Daily News- July 20- 2002- Saturday

  • Burmese democratic radio celebrates 10th anniversary
  • Thailand and Myanmar Urged to Lift Media Ban
  • Aung San Suu Kyi heads for second political trip out of capital
  • Son of Burmese bandit named as prime suspect in school bus attack

    • Burmese democratic radio celebrates 10th anniversary



    Mizzima News (www.mizzima.com)

    Oslo, July 19: The Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), established on July 19, 1992 in Norway after Burmese democratic leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, celebrated today its tenth anniversary in Oslo, Norway. The function, participated by the representatives from the host country, the international donors, overseas Burmese journalists and members of DVB team, was inaugurated by the video speech of the Norwegian Prime Minister.

    Moreover, Burmese democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi also sent a message to the function. "I think that DVB has done a lot of contribution to the movement for democracy because freedom of information is one of the most important elements in any democratic system. And DVB is helping to provide freedom of information to the people", said the Burmese opposition leader.

    In her separate message on the current situation in Burma, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi highlighted the current political, economic and social situation of Burma.

    "I think the most important thing today is the need to recognize that the speedy change is absolutely essential. Everybody knows that Burma is the land of great potential. But this potential is not been realized. Everyday that we waste is the day wasted for the future of our country. Burma's economy is in a very poor stage. Everybody is aware of that. There is no way we can disguise the fact."

    Dr. Sein Win, Prime Minister of the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB), an exiled Burmese government, also spoke at the inauguration.

    To coincide its 10th anniversary, DVB is also organizing a two-day Media Conference in Oslo on July 19 and 20. The conference is being participated by DVB's reporters around the world and Burma's prominent journalists.

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    Thailand and Myanmar Urged to Lift Media Ban

    Kalyani
    source : OneWorld.net

    As the situation along the shared border between Thailand and Myanmar (formerly Burma) heats up, a tit-for-tat press battle has prompted a leading human rights group to renew its call for the two neighbors to lift their restrictions on the media.

    Forum-Asia said Thursday that it was repeating a request, made earlier this week, that the two Southeast Asian nations lift bans covering their domestic media and take steps to ensure that hostilities along their insecure border do not lead to further impositions on the press.

    "There is already a war of words going on between the two nations," said Somchai Homlaor, secretary-general of the Bangkok-based Forum. "We are urging them not to let the clashes on the border worsen freedom of the press in the two countries," he said.

    Last Friday, Myanmar's ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) banned 15 Thai journalists who were accused of writing "scathing articles" about the junta, which seized power in 1988 and threw much of the democratic opposition into prison.

    According to the Forum, the reports had accused the SPDC of intensifying its military operations along the 2,400-kilometer border to divert attention from the release earlier this year of democracy activist and Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

    The move came just two weeks after Thailand denied visas for two journalists of the state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper--columnist Ma Tin Win and editor Maung Maung--who had been critical of Thai history and the monarchy.

    "These absurd directives of the Thai government and the SPDC once again violate the media's right to freedom of expression and the right to receive information," the Forum said in a statement earlier this week, encouraging senior officials in Yangon (Rangoon) and Bangkok to facilitate, rather than deny, access to information.

    Border tensions, that resulted in the press clampdown, have heightened since May when crossfire between Thai troops and the United Wa State Army, a militia group aligned with the SPDC, prompted the closure of Myanmar's checkpoints.The SPDC accused the Thai army of launching artillery attacks against several military bases with assistance from the rebel Shan State Army (SSA), recruited from the Shan ethnic group, which makes up 8.5 per cent of the Myanmar population and is opposed to Yangon's rule in the fertile northern valleys of the country.Thailand denied that it was involved in any joint operations with the SAA, but stressed that its territory would not be used by the Myanmar army and its allies to fight the SSA.

    On May 22, the SPDC prohibited all independent media from carrying articles about Thailand or advertising Thai products, and in June, it banned a magazine which used the word "Yodaya," the former name for Thailand, in its latest edition.

    Forum-Asia said that it would continue to monitor media freedoms in the two countries over the coming weeks, but it noted, "There is nothing much we can do but hope that the two countries will lift the restrictions soon."

    Freedom of expression is an international right guaranteed under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which includes the ability to "to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers."

    Among other human rights treaties based on the UDHR, Thailand has signed and ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

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    Aung San Suu Kyi heads for second political trip out of capital

    YANGON, July 20 (AFP) - Myanmar's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi Saturday embarked on a political trip to southeastern Mon state where she was due to meet with ethnic groups and visit her party's offices, a senior party official said.

    The trip, expected to last four days, is the second time the charismatic National League for Democracy (NLD) leader has left the capital Yangon on party business since her release in May from 19 months under house arrest.

    "She left here at 6:00 am and is on her way to Mon state. She will inspect NLD offices in Mon state, and today she will arrive in the capital Mawlamyine, " NLD spokesman U Lwin told AFP.Mawlamyine lies 172 kilometres (106 miles) southeast of Yangon. Earlier, NLD sources had said she was due to travel on to Kayin state but U Lwin said this was not part of the itinerary.

    The Nobel peace laureate departed Yangon in her own vehicle, escorted by members of the NLD youth wing, and was accompanied by NLD deputy chairman U Tin Oo in his car, another source said.

    On Sunday, Aung San Suu Kyi is scheduled to inspect other towns in Mon state, including Thanbyuzayat, the site of a famous WWII cemetery containing the graves of more than 3,500 Allied prisoners of war, U Lwin said.

    She will stay the night in Mudon, and the following day visit the island of Chaung Zon, west of Mawlamyine, where she will inspect the NLD office there before returning again to the state capital, he said.

    On Tuesday the opposition leader will inspect various government projects in the region before returning to Yangon.

    "There are two places (on her itinerary) right now, but there may be more. She will visit one dam and a new bridge that crosses the Salween river from Mawlamyine," U Lwin said.

    Aung San Suu Kyi is also expected to stop at Kyaid Doe, the site of the "Golden Rock", an important pilgrimage place for Buddhists. But she would only be visiting the town itself, U Lwin said.

    During the trip, she will meet with Mon, Karen, Pa-O and other ethnic groups, and members of a Mon political party allied with the NLD, he said.

    "She wants to find out the desires of the people," U Lwin said. "And they want to meet Aung San Suu Kyi."

    Observers have said that the inclusion of ethnic minorities in secret talks on national reconciliation, which have been under way between Aung San Suu Kyi and the junta since October 2000, will be a crucial step towards a peaceful and democratic Myanmar.

    Mon state remains a sensitive area as insurgent groups from the region continue to fight against the military regime.

    This trip follows Aung San Suu Kyi's triumphant nine-day visit to the northern city of Mandalay and other destinations late last month.The whirlwind tour was considered an unqualified success by both her own party and diplomats, who saw it as the first true test of her freedom.

    Aung San Suu Kyi said after her release that the junta had promised her complete freedom of movement, but some observers doubted the hardline regime would permit long-distance travel for political purposes.The trip was particularly significant because Mandalay was the city the junta blocked her from travelling to in September 2000, an incident that led to her being put under house arrest.

    The 57-year-old leader rallied the nation a dozen years ago with a passionate democratic groundswell that alarmed Myanmar's military rulers.Her party won a sweeping election victory in 1990 but it was never honoured by the junta.

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    Son of Burmese bandit named as prime suspect in school bus attack

    Police have identified the son of a notorious Burmese bandit as the prime suspect in the murder of three students who were killed in a hail of bullets when their school bus was attacked in June.

    After being arrested by the 137th Border Patrol Police earlier this week, a suspect named ``Jobi,'' one of five armed men allegedly present during the attack, implicated Pu Krou as being the only one to open fire on the bus.Pu Krou is the son of Burmese bandit La-eeh.

    Jobi claimed he agreed to join Pu Krou's unit without being told the motive for the attack, which took place in Ratchaburi's Ban Kha sub-district on June 4.Authorities were yet to establish if the bus driver, Thongmon Khemthong, was the target, as widely believed.Jobi was released by the military task force leading the manhunt after being told to persuade the four remaining fugitives to surrender.

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