Archive for January 20th, 2010
Court to decide on Suu Kyi appeal within month
Court to decide on Suu Kyi appeal within month
January 20, 2010 — Updated 0620 GMT (1420 HKT)
Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been under house arrest 14 of past 20 years.
(CNN) — Myanmar’s Supreme Court in Yangon announced it will decide within a month on pro-democracy leader and Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s appeal of her extended house arrest, her lawyer told CNN.
Such a decision will determine whether the court will proceed with the case.
The military junta has kept her under house arrest for about 14 of the past 20 years. She was sentenced in August to 18 more months of home confinement after being found guilty of violating the terms of her house arrest.
The sentence stemmed from an incident in May when American John Yettaw sneaked uninvited into her house, prompting her to be tried on charges of government subversion.
Suu Kyi, 64, had told the court she didn’t know Yettaw, was unaware of his plans to visit and didn’t report his intrusion because she didn’t want him to get into trouble.
U.S. Senator Jim Webb secured Yettaw’s release after he was sentenced to seven years of hard labor.
Suu Kyi’s two sole companions also were sentenced to 18 months of house arrest, to be served with Suu Kyi.
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/01/20/myanmar.suukyi/
NLD’s Women Groups spread in 22 townships
NLD’s Women Groups spread in 22 townships
As the National League for Democracy (NLD) has extended to organize township women groups, there have been so far 22 groups within seven months, it is reported.
The NLD’s Women Affairs Taskforce (HQ) has supervised to organize township women groups in the divisions of Rangoon, Mandalay and Tenasserim since last June.
“Our main job is to organize. As groups of youth and women are parts of the NLD, they are supportive to implement Party’s plans by means of organizing,” said Dr May Win Myint who is in charge of NLD’s Women Affairs Taskforce in Rangoon Division.
Completed are 12 women groups in Rangoon Division including the townships of Kawmu, Mayangone, Hlaing, Syrim, Insein, Hlaingtharyar, Yankin, Bahan, Kayan, Tharkata and New Dagon, 8 women groups in Tenassarim Division and 2 women groups in Mandalay Division.
Dr May Win Myint said, “We have done both organizing and forming at the same time. In Rangoon, there have already been 12 township women groups. We have meetings once a month. We discuss what the township groups have submitted. We explain to them the policy the NLD’s Central Executive Committee has drawn. In the headquarter we sell things for fundraising. We offer alms to Buddhist monks every Tuesday for freedom of prisoners.”
Ma Aye Aye Mar, member of Women Affaris Taskforce in Mandalay Division of the NLD, said, “According to the instructions from the Central Executive Committee, there remains two to be organized in North-West and North-East townships in Mandalay Division. Those from Meikhtilar and Wandwin have informed us to organize township women groups. We’ve been waiting for the nod from the township chairman.”
Mandalay’s South-East and South-West township women groups were formed on the 5th and 15th of last month respectively.
To form NLD’s Women Affairs Taskforce in States and Divisions, apart from eleven supportive members in Rangoon, 2 each in Mandalay and Sagain and 1 each in Kachin, Arakan, Pegu, Karen, Shan, Magwe and Tenesarim have already been selected and assigned.
Similarly, members of NLD’s Youth Affairs have been organizing in some areas of Upper Burma and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is in charge of Women Affair Committee and Youth affair task force of the NLD (HQ), it is known.
NLD’s Women Affairs Taskforce is under the Committee of Women Affairs.
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Received this news in Burmese from Mizzima
Tension between a battalion of Division 66 and a military intelligence unit
Tension between a battalion of Division 66 and a military intelligence unit
A tension has broken out between a battalion under Division 66 based in Inn-ma village of The-kone Township, Prome District in West Pegu Division and a military intelligence unit
The battalion is Light Infantry Battalion 80 whereas the military intelligence unit has recently come from Rangoon to Light Infantry 5. Such tension has been in the news since last week besides local report.
“What we know is that the tension between Light Infantry Battalion 80 and the intelligence unit recently sent to Light Infantry Battalion 5. It’s been since last week. We heard disobedience caused this tension,” said a dweller from Paun-te Township to Mizzima.
However, in evening programme of BBC (Burmese) yesterday, the disobedience appeared from Light Infantry Battalion 80 under Division 66 and there was firing in the night of last Sunday, injuring one sergeant who later died on the way to a military hospital between Inn-ma village and Ywa-taung village.
When asked by BBC (Burmese), a family member from the army said, “Division 66 is absolutely strict. Now it’s much more. And it has allowed its soldiers to rest. It was a forceful entry from the military intelligence unit that caused this case yesterday. That’s what the villagers told me.”
In addition, BBC (Burmese) broadcast that Light Infantry Battalions 80, 68 and 75, which are all under Division 66, have started disobeying since the third week of December last year because of difficulties in their living.
A Mizzima reporter said that some suspect this time that it resolved in firing each other though such fighting between armed forces and military intelligences is traditional in Burma’s extremely secretive Army.
An ex-army officer living overseas told Mizzima that regarding disobedience because of salary, at least 50 officers as well as rank and file were detained in two light infantries including LIB 80 based in that area around the 20th of last month.
He continued that Colonel San Myint (ID-17953), Commander of Division 66, had been then in a military court.
“It was absolutely not a battle, just a tension. The main cause is difficulties in living that led to their disobedience, comparatively different from those in ethnic armed forces who have had peace accord with the army,” he said.
Garmani, a military analyst, told Mizzima, “It is true that there was a firing between them. But it took a few moments. While one side retreated, it was temporarily calm.”
Division 66 was reportedly accused of violating human rights and forcing labour during its relief work for Nargis around Kadon-kani village in Irrawaddy Division.
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Received this news in Burmese from Mizzima
More Strikes in Hlaing Tharyar Industrial Zone
More Strikes in Hlaing Tharyar Industrial Zone
Within one month, workers from Hlaing Tharyar Industrial zones had two strikes demanding to increase wages and other rights.
On the 7th of this month, approximately one hundred workers from a frozen prawn factory in Hlaing Tharyar Industrial Zone 2 launched a strike just a few weeks after a different strike calling for increased salary in Zone 3 of the same industrial area on the 17th of last month.
“Previously, there were often such injuries at work as finger cuts. Compensation is never enough for treatment,” said an official from a labour supervising committee in the zone.
Burma’s military regime has attempted to deal with the frequent strikes in the industrial zones by means of such supervising committee.
However, workers said about ineffective solutions to labour complaints despite having the committee since it was set up five years ago.
“The workers themselves do not know that the committee has already set up in this mission. Now they have become aware of our committee standing for them,” said one committee member.
“While a textile worker’s daily income, even if 2000 kyat a day, is so low that even a single person cannot find it enough for his living. Thus, our committee is very careful to receive their complaints and solve them,” he continued.
According to a management committee of the Hlaing Tharyar Industrial Zone, this zone is the biggest one in Burma with the workforce of 50,000 to 70,000 workers and it has a variety of factories such as frozen foods, textile, wood, chemicals, household goods, etc. Of all over 800 categories, only about 400 can run for products.
“This year when an election is to be held, the authority does not want the nation in the state of chaos. Therefore, we ourselves have to deal physically with the labour complaints in Hlaing Tharyar. Later in 2008 the employer whose business was on the verge of collapse, resulting in strikes because the demand to increase the wage was not met in spite of the employer’s promise,” said the committee official.
The textile factories have complaints about the increase of daily wages, over-time charges and bonus for punctuality at work, but it is such textile business in Hlaing Tharyar that cannot run well.
“We can say that the 2008 global economic crisis will not be able to recover until 2010. The order we receive today is lower than the past and the market demand in export is decreasing. So, we are worried how to solve the complaints from workers if they demand,” said the manager of A1 textile factory.
In Rangoon Division, there are 19 industrial zones where the majority of ordinary workers are from all over the county.
One official from an administration committee in Rangoon Industrial Zone estimates that there are over 150,000 workers in 9 zones.
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Received this news in Burmese from Mizzima.
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