Weekly Diary, No. 292 (8 – 14 March 2008)

·         GAMBARI GOES HOME BLOODY BUT UNBOWED?
·         REFERENDUM PREPARATIONS IN FULL SWING!
·         FIRE IN NAYPYIDAW!
·         PHYSIC NUTS STILL AROUND!
 
Think Piece
A respected politician from southern Shan State has counseled that the constitutional referendum should not be boycotted “at least for the sake of one’s own safety and well being.” However, according to the referendum law promulgated on 26 February, secret ballot is allowed and votes will be immediately counted after voting in the presence of the voters. “If so,” he advises, “We should all vote.” As for saying yes or no to the draft constitution, “which 99.9% of the people have never seen,” let alone understand the contents, he says, “The core of the constitution is the continuation of the military rule. Please ask yourself if you want it? If you do, just mark Yes. If you don’t want it, just mark No.”
_{SHAN, 8 March 2008}
 
I’d be mad to want to become a king now.
With these chaps, I don’t think I’d get very far.
_{Taw Paya, 84, grandson of the last king, Reuters, 10 March 2008}
 
How yesterday was different from today
While the US continued to fund, arm and train Burma’s military, communist China stood alone in its condemnation (of the 1974 U Thant funeral) atrocities.

_{Thant Myint U, Former UN Secretary General’s grandson, Bangkok Post, 11 March 2008}

The World
8 March 2008
Elections in Malaysia. Opposition victories in the north raises some security concerns in Thailand. (Channel 9)
 
10 March 2008
 _{Joseph E.Stigliz Linda J.Bilmes}
In 2008, its sixth year, the Iraq war will cost $ 12 million a month, Nobel prize winning economist Joseph E.Stigliz and Linda J.Bilmes report in their new book. (AP)
 
10 March 2008

300 monks stage a march in the Tibetan capital Lhasa commemorating the 49th anniversary of uprising against Chinese rule. Security personnel fire tear gas on 12 March to disperse a second march. (Reuters)

International Relations
10 March 2008
_{Phone Swe, deputy home minister}
Visiting Phone Swe, deputy home minister, and Indian home secretary Shri Madhukar Gupta, agree to strengthen cooperation in areas of security and border management, at the 14th National Level Meeting. (Mizzima)
 
12 March 2008
A boat overloaded with 120 passengers, most of them Burmese migrants, sank in the Bay of Bengal on 8 March. Only 5 were rescued. (Narinjara)
 
12 March 2008
How the man on the street in Mandalay feels about China:

• They give us plastic, and they take teak and gems
• Nondescript Chinese hotels as many as native Buddhist monasteries
• Chinese businessmen making millions selling heroin or doing dodgy deals with the generals

How the generals feel about China:

• Maung Aye, who has spent much of his career fighting Beijing-backed communists, ordered shop signs to be taken down if Chinese lettering appeared above the Burmese
• China admitted last May it had been kept in the dark about the junta’s move to the new capital

(Reuters)

12 March 2008
_{Paulo Sergio Pinheiro}
Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, UN human rights expert, says some 1,850 political prisoners are behind bars as of January. Unlawful arrests have “accelerated”. At least 70 arrested since November with some 62 still detained. (AFP)

13 March 2008
Hundreds of Burmese nationals, marking Phone Maw’s Day, march through Tokyo demanding release of political detainees. (AFP)
 
13 March 2008
Burma and South Korea have agreed to cooperate in building a bio-research center and implement a biofuel-substitute project in Burma soon, Yangon Times report. (Irrawaddy)
 
Gambari in Burma
7 March 2008
_{Ibrahim Gambari}
Gambari meets Referendum Convening Commission headed by Thaung Nyunt (Mizzima)
Kyaw Hsan tells Gambari:

• Burma has no political prisoners and Suu Kyi was detained for trying to disrupt stability
• Junta is unhappy with his trip to other countries to seek support for political reform
• Impossible to revise its draft constitution
• Offer to send observers to referendum rejected (Agencies)

 
8 March 2008
Gambari meets

• Ethnic representatives
• NGOs
• 5 NLD executives (desire for accelerated dialogue with junta, release of political prisoners discussed)
• Aung San Suu Kyi (no details)

Gambari tells NLD executives they should grab any opportunities offered by the junta.
 
9 March 2008
Gambari meets ministers:

• Soe Tha, National Planning
• Dr Kyaw Myint, Health
• Kyaw Thu, (Deputy) Foreign Affairs

(AP/Mizzima)
 
10 March 2008

Gambari meets Aung San Suu Kyi for the second time at the Green Bank State Guest House.
He later will meet:

• Aung Kham Hti, PaO National Organization
• Khin Maung Gyi, National Unity Party
• Zaw Min, USDA Secretary

He leaves in the evening. (Mizzima) He flies to Senegal to brief UN chief Ban Ki-moon. (Bangkok Post)
 
11 March 2008
International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX) reports internet connections in Burma slowed during the visit of Gambari. (Irrawaddy)

Thai-Burma Relations
13 March 2008
A recent meeting of Thai state agencies planned to crack down on Rohingya entering illegally. They will be caught and detained on two islands in southern Phangnga pending deportation. Since early this year, almost 1,000 of them have been caught. Their coming to the volatile South triggers concerns they could be involved in the unrest there. (Bangkok Post)
 
14 March 2008
_{Samak Sundaravej}
PM Samak Sundaravej leaves for a one-day visit to Burma. (Channel 9)

Politics/ Inside Burma
6 March 2008
Win Tin, 35, political prisoner, dies while serving a 27 year term in Tharawaddy since 1999. (DVB)
 
8 March 2008
Abbot Tilawka, 79, arrives in Bangladesh after his monastery in Kyauktaw township, Arakan State, was bulldozed and set fire by army authorities. He was involved in the September uprising. (Narinjara)
 
8 March 2008
Thant Zin and Tun Tun, two NLD members from Rangoon’s Hlaing township, arrested for possession of Rambo DVDs. (DVB)
 
9 March 2008
Fire in Leway injures two and destroys 325 houses. Leway is one of the 3 townships of Naypyidaw. Others are Pyinmana and Tatkon. (Mizzima)
 
10 March 2008
Burma’s government in exile releases study detailing events leading to September 2007 unrest. (Mizzima)
 
12 March 2008
More than 30 police officers in Pegu township arrested due to suspicions that an information leak had sabotaged a 22 January raid on illegal lottery sellers. (DVB)
 
12 March 2008
_{Gen Than Shwe}
Information ministry says Than Shwe is not hospitalized and is in good health, in response to bloggers’ report that he is currently being treated at the #2 Military Hospital for his colon cancer. (Mizzima)
 
12 March 2008
Security tightened in anticipation of Burma’s Human Rights Day, 13 March 1988, when riot police shot and killed student Phone Maw. (Irrawaddy)
 
12 March 2008
_{Ludu Sein Win}
Ludu Sein Win, 68, prominent journalist and former political prisoner, in his recorded message, urge people to wage “people power” uprising to end the ruling regime’s stranglehold on power. Don’t waste time dreaming about dialogue and considering help from the UN, he says. (Irrawaddy)

Referendum
11 March 2008
Mon students and monks start distributing pamphlets opposing the planned referendum in May. (Independent Mon News Agency)
 
11 March 2008
_{Nay Win Maung}
Nay Win Maung, a member of the Third Force formed in Singapore in 2006, says Suu Kyi should give Than Shwe a way out by saying yes to the constitution. Nay Win Maung publishes Living Color and the Voice. (Irrawaddy)
 
11 March 2008
USDA office in Dagon Myothit, Rangoon, has offered loans of K 30,000-50,000 ($27-45) to its members, tempting people with monetary incentives to join its ranks. (Mizzima)
 
13 March 2008
Kyaw Kyaw, Thiha and Yan Naing Thu who have been conducting poster campaigns and distributing banned CDs disappear. They are believed to have been detained by the authorities. (Mizzima)
 
13 March 2008
Civilian businessmen, without their prior knowledge and consent, have been appointed as poll booth officers by authorities in Mandalay. They have also been told to try to get Yes votes in the referendum. (Mizzima)

Shans/ Shan State
13 March 2008
_{Col Yawdserk}
Shan State Army (SSA) leader Col Yawdserk says the junta is trying to stir up hostilities between the Wa and the SSA by disinforming the Wa Thai-Burma border area has been reserved for the SSA. (SHAN)

Economy/ Business
8 March 2008
Following US increased sanctions, junta has approved Singaporean dollar bank accounts at Myanmar Foreign Trade Bank (MFTB) and Myanmar Investment and Commercial Bank (MICB). (Irrawaddy)
 
12 March 2008
Burma’s biofuel through jatropha plantation raising doubts. On the good side, it is:

• Drought resistant
• Does not displace food crops

The bad side:

• Lacks capacity to refine physic nuts into useable fuel
• A processing plant, if there is one, can lead to cost four times as much as normal diesel
• Looks like show business (“like new irrigation channels that never have water because they never turn the pumps on”)
• Looks like a wordplay plan to negate spiritual power of democracy icon, “Kyet Suu” against “Suu Kyi”

In 2006, junta decreed every farmer was required to plant 200 physic nut seeds, sold seeds for K800 ($0.60). It had boasted that 2.8 million hectares of plantation would be in full swing by mid-2007 and biofuel exports would quickly follow. (Reuters)

Human Rights
13 March 2008
Myanmar Info-Tech Corp Ltd announced earlier this month a plan to compile and update a list of Internet Cafes throughout Burma. The list will be given to local authorities so they can closely watch every Internet facility. (Irrawaddy)

Environment
11 March 2008
Bangladeshi deputy energy minister M.Tamim says Burma rejected a request to sell gas to it during a visit to the country last month. Burma will consider selling gas to Bangladesh only after new discoveries are made, he adds. (AFP)

Drugs

War
11 March 2008
Fresh attack on several villages in Papun on 4 March leads to displacement of 2,100 villagers. The campaign has already displaced 30,000 people IDPs in Burma altogether. (Free Burma Rangers/Christian Solidarity Worldwide)