NLD general secretary Aung San Suu Kyi addresses a crowd of about 40,000 people outside National League for Democracy headquarters in Bahan Township, Rangoon, a day after her release from house arrest. It was her first organised public speech in seven years..

Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi greets her youngest son Kim Aris, aka Htein Lin, for the first time in a decade just after he walked through the arrivals gate at Rangoon International Airport on Tuesday, November 23, 2010. Junta officials in Bangkok made Aris wait two weeks for a visa that normally takes two or three days to obtain..

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, left, stands as Burmese President Thein Sein shakes hands with Indian President Prathibha Patil flanked by Burma's first lady Khin Khin Win during a full state welcome at the Presidential Palace in New Delhi on Friday, October 14, 2011. India rolled out the red carpet, sensing a chance to deepen relations with a neighbour traditionally allied to New Delhi's regional rival Beijing

Indonesian Foreign Minister arrives in Burma on fact-finding visit

Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa arrived in Burma on Friday to scout out Burma to decide whether it should be granted the Asean chair for 2014.

Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa of Indonesia speaks at the United Nations in this file photo. Photo: UN

During his visit, which ends Saturday, he will go to Naypyitaw, the capital of Burma, and meet with Burmese government officials.

He will meet with his Burmese counterpart Wunna Maung Lwin and Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement and Labour Minister Aung Kyi, according to diplomatic sources.

Observers said he might also meet with NGOs and social organizations and other groups.

The visit to Burma was arranged during the 18th Asean Summit in May. Originally, he was scheduled to start his visit on October 26, but it was delayed two days.
Presently, Indonesia holds the rotating Asean chair and his findings could heavily influence the decision on whether Burma should be granted the chair in 2014 or not, observers say.
Asean has been put under pressure not to grant the Asean chair to Burma because there are still political prisoners and human rights violations in the country.
Burma’s turn to chair Asean came up in 2006, but it passed over the opportunity after widespread criticism over its human rights record. Originally, its turn would have been up in 2016, but Laos agreed to swap places with Burma for the 2014 Asean chairmanship. Burma has been constructing new facilities in Naypyitaw, partly as a bid to attract the Asean delegates.
In August, Burmese Foreign Affairs Minister Wunna Maung Lwin said that the decision whether Burma would be granted the chair would be made at the 19th Asean Summit to be held from November 14 and 19 in Bali, Indonesia.
In May, the Thailand-based Human Rights Education Institute of Burma (HREIB) said Burma should not receive the Asean chair.
Aung Myo Min, the HREIB director, told Mizzima: “Far from it. There are still many political prisoners in Burma. The government is reluctant to hold a political dialogue. We want to urge Asean to put the Burmese government under pressure and to support a commission of inquiry into the allegations of crimes against humanity by the Burmese junta.”
In September, the Global Justice Center called on Asean heads of state not to recognize Burma and block the country from taking the chair in 2014.
In a letter, Janet Benshoof, president of the New York-based center, urged Asean states to uphold the law of nations and treat Burma’s new Constitution, which removes from the president and all branches of “civilian” government any sovereign power over the military, as “null and void.”
Benshoof said, “Asean states are under a legal imperative not to recognize Myanmar/Burma’s Constitution or elections as they violate the UN and Asean Charters and to take immediate action to stop the military’s ongoing war crimes including genocide and military rape of ethnic women used as a weapon of war.”
AP quoted Foreign Minister Natalegawa in September, saying, "I shall be keen to listen and to hear the voice of civil society, not least the voice of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi... whether this can have a multiplier effect, a pull effect in speeding up the pace of change.”

Malaysia: Burma’s ethnic people call for government to stop military attacks and abuses

In recent months the Burma Army has increased its attacks on ethnic people. The Burma Army has been accused of rape, forced labor and firing artillery shells indiscriminately into villages. The ethnic protests against the government’s military offensives have spread to neighboring countries.

Burma ethnic demonstrate in front of Burmese embassy of Malaysia (Photo-KIC )

In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, more than 300 people of ethnic nationalities from Burma staged a protest in front of the Burma embassy in early October demanding the government stop its military offensives in ethnic areas, to release all political prisoners and to stop human right violations. The ethnic nationalities represented at the protest included people from the Kachin, Karen, Karenni, Chin, Mon, Shan, Arakan who held a peaceful demonstration in front of the Burmese embassy.
According to Mahn Sein Than, chairman of the Malaysia Karen Organization and organizer of the protest the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party launched military offensives in Kachin, Shan, Karen and other ethnic areas, committing abuses on women and children and using civilian as human minesweeper, human shields and porters.
Mahn Sein Than spoke to Karen News and said.
“The ruling USDP government have been oppressing ethnic nationalities and using many forms of abuse, including handing out long jail sentences to political opponents and committing crimes against humanity on local ethnic people. If the abuses don’t cease, we will continue to call for the government to stop these human right violations.”
The protesters demanded the government four main concerns – 1) stop the military offensive in ethnic areas, 2) hold peace talks with representatives of the United Nationalities Federal Council, 3) release all political prisoners and 4) completely stop work on the Irrawady Myitsone Dam project and hydropower projects planned for the Salween River.
Protest organizers said that they have been given permission by the Malaysia authorities for their peaceful demonstration.
The organizers said that a letter including their four demands was sent to the chairman of the Association of South East Asian Nations, the United Nation Secretary General – Ban Ki Moon, to Burma’s President U Thein Sein and to many international Non-Governmental Organizations.
This is the third time Burmese people in Malaysia have held demonstrations, other times were during the Monks and civilian revolution in 2007 and after the Burma regime’s disastrous handling of Cyclone Nargis.

Woman Arrested for Sending Another to Exiled Organization in Bangladesh

Maungdaw: A woman was recently arrested by the police in Maungdaw in western Burma’s Arakan State for sending a younger woman from the town to an organization based in Bangladesh.
The woman is identified as 50 year old Daw Ma Thein from Waetharli Village in Maungdaw Township and she was arrested by the police on the 22nd of October, reportedly on charges of trafficking the young woman.
Ma Thein is said to have sent the young woman with her mother’s consent to the Rakhine Women's Union based in Bangladesh, but the stepfather of the young woman was dissatisfied with the arrangement and asked Ma Thein to return his daughter to him. She was then arrested by the police in Maungdaw when she brought the young woman back from Bangladesh.
Daw Saw Mra Raza Lunn, the President of RWU also confirmed the arrest of Daw Ma Thein in Maungdaw.
“The girl has just matriculated and her mother contacted us to send her here so that she could learn and work in our organization before continuing her higher education."
Daw Ma Thein had just sent her to us on behalf of her mother, but her father was dissatisfied with her being here, so Daw Ma Thein was arrested by the police in Maungdaw when she brought back the girl from here”, said Daw Saw Mra Raza Lunn.
The girl who was brought back by Daw Ma Thein is known as Ma Khin Ma Hline, the daughter of Daw Ma Khin Win from Maungdaw.
“We had accepted Khin Ma Hline because she had her mother’s consent. We also knew that her mother did not like to keep her at home for certain reasons. Daw Ma Thein brought her back from Bangladesh as her mother later requested because she feared that Kin Ma Hline's stepfather threatened to tell the police that she has sold her own daughter”, said Daw Saw Mra Raza Lunn.
It has also been learnt that some documents delivered from RWU regarding the campaign for stopping the capture of white elephants and preserving natural environments were seized from Daw Ma Thein when she was arrested. Daw Saw Mra Raza Lunn however said she was unsure if Daw Ma Thein had taken those documents along with her from the RWU, as the RWU had never given those documents to her.
Daw Ma Khin Win, the girl’s mother, was unreachable though Narinjara had tried to contact her via telephone for her comments on the matter.
According to sources in Maungdaw, Daw Ma Thein is a very poor widow and not the trafficker of the girl. She sent the girl to the RWU in Bangladesh according to a request from the girl’s mother. She is now being detained in the police station in Maungdaw for further interrogation.