Thai Rice prize up is effective on Burma rice market

Thai rice prizes was up last a few months ago. All kinds of rice prizes raise to nearly twice for retail seal. For example ,middle class of rice 40 kilo packed prize was up 770 Baht to 1000 for hole sale .But for retail sale one kilo of rice prize up 25 to 40 Baht. It became to effective on migrants workers from Burma. They are stand on very low amount of daily income and rice is their main food. They can’t effort for that height price.
So that , they try to find cheaper way . Same quality of Burma rice is cheaper than the Thai rice .For 40 kilo packed of Burmese rice is only 750 Baht for whole sale. That why, Burmese rice started flow to Thailand from border trade way. Each and every where ,most of retail shops in border area they sell only Burma rice because it is cheap. It might be a big problem for Burma rice market. Next planning time will be start at coming raining season of July. Burmese farmer already sale their products .They are not ready for another market demand. Now, most of rice products are in the hand of hole seller merchants in Burma. We can say that they must sell their own rice who gives height prize. Border trade can give height prize than the local trade. That why, the prize of rice became up in Burma.
We’d like to compare different between Thai basic citizens and Burma citizens. The basic income of normal Thai citizen is 3500Baht (nearly 135000Kyats) and for basic income of Burmese citizen is around the 30000Kyats (some are lower than that amount).Rice prize up is bring some difficulties for Thai people but it is bring starvation for Burmese people. They are already suffering economic crisis before this .We hard some news about SPDC action .They blocked to bring rice to border area and also they started collect big amount of rice for their community . But we need to consider it will be really effective? Because they couldn’t control the illegal border trade since many years ago.

We just can pray for that poor people of Burma under control of the SPDC dictatorship. Coming Burma’s New Year may bring some thing batter change for Burma.
D-Wave

ျပည္ပဆန္တင္ပို႔သူမ်ားက ေစ်းႀကီးေပး၀ယ္ေနသျဖင့္ ျပည္တြင္း၌ ဆန္ေစ်းမ်ားဆက္တိုက္တက္
NEJ/ ၁၁ ဧၿပီ ၂၀၀၈(http://www.khitpyaing.org/)

ျပည္ပတင္ပို႔မည့္သူမ်ား ေစ်းႀကီးေပး ၀ယ္ယူေနသည့္အတြက္ (၂၅) မွတ္ ဆန္အျပင္ အျခား ဆန္အမ်ိဳးအစားမ်ားလည္း ေစ်းလိုက္ တက္ေနေၾကာင္း ျမန္မာႏိုင္ငံ ဆန္ကုန္သည္ႀကီးမ်ား အသင္းမွ ကုန္သည္ႀကီးတဦးက ေျပာသည္။
၎က “ ခုရက္ပိုင္း ဆန္ ႏိုင္ငံျခား တင္ခြင့္ရထားတဲ့ ကုမၸဏီေတြ သိမ္းက်ဳံး၀ယ္ေနလို႔ မိုးဇီယာ ဆန္ေတြ တပတ္ေက်ာ္အတြင္း တအိတ္ က်ပ္ (၂,၀၀၀) နီးပါး တက္သြားတယ္။ တေန႔ကို က်ပ္ (၂၀၀-၃၀၀- ၅၀၀) တက္ေနရင္းနဲ႔ ၿပီးခဲဲ့တဲ့ (၁၀) ရက္ေက်ာ္က တအိတ္ က်ပ္ (၁၅,၀၀၀) ေလာက္ ရွိေနရာကေန အခုဆို တအိတ္ က်ပ္ (၁၇,၀၀၀) အထိ ေရာက္ေနတယ္” ဟု ေျပာသည္။
ဘုရင့္ေနာင္ ပဲြ႐ံုတန္းမွ ဆန္ကုန္သည္တဦးကလည္း ယခင္က (၂၅) မွတ္ အဆင့္အတန္း အိပ္စ္ပို႔ဆန္ တတန္လွ်င္ ေဒၚလာ (၃၀၀) ေအာက္သာ ရေသာ္လည္း ယခုေနာက္ပိုင္း ကမၻာ့ဆန္ေစ်းတက္လာ၍ ေဒၚလာ (၄၀၀) ေက်ာ္ ရလာေၾကာင္း၊ ထုိ႔ေၾကာင့္ ဆန္တအိတ္ကို ျမန္မာေငြ က်ပ္ (၂၀,၀၀၀) ေက်ာ္ ေစ်းႏႈန္းရွိေနေၾကာင္း၊ ကုမၸဏီမ်ားက ေစ်းကြက္ထဲ၌ ဆန္တအိတ္ က်ပ္ (၁၃,၅၀၀) မွ (၁၄,၀၀၀) က်ပ္အထိ ေပး၀ယ္ၿပီး ႏိုင္ငံျခား တင္ပို႔ရန္ ႀကိဳးစားေနၾကေၾကာင္း ေျပာသည္။
နအဖစစ္အစိုးရက ဆန္ပိုလွ်ံ ေဒသမ်ားျဖစ္သည့္ ဧရာ၀တီတိုင္း၊ ပဲခူးတိုင္းႏွင့္ စစ္ကိုင္းတိုင္းတုိ႔မွ ဆန္တန္ခ်ိန္ (၄) သိန္းကို ၿပီးခဲ့သည့္ ဒီဇင္ဘာ (၂၆) ရက္မွစ၍ ၎တို႔ႏွင့္ နီးစပ္သည့္ ကုမၸဏီ (၂၄) ခုကို ျပည္ပတင္ပို႔ခြင့္ ပါမစ္မ်ား ထုတ္ေပးခဲ့ေၾကာင္း အဆိုပါ ဆန္ကုန္သည္က ေျပာသည္။
ထိုအခ်ိန္၌ ကမၻာ့ဆန္ေစ်းကြက္တြင္ ဗီယက္နမ္ (၂၅) မွတ္ဆန္ တတန္ ေဒၚလာ (၅၀၀) ခန္႔ ရွိေသာ္လည္း ျမန္မာဆန္က ေဒၚလာ (၃၀၀) ေအာက္သာ ရရွိျခင္း၊ ေငြလဲႊစနစ္ အဆင္မေျပျခင္း၊ ျပည္တြင္း၌ ေဒၚလာေငြ တန္ဖိုး က်ဆင္းေနျခင္း စသည့္အခ်က္မ်ားေၾကာင့္ ၿပီးခဲ့သည့္ မတ္လ (၄) ရက္ထိ ဆန္တန္ခ်ိန္ (၁) သိန္းခဲြခန္႔သာ တင္ပို႔ေရာင္းခ်ႏိုင္ခဲ့ေၾကာင္း ၎က ဆက္လက္ ရွင္းျပသည္။
ဧၿပီလဆန္းပိုင္းတြင္မူ ကမၻာ့ဆန္ေစ်းကြက္၌ ဆန္တင္ပို႔သည့္ ႏိုင္ငံမ်ားက တင္ပို႔မႈ ေလ်ာ့ခ်လာ ေသာေၾကာင့္ ဆန္ေစ်း ျပန္လည္ျမင့္တက္လာသည့္အတြက္ ျမန္မာႏိုင္ငံမွ ဆန္တင္ပို႔ခြင့္ ပါမစ္ ရထားသည့္ ကုမၸဏီမ်ားက ယခုကဲ့သုိ႔ အလုအယက္ ၀ယ္ယူတင္ပို႔ လာၾကျခင္းျဖစ္ေၾကာင္း သိရသည္။
ရန္ကုန္ၿမိဳ႕မွ စီးပြားေရး ပညာရွင္တဦးက “ဆန္ေစ်းေတြ ေစ်းထိုးတက္မွာ၊ ဆန္ျပတ္လတ္မွာ သိပ္မစိုးရိမ္ရဘူး။ စစ္အစိုးရက ဆန္စပါးကိစၥကို အေရးႀကီးကိစၥလို႔ သတ္မွတ္ထားၿပီး အၿမဲမျပတ္ ေစာင့္ၾကည့္ေနတာ၊ ဆန္ေစ်းတက္မယ္၊ ဆန္ျပတ္လတ္မယ္လို႔ ယူဆတာနဲ႔ ဆန္တင္ပို႔မႈကို ခ်က္ခ်င္းပိတ္ပစ္မွာ” ဟု ေျပာသည္။
ယခုေလာေလာဆယ္တြင္ ဆန္ေစ်းမ်ားမွာ ယခင္လကထက္ (၂၄) ျပည္ပါ ဆန္တအိတ္ကို (၁,၅၀၀) က်ပ္မွ (၂,၀၀၀) က်ပ္ခန္႔အထိ ျမင့္တက္ေနၿပီး လက္လီတျပည္ခ်င္းေစ်းမွာ(၅၀) က်ပ္မွ (၁၀၀) က်ပ္ခန္႔အထိ ျမင့္တက္ေနသည္။
ယေန႔ဆန္ေစ်းႏႈန္း

ေတာင္ပ်ံ (၁) အိတ္ ယခင္ ၂၀,၀၀၀ က်ပ္ ယခု ၂၂,၀၀၀ က်ပ္
ဖ်ာပံုရွယ္ (၁)အိတ ္ ယခင္ ၂၄,၅၀၀ က်ပ္ ယခု၂၆,၀၀၀ က်ပ္
ဖ်ာပံုထူးထူးရွယ္ (၁)အိတ္ ယခင္ ၂၆,၀၀၀ က်ပ္ ယခု၂၇,၀၀၀ က်ပ္
ေပၚဆန္းေမြး (၁) အိတ္ ယခင္ ၂၂,၀၀၀ က်ပ္ ယခု၂၃,၀၀၀ က်ပ္
ဇီယာ (၁) အိတ္ ယခင္ ၁၅,၅၀၀ က်ပ္ ယခု၁၇,၀၀၀ က်ပ္
ငစိန္ (၁) အိတ္ ယခင္ ၁၃,၀၀၀ က်ပ္ ယခု၁၃,၅၀၀ က်ပ္

Memory of Luhtu Daw Ah Mar

ျပည္သူခ်စ္ေသာ စာေရးဆရာ လူထုေဒၚအမာ၏ စ်ာပန ေအးခ်မ္းစြာၿပီးဆုံး



ၿပီးခဲ့သည့္ တနလၤာေန႔၌ ကြယ္လြန္ခဲ့သည့္ သတင္းစာဆရာ၊ စာေရးဆရာမႀကီး လူထုေဒၚအမာ အသက္ (၉၃) ႏွစ္၏ စ်ာပနကို ယေန႔နံနက္တြင္ မႏၲေလးၿမိဳ႕၌ က်င္းပၿပီး ၎၏ ႐ုပ္ကလာပ္ကို ၾကာနီကန္သုႆာန္၌ မီးသၿဂႋဳဟ္လိုက္ေၾကာင္း သိရသည္။
လူထုေဒၚအမာ၏ စ်ာပနသို႔ ေမာင္သာႏိုး၊ ေမာင္မိုးသူ၊ ေမာင္၀ံသ၊ ၾကည္ေအာင္၊ ထက္ျမက္၊ သန္းျမင့္ေအာင္ စသည့္ ျမန္မာႏိုင္ငံအႏွံ႔အျပားမွ စာေပအႏုပညာရွင္မ်ား လာေရာက္ၾကၿပီး ၿမိဳ႕ခံလူထုကလည္း ေသာင္းေသာင္းျဖျဖ လုိက္ပါပို႔ေဆာင္ခဲ့ၾကသည္ဟု စ်ာပနသို႔ သြားေရာက္ သူတုိ႔က ေျပာသည္။
စာေရးဆရာ ေမာင္မိုးသူက “အားလံုး ေအးေအးခ်မ္းခ်မ္း အဆင္ေျပေျပ ၿပီးဆံုးသြားပါတယ္။ အေမ့ကို ေနာက္ဆံုး လြမ္းတဲ့အေနနဲ႔ ျပည္သူခ်စ္တဲ့ စာေရးဆရာႀကီးကို မႏၲေလးတင္မကဘူး တျပည္လံုးမွာရွိတဲ့ စာေပအႏုပညာနယ္ပယ္က လူေတြအေနနဲ႔ ထိုက္ထိုက္တန္တန္ စည္စည္ ကားကားႀကီး ပို႔လိုက္ရပါတယ္” ဟု ေျပာသည္။
လူထုေဒၚအမာသည္ ၿမိဳ႕မ်က္ႏွာဖံုး မိခင္ႀကီးတဦးျဖစ္ၿပီး အမွန္တရားဘက္မွ အၿမဲတမ္းရပ္တည္ သြားသည့္ ပုဂၢိဳလ္ႀကီးျဖစ္သည့္အတြက္ ၿမိဳ႕ခံလူထုက ႐ုပ္အေလာင္းသယ္ေဆာင္သြားရာ လမ္း တေလွ်ာက္ လမ္းေဘး၀ဲယာမွ ထြက္၍ ဂါရ၀ျပဳၾကသည္ဟု မႏၲေလးၿမိဳ႕ခံတဦးက ေျပာသည္။
ကဗ်ာဆရာ ကိုေလး (အင္း၀) ကလည္း “သိပ္စည္တယ္ဗ်ာ၊ ခန္႔မွန္းေခ် ေသာင္းဂဏန္းမကဘူး။ ေတာ္ေတာ္မ်ားတယ္ဗ်ာ။ ၾကာနီကန္ထဲမွာဆို လူေတြအျပည့္ပဲ။ ေဒၚေဒၚကေတာ့ မီးသၿဂႋဳဟ္ စက္ထဲေရာက္ေနၿပီ။ ေခါင္းတိုင္ထဲက မီးခိုးေလးေတြ ေပ်ာက္ခနဲ ေပ်ာက္ခနဲ မည္းခနဲ မည္းခနဲ ထြက္လာၿပီဗ်ာ။ အဲဒါကို ဦးေလး (လူထုဦးလွ) ဆံုးတုန္းကေတာ့ ကဗ်ာေလးတပုဒ္ ေရးတာေပါ့ဗ်ာ။ မီးသၿဂႋဳဟ္စက္ မည္းနက္မီးခိုး မိုးထဲလြင့္ပ်ံ ျပန္မလာေတာ့ဘူးေပါ့ေနာ္၊ ခုလည္း ဒါပဲ ေရးရ မွာပဲဗ်ာ” ေျပာသည္။
စ်ာပနကို အာဏာပိုင္မ်ားက ေစာင့္ၾကည့္မႈမ်ား ရွိေသာ္လည္း အေႏွာင့္အယွက္ တစံုတရာ ေပး ျခင္းမရွိေၾကာင္း၊ စ်ာပနတြင္ အမ်ဳိးသားဒီမိုကေရစီအဖြဲ႕ခ်ဳပ္ႏွင့္ ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္တို႔၏ အမည္မ်ားျဖင့္ လြမ္းသူ႔ပန္းျခင္းမ်ားေတြ႕ရေၾကာင္း စ်ာပနသို႔ သြားေရာက္သူတို႔က ေျပာသည္။
လူထုေဒၚအမာသည္ ကိုလိုနီေခတ္ကတည္းက တကၠသုိလ္ေက်ာင္းသူဘ၀ျဖင့္ တုိင္းျပည္ႏွင့္ လူမ်ဳိးလြတ္ေျမာက္ေရးအတြက္ ရဲရဲ၀့ံ၀ံ့တုိက္ပြဲ၀င္ခဲ့သူျဖစ္ၿပီး ဘ၀တေလွ်ာက္လံုး ျပည္သူဘက္မွ အစဥ္ရပ္တည္ကာ လူထုအက်ဳိးျပဳ စာေပမ်ားကို အဆက္မျပတ္ေရးသားခဲ့သည္။ လူထုေဒၚအမာ ကြယ္လြန္ခဲ့ေသာ္လည္း တန္ဖိုးမျဖတ္ႏိုင္သည့္ စာေပအေမြအႏွစ္မ်ားကို ျပည္သူလူထုအတြက္ ခ်န္ရစ္ထားခဲ့သည္။
ကြယ္လြန္သူ လူထုေဒၚအမာတြင္ ရဲေဘာ္ ဖိုးသံေခ်ာင္း၊ ဦးၿငိမ္းခ်မ္း (ညီပုေလး)၊ ေဒါက္တာ သန္းရင္မာႏွင့္ ေဒၚတင္၀င္းတို႔ သားသမီး (၄) ဦး က်န္ရစ္သည္။ ။

Fifty-four Burmese Migrants Die from Suffocation

(Thailand volunteer rescue workers remove the bodies of dead Burmese migrant workers Thursday, April 10, from the back of a seafood van in Ranong, Thailand. (Photo:AP)

Fifty-four Burmese migrants suffocated to death in a container truck on Wednesday in Ranong Province on the west coast of Thailand while they were attempting to enter the country illegally.

The deaths occurred in Suksamran District near Koh Thong, Burma. Among the victims, 37 were women and 17 were men. Sixty-seven migrants survived the ordeal.Twenty-one migrants were hospitalized while the rest were detained for questioning, according to a report from the The Prevention of HIV/AIDs Among Migrant Workers in Thailand Project (PHAMIT) on Thursday.

The truck was enroute to Phang Nga and Phuket in Southern Thailand, two locations where many illegal migrants seek work.

Police blamed the driver of the container truck for failing to turn on the air conditioning in the back of the truck. The surviving workers told police they sneaked into Ranong Province from Koh Thong in a fishing boat on Wednesday night and were then packed into a small container truck for the trip.

The workers told police that after about two hours many of them began falling sick because of poor ventilation in the container. The Burmese knocked loudly to signal the driver, and he eventually stopped the truck and discovered the bodies. He fled from the scene. A local villager alerted police.

Dr Pornpong Jitprathum, the director Suksamran Hospital, said forensic tests attributed the deaths to suffocation.

Pol Maj Gen Apirak Hongthong, the Ranong Provincial police commander, said police interrogated the owner of the truck, who is suspected of being involved in a smugPolice said the driver of the truck, who was identified as Suchon Bunplong, 38, of Ranong is missing.

The truck's owner, who was detained for questioning Thursday, claimed he was unaware the vehicle was being used to transport migrants from Burma, police said. He was not under arrest.

“The bodies were buried on Thursday morning in Hindad Graveyard in Ranong, but some relatives came to identify the bodies and take them back for a funeral,” a staff member of the Ranong Songkraoh Foundation told The Irrawaddy on Thursday.

Television reports showed police lifting bodies out of the truck and images of the cargo-like container empty except for a few pieces of clothing. The dead migrants—many wearing little more than T-shirts, shorts and flip-flops—were seen laid out on the floor at a storage facility of a local charity.

Police did not immediately know what jobs they were heading for, but illegal migrants from Burma generally come to the country to work in the fishing and construction industries or as maids.

Survivors told police that they each paid 10,000 baht (US $314) to be smuggled into Thailand and they sneaked into Ranong province from Burma's Victoria Point by fishing boat on Wednesday night.

Ranong province is about 460 kilometers south of Bangkok just across from Burma's Victoria Point, and is regarding as a major point of trade between the two countries.

About 1 million workers are registered to work in Thailand, and an additional 1 million are estimated to be in the country illegally to work mostly as laborers, joining hundreds of thousands from Cambodia and Laos.

The illegal workers lack legal protection and are often ruthlessly exploited.

The London-based human rights group Amnesty International found in a 2005 report that workers from Burma take jobs that Thais consider too dirty, dangerous or demeaning, "are routinely paid well below the Thai minimum wage, work long hours in unhealthy conditions and are at risk of arbitrary arrest and deportation."

Many also face great risk in reaching Thailand.In December, authorities recovered the bodies of 22 Burmese migrants found floating off the west coast of Thailand in the Andaman Sea. They were believed to be trying to enter Thailand illegally.
The incident was reminiscent of the deaths in 2001 of 58 illegal Chinese migrants in a sweltering tomato truck in Britain, which exposed the murky underworld of people-smuggling gangs profiting from migrants who hope to earn a living in more developed countries.
A group of 19 Latin American migrants died from overheating and suffocation in a tractor-trailer truck in the US state of Texas in 2003.

Statement of Sanana Moli International Burmese Monks Organization ,INC

Sanana Moli International Burmese Monks Organization ,INC announced special issue statement dated at 4-4-2008.
They requested to all monks and people of Burma living all over the world.Start peacefully boycott action at 26Th April of this year.They requested to people of Burma to give NO VOTE to referendum.Also they requested to UN secretary Mr Bankimoon ,go to Burma and negotiate with Military Regime and UN scurity council action to Burma Issue.

We can do campaign in Thinggyan

Dear All Readers;
Every body know that Thinggyan is our traditional water festival and welcome ceremony of Burma’s new year. We play with water for the propose of to clean the dirty things of old year and welcome to new year.Every body play water ,donate foods ,escape animals such as fishes ,cows and birds. Worship to Buddha ,monks and older persons.This is meaningful festival for Burmese people.
We can collect each other and can celebrate many things concern with water festival.So we can clean unacceptable things of our society .
What we mean are that we can do many campaigns in Thinggyan festival by our unity .We can pray for the people of Burma to escape under control of the SPDC.Making donation to monks and we can wish freedom for political prisoners and Burmese people freedom when we make escape animals.At the first day of our new year, Batten on iron metals and iron tanks to make a loud noise song and drive out ghosts ,evils and person from SPDC who are we do not want .
We attached an essay of Min Thwe Khaing the title of “Atta Thinggyan (or) The boycott action of Burmese people”.
We wish you may have better new year.

Ludu Daw Amar (Ludu Da Ah Mar) passed away

Ludu Daw Amar (Ludu Da Ah Mar) passed away

April 7, 2007 - Ludu Daw Amar (Ludu Da Ah Mar), the most respected female dissident writer and journalist passed away at Mondalay General Hospital on Monday 8: 37 a.m .

Local News in Brief

Burma’s NLD Calls for a Referendum “No” Vote

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By WAI MOE

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

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Burma’s main opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), called on the electorate for the first time on Wednesday to cast a “No” vote in the constitutional referendum in May.

The party, headed by pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, said a “No” vote was necessary because the proposed constitution had not been written by elected representatives of the people but by “hand-picked puppets” of the regime.

The draft constitution, drawn up by the regime-constituted National Convention, and a general election to be held in May are the fourth and fifth steps of the junta’s seven-step “road map to a disciplined democracy”.

The NLD’s announcement on Wednesday said the proposed constitution broke a basic principle of democracy, under which authority had to come from the people. It also failed to guarantee democratic values and human rights.

By voting against the draft constitution, the people would be practicing their rights, said NLD spokesman Thein Nyunt. The state powers being exercised by the regime had not originated with the people, he told The Irrawaddy —“Therefore it is the responsibility of all citizens to take back people-power.”

The NLD had been criticized for failing to take an early stand on the referendum. Aung Naing Oo, a Burmese political commentator based in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand, welcomed the NLD’s call now for a “No” vote and said it increased the party’s credibility.

Another Burmese political analyst, Htay Aung, said that dissidents inside Burma had called for a “No” vote, and predicted a “confrontation” ahead of the referendum.

Several activists had been attacked in Rangoon because of their views, he said—“These violent acts by the security forces and thugs backed by the junta don’t seem to stop,” he said.

Fourteen members of the Committee Representing the Peoples’ Parliament (CRPP), which was formed by successful candidates in the 1990 election, have also called for rejection of the proposed constitution by the Burmese people as well as internationally.

The document had been written without the participation of the NLD or ethnic party representatives and without meeting the expectations of ethnic nationalities, the CRPP members said.

They described the draft constitution as “a sham,” and said they expected the junta to claim a referendum victory “by cheating and fraud.”

Monks arrested in September

September's Records

LUHTU SEINWIN Statement

6th month memorial day of September 2007 Saffron revolution

6^th month memorial day of September 2007 Saffron revolution

Dear all readers ;

As you all know, today is 6^th month Memorial Day of saffron revolution.

The September ’07 demonstrations lead by the Buddhist clergy and fully supported by the overwhelming majority of the citizens, was brutally crushed by the military. This fact was well established through print and television media around the world.

Although monks in the past, during the colonial period of the British, and the Japanese occupation in 1942-45, were killed because of their involvement in political matters, never in the history of the Burmese people, have so many Buddhist monks been brutally killed, beaten, and shown absolute disregard by those in power who are, and call themselves Buddhist. It is a sad and dark chapter of Burma’s history indeed.

Images of the saffron’s peaceful revolution will never disappear, not only in our minds but also in the minds of people from all over the world.

We believed, everybody could not forget 2007 September. Some monks and people died in that action. Some are still in prison .Most of people in Burma are living in fear with loss of their rights, in poverty and survive on a daily basis in economic crisis.

Although, the top generals and their concerns are unbelievably rich ,there are nearly 2 millions people living around the border area and refugee camps. Some ethnic people were forced to migrate from their homes and some people migrate in such of batter life. At least 70% of children lost their right to an education . How ever, SPDC says situation in Burma is improving a lot. Facts and data show Burma’s people are still suffering for many weaknesses such as lack of health care, education, social welfare and loss of right to speak and write. They are afraid to express their sufferings of SPDC doing .For example , raising the all prizes, taxes, illegal tax like forced donation for SPDC work, porter revenue, forced volunteers labor revenue etc. They struggle for their survival with a small amount of income or salary. Not only poor people but also lower positioned soldier’s families are face with starvations.

But now, SPDC moved toward referendum under the steps of their road map. Burmese people and world society realize the referendum can’t solve the problems in Burma. .We need more effective action from world society ,especially UN. But only the criticize is not enough to change. Unfortunately ,we don’t have more time to wait because of SPDC announcements 1/2008 and 2/2008 .For pointed out two ways for our people.

“ Well we and the generations to follow us be in a state of servitude under the military regime or will we stand up against it ? ”

It is time to show people what we desire . We want people to realize their future is in their hands. We can do many campaigns to dismantle SPDC dictatorship. It is time to realize that only the people power can force out the dictatorship.

D-Wave

You can download Thangyat ,part1 and 2

Part 1http://www.mediafire.com/?x2gjnvmj4is
Part 2http://www.mediafire.com/?da1bdkmh5hj

Will Burmese migrants be able to vote?

Most countries provide some form of absentee voting for nationals who live abroad or facilitate voting for internal migrants who have returned home to vote.

Migrants represent a constituency that can be a powerful lobby in referendums and elections, and can, sometimes, determine an election’s outcome.

In Zimbabwe, The Congress of Trade Unions has called on 3 million Zimbabweans living and working in South Africa to return home to vote in the March 29th election.

In a recent election in Kelantan, Malaysia, the Barisan Nasional Party blamed its defeat on the failure of a large number of Kelantanese living outside the state to return home to vote.

In Thailand, Section 99 of the 2007 Constitution enshrines the right of Thai nationals who reside outside their constituency or outside the country to vote. In the December national election, polling booths for absentee voters were set up a week before the vote. For Thai migrants, who returned home to vote, a public holiday was declared to allow more time to travel.

In Burma, with a referendum on the constitution scheduled in May, Burmese migrants are wondering will they be able to exercise their right to vote?

Burmese migrants have never had the opportunity to vote, although many have grown up hearing stories from their parents about voting in the 1990 election, only to have the vote ignored by the junta.

While migrants fear the same thing may happen this time, they will never know unless they are able to vote.

There are many hurdles for Burmese migrants to overcome, if they are to be allowed to vote. The deck, as usual, seems stacked against them.

The first hurdle entails knowing how to register to vote. Embassies are usually the best source of information for overseas nationals on such issues, but it is no easy task to get any information from the Burmese embassy in Bangkok.

Families in Burma are being instructed to tell their migrant relatives to return home quickly to be included on the voting registrar and obtain an ID card to be eligible to vote.

If successful, that could entail making two trips home: one to register and one to cast a “No” or “Yes” vote. Such trips would not only cost migrants precious money and time, but could also cost them their legal status in Thailand.

When migrant workers in Thailand register for a temporary work permit they are legally confined to the province where they register. Crossing a provincial border could lead to the loss of their legal status and crossing the border into Burma would automatically render the migrant illegal under current laws.

Some 367,834 Burmese migrants in Thailand hold a work permit that will expire on June 30th. Registration to extend the permit for another year begins on June 1. If these migrants choose to return home to vote, would they be able to return to Thailand to register for a work permit again?

Even if the Thai government decided to support the migrants’ right to vote and facilitated their return, migrants would have another hurdle to overcome: their employers.

Employers of migrant workers are usually reluctant to give migrants time off from work; would they support a week off to return home to vote? Would their jobs be there when they returned?

According to a recent article in The Bangkok Post, Thai Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama said: “If Myanmar [Burma] wants assistance from Thailand (on the referendum), we are ready to offer help as a friendly country.” Thailand’s help is badly needed by the 360,000 registered Burmese migrants and 1.2 million unregistered migrants.

If the Burmese embassy in Bangkok becomes a polling station, Thailand’s help would be needed to issue migrants temporary travel passes to go to Bangkok to vote.

The Burmese regime could also set up polling stations located close to the Thai border specifically for migrants as they do on the American-Mexican border. In this scenario Thailand would need to provide some sort of document or amnesty on travel restrictions to allow migrants to travel safely to and from the border.

If the regime demands that migrants return home first to register and then to vote, Thailand’s assistance would be needed to provide travel documents or border passes and to ensure that employers grant workers time off to perform their civil duty and guarantee their jobs upon their return.

The Burmese regime has provided almost no information about the referendum process, the actual voting or the contents of the constitution.

If Thailand is open hearted and willing to aid Burmese migrants who want to vote in the referendum, it will be necessary to act quickly. And if Asean is truly a caring community, it will actively support systems for Burmese migrants in Malaysia and Singapore to also be able to vote.

Referendum:"NO"Vote Gaining Momentum

By SAW YAN NAING
Thursday, March 20, 2008, -->
A vote “No” movement is gaining momentum throughout Burma as the May referendum date—still yet to be announced—draws near.
Various activists and citizens in Rangoon, Mandalay and Kachin and Arakan states are urging the public to take a stand against the military-crafted draft constitution, which has still not been made public.
The military regime announced on February 9 it would hold a national referendum on the draft constitution in May and a multi-party election in 2010.
Public reaction to the referendum has been colored by the 2007 uprising, in which the UN said at least 31 protesters including monks were killed by security forces.
Nyi Nyi, a businessman in Sittwe in Arakan State, said, “There is no reason to support the junta. I will not vote “Yes” in the referendum because there is no justice.”
A resident in Mandalay, the second largest city, predicted that almost all Mandalay citizens would vote “No” in the referendum.
“It’s not because they don’t understand the constitution,” he said, “but because they dislike the military regime.”Even government staffers are saying they will vote ‘No,’” he said.
An elderly housewife in Sittwe was coy when asked by The Irrawaddy how she would vote. “I’ve decided to vote, but it is early to tell,” she said. “Let’s see when we vote. You will realize what I mean.”
In Myitkyina, many residents told The Irrawaddy that they would vote “No,” while others said they would boycott the referendum.
Ma Brang said, “I will vote ‘No.’ Many people—almost all—in Myitkyina think like me.”
Another Myitkyina resident said, “I will not vote in the referendum. If authorities try to talk to me, I’m ready to complain to them.”
He said the constitution process was a “fake” and it failed to guarantee the rights of ethnic groups in Burma. The constitution will only guarantee that the junta is able to hold on to power, he said.
A Rangoon resident told The Irrawaddy that most of his friends are prepared to vote “No” while others they will boycott the referendum.
“For me, I will not support the referendum for sure. I’m deciding whether to vote “No” or not to vote.”
Meanwhile, Burmese activists in Rangoon have launched new anti-government campaigns against the national referendum, urging people to boycott the referendum.
Activists have also distributed VCDs filled with jokes aimed at the junta’s referendum by the well-known a-nyeint comedy troupe, Thee Lay Thee & Say Young Sone.
Meanwhile, the Burmese regime has launched its own publicity campaigns in support of a “Yes” vote on the referendum.
In early March, local authorities in Rangoon, including the Township Peace and Development Council and the Ward Peace and Development Council, were ordered to lobby residents to vote “Yes” by the chairman of the Rangoon division of the Peace and Development Council, Brig-Gen Hla Htay Win, and Home Minister Maung Oo, according to sources in the former capital.
Local authorities in Rangoon and other regions, especially in ethnic states, have also offered temporary citizen identification cards to adults while urging them to vote “Yes,” sources said.
Some residents who have openly spoken out against the referendum have been threatened by authorities, sources told The Irrawaddy.
The regime recently enacted a new law that calls for up to three years imprisonment and a 100,000 kyat (US $91) fine for anyone convicted of making anti-government statements or distributing posters opposing the referendum. The law also bans monks and nuns from voting.
Despite the restrictions, a Burmese migrant worker in Singapore, who asked for anonymity, said, “I will vote in the referendum because if I don’t vote, I will loose my vote. But I will vote “No.”
Meanwhile, the All Burma Monks Alliance released a statement this week calling on all citizens and Buddhist monks to remember the September 2007 crackdown and to boycott the May referendum and the state-run religious examinations to be held this month.

People's Opinion on Referendum

Dear all

I want to share my opinon.As for me ,I don't trust that dictatorship.They never keep their promises .You can think back their past action.My idea is that,boycott referendum and I do accept all camping against dictatorship.

TA

NO Vote or Vote No !

No Vote or Vote no?


Dear All Readers

As you all know, this is important time for our country. Most of the people not clear for the action of No vote or vote no. What we mean are that will we be boycott the referendum or give against vote. We hard various reasons from both side .From political groups, from old politicians and many people. We really eager to hear your idea .What is the effective and ineffective of no vote and vote no.
Please send your opinion about that title.We are sure ,we will post all of your ideas on our web blog the title of the people opinion on referendum .We’d like to invite not only Burmese people but also a person who love democracy and human rights.

Thank you in advance.

One month Memorial Ceremony of Pado Man Sha

Date-March ,14 ,2008

One month memorial ceremony of Pado Man Sha (KNU and NCUB leader) celebrated at the office of NCGUB.There were nearly 150 people attented .Donated to 5 monks with lunch and some goods .General Tarmalarbol (KNU and NCGUB chairman) gave opening speech and Major Saw Hla Ngwe (KNU) gave speech about memorial of Man Sha's action for the Karen revolution and Burma's democracy movement.

Burma's Human Rights Day

Date 13March 13, 2008

Old RIT (Rangoon Institute Technology) students celebrated Burma’s Human rights day in Thai border. Nearly 60 people who are( 74 generation students, 88 generation students and 2007 saffron generation students ) some medias and some guests came there and shared their past experiences about student movement in Burma.After the discussion, they all agreed for the action of
-Try for to free all political prisoners
- Try for Dialogue
- Boycott Referendum


Some political groups such as NCGUB, BPPU sent their statements for Burma’s Human Rights day .

Statements at Burma's Human Rights Day

Bush Says US Will Not Abandon Burma

US President George W Bush (C) signs a proclamation honoring Women's History Month during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC. Bush paid tribute to women who have defied the governments of Belarus, Cuba and Burma, promising US help as they "stand up for the freedom of their people." (Photo:AFP)

Bush Says US Will Not Abandon Burma
By LALIT K JHA
Tuesday, March 11, 2008, -->
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President George W Bush said on Monday the United States would continue to work till the “tide of freedom reaches the Burmese shores.”
Bush, addressing a meeting honoring Women’s History Month at the White House with his wife, Laura Bush, said, “America honors women like Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma.”
US President George W Bush (C) signs a proclamation honoring Women's History Month during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC. Bush paid tribute to women who have defied the governments of Belarus, Cuba and Burma, promising US help as they "stand up for the freedom of their people." (Photo:AFP)Praising Suu Kyi for her courage and commitment to the people of Burma, Bush said: “Her only crime was to lead a political party that enjoys the overwhelming support of the Burmese people. During the long and lonely years of Daw Suu Kyi's imprisonment, the people of Burma have suffered with her.” Suu Kyi has been under house arrest for 12 of the last 18 years.
“Her courage and her writings have inspired millions, and in so doing, have put fear to the hearts of the leaders of the Burmese junta,” Bush said.
Bush noted that the military regime has called a referendum in May to ratify a dangerously flawed constitution—one that bars Suu Kyi from running for political office.
Bush said: “Aung San Suu Kyi has said to the American people: ‘Please use your liberty to promote ours.’ We're doing all we can, and we will continue to do so until the tide of freedom reaches the Burmese shores and frees this good, strong woman.”
The US has imposed a series of economic sanctions against the military junta in the last seven months.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also praised the Burmese leader on the occasion of International Women’s Day.
“We acknowledge the bravery of Aung Sung Suu Kyi in Burma,” Rice said.
Along with Suu Kyi, Bush also honored the wife of jailed Belarus opposition leader Alexander Kozulin, Irina Kozulin, who died of cancer last month; and ailing Cuban dissident Marta Beatrmz Roque Cabello.
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Heightened security in Rangoon over past few days

Heightened security in Rangoon over past few days
Mizzima NewsMarch 10, 2008
New Delhi – Security has been tightened in most of the townships in Rangoon. Soldiers were seen patrolling the city in FAW military trucks imported from China and Hino TE 11 in many townships in Rangoon. Troops were deployed in some crowded and major intersections, local residents said.
Soldiers and riot police in combat gear and red, yellow and green scarves, are patrolling the city in TE 11 trucks. They also patrolled each township in commandeered Toyota Dyna pick-ups and two fire tenders totaling four to five vehicles with Swanahshin and members of Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) in mufti onboard, accounting for 50 persons," Ko Win from South Okkalapa said.
"The colour of scarves varies for each township. For instance, they used yellow in Dagon satellite Township, red in South Okkalapa, green in Latha and Bahan Townships. They used green scarves in the diplomatic enclave," he added.
"Security has been tightened over three to four days. The soldiers with yellow scarves are patrolling in FAW trucks in our township. We heard that these trucks are also patrolling every township in Rangoon. A fire tender is sandwiched between these FAW trucks," a local resident in Tamwe said.
We learnt that three to nine vehicles are patrolling in each township of Tamwe, Kamayut, Mayangon, Thingangyun, Mingalar Taungnyunt, South Okkalapa, Dagon satellite township, North Okkalapa, Hlaing Thayar, Thaketa, Bahan, Botathaung and Latha Townships. There are about 20 uniformed soldiers in each vehicle.
"Security has been tightened in key places such as near Kandawgyi Lake, Shwedagon pagoda, in Bahan 3rd lane and in front of Town Hall. The soldiers in FAW trucks are also seen in downtown Rangoon. The soldiers with red scarves were deployed at the intersections. The FAW trucks are patrolling in downtown Rangoon," a local resident of Rangoon said.The members of the USDA and Swanahshin were seen accompanying the military trucks with two or three Dyan pickups and two fire tenders. The soldiers are wearing red scarves, he added.
The people in Rangoon speculated that the tightening of security was because of the UN special envoy Mr. Gambari's visit to Burma.
"It is very frustrating for commuters in Rangoon. The cars and buses had to stop when these patrol cars came. The patrol cars don't care for traffic rules and keep jumping the red light," Ko Win further said.

Junta's Snub Singnals Failure of Gambari's Mission(irrawaddy.org)

Junta’s Snub Signals Failure of Gambari’s Mission
By WAI MOE
Monday, March 10, 2008, -->
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Burma’s military junta has spoken: there will be no role for the United Nations in determining the course of the country’s political transition to what it calls a “disciplined democracy.” This is the message that the ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) sent to the international community and the Burmese people through its treatment of the UN special envoy to Burma, Ibrahim Gambari.
Detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi (L) meets UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari (R) on Saturday. (Photo: AFP)
The Nigerian diplomat, who has just completed his fifth visit to Burma, proposed a more inclusive process of political change in the country, and offered to send monitors to ensure that the outcome of the junta’s planned referendum on a draft constitution is accepted as legitimate. The junta said no to both suggestions. Gambari met with National League for Democracy (NLD) leader Aung San Suu Kyi twice during his five-day trip, but was denied a meeting with the junta’s supreme leader, Snr-Gen Than Shwe. Instead, he met with members of the regime’s “Spokes Authoritative Team,” consisting of Information Minister Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan, Foreign Minister Nyan Win and Culture Minister Maj-Gen Khin Aung Myint. There were also brief meetings with other NLD leaders, representatives of ethnic groups, and officials from the pro-junta Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) and National Unity Party (NUP). As he did during Gambari’s last visit to Burma in November 2007, Kyaw Hsan used the occasion of his latest meeting with the UN representative to send a clear message that the junta does not appreciate international interference in its affairs. The state-run mouthpiece, The New Light of Myanmar, published the full text of Kyaw Hsan’s indignant reaction to Gambari’s role in releasing a statement from Aung San Suu Kyi following his last visit. “Sadly, you went beyond your mandate,” said the information minister in his carefully worded reproach. “Some even believe that that you prepared the statement in advance and released it after coordinating with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi,” he added. He went on to accuse the UN envoy of trying to “frame a pattern desired by western countries.”Kyaw Hsan also took issue with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s calls for a more inclusive constitution-drafting process, pointing out that the NLD walked out of the National Convention two years after it first convened in 1993. The constitution, finally completed last year, is in no further need of revision, insisted Kyaw Hsan. “The majority of the people do not demand to amend it,” he told Gambari. But analysts say that most of delegates at the convention were handpicked by the junta and only a few representatives from political parties were allowed to attend the convention. Before the NLD walked out of the National Convention in November 2005, only 99 of the 702 delegates were elected officials. After meeting with Kyaw Hsan’s team, Gambari met with a member of the commission responsible for holding the referendum, Thaung Nyunt, who flatly rejected a proposal for international monitoring of the forthcoming referendum in May. “U Thaung Nyunt replied that holding the referendum for the constitution is within the State sovereignty. Besides, there were no instances of foreign observers monitoring events like a referendum,” said a report in The New Light of Myanmar. U Lwin, secretary of the NLD, told The Irrawaddy on Saturday that Gambari explained to his party that he came to Burma with a mandate from the UN Security Council.
“He also told us about his meetings with the regime officials on previous days,” said U Lwin, who declined to provide any further details.Meanwhile, observers in Burma said that the junta’s snub of Gambari showed that the generals were not interested in listening to the international community. “It is very clear that they [the junta] will do everything their own way. No matter what the international community says, they negate all voices,” said a Burmese political observer in Rangoon, adding that the chances of a national reconciliation talks taking place now are non-existent.

Gambari Meets Daw Aung San Su Kyi(irrawaddy.org)

Gambari Meets Suu Kyi
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Saturday, March 8, 2008, -->
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The UN special envoy to promote political reconciliation in Burma met Aung San Suu Kyi and other opposition party members Saturday, a day after being rebuffed by the country's military rulers.
Suu Kyi, who has been detained without trial for 12 of the past 18 years, was seen being driven from the residence where she is held under house arrest to the state guest house where Ibrahim Gambari was staying. Gambari, representing UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, was scheduled to hold talks with Suu Kyi, but details of their meeting were likely to be closely held.
UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari (far R) meets foreign diplomats upon his arrival in Rangoon. Burma's ruling junta has refused to amend its proposed constitution, which bars democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from running in elections. (Photo: AFP/MNA-HO)The UN envoy earlier held talks with representatives of ethnic groups, non-governmental organizations and several political parties including executives of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party.
At their one-hour morning meeting with Gambari, five NLD leaders told him of their desire for an accelerated dialogue with the junta and the release of political prisoners, according to one of the party members present.
The United Nations holds a similar position, but the junta shows no sign of implementing either action. Burma has been in a political deadlock since the junta, which seized power in 1998, refused to honor the results of a 1990 general election won by Suu Kyi's party.
Gambari told the NLD executives that he would try his utmost to press their case, but also suggested that they should grab any opportunities offered by the junta, said the party official, who asked not to be identified because he is not authorized to speak to the press.
The junta's top spokesman told Gambari at a Friday meeting that that the government had done enough to hold a dialogue with Suu Kyi, by appointing a ministerial level liaison officer for her and announcing that junta chairman Snr-Gen Than Shwe would be willing to meet her if she gave up her "confrontational attitude" and stopped calling for sanctions against the junta.
Information Minister Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan told Gambari that Burma has no political prisoners and that Suu Kyi was detained because she tried to disrupt stability of the country, state-controlled media reported.
Kyaw Hsan also expressed unhappiness with Gambari's trips to other countries in the region to seek their support for political reform in Burma.
Gambari arrived Thursday on his third trip to Burma since the junta's deadly crackdown on nonviolent pro-democracy protesters in September sparked a global outcry. The visit came amid growing concerns that the government is ignoring calls for political reform and is tightening its grip on power.
The junta said last month that it would hold a constitutional referendum in May and general elections in 2010—the first specific dates for steps in a previously announced "roadmap to democracy."

AIR BAGAN PHOTOS AT PUTAO