

On Tuesday, a Burma court sentenced 14 prominent student activists to 65 years each in prison for participating in last year's anti-government protests in Rangoon.

The defendants' two lawyers were sentenced last week to four-month prison terms for "contempt of court."
 
Win Tin described the sentences as "unacceptable, unfair and ridiculous."

"Where are the laws? Do they still exist?" he asked.

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UN rights envoy says Burma's judiciary system flawed
Mizzima News - by Solomon
Thursday, 13 November 2008 20:01

New Delhi - United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Burma, Tomas Ojea Quintana, says Burma's judicial system, which sentenced over 30 dissidents to long prison terms on Tuesday, is flawed and manipulated by the ruling junta.

Quintana, in an interview with Mizzima, said, "There is no independent and impartial judiciary system [in Burma]," referring to the sentencing of dissidents earlier this week to up to 65 years in prison.

Quintana, who made his inaugural investigative trip on the condition of human rights in Burma in August, said the proceedings that sentenced the activists "cannot be taken as a fair trial" and that the government should reconsider the convictions.

However, despite the UN rights expert's and the international community's condemnation of the Burmese military junta's earlier convictions, 11 more National League for Democracy members were today handed sentences of seven and half years imprisonment.

Yesterday, a spokesperson for the UN Secretary General said in a statement that Ban Ki-moon is deeply concerned by the severe prison terms imposed on activists in connection with last year's peaceful demonstrations in Burma.

"He calls once again for all political prisoners to be released and for all citizens of Myanmar [Burma] to be allowed to freely participate in their country's political future as part of an inclusive national reconciliation process," the statement read.

With their words, Ban and Quintana joined the growing chorus of international condemnation over the junta's actions, which opposition groups say are aimed to eliminate all activists before the planned election in 2010.

Quintana stressed that the convictions of the activists should be reconsidered as they had not received a fair trial. He also said he will raise the issue of a fair court and an independent judicial system during his second visit to the country, which he believes will occur prior to March 2009.

"I am trying to go back to the country before March 2009, this [the judiciary system] will be part of my discussion in the country," Quintana told Mizzima.

In his earlier visit in August, the UN envoy proposed four core human rights elements to the Burmese junta for consideration, one of which was a review of national legislation in accordance with the new constitution and international obligations – in addition to the release of political prisoners, a review of the armed forces and look at how authority is exercised.

Quintana noted, "One of my goals for the next mission is to establish with the government for the implementation of these four core human rights elements."

"The human rights situation [in Burma] is a challenging task for me and for other human rights agencies," added the Special Rapporteur.

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Burma should be suspended from BIMSTEC: activists
Mizzima News - by Mungpi
Thursday, 13 November 2008 22:41

New Delhi - Activists on Thursday urged leaders of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) to review and suspend the membership of Burma for its continued violation of the rights of its own citizens.

Burma Centre Delhi (BCD), a group working to promote human rights and democracy in Burma, in a memorandum to leaders of BIMSTEC, urged the grouping to suspend the membership of Burma's military junta, saying having them as a member decreases the credibility of the grouping.

"The continued human rights violations by Burma's military junta are a disgrace for the grouping," Dr. Alana Golmei, coordinator of the BCD told Mizzima.

"As Indians, we urged India to stand by the democratic principles that our national fathers – Gandhi and Nehru – laid down," Golmei added.

Golmei said, with the regional group aiming to work together towards stability, peace and development, having a gross human rights violator as a member is a shame and contradictory to its objectives.

Burma's military government, which is listed among the worst human rights violators in the world, proved its disregard to BIMSTEC's prestige and objectives towards peace and dignity by sentencing 14 student activists to 65 year prison terms on the very day that BIMSTEC inaugurated its 2nd summit in New Delhi on November 11, BCD said in its memorandum.

"This is undeniable proof that the SPDC has ignored the basic human rights called for by the United Nations and International community," the group said, referring to the junta by its official name – State Peace and Development Council (SPDC).

As for India, Golmei said its policy towards Burma is 'contradictory' and is against the principles on which India stands.

"India should know that it is the largest democracy and should show some self respect so as not to deal with the Burmese military junta," Golmei stated.

Meanwhile, a group of Burmese pro-democracy activists in New Delhi on Thursday held a protest rally calling on India to refuse the visit of Burmese Prime Minister Thein Sein, who is attending the BIMSTEC summit.

About 50 Burmese activists shouted slogans against Thein Sein and burnt a large poster of him in protest against his visit.

According to the rotating system of BIMSTEC, Burma will assume chairmanship of the organization in 2009 from the India.

Dr. Golmei emphasized, that allowing a murderous military regime to take over the chairmanship of the group will discredit the group.

"Other members should not allow Burma to be their chairman in 2009," she said.

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Regime Tightens Reins on the Internet
The Irrawaddy - By MIN LWIN
Thursday, November 13, 2008

Burma’s military government has turned to a 12-year-old law to justify its latest crackdown on dissidents, about 60 of whom have received lengthy prison sentences so far this week.

On Monday, blogger Nay Phone Latt became one of the first to be punished under the

1996 Computer Science Development Law, receiving a prison sentence of twenty years and six months for violating the hitherto little-used law. The next day, the court handed similarly harsh sentences to 14 members of the 88 Generation Students Group, also accused of committing various offenses under the law.

Lawyers for the detained activists said that the use of the law was a departure from the regime’s usual practice of invoking older laws to suppress dissent.

“Normally, the government would charge the activists under Section 5(j) of the 1950 Emergency Provisions Act for making anti-government speeches and agitating unrest,” said one lawyer, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“There is another reason to use this law,” the lawyer added. “They can tell the international community that they have no political prisoners in the jails, only criminals.”

The law provides for sentences of up to 15 years’ imprisonment for offenses such as accessing the Internet without official authorization. Several of the accused who were sentenced earlier this week faced as many as four charges under the law.

The law was enacted in September 1996 by the State Law and Order Restoration Council, as the current regime was known at the time, and gave the Ministry of Communications, Posts and Telegraphs the power to specify exactly what constituted the lawful use of computers.

Failure to obtain the ministry’s approval before establishing or accessing a network is punishable by a prison sentence of not less than seven years and not more than 15 years, and may also be liable to a fine. The same punishment is also prescribed for anyone who uses a computer network or information technology to undermine state security or “community peace and tranquility.”

The Burmese authorities have become increasingly uneasy about the way the Internet is being used in the country since last September, when blog sites and online chat rooms were a major source of information about massive monk-led demonstrations and the regime’s subsequent crackdown.

Burmese bloggers and “citizen journalists” uploaded news, photos and video clips of the uprising to the Internet, revealing the junta’s brutal suppression of the protests to the international community.

Since then, military authorities have stepped up their efforts to regulate Internet traffic, closely monitoring Internet cafés and individual users.

By sentencing Nay Phone Latt, a popular young blogger, to more than 20 years in prison, the regime has signaled that it has no intention of relaxing its hold over the Internet anytime soon.

Some Burmese bloggers living abroad even suggested that the move showed the junta was not merely targeting political activists, but was going after anyone who seemed to regard the Internet as a forum for free speech.

“Nay Phone Latt is not political,” said Gyit Tu, a Burmese blogger based in Singapore. “He is just a young person who didn’t tolerate injustice.

“The government has given notice to other young bloggers that if they write blogs, they will be punished like Nay Phone Latt,” she added.

This is not the first time that the regime has used draconian restrictions on the use of new technology to imprison its critics. In 1996, Leo Nichols, a businessman and honorary consul for Norway and Denmark, was arrested and given a lengthy sentence for illegal possession of fax machines.

Nichols was tortured and denied medicine by prison authorities. He died soon after being placed in detention.

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Burmese Migrants to Get ‘Passport Documents’
The Irrawaddy - By LAWI WENG
Thursday, November 13, 2008

Burma is preparing to offer new nationality identification papers to Burmese migrant workers, which would allow them to work legally in Thailand, according to a source within the Burmese immigration department.

“We are preparing to open these three offices,” said the immigration officer in Myawaddy, a border town opposite Mae Sot on the Thai-Burmese border. “We’re just waiting for the order from Naypyidaw.”

The three passport registration offices where migrants could apply for the documents are due to be opened along the Thai-Burmese border at Myawaddy, Tachilek and Ranong townships, according to the source.

The officer added that the new passport documents would be cheaper than applying for a Thai work permit; however, it would mean that workers would be subjected to tax.

The new nationality identification paper, which is called a “passport document,” will effectively grant successful applicants a one-year work permit in Thailand. To receive the passport document, a Burmese migrant worker will need a recommendation letter from a Thai factory or business, the officer said.

Sompong Srakawe, a director with the Labor Rights Promotion Network in Thailand, said the Thai Ministry of Labor already told Burmese migrants working in Mahachai in Samut Sakhon Province about the development last month.

However, a Burmese worker in Mahachai told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that to date only a few Thai factory owners have told their Burmese workers about the new permits.

“Many workers are unclear what kind of benefits they will get from a new passport document. They will also worry about being cheated by passport agents,” she said.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Thursday, a member of a Bangkok-based migrant workers’ support group, the Migrant Working Group, said, “I think very few people will go to the registration centres to apply for passport documents, because they are afraid they will be sent back to Burma. This process might take a long time.

“Also, most of the migrants are ethnic people and they are afraid the military authorities will use the information to persecute their families back home.”

Burmese migrants who are working in Thailand and who want to apply for these new passport documents have to bring all their information, including their ID cards, to these centres, he said.

Thailand and Burma agreed to set up nationality identification centers for Burmese migrant workers in 2006, however the two countries couldn’t reach an agreement on where the registration centres would be situated. Originally, the Burmese authorities wanted to situate the registration centers in Pa-an and Moulmein, both towns in eastern Burma. However, their Thai counterparts objected as these towns were too far for the workers to travel to and from.

The Thai government has said it hopes that the new passport registration process would help stop the influx of illegal Burmese migrants into Thailand by offering the opportunity to work in the country legally.

According to official estimates in 2006, Thailand hosts more than 1.2 million migrant workers—some legal, but most illegal—from Burma, Cambodia and Laos. However, the country still faces a severe labor shortage and is unable to meet growing industrial demands, prompting officials to frequently revise registration procedures.

The governments of Laos and Cambodia operate nationality identification centers in Thailand in cooperation with the Thai government. The centers have so far processed some 70,000 Lao and Cambodia workers and registered them with the Thai Labor Department. They are eligible to work in Thailand and have access to the same social welfare benefits as Thai workers, including legal support and medical services for their children.

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U Win Tin says Ban Ki Moon should not visit Burma

Nov 13, 2008 (DVB)-Recently released veteran journalist and pro-democracy leader U Win Tin said the visit of United Nations' Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to Burma could end up as a nod to tyranny.

During an interview with DVB, U Win Tin said he welcomes concerns for Burma by the international community and world leaders but he insisted that state visits could end up endorsing oppression in the country.

"It is very good that world leaders are interested in our political affairs, but this kind of visit will give blessing to dire situation here. We welcome their interest but not the visit," said U Win Tin.

"I even want to say clearly to Mr. Ban Ki-moon, don't come (to Burma)," he said.

"In this kind of situation, world leaders need to think because while they (Burmese generals) are creating this atrocious situation and if people like Ban Ki-moon come and follow their plan, see what they show and listen to what they say, they will end up supporting, promoting and blessing the military government."

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Army watcher says Burma navy can't compete with Bangladesh's

Nov 13, 2008 (DVB)-A Burmese military analyst said Burma's navy could not compete with Bangladesh's if the two countries come to blow over ongoing maritime boundary dispute in the Gulf of Bengal.

U Htay Aung from research and documentation department of Thailand-based Network for Democracy and Development said the Burmese Navy's weaponry and tactical skills are no match for those of Bangladesh.

"The Burmese government only has a few warships bought from China that break down often even during military exercises," said U Htay Aung.

"Many Burmese naval ships in Heingyi Island base were also destroyed by Cyclone Nargis," he said.

"That can also be one of the reasons why the Burmese decided to back off in the sea."

The forces of Bangladesh and Burma have gathered in striking distance at sea and land in areas between the two countries in a warlike situation amid growing tension over a disputed stretch of sea.

Ko Kyaw Myint, a leader of All Arakan Students and Youths Congress, an activist group based in Bangladesh confirmed that both sides had stepped up security in the border areas.

"[The Burmese authorities] are not allowing any water vehicle, including rice and other trade cargos, enter their territory from Bangladesh," said Ko Kyaw Mynt.

Reporting by Khin Maung Soe Min

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