Abandoning Asia’s Poor

_ by Isabel Ortiz and Anita Kelles-Viitanen

[Isabel Ortiz, a former ADB senior official, was a founding member of its Poverty Unit. Anita Kelles-Viitanen is a former Manager of Social Development at the ADB.]

NEW YORK — More than half of Asia’s population — 1.8 billion people — live on less than $2 a day; more than 600 million of them try to survive on less than $1 a day. With food prices now soaring, most of Asia’s “working poor,” who are already struggling on degraded lands, in sweatshops, on streets and at homes, risk further destitution.

Yet the Asian Development Bank – an institution whose mission is to reduce poverty – last month approved a new corporate strategy (ADB Long Term Strategic Framework 2008-2020) that is ominously silent on the importance of employment and social protection for the poor. A handful of influential ADB bureaucrats with large salaries, secured pensions, comprehensive health insurance, subsidized housing, and education for their children, have apparently decided that financing subsidized housing, health, nutrition, and child protection programs is not a priority. Nor do they consider land reform, employment services, or pensions for all Asians a priority.

Instead, these officials have decided to refocus ADB operations on three areas: inclusive economic growth, environmentally sustainable growth, and regional integration, with a heavy emphasis on private-sector development. The ADB is abandoning crucial public support for social development.

The new strategy is a reversal of the policies of the late 1990’s, when the ADB changed its objective from “economic growth” to “poverty reduction.” The ADB’s earlier policies were based on broad-based growth, good governance, and social development. Ten years later, only an empty corporate motto of “an Asia and Pacific region free of poverty” is left.

Social protection, housing, employment, and labor are not on the ADB’s new agenda. Health and agriculture will be considered only on a highly selective basis. Only education remains as a future investment sector, given its impact on productivity, but the rest of the much-needed social sector interventions have been abandoned in favor of investment in infrastructure, the environment, regional integration, and finance.

No lesson was learned from the Asian financial crisis, which underscored the importance of social protection. Pensions are mentioned only under financial-sector development: the ADB is to promote private-led insurance, despite evidence from the United Nations, International Labor Organization, World Bank and NGOs showing that private pensions do not reach the poor.

If the ADB were serious about poverty reduction, it would put a significant share of its investments in social development, particularly on non-contributory universal social security schemes that can reduce poverty by 35% to 50%.

Why is the ADB constricting its agenda? Why does it want to deny governments’ access to much-needed funds for social development?

The ADB argues that other agencies are responsible for social development. But that argument is unjustified: while institutions such as the UN and NGOs may work on social development, they are under-funded compared to the ADB. Besides, plenty of other public and private institutions undertake the infrastructure and finance projects that the ADB now wants to focus on. So, what is the ADB’s added value, and whom does it serve?

Certainly the ADB’s new strategy will not serve the majority of Asians, 60% of whom still live in poor rural areas. Indeed, Asia and the Pacific account for three-quarters of the world’s stunted, underweight, and malnourished children. Maternal mortality rates remain dismal in several countries. As food prices rise, so is hunger and poverty.

External and internal pressure at the ADB’s Annual Meeting this May forced the bank to respond to the current food crisis through temporary safety-net food security programs. It also offered medium-term measures such as infrastructure and rural finance. All of these are good, but they are insufficient. Other measures are needed to reduce poverty in rural areas, such as land reform and rights, agricultural extension services, expanding access to health and non-contributory social pensions, just to mention some.

ADB’s major goal, however, seems to be to scale up private-sector support from 15% to 50% of total bank operations. Several countries have expressed reservations about this. It will include direct financing, credit enhancements, and guarantees – a subsidy to a sector known for its risky non-performing operations at the ADB – as well as business-friendly regulations and removal of market “barriers,” which include social and labor rights. Such rights can be tolerated only as minimum social safeguards, which the ADB is trying to neuter through another ongoing review.
Unless the ADB’s member governments reverse its current policies, they, too, will be blamed for ignoring the urgent needs of the poor. Poverty reduction requires both economic and social policies that reach people. Growth on its own is not sufficient to guarantee poverty reduction in Asia and the Pacific.

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Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2008. 
www.project-syndicate.org

 

Can the Elephant Dance with the Dragon?

_ by Shashi Tharoor

[Shashi Tharoor, an acclaimed novelist and commentator, is a former Under-Secretary- General of the United Nations.]

TRIVANDRUM, INDIA – It is fashionable these days, particularly in the West, to speak of India and China in the same breath. These are the two big countries said to be taking over the world, the new contenders for global eminence after centuries of Western domination, the Oriental answer to generations of Occidental economic success.

Indeed, two new books explicitly twin the two countries: Robyn Meredith’s The Elephant and the Dragon: The Rise of India and China and What It Means for All of Us and Harvard business professor Tarun Khanna’s Billions of Entrepreneurs: How China and India are Reshaping their Futures – and Yours . Both books view the recent rise of India and China as shifting the world’s economic and political tectonic plates. Some even speak of “Chindia,” as if the two were joined at the hip in the international imagination.

Count me among the skeptics. It is not just that China and India have little in common, save for the fact that they occupy a rather vast landmass called “Asia.” It is also that they are already at very different stages of development. China started its liberalization a decade and a half before India, hit double-digit growth when India was still hovering around 5%, and, with compound growth, has put itself in a totally different economic league from India, continuing to grow faster from a larger base. 

Moreover, the two countries’ systems are totally dissimilar. If China wants to build a new six-lane expressway, it can bulldoze its way through any village in its path. In India, if you want to widen a two-lane road, you could be tied up in court for a dozen years over compensation entitlements.

When China built the Three Gorges dam, it created a 660-kilometer long reservoir that necessitated displacing two million people – all accomplished in 15 years without a fuss in the interest of generating electricity. When India began the Narmada Dam project, aiming to bring irrigation, drinking water, and power to millions, it spent 34 years (so far) fighting environmental groups, human rights activists, and advocates for the displaced all the way to the Supreme Court, while still being thwarted in the streets by protesters.

That is how it should be: India is a fractious democracy, China is not. But, as an Indian, I do not wish to pretend that we can compete in the global growth stakes with China.

But if we can’t compete, can we co-operate? The two civilizations had centuries of contact in ancient times. Thanks mainly to the export of Buddhism from India to China, Chinese came to Indian universities, visited Indian courts, and wrote memorable accounts of their voyages. Nalanda received hundreds of Chinese students in its time, and a few Indians went the other way; a Buddhist monk from India built the famous Lingyin Si temple in Huangzhou in the fifth century.
Southwest India’s Kerala coastline is dotted with Chinese-style fishing nets, and the favorite cooking pot of the Malayali housewife is the wok, locally called the cheen-chetti (Chinese vessel).

But it has been a while since Indians and Chinese had much to do with each other. The heady days of Hindi-Chini bhai-bhai (“Indians and Chinese are brothers”), the slogan coined by Nehru’s India to welcome Chou En-Lai in 1955, gave way to the humiliation of the 1962 border war, after which it was “Hindi-Chini bye-bye” for decades.

The border dispute remains unresolved, with periodic incursions by Chinese troops onto Indian soil and new irritants such as the anti-Chinese protests by Tibetan exiles who have been given asylum in India. To speak of a bilateral “trust deficit” might be an understatement.

And yet, there is some good news. Trade has doubled in each of the last three years, to an estimated $40 billion this year; China has now overtaken the United States as India’s largest single trading partner. Tourism, particularly by Indian pilgrims to the major Hindu holy sites in Tibet, Mount Kailash and Lake Mansarovar, is thriving.

Indian information technology firms have opened offices in Shanghai and Hangzhou, and Infosys recruited nine Chinese this year for its headquarters in Bangalore. There are dozens of Chinese engineers working in (and learning from) Indian computer firms and engineering companies, while Indian software engineers support the Chinese telecoms equipment manufacturer Huawei.

By and large, India is strong in areas in which China needs to improve, notably software, while China excels at hardware and manufacturing, which India sorely lacks. So India’s Mahindra and Mahindra company manufactures tractors in Nanchang for export to the US. The key operating components of Apple’s iPod were invented by the Hyderabad company PortalPlayer, while the iPod itself are manufactured in China. Philips employs nearly 3,000 Indians at its “Innovation Campus” in Bangalore to write more than 20% of the company’s global software, which Philips’ 50,000-strong workforce in China then turns into brand-name goods.

In other words, the elephant is already dancing with the dragon. The only question is whether political tensions could bring the music screeching to a halt. There is no doubt that, whatever India’s legitimate differences with China’s Communist regime, cooperation is in the best interests of both peoples. After all, one plus one doesn’t only equal two; put together properly, it can add up to 11.

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Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2008.
www.project-syndicate.org

 

UK announced extra £12 million to help cyclone victims in Burma

The Secretary of State for International Development Douglas Alexander announced an extra £12 million to finance the UK¹s humanitarian response to Cyclone Nargis. This new allocation is in addition to the initial contribution of £5 million announced last week, and brings the UK¹s overall support to £17 million so far.

Douglas Alexander said, “The lives of many hundreds of thousands of people are at stake. We know that people are lacking the basics such as clean drinking water, food and healthcare. This additional £12 million will allow humanitarian teams on the ground to continue to deliver emergency assistance.

The key priority is to deliver humanitarian aid as quickly as possible. The clock is ticking. This contribution shows our commitment to supporting the people of Burma. We will work to reach them, however difficult it is to get aid through to them.

I reiterate our call on the Burmese authorities to grant full and unfettered access for international assistance. This is the key challenge if we are to save thousands of lives over the coming days.

Our initial £5 million contribution is already making a difference to the people in Burma. We have already provided shelter for 43,000 people which has arrived in Rangoon and is being distributed by the UN. Fourteen flat-bottomed boats will arrive tomorrow and will be used to get much needed aid into the Irrawaddy Delta. More UK relief flights will follow.”

So far, more than £4.6 million has been allocated to aid agencies and this money is expected to help more than 372,500 people affected by the cyclone in the Irrawaddy Delta, providing clean fresh drinking water, sanitation facilities, basic healthcare and emergency shelter.

Initial commitments that have been made to aid agencies include:

Over £1.1 million for Save the Children to help 125,000 people by providing clean water supplies, food and non-food items in the townships of Napudaw, Myaungmya, Mawlamyinegyun, Kyaiklat and Pyapon, in the Irrawaddy Delta.

Up to £1 million for Action Against Hunger to help 37,500 people by providing clean, safe water, sanitation and hygiene, access to food and non-food items in Bogale Township, Irrawaddy Division.

£700,000 for Care to help 60,000 people by providing food, clean water and sanitation and emergency shelter in the townships of Pathein, East Dagon and Thaketa, near Rangoon.

£500,000 for Medecins Sans Frontieres to help 100,000 people by providing basic medical care, clean water and sanitation and emergency shelter.

Over £700,000 for Merlin to help 50,000 people by providing emergency healthcare in the Laputta township, in the Irrawaddy Delta Over £450,000 to the British Red Cross to support logistical operations.

A total of £7 million (approx $14 million) of the new money announced today will be allocated to the UN Flash Appeal, launched on May 9. Of this, a total of £5 million (approx $10 million), will go immediately to the World Food Programme to provide urgent logistical support for the growing relief operation.

A further £5 million of this new allocation will be used to provide logistical and relief supplies. Two more UK flights containing more emergency shelter and flat-bottomed boats are due to arrive in Rangoon tomorrow. Further flights will follow.

 

Rigged Referendum in Mon state

13 May 2008
Loa Htaw, IMNA

Many polling stations in Mon state southern Burma did not open or close in accordance with the referendum law, said local activists.
 
The polling stations were to be open from 6 am to 4 pm on May 10 on the referendum day according to the Burmese government referendum commission law which was released in April.
 
At least about 10 polling stations were not opened at 6 am and closed much before 4 pm in Mudon, Thanbyuzayat and Chanug Zone townships, said a leader of the Mon National Democratic Front (MNDF).
 
“We had our members monitoring whether the polling stations in Mon state opened and closed on time,” he said. “Yesterday, I received reports from villages in Mudon township that some polling stations closed before lunch time and most before 3 pm,” he added.
 
“Many people in Mudon Township could not vote confidentially and were disturbed by the station staff when they voted,” he continued.
 
“Before I went to the polling station I decided to vote against but when I arrived at the booth and voted the staff followed me into the voting room and I voted ‘yes’, said Nai Seik a voter from  Mudon township.   
 
A polling station in Wae-ka-rat village in Thanbyuzayat Township opened at 7 am and closed at about 3:30 pm said an activist in the village who monitored the station.
 
According to a Chaung Zone township person, polling stations in the township also did not open and close on time.
 
According to Mon community leaders, the referendum commission and poll stations staff in Mon state were threatened by the higher authorities that they would be sacked from their jobs if their polling stations got more ‘No’ votes than ‘Yes’ votes. 
 
The referendum commission was formed by members of the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA), Myanmar Women’s Affairs Federation (MSAF), The Myanmar Maternal and Child Welfare Association (MMCWA), Village Peace and Development Council and civil servants.

Polling station staff stuffed ‘Yes’ votes for the constitutional referendum in Thoungpyin village of Lamine Sub-Township, Mon state, said a poll station staff. 

Before the polling station closed, one of the staff members Zar Kyi Htway filled a lot of left over ballots with ‘Yes’ votes on behalf of those voters who did not come to vote, said the staff.  “I saw that she filling up support votes for a long time.” she continued.

“We got 1129 support, 925 against and 267 disqualifying votes on the constitution in the polling station in Thoungpyin village booth,” she said. 

“All of our family members’ ages are over 18 year, but we did not get ballots to go to the polling station to vote. We are not involved in any opposition movement and I do not understand why we did not get the chance,” said a commission member. 

Only about 2600 out of 9000 eligible voters received ballots to vote for the referendum in Thoungpyin village, he added.

A majority of eligible voters did not receive the ballots and the commission members voted instead of the voters, according to an authoritative source from the Township Peace and Development Council (TPDC).

Thoungpyin village is one of the strongholds of activists’ in Mon state and the result from the poll station has shocked the villagers, said local observers. 

 

Burmese Generals are WORSE than any Austrian Criminal, Part 1 (Satire)

Burmese Generals are WORSE than any Austrian Criminal, Part 1
(Consolation for the People of Austria)

_ by Yebaw Day

 

In Austria,  2006, a girl called Natascha Kampusch escaped from the house of Wolgang Priklopil where she had been imprisoned in the basement for 8 years.  She was kidnapped at the age of 10 and hidden underground where she was cruelly x x x x  abused.  When she escaped and went to the police, Priklopil decided it was all over.  He went to the train station and jumped in front of an oncoming train, killing himself.   Austrians across the country agonized over how could such an unspeakable horror occur in their country and so did countless fellow Europeans. 

 

 Let us not agonize any further.  In the picture above are four top generals, Maung Aye on the left, Thein Sein in the middle, a third senile-looking but satanic general on the right,  and partly visible on the extreme right is the arch-demon, himself,  Than Shwe. These generals have imprisoned Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma’s Opposition Leader, for over ten out of the last eighteen years.  They have imprisoned, and xxxxxxxabused, tortured, and terrorized tens of thousands of their own innocent Myanmar (Burmese) ethnic members  for decades, as well as other  ethnic groups like the Karens, Karennis, Kachins, Chins, Mons, Shan, Arakans.  In addition, they have been criminally negligent in the aftermath of the  recent Cyclone Nargis in Burma where so many have died and many more are slowly starving to death in Burma while British, American, and French warships wait offshore, reluctant to go in without permission.  
 
What difference is there between the Austrian Wolgang Priklopil and the Burmese generals, Maung Aye - Thein Sein - and Than Shwe? They are all monsters, but there is one great difference.  Priklopil had to pay for his own daily expenses.  The Burmese generals get “paid” by the World.  Millions of dollars of aid are pouring in to the pockets of the generals ever since Cyclone Nargis.  The longer they hold off  international aid workers, the more money and materiel aid that gets poured into their hands. 
 
To all Austrians, and to all other people who agonized over the mistreatment of Natascha, if you truly care about Natascha, speak to your governments to intervene now in Burma.  Let us imagine that Natascha was just…. just now……discovered in the basement of Priklopil and that she had not yet escaped.  Would you not demand that the police break in to rescue her?  

It is too late to help Natascha’s past sufferings.  The past cannot be changed.  But you can help change the future.  Natascha herself, today, runs a talk show and a website to help people in trouble. To help change their futures. 
 
Please appeal to your governments that NOW is the time to help the People of Burma. 

Demand that the Western warships off the coast of Burma go in to rescue the suffering People of Burma. 
 
If Priklopil is still  alive and  holding Natascha captive, would you care if he protested that you may not  violate the privacy of his home? Would you give a damn that he has  a very  powerful, rich Chinese landlord who warns you to leave his well-paying, lucrative  tenant alone?  “You must not meddle in a person’s internal matters,” this powerful Chinese landlord loves to say, again and again, always faithfully echoing his Russian colleague who is as equally unscrupulous.   
 
Now we have 500,000 Pricks, or Priklopils in Burma. That’s the number of men in the Burma Army.  Then there are about 500,000 more Pricks amongst the Swann Ah Shin, (Lords of Strength) the civilian thugs hired by the Junta to oppress the Burmese Public, just like Hitler had his Brown Shirt thugs, the SS stormtroopers, and the SA.  
 
So we have one million Wolfgang Priklopils in Burma terrorizing the 50 million Burmese.

If you agonized over Priklopil’s crime, now you have a million more to agonize over.

If you suffered for Natascha, now you have 50 million more to suffer over.
 
BUT you don’t have to bear all this pain. Not again, not EVER again.  

You can ALLEVIATE it.  You can UNDO it all….and NOW is the time to make things right!
 
Just demand your government to support an international coalition of forces to intervene in a humanitarian military operation in Burma as soon as possible.
 
Natascha would thank you, and so would the 50 million Nataschas of Burma, and myself.

…………………………….

Postscript

Later I will write Part 2  based on Josef Fritzl, also from Austria,  who imprisoned his daughter in his basement for 24 years, raped her repeatedly, had 7 children born inside that basement.  One died and he burned its body. 3 of them never saw sunlight until they were let out this year.  Fritzl is 73 yr old, and Than Shwe is 75 yr and they will be compared.

 

Photo: Calling in New York for More UN Aid to Burma

_ reported by July Moe

 Buddhist Monks in New York are calling for more UN aid to cyclone victims in Burma.

 

Photo: Prayers in Bangladesh for Cyclone Nargis Victims in Burma

_ reported by Sasana Mowli & Gisspa

Buddhist well-wishers in Bangladesh this week made prayer services for Cyclone Nargis Victims in Burma.

 

Application of “Responsibility to Protect” on Burma

Responsibility to Protect – Engaging Civil Society 

The R2PCS program has been following the situation in Burma as it relates to the Responsibility to Protect for the past year. The government of Burma’s systematic commission of violations such as forced labor, forced displacement, rape of ethnic minority women and recruitment of child soldiers are a few of the many crimes that fit within the four crimes stipulated under the Responsibility to Protect: genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing (for more on this, please see _

http://www.responsibilitytoprotect.org/index.php/pages/1182).

Last week, following Cyclone Nargis on 3 May and the resulting humanitarian emergency, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner called for the use of the Responsibility to Protect. We believe, however, that the current humanitarian situation requires, first and foremost, attention to measures that can help the millions of people affected. Further, the current situation does not warrant the application of the Responsibility to Protect doctrine and in all likelihood application could be counterproductive to alleviating the suffering of those affected by the cyclone.

On Tuesday May 7, 2008, Kouchner said, “We are seeing at the United Nations whether we can implement the Responsibility to Protect, given that food, boats and relief teams are there, and obtain a United Nations’ resolution which authorizes the delivery (of aid) and imposes this on the Burmese government.” His comment has aroused concern both because it does not adhere to what governments agreed at the 2005 World Summit and because it equates the responsibility to forceful military intervention. We do not advocate using the Responsibility to Protect at the current time with respect to the humanitarian disaster following Cyclone Nargis, for two reasons.

First, we take this view because of the difficulty of establishing that the regime’s actions before and after Cyclone Nargis constitute one of the four crimes to which R2P is meant to apply: genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing.

Under Paragraphs 138 and 139 of the World Summit Outcome Document from 2005, governments and world leaders agreed that they have a responsibility to protect civilians from genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing. When a government is unable or unwilling to protect its civilians from these crimes, the responsibility to protect falls upon the international community to encourage and help the state to exercise its responsibility. If the State manifestly fails to protect civilians, the international community can act, first with peaceful measures (using economic, political, diplomatic, and legal tools) and with collective use of force through the UN Security Council under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, only as a last resort.

While the impulse behind Kouchner’s suggestion is likely shared by those who first articulated the Responsibility to Protect - and by civil society groups concerned for the welfare of the affected people in Burma - governments agreed only to take action through the Security Council (and on a case-by-case basis) in the cases of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing. Governments did not agree to take forcible action when governments refuse to assist or allow others to assist victims of humanitarian or natural disasters. Britain’s UN envoy, John Sawers, clarified on May 8, 2008 the 2005 agreement “relates to acts of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and so forth, rather than government responses to natural disasters” and according to the BCC, Edward Luck, the Secretary General’s Special Adviser, has argued that “linking the ‘Responsibility to Protect’ to the situation in Burma is a misapplication of the doctrine”.

Although reports indicate that the regime has failed to protect its populations and is actually obstructing aid, the Responsibility to Protect as adopted in 2005 does not provide for the Security Council to act on the basis of neglect and obstruction. There could be a case that the government’s failure to accept assistance will result in massive loss of life and crimes against humanity, but it will be difficult to meaningfully demonstrate “intent” of the government to commit these crimes, especially given reports that the government is now accepting limited and conditional support from the UN and several donor governments.
 
Second, Kouchner equated the Responsibility to Protect with forced military intervention, which is more likely to close than open doors for cooperation with the authorities in Burma. There is a deep misunderstanding about the Responsibility to Protect in the international community, as many governments misinterpret the emerging norm as a Western or colonialist intervener’s charter. China, Russia and many countries in the Non-aligned Movement are fierce opponents of the Responsibility to Protect, and last year vetoed a Security Council resolution on Burma at a time when crimes committed by the regime could have been deemed crimes against humanity. In this political climate, applying the norm in Burma in order to force humanitarian assistance could be perceived as a ploy to bring about regime change. This most likely will not open doors for the delivery of aid, but instead might make the regime more fearful and more paranoid about cooperating with the UN and other countries. Urging military intervention as an application of the Responsibility to Protect is a counterproductive strategy that would not be in the best humanitarian interests of the people directly affected by the cyclone in Burma.

Many humanitarian organizations, including the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, have criticized Kouchner’s interpretation of the Responsibility to Protect. The doctrine/norm, in its true application to the four crimes listed above, requires that peaceful means be exhausted prior to any use of force. As United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes said on 7 May 2008, “I’m not sure that invading them would be a very sensible option at this particular moment. I’m not sure it would be helpful to the people we are actually trying to help.”

Rather than seeking Security Council action to forcefully intervene, which is likely to exacerbate the problems, urgent efforts should be made bilaterally so that humanitarian relief arrives unhindered.

 

Talking with a volunteer aid worker (Burmese)

 

Than Shwe will get AIDS (cartoon)

 

Relief materials for the cyclone handed over to Myanmar official

Kukiforum News

MOREH, May 13: Expressing solidarity with the victims of cyclone Nargis of Myanmar, Tamil Sangam, Moreh and Chambers of Commerce have provided relief materials to the victims.

Three truck loads of relief materials worth over Rs 10 lakhs in Indian currency were transported to Tamu of Myanmar and handed over the same through the District Chairman of Peace and Development Council Soe Naing who is posted at Tamu.

Soe Naing received the relief materials in the presence of Senetary of Tamu Soe Myint, CO of 50 LIR Lt Col Aung Myo Than, Pol Col Aung Hlein and other district level officers.

The relief materials provided by jointly by Tamil Sangam and Chambers of Commerce include 363 bags of salt, 200 bags of sugar, 100 bags of flour (Maida), 100 bags of Soyabean, 100 bags of milk power, 20 bags of Dal, 14 cartoons of Biscuits and other medical items worth over Rs 1 lakh.

Before handing over the relief materials during a simple function, the delegates from Moreh led jointly by general secretary of Tamil Sangam, Moreh S Ravichandra and general secretary of Chambers of Commerce Surendra Singh Pakija have breakfast along with the District Chairman of Tamu at the latter’s office.

A written representation from the side of Tamil Sangam was also handed over to the District Chairman of Tamil expressing solidarity with the Myanmarese people who have been ravaged by cyclone Nargis.

Later, addressing the function, Ravichandran said that being a good neighbour Tamil Sangam, Moreh and Chambers of Commerce are duty bound to help the people of Myanmarese in their time of trouble.

He also informed that gathering that president of Tamil Sangam, Moreh V Shekher had personally organised the relief materials to be provided to the cyclone victims. However, he could not be present due to some prior engagement.

In his speech, District Chairman of Tamu Soe Naing, one behalf of the cyclone victims of Myanmar expressed gratitude to Tamil Sangam, Moreh and Chambers of Commerce for providing the relief materials and said that this would strengthen the ties of brotherhood among the people of the two neighbouring countries.

 

Local heroes step in to help cyclone victims (AP News)

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — From shopkeepers handing out free rice porridge to medical students caring for the sick, ordinary people in Myanmar are stepping in to help cyclone victims as the military regime severely restricts international aid.

Taxi drivers, factory owners, college students, teachers and other Yangon residents - many of whom lost their own homes - are among those organizing grueling trips into the Irrawaddy delta, the hardest-hit region.

“They are true humanitarian heroes,” said Bridget Gardner, International Red Cross representative in Myanmar, after touring an area where volunteers were giving first aid to the injured.

They are taking up collections at businesses and donating food, clothes and water. Some who are too poor to give money or supplies are offering their labor to help clear debris and rebuild villages leveled by the May 3 cyclone.

“We feel sympathetic to the cyclone victims and want to help them in our own way,” said Daw Mya Win, who runs a small grocery in a northern Yangon suburb where many bamboo shanty houses were destroyed.

The 49-year-old woman cooks rice porridge every day to feed anyone who comes. She also sends pots of the thick viscous mixture of rice, water and seasonings to some of the thousands of homeless who have sought shelter in the country’s Buddhist monasteries.

Others have taken refuge in Catholic churches where priests and nuns are caring for the hungry and homeless.

“We totally depend on private donations every day for our daily meals,” said Aung Min, a 53-year-old man who has been staying at the Thaung Gyi monastery with his wife and three children since Cyclone Nargis struck.

More than 66,000 people are dead or missing, according to government figures, with fears the death toll will surpass 100,000, according to U.N. and Red Cross estimates. The U.N. says up to 2 million survivors are still in need of emergency aid. Many victims continue to struggle daily for food and clean water amid drenching rains and threats of disease.

The military junta has restricted most foreign aid workers from entering Myanmar, formerly called Burma. And most Westerners lucky enough to get visas have been confined to Yangon - hours away from the most devastated areas deep in the Irrawaddy delta.

Even the grass-roots efforts by Myanmar volunteers face obstacles. Many are stopped at military checkpoints and told to leave their supplies for soldiers to distribute. Rather than risking the aid never reaching the people who need it, some turn back. Others try to negotiate by offering a portion of the goods in exchange for passage.

Zaw Htin, one of many volunteer medical students, returned from a frustrating trip Wednesday to one of the government refugee centers in the devastated delta town of Bogalay.

“I am so angry. They don’t want us to stay and talk to people. (The authorities) want us to leave the supplies with them for distribution,” she said.

“But how can I treat the injured if I can’t talk to them? How do we administer medical care if we can’t touch them, feel their pulse or give them advice?”

“Their courage is moving,” said Tim Costello, president of World Vision-Australia, who was stuck in Yangon after the government denied him permission to visit the delta. “There’s no doubt (the volunteers) have responded magnificently. There’s effectively no help from the military.”

Some international aid agencies are working through these webs themselves to keep their supplies moving and carrying out basic relief work, quickly training volunteers before dispatching them to the delta.

Burmese-run aid groups also are playing an integral role in organizing and distributing supplies to survivors, as are businessmen. Some have offered diesel at subsidized prices to volunteers traveling to the delta, while others donate rice, water and water purification equipment. One shipping company offered to hand over two boats for floating clinics.

Some Burmese volunteers unable to find cars or fuel were visiting hard-hit slums on the outskirts of Yangon. College students went door-to-door handing out a few pennies to families for rice and gave sweets to impoverished children. Members of a hiking team from Yangon University gathered donations to take to the delta.

“Since I don’t have the means to provide cash or kind, I contribute labor by helping distribute relief goods,” said Nyi Nyi, a 21-year-old university student. “Whenever we distribute rice and clothing, I can see the faces of the cyclone victims light up. It is very rewarding to see them smile.”

After enduring decades of poverty and government oppression, Myanmar’s people are known for their resilience, having learned to depend on each other from day to day - especially in times of crisis.

“There’s no question, people here are of Buddhist and Christian ethic and they have decided, ‘We’re just gonna do this,’” Costello said.

© 2008 The Associated Press.

 

 

Than Shwe Stealing Cyclone Aids (cartoon)

 

Rigged Referendum Results

Rigged Referendum Results

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Junta’s Claim: Despite the country’s worst natural disaster in history killing hundreds of thousands lives, Burma’s ruling generals said on Saturday (10th May) there was “massive turnout” in their national referendum , and they announced on Thursday (15th May) that the pro-military constitution has won overwhelming support in the referendum. Chief Justice U Aung Toe officially announced that the constitution was approved by 92.4 percent of the 22 million eligible voters last Saturday, and he put voter turnout at more than 99 percent.

The TRUTH

• Irregularities lead to international Ridicule (Latest Version)

• Rigged Referendum in Rangon

• Rigged Referendum in Rakhine State

• Rigged Referendum in Mandalay

• Rigged Referendum in Shan State

• Rigged Referendum in Mon state

• Rigged Referendum All Over The Country

• Burma’s National Referendum: A Total Deception

• Keeping Burma’s Junta Afloat

• The conduct and transparency of voting arrangements can be very important

• Referendum in Burma held on 10-5-08: Full of deceptions

• People tricked into supporting draft constitution

• Junta issues ID cards to Chinese citizens for Burmese Referendum

• Bush said Myanmar vote will not be “free, fair or credible”

• Photo: Expat-voting Restrictions and Demonstration in New York

• Photo: More Irregularities in expat-vote Collection in Singapore

• Photo: Burma constitutional referendum expat voting irregularities in Japan

• Photo: Burma constitution referendum expat voting irregularities in Singapore

• Irregularities of Expat Voting in Singapore (Burmese)

• Restrictions on expat voting in Singapore (Burmese)

• Junta’s Plans for Intimidation & Vote Rigging (Burmese)

• Referendum on 10th May - A Deception (Burmese)

• Referendum Irregularities (Burmese)

• Than Shwe’s Loyal Zombie Supporters (cartoon)

 

Photo: Campaign in Washington for Victims of the Cyclone Nargis in Burma

Burmese human rights activists in Washington, USA, are campaigning for international urgent aid to victims of the Nargis Cyclone in Burma .