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Showing posts with label News. Show all posts
Showing posts with label News. Show all posts
Panglong Agreement not forgotten.
Friday, 5 February 2010By Wunpawng, 5th February 2010.
The spirit of Panglong Agreement is the key message of Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) on its 49th Anniversary today (5th Feb). KIO demands the military government to implement Pang Long Agreement which signed 1947.
In the statement by Lanyaw Zawng Hra, KIO Chairman, “We have to re-live the Panglong Agreement for building the genuine Union of Myanmar.”
The statement states that KIO’s bottom line is to have the right of self-determination within genuine federal union of Myanmar. It adds that if the military government genuinely wants to have national solidarity, the promises made in Panglong Agreement must be honored.
The military government has been forcing all the ceasefire groups to transform into border guard force (BGF) but KIO refuses to accept the proposal. Col. James Lum Dau said (on Thursday) it is a tactic of the government to take silent coup by reducing the number of KIA troops.
KIO has been under huge pressure from the military government to accept the government proposal – BGF. In this year’s Manau festival on 10th January, Kachin State Day, KIO was not allowed to wear uniform.
KIO was founded on February 5, 1961, by three brothers: Zau Seng, Zau Tu and Zau Dan after then U Nu government declared Buddhism as the state religion. Since its establishment, Kachin Independence Army (KIA) the arm wing of KIO has fought effectively against the government forces in Kachin State throughout in 1960s until the present ceasefire was signed in 1994.
The original aim of fighting for complete independence was changed in 1976 to remain in genuine federal union of Myanmar.
Since its establishment, leaderships have changed – Lahtaw Zau Seng, Maran Brang Seng, Mali Zup Zau Mai, Lamung Tu Jai, and Lanyaw Zawng Hra. However, it has not achieved much. But Col. James Lum Dau said if KIO did not take arm struggle, the situation of Kachin people would be worse today.
A village elder said, “the Burmese government does not dare to do whatever they wish to Kachin people because of KIA”.
KIO signed ceasefire agreement with the military government on February 24, 1994 to solve the political problems in peaceful means. KIO have had numerous meetings with the military government for political talk but failed to bring any political breakthrough.
The disappointments among Kachin community is widespread because the ceasefire not only failed to bring any desirable political result but lost controls over lands especially lucrative areas such as Phakant (jade is mined), Hu Gawng region (where timber, gold is rich).
Col. James Lum Dau said that some of the benefits of ceasefire are – children have more access to education and scattered family members are reunited.
How long the ceasefire will last?
This answer perhaps mainly depends on what the military government will do next if its BGF proposal to ceasefire groups completely failed.
Among the ceasefire groups such as KIO and UWSA already rejected the BGF proposal. From November 2009, KIA has been giving basic military training to civilians as village defense forces (VDF). According to a KIO official, it is a central policy of KIO to give the training.
According to a civilian who receives such training, the trainees can go back their villages. The training is mostly voluntary basis.
Junta Restarts Border Guard Talks
By WAI MOE, Wednesday, January 27, 2010
The Burmese junta’s top negotiator with ethnic groups, Lt-Gen Ye Myint, is likely to meet representatives of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), one of big ceasefire groups, at the end of January.
This will be Ye Myint's first meeting with a ceasefire group in 2010.
Sources close to the KIA on the Sino-Burmese border said Ye Myint, who is chief of Military Affairs Security (MAS), formerly known as the Military Intelligence Service, is reportedly scheduled to meet with his Kachin counterparts on Jan. 29 to once again discuss Naypyidaw’s Border Guard Force proposal.
“During the meeting in December in Myikyina, Maj-Gen Soe Win told Kachin delegates they will hold another meeting early this year,” said Thailand-based James Lum Dau, the deputy chief of foreign affairs for the Kachin Independence Organization, the political wing of the KIA.
In 2009, Junta officials and Kachin representatives met about 10 times and discussed the border guard force issue, he said, adding that the issue is likely to dominate future talks.
The last meeting between Burmese officials led by Maj-Gen Soe Win and Kachin leaders was in Myitkyina on Dec. 30.
Kachin sources told The Irrawaddy that during that meeting the Burmese junta withdrew the deadline for the Kachin to join the border guard force program by the end of 2009.
The Kachin favored the spirit of the 1947 Panglong Agreement, which provided the basis for a federal union in the Southeast Asian nation, the sources said.
Other ceasefire groups such as the United Wa State Army (UWSA), the strongest militia with an estimated 20,000 troops based in northern and southern Shan State, as well as the National Democratic Alliance Army in eastern Shan State have yet to agree to the border guard force plan.
As the electoral law and the timetable for the 2010 elections have yet to be announced, the deadlock between the junta and the cease-fire groups over the border guard force plan is a critical challenge for the election.
After the junta launched a military offensive in August 2009 against the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, the Kokang ethnic army that rejected border guard force proposal, Burma watchers expected that other cease-fire groups would be the next targets.
“At the moment, the border situation is as normal—the Burmese army is not making preparations for war in the border area,” said Aung Kyaw Zaw, an observer of Burmese military affairs based in Ruili, in China's Yunnan Province.
“Both the junta and ethnic groups seems to be negotiating for a peaceful solution,” he said.
Last week was a busy time for Burmese military commanders who handle issues in the north, northeast and eastern Burma, where the ethnic ceasefire groups that have yet to agree to the border guard forces are located.
Lt-Gen Tha Aye, chief of the Bureau of Special Operations (BSO)-1 visited sites across Kachin State, inspecting infrastructure projects along with Soe Win, commander of the Northern Regional Military Command, while Lt-Gen Min Aung Hlaing, the chief of the BSO-2, traveled in Shan State.
The state-run New Light of Myanmar reported on Wednesday that Min Aung Hlaing along with Maj-Gen Aung Than Htut, the commander of Northeast Regional Military Command, visited state projects in Laogai, the Kokang capital, on Jan. 23.
The visit was one of various trips by Min Aung Hlaing’s to the Kokang area after junta forces overran the area, forcing the Kokang ethnic army to flee in August 2009. At the time the junta accused Kokang Leader Peng Jaiseng of involvement in drug and arms trading. Kokang officials and their allies in the UWSA denied the allegation, however.
In an editorial on Wednesday called “Wipe the danger of narcotic drugs out,” The New Light of Myanmar highlighted the junta’s “drug elimination measures” along the border with neighboring countries.
The editorial said: “All global countries are trying their utmost to reduce and eliminate narcotic drug production and trafficking assisting each other in the fight against transnational crimes in border regions.”
Intentionally or not, The New Light of Myanmar put the report about Min Aung Hlaing’s trip to the Kokang area beside the editorial.
Kachin Independence Army Celebrates Anniversary
By MIN LWIN , Wednesday, February 4, 2009
The 48th anniversary of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) will be celebrated on Thursday by its political wing, the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), in Laiza on the Sino-Burmese border in Burma’s eastern Kachin State.
The KIA was founded on February 5, 1961, by three brothers, Zau Seng, Zau Tu and Zau Dan, shortly after Burma’s first prime minister, U Nu, ordained Buddhism as the state religion.
Two days later, Zau Tu and eight young Kachin attacked the government treasury in Lashio and made off with 90,000 kyat, which financed armed operations across northern Shan State and Kachin State.
The KIA launched effective actions against government forces in Kachin State throughout the early 1960s until a ceasefire was signed in 1994.
The ceasefire still holds, according to KIO Vice Chairman Dr Tu Ja. Dialogue was occurring “in a peaceful manner” between the KIO and the military government, he told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday.
Two major splits occurred within the KIO in 1969 and 1990, leading to the formation of the New Democratic Army-Kachin (NDAK), led by Zahkung Tingying, and the Kachin Defense Army (KDA), led by Mahtu Naw.
The KIA’s Col James Lun Dau said some members, such as Commander Zahkung Tingying from KIA’s 101 battalion, had sought the assistance of the Communist Party of Burma (CPB).
Members of the KIO came from Jinghpaw, Rawang, Lisu, Zaiwa, Lawngwaw and Lachyit ethnic groups, but experts say only the Jinghpaw hold any power in the organization.
“The 1969 split was not racist,” James Lun Dau said. “It was just politics. Later they sought refuge under the CPB’s military umbrella.”
The NDA-K, based in Pang Wa, was founded by former KIA Commander Zahkung Tingying and Layawk Zelum. The NDA-K was the first Kachin group to sign a ceasefire agreement with the military government in 1989, shortly after the collapse of the CPB.
The KDA was founded in 1990 by Mahtu Naw, commander of the KIA’s 4th brigade, based in Northern Shan State. After the breakaway from the KIA, the KDA signed a ceasefire agreement with the ruling military government and defected to Rangoon in 1990.
After 14 years, the KIA rebelled against the Rangoon government. In 1975, the KIO’s top leaders— Zau Seng, Zau Tu and Pung Shwe Zau Seng—were assassinated at the Thai-Burma border. Brang Seng, who negotiated the ceasefire agreement in 1994, took over as KIO chairman and appointed Zaung Hkra as KIO secretary.
The KIO entered into talks with the government of Gen Ne Win’s government in 1963 and 1980, but nothing materialized. On February 24, 1994, the KIO signed a ceasefire agreement with the ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC).
KIO Chairman Zau Mai was ousted in February 2001 by a reformist faction within the party, in a coup at the KIO headquarters in Laiza. Since then, Lamung Tu Jai has led the KIO.
KIO leaders are often accused of treating the Kachin people no differently from the regime.
“The KIO hasn’t achieved autonomy or independence for the Kachin State and that’s depriving the Kachin people of hope,” said Aung Wah, chairman of the Kachin Development Network Group.
Ethnic sources in Kachin State also accuse the KIO of collecting taxes at border crossings with China and engaging in various business deals, including granting logging, mining and gambling concessions to local and Chinese investors throughout Kachin State.
“If they continue this way, we’ll never get what we want,” said Naw La, of the All Kachin Students and Youth Union.
မယ္လစခန္းရွိ ကရင္ဒုကၡသည္ ၉၀ ဂ်ပန္မွာ ျပန္လည္အေျခခ်ခြင့္ ရမည္
Wednesday, 3 February 201003 February 2010, by VOA-Burmese
ထုိင္း၊ ျမန္မာနယ္စပ္ေဒသ ဒုကၡသည္စခန္းမွာ ရွိေနတဲ့ ျမန္မာျပည္က ဒုကၡသည္ေတြ ဂ်ပန္ႏုိင္ငံကုိ ေခၚယူေရး အစီအစဥ္ရဲ႕ ပထမ ေျခလွမ္းအျဖစ္နဲ႔ ဂ်ပန္ကုိယ္စားလွယ္ အဖြဲ႕ဟာ ဒုကၡသည္ေတြကုိ လူေတြ႕ သြားေရာက္ေတြ႕ဆုံ ေမးျမန္းခဲ့ပါတယ္။ ဂ်ပန္ကုိယ္စားလွယ္ အဖြဲ႕ဟာ ဒုကၡသည္ေတြကုိ လူေတြ႕ စစ္ေဆးေမးျမန္းမႈေတြကို ေဖေဖာ္၀ါရီလ ၂ ရက္ေန႔ကစၿပီး ျပဳလုပ္ခဲ့တယ္လုိ႔ ဆုိပါတယ္။ အျပည့္အစုံကုိ ဆက္သြယ္စုံစမ္းထားတဲ့ ကုိေဇာ္၀င္းလႈိင္က တင္ျပေပးထားပါတယ္။
ျမန္မာႏုိင္ငံက ဒုကၡသည္ေတြကုိ ဂ်ပန္ႏုိင္ငံမွာ ျပန္လည္ ေနရာခ်ထားေပးမယ္ဆုိတဲ့ ဂ်ပန္အစုိးရရဲ႕ ပထမအဆင့္အျဖစ္နဲ႔ ထုိင္း၊ ျမန္မာနယ္စပ္ မယ္လ ဒုကၡသည္စခန္းမွာ ရွိတဲ့ ဒုကၡသည္ေတြကုိ ဂ်ပန္အစုိးရ ကုိယ္စားလွယ္ေတြက မေန႔ အဂၤါေန႔ကစၿပီး လူေတြ႕ စစ္ေဆးမႈေတြ စတင္ျပဳလုပ္ေနၿပီ ျဖစ္ပါတယ္။
ဂ်ပန္အစုိးရ ကုိယ္စားလွယ္အဖြဲ႕ဟာ ေဖေဖာ္၀ါရီလ ၁ ရက္၊ တနလၤာေန႔ကတည္းက မယ္လစခန္းထဲကုိ ေရာက္ေနခဲ့ၾကတာလုိ႔ မယ္လစခန္းရဲ႕ ဒုတိယဥကၠ႒ မန္းထြန္းထြန္းက ေျပာပါတယ္။
“သူတုိ႔ ၁ ရက္ေန႔၊ တနလၤာေန႔ကတည္းက စခန္းမွာ က်ေနာ္တို႔ ေကာ္မတီေတြရယ္၊ သက္ဆုိင္ရာ ထုိင္းအာဏာပုိင္ေတြရယ္ လာေတြ႕ပါတယ္။ ညေနပုိင္းက်ေတာ့ သူတို႔ ဂ်ပန္ႏုိင္ငံကို ေလွ်ာက္တဲ့လူေတြနဲ႔ ေတြ႕ဆုံခဲ့တယ္။ သူတုိ႔ရဲ႕ အစီအစဥ္က ၂ ရက္ေန႔ကေန ၅ ရက္ေန႔အထိ ဂ်ပန္ကို တင္ထားတဲ့ မိသားစုေတြကုိ အင္တာဗ်ဴးလုပ္မယ္၊ ဂ်ပန္အစိုးရက။ ဂ်ပန္အစိုးရအဖြဲ႕မွာ ဆုိရင္ေတာ့ တရားေရး ၀န္ႀကီးဌာန (Ministry of Justice) က ၆ ေယာက္၊ ၇ ေယာက္ေလာက္ ပါမယ္။ ၿပီးေတာ့ Ministry of Foreign Affairs က ၃ ေယာက္ေလာက္ ပါတယ္။ အားလုံး ၁၀ ေယာက္ေလာက္ ပါတယ္။”
ဂ်ပန္အစုိးရအေနနဲ႔ ထုိင္း၊ ျမန္မာ နယ္စပ္ေဒသက ဒုကၡသည္ စခန္းထဲမွာ ရွိေနတဲ့ ျမန္မာဒုကၡသည္ေတြကုိ ဒီႏွစ္ ၂၀၁၀ ခုႏွစ္ကစၿပီး တႏွစ္ အေယာက္ ၃၀ ႏႈန္းနဲ႔ ၃ ႏွစ္ဆက္တုိက္ ေခၚယူ ျပန္လည္ ေနရာခ်ထားလုိတဲ့ အေၾကာင္း ၿပီးခဲ့တဲ့ႏွစ္ ႏုိ၀င္ဘာလထဲမွာ UNHCR ကုလသမဂၢ ဒုကၡသည္မ်ားဆုိင္ရာ မဟာမင္းႀကီး႐ုံးကုိ အေၾကာင္းၾကားခဲ့တယ္လုိ႔ ဆုိပါတယ္။ အဲဒီအထဲကမွ ပထမအသုတ္အျဖစ္နဲ႔ လူ ၃၀ ကုိ စတင္ေခၚယူဖုိ႔ အခုလုိ လာေတြ႕တာ ျဖစ္တဲ့အေၾကာင္း မန္းထြန္းထြန္းက ဆက္ေျပာျပပါတယ္။
“ဂ်ပန္ႏုိင္ငံက ပထမအသုတ္ အေနနဲ႔ လူ အေယာက္ ၃၀ ေခၚမယ္။ အဲဒီအတြက္ စိတ္၀င္စားတဲ့ လူေတြ တင္ၾကပါေပါ့။ အဓိက အေၾကာင္းရင္းကေတာ့ ဂ်ပန္ႏုိင္ငံက အာရွႏုိင္ငံ တႏုိင္ငံလည္း ျဖစ္တယ္။ ၿပီးေတာ့ ႀကိဳတင္ ျပင္ဆင္ထားတဲ့ ဟာေတြလည္း ေတာ္ေတာ္ေကာင္းပါတယ္၊ က်ေနာ္ သိရသေလာက္ဆုိရင္။ သူတို႔အစီအစဥ္ကေတာ့ ဒီ ၄ ရက္အတြင္းမွာ မိသားစု၀င္ေတြကို အင္တာဗ်ဴးလုပ္ဖုိ႔ စီစဥ္ထားတယ္။”
ဒီဒုကၡသည္ေတြ ဂ်ပန္ႏုိင္ငံကုိ ေရာက္သြားရင္ ပထမ ၆ လအထိ ဂ်ပန္အစုိးရက ၾကည့္႐ႈေစာင့္ေရွာက္ထားမွာ ျဖစ္ပါတယ္။ အဲဒီ သတ္မွတ္ထားတဲ့ ကာလ ေက်ာ္သြားရင္ေတာ့ ကုိယ့္ေျခေထာက္ေပၚ ကုိယ္ရပ္တည္ႏုိင္ဖုိ႔ အလုပ္အကုိင္ ရွာေဖြၾကရမွာ ျဖစ္ေပမဲ့ သက္ဆုိင္ရာ လူမႈအဖြဲ႕အစည္းေတြက စုစုေပါင္း တႏွစ္ခြဲေလာက္ အထိေတာ့ အတုိင္းအတာ တခုထိ အကူအညီေတြ ဆက္ေပးေနဦးမွာ ျဖစ္တယ္လုိ႔ ဆုိပါတယ္။
“က်ေနာ္တုိ႔ သိရသေလာက္ကေတာ့ ဂ်ပန္ႏုိင္ငံ ေရာက္သြားရင္ ၆ လက အစိုးရက အျပည့္အ၀ ကူညီ ေထာက္ပံ့ေပးသြားမယ္။ ၆ လေက်ာ္သြားရင္ေတာ့ မိသားစု၀င္ေတြက သူတုိ႔ဘာသာ သူတို႔ ေျခေထာက္ေပၚ ရပ္တည္ဖို႔အတြက္ အလုပ္ေတြ ရွာရေတာ့မယ္။ ကုိယ့္ရဲ႕ အိမ္ေတြဘာေတြ ရွာရေတာ့မယ္။ အဲဒီမွာ ေနာက္ထပ္ ၁ ႏွစ္နဲ႔ ၆ လ အတြင္းမွာေတာ့ သူတို႔ လူမႈကူညီေစာင့္ေရွာက္ေရး အဖဲြ႕အစည္းေတြက သူတို႔ကုိ အႀကံဉာဏ္ေတြ ေပးသြားမယ္၊ အကူအညီေတြေပါ့၊ အလုပ္အကုိင္ ရွာဖို႔ျဖစ္ျဖစ္၊ တကယ္လို႔ အလုပ္အကုိင္ ရွာလုိ႔ မရဘူး၊ အခက္အခဲေတြ ရွိမယ္ဆုိရင္ Social Welfare Program ေပါ့၊ အစုိးရက ေထာက္ပံ့ထားတဲ့ Social Welfare Program ေတြမွာ သူတုိ႔ကုိ ကူညီေထာက္ပံ့ ေပးႏုိင္ေအာင္ဆုိၿပီး သူတုိ႔က ၀ုိင္း၀န္း ကူညီမႈေတြေတာ့ ရွိမယ္ေလ။ ၁ ႏွစ္နဲ႔ ၆ လတိတိေပါ့။”
ဒုကၡသည္ေတြထဲက ဘယ္သူ႔ကို ဂ်ပန္ႏုိင္ငံလာဖုိ႔ လက္ခံမယ္ဆုိတဲ့ ေနာက္ဆုံး ဆုံးျဖတ္ခ်က္ကေတာ့ ဂ်ပန္အစုိးရ အေပၚမွာပဲ မူတည္တယ္လုိ႔ UNHCR ေျပာခြင့္ရပုဂၢဳိလ္ အန္ဒေရ မာေဟျခစ္စ္ (Andrej Mahecic) က ေျပာပါတယ္။
“တကယ္လုိ႔ အားလုံး အဆင္ေျပ ေခ်ာေမြ႕သြားရင္ေတာ့ ဒုကၡသည္ေတြ အေနနဲ႔ ဂ်ပန္ႏုိင္ငံကုိ ဒီႏွစ္ စက္တင္ဘာလေလာက္မွာ စတင္ ထြက္ခြာႏုိင္ၾကမွာျဖစ္ၿပီး တႏွစ္မွာ အေယာက္ ၃၀ စီ ေခၚယူသြားမွာ ျဖစ္ပါတယ္။ ထုိင္းႏုိင္ငံအတြင္းမွာ ရွိေနတဲ့ ျမန္မာ ဒုကၡသည္စခန္း ၉ ခုထဲက ဒုကၡသည္ စုစုေပါင္း ၅၅,၀၀၀ ေလာက္ထဲက ၂၀,၀၀၀ ေလာက္ကုိ တျခားႏုိင္ငံေတြမွာ ျပန္လည္ ေနရာခ်ထား ေပးႏုိင္ခဲ့ပါၿပီ။ ဒီအထဲက အမ်ားစုကေတာ့ အေမရိကန္၊ ၾသစေၾတးလ်နဲ႔ ကေနဒါႏုိင္ငံေတြကုိ ေရာက္သြားၾကတာ ျဖစ္ေပမဲ့ တျခား ႏုိင္ငံေပါင္း ၈ ႏုိင္ငံကုိ ေရာက္သြားၾကတဲ့ ဒုကၡသည္ တခ်ဳိ႕လည္း ရွိပါတယ္။”
ျမန္မာႏုိင္ငံက ဒုကၡသည္ေတြကုိ အာရွႏုိင္ငံတခုက ျပန္လည္ ေနရာခ်ထားေပးဖုိ႔ ေခၚယူတာ ဂ်ပန္ႏုိင္ငံဟာ ပထမဆုံးႏုိင္ငံ ျဖစ္ပါတယ္။ ဒါေၾကာင့္လည္း တျခား အေနာက္ႏုိင္ငံေတြအျပင္ အခုလုိ အာရွတုိက္အတြင္းက ႏုိင္ငံတခု တုိးလာတဲ့အေပၚ UNHCR အေနနဲ႔ ႀကိဳဆုိေၾကာင္း ေျပာခြင့္ရပုဂၢဳိလ္ အန္ဒေရ မာေဟျခစ္စ္က ေျပာပါတယ္။
“ဒုကၡသည္ေတြ ျပန္လည္ ေနရာခ်ထားေပးတဲ့ ႏုိင္ငံေတြ စာရင္းမွာ ဂ်ပန္ႏုိင္ငံတႏုိင္ငံ တုိးလာတာကုိ က်ေနာ္တုိ႔ UNHCR အေနနဲ႔ ႀကိဳဆုိပါတယ္။ ဒီလုိ လုပ္ေဆာင္တဲ့အတြက္ တျခား အာရွႏုိင္ငံေတြကုိ အေရးပါတဲ့ အခ်က္ေပးလုိက္႐ုံတင္ မကဘဲ ထုိင္းႏုိင္ငံထဲမွာ ႏွစ္ေပါင္း ၂၅ ႏွစ္ေလာက္ ပိတ္မိေနၾကတဲ့ ဒုကၡသည္ေတြ ျပႆနာ ကူညီေျဖရွင္းေပးဖုိ႔လည္း ထုိင္းအစုိးရကုိ တဘက္က ကူညီရာ ေရာက္ေနလုိ႔ပါပဲ။”
ထုိင္း၊ ျမန္မာ နယ္စပ္ေဒသက ဒုကၡသည္စခန္းေတြမွာ ရွိေနၾကတဲ့ ဒုကၡသည္တခ်ဳိ႕ဟာ စခန္းထဲမွာ ႏွစ္ေပါင္းမ်ားစြာ ဒုကၡသည္အျဖစ္နဲ႔ ေနထုိင္ေနၾကရတာ ျဖစ္ၿပီး တခ်ဳိ႕ဆုိ ႏွစ္ေပါင္း ၃၀ ေလာက္အထိ ေနထုိင္ခဲ့ၿပီး ျဖစ္တယ္လုိ႔ ဆုိပါတယ္။
အခု ဂ်ပန္ႏုိင္ငံက ေခၚယူမယ့္ မယ္လ ဒုကၡသည္စခန္းက ဒုကၡသည္ေတြအေနနဲ႔ လယ္ယာစုိက္ပ်ဳိးမႈ တတ္ကၽြမ္းသူ၊ အသက္ ၄၀ ေအာက္ေတြနဲ႔ ကရင္လူမ်ဳိးေတြကုိသာ ေခၚယူမယ္လုိ႔ ဂ်ပန္ကုိယ္စားလွယ္အဖြဲ႕က ေျပာတဲ့အေၾကာင္း လူေတြ႕စစ္ေဆး ေမးျမန္းမႈမွာ ပါ၀င္ခဲ့ၾကတဲ့ ဒုကၡသည္တခ်ဳိ႕က ေျပာပါတယ္။
US to talk to Burmese military, BBC
Thursday, 24 September 2009
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says Washington will engage directly with Burma's military rulers in a bid to promote democracy there.
Mrs Clinton said sanctions alone had not changed the government's behaviour.
The new approach follows a review of US policy towards Burma initiated after President Barack Obama took office.
Burma's hardline regime has refused to release political prisoners, including Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, despite international pressure.
Mrs Clinton's announcement came after talks with international diplomats on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York. The talks were chaired by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
"We want credible democratic reform, a government that responds to the needs of the Burmese people, immediate, unconditional release of political prisoners... serious dialogue with the opposition and minority ethnic groups," she said.
"We believe that sanctions remain important as part of our policy, but by themselves they have not produced the results that had been hoped for on behalf of the people of Burma.
"Engagement versus sanctions is a false choice in our opinion," she added.
"So, going forward we will be employing both of those tools, pursuing our same goals. To help achieve democratic reform, we will be engaging directly with Burmese authorities."
Existing US sanctions against Burmese leaders would remain in place, Mrs Clinton said, but could be eased if "the core human rights and democracy issues that are inhibiting Burma's progress" were addressed.
US officials said that Congress would be briefed on specifics of the new policy of engagement on Thursday, the Associated Press news agency reported.
Next month a Burmese court is due to give its verdict on Ms Suu Kyi's appeal against her extended house arrest.
Ms Suu Kyi was sentenced in August to a further 18 months' house arrest after a US intruder stayed at her home.
She has spent 14 of the past 20 years in detention and the extension will keep her out of elections next year.
Official Bandits: Bribe and you shall pillage freely
Tuesday, 1 September 2009People in the Kachin State, especially women, constantly live in a state of alarm because of the government police and soldiers patrolling the Sadung area.
Traditionally people from neighboring villages would come to Sadung Pa for shopping every Saturday. However, over the past few years people have started shopping there every day because the market in town has grown in size.
A border town with China, it is common for people in Sadung Pa to use two currencies – Kyat and Yuan (RMB) interchangeably. The Sadung region is also known for opium cultivation in Burma (Myanmar).
Despite the fact that the authorities—the military government, National Defense Army-Kachin (NDAK) and Kachin Independence Organization (KIO)—destroy opium fields every year, opium continues to be a major source of income for the local people. It is still common for people to keep opium in small quantities for medicinal purposes.
Policemen and soldiers (sometimes without soldiers) in the Sadung region harass women and search them for opium and Chinese currency. If they find either Chinese money or opium, they threaten and rob them.
The latest case happened on July 9, 2009 near a Shan village between Sadung Pa and Sagapa village. A woman from Sagapa village (name withheld) went to Sadung Pa for shopping and was stopped near the aforementioned Shan village by two men in plain clothes armed with pistols and handcuffs. They searched her but they only found 9,000 Kyat. Fortunately, they did not confiscate her money but subjected her to interrogation, demanding to know where she came from and for what purpose she intended to use her money.
The woman was in shock as she recalled this experience and recounted that she felt goose bumps all over her body. She was alone and does not speak Burmese.
Local people informed me that the police force (essentially lawless bandits) only ambush people if they are women and only one or two.
When asked if they were aware of this situation, heads of local villages said that they have heard such stories numerous times. However, they do not know the names of the perpetrators which prevents them from reporting these instances to the concerned authorities.
Since most of the women in this region, especially those in their 40s or above, do not speak Burmese and have little formal education, they are easy targets for these bandits.
Many believe that these robberies are sinister in more ways than one as there is reason to believe that they are organized as shady business deals between officers and subordinates. Subordinates have to give 300,000 Kyat to officers each month in order for the officers to allow the subordinates to rob innocent women freely without repercussion.
read more “Official Bandits: Bribe and you shall pillage freely”
Traditionally people from neighboring villages would come to Sadung Pa for shopping every Saturday. However, over the past few years people have started shopping there every day because the market in town has grown in size.
A border town with China, it is common for people in Sadung Pa to use two currencies – Kyat and Yuan (RMB) interchangeably. The Sadung region is also known for opium cultivation in Burma (Myanmar).
Despite the fact that the authorities—the military government, National Defense Army-Kachin (NDAK) and Kachin Independence Organization (KIO)—destroy opium fields every year, opium continues to be a major source of income for the local people. It is still common for people to keep opium in small quantities for medicinal purposes.
Policemen and soldiers (sometimes without soldiers) in the Sadung region harass women and search them for opium and Chinese currency. If they find either Chinese money or opium, they threaten and rob them.
The latest case happened on July 9, 2009 near a Shan village between Sadung Pa and Sagapa village. A woman from Sagapa village (name withheld) went to Sadung Pa for shopping and was stopped near the aforementioned Shan village by two men in plain clothes armed with pistols and handcuffs. They searched her but they only found 9,000 Kyat. Fortunately, they did not confiscate her money but subjected her to interrogation, demanding to know where she came from and for what purpose she intended to use her money.
The woman was in shock as she recalled this experience and recounted that she felt goose bumps all over her body. She was alone and does not speak Burmese.
Local people informed me that the police force (essentially lawless bandits) only ambush people if they are women and only one or two.
When asked if they were aware of this situation, heads of local villages said that they have heard such stories numerous times. However, they do not know the names of the perpetrators which prevents them from reporting these instances to the concerned authorities.
Since most of the women in this region, especially those in their 40s or above, do not speak Burmese and have little formal education, they are easy targets for these bandits.
Many believe that these robberies are sinister in more ways than one as there is reason to believe that they are organized as shady business deals between officers and subordinates. Subordinates have to give 300,000 Kyat to officers each month in order for the officers to allow the subordinates to rob innocent women freely without repercussion.
Confiscation and Compensation in Kachin State: What's a Farmer supposed to do?!
9th August 2009, Kachin State, Myanmar by Mangshang
read more “Confiscation and Compensation in Kachin State: What's a Farmer supposed to do?!”
A lion tirelessly chases and catches a prey. But before it can taste the fruits of its arduous labor, a flock of hyenas robs it and all it can do is helplessly look at the perpetrators. Such is a common example we often see on television programs aired on Animal Planet.
Just like the poor lion, Mr. Lahpai Gam (a pseudonym) has had to abandon his well-tended farm after the National Defense Army-Kachin (NDAK) confiscated his land.
On his nearly five acre farm, Mr. Lahpai Gam has already grown numerous crops such as rubber plants, walnut trees, hardwood trees bearing a pungent smelling edible fruits (locally known as Tanyin Tee) and pineapples. He has already invested a lot of money, four years of time, passion and effort in the farm.
Since 2004, farmers have engaged in slash-and-burn cultivation to sustain long-term gardening in the area. They knew that the new road which is part of the
As usual, farmers do not have land ownership permits (Land Grant) because they do not know whether it is wise to apply for land owner permits from the government. In fact, no one applies for land ownership permits in
NDAK later also came to start large scale farming covering hundreds of acres in the areas. They applied for land ownership permits from the government and as a result local farmers’ lands have now fallen under the control of the NDAK and their newly acquired land permits.
NDAK then confiscated land from local farmers and gave them a measly 50,000 Kyat each (approximately US$50) as compensation. There are about fourteen farmers so far whose land has been confiscated.
Since losing their land in 2008 to the NDAK, farmers are now opening up new lands for farming nearby. Everyday they can see the plants they cultivated before having their land confiscated and feel deeply saddened for losing them.
When asked why the farmers were compensated so little, an NDAK official in
The NDAK signed a ceasefire agreement with the Burmese military government in 1989. It attended the government-orchestrated National Convention which drafted the constitution that was ratified in the 2008 referendum. Recently, under government pressure, the NDAK has also agreed to transform itself into a border security force.
When asked why he did not complain to the officials, Mr. Lahpai Gam said that he is afraid of being recognized and subsequently targeted.
Sadung area is under the control of three officials – the military government, NDAK and Kachin Independence Organization (KIO). Sadung area became a new township in 2008.
As a result, there are now more government offices such as immigration, labor department office, telecommunication and fire station, in addition to a police station and military base. According to sources, these offices were built on private land and compensation for confiscated land was far from satisfactory.
A local resident complained that none of the three authorities are fulfilling the needs of the people who now have to serve three masters.
When the work-life balance becomes a see-saw
Friday, 17 April 2009 People working from home do many extra hours, and some earn just 73p an hour. Home-working is just one of the ways the work-life balance can tip in favour of work.
read more “When the work-life balance becomes a see-saw”
Whenever I work in an office, I always make sure that I take full advantage of the franking machine to send personal letters, and let's just say that I have never paid for a pack of Post-it notes or a roll of Sellotape in my life. 
Of course stealing is wrong, but let's not forget that most employers - including all the ones I've worked for - "steal" from their workers on a systematic basis. How? By taking the extra time put in without paying for it.
The snatch is brilliantly simple: most people have an employment contract which stipulates an agreed amount of hours should be worked in return for a set amount of pay.
Yet a survey of 5,000 managers in the UK conducted by the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) has found that more than 91% of them work more than their contracted hours regularly, without a penny extra to show for it.
Matter of choice
More fool them, you might say, if workers put in extra hours. It is, after all, their own choice.
But it turns out that in many cases it isn't. The majority are forced to put in extra hours for nothing, according to Cary Cooper, professor of organisational psychology and health at Lancaster University, who carried out the survey in his time at UMIST. 
"What you find is that about one-third of all people are forced to work long hours because of the culture of their workplace. A third are clearing a backlog of work because they are given more than they can do in their contracted time, and a third genuinely love working."
Companies may establish a work culture by making "jokes" when people leave early, or by providing employees with supposed benefits like mobile phones or fax machines in their homes - effectively putting them on call 24-hours-a-day.
Then there are after-hours activities which many employees are expected to attend: these can range from entertaining clients over drinks or meals, to sitting on the company table at industry awards ceremonies or going to football or golf tournaments at the weekends.
The evidence is that this sort of "always on call" work culture is widespread. Research carried out by the Royal Mail recently found 65% of UK workers have been contacted about a work-related issue during the weekends and 48% by a colleague during a bank holiday weekend.
Perhaps the biggest con perpetrated on me by an employer came disguised as a business trip to Amsterdam - a reward for some good work I had put in. LOSING TIME Industry bash in the evening Booking you on red-eye flights to Europe, returning late that same day Remote access privileges to the company network for weekend working
The trip turned out to involve getting up at 5am for an early flight, a full day's work, and a flight back the same day. I finally got home at 11.30pm, after 18.5 hours on duty.
I got paid my normal wage - my employer having the benefit of what would have been my breakfast with my wife and children and my evening's five-a-side football game.
Eye for promotion
Long-hour cultures help employers get workers' time for nothing, but they can also backfire by rewarding inefficiency, says Mr Cooper.
"What happens if I can get all my work done between 8.00am and 3.30pm? Someone else who does their work less well and takes more time but puts in the hours will get promoted."
Mr Cooper may have a point: Britons work the longest hours in Europe, but UK companies are not the most productive.
I'm among the many employees to have lost hours and hours over the years - yet few of us really complain.
The way I see it, there's an unwritten contract between me and my employers, and since we both understand it there have never been any problems. They are free to take my spare time without paying for it, and I don't expect to pay for stamps or Post-It notes.
Paul Rubens is a freelance journalist. He has never worked for the BBC.
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