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No Sign of Progress in Burma
No Sign of Progress in Burma
http://www.asiantribune.com/news/2009/12/26/no-sign-progress-burma
Sat, 2009-12-26 01:39 — editor
Article
By - Zin Linn
Feelings are running high with people of Burma because of a sad story. Tin Tin Htwe, 38, from Bahan Township in Rangoon, reportedly died of a heart disease.
Tin Tin Htwe, who was arrested during the 2007 Saffron Revolution, died in Insein Prison hospital on 23 December, according to Assistance Association for Political Prisoners in Burma (AAPP), a Thai-Burma border based organization working for the rights of political prisoners in Burma. Her residential quarter, located within a kilometre east of Shwedagon Pagoda, offered a panoramic sight of the deadliest crackdown during the 2007 September Saffron Revolution when armed forces fired on the procession of Buddhist monks.
In 2009, there have been three political prisoner deaths. Salai Hla Moe, Saw Char Late and Tin Tin Htwe, died in prison without getting proper medical health care. According AAPP’s documentation, 143 political prisoners, some of them law makers, writers and journalists have died in prison since 1988.
Present sorrowful affairs in Burma re-confirm that the military junta is making a determined march along the anti-democracy course. For instance, the junta continues to detain and incarcerate more than 2,200 political prisoners. They include Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi who has been confined to her residence for 14 of the last 20 years. Su Su Nway, recipient of the 2006 Humphrey Freedom Award from the Canada-based group, Rights and Democracy, is lodged in the notorious Insein Jail since November 2007. This is her second jail stint since 2005.
Leaders of the '88 Generation Students such as Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi, Jimmy (aka) Kyaw Min Yu, Htay Kywe, Hla Myo Naung, Mee Mee and Nilar Thein are sentenced to 65 years. Ethnic Shan political leader Hkun Htun Oo and a prominent comedian Zarganar are also still in prison despite medical complications.
In fact, there are many more political prisoners who are seriously sick; they receive just rudimentary health care. Most political detainees are intentionally transferred to remote prisons where health-care is in a state of desolation. Most prisoners of conscience have to face terrible torture as a matter of routine daily. The International Committee of the Red Cross has been denied free access to prisons since December 2005.
Releasing prisoners of conscience may be a sign of sincerity that the generals honestly want to restore democracy and human rights in Burma. But, delay in release of political prisoners means the military rulers may not allow democracy and national reconciliation.
Peoples from all walks of life are severely suffering from a lot of miseries under the military regime which is in the saddle for nearly five decades. The consequences of this reign of violence produce spilling over effects directly into territories of the neighbouring countries.
Over the past two decades, more than a million Burmese workers have fled to Thailand. This has placed tremendous pressure on the Thai governments which is facing its own hardships. Trans-border crime has gone up with a massive influx of narcotics drugs, including heroin and methamphetamines. Trafficking in women and children has increased along the 2,400 km-long Thailand-Burma border. The regime's neglect of health-care has also produced a new HIV/AIDS flow into neighbouring countries.
Within the country, the living standards of average citizens are rapidly falling. The situation is alarming even on the outskirts of Yangon. According to the UN estimation, one child in three under the age of five is suffering from malnutrition.
Field studies by Dr Chris Beyrer (Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health) and his colleagues show that the junta has neglected the health sector. “Burma’s investment in the health infrastructure is one of the lowest worldwide’, the study carried out during 2005 and 2006 shows. The health sector is steeped in corruption, the study says.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has ranked Burma one place above Sierra Leone, which came 191st in a list of countries surveyed. Nearly three-fourth of the country lives below the poverty line. A large slice of the country's budget, an estimated 40-50 percent goes to fund a 400,000-strong armed force.
Health care gets just under three percent of the outlay. A niggardly allocation of $137,000 per year is made for treatment of 52 million people suffering from HIV/Aids. UNICEF reports that spending on healthcare in Burma amounts to 40 cents per citizen per year, compared to $61 in Thailand.
Signalling that defence will continue to attract funding, Russia has signed a contract to deliver 20 MiG-29 planes to Burma’s air force. Kommersant - Russia's Daily Online – reports that the contract is worth nearly 400 million euros (570 million dollars). This is yet another instance of Russia ignoring the sanctions on Burma. China is also ignoring these sanctions. With such friends to defy the world opinion, the junta is unlikely to the mounting pressure from human rights activists and people at large. It will do its best to perpetuate the fraud it had inflicted in the name of a referendum in 2008 on a constitution that is designed to keep the army in power.
The elections scheduled for 2010 will legalize the military rule. Just like the referendum held at gun-point, the forthcoming election will be anything but free and fair. But the question is how long will the junta be able to cling to power?
The socio-economic situation is worsening by the day. Till date, the junta has failed to pay attention to the problem with all its energies focussed on cementing its hold on the structures of governance. National reconciliation is a mantra the Junta recites only when nudged by the outside powers and not otherwise. The junta also does not show respect to the successive resolutions adopted by the UN General Assembly (UNGA) calling for a return of democratic system in Burma through a tripartite dialogue between the Junta led by Senior General Than Shwe, democratic forces led by Aung San Suu Kyi and representatives of ethnic nationalities.
‘A tiger is a tiger and it never lives on grass’, according to a Burmese saying. It is time therefore for the world leaders to mount a campaign to cage the Burmese tiger and to usher in a democracy. Belief in military dictators’ promise of building a democratic country will make them an object of ridicule.
Zin Linn is a freelance Burmese journalist, lives in exile. Now he's working at the NCGUB East Office as an information director and is vice-president of Burma Media Association, which is affiliated with the Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontiers.
- Asian Tribune -
http://www.asiantribune.com/news/2009/12/26/no-sign-progress-burma
Sat, 2009-12-26 01:39 — editor
Article
By - Zin Linn
Feelings are running high with people of Burma because of a sad story. Tin Tin Htwe, 38, from Bahan Township in Rangoon, reportedly died of a heart disease.
Tin Tin Htwe, who was arrested during the 2007 Saffron Revolution, died in Insein Prison hospital on 23 December, according to Assistance Association for Political Prisoners in Burma (AAPP), a Thai-Burma border based organization working for the rights of political prisoners in Burma. Her residential quarter, located within a kilometre east of Shwedagon Pagoda, offered a panoramic sight of the deadliest crackdown during the 2007 September Saffron Revolution when armed forces fired on the procession of Buddhist monks.
In 2009, there have been three political prisoner deaths. Salai Hla Moe, Saw Char Late and Tin Tin Htwe, died in prison without getting proper medical health care. According AAPP’s documentation, 143 political prisoners, some of them law makers, writers and journalists have died in prison since 1988.
Present sorrowful affairs in Burma re-confirm that the military junta is making a determined march along the anti-democracy course. For instance, the junta continues to detain and incarcerate more than 2,200 political prisoners. They include Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi who has been confined to her residence for 14 of the last 20 years. Su Su Nway, recipient of the 2006 Humphrey Freedom Award from the Canada-based group, Rights and Democracy, is lodged in the notorious Insein Jail since November 2007. This is her second jail stint since 2005.
Leaders of the '88 Generation Students such as Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi, Jimmy (aka) Kyaw Min Yu, Htay Kywe, Hla Myo Naung, Mee Mee and Nilar Thein are sentenced to 65 years. Ethnic Shan political leader Hkun Htun Oo and a prominent comedian Zarganar are also still in prison despite medical complications.
In fact, there are many more political prisoners who are seriously sick; they receive just rudimentary health care. Most political detainees are intentionally transferred to remote prisons where health-care is in a state of desolation. Most prisoners of conscience have to face terrible torture as a matter of routine daily. The International Committee of the Red Cross has been denied free access to prisons since December 2005.
Releasing prisoners of conscience may be a sign of sincerity that the generals honestly want to restore democracy and human rights in Burma. But, delay in release of political prisoners means the military rulers may not allow democracy and national reconciliation.
Peoples from all walks of life are severely suffering from a lot of miseries under the military regime which is in the saddle for nearly five decades. The consequences of this reign of violence produce spilling over effects directly into territories of the neighbouring countries.
Over the past two decades, more than a million Burmese workers have fled to Thailand. This has placed tremendous pressure on the Thai governments which is facing its own hardships. Trans-border crime has gone up with a massive influx of narcotics drugs, including heroin and methamphetamines. Trafficking in women and children has increased along the 2,400 km-long Thailand-Burma border. The regime's neglect of health-care has also produced a new HIV/AIDS flow into neighbouring countries.
Within the country, the living standards of average citizens are rapidly falling. The situation is alarming even on the outskirts of Yangon. According to the UN estimation, one child in three under the age of five is suffering from malnutrition.
Field studies by Dr Chris Beyrer (Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health) and his colleagues show that the junta has neglected the health sector. “Burma’s investment in the health infrastructure is one of the lowest worldwide’, the study carried out during 2005 and 2006 shows. The health sector is steeped in corruption, the study says.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has ranked Burma one place above Sierra Leone, which came 191st in a list of countries surveyed. Nearly three-fourth of the country lives below the poverty line. A large slice of the country's budget, an estimated 40-50 percent goes to fund a 400,000-strong armed force.
Health care gets just under three percent of the outlay. A niggardly allocation of $137,000 per year is made for treatment of 52 million people suffering from HIV/Aids. UNICEF reports that spending on healthcare in Burma amounts to 40 cents per citizen per year, compared to $61 in Thailand.
Signalling that defence will continue to attract funding, Russia has signed a contract to deliver 20 MiG-29 planes to Burma’s air force. Kommersant - Russia's Daily Online – reports that the contract is worth nearly 400 million euros (570 million dollars). This is yet another instance of Russia ignoring the sanctions on Burma. China is also ignoring these sanctions. With such friends to defy the world opinion, the junta is unlikely to the mounting pressure from human rights activists and people at large. It will do its best to perpetuate the fraud it had inflicted in the name of a referendum in 2008 on a constitution that is designed to keep the army in power.
The elections scheduled for 2010 will legalize the military rule. Just like the referendum held at gun-point, the forthcoming election will be anything but free and fair. But the question is how long will the junta be able to cling to power?
The socio-economic situation is worsening by the day. Till date, the junta has failed to pay attention to the problem with all its energies focussed on cementing its hold on the structures of governance. National reconciliation is a mantra the Junta recites only when nudged by the outside powers and not otherwise. The junta also does not show respect to the successive resolutions adopted by the UN General Assembly (UNGA) calling for a return of democratic system in Burma through a tripartite dialogue between the Junta led by Senior General Than Shwe, democratic forces led by Aung San Suu Kyi and representatives of ethnic nationalities.
‘A tiger is a tiger and it never lives on grass’, according to a Burmese saying. It is time therefore for the world leaders to mount a campaign to cage the Burmese tiger and to usher in a democracy. Belief in military dictators’ promise of building a democratic country will make them an object of ridicule.
Zin Linn is a freelance Burmese journalist, lives in exile. Now he's working at the NCGUB East Office as an information director and is vice-president of Burma Media Association, which is affiliated with the Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontiers.
- Asian Tribune -
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