Burma

[Rohingya refugee mother and child in a refugee camp near the border of Bangladesh and Burma.]
By Emma Murphy, Darwin, Green Left Weekly
March 27, 2011 -- Two days after staging a rooftop protest, Burmese Rohingyan refugees inside the Northern Immigration Detention Centre (NIDC), received a notice on March 17 from the immigration department.
“Your concerns about the delays in finalising cases are understandable,” it said.
“New streamlined processes have recently been developed for security checking so that the checks will be completed much faster. This means that for most cases, security checking for people whose refugee claims have now been accepted will be completed progressively by the end of April.”

[Suu Kyi addressing supporters before her second house arrest in 2000. Photo: Freenewsfreespeech.blogspot.com.]

By Tony Iltis, Green Left Weekly
November 21, 2010 -- Burma’s November 7 elections — held under an undemocratic constitution in an atmosphere of repression and with the result crudely rigged — have been overshadowed by the release from house arrest of opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) leader Aung San Suu Kyi on November 13.
Thousands of supporters lined the streets to her house and flocked to NLD offices to hear her speak.

[NLD members gathered at their Headquarters in Rangoon to celebrate Suu Kyi's 63rd birthday in 2008. Thugs from the Union Solidarity Development Association (now USDP) disturbed the gathering. Photo: Lee Yu Kyung.]

By Lee Yu Kyung
November 14, 2010 -- “The whole process was a fake!”, said Khin Maung Swe, a 68-year-old leader of the National Democratic Force (NDF), a breakaway from the National League for Democracy (NLD) led by Aung San Suu Kyi. “We just won 16 seats [out of the 163 the NDF contested] because of the so-called advance votes.”

[A new law in Burma says anyone who takes part in industrial protests demanding better rights or conditions will be fired and blacklisted from work. Photo: Hmmm.co.za.]

September 19, 2010 -- The statement below was initiated by Working People Association (Indonesia) and Network of Progressive Youth Burma. It was released on September 16.

Raul Connolly, Green Left Weekly
10 April 2010 -- Burma Campaign Australia said on March 30 that Burma political prisoner Aung San Suu Kyi’s political party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), will not register in the forthcoming national election in Burma.
The NLD said the recently announced election laws were undemocratic.

The following statement was released by Burma Campaign Australia on February 9.
Burma Campaign Australia condemns the Australian government’s decision to take part in a regional military exercise that includes Burma’s navy and questions if Australia is in breach of its arms embargo.
The Australian navy is taking part in a military exercise with 13 other countries in Indian waters. Burma’s navy, an integral part of the country’s military, is also participating in this exercise.

Workers at the Taiyi shoe factory and Opal 2 garment factory began a strike on Monday, 8 February 2010. They are demanding an increase in salary of 10.000 Kyat (US$ 10), a reduction of working hours and the provision of a clean space for meal. The strike started in the Mya Fashion garment factory in No. 3 Factory Zone of Rangoon’s Hlaing Thrayar Township.

Lee Yu Kyung , Wei Gyi
21 November 2009, Green Left Weekly

“There’s no village”, 75-year-old Sam Telly said. “I’m from a hiding place.”

Telly, a member of the Karen ethnic group, mulled over the question of when he had last lived in a village, but failed to remember. He had lived in “hiding places” since 1975.

The Karen state in eastern Burma has been the scene of intense fighting as the Burmese military has sought to crush the Karen Nation Union (KNU), a pro-democracy organisation representing the Karen people, and its armed wing, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA).

Chris Peterson
16 May 2008 - “Ten days after Cyclone Nargis, Burma faces further crisis as its military regime refuses to acknowledge the plight of its people”, according to a statement released by seven pro-democracy groups in Burma on May 14.