By Salai Elaisa Vahnie
Chinland Guardian

February 27, 2007-New York: Cheery Zahau of Women League of Chinland ( WLC) spoke today at the United Nations held the panel discussion at its 51st Session of Commission on the Status of Women at the UN Headquarters building in New York. The panel discussion focused on discrimination and violence against women in Burma and Sudan. The panelists presented about rape and sexual violence in both countries where Mass Rape have been practiced as a State Sanctioned Weapon.

In her panel presentation, Cheery, coordinator of WLC, figured the total number of victims documented in several different sources of reports prepared by Women organizations in Burma to be as many as 1,859 girls and women.   more »

The most recent report about the new Rambo IV movie says that filming is set to start next week in Chiang Mai.

The S.H.A.N. article refers to the movie as "Rambo IV: In the Serpent's Eye", but IMDb and Wikipedia both say that title has been set aside in favor of "John Rambo". S.H.A.N also report that Rambo is working as a snake hunter in Thailand - not a salvager of scrap metal from old PT boats as has been reported so far. Perhaps "snake hunter" was found to be a more credible occupation for a 60-year-old veteran in Thailand? In these revised reports of the story line, Rambo is actually hired by the missionaries to help in delivering their humanitarian supplies, and not by a family member of the missionaries to rescue them after they are kidnapped.

Despite the impending filming, it seems the lead Burmese role, that of a Burmese commander, has not yet been cast.

"The company is still looking for a new person to play the role of the Burmese commander," Sai Mawng aka Harn Hser Mao, who resigned as a lieutenant last year was quoted as saying. "Maybe they think I don't look bloodthirsty enough."

Harn Hser Mao, who was a lieutenant in the Shan State Army, was earlier reported to have been cast in that lead role, but according to sources who have read his Burmese script, he has been cast as a Burmese 'river pirate' who gets shot by Rambo during a hold-up of the Christian missionaries central to the story line.

Apparently the role of the Burmese commander, who "will be prominently featured", will be chosen from a pool of six or so applicants in the coming week.

I wonder if "actor" is one of the allowable occupations for those holding migrant work permits in Thailand? I felt obligated to watch this movie anyway, but knowing that it's likely a Shan rebel will be cast in a lead role as an evil Tatmadaw officer makes me kind of look forward to the release of this film. Maybe Harn Hser Mao or the other actors will even get their own entries on IMDb.

By Salai Za Uk Ling
www.chinlandguardian.net

23 February 2007 – Kuala Lumpur: Malaysian authorities on Wednesday detained a 2 week-old refugee baby and her Chin parents after the parents tried to register the child’s birth with the National Registration Department here in Kuala Lumpur.

The new-born child and both her parents were placed in custody yesterday afternoon when the parents tried to register the child as a person born in Malaysia. As of late this evening, they remain in detention at the National Registration Department office in Damansara. Under Malaysia’s immigration law, every child born in the country must be registered within 14 days of birth.

According to a relative who accompanied them to the office yesterday, both parents of the baby are unwell. The mother reportedly still hasn’t completely recovered from child birth and was still bleeding at the time of being detained. The father also had just been released only a few hours earlier from hospital where he was treated for temporary paralysis of the limbs when they were placed in immigration custody. “I was waiting outside of the office until the office closed only to find out that they had been detained inside,” the relative told Chinland Guardian.

Dawt Hlei Tial, the mother, is registered a principal with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees as a Person of Concern to the office and is awaiting a final decision on her refugee status. According to the relative, the father has also been notified to appear for interview with UNHCR.

The detention came only a few weeks after Malaysian Home Affairs Minister made a public statement in which he threw criticism at UNHCR for “interfering” with law enforcement’s operations against “illegal immigrants” in the country. In his statement, the Minister further said that his government does not recognize the functions of UNHCR in Malaysia.

According to sources from the Home Ministry, Malaysia currently detains more than 2,000 persons from Burma alone of which a third of them are Chin asylum seekers and refugees. Last year, Home Minister Radzi Sheik Ahmad was quoted by the Malaysian newspaper as saying that his government would intensify crackdowns on “illegal immigrants” despite overcrowded detention centers. “If they [illegal immigrants] have to sleep on the floor next to each other, then so be it,” he was quoted as saying by the New Straits Times.

“We are constantly dealing with arrest and detention every single day,” says Salai San Aung, Secretary of Chin Refugee Committee. According to CRC records, the organization has so far secured the release of 78 Chin refugees in February alone from various police lock-ups and detention.

US conservationist confirms gold mining threatens world's largest tiger reserve

From the Kachin Development Networking Group

Alan Rabinowitz of the Wildlife Conservation Society last week confirmed that gold mining was "one of the biggest challenges" to the world's largest tiger reserve in Burma's Hugawng valley, polluting waterways, posing a threat to human health and contributing to a reduction in wildlife.

In an interview with the Myanmar Times on February 12, 2007, Rabinowitz said there were many gold mines in the valley despite government plans to shut them down by the start of 2007.

Valley of Darkness , a report released last month by the Kachin Development Networking Group (KDNG) detailed that there are 31 main gold mining areas with over 100 active mines throughout the tiger reserve. According to the report, the ruling military junta grants concessions to gold mining companies in the valley, collecting handsome taxes and bribes. A new concession was recently granted to the Sea Sun Star Company allowing them to mine in the valley until 2008.

In the interview, Rabinowitz remained optimistic saying that "the future looks great for Hugawng valley" and calling for a "balance between development and conservation." A spokesman for KDNG said this was unrealistic given the junta's profits from the gold mining industry. "According to the Kachin proverb, Hkan hpe U hkum rim Sha u, ngu tsun ai ga malai, asking the junta to stop gold mining is like asking a wild cat to stop hunting chickens" said Tsa Ji. "Development can only be sustainable under a democratic system that allows local people to participate in decisions about the use of their natural resources."

Valley of Darkness also details the social impacts of gold mining, including the booming sex and drug industries, land confiscation and militarization. The report is now available in Burmese as well as English at: www.aksyu.com

CHRO is deeply concerned and dismayed by the recent statements made by Malaysia’s Home Affairs Minister, Datuk Seri Radzi Sheikh Ahmad, regarding United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in Malaysia. CHRO urges the Minister to consider the implications of his statements in conjunction with the realities of the refugee situation in Malaysia.

On 1 February 2007, the Minister reportedly criticized UNHCR for getting in the way of the operations of agencies such as RELA and the Immigration Department. The Minister further indicated that Malaysia “accepts UNHCR’s presence, but not their powers.”   more »

The Chinland Guardian has recently posted an interview with Benedict Rogers, the author of the recent report on religious persecution in Burma by Christian Solidarity Worldwide.

I should note that my previous post on the topic was a response to other blogger's reactions to the article and report rather than a response to the report itself or the author. The report hadn't even been released at that point in time. If you follow 'Burma' on the blogosphere, then like me, you noticed a significant increase in activity after The Independent article about this report was published. Most of those blog posts were either from Christian bloggers, or from non-religious bloggers who held it up as an example of why religion was bad. But, there were few bloggers who made the effort to acknowledge the bigger story of Burma or called for people to become more informed. I have to wonder if all the other Christian bloggers calling for prayer would have an equal amount of compassion for those Chin who don't go to church, who aren't the same denomination as them, or who aren't even Christian.

I've never closely followed Benedict Roger's work or his writing, but I was pleased to know that he shares an objective, universal view of human rights wherein religous freedom lies.

...I was always a little bit reluctant to highlight too much the issue of religious persecutions because I thought I took the view that everybody in Burma is suffering, although of course I always mentioned religious persecution alongside other human rights issues. But I didn’t want to single out Christians above other people. But when organisations and individuals who were approaching this issue, not from a Christian perspective, said to me, “Why don’t you do a report on this Christian persecution,” I couldn’t really ignore that. That’s the main prompting to do it.

What's unfortunate is that trying to publicise human rights abuses and situations like Burma's is such a minefield of public perception and politics. Those reporting and working on the issues from the a human rights perspective have to do their best to get the word out to a world where a basic understanding human rights is lacking.

The Chinland Guardian site seems to be down at the moment, so I'm including the full transcript of the interview after the cut.   more »

The Central Committee
Kachin National Organization

Monday February 5th, 2007 marks the 46th anniversary of the Kachin Independence Revolution against ethnocentric Burmese military regime. After more than four score years, we remain to be enslaved under the maniacal of militarism and our basic human rights to live and freedoms to survive are increasingly endangered evermore than the past. KNO has witnessed the build up of troops to an unprecedented level during the cease-fire era, and such action will force us to set another revolt against the Burmanization.   more »