Articles
16 May 2008
Civilians shed tears at referendum results
By Hseng Khio Fah
Some civilians in Muse, northern Shan State, had wept upon hearing results on the junta drafted charter referendum which was held on 10 May, according to local sources.
While holding the referendum, authorities had placed many soldiers around the polling stations. The soldiers wore civilian clothes with guns under their rain coats and watched people voting from a convenient distance.
“People were afraid of the military’s threats and punishments. Most of them are illiterate and lack human right awareness. Moreover, they are not interested in the junta drafted charter because of the need to struggle for their livelihood. That’s why the junta got a lot of support,” said a civilian in Muse.
“Another reason they (authorities) got many Yes votes was because of support from those temporary ID card holders. Before the referendum, the junta had made temporary ID cards for Chinese citizens to support their drafted charter,” a villager said.
“Some people cried when they knew that there were many Yes votes to the referendum. We just have to continue being their slaves forever,” he added.
Referendum results slammed by ceasefire groups
“Impossible” was the word used by a senior member of the National Democratic Alliance Army-Eastern Shan State (NDAA-ESS) in response to the claim made by Burma’s rulers yesterday of the overwhelming public support given to the military-drawn draft constitution on May 10.
“How can that be when, in most cases, only a small number of people had the opportunity to vote?” he asked rhetorically.
According to official figures 99.07% of eligible voters had turned out, out of which 92.4% had voted in favour of the draft.
The NDAA-ESS, based in Mongla, 87km northeast of Kengtung on the Sino-Burma border, had set up 3 polling stations in areas under its sway: at Mongla, Saleu and Nampan. “None of our members went to vote,” he said, “and only people who live near the polling stations turned up. And most of them, to my knowledge, just put crosses (standing for disapproval) in their ballot papers.”
A commander of one of the 4 brigades of Shan State Army (SSA) North, who wishes to
He quoted a principal of a middle school who was appointed as a polling station official as saying, “We (referendum officials) had been threatened with a jail sentence plus fine, in the event that there are more crosses than ticks.”
He was “dead sure” that the draft charter would have been defeated if the referendum had strictly followed the rules of the civilized world. “There is not a single ceasefire group that has agreed to surrender their arms”, he said. “All the opposition politicians, both inside and outside prisons, and the Buddhist Sangha, both at home and abroad, are also against it. They will continue to be a fishbone in the throat (Shan expression meaning a barrier in the way) against the regime.”
Cyclone Survivors Told to Return to Shattered Homes
Nearly 2,000 cyclone survivors still sheltering in monasteries, religious buildings and schools in one Rangoon township have been told by the authorities to return to what is left of their homes by May 20.
The order was confirmed by one resident of the affected township, South Dagon Myothit, who asked: “Where will the survivors live?” Angered by the official order, Ko Pauk said: “Their homes were destroyed by the cyclone. The authorities are really stupid.”
Some survivors were being assigned to a relief camp of some 50 tents, but Ko Pauk pointed out that it couldn’t accommodate all.
Local staffers from two international medical organizations, Medicins Sans Frontieres and Merlin are operating two clinics in Laputta.
Time to Invoke ‘Responsibility to Protect’: Burmese Activists
The UN is being urged by the Burmese expatriate community to invoke the "responsibility to protect" principle to save the lives of people stranded in the Irrawaddy delta 12 days after Cyclone Nargis devastated the area.
Expatriates have also called upon the United States, Britain and France—the three permanent members of the Security Council—to unilaterally provide aid and relief to the affected people even if it means bypassing the UN and Burma's military government.
"Now is the time to act. You have helicopters, ships and supplies ready and waiting. Stop waiting for China or the Burmese regime's approval and send aid now," wrote Aung Din, the director of the US Campaign for Burma, in a letter addressed to the heads of state.
A group of Burmese monks began a three-day hunger strike in front of the United Nations in New York on Thursday, while other expatriates launched letter campaigns to the prime minister of Britain and the presidents of France and the US.
"We are not eating because our people are not eating,” said Ashin Nyaka, a monk and visiting professor at Columbia University. “They are starving while the world waits and the Burmese generals steal the food aid. Maybe when the UN sees hungry people outside its door, it will act more decisively."
Shake Hands with The Devil, or Burmese Military Junta
By Mahn Kyaw Swe
May 16, 2008
Karen Canadian Community (KCC) today called for immediate international intervention to save the lives of millions of people in Burma after the cyclone Nargis hit the country’s Irrawaddy Delta.
The country’s military junta not only failed to protect or relief its own citizens, but also delayed the entire process for the delivery of international aid to the cyclone effected areas in Irrawaddy Division.
According to a recent estimate by the International Red Cross, more than 1.5 million people became homeless. Thirteen days after the cyclone struck Burmese military junta is not willing to co-operate with United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and still denying the visas entries to the international aid workers including Canadians.
KCC is concerned after receiving clear evidence that in addition to the regime failing to respond to the crisis and blocking international access, it is actively obstructing the delivery of aid. There are reports that Burmese people attempting to distribute aid have been attacked by the regime’s militia, the Union Solidarity Development Association (USDA) and Swan Ah Shin. The regime’s soldiers and its militias confiscated rice and other food supplies delivered to the local Karen and Burmese cyclone refugees. KCC believes that those actions provide enough evidence to charges of crimes against humanity and calls for the implementation of UN Security Council resolution 1674, known as the “Responsibility to Protect”.
The international community has a responsibility to protect the world’s populations from genocide, massive human rights abuses and other humanitarian crises.
If Humanitarian Intervention Happens, Then What?
As calls for humanitarian intervention in Burma widen and gain momentum, analysts are asking, what would the country’s armed forces do—fight or take off their uniforms?
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said in London on Thursday: "We will stop at nothing in trying to pressure the regime into doing what any regime should have done long ago. And there should be nothing, nothing that stops that aid getting to the people of the country now.”
Britain, France and the United States all have significant naval forces very near Burma’s waters.
“It would only take half an hour for the French boats and French helicopters to reach the disaster area, and I imagine it’s the same story for our British friends,” the French Foreign Minister, Bernard Kouchner, said in Paris. “We are putting constant pressure on the Burmese authorities, but we haven’t yet got the go-ahead.”
What would be the Tatmadaw’s [armed forces] position if Western nations implemented a humanitarian intervention?
A former major in the Tatmadaw who lives in Rangoon told The Irrawaddy the armed forces would not fight against a multi-national coalition force that entered to help the Burmese people.
“Who in the Tatmadaw could be loyal to the top generals who have failed to help millions of people, if there is intervention on humanitarian grounds?” he asked.
“There is a small possibility that the Tatmadaw would fight back against a multi-national force because soldiers in the Tatmadaw follow orders, but it’s just because of fear,” he said.
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