Burma/Myanmar

Following on my previous post about the Burma/Myanmar situation.....I can understand the sentiment of frustration... I personally feel it too...years of lobbying and demanding...and most times you end up with not much change after 10 years. Its like moving around in a square (slightly better than circle...cos for limited time you feel like you are moving forward..then things take a turn...another few steps..then another turn...until you complete the sqaure...and well...)

anyhow....on the other hand...you meet and talk to or mostly hear about the numerous of people in and outside of Burma/Myanmar who continue to do what they do day after day, year after year.....educating even if its one person at a time...helping the plight of one woman at a time......and htey continue on....... I gotta not only admire that.....but also admit that yes IT DOES MAKE A DIFFERENCE
an old Senator from the Philippines shared her experience...telling us how way back when...when they were protesting against their own government....things also seemed hopeless at the time....and yes it took a great number of years...but they still rid themselves of the corrupt era.....
so hopeless and useless as things may seem....we still have to continue to support those who are trying to bring about change...cant give up...if we stop...then that would be the end

this reminds me of the below words that I first saw use by someone I know in his email messages signature:
All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good (wo/)men do nothing.
------Edmund Burke

Women of Burma Day

Speaking of birthdays....not too long after my birthday ......was the birthday Anniversary of the 'Lady' : Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi (well thats not exactly correct either....since she was obviously born before me..but I think you get the drift..) The day, 19th June, also marked the celebration of Women of Burma Day...now in its 10th year.
I went along to the event held at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand, where there was a panel discussion and a book launch. Impressive crowd as it was, the panel consisting of activists from Burma/Myanmar, members from the Asean Inter-Parliamentary
Myanmar Caucus, representative from Thai National Human Rights Commission, and some former Thai Senators, and of course the scores of media, yet one question on most people's minds and worded by a freelance journalist remains..... where will we be next year? chances are we will all come back to celebrate YET ANOTHER birthday for Daw Aung San while she remained under house arrest.
ASEAN has a bigger role to play, but more crucial would be the direction India and China adopt on their relationship with Burma's junta.

Violence in South Thailand rises in past 6 months

ofcourse just my personal opinion based on what I see around town.......
plus ofcourse stories like the "Official inflame crisis in deep south' that one sees in newspapers would kinda confirm this feeling..... Excerpt from the story: Last Friday, a unit of 12 soldiers investigating arson attacks in Pattani's Ban Bana village shot and killed three unarmed teenagers who were playing tag near the weekly outdoor market. ........... April 9 shooting death of four Muslim youths in Yala's Tambon Kern Banglang in Bannang Sata district. There, a heated exchange of words between a group of village defence volunteers and about 20 Muslim youths returning from a funeral turned bloody when the government-backed outfit responded with gunfire. Four young Muslim men died, and six were injured.

so here are some photos of what Pattani and its surrounding districts look like these days....



checkpoints on the highways



















now a common sighting around town







and heres a look at a police station







So from little known town of then, Pattani has grown from a place that many of my thai friends didnt even know exist, to today a place thats filled with international journalists. I much prefer my old unknown town.......

Another bomb goes off in Pattani

Some of you may know...since I spoke to some .....that I was in Malaysia today. Anyhow coming back I was thinking an update of this blog might be due...with perhaps some pics of my latest chocolate buys. So we get home, have a nice relaxing meal at home, drop off my Mom's friend back at her place, and slowly make our way back home.

Suddenly we hear sirens and honking behind us, giving way we see police cars, ambulances and rescue cars rushing past. Suddenly it occurs to us that these cars arent going all that far, and stops less than a 100 metres away.

Getting quite curious to find out, as the scene is so close to our place which is basically the city centre, we decide to follow to check out whats going on. Getting there a police tells me that a bomb had just gone off, injuring one person. They had the area blocked off, obviously worrying that another bomb might have been implanted. We drive back home, only to see a bomb squad heading to the scene. was the first time I had seen one of these vans, look pretty scary.
when we got back there for more photos, some journalist...a guy from Associated Press who was staying at the hotel almost next door, had arrived and was taking photos. He hadnt heard anything further either.....I guess there'll be more in the news later on.

It could be a business sabotage ploy? since the bomb went off at a busy restaurant....but then again it could be the result of unhappiness that the incident on Friday where teenagers were accidentally shot at by police didnt receive a lot of coverage in the news. obviously another tragic incident..........

Speaking of Thailand's Human Rights Commission

heres a piece I wrote a few months ago about the set up and functioning of Thailand's National Human Rights Commission. It has some pretty positive things about it.

Some highlights:
* the setting up and working of the NHRC has been a participatory process
* public hearings were conducted
* set up of the Commission is mandated in the Constitution, as well as a specific NHRC Act
for this reason the Commission can continue to function under the NHRC Act, eventhough the Constitution has been revoked. (but ofcourse if the new Constitution being drafted propose that the Commission be combined with the Ombudsmen office, then this will change things entirely)
* The Commission extends its service to all people living in Thailand--this includes foreigners living in the country without legal status.
and the one that I think is quite progressive
* Thai NHRC can take the initiative to start an investigation on issues without receiving complaints.

ofcourse there are drawbacks too.....
you can read the full article on Thailand's National Human Rights Commission here.

Undocumented, unregistered, forgotten

“Every child shall be registered immediately after birth and shall have a name.”

This is a statement from Article 7 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child that clearly states the right of the child to an identity.

Yet millions of persons remain stateless. According to UNICEF figures close to 50 Million people worldwide are “international orphans” – people without citizenship or nationality. The issue is one that is prevalent in every region in the world, in varying forms and degrees. These people are in theory stateless, and legally they do not even exist!

Now imagine you are an unregistered child. If you are lucky, you have been immunized, receive health care and go to school. However, as you grow older, you will find the lack of a birth certificate increasingly burdensome. You will be unable to sit for national examinations or go on to university. You will be unable to get a social security number to confirm your eligibility to work. You will be unable to get a passport so that you can travel. Eventually you will work your way through all the bureaucracy, but the process will be very costly and complex, and you will wish your parents had registered you at birth. You will wish you had a birth certificate.

The problem of statelessness is not exclusive and exists in all parts of the world. In Malaysia the groups without documents include the Orang Asli, children of migrant Philippines, and those whose parents do not have or cannot prove any form of identity. Most are of ethnic Indian origin who have been in the country for generations, but till today, are not recognized as citizens.

Their forefathers and succeeding generations worked in plantations and lived their entire lives within these estates. Yet despite their active economic and cultural contribution to society, they are not recognised by the law, and thus denied their basic rights. The Friedrich Naumann Foundation together with our partner ERA Consumer Malaysia as part of our minority women empowerment project has done extensive work to highlight this problem to relevant authorities and publicising the issue through various media. The Community Centres operated as part of the project have assisted individuals with the process of obtaining legal documents, and at the same time awareness seminars have been conducted at the district and state levels.

Malaysia has one of the highest registration rate, at about 94 per cent. It is the last 6 miles that is hard, yet most crucial as usually these tend to be the most vulnerable and disadvantaged that are left out.

The issue of the stateless Malaysians should concern all citizens because of their growing numbers. Lack of legal identification lead to unequal employment opportunities or any kind of employment at all, related socio-economic hardship, violation of human rights that include access to basic education, health care, freedom of movement, access to political processes, amongst others. On the whole these factors restrict not only personal development of the concerned group, but also their productive contribution to the socio-economic advancement of the country.

Many are also living in fear of being seen and questioned by authority. The fear of deportation is particularly worrisome for the stateless Indian Malaysians, as the question is where would they be deported to? They were born in the country and have lived in Malaysia for generations. Malaysia is their home, it is all they know.

Identity a fundamental Right

The right to a nationality is so fundamental that its deprivation is considered a deprivation of human rights. There are millions who are living without any legal existence. In the eye of the law, these people do not exist! What this means is no matter how many improvements we make to laws and policies, or how much lobbying at domestic or international levels, there will be a large group of people who will still continue to go unprotected, as they do not have even the very first right -- a right to an identity.

Many benefits and access to other rights are so dependent on documents in today’s world. An identity card is often requested before a child can go to school, get health care when sick, or seek any legal protection. Without this legal document the child’s development is restricted, leading to social ills such as lack of education, which in turn obstruct productive employment.

Yet certain groups of people are left out and not recognised by any country. The problems associated with being ‘undocumented’ or ‘unregistered’ which leads to statelessness are doubly detrimental for the poor, rural, ethnic and marginalised groups who tend to form the bulk of those left out.

The causes vary from technical reasons, where the systems may not be able to reach out to all areas in the country; implementation at the local level; lack of awareness for the need of legal documentation, or simply because people do not see the importance or the need for such papers.

There are also instances where culture plays a role, such as a father who registers only the boys, while girls are left out of the system. The next generation of those under the non-registration category also became stateless as a result, compounding the problem.

There are two international legal instruments dealing with statelessness which include the 1954 and 1962 Conventions. However the problem with these instruments is that only a small number of States have ratified them, 57 and 30 respectively. What this illustrates is the need to give the issue the political priority it deserves and collaboration with government is needed to address the issue of statelessness.

To address the issue an integrated approach of simplified registration process, in particular those involving late registration, coupled with awareness raising campaigns for both the public and government officers dealing with registration process are crucial.