Burmese Parliament rejects motion to repeal Emergency Provisions Act

Wednesday, 31 August 2011 11:23 Myo Thant Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – A motion in the Burmese Lower House to repeal the 1950 Emergency Provisions Act, which is used to imprison democracy activists, has been overwhelmingly rejected by the majority opposition dominated by the Union Solidarity and Development Party. Only 7 MPs supported the motion made by New Democracy Party MP Thein Nyunt. The motion was...

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Snails destroy more than 100 acres of paddy crops in Mon State

Wednesday, 31 August 2011 23:04 Kun Chan Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – A large, invasive species of snail has destroyed rice crops around seven villages in Chaungzon Township in Mon State, according to local farmers. Since July, the snails have attacked fields in the seaside villages of Kanyaw, Boenakkyi, Downyak, Kawmupon, Selpalar, Hinthakyun and Natmhaw. Mon State Chief Minister U Ohn Myint visited Kawmupon village last week to inspect the villagers’ effort to combat the snail, according to the state-run newspaper New Light of Myanmar. He told...

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Presidential adviser discusses amnesty for Burmese exiles

Wednesday, 31 August 2011 21:16 Tun Tun (Interview) – Burmese President Thein Sein recently encouraged Burmese exiles to return home. One of his presidential advisers  says Parliament will pass a bill to implement the offer. Mizzima correspondent Tun Tun asked Ko Ko Hlaing, a presidential adviser, how the amnesty offer will work. Ko Ko Hlaing explained that all exiles could return and no one...

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Protest to call for release of Burma VJ, other political prisoners

Wednesday, 31 August 2011 14:22 Mizzima News Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – The Free Burma VJ Campaign plans a demonstration on September 9 outside the Burmese embassy in Bangkok to call for the release of imprisoned video journalist, Hla Hla Win. Imprisoned video journalist Hla Hla Win. Photo: Free Burma VJ NGO The NGO plans to hand a letter to the embassy calling for the release of the Burmese video...

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Commemoration of International Literacy Day

Tuesday, 30 August 2011 18:59 Evan (Commentary) – There was a well-known Burmese movie during the Burmese Socialist Programme Party era. It was about a 40-year-old farmer. One day, a group of students from Yangon University reached his village and started to teach the elderly people how to read and write Burmese script. After 40 years without literacy, the farmer finally learned how to write and...

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Mandalay flood victims taking refuge wherever they can find it

Tuesday, 30 August 2011 22:30 Zwe Khant New Delhi (Mizzima) – After heavy flooding in Mandalay for more than a week, hundreds of flood victims are now living in monasteries and temporary camps and compounds in the city. Sainyaungso (meaning Green) members help flood victims in Aungchanthar Quarter in Mandalay on Monday, August 29, 2011. Photo: Saineyaungso Presently, 357 people are living in the...

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Some banned Web sites now accessible in Burma

Tuesday, 30 August 2011 21:25 Tun Tun New Delhi (Mizzima) – Some previously banned Web sites including Mizzima’s Burmese language Web site and other exile-based news Web sites and blogs are now accessible in Burma. IT experts could not explain the new availability and warned that it could be temporary. The English language Web site of Mizzima is still banned, however. Likewise, the Norway-based...

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Verdict expected soon in inheritance dispute between Suu Kyi, brother

Tuesday, 30 August 2011 18:30 Myo Thant Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – The Burmese Supreme Court will issue a ruling soon in an inheritance suit involving the brother of Aung San Suu Kyi, who has appealed for an injunction to stop her from renovating her lakeside home. Attorney Nyan Win, Suu Kyi’s lawyer, said her brother, Aung San Oo, lodged an appeal against the Rangoon Region High Court’s rejection of...

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Suu Kyi article suppressed by Burma’s censorship board

Tuesday, 30 August 2011 15:44 Kyaw Kha Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Burma’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s first effort to publish an article in a Burmese journal has been censored, and she has withdrawn it from publication. The article was about her personal pilgrimage to Bagan, the ancient temple complex in central Burma. The Burmese censorship board is typically referred to as the “Press Kempeitai”...

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Burmese writers organize to protect works of prolific writer Paragu

Tuesday, 30 August 2011 11:18 Mizzima News Rangoon (Mizzima) – Hundreds of books written by one of Burma’s most popular authors have been subject to copyright infringement, but the works will now be protected by his friends in the literary community. Lawyer Aung Soe Oo said that a committee, called the “Literature Police,” would protect Paragu’s books from future copyright infringement and try to...

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ABFSU to restart political activity in Burma to test new government

Tuesday, 30 August 2011 11:04 Phanida Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – To test the new Burmese government’s openness to democracy, the student underground group All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU) is ready to restart political activities inside the country. A ceremony to mark the fourth anniversary of the revived All Burma Federation of Student Unions was held on Sunday at the home of Dr. Ne...

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The Sandalwood Evolution

Monday, 29 August 2011 11:40 Dr. Sein Myint (Commentary) – Even though French perfumes had been introduced to the Ladies in the Court of Ava as early as 18th century, the sweet and soft sandalwood traditional fragrance has always been the favorite “tha-nat-khar” in Burma. Sandalwood bark is ground on a flat stone surface producing a watery perfume paste and was donned by most Burmese ladies until...

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Exiles put forward ‘benchmarks’ for Burma’s government

Monday, 29 August 2011 11:20 Mizzima News New Delhi (Mizzima) – Burmese democracy activists in exile say they do not see the on-going interactions between Aung San Suu Kyi and the Burmese government as a “dialogue” but rather as “talks.” Speaking at a seminar on "Democratization and Reconciliation: Burma at the Crossroads," the activists put forward three key benchmarks if Burma is to see real...

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Armed men fire rocket at Thanbyuzayat police station; no one injured

Monday, 29 August 2011 19:41 Kyaw Kha Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Using a 40 mm rocket launcher, two men opened fire on the Thanbyuzayat Township Police Station in southern Mon State on Monday. No one was injured, according to an officer at the police station. About 10:40 a.m., a dark red motorcycle passed by the station and the passenger on back fired a 40 mm rocket launcher, according to officers. “The person on the back seat fired, but he just hit just the fence of the police station,” said an officer who asked not to named. A search is underway...

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Burma-Bangladesh border dispute set for UN hearing

Monday, 29 August 2011 16:37 Thomas Maung Shwe Chiang Mai (Mizzima) - The United Nations’ International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) will begin hearings September 5 to resolve a heated maritime border dispute between Burma and Bangladesh. Transocean International’s semi-submersible drilling rig, the Actinia. Last year, the Actinia was contracted to drill in Burmese waters. Photo: Mizzima Burma’s...

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Democratic Party–Myanmar to help people abused by authorities

Monday, 29 August 2011 21:18 Tun Tun New Delhi (Mizzima) – Burmese citizens who have been abused by the government or businessmen can take their complaint to the Democratic Party (Myanmar) (DPM) and it will try to solve their problem. The party has formed a committee on relations between Parliament and the public that plans to put forward complaints in the areas of health, society, education and business to the Parliament. Dr. Nyo Nyo Thin, an MP in the Rangoon Region Assembly, said the party had already received about 60 complaints from Rangoon...

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Shocking jail term indicates ‘business as usual’ for Burmese political prisoners

Monday, 29 August 2011 12:54 Mizzima News (Editorial) – The verdict was like a slap in the face—10 years in jail. Just when people were lulled into thinking the new Burmese government was showing openness, a special court in the notorious Insein Prison sentenced a blood donation group volunteer—pushed into the court in a wheelchair—for breaking the Electronics Act. Former Burmese army captain...

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Former military officer sentenced to 10 years in prison under Electronics Act

Saturday, 27 August 2011 12:40 Te Te New Delhi (Mizzima) - The day after the UN human rights envoy left Burma, a special court inside Insein Prison in Rangoon sentenced Nay Myo Zin, a leading volunteer in a blood donation group and a former military officer, to 10 years in prison for possession of an e-mail critical of the military. Nay Myo Zin, a former Burmese Army captain and an active volunteer...

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Opposition MPs in Burma move to release ‘prisoners of conscience’

Friday, 26 August 2011 11:56 Myo Thant Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – A member of Parliament took a new semantic approach on Thursday in a motion asking the Burmese government to release all political prisoners. Lower House MP Thein Nyunt made a motion to release all  “prisoners of conscience” instead. For decades, Burma’s governments have denied the existence of political prisoners, saying such prisoners...

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Burmese gov’t tells UN envoy more amnesty releases for prisoners likely

Friday, 26 August 2011 22:34 Phanida Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – More amnesty releases are likely to be granted to prisoners in Burmese jails, government officials reportedly told Tomas Ojea Quintana, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Burma, when they met in Naypyitaw this week. An aerial view of Burma's Insein Prison in Rangoon. Government officials reportedly told UN envoy Tomas Ojea Quintana...

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Japan to accept Burmese refugees from Umpiem camp

Friday, 26 August 2011 19:37 Tun Tun New Delhi (Mizzima) – Japan will accept the first batch of Burmese refugees from Umpiem refugee camp, the second largest refugee camp on the Thai-Burmese border, in September 2013. Camp officials, said: “In September 2012, Japan will scrutinize the list of refugees. In September 2013, they [the first batch of refugees] will leave from the camp [for Japan],” Saw Wah Htee, the chairman of the Umpiem refugee camp committee, told Mizzima. Relevant Japanese officials and officials of the Mae Sot [on the Thai side...

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NLD leader Win Tin declines to participate in press award committee

Friday, 26 August 2011 12:23 Tun Tun New Delhi (Mizzima) – A National League for Democracy leader says he will not take part in a Burmese group that says it will hand out national-level press awards. NLD central executive committee member Win Tin said he should not participate because he is a member of a political and civic group. Win Tin, a former journalist who is now a leader in the National...

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Four Burmese political parties discuss political prisoners with UN envoy

Thursday, 25 August 2011 21:09 Mizzima News Rangoon (Mizzima) – Four allied political parties including the Democratic Party (Myanmar) met with UN special rapporteur for human rights in Burma Tomas Ojea Quintana on Thursday to discuss the release of all political prisoners. UN human rights envoy Tomas Ojea Quintana talks to the press at Yangon International Airport on August 21, as he arrived...

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