International non-governmental organizations (INGOs) operating in Burma are likely to suspend their activities next May, according to NGO sources in Burma.
Although no official announcement has yet been made by the regime, some government officials warned that INGO work could be suspended from May until October because of the 2010 election, said INGO sources.
“We have heard from government officials that possibly because of the election, INGOs in the country will temporarily close project activities in the country,” said an INGO staffer in Rangoon,...
Oct 17, 2009
Myanmar’s Suu Kyi positive about sanctions meetings: lawyer
Yangon – Myanmar’s detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has said her recent meetings about sanctions with diplomats and a junta minister were positive, her lawyer told AFP Friday.She held a rare meeting last Friday with top Western diplomats to discuss sanctions imposed on the military-ruled nation, having earlier in the week met twice with Aung Kyi, the official liaison between herself and the junta.The pair had not met since January 2008.The meetings followed a letter she wrote to junta chief Than Shwe, which offered suggestions on...
Myanmar opposition leader to appeal sentence at Supreme Court
Yangon – Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Friday agreed to allow defence lawyers to appeal to the Supreme Court against her recent sentence to 18 months under house detention. “We will appeal the case up to the Supreme Court level and are preparing the appeal now,” said Nyan Win, one of four attorneys in Suu Kyi’s defence team.Nyan Win met with Suu Kyi Friday afternoon at her house-cum-prison in Yangon, where she had spent 14 of the past 20 years under detention.On October 2, the Yangon Division Court rejected Suu Kyi’s appeal against...
Oct 14, 2009
Agence France Presse: Suu Kyi back in Myanmar’s political arena
Bangkok — Although still under house arrest, Aung San Suu Kyi has returned to an active political role by initiating dialogue with both Myanmar’s junta and Western nations, analysts say.In the space of seven days, after a Yangon court rejected the pro-democracy leader’s appeal against her recently extended house arrest, her status appeared to shift rapidly from political prisoner to potential key negotiator.“She is politically active and significant. She still has a role in Burma,” said Win Min, an activist and scholar in the northern Thai city...
President of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste: Statement in support of a global arms embargo on Burma – Jose Ramos-Horta
Earlier this month, Burma’s military regime provided a further example of its extraordinary inhumanity and intransigence, with its decision to reject the appeal by my fellow Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi against the verdict last month which imposed a further term of eighteen months under house arrest. I deplore this decision, and call for her immediate and unconditional release.The events of the past two years in Burma have shocked the world. The military regime’s brutal suppression of the peaceful protests led by Buddhist monks...
Sep 25, 2009
Filipino Workers to commemorate 2nd Anniversary of Saffron Revolution
About 50 members of Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilimpino (BMP), an active member of the Free Burma Coalition - Philippines (FBC-Phils) will hold a silent protest action tomorrow infront of the SPDC-Myanmar Embassy in Makati City in commemoration of the historic Saffron Revolution in Burma. The group will light candles and will offer flowers for the "martyrs" of Saffron Revolution. It will be remembered that thousands of monks, youth and students and other activists flooded the streets of Burma in 2007 to protest the aggravating economic and political...
Jul 5, 2009
Myanmar leader promises clean election?
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon said Saturday that Myanmar top leader Senior-General Than Shwe has promised him the Southeast Asian country will hold a fair and inclusive general election in 2010. Ban was speaking at a press briefing late Saturday during his stopover at Suvarnabhumi Airport in the Thai capital of Bangkok after concluding a two-day official visit to Myanmar. During his stay in Myanmar's new capital of Nay Pyi Taw, Ban had two meetings with Than Shwe, who is chairman of the State Peace and Development Council, on...
Jul 1, 2009
UN chief urges Myanmar to release Suu Kyi
UN chief Ban Ki-moon urged Myanmar on Tuesday to free all political prisoners, including detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, days ahead of a visit to the military-ruled country. Ban is due to arrive in Myanmar on Friday for rare talks with the military junta, but Aung San Suu Kyi’s party says he must also meet her if he hopes to make real progress toward democratic reforms. “They should release all political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi,” said Ban, who was in Japan en route to Myanmar where the Nobel Peace laureate has been detained...
Jun 22, 2009
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's 64th Birthday, Activists' Verdict: NOT GUILTY!
On June 19, 2009 at Makati City, Republic of the PHILIPPINES about one hundred activists and supporters of the Free Burma Coalition – Philippines (FBC-Phils) trooped to the SPDC Myanmar Embassy to celebrate the 64th birthday of Burma’s democracy leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and to demand for her immediate and unconditional release from illegal detention.Chanting the slogan, “Aung San Suu Kyi, Not Guilty!” the rallyists from the trade union, urban...
Jun 17, 2009
Thai Prime Minister:Suu Kyi’s detention affects Asean’s credibility
If the junta fails to release pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the Association of Southeast Asian Nation’s (Asean) credibility will be “affected inevitably,” Thai Prime Minster Abhisit Vejajjiva told The Far Eastern Economic Review recently. During the Far Eastern Economic View’s interview published on Tuesday, 16 June, Abhisit, who is now chairman of Asean, said Burma’s political process will have to be inclusive to gain the acceptability and respectability of the international community. Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, center, is...
Jun 6, 2009
Suu Kyi’s trial delayed a week
The trial of Burma’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi for allegedly violating conditions of her house arrest was delayed for a week over efforts to reinstate three defense witnesses, one of her lawyers said Friday. Suu Kyi’s trial was adjourned until June 12 while a higher court hears a request by her attorneys to reinstate the defense witnesses who were earlier barred from testifying at her trial, lawyer Nyan Win said. The decision on those witnesses was expected later Friday. The lower District Court earlier disqualified all but one defense...
Jun 1, 2009
A Candlelight Vigil for the Release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and All Political Prisoners in Burma
In Unity for Her Liberty (A Candlelight Vigil for the Release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and All Political Prisoners in Burma)Participating organizations: The Free Burma Coalition - Philippines (FBC-Phils), Initiatives for International Dialogue (IID), AKBAYAN Citizen's Action Party - Women Youth, Bagong Kamalayan Collective (New Awareness - women survivors of sexual violence), Movement for the Advancement of Student Power (MASP), and Partido ng Manggagawa - Women (Workers' Party - women's wing) Donning fresh yellow flowers in their hair, the...
May 24, 2009
8,888 Petitioners From the Philippines Calling for the Release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and All Political Prisoners in Burma
The Free Burma Coalition-Philippines (FBC-Phils) and the Initiatives for International Dialogue (IID) wish to announce that it has reached the number of 8,888 faces and signatures as part of its campaign for the release of all political prisoners in Burma including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.As of the last count, close to 9,000 signatures, personality sketches, photos and messages of support were gathered by FBC-Phils and IID to conclude the 2-year campaign which began in late 2007 during the 2nd National Assembly of the FBC-Phils. The 8,888 signatures...
May 18, 2009
Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi on trial
Burma's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has gone on trial at the notorious Insein prison in Rangoon. Undercover BBC correspondent: 'People here are very angry'She is charged with breaching the terms of her house arrest, because of a visit by an American man who swam across a lake to her house earlier this month. Dozens of supporters gathered near the jail as the trial got under way. It has now been adjourned for the day. Many observers...
May 8, 2009
Myanmar arrests US man for entering Suu Kyi home
Myanmar's detained democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi received an unexpected guest while under house arrest — an American who swam under the cover of darkness to her lakeside home, sneaked in, and stayed two nights. Suu Kyi, founder and head of the opposition National League for Democracy party, is allowed virtually no visitors under the terms of her house arrest and her neighborhood, with the U.S. Embassy nearby, is normally one of the most closely guarded areas in Myanmar's biggest city. Even swimming in Inya Lake...
Apr 6, 2009
U.S. to seek seat on Human Rights Council
In but the latest sign of a subtle shift in U.S. foreign policy by the administration of Barack Obama, the U.S. has indicated that it will seek election to the United Nations Human Rights Council.The announcement, delivered yesterday, reverses a policy of the Bush era which witnessed steady opposition to both the Human Rights Council and its forerunner, the U.N. Commission on Human Rights. "The decision is in keeping with the Obama Administration's 'new era of engagement' with other nations to advance American security interests and meet the global...
Forced relocation for border fence in Maungdaw
Some families in Maungdaw Township have been ordered by the Burmese army to relocate because their houses are located near army godowns where many goods, including barbed wire fencing and cement, are being stored, said a resident who is among those being asked to move. “They ordered us last week to move from the village as our houses are close to the army godown but they did not instruct on where we have to go,” he said. The households that have been asked to move are in Ka Yin Chaung Village in Maungdaw, and have been in the village for generations....
Mar 26, 2009
UN rules detention of Aung San Suu Kyi illegal
The United Nations has ruled the continued detention of Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi violates the country's own laws as well as those of the international community, a legal document says.Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has spent 13 of the last 19 years under house arrest, with the ruling junta yearly extending her detention despite international outcries."The latest renewal (2008) of the order to place Ms. Suu Kyi under house arrest not solely violates international law but also national domestic laws of Myanmar," said...
Coalition Group will not Contest 2010 election
!--Tue 24 Mar 2009-->Burmese political coalition group the Forum for Democracy in Burma has stated that it opposes the planned 2010 elections and will educate Burmese people about the problems with the election. The statement was made at the end of a five-day seminar, which took place from 18 to 22 March, held at an unspecified place along the Thai-Burma border. The FDB is a coalition of exiled organisations and activists. The seminar was attended by 32 coalition group members and five observers. Dr Naing Aung, leader of the FDB, said the coalition...
Mar 13, 2009
Activists launch Global Campaign to Release All Political Prisoners in Burma; RP Envoy to the ASEAN asked to engage Burma rulers
Responding to the global campaign calling for the release of all political prisoners in Burma, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and to mark Burma's Human Rights Day, activists from Free Burma Coalition-Philippines today held a rally in front of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) office in Pasay city.The group unfurled a “huge tarpaulin” containing faces of thousands of Filipino supporters from various parts of the country demanding the release...
Mar 9, 2009
PUP Campus Harassment: “Student activists” tear down FBC-Phils. exhibit on Burma
MANILA, MARCH 6 -- At 1:30pm today inside the campus of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) in Manila, a group of young students claiming to be “genuine activists” forced the members and volunteers of the Free Burma Coalition – Philippines (FBC-Phils) to fold down a photo exhibit on political prisoners in Burma, confiscated their campaign materials, and pushed them out of the campus, threatening physical attack if they do not leave. The activity is hosted by a class of management students who had applied for, and was granted, a...
Mar 2, 2009
Activists demand to put Burma on ASEAN Summit agenda; urge regional bloc to start “human rights monitoring”
PHILIPPINES --- With drums and bugles, about 90 activists under the Free Burma Coalition-Philippines today held a rally in front of the Thai Royal Embassy in Makati City* in time for the 14th Asean Summit.Organizations present during the rally were: Alliance of Progressive Labour (APL), Sanlakas, Partido ng Manggagawa (PM), Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP), Coalition Against Trafficking in Women-Asia Pacific (CATW-AP), KPML, Bagong Kamalayan,...
Feb 4, 2009
Members of the Free Burma Coalition - Philippines (FBC-Phils) held a silent protest in front of the SPDC Myanmar Embassy ar Gervacia Tower, Amorsolo Street, Makati City last September 26, 2008 at exactly 10 am. Donning crimson red sashes, the activists will sit on the pavement and light incense sticks to offer solidarity and support to the people of Burma in commemoration of the first year anniversary of the bloody crackdown against peacefully...
Activists call for humanitarian aid for cyclone victims in Burma; ask the junta to postpone referendum
PHILIPPINES---Following reports that the military junta of Burma will pursue its National Referendum on May 10 despite the heavy impact of Cyclone Nargis that already claimed thousands of lives and property damages in Burma, activists in the Philippines today held a demonstration in front of the Myanmar Embassy in Makati City to demand to the Burmese military government the smooth entry of humanitarian aid and the immediate postponement of the planned...
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