June 2005: What do opposing academic views on Burma achieve?
Academics are so capable of thinking and writing oddly on occasion that it’s a wonder people take them seriously. They just research people or events, develop ideas, write them down or talk about them. That’s all. Why then are their views so prominent over contemporary Burma? Who are academics and who pays them? Why should anyone care what they say?
June 29: Burma’s military rulers are desperately trying to restore morale within the army as increasing divisions and disillusionment with the country are causing concern.
Four Burmese ethnic minority women living in exile are among 1,000 nominees worldwide for the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize. The women include Cynthia Maung, a Karen medical doctor who since 1989 has run a clinic treating Burmese refugees, migrants and orphans in Mae Sot, on the Thai-Burma border, and Charm Tong, a leader of the Shan Women’s Action Network.
June 29: Hundreds of Myanmarese refugees, under the banner of the Anti-Tamanthi Dam Campaign Committee (ATDCC), held a demonstration here on Tuesday to protest against the construction of a 1,200 MW power plant, coming up in the Kuki-dominated tribal area of Myanmar. The power plant is being constructed with the help of the National Hydro-electric Power Corporation (NHPC).
June 29: Brussels: The highest Belgian court of appeal has dismissed a lawsuit against TotalFinaElf brought by Burmese nationals, Belgian RTBF radio has reported.
Te Za, the head of Rangoon-based Htoo Trading Company, has been directly implicated in bribing a local community representative in Karenni State to secure logging rights in the area, according to an informed source in Rangoon.
June 24: [Newsreader] It has been learned that the Department of Security on Military Affairs [DSMA], formed after the arrest and purge of Gen Khin Nyunt, former prime minister and chief of military intelligence, has been reorganized with new personnel at the 12 military commands.
Yangon: By blocking their ears to repeated calls for the release of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and that they give up the chairmanship of ASEAN in 2006, Myanmar’s generals have shown they will listen to no one, analysts say.
Yangon: Myanmar’s war veteran’s group urged the country to quit the U.N. International Labor Organization, which has repeatedly criticized the ruling junta for allowing the use of forced labor, a state-run newspaper reported Thursday.