5 PEOPLE KILLED IN RANGOON SHOOTOUT (News from mizzima.com)

5 killed in Rangoon shootout
Mizzima NewsMarch 4, 2008
Five people were shot dead yesterday near opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's residence in Rangoon.
One man and four women were shot in their heads in a rare gunfight, as the possession of firearms is strictly controlled in the military ruled country.
Mizzima has learnt that the male victim is Charlie, a businessman and the father-in-law of the owner of Fuji coffee house, located near the site of the shooting. Charlie is a native of Mogok.
"They are not friendly with the neighbors", said a resident of University Avenue, speaking of Charlie and his family.
The accident happened in a house near to Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's home and the state-run guest house 'Sanelaekanthar' where the opposition leader has met the junta's liaison officer.
The last shooting of a civilian by another civilian in the nation's commercial hub and former capital was more than two decades ago when a man was shot by a gun using a silencer in a gambling related incident.
Ordinary citizens are not allowed to own weapons in Burma, which has been under military rule since 1962.

Burmese Migrants Keen To Vote In Referendum (news from irrawaddy.org)

Burmese Migrants Keen to Vote in Referendum
By VIOLET CHO
Monday, March 3, 2008, -->
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Although Burma’s military government has not made any provisions to include non-resident Burmese citizens in next May’s national referendum, many migrants say they plan to vote “no” to the junta’s recently completed constitution if they are given the chance.
Early last month, the ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) announced plans to hold a referendum on a constitution which critics say is intended to enshrine military control over the country’s political destiny.
In the Thai-Burmese border town of Mae Sot, the Yaung Chi Oo migrant workers’ association is conducting a program to educate Burmese migrants in Thailand about the constitution, which it says is unfair and doesn’t represent the will of the people.
“We have been explaining and asking people to vote against the military referendum if they are allowed to vote,” said Moe Swe, an executive member of Yaung Chi Oo.
He added that even if migrants are denied an opportunity to vote, they can still pass on what they learn to relatives and friends inside Burma, where there is less access to information about the SPDC’s efforts to win mass support for the constitution.
The referendum and an election slated to take place in 2010—part of the junta’s seven-step “road map to democracy”—are expected to be carefully stage-managed to ensure that the regime does not face another humiliating electoral defeat like the one it experienced in 1990, when the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) won national elections by a landslide.
There are millions of Burmese living outside of the country, but the Burmese regime has yet to indicate whether they will be permitted to take part in the referendum.
More than one million Burmese live in Thailand, where many seem determined to find a way to have their say in their country’s first vote in 18 years. “I am a Burmese citizen, so it is important for me to vote in the referendum,” said Aung Naing Htun, a Burmese migrant working in Mae Sot. “I’ve heard that the government will not allow us [migrants] to vote, but I will try to find a way to vote ‘no’ to the military’s constitution.”
Myint Myat, another Burmese migrant, said that she and her friends have decided to return to their hometown to vote in the referendum. “If the government gives permission for migrants to take part, there are many people who will go back to Burma to vote,” she added.
For some, however, the possible denial of official permission is not the only obstacle. Many are too preoccupied with their day-to-day survival to worry about taking part in the regime’s deliberately opaque political process.
Mae Sot factory worker Mi Nge says that she doesn’t plan to vote, because she doesn’t understand the government-written constitution, and she is too busy trying to make a living to find the time to figure it out.
Burmese living further afield face additional difficulties in exercising their rights. Even those working in parts of Thailand not near the border, such as in the cities of Bangkok and Chiang Mai, say that the cost of returning to Burma to vote would be prohibitive.
There are also sizeable Burmese communities in other parts of Asia, including Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea and Japan. Burmese embassies in these countries say they do not have any clear plan for their citizens who cannot go back to Burma to vote.
Staff at the Burmese embassy in Singapore told The Irrawaddy that they have not been informed of any policy regarding Burmese nationals who want to vote, but who are unable to return to the country.
Burmese embassy staff in Seoul confirmed that there were no plans to enable Burmese living in South Korea to vote, but added that if the right to vote is extended to expatriates, it will only include those who possess legal work permits.
There are large numbers of illegal migrants from Burma living in South Korea and Japan, including many political exiles who are strongly opposed to the junta’s referendum.
One Burmese migrant working legally in a Seoul said he had no interest in the referendum, but said that he would vote “no” if he is forced to cast a ballot by the embassy.
In Singapore, many young Burmese have begun organizing a petition against the military’s constitution. According to an organizer of the campaign, which also calls for elections, about 700 Burmese migrants in the city-state have signed the petition.
All of the signatures will be sent to the Singaporean Parliament and the United Nations Security Council, as well as to other Burmese organizations lobbying against the referendum.
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Three People Arrested For Comments On Refrerendum (news from irrawaddy.org)

Three People Arrested for Comments on Referendum
By WAI MOE
Monday, March 3, 2008, -->
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Three Rangoon men were arrested on Friday for casual comments they made about the Burmese referendum and general election, according to sources. A businessman who spoke on condition of anonymity told The Irrawaddy on Monday that three car brokers at the Rangoon car market were taken away by Burmese special police after they made casual comments in support of the main opposition National League for Democracy. “Members of the USDA [Union Solidarity and Development Association, the pro-junta mass organization] came and talked about the new constitution and referendum at the car market on Friday,” said the source.“Then the brokers told the USDA members in joking that they ‘should not waste their time’ because in the final days people would vote as recommended by the NLD [led by Aung San Suu Kyi]. Later the special police came and arrested three of them.” The Burmese military government has scheduled a referendum on a draft constitution in May and a general election in 2010, as the fourth and fifth step of its “road map to democracy” process.Aung Thein, a lawyer in Rangoon, said the arrests may be the first such cases since the junta passed a new decree on February 26 forbidding negative comments about the referendum, which allows a sentence of up to three years imprisonment. “But we don’t know if the people arrested will be charged under that decree,” he said. He said that authorities have an option to charge people who speak out against the constitutional process under emergency acts 3 and 4 under decree 5/96 announced in 1996, barring negative comments. Anyone found guilty under that decree could receive up to 20 years in prison. Meanwhile, five people, mostly family members of 88 Generation Students group members, were arrested last week. They are Thanda Win, the wife of Mya Aye, a leader of the 88 Generation Students group; Hla Moe, the husband of 88 group member Mie Mie; Kanet, the brother of Marky, an 88 group member; and Naing Htwe and May Mie Lwin. No reasons for the arrests are known at this time among the Rangoon activist community.
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