I have a confession to make. I have bad habits. More than I care to admit.

One of them is reading the last page of a whodunnit first before turning on the story’s first page.

That was one of the reasons why I began my Laiza journal with the conclusion. Another is that the story has already been written by others, and there is very little need to add. Except that the reporters were not allowed inside the closed door meetings, which took place at the spacious former casino building, 30 October-2 November. On the contrary, I have an edge over them, because I was there to listen and look at things they didn’t.

Day One: 27 October 2013
I as well as Harn Yawnghwe, Director of Rangoon-based Euro Burma Office, would have been happier to join the conference as independent observers. But as only representatives of armed organizations were invited and allowed to speak, both of us, who have been advisers to the Loi Taileng-based Restoration Council of Shan State/Shan State Army (RCSS/SSA) since 2007, were conveniently appointed as accredited representatives by Chairman Sao Yawdserk.

We were taken across the border by Burmese authorities from Maesai to Tachilek, straight to the airport.

The delegates from the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC), led by Nai Hongsa aka Nai Hantha, who were supposed to have already left were found waiting for their plane that would take them to Mandalay. With them were U Nyo Ohn Myint from the Myanmar Peace Center (MPC) who was serving as their guide and trouble shooter and Katsuyuki Imoto, from the Thai-Japan Education Development Foundation (TJEDF) who would be riding shotgun, well, sort of.

They left with Air Kambawza at 15:30 and we with Yangon Air, reportedly owned by the Wa, at 17:00.

It took us 3 hours to get to Rangoon, as the plane had to stop by at Heho (a corruption of Shan word Haiwo) and Mandalay. Lots of turbulences during the flight, which threw one scare after another to me, but our pilot was good, as proved by his smooth landings.

To steady my nerves, I looked for something to read. Fortunately, I found Swesone, the in flight magazine, containing several interesting articles:

One on Samka, “a town no longer,” as a sign posted on the Baluchaung that stretches from the Inlay Lake to Lawpita in Kayah (Karenni) State says. It used to be one of the 34 Shan princedoms founded by Khun Phyu in 1875. The town is now submerged in the reservoir formed by the Lawpita dam.

Another, a stirring, angry and touching story of the Rangoon/Yangon University, founded in 1920.

We arrived in Rangoon at 20:00.

Our hotel Ruby, a nice hideout on the 9th Mile, we found out, is owned by a Shan lady from Tangyan. Just in case you’re interested, here is the contact address: 23, Bawga Street, 9th Mile, Mayangone township. Tel: (951) 662536, (951) 666570. It even has a website: www.hotelrubymyanmar.com and email: enquiries@hotelrubymyanmar.com.

Day Two, 28 October 2013: The perfect host
Just before we left for Myitkyina, the Kachin State capital, we met two people:

U Hla Maung Shwe, of Myanmar Peace Center (MPC) who explained to us that the plan agreed with the Kachin Independence Organization/Kachin Independence  Army (KIO/KIA) during the 8-10 October talks was for the Union Peacemaking Work Committee (UPWC) to meet with representatives of all the ethnic armed organizations (EAO) in Myitkyina. That was helpful, because earlier we were under the impression that the KIO/KIA, armed with the resolutions from the EAO Conference in Laiza, would be meeting the UPWC alone, with observers from other groups as it had done earlier. Which implied that the Laiza conference, apart from adopting a common stand, must choose a joint negotiating team.

He also informed us that President Thein Sein had assigned himself 3 missions for the rest of his tenure: Peace, Youth and Economy. Accordingly, he would be doing something that has never been done in Burma’s history: sending a message to the conference.

Hkun Htun Oo, the leader of the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD), who has accepted the President’s request to help foster harmony among different groups and communities in Shan State earlier this year. His efforts resulted in the founding of the Committee for Shan State Unity (CSSU) on 17 October. He told us that the peace process should not necessarily end in 2015 with the possible retirement of President Thein Sein. It must continue after 2015 whoever the next President is. “I also hope that this is not going to be a repetition of the Sri Lankan peace process (which ended with a return to war and subsequent Tamil Tigers’ defeat),” he said.

At 14:15, we were off to Myitkyina on Air KBZ, owned by “Sra Kyawng” U Aung Ko Win whose daughter Nang Leng Kham is the company’s chair. The inflight magazine is obviously named “Mai Hsoong,” the Shan equivalent of “Hello”.

A rousing reception had been prepared by the Peacetalks Creation Group (PCG) formed by Yup Zau Hkawng, a grizzled Kachin businessman, when we arrived in Myitkyina at 16:30, from the airport all the way to the Nanthida Riverside Hotel on the western bank of the Irrawaddy.

From that date to until we flew back on 5 November, I found nothing to find fault with the Kachins’ famous hospitality:

• One or two automobiles were assigned to each EAO delegation, with the group’s banner in front
• Each delegate was given a separate room in Laiza and accorded a free laundry
• Three main meals per day plus two coffee/tea breaks
• Medics were assigned at each hotel to look after the delegates with health complaints
• A trip to Myitsone, where the Chinese-led hydropower dam project was put to a halt by the President in 2011

As I had informed them just before our departure, it was a perfect demonstration of the Shans’ famous saying on the Kachins:

“The Chinese are nice (to you) on the road
The Kachins are nice (to you) at home”

“Our worry is that we won’t be able to reciprocate your hospitality to our satisfaction,” KNU leader Gen Mutu Sayphoe told his KIO counterpart Zawng Hra who came to say goodbye on 3 November. “We may have to ask you to bring your own hammocks, blankets and mosquito nets.”

Well, I’m sure you can make up for all the short comings with ample supply of the famous Karen brew to match the Kachins’ Sabbyi, Mr Chairman. We can all go to Pa-an happy afterward.

Saw Khar Hsu Nyar- Karen News is led to understand that President U Thein Sein has given directives to his office’s minister not to discuss issues about ethnic states secession and issues that can harm the sovereignty of the country during political dialogue with ethnic groups.

Burma government ministers and political parties met in the Myanmar Peace Center on November 10 where President Office Minister, U Aung Min, mentioned the president’s directives on the two issues.

Padoh Mahn Mahn, the Karen National Union’s joint secretary said that in his view the two issues has been worrying the government.

Speaking to Karen News, Padoh Mahn Mahn said.

“The Ethnic groups have decided to build a federal union in Burma. The government’s so far understands this as secession. The government impression is that they are worried about it.”

Padoh Mahn Mahn said that the goal of ethnic groups including the Karen National Union in establishing a federal union in Burma is not to seek secession and that they understand that sovereignty is related to all of the people of Burma and it is the responsibility of all of the people to protect it.

In the meeting between the government and political parties at the Myanmar Peace center, U Aung Min said that the president has taken the same position as ethnic groups in trying to solve the country’s political problems.

U Aung Min was quoted in the local media as saying, “the president’s policy is that the armed conflict continue as political problems are not solved by political means. Therefore, the president takes and holds onto the policy of solving the conflict by political means.”

Hkun Okker, the joint secretary of the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC) said that the government had also expressed the president’s directives at the ethnic conference held to discuss the nation-wide-ceasefire, in Kachin State, Myitkyina on November 4-5.

Hkun Okker said.

“We discussed with the government about these two points at the Myitkyina talks but we did not get any decision. As the objective is to work and live together in the country, it was not so important to discuss at the meeting – we will have to wait and see if these issues will emerge again in the future.”

S'Phan Shaung-For the first time in decades, farmers in Dawei Township held a demonstration in Dawei City in an attempt get back farmlands returned to them that were confiscated by the former military regime.

Ko Tun Tun Win, a farmer who led the demonstration accused local government officials of implementing development projects on confiscated farmlands without informing or negotiating with owner farmers.

Speaking to Karen News, Ko Tun Tun Win said.

“As the political situation has become a little open, we are now protesting against the government because they [government] are carrying out their projects without negotiating or consultation with farmers. The [government] actions are leaning back to dictatorship, that’s why we are protesting.”

Ko Tun Tun Win said that it is hoped that government officials will listen to the farmers’ demands and will negotiate with farmers to resolve the problems. But Ko Tun Tun Win warned that if the government officials do not take any action on the landowners demands, farmers will continue their protest.

More than 5,000 villagers from Dawei, Thapyay Chaung, Za Loon, Kutot, Auk Yephyu and Moung Makan took part in the two-hour-long protest.

The protestors shouted out for the government to take notice of six points, including return of confiscated land, the right to register the confiscated land, be paid compensations, and to stop the implementation of development projects on the confiscated land.

A farmer from Yephyu village who took part in the protest said.

“I had 14 acres of farmland, but gradually it was all confiscated. They [govt officials] look only to themselves. They do not think of our farmers. They are very ‘dirty’. We don’t want to suffer. We want them to be sympathetic to our situation and to find ways to resolve this problem.”

In 1990, the former military regime confiscated more than 300 acres of farmlands from 50 farmers in Dawei Township for building homes for civil servants.

After 2010 election, the government continued the projects and have implemented a private hospital project, communication office, ministers housing projects, fisheries department offices, tax office and religious affairs office on land that was confiscated.

The Migrant Worker Right Network (MWRN), has criticized the Burma and Thailand’s National Verification process for leaving migrant workers open to exploitation at the hands of corrupt brokers.

It is estimated that in the last 30 years more than three million workers from Burma crossed borders illegally looking for better pay and to escape the poverty of their own country. Many of these workers have ended up working in Thailand.

Many of these workers are vulnerable to exploitation, abuse in the workplace and a lack of job security. The situation has been hampered by both the Burma and Thai government’s inability to deliver a clear migration policy framework even though a national verification process (NV) for migrant workers has been inplace for 11 years.

The National Verification Process

In 2002, the Burma and Thai Governments signed a bilateral agreement allowing regularisation of these workers through a National Verification (NV) process.

From 15 July 2009 these workers could apply for and receive temporary Myanmar passport and Thai visas via NV.

By August 2013, Myanmar statistics show that more than 1.7 million Myanmar workers received temporary passports for work in Thailand. Yet Thai statistics suggest less than 1 million are registered to work legally.

Brokers Hit Workers’ Pockets

In spite of the gradual rollout of the NV scheme, migrant workers are paying as much as five times what the process should legally cost due to broker charges.

Burma and Thailand agreed that migrant workers must pay 1,050 baht (US$3.3) to complete the NV process. Yet the Migrant Workers Right Network said that when broker charges and “under the table” costs are added up, each worker spent 5,500 to 12,000 baht (US$180-400) for getting a temporary passport and work permit.

With 1.7 million migrants completing the process this means brokers, agencies and officials through exploitation and corruption have already made at least 5,100 million baht (US$170 million) from the NV process. At the same time, low-income earning migrant workers have found themselves in “more debt, often leading to severe debt bondage, and seen their savings decline.” The MWRN said.

Since July 2013, migrant workers who passed the NV process in 2009 were not able to renew their visas with Thai immigration officials as the original 2002 MoU allowed workers to stay and work in Thailand for only four years prior to returning to their home country for at least three years.

Policy Black Hole

Both Thailand and Burma allowed this deadline to pass without creating a new and clear policy.

The MWRN said that as a result of “government incompetence in managing migration,” exploitation and extortion seriously spread as a direct result of this policy flaw.

Migrant workers whose legal documents expired or will soon expire continue to be unaware of their future and confused whether they can continue to live and work in Thailand legally or not.

MWRN said that as a result, workers already at high risk of labour right abuses, discrimination and exploitation are beginning to suffer more.

Misleading information continues to circulate among workers that they can no longer remain; or they have to return to Burma for one month or even one day, MWRN said. “Brokers are cheating 3,500 to 5,000 baht (US$120 – 170) from workers in promise for visa extensions, mostly in the Samut Sakorn, Nonthaburi, Chonburi and Bangkok areas of Thailand. Workers are being fined 500 baht (US$16) a day and up to a maximum of 20,000 Baht (US$700) for overstaying after fours years by Thai immigration officials.”

Representatives from both the Burma and Thai governments held two meetings on 5 September 2013 and 12 October 2013 to discuss issues of concern regarding the four-year migrant worker deadline.

Following these meetings, neither Government published easily digestible information for workers or employers on what to do once their four-year work permission had expired.

Nan Chaung Paw- Six Karen ethnic boxers have been selected to represent Burma at the coming 27th Southeast Asian Games that will be hosted in Burma from December 11th 2013.

A member of the SEA Game organizing committee said that the Karen boxers selected to compete in the SEA Game include Saw Nga Man (Saw Shark), the Burmese golden belt champion, Nan That Htar San, a silver medalist from the 26th SEA Games held in Indonesia, Saw K’Nyaw Poe, Saw Willion Htoo Gay, Saw Mike Yae, and Naw Paw Loun Eh.

Naw Aulia Paw, a member of Sea Game Organizing Committee, spoke to the Karen News about the Karen boxers.

“They will be competing in different fights. Only Nan That Htar San is a [pure] boxer. The others fight in the Muay Thai style boxing. Right now they are practicing in Naypyidaw, Nan That Htar San, is now practicing with her coach in Kazakhstan.”

Naw Aulia Paw said that for the Muay Thai style, Thai and Burmese trainers are giving coaching while Nan That Htar San left Burma for Kazakhstan on November 5 for a month’s training.

Saw Nya Man, one of the selected boxers spoke to Karen News.

“I am happy to be invited to fight for the nation. Now we have undergone intensive practicing. I am glad that I have chance to participate and I love to do this. I will try the best in the competition.”

The 27th Southeast Asian Games will be held in Burma from 11-22 December at the cities of Naypyidaw, Yangon, Mandalay and Ngwe Saung.There will be 33 sports categories including Muay Thai. The boxing and Muay Thai will take place in Naypyidaw.

There are 5,727 competitors from Southeast Asian countries such as Burma, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Philippines, Brunei, and East Timor – Burma has the most participants.

Burma has hosted Sea Games twice, once in 1961 and again in 1969. After 44 years, Burma is now hosting the Sea Games for its third time.

Despite being resettled, displaced Karen villagers in Thar Mae Plaw, in southern Burma, are still living in fear after the Burma Army repeatedly entered their newly resettled site.

Saw Honny, a relief worker helping the displaced to resettle in Thar Mae Plaw spoke to Karen News.

“Burma Army, Infantry Battalion 101, about 26 soldiers led by 2nd Battalion Commander Aung Ye Kaung, patrolled around the Tha Mae Plaw area on October 26. The resettled Karen IDPs in Tha Mae Plaw were frighten and all the men ran to hiding places.”

Saw Honny said the resettled villagers are still scared of the Burma Army and that no one has explained to the villagers why the soldiers are in the area.

“The same troops came into Thar Mae Plaw on three occasion recently. Now the villagers fear the Army and are worried to keep living here. People still distrust the Burmese soldiers and worry when they see their patrols in this area.”

The KNU and Burmese government reached a cease-fire in 2012. Thar Mae Plaw is one of the pilot projects for the relief and resettlement of Karen villagers who were affected by armed conflict between the Karen National Union (KNU) and the Burmese government.

Both the KNU and the Burma government agreed to the pilot project after the 2012 ceasefire. There are more than 1,000 Karen villagers resettled in Thar Mae Plaw in Palaw Township, east of Myeik Town.

Saw Honny warned that if the Burmese troops continue to enter the area it could also cause conflict with Karen soldiers.

Saw Honny said.

“The Burmese troops came to the area without informing the Karen soldiers based there, it almost caused a clash with the Karen soldiers. If the Burmese troops continue to enter and patrol in the area in secret like this it could create conflict with the Karen soldiers.”

The Border Consortium estimates that there are more than 400,000 displaced people in southeastern Burma. The TBC reports that more than 3,600 villages in south-eastern Burma were destroyed or abandoned since 1996 because of militarization.

An organic farming project in Kachin State is helping people displaced by war to get back on their feet.

Every day, hundreds of people at the Hnkawng Pa camp for internally displaced people near the Chinese border leave their makeshift shelters and head for the plots where they grow vegetables.

In 2011, when fighting resumed in Kachin State, many people fled their villages and took refuge in hastily established IDP camps controlled by the Kachin Independence Organization. Many had lost family members and most of their possessions and having to flee their homes was traumatic. Adjusting to life in the camps was also a radical change. The villagers were accustomed to living in small, tight-knit communities and they found themselves in overcrowded camps with strangers as neighbors. An unfamiliar environment, boredom and a lack of work opportunities led to strains in the social fabric of these Kachin Christian camp communities.

Now, however, growing pumpkins and other vegetables is providing many IDPs with much-needed nourishment and vitamins and helping them regain their self-esteem by giving them a sense of mission.

“This is why our program is good,” says Hkwa Lwi from the local Kachin NGO called BRIDGE or Bridging Rural Integrated Development and Grassroots Efforts that is helping in the camps. “It not only provides food to the refugees but it also recreates a sense of purpose and community,” he said.

Food security remains a problem in most of the 30 IDP camps administrated by the KIO, where most of the 80,000 IDPs survive on a basic food package of oil, salt and rice that is brought in over the border with China or provided by humanitarian agencies. Most IDPs don’t have enough vitamins and proteins to sustain them. The fortunate few who have found work on nearby farms usually spend the 50 Chinese Yuan they earn each day to buy vegetables to feed their families.

But for more and more of the camp residents, the organic gardening scheme launched by Bridge is helping Hnkawng Pa camp residents to feed their families and making them feel better about themselves.

A total of 10 groups, each comprised of 20 to 30 families, are working together after being trained by BRIDGE in the craft of organic, sustainable farming. After an introductory course in land management, they are taught how use natural fertilizers and select the best seeds for an optimal harvest. Since April, 11 tons of fresh vegetables have been harvested, enough to supply the whole camp. Lentils, ginger, onions, pumpkins and cucumbers are tended by the groups when they are not busy with community service in the camp. Rice remains the only commodity that needs to be imported from outside as the limited local production is only used during the Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations of this Christian community.

The NGO began the program soon after the camp was set up two years ago but it was slow to be taken up at first. The KIO camp administrator says today that it is, “thanks to the sustainable farming that the community survives.” Initially, most of the IDPs thought their plight would be temporary because they are used to leaving their villages for periods of up to six month to avoid fighting before returning to their homes. But as the fighting continued and hopes of a quick return vanished, many camp residents showed interest in joining the program.

Dau Hawng, the local BRIDGE NGO program manager, says the skills and knowledge acquired by the IDPs who are participating in the program will be useful when they eventually return home. Most of the displaced people have expressed the wish to return to their villages and put the skills they learned in the camps to use, once a ceasefire is in place. “Next year we will start to prepare bags of seeds containing different varieties of vegetables that the people have learned to cultivate so they can take them back home,” he said, hoping the sustainable methods of farming will spread to other areas of Kachin State.

Bridge’s approach to agriculture is innovative in a region where natural resources are being depleted on a large scale and where most farmers have adopted Chinese agricultural techniques which involve using costly industrial fertilizers and pesticides. The NGO’s efforts have sparked interest from nearby farmers who have asked to be trained in organic agriculture after observing the potential of these new ways of farming. The KIO says it wants to replicate the program in the other 30 camps it manages.

In recent decades, many farmers have been lured by the promise of good yields offered by modern industrial agricultural techniques that often rely on the heavy use of fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides. Bridge’s organic approach provides a cheaper, more sustainable and healthier alternative.

With the approach of Thanksgiving, a Christian event which originated in North America and will be celebrated in the United States this year on November 28, there are more immediate concerns than spreading the word about these new, but old-style, methods of growing food.

As one of the farmers strolled earlier this month around the plot he has been cultivating for the past year, he pointed proudly to the pumpkins and other vegetables.

“In three weeks, we will pick all these vegetables and make a great Thanksgiving feast for everyone in the camps,” he said.

S'Phan Shaung-Dawei residents in Southern Burma held a press conference on November 12 in Rangoon in an attempt to highlight what the residents have had to face because of mining in the region.

The Dawei villagers from the western Dawei area said the mining has been going on before and after ceasefire agreements between the Karen National Union and the government.

Dawei residents said the Heinda and Bawapin coal mines operating in eastern Dawei, are polluting the village water sources.

Saw Ka Bu, a villager from Kahtaung Nee village who lives near the mining area told Karen News.

“We have learned that the coal mining companies got permission [government] to mine about 8,000 acres over 25 years in our area. We are worried that it will have terrible negative impacts on us.”

The Dawei residents’ press conference was organized in Rangoon by the Ta Ka Paw Youth Group and the Dawei Development Group and the local civil society groups working on social issues in the area. More than 70 people including mining experts, community-based-organizations, the local villagers, media groups attended the conference.

Naw Pay Ta Law, a member of Ta Ka Paw Youth Group spoke to Karen News.

“After the ceasefire, the government gave permission to the companies to mine thousands of acres of land in the eastern Dawei area, and to plant rubber trees. We want to point out that the new mining projects lack transparency.”

A press release from the conference stated that thousands of acres of lands and jobs would be destroyed by the mining.

Following the ceasefire agreement between the Karen National Union (KNU) and the Burma government a number of private companies came to the Dawei areas looking for business.

Padoh Saw Eh Na, the KNU’s Megui/Tavoy district joint secretary spoke to Karen News about permission for development.

“We follow our central KNU policies in regard to local economic development in our area. Any development should be do no harm to the environment and do no harm to the villagers. If they [companies] want to do business, they must get permission from our organization. If they cannot follow the rules, these companies will not be given permission to operate.”

Recently, a coalmining operation at Bam Chaung in the Dawei area run by the Myanmar May Flower Company and the East Star Company [Thai owned] since 2011 has now been stopped. The KNU’s Megui/Tavoy district officials said that they made the decision at their district meeting in October to stop the coalmining because of the local peoples’ complaints.

Local villagers said that the May Flower Company had got permission from the government and have constructed a road for carrying coal from Si Daw to Kahtaung Nee village. The First Resource Company is trying to open a new mining operation in the Ka Moung Thwe of eastern Dawei.

In the Asia Development Bank latest report figure note that as of September 2011 there were 33 major coal deposits in Burma and four of them are in Tanintharyi region in southern Burma.

S'Phan Shaung-Burma’s President, U Thein Sein, amnesty on November 15 saw the release of 69 political prisoners, including Naw Ohn Hla.

Naw Ohn Hla who was imprisoned for two years because of her involvement in leading protests against the Letpadaung Copper Mining Project, a Chinese copper mine operating in the Sagaing Region.

Naw Ohn Hla spoke to Karen News.

“I was arrested unjustly and was imprisoned unjustly. Now they [authority] granted me amnesty without me having to sign any commitment paper. Even if they ask me to sign, I will not do it.”

Naw Ohn Hla said that the president’s amnesty should not be used as political ploy by the government, but it should be the goodwill of the government with intention to release all political prisoners in Burma.

Naw Ohn Hla was charged under section 18 of the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law and section 505 (b) of offences against the State or against the public tranquility. She was tried at Monywa Township’s court on August 27 and was sentenced to two years imprisonment with hard labor on August 29.

While she was in Monywa prison, Naw Ohn Hla protested by fasting for 15 days, before she was transferred to Mandalay Prison.

Ko Bo Kyi, the joint secretary of Assistance Association for Political Prisoners told Karen News that all political prisoners have to be freed.

“The president has said that he will release all political prisoners by the end of this year. The recent release is only part of what the president has promised.”

Ko Bo Kyi added that although political prisoners are being released, the AAPP’s records show that there are still as many as 60 political prisoners in jail and there are 265 currently facing court in Burma.

The president’s official website stated on November 15th that the political prisoner verification committee will continue their work in identifying political prisoners in order to release all of them by the end of December 2013.

Saw Khar Hsu Nyar-The ethnic alliance, the United Nationalities Federal Council, blamed the government for the fighting in Kachin State. The UNFC said the ongoing fighting in kachin State is a result of the government’s territorial containment policy in ethnic states.

The UNFC said that thousands of Kachin civilians have been forced from their homes due to the recent fighting on November 17 between the government troops and the Kachin Independent Army near the Nam Lim Pa village in Mansi Township. The fighting broke out not long after the ethnic armed organizations held a conference in Laiza to discuss the proposed nationwide ceasefire with the government.

Khun Okker, the joint secretary of the UNFC spoke to Karen News.

“The fighting in Kachin State is because of the government troops’ territory containment policy. This policy has been used since the previous military regime. If this situation continues, we will need to take more time to discuss the nationwide ceasefire.”

Khun Okker said that in the past ten years, the former military regime’s policy and strategy was to have a ceasefire with the country’s northern based ethnic armed groups while intensifying their offensive towards the country’s southern based ethnic armed groups.

The Kachin Women Association Thailand, estimate that over 1,500 villagers are displaced from Nam Lim Pa village in Mansi Township, Kachin State. The displaced villagers fled to Ban Maw Township to escape the fighting on November17.

Padoh Mahn Mahn, the joint sectary of the Karen National Union spoke to Karen News and said that the government should stop its military operations during the peace talk process otherwise it will have a negative impact on the trust building between the government and the ethnic armed groups.

“The government has to stop the fighting if it wants to help build trust. It is worth pointing out that if the government is insisting on holding on to the political framework as proscribed under the 2008 constitution, it limits the chance of getting a political agreement with the ethnic organisations.”

Saw Blacktown and Saw Doo Plout- In an exclusive two-part interview with Karen News, *Zoya Phan, the Campaigns Manager at Burma Campaign UK and recognized as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, outlines what Burma’s government needs to do if it is to have genuine political dialogue with the country’s people.

Zoya Phan, the Campaigns Manager at Burma Campaign UK explained to Karen News that many international governments have accepted the simple narrative on Burma that all’s well with the country now that it appears to have embraced deomocracy.

“Many governments and international communities, including diplomats and organizations around the world, many of them think that Burma is free and there is peace in the country. But actually being back in Karen State, Burma recently and talking to many people on the ground, I would say that Burma is not as free as many people think. We still have a long way to go.”

Zoya Phan acknowledged to Karen News that while there have been some changes in many parts of rural Burma much is still the same.

“Of course there has been some political space in the cities like in Rangoon, Mandalay, Naypyidaw and in the main city areas but for ethnic minorities, in many parts of the remote areas nothing has really changed. The human right situation is getting worse. Since the new President Thein Sein came into power, issues like rape, sexual violence and other human right abuses such as forced labor, arbitrary detention, arbitrary arrest, forced relocation, displacement and land confiscation – many of these kind of human right violations are still going on.”

Zoya Phan notes that while Aung San Suu Kyi has been elected it may have blunted some of her effectiveness.

“Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD are now within the government system and Aung San Suu Kyi is now an MP. She would like to push for further changes within the parliament and within the government system. But there has been very limited space and we still have a long way to go.”

Zoya Phan points out that while Burma has released hundreds of political prisoners other remain in jail and many of the country’s draconian laws have yet to be changed.

“For example, the unlawful association law – this law enables the government to arrest activists, farmers and politicians who speak out for human rights, land rights and for the people. So I would say that Burma still has a long way to go.”

Zoya Phan said that despite two years of a ceasefire between the government and the Karen National Union there has been little achieved to solve political issues between the two sides.

“The Karen National Union has the ceasefire agreement with the government for almost two years now, but there hasn’t been any political dialogue because for the Karen National Union the aim of the ceasefire is to have a political dialogue, solve the problem in political way and then have proper development for the people and also its include the changing and reforming of the constitution. But so far, even with ceasefire based on the experience that I have and talking to people on the ground here, it’s very fragile. There is still lack of trust. There are still so many things to be done in terms of Code-of-Conduct and other agreement.”

Zoya Phan said that the government’s push for economic development projects is at the expense of what local people need – roads, schools and health services.”

“The impression that I have is that the Burmese government, after the ceasefire, wants to have developments – like economy developments such as big economic zones, dams and development projects that involve land confiscation, human right abuses against the local people and environmental destruction. These are not good for the local people. For the Karen National Union, the main aim is to have political dialogue. So far, there is no sign of the Burmese government wanting to have political dialogue.”

Zoya Phan urged the government to have real political dialogue with all the people of Burma.

“Unless there is political dialogue, I am afraid there can’t be proper peace and prosperity in the country. Having a ceasefire alone without political solution is like pressing a pause button to the conflict – it’s not a stop button. The conflict could come back at any time because the root causes of the problem are still there. And the main thing that the international community need to understand is solving the political problems is the most important and is key for creating peace in Burma.”

Zoya Phan says the ceasefire has allowed many ‘developers’ to wreck havoc on the environment and has resulted in many land confiscation cases.

“Since the ceasefire took place in Karen area, we’ve seen more and more economical destruction, environmental destruction and land confiscation where local people who have lived on their farm and have been working on their farm for many years – their lands have been taken by authorities for business people – these kinds of human right violations happen more and on a bigger scale since the ceasefire took place.”

Zoya Phan criticized the international community for failing to scrutinize ceasefire agreements and for being prepared to accept ceasefires as peace rather than a first step.

“The Burmese government got huge support from the international community by having some kind of ceasefire agreement with the Karen National Union. And again when you look at the territory of the Karen, the Burma Army instead of withdrawing their army, they increased their army. And local people cannot go back to their places, for example refugees from the Thai Burma border and internally displaced areas, they still can’t go back to their own homeland because of the lack of safety and security. There are still Burmese army soldiers in their village that was the reason they have to flee from for the first time.”

Zoya Phan said that the current push to send refugees and displaced people back to relocation areas is premature.

“When you look at on the ground there are still lots of land mine, is not safe for the people to go back and there is no health care and education system and proper administrations for the local people to go back and have their livelihood in their own homeland. And for some people in refugee camps of course they want to go back to their own village. They don’t want to go back and work as cheap labors in the government factories or economic zones. And this is one thing that international community needs to understand refugee should only return to their homeland when it is safe and when they can volunteer to go back home.”

Zoya Phan said that the ceasefire has delivered some benefits.

“There has been some space [opened]. For example, some communities in Karen area can now travel better and they have more access to reach out to their family members in other parts of the country. The Karen National Union can also talk to other Karen organizations that they couldn’t do before which is quite positive.”

Zoya Phan points out that the political challenges facing the ethnic pro-democracy groups still exist.

“The Karen National Union is still a banned organization and the unlawful association law is still there that banned the KNU and, anyone who associates with the KNU can be arrested according to the government’s law. That’s why still many people in Burma, especially in Irrawaddy, Rangoon, Tenassarim and other areas that still fear to contact and associate with the Karen National Union.”

Saw Blacktown and Saw Doo Plout-In part two of her exclusive interview with Karen News, *Zoya Phan, the Campaigns Manager at Burma Campaign UK, outlines what she thinks the international community needs to do to have the Burma government engage in genuine political dialogue.

Zoya Phan said that despite some changes in Burma the country “still has a long way to go and lots of human right violations are still going on, for example, in Kachin State, Northern Shan state and Rakhine State, the government is still committing human right violations – the Burma Army especially continues its attacks against civilians – they are not interested in genuine political reform.”

Zoya Phan urged the international community to keep pressure on Burma’s government to ensure promises made by President U Thein Sein on reforms are kept.

“International pressure is very important to force the government into negotiations and into having a genuine democratization in Burma. What we need to see from the European Union, Australia government, America government, Canada and others and the rest of the international community is more political pressure put on the government in Burma – talk to them and then to pressure them into genuine negotiation with ethnic armed political groups.”

Zoya Phan insists that the Burma government has to stop its military from fighting in ethnic areas.

“The most important thing at the moment is for the Burmese government to stop the attacks in Kachin State and Northern Shan State and to have a nationwide ceasefire and then have a genuine political solution. And release all political prisoners in Burma and to repeal those oppressive laws.”

Zoya Phan told Karen News that the government needs to allow access to humanitarian aid organisations to work in rural areas of the country.

“President Thein Sein’s government needs to open up to more humanitarian access in different parts of Burma. At the moment, hundreds and hundreds of people suffer because of poverty, human right and humanitarian crisis. Thein Sein’s government still blocks international NGOs and international humanitarian aids in many parts of Burma – this needs to change. And the world’s governments should pressure the Thein Sein’s government to stop blocking aid to ethnic areas.”

Zoya Phan said the United Nation General Assembly has to do more on Burma.

“What we need to see is for the UN General Assembly to pass a strong resolution on Burma and pressure the government in Burma to have a genuine reform. If the government in Burma does not follow the resolution then the UN needs to take action.”

Zoya Phan said it is crucial that the government takes this opportunity to work for genuine peace for all the people of Burma.

“I am worried for my people and I am worried for my country, Burma. But there are also opportunities for us. I think for the Burmese government it is not to late for them to change and to have genuine reform in Burma. But the only thing that will change the government’s mind to have genuine reform in Burma is pressure. It is domestic pressure and it is international pressure. That’s why we need to see more pressure.”

Zoya Phan said it is also time, that ethnic people could live in a world without armed conflict.

“What I would like to see for my Karen people is for us to be able to live in peace without fear. Not just the Karen, for everyone in Burma. I’d like to see equality for every ethnic and for everyone, regardless of our race, our ethnicity, our religion, our gender and our background, everyone is equal and everyone should be treated equally.”

Zoya Phan said ethnic people have to have equal rights if the country is to have a lasting peace.

“What I would like to see in the future, in terms of political change in Burma is to have a federal system that guarantees equal rights for ethnic people where we have our own self-determination and autonomy, free from fear and have our own security – politically, economically and socially, to have our own government within the federal system of Burma. That is the only solution that will bring peace to the country.”

Zoya Phan urged all people involved in the country’s pro-democracy struggle to keep fighting for freedom.

“I’d like to encourage everyone involved in the struggle for freedom and democracy in Burma to not give up. We still have a long way to go – don’t lose hope. I think hope is very important and everyone can play different roles in the struggle and every role is important. So, please continue doing what we can to help our people back home in Burma because they need our help and we need to stay strong. And I am sure that one day, our dream of a free Burma will come true.”

*Zoya Phan is Campaigns Manager at Burma Campaign UK. Her autobiography is published as ‘Undaunted’ in the USA, and ‘Little Daughter’ in the rest of the world. She is recognised as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.

Villagers in Southern Burma are under attack as rats swarm their rice farms and devour their crops.

P’doh Saw Htee Wah, secretary of the Karen National Union’s (KNU) Tenaseerim Township, told Karen News.

“Villagers in the areas of Ma Noe Ro, Ta Ket, Pa Wat, Kay are facing a huge problem as rats attack their crops at night and destroyed in some cases their entire crop. Some villagers lost all crop in a few days. We are trying to collect data to gauge the total destruction of rice crops in the area.”

The affected villages are in the area of Tenasserim Township, east of Myeik Town.

P’doh Saw Htee Wah said information the KNU had collected showed that villagers crops destroyed by the rats affected four villages – as many as 136 households.

P’doh Saw Htee Wah said the rat attacks and the destroyed crops would cause an enormous food shortage.

“So far in four villages about 729 people would face food shortages in the coming year. The crops destruction by rats around the area is spreading.”

Local KNU authorities and villagers said an unusual large area of bamboo now in seed caused the large population of rats to attack their crops. Villagers said when bamboo produces seed it attracts swarms of rats.

The rat attack, according to villagers happens when the bamboo flowers, produces a seed or fruit. The seed attracts swarms of rats. Villagers believe the seeds cause the rats to multiply rapidly, causing an infestation. After eating the seeds, the rats attack the villagers’ crops.

A villager, Saw Poe Wat, from Kay village told Karen News how the rats destroyed his crops.

“All my three acres of rice crops have been eaten by the rats. The rat swarmed the paddy at night. They are unstoppable. Most of the villagers lost their crops. For example, out of a 100 rice farms only 30 have be left untouched by the rats.”

Saw Poe Wat said the bamboo in seed had attracted the vermin.

“We think that the rat population has increased as a result of the extra food from the bamboo seeds. This year a large area of bamboo near our village was in seed seeds. After rats eat all the bamboo seed, they start to swarm our crops.”

Saw Khar Hsu Nyar-The Karen National Union has opened, in response to village concerns, a clinic to give remote and isolated rural communities access to healthcare.

The Kawkreik Township, Dooplaya District KNU office opened the clinic in the Mae Kanel village in Nu Poe area on November 20, 2013.

Pa Doh Saw Eh Kaw Thaw, secretary of the KNU’s Kawkareik Township office said villagers in Mae Kanel village and surrounding villages have for too long been isolated and unable to access healthcare.

Speaking to Karen News, Padoh Saw Eh Kaw Thaw said.

“It is far for the villagers from this area to travel to the clinic at Myawaddy. After discussions with the relevant community leaders we built this clinic at Mae Kanel village.”

In the past, villagers had to rely on health workers from the village working with health workers from the Karen Department of Health and Welfare (KDHW). Villagers said the care while appreciated and free was at best irregular.

At the opening of the clinic, the head of the KDHW, Pa Doh Saw Eh K’lu Shwe Oo, the KNU Kawkareik Township’s secretary, Saw Eh Kaw Thaw, Major Saw Hla Min from the KNLA’s brigade 6, representatives from the Burma Medical Association (BMA), the Myawaddy district governmentt’s administrators, militia officers and Border Guard Force (BGF)’s leaders attended the ceremony.

Saw Hser Khu Htee, a villager who was there, spoke to the Karen News.

“I’m thankful that the KNU built this clinic for our villagers. In the past if we got sick we had to travel to get treatment far away in Myawaddy or go to Thailand. Now it’s good for us to have a clinic, especially for pregnant women.”

The KNU officials plan to extend the health service and build clinics in Nu Poe village and Htee Moo Hta village to take care of the sick in the area. This area of Kawkreik Township is currently under the control of a mixed administration of both the government and the KNU.

The construction of the Mae Kanel Clinic began in 14 February, 2013 and it’s the first clinic that the KNU built in Kawkareik Township District since ceasefire agreement with the Burma government was signed in 2012.

Saw Blacktown- Recent reforms in Burma have not stopped thousands of migrant workers moving to Thailand in search of work. International workers organisations estimate that more than 2 million Burmese migrants have come to Thailand in search of better paid work.

It is estimated that in some villages in Karen State, that as many as 80% of young and middle-aged men and women have left. Locals claim the drain off young people out of Karen villages on the Thai Burma border, has reduced village populations of young people, that once numbered between 100 and 200, to as low as 10.

Many of these villagers have left because of economic hardship, the high cost of living and low wages or the corrupt political situation in their homeland.

In an interview with Karen News, a young migrant worker from Lamphan village in Kyain Sikgyi Township, who asked not to be named, said that the majority of young people in his village left to seek work in Thailand.

“There are almost no young people in our village now. They have all gone to work [in Thailand]. My village is very quiet now. As a young person, I don’t find it exciting to live there anymore, so I have decided to find work here [in Thailand] as well.”

Grandma Nan Tar Moo Gyi, is 65 and was looking forward to an easier life in her old age, that was until her son and daughter left to work in Thailand and left their children behind for her to look after.

Grandma Nan Tar Moo Gyi lives in Hpa-an, Karen State and says she now has her hands full looking after her two grandchildren.

“Their parents left them with me when the [older] child was four months old. Now the child is almost seven years old. Their parents went to Bangkok to find money.”

This is not the first time that Grandma Tar Moo Gyi has had to look after her grandchildren while their parents worked in Thailand as this is the second lot of grandchildren that she is taking care of.

“When I was taking care of the first bunch, their parents didn’t need to send money home as I could still work and earn enough to raise them. Now, as I can’t work anymore, their parents have to send me 100,000 kyat [$100 USD] a month. Actually, one hundred thousand kyat is not enough. The price of milk, medicine and school fees for the children cost a lot more. The children get sick and need to see a doctor quite often. So, it is not enough for these expenses – we are in debt.”

At her age, grandma Nan Tar Moo Gyi said that she wants her children to come back from Thailand to care for their kids, but she is reluctant to ask them as the family has a lot of debts to pay back.

Speaking to Karen News, Nan Tar Moo Gyi said.

“I am thinking to ask my children to come back from Bangkok – they also would like to do so. But how are we going to deal with all the debts if they come back? Just the interest [on the debt] is a lot of money.”

Although Thailand increased the minimum wage to 300 baht (US$ 10) a day in 2012, most migrant workers receive less than 250 baht. Despite the better wages, the cost of living is expensive for migrant workers. They cannot earn enough to save – just enough to live on.

Poe Kay, 50, is a Karen construction worker. He has been working in Thailand for more 20 years and said that life is hard.

“Work and life in Thailand is not easy. I work to get some money and then I’d get sick and my money is spent on healthcare. I cannot save any money. I have lived in Thailand for more than 20 years already. I have never gone back to my village.”

Workers who attempt to find employment in Thailand through labor brokers face more pressing problems. Broker fees can run between 5,000 baht and 12,000 baht. Many cases of abuse at the hands of brokers or employers in Thailand have been reported, with young women particularly vulnerable to sexual abuse.

The Migrant Worker Right Network (MWRN) has criticized the Burma and Thailand’s National Verification process for leaving migrant workers open to exploitation at the hands of corrupt brokers.

Many of these workers are vulnerable to exploitation, abuse in the workplace and a lack of job security. The situation has been hampered by both the Burma and Thai government’s inability to deliver a clear migration policy framework even though a National Verification process (NV) for migrant workers has been in place for 11 years.

In spite of the gradual rollout of the NV scheme, migrant workers are paying as much as five times what the process should legally cost due to broker charges.

Burma and Thailand agreed that migrant workers must pay 1,050 baht (US$3.3) to complete the NV process. Yet the Migrant Workers Right Network said that when broker charges and “under the table” costs are added up, each worker spent 5,500 to 12,000 baht (US$180-400) for getting a temporary passport and work permit.

With 1.7 million migrants completing the process this means brokers, agencies and officials through exploitation and corruption have already made at least 5,100 million baht (US$170 million) from the NV process. At the same time, low-income earning migrant workers have found themselves in “more debt, often leading to severe debt bondage, and seen their savings decline.”

Henry Zwartz-Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in Australia for five-day visit,criticised Burma’s current constitution as being “undemocratic” and urged the international community to put added pressure on Burma’s government to undergo further reforms.

Speaking at the Sydney Opera House on the 27th of November, where Ms Suu Kyi received honorary degrees from both the University of Sydney and the University of Technology (Sydney). In her speech Ms Suu Kyi emphasised national “unity” as a key plank of Burma’s future political roadmap.

She also said that the 2008 constitution was worded to prevent her from becoming president of the country.

“This constitution was written specifically to prevent me from becoming president. I object to this… no constitution should be written with one person in mind,” she said.

Ms Suu Kyi was referring to clauses in Burma’s 2008 Constitution that states that the President cannot have been married to a foreigner and the President needs to have had military experience – Ms Suu Kyi is barred from the Presidency on both counts.

Ms Suu Kyi spoke at the Sydney Opera House ceremony in front of an audience that included people from the Burmese community – ethnic Karen, Shan, Mon and many others – the Australian ambassador in Burma, and Australian politicians. It was also reported in local media that Australia’s Kachin community boycotted the event in protest to the government’s ongoing prosecution of a vicious war in Kachin State, Burma, against the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO) and Ms Suu Kyi’s failure to condemn the government.

A band performed traditional Burmese music for the audience before the speeches began.

The Pragmatist

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was careful to avoid directly answering questions on human rights issues in Burma, specifically the persecution of Rohingya Muslims. She emphasized that lack of rule of law in Burma and a practically non-existent judiciary meant that it was no surprise that such tensions could occur in the streets and not be “resolved” in a court of law.

Ms Suu Kyi said that, while often viewed as a pro-democracy campaigner, she was at heart a politician whose goal was to become Burma’s president through democratic means.

“I look upon myself as a politician, not as an icon,” she said.

Aung San Suu Kyi – ‘Burma far from Reformed’

Aung San Suu Kyi criticised the view that Burma’s moves to reform under ex-general and current president, Thein Sein were going well, as being “mistaken.”

She said, “those of you who think that Burma has successfully taken the path to reform, would be mistaken.”

Ms Suu Kyi emphasize to those commentators that they should spend time reading the country’s constitution to get a clear picture on why Burma still had a long way to go.

“If you want to know why you are mistaken, you only have to study the Burmese constitution, not a pleasant task I can tell you. But if you read it carefully, you will understand why we cannot have genuine democracy under such a constitution,” she added.

Ko Htwe - Myanmar’s ethnic media is at a crossroads writes Ko Htwe. Government restrictions have eased, but ethnic groups are still fighting for an equal voice.

Myanmar’s independent media suffered during 60 years of military rule. The country’s dictator, General Ne Win, effectively banned or censored any media that was not state owned. While a series of reforms implemented by President Thein Sein’s nominally civilian government over the past 18 months has significantly improved press freedom, Myanmar’s ethnic media still faces serious difficulties.

Say Reh Soe is the editor of the Kantaryawaddy Times (KT), a news agency dedicated to reporting on issues relating to Kayah state in Burma’s east and its predominantly Karenni population. He recently returned to Myanmar after a lengthy exile on the Thai-Myanmar border, where he had been producing a bi-monthly newspaper.

In 2012, Say Reh Soe received a temporary six-month licence from the Myanmar government to print and distribute the newspaper inside the country. Distribution began in January 2013.

“It is not easy to work inside. We have many obstacles. While other journals are publishing daily and weekly newspapers, we just started a monthly journal so our news is not fresh,” he explains.

The 20-page monthly journal has a print run of 1000 and sells for about 300 Kyats (a little over 37 cents). Despite its Karenni focus, the journal is published in Burmese, in order to appeal to a wider audience. Many copies get passed around two or three times among a population starved for local news. There is no daily paper printed in Kayah state, the country’s smallest.

Say Reh Soe says interviewing local officials remains difficult in a country where the media had been restricted for so long.

“Publishing inside we need sources and interviews with government officials but they still see us as outside media so it is difficult to get in contact with them.”

As in most areas outside Burma’s major cities, phone and internet access is at best haphazard, and often non-existent.

He points out that travel, too, is difficult in Kayah state. The countryside is controlled by a number of armed rebel groups, government backed militias and military forces. “In our state, there are many different armed groups from other small minorities and to go to their area we need permission from them.”

In the past, when Say Reh Soe was distributing Kantaryawaddy Times outside Burma, his newspaper was printed in the Karrenni language. This saw the government labels it as ‘rebel literature’.

“We will discuss with our members whether to put our language back in the paper later,” he says.

In Myanmar, the Kachin, Karreni, Karen, Chin, Mon, Arakan and Shan ethnic groups have their own literature and language. The first ethnic Karen language newspapers appeared between 1836 and 1846. In 1842, the Baptist mission printed a monthly publication in the Karen-language Sgaw. But after the Ne Win regime took power in 1962, all the ethnic publications disappeared.

It took until the 1990s before ethnic media reappeared among exiled communities. The Shan Herald Agency for News (SHAN), operated by Shan exiles since 1974, provided regular reporting on Shan state, Myanmar’s largest and most ethnically diverse. Reporting on the region’s long-running civil war and its infamous drug trade, SHAN supplied news and analysis that was missing from mainstream sources.

But the recent ‘democratic’ developments in Myanmar have resulted in international donors cutting their funding for the various exile news organisations and those, like the Democratic Voice of Burma, that focus on national news. This has been a blow for groups that only recently have been given permission to have their correspondents report from inside Myanmar.

For non-Burmese speakers, the ethic media is often their only source of news. The mainstream media uses a language they don’t understand. It’s a problem for indigenous people right across Asia.

According to the Indigenous Voices in Asia Pacific report, by the Asia-Pacific Regional Centre of the United Nations Development Program, mainstream media has failed to include indigenous peoples, both in terms of diversity in their staff and in the content they produce.

“This has been far from ideal,” the report states, “for example, while environmental damage, infringements on land rights and transgressions of cultural norms are issues that have often been covered, the points-of view of indigenous peoples have largely been missing.”

Pascal Khoo Thwe, an award-winning novelist from Burma’s minority Padaung people, has said: “Media in any form is important for maintaining ethnic culture. Therefore it is necessary to have proper media outlets for ethnic groups. It will help each group understand and explore their own culture.”

But long-time Myanmar watchers point out that many of the ethnic media formed in exile have close ties to Myanmar’s armed rebel groups and rarely, if ever, have coverage critical of the actions of such groups.

This is refuted by Khuensai Jaiyen, the respected long-time editor of the Shan Herald which runs regular interviews with the senior leadership of the Shan State Army South. “There are also causes regarding the arm groups that we have to report without omission,” he says.

Han Mai was a member of the All Burma Student Democratic Front (ABDSF), a rebel group formed by students who fled to Myanmar’s borders after the 1988 uprising. He worked in Thailand as journalist covering Myanmar for many years and believes it’s important that the independent media not only provides critical coverage of military and the nominally civilian government, but also of the various rebel groups as well.

Han Mai reported last year on allegations that troops from the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), the last major rebel group not to sign a ceasefire with the central government, abused local women in their area of control. Many ethnic youth and former fighters come to Thailand to be trained as journalists, and they play an important role.

“Communicating with ethnic language can build trust and it is more easy to hunt news because many ethnic minorities viewed the government as Burma, and that caused racial hatred,” says Han Mai.

These ethnic journalists are seen as a reliable outlet for local ethnic people who have suffered oppression and do not believe the state-owned media or trust journalists speaking Burmese.

“Ethnic minorities have been discriminated [against] not only in education, health, economic but also citizenship for decades, which are hard to disclose under the military regime. But nowadays it is open and can reveal what is happening in ethnic and remote area so ethnic journalists are important,” Han Mai explains.

While Myanmar’s government has now allowed the publication of two dozen daily newspapers and more than 150 weekly journals in Burmese and English, it is still hard to find any published in an ethnic language.

Nan Paw Gay, the editor of the Karen Information Centre (KIC), says journals with ethnic language are less than 10 per cent of what’s published in Myanmar and there are only eight ethnic journals published outside the country.

KIC started publishing a Karen-Myanmar language journal in September with the permission of the Ministry of Information. The plan is to distribute it in Karen state, Pegu, Irrawaddy and the Rangoon Division where many Karen people are living.

In August 2012, the Nationalities Brotherhood Forum (NBF), an alliance of Chin, Mon, Shan, Arakanese, Karen and Karenni political parties, released a statement to support the publishing of newsletters and journals in ethnic languages. The NBF said some ethnic journals from outside the country were trying to register their publications inside in both Burmese and ethnic languages.

“Ethnic journals different from Burmese are needed that can report on the respective ethnic people, their history, culture and literature. Burma has many different ethnic people and all of the journals, magazines and periodicals published only in Burmese
will destroy the characteristics and identity of ethnic people and by neglecting the views of the minority,” says Nan Paw Gay.

“This is against the aims of democracy. Respecting equal rights, the role of the ethnic people, is also important in the affairs of the state.”

Amart-dein Journal is a quarterly in the Mon language. It was selling 3000 copies illegally within Mon state, but is now permitted to publish legally in Myanmar.

Another Mon language monthly, Guiding Star, also received temporary permission to publish inside Burma on February 15, 2013.
Mon journalist Nai Arkar says the journal is hitting two birds with one stone. “It is preservation our language and some Mon who cannot read or write Myanmar can read it easily,” he says.

Article 16, of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples states “Indigenous peoples have the right to establish their own media in their own languages and to have access to all forms of non-indigenous media without discrimination.”

It also states: “States, without prejudice to ensuring full freedom of expression, should encourage privately owned media to adequately reflect indigenous cultural diversity.”

Myanmar’s first ethnic media conference was held in Moulmein, capital of Mon state, in April and urged the promoting and the development of ethnic language media, but the struggle continues.

Burma courts fine Kachin peace activists 40,000 Kyat for violating a controversial protest law that critics claim is used to gag political dissent.

The two activists were charged under Section 18 of Burma’s Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law. They were fined on the 26th of November.

The two activists, May Sabe Phyu and Maran Jaw Gun took part in a peaceful protest in Yangon on the International Day of Peace last year when charged, Burma Campaign UK – a human rights and democracy advocacy group based in the UK – said in a media statement.

May Sabe Phyu and Maran Jaw Gun were part of thousands protesting that day against the Burma’s military prosecution of a vicious war in Kachin State.

“The case highlights three tactics being used by the government of Burma to try to suppress dissent and protest, but at the same time give the appearance of change and avoid international pressure.” Burma Campaign UK said.

Karen News is led to believe that May Sabe Phyu and Maran Jaw Gun were made to attend 140 different court hearings over an almost two-year period.

International standards continue to be ignored

Burma’s Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law, first hailed as part of the country’s roadmap to democracy, has in fact been used to imprison and harass hundreds of political activists since it was first introduced under Thein Sein’s administration. The law gives government authorities power to ban any protest and the government can ban gatherings of two people or more.

Burma Campaign UK said that the government has used Burma’s assembly laws to discourage political dissent.

“May Sabe Phyu and Maran Jaw Gun spent two years in fear of being jailed, attending court cases more than once a week, and have now been fined and have a criminal conviction, all for organising a peaceful protest for peace,” said Mark Farmaner, Director of Burma Campaign UK.

Mr Farmaner said the case against the activists’, “highlights new laws and tactics being used by the government of Burma to suppress dissent while trying to avoid international pressure. Sadly, these tactics are working, with the British government and others still unwilling to take off their rose-tinted glasses when dealing with Thein Sein and his government.”

A National Concern

The Assistance Association of Political Prisoners in Burma (AAPP) noted that the latest figures for October this year that 34 political activists were indicted, with two still in prison. A further five political activists were sentenced; three were given prison sentences and two paid a fine. That month also saw the release of 56 political prisoners.

In addition, three political prisoners were in poor health. AAPP said that 79 farmers involved in “plowing protests” in Pyin- Oo- LwinTsp were indicted in February 2013, under sections 442 and 447 for trespassing.

The AAPP said that, “while the country looks to its future the practice of using arbitrary laws in curtailing its citizens’ civil and political liberties is still very much in place.”

Last week the border crossing from Thailand’s Mae Sot to Burma’s Myawaddy opened its doors to let foreign tourists travel overland.

Three foreign cyclists crossed into Burma through the Thai-Burma border Friendship Bridge at the Mae Sot-Myawaddy crossing on November 27 to start their tour of Burma.

According to immigration officials at the border, the three cyclists, two from Belgium and one from the Nederland were the first foreign cyclists allowed to enter Burma from the border crossing.

The three cyclists, Mr. Ard Duits, Ms. Stephanie Swinkels and Mr. Timo Duits rode through Karen State to Mawlamyine in Mon State on November 29. Mr. Ard Duits said the group is planning to cycle through Karen State, Mon State, Pegu, Mandalay and up to Bagan before leaving Burma through the Takchilek-Mae Sai crossing.

Mr. Ard Duits spoke to Karen News about their trip.

“We have a four weeks tour. We will spend three weeks in Burma and then we plan to stay one week in Thailand. From Mae Sot, we crossed to Myawaddy and rode to Hpa-an then spent the night in Mawlamyine. We’ve thought we might have trouble crossing through the border but it all went well.”

Speaking to Karen News, Ms Stephanie Swinkels said.

“Our purpose of touring with bicycles is that we want to see the beautiful views of Burma nature and we will try to ride to every place we can to see all this beauty.”

Burmese authorities opened the four border crossing points along the Thai-Burma border to allow tourists to visit Burma via inland routes on early August 2013. The four crossing entries are at Myawaddy to Mae Sot, Takchilek to Mae Sai, Kaw Thaung to Ranong and Htee Kee to Phunaron.

A Burmese immigration officer working at Myawaddy said that tourists entering through the four crossing points would need a valid passport and visa. Foreigners can enter from any of the crossings and leave through any of the crossing.

The immigration officer said.

“There are some foreigners coming in with valid passport and visa just to visit Myawaddy, but there are also some of who want to go further. We inform the authorities along the roadways to make sure there is security all the way.”

Tour groups operating in Mawlamyine said they are currently seeing more foreign tourists traveling to the country by both air and overland.