(Kachin )Refugee Review ,Tribunal AUSTRALIA, RRT RESEARCH RESPONSE

https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/eoir/legacy/2013/06/11/Kachin%20National%20Organization.pdf

Refugee Review Tribunal

AUSTRALIA

RRT RESEARCH RESPONSE

Research Response Number:

MMR35433

Country:

Myanmar

Date:

1 October 2009

Keywords: Myanmar – Kachins – Kachin National Organization – Christians – Churches –

Malaysia – Malaysian Government – Political activists

Questions

1. Are the Kachin people ill-treated by the military generally and if they are, would this happen to

middle class people living in Yangon?

2. Please provide details of the Kachin National Organization including its leaders.

3. Do Christians suffer ill-treatment in Burma?

4. What Christian Churches exist in Burma?

5. What is the Malaysian government‘s attitude to Burma?

6. Would/does the Malaysian government cooperate with the Burmese government by refusing the

grant of a visa to a Burmese person who has been operating a company and business in Malaysia and

who has been involved in anti-Burmese protests?

RESPONSE

Preliminary Note

RRT Research & Information 2007, Research Response MMR31244 has previously

addressed the treatment of ethnic Kachin and Christians in Myanmar (Burma). RRT Research

& Information 2009, Research Response MMR35154 provides comprehensive information on

the 8888 movement, the National League for Democracy and the events leading up to the so

called ‗Saffron Revolution‘ in September 2007.

1. Are the Kachin people ill-treated by the military generally and if they are, would this

happen to middle class people living in Yangon?

- Kachins in Kachin State

- Kachins in Rangoon

This response was prepared by the Research & Information Services Section of the

Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT) after researching publicly accessible information

currently available to the RRT within time constraints. This response is not, and does

not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or

asylum. This research response may not, under any circumstance, be cited in a decision

or any other document. Anyone wishing to use this information may only cite the

primary source material contained herein.According to a September 2000 study by the Burma Ethnic Research Group (BERG): ―30

years of internal conflict between the various Kachin independence movements and the

Burmese army has resulted in large-scale displacement of the Kachin population. Figures

from Kachin State suggest that perhaps 100,000 were forcibly relocated from their homes by

counter-insurgency operations between the 1960s and 1990s, while other estimates suggest

that in 1994 – prior to the signing of a cease-fire – there were around 67,000 internally

displaced. More recent estimates suggest that although conflict-related displacement has

decreased, the impoverishment of many rural dwellers following three decades of strife have

led to significant rural displacement‖ (South, A. 2007, ‗Burma: The Changing Nature of

Displacement Crises‘, RSC Working Paper No. 39, February, University of Oxford website,

source: Refugee Studies Centre, pp.18-19

http://www.rsc.ox.ac.uk/PDFs/WP39%20Burma%20AS.pdf – Accessed 25 September 2009

– Attachment 5; for the BERG study see page 67 of: Internal Displacement Monitoring

Centre 2007, Myanmar (Burma): A Worsening Crisis of Internal Displacement; A profile of

the internal displacement situation, IDMC website, 28 March http://www.internal

displacement.org/8025708F004BE3B1/(httpInfoFiles)/9F04C86117C351B2C12572AC004A

4B56/$file/Myanmar+_Burma_+-March+2007.pdf – Accessed 3 April 2007 – Attachment 6).

In 1994 a ceasefire was brokered between the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO) and

the junta, then known as the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC). Despite the

ceasefire, sources indicate that the Burman military (Tatmadaw) presence has grown

substantially in Kachin State. According to a 2007 study: ―before the ceasefire, there were

four Tatmadaw battalions in Bhamo District, southern Kachin State; by 2004, there were

eleven, each of which had reportedly confiscated 3–400 acres of land‖; and: ― Up to 4000

people have been displaced by large-scale jade mining around Phakant, western Kachin

State‖. According to a 2008 Minority Rights Group report: ―Burmese military presence has in

fact increased dramatically, from 26 battalions in 1994 to almost 50 in 2007, bringing at the

same time an increase in the allegations of human rights violations and atrocities such as land

confiscations (with little or no compensation), forced labour and sexual violence‖ (South, A.

2007, ‗Burma: The Changing Nature of Displacement Crises‘, RSC Working Paper No. 39,

February, University of Oxford website, source: Refugee Studies Centre, pp.18-19

http://www.rsc.ox.ac.uk/PDFs/WP39%20Burma%20AS.pdf – Accessed 25 September 2009

– Attachment 5; Minority Rights Group International 2008, World Directory of Minorities

and Indigenous Peoples – Myanmar/Burma: Kachin, UNHCR Refworld

http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/49749cdec.html – Accessed 24 September 2009 –

Attachment 4).

The predominantly Christian Kachins also claim that the predominantly Buddhist junta, now

known as the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) ill-treats Kachins on the basis of

their religion. According to a 2008 Minority Rights Group report: ―In addition to the same

type of violations of human rights experienced by many of the country‘s ethnic minorities,

the Kachin still appear to be targeted specifically by Burmese authorities because of their

Christian beliefs‖. According to this source: ―There were continuing reports in 2005 and 2006

of Kachin being subjected to conversion activities and discriminatory treatment by authorities

because of their religion, such as rewards if they convert to Buddhism or exemption from

forced labour, lower prices for basic foodstuffs such as rice and greater educational

opportunities‖. And in September 2008 the US Department of state reported of the preceding

year that: ―In Kachin State, authorities have constructed Buddhist shrines in Christian

communities where few or no Buddhists reside and have tried to coerce Christians into forced

labor to carry bricks and other supplies for the shrine construction‖. The UK based Burma Campaign group has also alleged that ethnic Kachin living in Kachin state have been victims

of beatings, rapes and forcible recruitment by the Burmese military (for the Kachin as one of

Burma‘s ―largest Christian minorities‖, see: Ekeh, C. & Smith, M. 2007, Minorities in

Burma, Minority Rights Group International website, 30 October

http://www.minorityrights.org/?lid=3546 – Accessed 24 September 2009 – Attachment 2;

Minority Rights Group International 2007, World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous

Peoples – Myanmar/Burma: Overview, UNHCR Refworld

http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/4954ce41c.html – Accessed 24 September 2009 –

Attachment 3; Minority Rights Group International 2008, World Directory of Minorities and

Indigenous Peoples – Myanmar/Burma: Kachin, UNHCR Refworld

http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/49749cdec.html – Accessed 24 September 2009 –

Attachment 4; US Department of State 2008, International Religious Freedom Report 2008 –

Burma, 19 September, www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2008/108402.htm – Accessed 22

September 2008 – Attachment 33; United States Commission on International Religious

Freedom 2009, USCIRF Annual Report – Countries of Particular Concern: Burma,

Refworld, 1 May http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/4a4f2737a.html – Accessed 24

September 2009 – Attachment 34; ‗Junta bent on wiping out ethnic Kachins says KNO‘

2008, Kachin News Group website, 19 August

http://www.kachinnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=366:junta

bent-on-wiping-out-ethnic-kachins-says-kno&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=50 – Accessed 28

September 2009 – Attachment 10; Burma Campaign UK 2008, ‗Kachin Schoolgirl Rape and

Murder – 3 Months Later, No Arrests, No Justice‘, 27 October, Burma Campaign UK website

http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/index.php/news-and-reports/news-stories/Kachin

Schoolgirl-Rape-and-Murder-/8 – Accessed 8 October 2009).

Recent reports suggest that tensions between the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and the

Tatmadaw have escalated in recent months. In June 2009 the Kachin News Group reported

that: ―Troops of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) are going into the forests from their

army battalions in Burma‘s northern Kachin State for a possible war with the Burmese

Army‖. In August the Kachin News Group reported that ―there was a face off between troops

of the Burmese Army and Kachin Independence Army (KIA) soldiers in Burma‘s northern

Kachin State about two weeks ago but a clash was averted‖ (‗KIA troops take to forests for

possible war with Burmese Army‘ 2009, Kachin News Group website, 16 June

http://www.kachinnews.com/index.php/news/905-kia-troops-take-to-forests-for-possible

war-with-burmese-army.html – Accessed 24 September 2009 – Attachment 7; ‗Face Off

Between Burmese Army and KIA Troops, Clash Averted‘ 2009, Kachin News Group

website, 20 August http://www.kachinnews.com/index.php/news/1051-face-off-between

burmese-army-and-kia-troops-clash-averted.html – Accessed 24 September 2009 –

Attachment 8; Fuller, T. 2009, ‗Fleeing Battle, Myanmar Refugees Head to China‘, The New

York Times, 28 August

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/29/world/asia/29myanmar.html?_r=1 – Accessed 31

August 2009 – Attachment 9).

A number of sources have been provided on the Kachin community in Yangon (Rangoon)

and the middle classes. The sources cover a broad spectrum of matters, including: the recent

visit to the Kachin Baptist Church Yangon by the Mayor (‗Yangon Mayor visits city Kachin

Baptist Church‘ 2009, Burma News International website, source: Kachin News Group, 5

October http://www.bnionline.net/news/kng/7161-yangon-mayor-visits-city-kachin-baptist

church.html – Accessed 7 October 2009 – Attachment 12); the inability of the Myinta Kachin

Baptist Church of South Okkalapa to gain a permit to construct a congregation hall (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade 2006, DFAT Report 459 – RRT Information

Request: MMR30017, 24 March – Attachment 13); the surveillance of a Kachin Baptist in

Rangoon by the junta ―it has also been reported that a Kachin Baptist church in Rangoon has

been under observation by the authorities, who even scrutinized its ‗Order of Service‘ on one

Sunday. In Tachilek, a Burmese border town in eastern Shan State, the construction of

Christian churches is banned‖ (Khun, S. 2007, ‗Church Ordered to be Removed in Northern

Shan State‘, The Irrawaddy website, 13 June

http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=7460 – Accessed 6 October 2009 – Attachment

14); Kachin volunteers prevented from travelling to the Irrawaddy Delta to help distribute aid

to victims of Cyclone Nargis ―In what is in an inhuman act on the part of the Burmese

military junta, it has prohibited Rangoon based Kachin Christian youth volunteers from

leaving for Cyclone Nargis devastated areas in Irrawaddy Delta in southern Burma to help

victims, Rangoon Christian sources said‖ (‗Kachin Christian volunteers stopped from helping

cyclone victims‘ 2008, Kachin News Group website, 16 May

http://www.kachinnews.com/index.php/news/151-kachin-christian-volunteers-stopped-from

helping-cyclone-victims.html – Accessed 6 October 2009 – Attachment 15); the detention of

a Kachin leader (‗Kachin leader freed after short detention by junta‘ 2007, Kachin News

Group website, 22 November

http://www.kachinnews.com/old/read.asp?CatId=14&NewsId=968&Title=Kachin+leader+fr

eed+after+short+detention+by+junta – Accessed 6 October 2009 – Attachment 16); a Baptist

minister and prominent Kachin businessmen with close ties to the junta (Naw, S. 2004,

‗Brothers-In-Peace‘, The Irrawaddy website, February

http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=3299 – Accessed 7 October 2009 – Attachment

18); the same Baptist minister has been refused a visa to the United States, allegedly due to

his close connections with leading figures in the ruling regime (‗US embassy refuses visa

twice to Rev. Dr. Saboi Jum and family‘ 2008, Kachin News Group website, 14 November

http://www.kachinnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=644:us

embassy-refuses-visa-twice-to-rev-dr-saboi-jum-and-family&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=50

– Accessed 7 October 2009 – Attachment 19); a fashion and culture show put on by Kachin

students living in Rangoon in 2003 (Kyaw Kyaw, T. 2003, ‗Tradition, modernity fused at

Kachin show‘, The Myanmar Times, 15-21 December

http://www.myanmar.gov.mm/myanmartimes/no196/MyanmarTimes10-196/039.htm –

Accessed 6 October 2009 – Attachment 20); a description of South Okkalapa as poor and

densely populated (‗As Burma‘s junta reclaims streets, locals stand up for monks‘ 2007, The

Age website, 2 October http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/as-burmas-junta-reclaims

streets-locals-stand-up-for-monks/2007/10/01/1191091027787.html – Accessed 24

September 2009 – Attachment 22); a 2008 report that shop owners in South Okkalapa had to

pay bribes to public servants in order to have electricity restored following Cyclone Nargis

(‗Pay money, get electricity post Nargis: Rangoon resident‘ 2008, Burma News International

website, source: Independent Mon News Agency, 27 June

http://www.bnionline.net/news/imna/4375-pay-money-get-electricity-post-nargis-rangoon

resident.html – Accessed 7 October 2009 – Attachment 23); the small size of the Burma‘s

middle class (Pepper, D. 2008 ‗Aftermath of a Revolt: Myanmar‘s Lost Year‘, The New York

Times, 5 October, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/05/weekinreview/05pepper.html –

Accessed 25 September 2009 – Attachment 24); and an alleged attempt to prevent the middle

classes from watching foreign news services by increasing the satellite TV licence from $5 to

$800 (‗Myanmar regime imposes satellite TV fee‘ 2008, Euro-Burma Office website, source:

Associated Press, 02 January http://euro-burma.eu/doc/jan2008.pdf – Accessed 29 September

– Attachment 25).An overview of the available source information informing the above paragraphs follows

below.

Kachins in Kachin State

Minority Rights Group International‘s report State of the World’s Minorities 2008 – Events of

2007 lists the Kachin as one of the world‘s ethnic minorities most under threat (Minority

Rights Group International 2008, State of the World’s Minorities – Events of 2007, Minority

Rights Group International website, p.50 http://www.minorityrights.org/report.php?id=459 –

Accessed 25 September 2009 – Attachment 1).

The 2007 Minority Rights Group International report Minorities in Burma states that the

Kachin are not one single ethno-linguistic group, but rather related ethnic groups ―linked by

clan systems and speak a dozen dialects‖, mainly living in Kachin State. According to the

report, ―ethnic Burmans… dominate in state administrative positions‖ and ―Christianity

continues to spread, but in some areas local communities have reported pressures to convert

to Buddhism, including exemption from forced labour, lower prices for basic foodstuffs and

free schooling for those that send their children to Buddhist monasteries‖:

The Kachin encompass a number of related ethnic groups who are linked by clan systems and

speak a dozen dialects belonging to the Tibeto-Burman linguistic family. They live in

northern Burma on the border with China and India, mainly in the Kachin State.

There are no reliable statistics on the Kachin population, but estimates suggest there are over

one million. The Kachin are one of the largest Christian minorities with around 10 percent

following Buddhist practices, with some elements of spirit worship still continuing in the

hills.

Since the 1990s ceasefires have existed between the military government and armed

ethnic opposition groups. The state, however, remains highly militarized, with

continuing reports of human rights violations including land confiscations, forced

labour and sexual violence. Grievance has also grown due to rampant deforestation,

gold-mining and plans for hydro-electric dams that further marginalize the local people.

Ethnic Burmans still dominate in state administrative positions, and many young Kachin

women have been driven by poverty into the sex trade, including into China.

Christianity continues to spread, but in some areas local communities have reported

pressures to convert to Buddhism, including exemption from forced labour, lower prices

for basic foodstuffs and free schooling for those that send their children to Buddhist

monasteries (Ekeh, C. & Smith, M. 2007, Minorities in Burma, Minority Rights Group

International website, 30 October http://www.minorityrights.org/?lid=3546 – Accessed 24

September 2009 – Attachment 2).

According to the Minority Rights Group International‘s 2007 World Directory of Minorities

and Indigenous Peoples – Myanmar/Burma the use of the Burman language as the ‗almost

exclusive‘ language of instruction in schools contributes to Kachin economic and social

disadvantage:

…The prominent and almost exclusive use of the Burmese language in state primary

schools and by state authorities, even in areas with very large concentrations of

linguistic minorities such as the Shan and Kachin, is a discriminatory practice that

continues to disadvantage these minorities in educational, economic and social terms

(Minority Rights Group International 2007, World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous

Peoples – Myanmar/Burma: Overview, UNHCR Refworld http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/4954ce41c.html – Accessed 24 September 2009 –

Attachment 3).

The Minority Rights Group International‘s Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples –

Myanmar/Burma 2008 provides a historical perspective on tension and conflict between the

Kachin and successive Burman-dominated governments. According to the source, the

predominantly Christian Kachin formed the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO) and a

Kachin Independence Army (KIA) in the early 1960s following an attempt by the Burman

dominated military to declare Buddhism as the state religion in 1961 and the ousting of the

ethnic Kachin President-elect in a coup in 1962. In 1994 ―the KIO decided to enter into a

ceasefire with the junta, which allowed it some degree of local administrative control in

pockets of Kachin State‖. Nevertheless, according to Minority Rights Group International,

―the Kachin still appear to be targeted specifically by Burmese authorities because of their

Christian beliefs‖:

There were some tensions between ethnic Kachin and the Burman-controlled

government, but in the main the Kachin stayed outside of the ethnic insurgencies soon

after independence. This was to be dramatically altered after the declaration of

Buddhism as the religion of Burma in 1961, which was perceived as an affront by the

mainly Christian Kachin, leading directly – with other grievances – to the creation of the

Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) and its military wing, the Kachin

Independent Army (KIA). The final straw seems to have been General Ne Win‘s military

coup in 1962, as the President-elect at the time was a Kachin, Sama Duwa Sinwa Nawng.

The post-1962 period also saw an increased ‗Burmanization‘ of the army and

institutions of the state, and with it a stronger sense of ethnic Kachin being

discriminated against and excluded by government authorities in areas such as

employment and economic opportunities, all of which continued to fuel the insurgency

in Kachin areas.

Whereas the KIO initially was able to control much of Kachin State in the early years of the

insurgency, this began to change after 1988 as the State Law and Order Restoration Council

(SLORC) began to conclude ceasefire agreements with neighbouring groups, and

subsequently redeployed and concentrated military forces against Kachin rebels. As a result,

by 1994 the KIO decided to enter into a ceasefire with the junta, which allowed it some

degree of local administrative control in pockets of Kachin State, though all of the land and

natural resources remain under the authority of the State Peace and Development Council

(SPDC) government.

… In addition to the same type of violations of human rights experienced by many of the

country‘s ethnic minorities, the Kachin still appear to be targeted specifically by

Burmese authorities because of their Christian beliefs. There were continuing reports in

2005 and 2006 of Kachin being subjected to conversion activities and discriminatory

treatment by authorities because of their religion, such as rewards if they convert to Buddhism

or exemption from forced labour, lower prices for basic foodstuffs such as rice and greater

educational opportunities. There were also claims in 2006 of Kachin Christian parents being

offered free schooling for their children at Buddhist monasteries, and of Burmese soldiers

being encouraged by authorities to marry Kachin women to convert them to Buddhism.

There appear to be few Kachin who can be promoted to the higher echelons of the army or

government institutions; permission to repair or construct churches is seldom granted (and in

some locations Buddhist monasteries are built instead) and many of the more visible signs of

Christianity in Kachin areas, such as large crosses in high, visible locations have over the

years been destroyed and are not allowed to be replaced (Minority Rights Group International

2008, World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples – Myanmar/Burma: Kachin, UNHCR Refworld http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/49749cdec.html – Accessed 24

September 2009 – Attachment 4).

The 2007 paper Burma: The Changing Nature of Displacement Crises published by the

Refugee Studies Centre at University of Oxford states that forced migration of Kachin both

within and from Kachin state has occurred since the 1994 ceasefire due to the activities of the

Myanmar army, known in Burmese as the Tatmadaw. According to the source, the ceasefire

has allowed the Tatmadaw to annex land for business purposes:

Unfortunately, forced displacement has not come to an end in Kachin and Mon States, since

the ceasefires. Over the past ten years, local communities have lost large amounts of land

(and associated livelihoods), confiscated by the Tatmadaw, often in the context of its self

support policy, and by local authorities and business groups, including in the context of

‗development projects‘, and due to unsustainable natural resource extraction.

Furthermore, civilians in these areas continue to be subject to widespread forced labour, and

other human rights abuses. These factors are all causes of on-going forced migration.

…However, the post-ceasefire situation in Kachin State presents a mixed picture. The

government‘s attitude towards the Kachin and other ceasefire areas has been one of

neglect or active obstruction. In the context of a KNU ceasefire several other negative

developments present worrying precedents. Although, since 1993, there have been no ‗Four

Cuts‘-type forced relocations in Kachin State, communities continue to still loose their land

especially due to the following developments (all citations from Field Notes; see also HRW

2005):

Post-ceasefire Military Occupation and Confiscation of Farmland. For example,

before the ceasefire, there were four Tatmadaw battalions in Bhamo District,

southern Kachin State; by 2004, there were eleven, each of which had reportedly

confiscated 3–400 acres of land.

Natural Resource Extraction. Up to 4000 people have been displaced by large-scale

jade mining around Phakant, western Kachin State. Increased post-ceasefire logging

and gold mining activities have also brought environmental damage to several areas

(as well as charges of corruption against ceasefire groups‘ officials).

Large-scale Agriculture and Development Projects. The state‘s leasing of land to

private companies often involves land confiscation, as does ‗development‘-induced

displacement – e.g. road, bridge and airport construction in the state capital of

Myitkyina.

All of these factors have been causes of continued forced migration since the ceasefire – i.e.

people are still being displaced, although the reasons why have changed. In many cases, the

abuses outlined above, particularly land loss and forced labour, undermine villagers‘

livelihoods so severely, that they have little choice but to migrate, either within Burma, or to a

neighbouring country (South, A. 2007, ‗Burma: The Changing Nature of Displacement

Crises‘, RSC Working Paper No. 39, February, University of Oxford website, source: Refugee

Studies Centre, pp.18-19 http://www.rsc.ox.ac.uk/PDFs/WP39%20Burma%20AS.pdf –

Accessed 25 September 2009 – Attachment 5).

The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre 2007 report Myanmar (Burma): A Worsening

Crisis of Internal Displacement; A profile of the internal displacement situation, provides

estimates on displacement from Kachin State over previous years sourced from a September

2000 study by the Burma Ethnic Research Group (BERG):―While the situation of internal displacement is not reported and hence the scale of the

problem not well known in Kachin state, 30 years of internal conflict between the various

Kachin independence movements and the Burmese army has resulted in large-scale

displacement of the Kachin population. Figures from Kachin State suggest that perhaps

100,000 were forcibly relocated from their homes by counter-insurgency operations between

the 1960s and 1990s, while other estimates suggest that in 1994 – prior to the signing of a

cease-fire – there were around 67,000 internally displaced. More recent estimates suggest that

although conflict-related displacement has decreased, the impoverishment of many rural

dwellers following three decades of strife have led to significant rural displacement. As no

peace dividend followed the cease-fire agreements, leaving the issue of resettling previously

displaced groups obscure, many rural populations in Kachin State have become landless and

forced to seek a livelihood in the extractive natural resources (mining) sectors or in the

service sector in urban areas.

Indeed despite the negotiated cease-fire arrangements between the central government and the

Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO) and the Kachin Democratic Army (KDA) there

continue to be problems of displacement and land confiscation. As has been remarked by

numerous civilians in Kachin State, cease-fires have allowed the different armies to retain

their arms and territory, controlling and taxing the populace, while basically prioritising

business for themselves through the extraction of natural resources. These complaints are not

solely levied at the rebel groups, but more importantly at government, as the army has

claimed much farmland, principally to grow food. Recently the government put up 27,000

acres of fallow land for paddy production and has opened a land-title registration office in

Myitkyina to facilitate the transfer of such land to new owners‖ (for the BERG study see page

67 of: Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre 2007, Myanmar (Burma): A Worsening

Crisis of Internal Displacement; A profile of the internal displacement situation, IDMC

website, 28 March http://www.internal

displacement.org/8025708F004BE3B1/(httpInfoFiles)/9F04C86117C351B2C12572AC004A

4B56/$file/Myanmar+_Burma_+-March+2007.pdf – Accessed 3 April 2007 – Attachment 6)

On 16 June 2009 the Kachin News Group (KNG) reported that tensions between the Kachin

Independence Army (KIA) and the Burmese Army in Kachin State have escalated recently.

The report states that: ―An eyewitness told KNG today, she surprisingly saw several columns

of Burmese Army soldiers on the road between Bhamo and Kai Htik, the border trade route

between China and Burma in Bhamo district‖; and that KIA troops ―have been ordered to

standby 24 hours in their army bases‖. According to the KNG, the SPDC proposes to

transform the KIA from a resistance army into a border guard:

Columns of KIA soldiers are heading for the frontline. The KIA‘s activity is mainly

concentrated in the areas around Laiza, the headquarters and the border trade centre of KIA

and its political wing the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), said sources close to KIA

soldiers.

A KIO serviceman of the KIA 3rd Brigade in Bhamo district told KNG, ―Now, all KIA

soldiers are entering the bushes. Many KIA soldiers have fanned out around the KIO/A

headquarters in Laiza on the Sino-Burma border.‖

An eyewitness told KNG today, she surprisingly saw several columns of Burmese Army

soldiers on the road between Bhamo and Kai Htik, the border trade route between China and

Burma in Bhamo district.

All KIA soldiers are equipped with sophisticated guns and ammunition. They have been

ordered to standby 24 hours in their army bases, KIA sources said. The KIA‘s preparation is to defend itself from the Burmese troops. It is not offensive in

nature, according to KIA officials.

Maj-Gen Gunhtang Gam Shawng, Chief of Staff of KIA reiterated that the junta‘s

proposal of transforming KIA into a battalion of border guard force before the end of

this year is a load of nonsense. The KIA‘s transformation will be considered after all

political problems between the KIO and the junta are resolved.

On the other hand, political leaders of the KIO met the junta‘s army officials at least twice on

transforming the KIA in Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State in the last two weeks, said

KIO/A‘s headquarter sources.

As of now, Kachin political leaders are against the junta‘s proposal of transforming KIA to a

battalion of a border guard force. All Kachin political organizations, Kachin university

students in the entire country and Kachin people both inside Burma and abroad are against

this move.

The KIA is one of strongest ethnic armed groups in the country because it connects with all

Kachin people and is supported by all Kachins in Burma and abroad.

Unless the political problems are resolved first, the transformation of KIA is unacceptable for

both KIA and the Kachin people (‗KIA troops take to forests for possible war with Burmese

Army‘ 2009, Kachin News Group website, 16 June

http://www.kachinnews.com/index.php/news/905-kia-troops-take-to-forests-for-possible-war

with-burmese-army.html – Accessed 24 September 2009 – Attachment 7).

The Kachin News Group reported on 20 August 2009 that soldiers from the Burmese Army

and KIA soldiers ―narrowly averted‖ a gun battle in Kachin State ―two weeks ago‖. The

article reports that the battle was averted because the Kachin commander withheld permission

to open fire on the Burmese Army:

There was a face off between troops of the Burmese Army and Kachin Independence Army

(KIA) soldiers in Burma‘s northern Kachin State about two weeks ago but a clash was

averted. The stand off came even as the KIO and the junta are locked in discussions over their

demands, said sources close to KIA.

The clash was about to occur when the Burmese soldiers encircled the KIA‘s battalion 6

based in Seng Ra in Hpakant jade land. Later the Burmese soldiers were surrounded by

the KIA soldiers, said residents of Hpakant.

A gun battle between the two sides was narrowly averted because the permission to open fire

by KIA‘s battalion 6 commander Major Yawngba Shawng was not granted by Maj-Gen

Gunhtang Gam Shawng, chief of staff of the KIA based in the Laiza headquarters on the

Sino-Burma border in Kachin State, said sources close to KIA‘s battalion 6 (‗Face Off

Between Burmese Army and KIA Troops, Clash Averted‘ 2009, Kachin News Group website,

20 August http://www.kachinnews.com/index.php/news/1051-face-off-between-burmese

army-and-kia-troops-clash-averted.html – Accessed 24 September 2009 – Attachment 8).

The New York Times reported in August 2009 that fighting has broken out between the

Burmese Army and minority ethnic groups, including the Kachin, ―after two decades of

relative calm in northern Myanmar‖. According to The New York Times, the events have

―prompted China to make a rare comment about the internal affairs of one of its neighbours‖: BANGKOK – After two decades of relative calm in northern Myanmar, fighting has broken

out between the central government and upland ethnic groups, sending tens of thousands of

refugees fleeing into China and threatening a fragile patchwork of cease-fire agreements that

ended decades of civil war.

The fighting began between soldiers from the Kokang minority group and government

troops, but it broadened to involve at least two more groups, the Wa and the Kachin. All

three groups oppose the central government.

The official Chinese news agency Xinhua reported Thursday that refugees were fleeing into

Yunnan Province, which borders Myanmar‘s Shan State, where the fighting was. An estimate

by the U.S. Campaign for Burma, a nongovernmental advocacy group that uses the old name

for Myanmar, put the number of refugees at about 10,000. The office of the United Nations

High Commissioner for Refugees said it had received reports that 10,000 to 30,000 had fled

into Yunnan Province since Aug. 8.

―We have been informed that local authorities in Yunnan Province have already provided

emergency shelter, food and medical care to the refugees,‖ the United Nations agency said in

a statement.

The crisis prompted China to make a rare comment about the internal affairs of one of

its neighbours. Jiang Yu, a spokeswoman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said that the

government in Beijing ―hopes that Myanmar can properly deal with its domestic issue to

safeguard the regional stability of its bordering area,‖ Xinhua reported (Fuller, T. 2009,

‗Battle, Myanmar Refugees Head to China, The New York Times, 28 August

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/29/world/asia/29myanmar.html?_r=1 – Accessed 31

August 2009 – Attachment 9).

On 19 August 2008 the Kachin News Group reported on the claims of the Burma Campaign

UK, who alleged that Burnmese soldiers had been involved in the ―gang rape and murder of a

Kachin schoolgirl‖. The article states, ―According to Burma Campaign UK, rape is

systematically used as a weapon of war against ethnic minorities in Burma. More than a

thousand cases have been documented‖; and notes the comments of a Kachin National

Council representative who reportedly stated that: ―After the cease-fire agreement between

the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) and the junta so-called State Peace and

Development Council (SPDC), we could see that the SPDC continued to oppress the Kachins

by various methods and its target is to wipe out the Kachins‖:

The KNO released a statement yesterday regarding the gang rape and murder of a Kachin

schoolgirl Nhkum Hkawn Din by Burmese soldiers on July 27.

―Despite the ceasefire agreement between the KIO and the SPDC, Burmese soldiers have

repeatedly violated its terms of agreement and repeatedly carried out brutal and violent crimes

against the Kachin people,‖ the statement said.

According to Burma Campaign UK, rape is systematically used as a weapon of war

against ethnic minorities in Burma. More than a thousand cases have been documented.

―In this case of gang rape, the military regime once again showed how brutal it is and

we [the Burma Campaign UK] are trying to make the international community aware of

the case,‖ said Nang Seng, Campaign Officer of Burma Campaign UK.

With the United Nations special envoy to Burma, Ibrahim Gambari arriving yesterday in

Burma, the Burma Campaign UK sent word of the gang rape and murder of a Kachin School girl before Gambari leaves so that he can raise the issue concerning human rights violations in

the country, Nang Seng said.

―We hope Gambari will talk with the government about the gang rape and killing of the

Kachin schoolgirl as one of the many gruesome crimes against humanity in keeping with the

United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution 1820,‖ Nang Seng said

The UN Security Council Resolution 1820 describes rape and sexual violence as a crime

against humanity.

Meanwhile, as the village of Nam Sai where the rape and murder occurred is also a

development project village controlled by the 1st battalion of Kachin Independence

Army (KIA), the KIA has sent a letter about the brutal case to its headquarters (‗Junta

bent on wiping out ethnic Kachins says KNO‘ 2008, Kachin News Group website, 19 August

http://www.kachinnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=366:junta

bent-on-wiping-out-ethnic-kachins-says-kno&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=50 – Accessed 28

September 2009 – Attachment 10).

The Burma Campaign UK state in an October 2008 report entitled ‗Kachin Schoolgirl Rape

and Murder – 3 Months Later, No Arrests, No Justice‘ that ―Rape is systematically used as a

weapon of war against ethnic minorities in Burma, more than a thousand cases have been

documented. There is a culture of impunity, where no action is taken against soldiers who

rape.‖ The report details the case of the rape and murder in July 2008 of 15 year old girl in

Kachin State:

Three months after a 15 year-old schoolgirl in Kachin State, Burma, was gang-raped,

mutilated and murdered, no-one has been arrested and charged, despite eye-witnesses

identifying suspects.

On 27th July 2008 near Nam Sai Village, Bamaw District, Kachin State, northern Burma, a

15 year-old schoolgirl, Nhkum Hkawn Din, was attacked and killed on her way to bring rice

to her brother, who was working on a paddy field on the family farm.

After a three-day search her naked and mutilated body was found 200 meters from an army

checkpoint. A local witness testified that they had seen Burmese Army soldiers follow Hkawn

Din on her way to the paddy field. After her body was found other witnesses testified that

they had seen soldiers leave that area after the time she had disappeared.

She had been raped, and brutally tortured and mutilated. Injuries included:

1) Her skull was crushed beyond recognition.

2) Her eyes were gouged out.

3) Her throat was cut.

4) She had a stab wound on her right rib cage.

5) All her facial features were obliterated.

6) She has been stabbed in the stomach

7) After the rape, she was further violated with knives

Local people were very angry about the failure to investigate the brutal murder. Posters

demanding justice were put up in the Kachin capital Myitkyina. On August 16th witnesses

identified one of the soldiers involved, Soe Thu Win, during a line-up. He later confessed

under interrogation. A local commander reportedly stated that he will be sentenced to 20

years in jail, even though he has had no trial. However, it is now three months since the

murder, and the Burma Campaign UK has been informed that no-one has been formally charged. Instead the family was offered around $500 plus some food staples as compensation

for the murder.

Financial compensation for crimes is common in Burma, but reports received by the Burma

Campaign UK indicate that the family wants justice, not money.

Locals and family members believe they know which soldiers were involved in the attack, but

local authorities have refused to take action.

―The United Nations Security Council have described the systematic use of rape and sexual

violence as a crime against humanity,‖ said Nang Seng, Campaigns Officer at Burma

Campaign UK. ―This case is just one of thousands, and shows that soldiers have the green

light to rape ethnic women, knowing there will be no punishment. How long will Security

Council members stay silent while women and children in Burma are being raped, tortured

and murdered?‖

Rape is systematically used as a weapon of war against ethnic minorities in Burma,

more than a thousand cases have been documented. There is a culture of impunity,

where no action is taken against soldiers who rape. In early 2007 four schoolgirls in

Kachin state were arrested, charged with prostitution and imprisoned after being gang-raped

by Burmese Army soldiers. After the case received international attention the regime said it

would take action against the soldiers involved, but at least one of the rapists remains in the

army and at liberty (Burma Campaign UK 2008, ‗Kachin Schoolgirl Rape and Murder – 3

Months Later, No Arrests, No Justice‘, 27 October, Burma Campaign UK website

http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/index.php/news-and-reports/news-stories/Kachin

Schoolgirl-Rape-and-Murder-/8 – Accessed 8 October 2009 – Attachment 11).

Kachin in Yangon (Rangoon)

On 5 October 2009 the Kachin News Group reported that the mayor of Yangon, Brig-Gen

Aung Thein Lin, ―dropped into‖ the Yangon Kachin Baptist Church to deliver a talk on how

the ―regime is treating ethnic Kachins on a higher scale‖ and to ‗urge‘ the parishioners that

the church should ―seek help if needed from the city authorities‖. The Kachin News Group

quotes an unnamed parishioner present at the talk, who states "I think the Mayor's visit the

Yangon Kachin Baptist Church is to mobilize opinion because the Burmese Army is going to

launch an offensive against the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) in Kachin State". The

source also states that: ―On September 27, the church celebrated the 30th anniversary of the

setting up of the Yangon Kachin Baptist Church with over 2,000 followers, church sources

said. Most of followers fled from civil wars between the Burmese Army and the KIA in

Kachin State and Northeast Shan State, said church sources‖:

In an unusual move the Yangon Mayor dropped into the Yangon Kachin Baptist Church, the

largest ethnic Kachin church, yesterday soon after the conclusion of the regular Sunday

worship service at noon, said church sources.

During a short visit to the three-storeyed Yangon (also called Rangoon) Kachin Baptist

Church (YJH) in Sanchaung Township, Brig-Gen Aung Thein Lin, Chairman of the Yangon

City Development Committee and Mayor delivered a short talk to church pastors, preachers

and followers who attended the service, said a participant.

Participants, who listened to, Brig-Gen Aung Thein Lin‘s talk said that the Burmese military

regime is treating ethnic Kachins on a higher scale. The officer also urged the church to seek

help if needed from the city authorities.A Baptist follower, who listened to the Mayor, told KNG, ―I think the Mayor‘s visit the

Yangon Kachin Baptist Church is to mobilize opinion because the Burmese Army is

going to launch an offensive against the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) in Kachin

State‖.

On September 27, the church celebrated the 30th anniversary of the setting up of the Yangon

Kachin Baptist Church with over 2,000 followers, church sources said. Most of followers

fled from civil wars between the Burmese Army and the KIA in Kachin State and Northeast

Shan State, said church sources.

The current three-storeyed church building however could be constructed on the authorization

of the junta‘s former Military Intelligence Chief and deposed Prime Minister General Khyin

Nyunt. He inaugurated the newly-built church in 1997, church sources said.

Unlike the General Khyin Nyunt era, today, however, the church is finding it difficult to get

the land grant from the junta to construct a six-storeyed hostel, Rev. KD Tu Lum, one of the

YJH pastors said during the 30th anniversary service.

The Yangon Kachin Baptist Church is under the Kachin Baptist Convention (KBC) which has

over 400,000 followers in military-ruled Burma (‗Yangon Mayor visits city Kachin Baptist

Church‘ 2009, Burma News International website, source: Kachin News Group, 5 October

http://www.bnionline.net/news/kng/7161-yangon-mayor-visits-city-kachin-baptist

church.html – Accessed 7 October 2009 – Attachment 12).

In March 2006 the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) responded to RRT

enquiries about the alleged arrest of a Baptist pastor associated with Rangoon‘s ethnic Kachin

community. DFAT Report 459 reported the pastor had been detained as the Myinta Kachin

Baptist Church in South Okkalapa township, Yangon, did not have a ―formal church

building‖ at that time and conducted services in a building licensed only for ―cultural

activities‖, potentially exposing the church and its minister, Reverend U La Doi, to

prosecution. The report states ―Repeated requests from the church to local authorities in

recent years for permission to purchase a building to conduct religious activities have been

rejected‖. DFAT Report 459 also provides advice on the treatment of ethnic and religious

minorities more generally:

Reverend U La Doi was detained for no more than several hours on or around 1 September

2005. The background to Reverend U La Doi‘s dispute with the Burmese government is

Myinta Kachin Baptist church has no formal church building. Repeated requests from the

church to local authorities in recent years for permission to purchase a building to conduct

religious activities have been rejected. After receiving permission to purchase a building to

conduct ‗cultural‘ activities, Myinta Baptist church used the building as a place of worship.

Local authorities have, therefore, accused Reverend U La Doi and the Myinta Baptist Church

of violating its licence to conduct only culturally-related activities. We understand authorities

are considering legal proceedings against Reverend U La Doi.

(note: Despite regime propaganda that there is complete religious tolerance in Burma, non

Buddhist religious groups in Burma – which are usually comprised of non-Burman ethnic

groups – frequently experience considerable difficulties obtaining permission from authorities

to establish or even renovate places of worship. It is not uncommon for such non-Buddhist

religious groups, therefore, to try to mislead the regime on such matters in order to establish

religious centres. It is also common for the regime to monitor new constructions closely to

gauge whether the buildings are being used for purposes other than those approved and, if

they are being used outside the approved mandate, to take action to close them) (Department

of Foreign Affairs and Trade 2006, DFAT Report 459 – RRT Information Request: MMR30017, 24 March – Attachment 13; for the RRT Country Research enquiry which

elicited this reply, see: RRT Country Research 2006, ‗RRT Country Information Request –

MMR30017‘, 8 March – Attachment 56) .

On 13 June 2007 The Irrawaddy reported that ―a Kachin Baptist church in Rangoon has been

under observation by the authorities, who even scrutinized its ―Order of Service‖ on one

Sunday‖ (Khun, S. 2007, ‗Church Ordered to be Removed in Northern Shan State‘, 13 June,

The Irrawaddy website http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=7460 – Accessed 6

October 2009 – Attachment 14).

On 16 May 2008 Kachin News Group reported that the ―junta authorities‖ had refused to

allow ―[a]bout 100 Rangoon Kachin Christian youth‖ from travelling to the cyclone affected

Irrawaddy Division to do relief work. Furthermore it quotes ―Rangoon Christian sources‖ as

stating that ―there were over 10,000 Christians living in Irrawaddy Division but now about

5,000 of them are left in the area‖:

About 100 Rangoon Kachin Christian youth were ready to move over a week ago to help the

cyclone victims but in a senseless act they were stopped by the authorities, a Kachin youth in

Rangoon told KNG.

The rescue mission was organised by the Myanmar Council of Churches (MCC) on the

request of Rangoon based The United Nations Children‘s Fund (UNICEF). The junta

authorities said that they would only permit volunteers who had National Registration

Cards (NRC) of the Irrawaddy Division, MCC sources said.

The Kachin Christian youth had planned to go to Bogalay, one of the most cyclone-devastated

areas for random assistance such as construction of temporary shelters for survivors. The

cyclone lashed Burma between May 2 and 3.

There were over 10,000 Christians living in Irrawaddy Division but now about 5,000 of

them are left in the area, said Rangoon Christian sources.

To meet the emergency the Kachin Baptist Convention (KBC) donated 1,000,000 Kyat (est.

US $ 893) to the Karen Baptist Churches in these areas over a week ago, Rev. Hkalam Sam

Sun, a KBC pastor in Myitkyina the capital of Kachin State told KNG today.

According to residents of Myitkyina, the junta officially requested for donations for Cyclone

Nargis victims from all religious organizations in MyitkyinaTownship, yesterday.

The letters asking for donations were distributed on the directives of the Kachin State Peace

and Development Council and sent to head offices of Christian churches, Buddhist

monasteries, Muslim mosques and Hindu temples in Myitkyina, local sources said.

The letter was titled ―Fund for Cyclone Victims‖ and KBC, the largest Kachin Christian

Convention office also received a copy of the letter yesterday.

The junta is only allowing members of the Red Cross, fire brigade personnel and members of

the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) to go and help cyclone survivors

in Irrawaddy Division, local sources said (‗Kachin Christian volunteers stopped from helping

cyclone victims‘2008, Kachin News Group website, 16 May

http://www.kachinnews.com/index.php/news/151-kachin-christian-volunteers-stopped-from

helping-cyclone-victims.html – Accessed 6 October 2009 – Attachment 15). On 22 November 2007 the Kachin News Group reported that: ―Mading Hkun Htu (Hkun

Htoo), an ethnic Kachin political leader, was allowed to go back home after being taken away

from his Rangoon house to the Aung Thapyay police detention centre by the special branch

(SB) of the police…a source in Rangoon said‖. The report relates that the detained individual

was ―a regional representative in Rangoon for the Kachin State National Congress for

Democracy (KNCD)‖ and that the ―reason behind his being taken away to the detention

centre was related to the issue of the main Kachin ceasefire group, the Kachin Independence

Organization, KIO‘s refusal to sign a statement opposing Aung San Suu Kyi‘s statement. The

junta authorities asked him to give them suggestions on the issue, his family members said‖

(‗Kachin leader freed after short detention by junta‘ 2007, Kachin News Group website, 22

November

http://www.kachinnews.com/old/read.asp?CatId=14&NewsId=968&Title=Kachin+leader+fr

eed+after+short+detention+by+junta – Accessed 6 October 2009 – Attachment 16).

On 3 September 2007 the Kachin News Group reported that Maran Zau, ―Chairman of the

Kachin Nationals Consultative Assembly (KNCA) died of cancer on Friday at a private clinic

in Rangoon.‖ Maran Zau is credited in the article with bringing to halt clashes between rival

Kachin political and military organisations:

Maran Zau died at 4:30 p.m. Burma Standard Time when he was being operated upon. He

has been suffering from colon cancer for a long time, a KNCA spokesman told KNG today.

He joined to KNCA in 2002 as a member of the Executive Committee (EC) and became a

KNCA leader in April last year, KNCA sources said.

After taking charge he brought about a halt to clashes among Kachin ceasefire groups--

the two rival groups in the New Democratic Army-Kachin (NDA-K) led by Zahkung

Ting Ying and Layawk Zelum, and the NDA-K and its mother organization, the Kachin

Independence Organization (KIO).

Maran Zau Nan also set up a special National Convention advisory sub-committee in the

KNCA and gave technical advice to KIO and NDA-K delegates attending the Burmese

military junta‘s National Convention in the context of Kachin politics, added KNCA sources.

He also led the KNCA on the submission of a special people‘s request to the ruling junta last

May in order to stop the junta‘s Myitsone Hydroelectric Power project at the confluence of

the Mali-N‘mai Rivers, one of the most beautiful tourist sites in Northern Burma, local

sources said (‗Kachin leader Maran Zau Nan dies‘ 2007, Kachin News Group website, 3

September

http://www.kachinnews.com/old/read.asp?CatId=12&NewsId=731&Title=%22September+11

%22+masat+nhtoi+Amerikan+mungdan+e+galaw – Accessed 6 October 2009 – Attachment

17).

A February 2004 article in The Irrawaddy provides information on several successful Kachin

identities in Rangoon who have ―helped broker ceasefire agreements over the past 15 years

between Burma‘s ethnic insurgent groups and the military junta‖. Details follow:

Reverend Saboi Jum The ethnic Kachin, whose name means ―holding the table,‖ is the former

chairman of the Kachin Baptist Convention, the principal religious organization for Kachin,

and a former advisor to Brang Seng, the past Kachin Independence Organization chairman.

He was a key ceasefire broker between the KIO and the military junta in 1993. After meeting

with Pope John Paul II in the mid-1990s, the Vatican granted him about US $4 million to set

up development projects in Kachin State. But he is widely believed to have used the money for his own purposes. The Sumpra Hotel in Myitkyina, officially owned by Saboi Jum‘s

younger brother Zau Yaw, was built in 1996. Saboi Jum is a founder and chairman of the

Nyein (Peace) Foundation, which teaches classes in ―Peace and Resolution‖ and monitors the

ceasefire negotiations of other armed ethnic groups. It was founded in December 2001. Khun

Myat The younger brother of Saboi Jum, Khun Myat, helped broker the KIO ceasefire with

Rangoon. He lives in the capital, where he runs an auto dealership and other businesses. It is

widely believed that after the ceasefire, Gen Khin Nyunt, then military intelligence chief,

granted Khun Myat a license to export 3,000 tons of teak wood, while other generals and their

kin gave him car import permits. He was the only non-Karen ethnic negotiator invited to the

peace talks between the Karen National Union and the military junta. La Wawm The ethnic

Kachin is a former ambassador to Israel during the era of Ne Win‘s Burma Socialist Program

Party. Along with Saboi Jum and Khun Myat, he was instrumental in forging the KIO

ceasefire with the ruling junta. In return, Khin Nyunt awarded La Wawm a house in Rangoon,

said several Kachin residents in Rangoon. (Naw, S. 2004, ‗Brothers-In-Peace‘, February, The

Irrawaddy website http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=3299 – Accessed 7 October

2009 – Attachment 18).

The Kachin News Group reported in November 2008 that the Rev. Dr. Lahtaw Saboi Jum,

described as ―the former general secretary of the Kachin Baptist Convention‖, was refused a

visa by the US embassy in Rangoon. The reason for the Embassy‘s has not been quoted;

however, the article speculates that it was due to ―his dubious connections with the ruling

junta and its business cronies came in the way.‖ The article quotes anonymous pastors from

the Kachin Baptist Convention that the US Embassy‘s refusal to grant US visas to the Rev.

Saboi Jum was due to he and his family‘s ―private business links‖ with his young brother

Lahtaw Hkun Myat and a popular Burmese tycoon Tay Za, who is close to Burmese military

junta supremo Senior General Than and Gen. Thura Shwe Mann‖:

For the second time the US embassy in Rangoon, in the former capital of Burma, has denied

US entry visa to Rev. Dr. Lahtaw Saboi Jum, former general secretary of the Kachin Baptist

Convention (KBC), the country‘s well-known peace mediator and his family. This was

disclosed by a local source close to him. His dubious connections with the ruling junta and its

business cronies came in the way, sources added.

The first visa application by Rev. Dr. Saboi Jum along with his wife and a girl of the family to

the US embassy was denied. A special request for US visas on October 21 for the second time

was also rejected by the US embassy, said sources close to Rev. Saboi Jum‘s family.

A Baptist pastor Rev. Saboi Jum and his family planned to attend the ‗2008 Summit‘ on

Christian religion organized by US-based Bild International from October 29 to November 8,

2008 in Ames in Iowa state in United States of America. They also intended to attend an

American friend‘s wedding.

According to KBC pastors in Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin state in northern Burma, the

reasons for refusing US visas to Rev. Saboi Jum and his family had to do with private

business links between Rev. Saboi Jum with his young brother Lahtaw Hkun Myat and a

popular Burmese tycoon Tay Za, who is close to Burmese military junta supremo Senior

General Than and Gen. Thura Shwe Mann.

Tay Za, or Teza, the owner of Htoo Trading Company, controls major economic sectors of

the country such as logging, tourism, hotels, air transport and construction to technological

investment in the junta‘s newly built Yadanabon Cyber City in Upper Burma (‗US embassy

refuses visa twice to Rev. Dr. Saboi Jum and family‘ 2008, Kachin News Group website, 14

November

http://www.kachinnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=644:us-embassy-refuses-visa-twice-to-rev-dr-saboi-jum-and-family&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=50

– Accessed 7 October 2009 – Attachment 19).

In December 2003 The Myanmar Times reported that ―The Kachin Literature and Culture

Association held the Culture Show, Music Show and Fund Fare of young Kachin who study

at universities in Yangon at Jubilee Hall in Yangon University on December 6. It was the first

time Kachin students in Yangon have congregated for such an event, said Ma Mui Hpu San

Yi, the secretary of the association‖. The ―Kachin Association and Kachin Baptist Church‖

were reportedly also involved in the staging of the event (Kyaw Kyaw, T. 2003, ‗Tradition,

modernity fused at Kachin show‘, 15-21 December, The Myanmar Times

http://www.myanmar.gov.mm/myanmartimes/no196/MyanmarTimes10-196/039.htm –

Accessed 6 October 2009 – Attachment 20).

On 21 August 2006 The Irrawaddy reported that: ―Burmese authorities have told a Kachin

Baptist church in Rangoon it cannot hold a planned literary workshop on August 19 because

it hasn‘t obtained official permission‖. And that: ―The Baptist church has been under

observation by the authorities, who even check its Sunday order of service, said a staff

member‖ (Khun, S. 2006, ‗Regime Ban on Rangoon Church Workshop‘, 21 August, The

Irrawaddy website http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=6082 – Accessed 7 October

2009 – Accessed 6 October 2009 – Attachment 21).

A 2007 article published in The Age entitled ‗As Burma‘s junta reclaims streets, locals stand

up for monks‘ describes the Rangoon suburb of South Okkalapa as ―a densely populated poor

suburb in north-west Rangoon‖. The report describes events in South Okkalapa during the

September 2007 protests, including the shooting of a 16 year-old boy and the raid on a

Buddhist monastery:

On Saturday, it emerged that the army was collecting bodies. Two men in their 30s were shot

on Friday in South Okkalapa, a densely populated poor suburb in north-west Rangoon.

―They were ordinary men, not protesters,‖ said a journalist. ―On Saturday, the army came

back, gave the families 20,000 kyat each and took away the corpses.‖

While the protesters have left the streets, they have not lost all their fire. As the military

continues to crack down on the monasteries, hunting for monks in hiding, the public has risen

to defend them, defying the 9pm-to-5am curfew to challenge the military on its night-time

raids.

The army raided the Ngwe Kya Yan monastery, in South Okkalapa, on Thursday night and

arrested dozens of monks. When troops returned on Friday morning, the crowd intervened

and in the disturbance a 16-year-old boy was shot dead and a girl was run down by a military

vehicle. But the army had to back off. ―South Okkalapa is lower class, these people are

braver than the middle-class in challenging the army,‖ the journalist said (‗As Burma‘s

junta reclaims streets, locals stand up for monks‘ 2007, The Age website, 2 October

http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/as-burmas-junta-reclaims-streets-locals-stand-up-for

monks/2007/10/01/1191091027787.html – Accessed 24 September 2009 – Attachment 22).

On 27 June 2008 the Independent Mon News Agency reported that shop owners in South

Okkalapa Township have had to pay bribes to civil servants in order to have electricity

restored to both shops and homes following Cyclone Nargis:

It is nothing short of holding people to ransom. Without shelling out money to civil servants

of the electric power department no electricity supply will be ensured to home and markets. This was stated by electricity department officials to Rangoon residents when they

complained of lack of supply.

This despite the Burmese junta controlled New Light of Myanmar stating that the government

is trying to repair power lines with government funds and on time post Cyclone Nargis.

Although the cyclone lashed Burma in the first week of May, the government did not care to

repair some power lines in Okkalapa Township which were damaged.

Shop owners in Nandawun market, South Okkalapa Township complained after power supply

to the market was disrupted following the cyclone but the department did not repair

transmission lines.

―If the shop owners do not pay we will not repair it,‖ a shop owner told IMNA quoting a civil

servant from the electric power department.

―We collected a thousand Kyat from each small shop and 3,000-5,000 Kyat from the bigger

shops and paid the department on June 24. The next day the power supply was back,‖ the

shop owner said.

The market has about 5,000 shops and the power and telephone lines snapped after cyclone

(‗Pay money, get electricity post Nargis: Rangoon resident‘ 2008, Burma News International

website, source: Independent Mon News Agency, 27 June

http://www.bnionline.net/news/imna/4375-pay-money-get-electricity-post-nargis-rangoon

resident.html – Accessed 7 October 2009 – Attachment 23).

In his 2008 article ‗Aftermath of a Revolt: Myanmar‘s Lost Year‘, published in The New

York Times, Daniel Pepper describes Burma‘s middle class as small, while the ―broad mass of

50 million people remain among the poorest in the world‖. Quoting a Burmese entrepreneur,

Pepper writes that ―there are only a few wealthy people in Myanmar… those who get in with

the political people‖:

In fact, the State Peace and Development Council, as the military government renamed itself

in 1997, is stronger now than a year ago, having profited from high global food and fuel

prices. A few signs of conspicuous consumption by the small urban middle class —

satellite TV dishes, hip-hop music and fashions — are seeping down from the much

smaller class of multimillionaire businessmen directly tied to the junta‘s chairman,

Than Shwe.

Meanwhile, the broad mass of 50 million people remain among the poorest in the world.

Myanmar ranks 132 out of 177 countries in the 2007 United Nations Development Program‘s

Human Development Index. Most experts, who doubt the government‘s statistics, think the

reality is worse.

Myanmar is also one of the only countries to be publicly denounced for human rights abuses

by the otherwise confidential and neutral International Committee of the Red Cross.

According to Amnesty International, more than 2,100 political prisoners languish in

Myanmar‘s jails, about 1,000 having been locked up in the past year.

...In essence, the country runs like a mafia, from the languid tea shops of Yangon to the

remote jungle areas of Kachin state in Upper Burma, where the mining town of Hpakant

provides much of the world‘s jade. There I met Sai Joseph, a gregarious and entrepreneurial

family man who manages one midsize jade company. ―There are only a few wealthy people

in Myanmar,‖ he told me, ―those who get in with the political people, the authorities who have power‖ (Pepper, D. 2008 ‗Aftermath of a Revolt: Myanmar‘s Lost Year‘, The New York

Times website 5 October, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/05/weekinreview/05pepper.html

– Accessed 25 September 2009 – Attachment 24).

According to the Associated Press, the Burmese military junta dramatically increased

the licence fee for TV satellite dishes in 2008, from $5 to $800. According to an

anonymous source, said to be ‗an official at Myanmar Post and Telecom‘, the price

increase is designed to ―discourage people from watching foreign news channels‖

(‗Myanmar regime imposes satellite TV fee‘ 2008, Euro-Burma Office website,

source: Associated Press, 02 January http://euro-burma.eu/doc/jan2008.pdf –

Accessed 29 September – Attachment 25).

2. Please provide details of the Kachin National Organisation including its leaders.

The Kachin National Organisation (KNO) appears to have been founded in 1999 by

Bawmwang La Raw, described by one source as a wealthy Kachin businessman that divides

his time between London and Chang Mai. Sources do not indicate that the KNO has its own

militia; however, The Irrawaddy does implicate Bawmwang La Raw in a 2001 attempt to

change the leadership of the Kachin Independence Army (Naw, S. 2004 ‗Shaky Future for the

KIO‘, The Irrawaddy website, April http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=953 –

Accessed 28 September 2009 – Attachment 27). The KNO, primarily through Bawmwang La

Raw, claims that the 1994 ceasefire has lead to an increase in the presence of the Tatmadaw

in Kachin State, increased human rights abuses in the state, and the exploitation of Kachin

resources at the expense of the Kachin people (for information on the history of the KNO see

Chan, M. 2005, ‗Kachin‘s Anti-Government Forces Burma drew the Union Constitution in

1947 and so got the united independence in 1948‘, The Kachin State website

http://www.kachinstate.com/history.html – Accessed 28 September 2009 – Attachment 26;

Naw, S. 2004 ‗Shaky Future for the KIO‘, The Irrawaddy website, April

http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=953 – Accessed 28 September 2009 –

Attachment 27; Khun, S. 2007, ‗Junta Blamed for Worsening Situation in Kachin State‘, The

Irrawaddy Media website http://www.irrawaddymedia.com/article.php?art_id=6549 –

Accessed 28 September 2009 – Attachment 28; ‗Kachin National Organisation‘ 2005,

Kachinland website http://kachinland.wordpress.com/2005/12/31/hello-world/ – Accessed 28

September 2009 – Attachment 29). No information has been located on the KNO presence,

structure or activities in Malaysia or elsewhere outside Kachin State, London or Chang Mai.

The Kachin State website lists Hawwa Ja La as ―the leader‖ of the Kachin National

Organisation and Bawmwang La Raw as ‗a leader‘ of the Kachin National Organisation and a

‗deputy leader‘ of the Kachin Solidarity Council, an organisation parallel to the Kachin

Independence Organisation. The source states that the KNO is ―a political organization

founded by overseas Kachin and a group of elders from the Kachin homeland on January 9,

1999.‖ Adding that the ―KNO strives for an independent homeland and democratic

government‖:

In February 2001, a reformist faction within KIO staged a coup at the KIO headquarter at Lai

Sin near the China border. They detained Zau Mai and later ousted him. Lamung Tu Jai

became the leader of the KIO.

A political group formed secretly on 24-1-2005 The Kachin Solidarity Council in Pang Wa,

the NDA-K headquarter, including a Joint Military Commission and a Joint Economic Commission. It seems a parallel organization against the KIO‘s Kachin Consultative

Assembly, KCA, which was formed in 2002.

According to the Kachin Independence Organization, KIO, the council is led by Zahkung

Ting Ying, leader of the New Democratic Army-Kachin, and 3 deputy leaders: Col Lasang

Awng Wah, who is the leader of a KIO splinter group, Mahtu Naw, the leader of Kachin

Defense Army and Bawmwang La Raw, a leader of Kachin National Organization, KNO.

…Kachin National Organization (KNO)

A political organization founded by overseas Kachin and a group of elders from the

Kachin homeland on January 9, 1999. KNO strives for an independent homeland and

democratic government. Its leader is Hawwa Ja La (Chan, M. 2005, ‗Kachin‘s Anti

Government Forces Burma drew the Union Constitution in 1947 and so got the united

independence in 1948‘, The Kachin State website http://www.kachinstate.com/history.html –

Accessed 28 September 2009 – Attachment 26).

The following 2004 article entitled ‗Shaky Future for the KIO‘, published in The Irrawaddy

describes Bawmwang La Raw as a businessman and founder of the Kachin National

Organisation. According to The Irrawaddy, a Chang Mai-based paper run by Burmese exiles,

Bawmwang La Raw was one of the ―masterminds‖ behind a 2001 ―mutiny‖ within the

leadership of the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO) by ―young officers‖: ―N‘ban La‘s

insurrection was backed by Bawmwang La Raw, a Kachin businessman who holds a British

passport and keeps houses in Chiang Mai and London. He founded the Kachin National

Organization, which he established from his home in Chiang Mai with overseas Kachin and a

group of senior leaders from the Kachin ‗homeland‘. The group‘s brief is to work for an

independent democratic Kachin nation-state. Bawmwang La Raw, who made his fortune

trading Kachin jade during the 1980s, claims to have bankrolled the KIO to the tune of US

$3.6 million‖:

Younger officers have grown disenchanted; some want to replace their aging superiors.

Mutiny at Laiza ―The problem is the personal interests of the KIO leaders,‖ said Gauri Zau

Seng, ―and it hurts the KIO and the Kachin people.‖ As the mutineers launched their January

attack, KIA chief of staff General N‘ban La was receiving medical treatment for kidney

stones at a hospital in Kunming, China. When he learned of the revolt, he returned to

headquarters immediately with his deputy Col Lazing Bawk and loyal troops. By the time

they arrived, however, the suspected masterminds of the coup—KIO intelligence chief

Col Lasang Awng Wa and Bawmwang La Raw, a Kachin businessman—had fled to

China.

…N‘ban La‘s insurrection was backed by Bawmwang La Raw, a Kachin businessman

who holds a British passport and keeps houses in Chiang Mai and London. He founded

the Kachin National Organization, which he established from his home in Chiang Mai

with overseas Kachin and a group of senior leaders from the Kachin ―homeland‖. The

group‘s brief is to work for an independent democratic Kachin nation-state. Bawmwang La

Raw, who made his fortune trading Kachin jade during the 1980s, claims to have

bankrolled the KIO to the tune of US $3.6 million. But from the early 1990s the

organization lost much of its prime jade-mining territory to the Burma Army. It gave up the

remainder in 1994, under the terms of the ceasefire treaty with Rangoon. Bawmwang La Raw

feels that Zau Mai was responsible. The jade trader admitted to backing the 2001 coup effort,

but pointed out that N‘ban La and Lasang Awng Wa instituted no policy changes from their

predecessor. They also failed to purge the ranks of Zau Mai‘s flunkies, some of whom

retained their positions in the party hierarchy. Bawmwang La Raw is miffed by the

ceasefire arrangement and feels the overthrow was a good idea. ―What has the KIO

done for its own people in ten years of ceasefire?‖ he asked rhetorically (Naw, S. 2004 ‗Shaky Future for the KIO‘, The Irrawaddy website, April

http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=953 – Accessed 28 September 2009 –

Attachment 27).

A January 2007 Irrawaddy Media article refers to Bawmwang La Raw as the ―KNO

President‖. Bawmwang La Raw is quoted criticising the Kachin Independence Organisation

and other Kachin militia groups for signing the 1994 ceasefire with the Burmese military

junta, as well as for participating in the National Convention, organised by the junta to draft a

new constitution:

Ethnic Kachin in exile on Wednesday criticized Burma‘s military government and Kachin

ceasefire groups for the growing political turmoil and deteriorating social and human rights

conditions in Kachin State.

The condemnation of Burma‘s ruling junta and the groups with which it has secured

ceasefires was made in an open letter to Burma‘s top leader, Snr-Gen Than Shwe, by the

Kachin National Organization, an exile Kachin opposition group with offices in Asia, the

US and the UK.

―Kachin leaders had sought for a peaceful political resolution, instead of more shooting,

but nothing has been accomplished with the ceasefire,‖ said KNO President Bawmwang

La Raw on Thursday in a telephone interview with The Irrawaddy from his home in the UK.

Several armed ethnic Kachin groups, including the Kachin Independence Organization, the

Kachin Defense Army and the New Democratic Army-Kachin, reached ceasefire agreements

with Burma‘s ruling junta during the 1990‘s, after three decades of civil war.

La Raw said Burma‘s military presence in Kachin State has increased in recent months, and

land and property have been confiscated by several Burmese battalions, adding that the

Kachin also face dire poverty, the spread of HIV/AIDS and rising drug use.

The KNO dismissed Burma‘s ongoing National Convention, in which delegates from

some ethnic ceasefire groups are currently attending, saying that the constitution

drafting assembly would ultimately have no solution for the country.

The National Convention began in 1993 as the first in several proposed measures to bring

about democratic reform in Burma—a process called ―the roadmap to democracy‖ by the

military government. The most recent session convened in October of last year (Khun, S.

2007, ‗Junta Blamed for Worsening Situation in Kachin State‘, The Irrawaddy Media

website, 4 January http://www.irrawaddymedia.com/article.php?art_id=6549 – Accessed 28

September 2009 – Attachment 28).

On 31 December 2005 a Kachinland website article reported that the Kachin National

Organization was established in January 1999 following ―extensive discussion between the

overseas Kachins and the elders from the Kachin homeland.‖

The Kachin National Organization is a political organization founded on the 9th of January

1999. This formation was the result of extensive discussion between the overseas Kachins and

the elders from the Kachin homeland.

Since the cease-fire agreement on the 24th of February 1994, the Burmese military

dictatorship has steadily built up more garrisons in our country with the clear intention to

continue and establish military occupation.Contrary to the people‘s expectations, the Kachin homeland today is without security due to

the lack of definitive political policies. There is no economic opportunity amidst rampant

inflation and people are reduced to the lowest level of subsistence. Equally lacking are proper

healthcare and education.

This is an insidious destruction of the Kachins and at the same time a devious way of

identifying the Kachinland with Burma.

The main goals of the Kachin National Organization are to regain the inalienable rights

of people by establishing an independent Kachinland and restore their pride and

freedom (‗Kachin National Organisation‘ 2005, Kachinland website

http://kachinland.wordpress.com/2005/12/31/hello-world/ – Accessed 28 September 2009 –

Attachment 29).

An October 2007 article on the Kachin State website describes Nang Seng as the Deputy

Secretary of The Kachin National Organization (‗News in Brief‘ 2007, Kachin State website,

15 October http://www.kachinstate.com/news211007.html – Accessed 28 September 2009 –

Attachment 30). In June 2008 the Burma Campaign UK website announced that Nang Seng

had been appointed as the Burma Campaign UK‘s Campaign Officer. It does not indicate

whether or not Nang Seng remains Deputy Secretary of the KNO (‗Nang Seng New

Campaigns Officer Joins Burma Campaign UK‘ 2008, Burma Campaign UK website, 17

June http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/index.php/news-and-reports/news-stories/Nang

Seng-New-Campaigns-Officer-Joins-Burma-Campaign-UK/8 – Accessed 28 September 2009

–Attachment 31). In a separate article, the Burma Campaign UK announces that both the KIO

and the KNO have announced that it will not participate in national elections scheduled for

2010. The article also names a Colonel Lamang Brang Seng as a ‗spokesman for the KNO‘:

The Kachin Independence Organization and the Kachin National Organization have

stated they will not take part in the 2010 elections. Colonel Lamang Brang Seng, a

spokesperson for the KNO, told Mizzima News, ―We don‘t think the election will be free

and fair,‖ and added that the elections and the junta‘s roadmap are designed to further

entrench military rule in Burma (‗Last Month In Burma – News from and about Burma‘

2009, The Burma Campaign UK website, January

http://burmacampaign.org.uk/images/uploads/Last_Month_Jan_09.pdf – Accessed 24

September 2009 – Attachment 32).

3. Do Christians suffer ill-treatment in Burma?

Information follows below on the situation of Christians in Burma. For information on the

treatment of Kachin Christian groups specifically, see the information provided under

Question 1.

The US Department of State‘s International Religious Freedom Report for 2008 – Burma

reports that being a non-Buddhist in Burma can be an impediment to employment and

promotion in both the military and the public service: ―Promotions within the military and the

civil service are generally contingent on the candidates being followers of Buddhism‖. The

report also states that ‗proselytising clergy‘ have been prevented from moving into new

towns, that several churches in Rangoon (Yangon) have been closed, and that the junta has

built Buddhist pagodas in Kachin state, attempting to coerce local Christians into forced

labour during their construction:The country has no official state religion. However, since independence, successive

governments, civilian and military, have supported and associated themselves conspicuously

with Buddhism. In 1961 the Government‘s push to make Buddhism the state religion

failed due to country-wide protests by religious minorities. However, in practice the

Government continues to show a preference for Theravada Buddhism through its

official propaganda and state-sponsored activities, including government donations to

monasteries and support for Buddhist missionary activities. Promotions within the

military and the civil service are generally contingent on the candidates being followers

of Buddhism. The Ministry of Religious Affairs includes the powerful Department for the

Promotion and Propagation of Sasana (Buddhist teaching).

State-controlled news media frequently depict or describe government officials paying

homage to Buddhist monks, making donations at pagodas throughout the country, officiating

at ceremonies to open, improve, restore, or maintain pagodas, and organizing ostensibly

voluntary ―people‘s donations‖ of money, food, and uncompensated labor to build or

refurbish Buddhist shrines throughout the country. State-owned newspapers routinely feature

front page banner slogans quoting from Buddhist scriptures. The Government has published

books of Buddhist religious instruction.

…Government authorities continued to prohibit Christian clergy from proselytizing in some

areas. Christian groups reported that several times during the period covered by this

report, local authorities denied applications for residency permits of known Christian

ministers attempting to move into a new township. The groups indicated this was not a

widespread practice, but depended on the individual community and local authority. In

some instances local authorities reportedly confiscated NRCs of new converts to Christianity.

Despite this, Christian groups reported that church membership grew, even in predominantly

Buddhist regions of the country.

In 2007 authorities in the Rangoon area closed several Christian house churches because

they did not have authorization to hold religious meetings. Other Rangoon home

churches remained operational only after paying bribes to local officials. At the same

time, the authorities made it difficult, although not impossible, to obtain approval for

the construction of ―authorized‖ churches.

…The Government allowed members of all religious groups to establish and maintain links

with coreligionists in other countries and to travel abroad for religious purposes, subject to the

country‘s restrictive passport and visa issuance practices, foreign exchange controls, and

government monitoring, which extended to all international activities by all citizens

regardless of religion.

…Non-Buddhists continued to experience employment discrimination at upper levels of

the public sector. Few have ever been promoted to the level of director general or

higher. There were no non-Buddhists who held flag rank in the armed forces, although a

few Christians reportedly achieved the rank of lieutenant colonel. The Central Executive

Committee of the largest opposition group—the National League for Democracy (NLD)—

also included no non-Buddhists, although individual members from most religious groups in

the country supported the party. The Government discouraged Muslims from enlisting in the

military, and Christian or Muslim military officers who aspired for promotion beyond the

rank of major were encouraged by their superiors to convert to Buddhism.

…In Kachin State, authorities have constructed Buddhist shrines in Christian

communities where few or no Buddhists reside and have tried to coerce Christians into

forced labor to carry bricks and other supplies for the shrine construction. In September

2006 government officials inaugurated a pagoda near the Kachin Independence

Organization‘s headquarters at Laiza, Kachin State. Kachin sources reported there were no Buddhists living in the community (US Department of State 2008, International Religious

Freedom Report 2008 – Burma, 19 September www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2008/108402.htm

– Accessed 22 September 2008 – Attachment 33).

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom reports in its 2009 Annual

Report – Countries of Particular Concern: Burma that ethnic and religious minorities in

Burma are conscripted into forced labour by the military, adding ―Those who refuse

conscription are threatened with criminal prosecution or fined. Those who do not carry out

their tasks have been shot or beaten to death.‖ The report goes onto to state that ―Christians

are required to obtain a permit for any gathering of more than five people outside of a Sunday

service‖ and that ―permission is regularly denied, or secured only through bribes.‖ The report

does state that the new constitution includes language ―protecting all religions recognized in

the constitution and prohibiting discrimination based on religious belief‖; however the

Commission appears sceptical that such rights will be enforced; ―However, given the SPDC‘s

extremely poor human rights record, as long it holds a monopoly on power, such

constitutional provisions are unlikely to be upheld‖:

Minority religious groups, especially Muslims and Christians, continued to face serious

abuses of religious freedom and other human rights by the military. In some localities,

military commanders have conscripted members of ethnic and religious minorities

against their will for forced labor. Those who refuse conscription are threatened with

criminal prosecution or fined. Those who do not carry out their tasks have been shot or

beaten to death. Christians and Muslims have been forced to engage in the destruction of

mosques, churches, and graveyards and to serve as military porters. They reportedly have also

been forced to ―donate‖ labor to build and maintain Buddhist pagodas and monasteries.

…Christian groups continue regularly to experience difficulties in obtaining permission to

build new churches, as well as to hold public ceremonies and festivals and import religious

literature. Authorities have reportedly denied permission for the construction of new churches

since 1997 in certain parts of Chin state. Similar restrictions are reportedly imposed in the

capital of Kachin state, in some localities in Karen state, and among Catholics and Baptists in

Karenni state. In late 2007, a military general in Shan state confiscated land from a Catholic

diocese and destroyed the home of the bishop. No compensation has been awarded. In all

these areas, Christians are required to obtain a permit for any gathering of more than

five people outside of a Sunday service. Permission is regularly denied, or secured only

through bribes. Additional reports of church closings in Rangoon and Mandalay have been

received within the last year.

In January 2009, authorities in Rangoon ordered at least 100 churches to stop holding

services and forced them to sign pledges to that effect. The order disproportionately affects

churches that were forced to operate in rented apartments because they were denied

permission to build a new church. Some Christians fear that these acts are retribution for the

aid they provided in the relief efforts after Cyclone Nargis in May 2008, as it was at that time

that the SPDC moved to disenfranchise some religious and ethnic minority populations and

forcibly close religious charities assisting cyclone victims. In advance of a referendum on a

new constitution, the national legislature passed a law disenfranchising leaders of ethnic

minority religious communities, internally displaced people (IDPs), and Muslim Rohingyas.

Religious and minority communities were – and continue to be – important constituencies that

supported Burma‘s main opposition party, the National Democracy League (NLD). The new

constitution has been roundly criticized by international observers, as it attempts formally to

legitimize the SPDC regime‘s rule, provide immunity to the SPDC for all human rights

abuses committed since 1988, and prohibit NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi from holding

national office. Though the constitution acknowledges the ―special position of

Buddhism,‖ it also notes the existence of other religions in the country, and contains language protecting all religions recognized in the constitution and prohibiting

discrimination based on religious belief. However, given the SPDC‘s extremely poor

human rights record, as long it holds a monopoly on power, such constitutional provisions are

unlikely to be upheld (United States Commission on International Religious Freedom 2009,

USCIRF Annual Report – Countries of Particular Concern: Burma, Refworld, 1 May

http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/4a4f2737a.html – Accessed 24 September 2009 –

Attachment 34).

The 2007 Minority Rights report Minorities in Burma suggests that Christian minorities

suffer discrimination ―to a lesser extent‖ than the Rohingya Muslims. The report adds that

―harassment is most acute in areas where there is armed conflict‖:

The Rohingya Muslim minority in the north Rakhine State still faces deep discrimination as

the government refuses to recognise them as an official ethnic group and denies them equal

citizenship rights. In addition freedom of movement for the Rohingyas is severely restricted,

and they are unable to access medical and educational services because they cannot travel

outside their local areas.

To a lesser extent, Christian minorities among such peoples as the Chin, Karen and Karenni

also continue to experience forms of discrimination, and harassment is most acute in areas

where there is armed conflict (Ekeh, C. & Smith, M. 2007, ‗Minorities in Burma‘ Minority

Rights website, 30 October http://www.minorityrights.org/?lid=3546 – Accessed 24

September 2009 – Attachment 2).

The following text is a transcript from an interview with a Christian ex-Major in the Burmese

Army, Thawng Za Lian. Thawng Za Lian relates in the interview that he resigned from the

military when he realised that he would never be promoted beyond the rank of Major unless

he converted from Christianity to Buddhism. Thawng Za Lian reports that an ethnic Kachin

was appointed General by the junta as a cynical ‗show off‘ gesture of national unity:

Major Thawng Za Lian: …You can see that at present, there are no non-Burma ethnic people

in the Burmese military whose position are higher than the rank of a Major. However, there

are exceptions; those who are in legal and medical profession within the military do enjoy the

chance of being promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel because they do not wield

weapons and therefore are not a part of the political hierarchy. However, during the Ne Win

era, one Kachin and one Chin national did became Generals, most apparently as a

showoff by the Socialist government that there is national unity in the country. These

two Generals were indeed deserving of these honors. Under the SPDC, however a person is

qualified in his professional military career; unless he is a Burman or a Buddhist he can‘t

have the rank higher than a Major. The fact is there are the same numbers of qualified non

Burman professional soldiers within the present day‘s Burmese army as that of the immediate

post-independent era.

… In the military, A, B and C are categories designated for those who can not be promoted in

rank. A stands for AIDS symptom, B stands for Hepatitis B and C stands for Christians.

Under these categories, those who are carrying AIDS disease are discharged from the military

and those who have Hepatitis B are transferred to civil service. And all those belonging to

category C (Christians) are not given promotion. For all these factors, the present SPDC

regime is worse than the BSPP government, or any other government for this matter (‗View

from inside – Interview with Major Thawng Za Lian‘ 2003, Chin Human Rights Organization

website, source: Rhododendron News

http://www.chro.ca/publications/rhododendron.html?layout=blog&start=35 – Accessed 25

September 2009 – Attachment 35).The December 2008 article ‗Ethnic Kachin Christians live under duress‘ was produced by the

Kachin News Group and catalogues a series of apparent bans and obstacles for Kachin

Christians to build churches, while also claiming that Christians have been forced to build

Buddhist pagodas. The article claims that the Kachin Defence Army (KDA) leader Mahtu

Naw was pressured to build the pagoda in return for lucrative teak export permits:

The Christian majority, who make up over one million ethnic Kachin Christians in northern

Burma of a population of 47 million in the country, have to live under all forms of duress and

systematic human rights abuses by the Burmese ruling junta.

A ban poster has been pasted on a building in ethnic Kachin Anglican Church in Tatkone in

Myitkyina, northern Burma since October, 2006.

The construction of new Churches and land grants to it have been legally restricted by the

Burmese ruling junta also called the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) which

assumed power in 1988, said local Church sources.

Permission for constructing Churches and land grants are difficult to get however the

Churches try to get it from local authorities, state authorities and up to the country‘s Ministry

of Religion, according to Kachin Church sources in Kachin state.

…The Burmese ruling junta has forced people to construct Buddhist pagodas and temples in

non-Buddhist ethnic Kachin ceasefire group areas in Kachin state and northeast Shan state in

the past.

In 2001, General Khin Nyunt, former Secretary-1 and prime minister of junta official

inaugurated a new Buddhist pagoda and a new temple in Kawnghka, headquarters of the

Kachin Defence Army (KDA) led by Mahtu Naw, which is eight miles east of Kutkai in

northeast Shan state.

The KDA leader Mahtu Naw was pressurized to build the Buddhist pagoda and temple

as a memorial of successful relationship between them by General Khin Nyunt, said

KDA sources.

Mahtu Naw was then awarded more teak permits to export to the Sino-Burma border

by General Khin Nyunt, added KDA sources.

Mahtu Naw led KDA broke away from the mother Kachin Independence Organization (KIO)

in 1990 and signed a permanent ceasefire agreement with the ruling junta on January 13,

1991.

Similarly, another Kachin ceasefire group called New Democratic Army-Kachin (NDA-K)

had to build a new pagoda and a new temple in its headquarters Pangwah near the Sino

Burma border in eastern Kachin state because of pressure from General Khin Nyunt.

The pagoda and temple were also opened by General Khin Nyunt, former Secretary-1 and the

deposed Prime Minister of junta in 1999.

The NDAK also split from the mother KIO in 1968 and signed a permanent ceasefire

agreement with the junta on December 15, 1989.

After General Khin Nyunt was purged by the junta, the relations between the two Kachin

ceasefire groups and the junta got worse and the groups have been pressurized politically and

economically by the ruling junta, said sources from the two groups (Nawdin L. 2008, ‗Ethnic Kachin Christians live under duress‘, Kachin News Group, 11 December

http://bnionline.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5549&Itemid=1 –

Accessed 12 December 2008 – Attachment 36).

Access to the internet in Burma remains highly restricted (less than one percent of the

population) and those with access are heavily monitored according to the OpenNet Initiative

(OpenNet Initiative 2007, ‗Burma (Myanmar)‘, OpenNet Initiative website

http://opennet.net/sites/opennet.net/files/myanmar.pdf – Accessed 1 October 2009 –

Attachment 37). In September 2009 the Kachin News Group (KTC) reported that the SPDC

has given permission to the Kachin Theological College in Kachin state to install ADSL

internet in the college. The KTC argues that in the past goodwill gestures by the junta have

been used to ―woo Christian voters‖. National elections are scheduled in Burma for 2010:

The new ADSL Internet system of the Kachin Theological College (KTC) was inaugurated by

Brig-Gen Thein Zaw, the Minister of Communication, Post and Telegraph of the Burmese

junta on September 5, said KTC insiders.

The permission to install ADSL internet in KTC was specially granted by Brig-Gen

Thein Zaw, who is also the junta‘s chief organizer of Kachin State. He also gifted 10

sacks of rice, two barrels of Diesel, two sacks of chick-pea and 10 dozen books, said

school sources.

During the inaugural ceremony, Rev. Dr. Saga Hkyen Naw, the principal of KTC delivered a

short speech of gratitude to the Minister Thein Zaw for sanctioning the school‘s much-needed

internet, according to participants.

… Moreover, Brig-Gen Thein Zaw will visit Danai (also spelled Tanai) town in Hokawng

Valley in western Kachin State for attending the opening ceremony of the internet system as

the communication infrastructure is going as planned, said a resident.

Last month, Minister Brig-Gen Thein Zaw gifted 200 sacks of cement to the Shatapru Kachin

Baptist Church in Myitkyina without the Church asking for it, said the Church sources.

Since mid 2007, Minister Thein Zaw has targeted Kachin Churches and Church leaders

in different denominations and he donated funds, rice, edible oil, granted landline

phones, GSM mobile phones and other construction materials to woo Christian voters.

Among Kachin Churches, the Kachin Baptist Convention (KBC) and Roman Catholic

Churches and Church leaders have been mainly mobilized by Brig-Gen Thein Zaw.

But, some local critics said, any Church or its leader, who accepts any gift from the brutal

military junta, is going against the teaching of the Christian Bible and it is akin to ―supporting

Satan or taking gifts from Satan – in this case the Burmese ruling junta‖ (‗Kachin Theological

College Gets ADSL Internet‘ 2009, Kachin News Group website, 11 September

http://www.kachinnews.com/index.php/news/1094-kachin-theological-college-gets-adsl

internet.html – Accessed 24 September – Attachment 38).

4. What Christian Churches exist in Burma?

The following historical summary is from the Missionary Atlas Project Pacific Rim (Asia)

Myanmar. The Atlas states that the majority of Christians in Burma are from the non-Burman

ethnic minorities, and ―only a few of the ethnic Burmese (Bhama… have converted to

Christianity.‖ According to the Atlas, ―The largest Christian presence in Myanmar is the Myanmar Baptist Convention which started under the direction of the American missionary,

Adoniram Judson in 1813‖:

Certain tribes took on the faith very quickly such as the Karen, Chin, and the Kachin peoples

and have built a strong indigenous church.

Other groups in Myanmar have rejected or ignored the gospel message. Only a few of the

ethnic Burmese (Bhama) that have converted to Christianity. Christians represent a small

minority in the region and are mainly concentrated in the Irrawaddy delta and in the border

areas. Baptists represent the larger group of Christians among the ethnic minority groups in

Myanmar. Before private schools were nationalized in 1965-1966, many schools were

actually run by local Christian churches.

In 1966 all missionaries were expelled by the Burmese government, but the Burmese Church

has become a vibrant missionary-sending movement, despite financial limitations and

geographic isolation. Baptists, Assemblies of God, Methodists, and Anglicans form the

strongest denominations in Burma. Many Christians are well-educated, but cannot rise

to positions of responsibility.

… Catholicism came to Myanmar in the 16th century brought by the Portuguese. The

Bayingyi, a group of ancient Eurasian origin, descendants of Portuguese and Burmese, are the

oldest Catholic community, but 90% of the faithful are Karen, Kachin, Chin, Shan, and Kaw.

There are about 590,000 Roman Catholics in Myanmar which is 1.3%.

…The largest Christian presence in Myanmar is the Myanmar Baptist Convention which

started under the direction of the American missionary, Adoniram Judson in 1813. The Karen

tribe was first the first to be reached in 1827, the Chins in 1845, and the Kachins were then

reached in 1876, and these 3 ethnic groups continue to make up the bulk of Baptist

membership. The Methodists arrived in 1879 from India and settled in the south. They were

then followed 7 years later by British Methodists who settled in northern Myanmar. The

Presbyterian Church of Burma was formed by immigrant Lushais from Assam, India, who

migrated to Myanmar after World War II, and brought their church with them. The Church of

Christ is composed primarily of Chinese immigrants from the north. There are approximately

2,511,664 Protestants in Myanmar which is about 5.5% of the population (‗Missionary Atlas

Project Pacific Rim (Asia) Myanmar‘ 2008, World Map.org website

http://worldmap.org/maps/other/profiles/myanmar/Myanmar%20Profile.pdf – Accessed 24

September 2009 – Attachment 39).

According to 2001 International Crisis Group report Myanmar: the Role of Civil Society

Burma‘s Christians have extensive links with the outside world via Christian organisations

and networks. The ICG report also states that Christian identity has helped form an inter

ethnic community; ―They have also built a sense of community among Christians from

different ethnic backgrounds‖:

To a greater extent than the Buddhist community, Protestant Christians have an extensive lay

organisation tradition, with church-based women‘s groups, youth groups, and oversight

committees. Moreover, the Protestant and Catholic communities have links with international

Christian groups, and despite frequent restrictions on obtaining passports, a number of

Christians have found ways to attend meetings and study abroad. They have also been able to

meet with visiting church groups. Through such contacts, members of the Christian

community have been encouraged to introduce development projects and capacity building

programs in their areas. Some of the strongest Christian associations are the Myanmar Christian Council of Churches,

which represents thirteen Protestant denominations, the YMCA, the Myanmar Baptist

Convention, and one of its members, the Kachin Baptist Convention. These have organised

leadership training for youth and women, management courses, and a host of small-scale

development and welfare initiatives. They have also built a sense of community among

Christians from different ethnic backgrounds (International Crisis Group 2001, Myanmar: the

Role of Civil Society, Asia Report No. 27, 6 December

http://www.crisisgroup.org/library/documents/report_archive/A400503_06122001.pdf –

Accessed 17 July 2009 – Attachment 40).

5. What is the Malaysian government‘s attitude to Burma?

– Treatment of Burmese Refugees by the Malaysian Authorities

Malaysia has developed a strong economic relationship with Burma and was one of the

primary sponsors of Burma‘s entry into the Association of South East Asian Nations

(ASEAN) in 1997 (Badgley, J.R. (ed) 2004, ‗NBR Analysis – Reconciling Burma/Myanmar:

Essays on U.S. Relations with Burma‘, National Bureau of Asia Research website, March,

http://www.nbr.org/publications/analysis/pdf/vol15no1.pdf – Accessed 29 September 2009 –

Attachment 41; ‗Burma ‗faces Asean expulsion‘ 2003, BBC News website, 20 July

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3081557.stm – Accessed 25 September 2009 –

Attachment 42). No sources suggest that Malaysia cancels the visas of anti-Burma political

activists or deports them to Burma on instructions from the SPDC. There is evidence,

however, that the SPDC‘s failure to reform, ongoing incarceration of Aung San Suu Kyi, the

treatment of Muslim Rohingyas, and the junta‘s violent response to the 2007 ‗Saffron

Revolution‖ have caused tensions and embarrassment for Malaysia and other ASEAN

member states (‗Asean ‗Frustrated, Disillusioned‘ But Not Giving Up On Myanmar‘ 2006,

Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Malaysia) website, source: BERNAMA

http://www.kln.gov.my/?m_id=7&vid=136 – Accessed 25 September 2009 – Attachment 43;

‗Asean express ―revulsion‖ at Myanmar‘s violent repression‘ 2007, The Star website, 28

September

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/9/28/nation/20070928112543&sec=nation –

Accessed 25 September 2009 – Attachment 44; ‗Malaysia to put Burma under spotlight‘

2009, The Age website, February 23 http://news.theage.com.au/breaking-news

national/malaysia-to-put-burma-under-spotlight-20090223-8fy6.html – Accessed 28

September 2009 –Attachment 45).

Malaysia is not a signatory to the 1951 United Nations Convention on the Status of Refugees

and according to the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants the Malaysian government

has ―no mechanism for granting asylum or registering refugees. UNHCR handled all refugee

status determinations in Malaysia and issued plastic, tamper-proof cards to those it

recognized as refugees‖ (US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants 2008, Country Report:

Malaysia, USCRI website http://www.refugees.org/countryreports.aspx?id=2008 – Accessed

23 September 2009 –Attachment 49; Women‘s Commission for Refugee Women and

Children 2008, Desperate Lives: Burmese Refugee Women Struggle to Make a Living in

Malaysia, UNHCR Refworld http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/490719042.html –

Accessed 23 September 2009 –Attachment 50).

According to the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH) ―The only means through

which a type of status may be legally accorded to persons recognised as refugees or asylum

seekers is through an exercise of discretion by the [Malaysian Immigration] Minister under

section 55 of the Immigration Act‖. According to the FIDH: ―This is the legal basis on which de facto ‗refugee‘ protection has been provided to certain groups and individuals through the

issuing of IMM 13 permits‖. FIDH describes IMM 13 visas as being ―generally a type of

temporary residence permit‖. Residency visas are granted at the discretion of the Immigration

Ministry, remain ‗temporary‘, and can be cancelled (International Federation of Human

Rights 2008, Undocumented Migrants and Refugees in Malaysia: Raids, Detention and

Discrimination, FIDH website, March

http://www.fidh.org/IMG/pdf/MalaisieCONJ489eng.pdf – Accessed 26 March 2008 –

Attachment 54). Sources state that Burmese citizens have been deported from Malaysia;

however, no sources state that this was at the request of the SPDC. In September 2007

Malaysian authorities allowed Burmese residents to publicly march and demonstrate in front

of the Myanmar Embassy in Kuala Lumpur (‗Burmese Red March in the Streets of Kuala

Lumpur‘ 2007, Ethnic Voices website, source: Burma Underground

http://ethnicvoices.civiblog.org/blog/_archives/2007/9/29/3258616.html – Accessed 25

September 2009 – Attachment 55). The ill-treatment of Burmese and other migrants by the

Relawan Ikatan Rakyat (RELA), a Malaysian citizens ‗vigilante‘ corps has been well

documented (Women‘s Commission for Refugee Women and Children 2008, Desperate

Lives: Burmese Refugee Women Struggle to Make a Living in Malaysia, UNHCR Refworld

http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/490719042.html – Accessed 23 September 2009 –

Attachment 50; ‗Being refugees in Malaysia increasingly unsafe‘ 2008, Kachin News Group

website, 19 February

http://kachinnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=166%3A-being

refugees-in-malaysia-increasingly-unsafe&Itemid=1 – Accessed 23 September 2009 –

Attachment 52; ‗Malaysian intelligence agents interact with Burmese organizations‘ 2009,

Democracy for Burma website, source: Kachin News Group, 28 March

http://democracyforburma.wordpress.com/2009/03/28/intelligence-agents-in-malaysia-have

been-meeting-leaders-from-10-main-multi-ethnic-organizations-hailing-from-burma-in

malaysia-since-last-february-said-burmese-community-leaders-in-the-country-the/ –

Accessed 23 September 2009 – Attachment 53).

Comprehensive, definitive and recent analysis of Malaysia‘s attitude towards and relationship

with Burma and the military regime could not be located. A 2004 report claims that Malaysia

developed a special relationship with the regime due to then Prime Minister Mahathir

Mohammad‘s critical view of ―western capitalism and finance‖. The report does, however,

state that Mahathir suggested in 2003 that ASEAN expel Burma:

Malaysia developed a special relationship with Myanmar in recent years because of long-time

Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad‘s unique role in Southeast Asia as a critic of Western

capitalism and finance. The junta‘s leaders for a time found in Mahathir a powerful voice,

although before his retirement Mahathir urged the junta to relax its restrictions on the NLD

and accelerate its negotiations with Aung San Suu Kyi, and even suggested that ASEAN

expel Myanmar from the grouping following the May 2003 attack at Dipeyin. In 2000 UN

Secretary General Kofi Annan appointed a favoured Malaysian diplomat, Razali Ismail, as his

special envoy to help mediate the negotiations. Meanwhile, Malaysia retains a significant

trade exchange with Myanmar, considerably behind China and Thailand among neighbouring

countries, but not far behind Japan (Badgley, J.R. (ed) 2004, NBR Analysis – Reconciling

Burma/Myanmar: Essays on U.S. Relations with Burma, National Bureau of Asia Research

website, March, p.22

http://www.nbr.org/publications/analysis/pdf/vol15no1.pdf – Accessed 29 September 2009 –

Attachment 41).A 2003 BBC News report states that Malaysia under Mahathir Mohammed was one of the

primary sponsors of Burma‘s entry into Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in

1997. The report states that the then Prime Minister ―hoped that trade and political

engagement would bring change there.‖ However, by 2003 Burma was beginning to cause

embarrassment for other ASEAN member states, including Malaysia; the BBC News also

reporting that Dr Mahathir had flagged the possibility of expelling Burma from ASEAN:

The Malaysian prime minister says Burma could face expulsion from the Asean group of

nations if its government continues to ignore calls to free the jailed opposition leader Aung

San Suu Kyi.

―We have already informed them that we are very disappointed with the turn of events and we

hope that Aung San Suu Kyi will be released as soon as possible,‖ Dr Mahathir said.

He said that ultimately Burma could be expelled from Asean though he stressed this would be

done as a last resort.

It was Dr Mahathir who spearheaded moves to bring Burma into Asean – the

Association of South East Asian Nations – in 1997.

The Malaysian leader hoped that trade and political engagement would bring change

there, says the BBC‘s Jonathan Kent in Kuala Lumpur.

Suu Kyi and other leaders of her National League for Democracy (NLD) have been detained

by the Burmese military government since the end of May.

…Dr Mahathir said that Asean nations had been forced to criticise Burma because its

leadership had caused problems and embarrassed its neighbours.

Aung San Suu Kyi‘s arrest had damaged the credibility of the 10-member group and

could lead to Burma‘s expulsion (‗Burma ‗faces Asean expulsion‘ 2003, BBC News

website, 20 July http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3081557.stm – Accessed 25

September 2009 – Attachment 42).

A press release issued by Malaysia‘s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and published on their

website hints that Malaysia and ASEAN‘s alleged frustration with Burma in 2003/2004

continues to the present day. The release, entitled ‗Asean ‗Frustrated, Disillusioned‘ But Not

Giving Up On Myanmar‘ indicates that the Malaysian Foreign Minister is frustrated with his

ASEAN role as a broker of peace and democracy in Burma due to the regime‘s ‗refusal to

allow him to meet either Than Shwe or Aung San Suu Kyi:

Malaysian Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar said Myanmar told the other

Asean members that it wanted them to help it make progress towards democratisation but did

not give them any strong commitment on its part.

He said Myanmar said it did not want to be pressured towards democratisation and that it

would welcome suggestions but would do it in its own way.

―I could sense the frustration and disillusionment among Asean Foreign Ministers. We told

Myanmar ‗you talked about us helping you but how can we when you don‘t give us any

ammunition,‘‖ he told Malaysian journalists before leaving for home.Syed Hamid, who is chairman of the Asean Standing Committee, said Asean was not giving

up on Myanmar.

He said Asean still wanted to engage Myanmar positively even though there were member

countries that believed Asean should leave Myanmar aside as the issue was taking up too

much of the grouping‘s time without result.

Syed Hamid, who is the Asean Special Envoy to Myanmar, said that Myanmar asked him

whether he would like to visit the country again to help the democratisation process.

―I told Myanmar I don‘t mind continuing to do it but there must be something

worthwhile for me to go. It‘s okay if on the first trip we don‘t achieve everything but if it

is going to be worthwhile for me to go again, I must be allowed to interact with the

relevant people,‖ he said.

Syed Hamid said he should be allowed to see the important people in the process, like Senior

General Than Shwe and pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi who is under house arrest.

―I think we recognised that the Myanmar issue has crept in to disunite Asean because

there are different views held but we cannot project that to the world,‖ he said.

He added that the ministers‘ meeting, which was dominated by the Myanmar issue, had given

several suggestions to Myanmar, among which was for it to follow the example of

Indonesia‘s progress towards democracy (‗Asean ‗Frustrated, Disillusioned‘ But Not Giving

Up On Myanmar‘ 2006, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Malaysia) website, source: BERNAMA

http://www.kln.gov.my/?m_id=7&vid=136 – Accessed 25 September 2009 – Attachment 43).

According to The Star, ASEAN foreign ministers felt ―revulsion‖ and were ―appalled‖ by

Burma‘s reaction to the September 2007 ―Saffron Revolution‖ mass protests in Burma, lead

by Buddhist monks. The Star reports that the SPDC‘s response ―had a serious impact on the

reputation and credibility of ASEAN‖:

Southeast Asian nations expressed ―revulsion‘‘ to Myanmar‘s foreign minister at the violent

repression of demonstrations and strongly urged the military government ―to exercise utmost

restraint and seek a political solution.‘‘

A statement issued Thursday after a foreign ministers meeting of the Association of Southeast

Asian Nations (ASEAN) said the ministers ―were appalled to receive reports of automatic

weapons being used and demanded that the Myanmar government immediately desist

from the use of violence against demonstrators.‘‘

The meeting of the 10-nation group, known as ASEAN, was held on the sidelines of the U.N.

General Assembly‘s ministerial meeting.

It took place as the U.N. special envoy to Myanmar, Ibrahim Gambari, was flying to Bangkok

at U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon‘s request to try to promote a political solution to the

Myanmar crisis.

Myanmar is an ASEAN member, along with Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia,

the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam.

…In the statement issued by ASEAN‘s chair, Singapore‘s Foreign Minister George Yeo,

the ministers called for the release of all political prisoners, including Suu Kyi.―They expressed their revulsion to Myanmar Foreign Minister Nyan Win over reports

that the demonstrations in Myanmar are being suppressed by violent force and that

there has been a number of fatalities,‘‘ the statement said.

…The foreign ministers expressed concern to Myanmar‘s Win ―that the developments in

Myanmar had a serious impact on the reputation and credibility of ASEAN‖ (Asean

express ―revulsion‖ at Myanmar‘s violent repression‘ 2007, The Star website, 28 September

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/9/28/nation/20070928112543&sec=nation –

Accessed 25 September 2009 – Attachment 44).

In 2009 The Age reported that Burma‘s treatment of the Muslim Rohingya people was also

causing tension between Malaysia and Burma and that Malaysia‘s Foreign Minister, Rais

Yatim, planned to discuss their treatment at an ASEAN meeting in Thailand in early 2009. Dr

Rais quoted as stating, ―We would like to direct some of the questions to Myanmar (Burma),

specifically which country is identified with Rohingya for the moment‖:

Malaysia plans to put Burma under the spotlight over the plight of the Rohingya boat people

at an ASEAN summit later this week.

The plight of the Rohingya has been garnering attention since Thailand‘s military was

accused last month of towing hundreds of the refugees out to sea in poorly equipped boats

with scant food and water after they tried to flee Burma.

Around 400 subsequently landed on the Indonesian province of Aceh.

Human rights groups say the Rohingya are stateless and face religious and ethnic persecution

from Burma‘s military regime, forcing thousands to take to rickety boats each year in a bid to

escape poverty and oppression.

Malaysian Foreign Minister Rais Yatim, who was visiting Canberra on Monday, said the

issue would be raised at the next Association of South East Asian Nation (ASEAN) foreign

ministers meeting.

ASEAN foreign ministers are due to meet in Thailand on Thursday.

―We would like to direct some of the questions to Myanmar (Burma), specifically which

country is identified with Rohingya for the moment,‖ Dr Rais said (‗Malaysia to put Burma

under spotlight‘2009, The Age website, February 23 http://news.theage.com.au/breaking

news-national/malaysia-to-put-burma-under-spotlight-20090223-8fy6.html – Accessed 28

September 2009 – Attachment 45).

ASEAN member states traditionally adopt a policy of non-interference with each others‘

internal matters; however, recent sources indicate that this policy may be beginning to

unravel. Writing for the Council on Foreign Relation in February 2009, Julie Ginsberg

suggests that ASEAN member states are divided on the establishment of an ASEAN human

rights commission; according to Ginsberg, the commission has little power, ―dismaying

Indonesia and the Philippines‖. Ginsberg also states that the Burmese military‘s response to

Cyclone Nargis in May 2008 created significant friction between ASEAN and Burma,

causing ASEAN to issue a statement calling on Burma to allow international assistance.

According to the source, the statement ―went further than ASEAN ever had in the past in

being critical of the internal affairs of a member state‖:The alliance‘s non-interference principle came under scrutiny when the group drafted a

charter in 2007, which all ten members ratified by October 2008. Early drafts of the charter

included provisions for sanctions for charter violations and a system of compliance

monitoring for ASEAN agreements, but these elements were cut after deliberations revealed

conflicting visions on ASEAN‘s continued role in the region.

Experts say the concept of non-interference has become a tool for protecting human

rights transgressors. Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam--countries with poor

human rights records--balked at the proposition (Economist) to give the human rights

commission established in the charter the power to monitor or investigate abuses (Brunei

and Singapore also expressed reservations, fearful of opening the door to intervention in

members‘ affairs). The commission was rendered virtually powerless, dismaying Indonesia

and the Philippines, the last members to ratify the charter. The Philippines‘ senate minority

leader, Aquilino Pimentel, who voted against ratification despite his country‘s endorsement,

called the document a ―sham‖(AFP), while Indonesian legislator Sutradara Gintings said the

charter‘s lack of protection for human rights indicated insignificant progress.

While the charter did not change ASEAN‘s conflict resolution tactics, the group‘s

response to events in 2008 revealed willingness to use tougher diplomatic pressure on

members. Such was the case after Cyclone Nargis in May 2008, when Myanmar‘s ruling

junta allowed only limited international aid and insisted that aid be distributed through

its military. In response, ASEAN called an emergency meeting of members‘ foreign

ministers and issued a statement that ―Myanmar should allow more international relief

workers into the stricken areas, as the need is most urgent, given the unprecedented

scale of the humanitarian disaster.‖ While the statement ―didn‘t quite condemn

[Myanmar‘s] government,‖ CFR‘s Smith says, it nonetheless ―went further than

ASEAN ever had in the past in being critical of the internal affairs of a member state.‖

After Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan continued to press for cooperation on a trip to

Yangon, Myanmar‘s ruling junta finally allowed the entry of international aid workers.

(Ginsberg, J. 2009, ‗ASEAN: The Association of Southeast Asian Nations‘, 25 February,

Council on Foreign Relations website http://www.cfr.org/publication/18616/ – Accessed 24

September 2009 – Attachment 46).

According to the Union of Myanmar‘s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Burma‘s deputy minister

for Foreign Affairs made an official visit to Malaysia in August 2009 following an invitation

by Malaysia. The source of the information is The New Light of Myanmar, considered by a

number of observers to be the official mouthpiece of the military junta. According to the

source, deputy ministers from both states discussed ―enhancement of bilateral relations‖:

YANGON, 21 Aug – Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs U Maung Myint paid an official

visit to Malaysia from 17 to 20 August, at the invitation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

of Malaysia.

On 18 August morning, Deputy Minister U Maung Myint called on the Deputy Minister of

Foreign Affairs of Malaysia Mr YB Senator A Kohilan Pillay at the Malaysian Foreign

Ministry in Putrajaya and discussed enhancement of bilateral relations and cooperation on

labour matters.

In the afternoon, Deputy Minister U Maung Myint called on the Deputy Minister of Home

Affairs of Malaysia Mr Datuk Wira Ku Seman Yusop at the Home Affairs Ministry of

Malaysia and discussed cooperation in labour matters.

Afterwards, the Myanmar technical-level delegation met with the Malaysia technical-level

delegation consisting of representatives from the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of Labour, and the Ministry of Human Resources Development at the Ministry of Home Affairs

of Malaysia and discussed cooperation in labour matters.

Later that day, Deputy Minister U Maung Myint met with members of the Committee

for the Welfare of Myanmar Workers at the Myanmar Embassy in Kuala Lumpur (‗Dy

FM arrives back from Malaysia‘ 2009, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Myanmar), source: The

New Light of Myanmar, 22 August

http://www.mofa.gov.mm/foreignrelations/Dy%20FM%20arrives%20back%20from%20Mala

ysia.htm – Accessed 24 September 2009 – Attachment 47).

Malaysia does appear to have developed a significant economic relationship with Burma.

According to Malaysia‘s Ministry of International Trade and Industry, Malaysia was the

fourth largest investor in Burma in 2005; ―total cumulative approved investments from 1998

to 2004 are valued at US$660.7 million, involving 26 projects.‖ Total bilateral trade in 2004

is valued at ―US$256.2 million, which was an increase of 16.4 per cent from US$220.1

million in 2003‖ (for more detail on trade, economic and technical cooperation see:

‗Malaysia-Myanmar Business Opportunities Seminar‘ 2005, Ministry of International Trade

and Industry (Malaysia) website

http://www.miti.gov.my/cms/content.jsp?id=com.tms.cms.article.Article_167290bb-

7f000010-5e095e09-fe402cae – Accessed 24 September 2009 – Attachment 48).

The Treatment of Burmese Refugees in Malaysia

The US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants Country Report: Malaysia 2008 states that

Malaysia has deported ―nearly 1,200 Myanmarese refugees to Thailand‖, where Thai officials

then turned them over to ―Myanmarese officials‖. The report includes claims from deported

Burmese who were able to later return to Malaysia that they were tortured, detained for up to

five months and then fined:

Malaysia deported nearly 1,200 Myanmarese refugees to Thailand, of whom Thai

immigration officials turned more than 30 over to Myanmar. Refugees who were able to

leave Myanmar and return to Malaysia reported that Myanmarese officials detained

them for up to five months, tortured them, and fined them from about $1,000 to $7,900

(6,000 to 50,000 Myanmar Kyats). The Government said these deportations were voluntary,

but the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) could not always verify

this. The harsh conditions in Malaysia‘s detention facilities (below) made it likely that not all

were voluntary.

…Malaysian officials turned many of the refugees it deported to Thailand directly over to

human traffickers, such as in the April case of 25 recognized Chin refugees from Myanmar,

including two pregnant women. Reportedly, immigration officials received bribes for each

deportee from the traffickers. Agents sometimes held these and others they captured for

ransoms of about $140 to $190 or smuggled them back into Malaysia for higher fees of about

$380 to $490. Traffickers often sold those not able to pay to Thai fishing boats in the case of

men, or brothels in the case of women.

The Government had no mechanism for granting asylum or registering refugees. UNHCR

handled all refugee status determinations in Malaysia and issued plastic, tamper-proof cards

to those it recognized as refugees. UNHCR gave Myanmarese Rohingyas temporary

protection as a group, interviewing asylum seekers to establish their ethnicity. In November,

it stopped offering group status to Acehnese asylum seekers from Indonesia. UNHCR

performed individual status determinations for non-Rohingya asylum seekers, granting

refugee status under its mandate. Refugees with group status were not eligible for resettlement, but if the authorities arrested and detained them, UNHCR gave them full

interviews, making those that passed eligible.

…After a February raid by the Ministry of Home Affairs' auxiliary People's Volunteer Corps

(RELA), the bodies of five Myanmarese migrant workers were found in a lake. In February,

a Mon asylum seeker from Myanmar died during a RELA raid. RELA members slapped and

repeatedly kicked a refugee during a July raid

…In December, police threatened a Myanmarese woman with arrest when she attempted to

report an assault by her boyfriend. The Kachin Development Organization, a group of

Kachin refugees from Myanmar, reported 12 cases of sexual harassment during 2006,

including two by police officers who also extorted money from the refugees.

…Refugees and asylum seekers recognized by UNHCR enjoyed some freedom of movement,

although government harassment, extortion, and detention still occurred. Police sometimes

held refugees with UNHCR cards until they paid bribes of about $58 to $145. In October,

police arrested two Kachin women from Myanmar on their way to church and sexually

molested them, holding them until they paid a ransom of about $290 (US Committee for

Refugees and Immigrants 2008, Country Report: Malaysia, USCRI website

http://www.refugees.org/countryreports.aspx?id=2008 – Accessed 23 September 2009 –

Attachment 49).

The Women‘s Refugee Commission‘s states in a May 2008 report entitled Desperate Lives:

Burmese Refugee Women Struggle to Make a Living in Malaysia that Malaysia is not a

signatory to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and since 2004 has

practiced a policy of deporting ―illegal migrants‖. According to the report, ―the police largely

respect UNHCR documentation of refugees‖; however, the Relawan Ikatan Rakyat (RELA),

a citizens volunteer corps routinely arrests foreigners, despite having UNHCR

documentation. It also reports that in 2005 ―the Malaysian government granted RELA force

members the right to ‗search any public or private premise without a warrant‘ and to ‗carry

firearms‘‖:

In the eyes of the Malaysian government, there is no difference between an undocumented

worker and a refugee. As Malaysia has not signed the 1951 Refugee Convention, refugees

have no legal status and no right to work or legal residency. The Malaysian government

initiated a widespread campaign to crack down on undocumented migrants in 2004 and since

has reported an ―intention to deport more than 1 million undocumented migrants‖

through mass arrests. This initiative has led, on average, to the arrest of 700-800

UNHCR-recognized refugees each month. Some reports claim that about 100 of those

arrested each month are children.

Three distinct enforcement agencies carry out the massive number of arrests: the police,

immigration officials and the People‘s Volunteer Corps, known as RELA. According to

numerous reports, the police largely respect UNHCR documentation of refugees.

Immigration officials and members of RELA, a government-supported volunteer force

tasked to arrest and detain suspected illegal migrants, do not usually recognize UNHCR

documentation. In fact, RELA, often referred to as a vigilante group, is responsible for some

of the largest raids on refugee communities.

In 2005, the Malaysian government granted RELA force members the right to ―search

any public or private premise without a warrant‖ and to carry firearms. RELA is well

known for using excessive force, violence, sexual harassment and intimidation tactics. From

January 2007 to August 2007, RELA conducted 3,925 raids, capturing 45,502 suspected

illegal immigrants. In January 2008, RELA was given jurisdiction over the immigration detention centres. The lack of accountability and oversight over RELA‘s actions further

increases refugees‘ protection risks (Women‘s Commission for Refugee Women and Children

2008, Desperate Lives: Burmese Refugee Women Struggle to Make a Living in Malaysia,

UNHCR Refworld, May http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/490719042.html – Accessed

23 September 2009 – Attachment 50).

In its Annual Report 2009 – Malaysia, Amnesty International raises concerns about the

treatment of refugees in Malaysia by RELA. The report states that the volunteer corps‘ ranks

have grown to nearly half a million people and states that RELA ―can make arrests without a

warrant or assistance from police or immigration officers‖ and ―failed to distinguish between

asylum-seekers, refugees, stateless persons, and migrant workers during their immigration

operations‖:

One third of Malaysia‘s three million migrants remained at risk of arrest and deportation due

to their irregular status, including unknown numbers who feared persecution if returned to

their home country. The government makes no distinction between migrant workers and

asylum-seekers and refugees. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees had registered

41,405 people of concern as of August, of whom 11,172 were children. Eighty-eight per

cent were from Myanmar.

In March, the Prisons Department completed the handover of 11 immigration detention

centres to the Immigration Department. The 480,000 untrained volunteers from the Relawan

Ikatan Rakyat (Rela, People‘s Volunteer Corps) took over management of the centres.

Reports of serious abuses against detainees by Rela members increased.

In April, a riot broke out in Lenggeng Immigration Detention Centre in protest against the

severe beating of some detainees and the deplorable conditions in the immigration centre.

Rela members, who can make arrests without a warrant or assistance from police or

immigration officers, failed to distinguish between asylum-seekers, refugees, stateless

persons, and migrant workers during their immigration operations. In one operation in

August, Rela arrested some 11,600 people, to find out after processing that only 500 did not

have a regular immigration status (Amnesty International 2009, Amnesty International Annual

Report 2009 – Malaysia, AI website http://thereport.amnesty.org/en/regions/asia

pacific/malaysia – Accessed 1 September 2009 – Attachment 51).

In a 2008 report entitled ‗Being refugees in Malaysia increasingly unsafe‘ published by the

Kachin News Group website, states that ethnic Kachin refugees in Malaysia have been

arrested by RELA. The article states that there are over 2000 Kachin refugees in Malaysia,

including 600 registered with the UNHCR. The article also claims that the Kuala Lumpur

based Kachin Development Organization ―is the only one Kachin organization which has

been helping Kachin refugees with health care and education programmes‖ and ―also helping

Kachin refugees when they get detained and arrested at the police station‖:

The life of Burmese refugees in Malaysia is becoming increasingly unsafe threatened as they

are by the RELA, the so called people‘s volunteer corps officially recognized by the

Malaysian Ministry of Home Affairs, said Mr. Tangbau Kam Li, a leader of the Kuala

Lumpur based Kachin Development Organization (KDO).

Two Kachin women were arrested by RELA, in Kotaraya in central Kuala Lumpur city on

February 17, 2008 while they were waiting for a bus to go back home.

Mrs. Kai Htang (43), recognized by United Nations High Commissioner for refugees

(UNHCR) as a refugee along with her four year old daughter with polio, and Mrs. Htu Mai

(45) with her one and-a-half year old daughter are now detained along with their daughters in Semenyih detention camp. There is no further information regarding the two Kachin women

and their two children, said Kam Li.

Even though Malaysia is a signatory to the International Convention on the Elimination of All

Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CDAW) and the Convention on the Rights of the

Child (CRC), women and children continue to be arrested and detained in the detention camps

in the country, Kam Li added.

According to Kam Li, as Malaysia is not a party to the international refugee convention, even

though many Burmese refugees hold UNHCR Identity cards (ID) they still get arrested by the

RELA. The arrests continue every day.

KDO is the only one Kachin organization which has been helping Kachin refugees with

health care and education programmes. KDO is also helping Kachin refugees when they get

detained and arrested at the police station. They even help them at the detention camp.

In Malaysia there are over 2,000 Kachin refugees, including children, youth, women and

elders. Among them, over 600 Kachin refugees have been registered with the UNHCR and

nearly 300 Kachin refugees have got UNHCR ID cards already (‗Being refugees in Malaysia

increasingly unsafe‘ 2008, Kachin News Group website, 19 February

http://kachinnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=166%3A-being

refugees-in-malaysia-increasingly-unsafe&Itemid=1 – Accessed 23 September 2009 –

Attachment 52).

On 28 March 2009 the Kachin News Group reported that ―Leaders of three Kuala Lumpur

based Burman political organizations and seven major ethnic minorities from Burma –

Kachin, Karenni, Karen, Chin, Arakan, Shan and Mon were forcibly summoned to meet the‖

Special Branch (Cawangan Khas in Malay) each month. The article also reports that

―detained illegal Burmese workers are being temporarily put into foreign illegal workers

detention camps and then sent to Thailand‘s border with Malaysia‖:

Intelligence agents in Malaysia have been meeting leaders from 10 main multi-ethnic

organizations hailing from Burma in Malaysia since last February, said Burmese community

leaders in the country. The meetings are to be monthly affairs.

The exercise is unusual and it is being gone through in the name of ―National Security‖ by the

Special Branch or SB also known as Cawangan Khas in Malay. It is an intelligence agency

attached to the Royal Malaysian Police, said a Burmese migrant worker who holds a refugee

card of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugee (UNHCR) in the country‘s

capital Kuala Lumpur. Leaders of three Kuala Lumpur-based Burman political organizations

and seven major ethnic minorities from Burma— Kachin, Karenni, Karen, Chin, Arakan,

Shan and Mon were forcibly summoned to meet the SB in Kuala Lumpur, a Kachin migrant

worker told KNG today.

Simultaneously, the infamous People‘s Volunteer Corps called Rela has intensified searching

for both illegal migrant workers and foreign jobless people, block by block in Kuala Lumpur,

said Kachin migrant workers.

Detained illegal Burmese workers are being temporarily put into foreign illegal workers

detention camps and then sent to Thailand‘s border with Malaysia, added Kachin workers

(‗Malaysian intelligence agents interact with Burmese organizations‘ 2009, Democracy for

Burma website, source: Kachin News Group, 28 March

http://democracyforburma.wordpress.com/2009/03/28/intelligence-agents-in-malaysia-have

been-meeting-leaders-from-10-main-multi-ethnic-organizations-hailing-from-burma-in-malaysia-since-last-february-said-burmese-community-leaders-in-the-country-the/ –

Accessed 23 September 2009 – Attachment 53).

6. Would/does the Malaysian government cooperate with the Burmese government by

refusing the grant of a visa to a Burmese person who has been operating a company and

business in Malaysia and who has been involved in anti-Burmese protests?

No sources have been located that indicate that the Malaysian government refuses to grant or

renew visas to Burmese asylum seekers who have participated in protests against the

Burmese military junta. As indicated in the previous section of this response, both Malaysian

authorities and members of RELA routinely arrest and deport Burmese refugees to Thailand;

however, no sources indicate that this was at the request of the Burmese regime.

The International Federation of Human Rights 2008 report Undocumented Migrants and

Refugees in Malaysia: Raids, Detention and Discrimination states that asylum seekers in

Malaysia can be given ‗de facto‘ refugee status and therefore legal residency via the

‗temporary‘ IMM 13 visa:

The only means through which a type of status may be legally accorded to persons recognised

as refugees or asylum seekers is through an exercise of discretion by the Minister under

section 55 of the Immigration Act. Section 55 provides that the Minister may by order exempt

any person or class of persons, absolutely or conditionally, from any of the provisions of the

Act. This is the legal basis on which de facto ‗refugee‘ protection has been provided to

certain groups and individuals through the issuing of IMM 13 permits.

IMM 13 visas are generally a type of temporary residence permit. They can be issued

under any conditions set by the Minister. There can be different conditions attached to the

IMM13 visas. If the conditions allow the IMM13 holder to access to education, the children

can go to public school, but there are cases access to education was denied where the

Education Ministry then asked for a student visa. There is no coordination among the

Immigration Department and the Education Ministry. Private schools also require student

visa. The IMM13 visas are temporary in nature and usually must be renewed every 12 months

for a fee of 90 ringgit (International Federation of Human Rights 2008, Undocumented

Migrants and Refugees in Malaysia: Raids, Detention and Discrimination, FIDH website,

March, p.10 http://www.fidh.org/IMG/pdf/MalaisieCONJ489eng.pdf – Accessed 26 March

2008 – Attachment 54).

According to the Ethnic Voices website, Malaysian Police allowed Burmese refugees to stage

a protest rally against the Burmese military junta in September 2007, albeit under heavy

security. The report states that the Malaysian police were ‗restrained‘:

This morning, more than three thousand Burmese protesters, most of them wearing red

marched in the street of Kuala Lumpur. They walked from Ampang Park to the Burmese

Embassy, 2 kilometres away. There they had a very organized peaceful demonstration

facing the local Riot police who were guarding the Embassy. Then they proceeded to the

Chinese Embassy and the Russian Embassy to hand over a memorandum.

The demonstration was a joint effort of nine Burmese Organizations here. Most of the

protesters wore headscarf, carried posters and banners denouncing the military junta, calling

for the killing to stop and demanding for democracy. Many also carried symbols symbolizing

Buddha and portraits of Aung Sang Suu Kyi. Only a handful of Malaysian were among the crowd to give solidarity. PSM‘s Secretary

General S. Arutchelvan in solidarity marched with the protesters to the three protest points.

Among some of the organization present were SUARAM, AI and HAKAM.

The protesters were very disciplined, very organized and had the entire program carried with

such discipline and precision. They marshals kept the crowd in control. Many protesters took

leave while in some places, the employer had to shut down the business today as almost all

the workers were gone demonstrating. Most of those present today expressed anxiety about

the situation back home. The spirits were high throughout the program. The Malaysian police

force who came in full force were amazed by the mobilization by the Burmese and

maintained traffic control as well was very restrained.

It was a day when the diverse Burmese community came down with one message – Junta out!

Democracy Now! (‗Burmese Red March in the Streets of Kuala Lumpur‘ 2007, Ethnic Voices

website, source: Burma Underground

http://ethnicvoices.civiblog.org/blog/_archives/2007/9/29/3258616.html – Accessed 25

September 2009 – Attachment 55).

List of Sources Consulted

Internet Sources:

Government

United States Department of State http://www.state.gov

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade http://www.dfat.gov.au

Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada http://www.irb-cisr.gc.ca

UK Home Office http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk

Malaysian Ministry of Foreign Affairs http://www.kln.gov.my

Myanmar Ministry of Foreign Affairs http://www.mofa.gov.mm

United Nations (UN)

UNHCR http://www.unhcr.ch/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/home

Non-Government

International Crisis Group http://www.crisisgroup.org

Amnesty International http://www.amnesty.org/

Human Rights Watch http://www.hrw.org/

International Media

Reuters http://www.reuters.com/

The Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/

The New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/

The Age http://www.theage.com.au

Burmese Media

Kachin News Group http://www.kachinnews.com

The Irrawaddy http://www.irrawaddy.org/

The Irrawaddy Media website http://www.irrawaddymedia.com

Malaysian Media

The Star http://thestar.com.my

Topic Specific sitesThe Minority Rights Organisation http://www.minorityrights.org

Refugee Studies Centre, Oxford University http://www.rsc.ox.ac.uk

Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre http://www.internal-displacement.org

Kachin National Organisation http://kachinland.wordpress.com

Burma Campaign UK http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk

The Burma Digest http://burmadigest.info

OpenNet Initiative http://opennet.net/

Search Engines

Google http://www.google.com.au/

Alltheweb http://AlltheWeb.com

Exalead http://www.exalead.com/search/

Databases:

FACTIVA (news database)

BACIS (DIAC Country Information database)

REFINFO (IRBDC (Canada) Country Information database)

ISYS (RRT Research & Information database, including Amnesty International, Human

Rights Watch, US Department of State Reports)

RRT Library Catalogue

List of Attachments

1. Minority Rights Group International 2008, State of the World’s Minorities – Events of

2007, Minority Rights Group International website

http://www.minorityrights.org/report.php?id=459 – Accessed 25 September 2009.

2. Ekeh, C. & Smith, M. 2007, Minorities in Burma, Minority Rights Group International

website, 30 October http://www.minorityrights.org/?lid=3546 – Accessed 24 September

2009.

3. Minority Rights Group International 2007, World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous

Peoples – Myanmar/Burma: Overview, UNHCR Refworld

http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/4954ce41c.html – Accessed 24 September 2009.

4. Minority Rights Group International 2008, World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous

Peoples – Myanmar/Burma: Kachin, UNHCR Refworld

http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/49749cdec.html – Accessed 24 September 2009.

5. South, A. 2007, Burma: The Changing Nature of Displacement Crises, RSC Working

Paper No. 39, February, University of Oxford website, source: Refugee Studies Centre,

pp.18-19 http://www.rsc.ox.ac.uk/PDFs/WP39%20Burma%20AS.pdf – Accessed 25

September 2009.

6. Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre 2007, Myanmar (Burma): A Worsening Crisis

of Internal Displacement; A profile of the internal displacement situation, IDMC website,

28 March http://www.internal

displacement.org/8025708F004BE3B1/(httpInfoFiles)/9F04C86117C351B2C12572AC00

4A4B56/$file/Myanmar+_Burma_+-March+2007.pdf – Accessed 3 April 2007.7. ‗KIA troops take to forests for possible war with Burmese Army‘ 2009, Kachin News

Group website, 16 June http://www.kachinnews.com/index.php/news/905-kia-troops

take-to-forests-for-possible-war-with-burmese-army.html – Accessed 24 September 2009.

8. ‗Face Off Between Burmese Army and KIA Troops, Clash Averted‘ 2009, Kachin News

Group website, 20 August http://www.kachinnews.com/index.php/news/1051-face-off

between-burmese-army-and-kia-troops-clash-averted.html – Accessed 24 September

2009.

9. Fuller, T. 2009, ‗Fleeing Battle, Myanmar Refugees Head to China‘, The New York

Times, 28 August http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/29/world/asia/29myanmar.html?_r=1

– Accessed 31 August 2009.

10. ‗Junta bent on wiping out ethnic Kachins says KNO‘ 2008, Kachin News Group website

http://www.kachinnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=366:junta

-bent-on-wiping-out-ethnic-kachins-says-kno&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=50 –

Accessed 28 September 2009.

11. Burma Campaign UK 2008, ‗Kachin Schoolgirl Rape and Murder – 3 Months Later, No

Arrests, No Justice‘, 27 October, Burma Campaign UK website

http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/index.php/news-and-reports/news-stories/Kachin

Schoolgirl-Rape-and-Murder-/8 – Accessed 8 October 2009.

12. ‗Yangon Mayor visits city Kachin Baptist Church‘ 2009, Burma News International

website, source: Kachin News Group, 5 October

http://www.bnionline.net/news/kng/7161-yangon-mayor-visits-city-kachin-baptist

church.html – Accessed 7 October 2009.

13. Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade 2006, DFAT Report 459 – RRT Information

Request: MMR30017, 24 March.

14. Khun, S. 2007, ‗Church Ordered to be Removed in Northern Shan State‘, 13 June, The

Irrawaddy website http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=7460 – Accessed 6

October 2009.

15. ‗Kachin Christian volunteers stopped from helping cyclone victims‘2008, Kachin News

Group website, 16 May http://www.kachinnews.com/index.php/news/151-kachin

christian-volunteers-stopped-from-helping-cyclone-victims.html – Accessed 6 October

2009.

16. ‗Kachin leader freed after short detention by junta‘ 2007, Kachin News Group website, 22

November

http://www.kachinnews.com/old/read.asp?CatId=14&NewsId=968&Title=Kachin+leader

+freed+after+short+detention+by+junta – Accessed 6 October 2009.

17. ‗Kachin leader Maran Zau Nan dies‘ 2007, Kachin News Group website, 3 September

http://www.kachinnews.com/old/read.asp?CatId=12&NewsId=731&Title=%22September

+11%22+masat+nhtoi+Amerikan+mungdan+e+galaw – Accessed 6 October 2009.

18. Naw, S. 2004, ‗Brothers-In-Peace‘, February, The Irrawaddy website

http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=3299 – Accessed 7 October 2009.19. ‗US embassy refuses visa twice to Rev. Dr. Saboi Jum and family‘ 2008, Kachin News

Group website, 14 November

http://www.kachinnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=644:us

embassy-refuses-visa-twice-to-rev-dr-saboi-jum-and-family&catid=1:latest

news&Itemid=50 – Accessed 7 October 2009.

20. Kyaw Kyaw, T. 2003, ‗Tradition, modernity fused at Kachin show‘, 15-21 December,

The Myanmar Times website

http://www.myanmar.gov.mm/myanmartimes/no196/MyanmarTimes10-196/039.htm –

Accessed 6 October 2009.

21. Khun, S. 2006, ‗Regime Ban on Rangoon Church Workshop‘, 21 August, The Irrawaddy

website http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=6082 – Accessed 7 October 2009 –

Accessed 6 October 2009.

22. ‗As Burma‘s junta reclaims streets, locals stand up for monks‘ 2007, The Age website, 2

October http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/as-burmas-junta-reclaims-streets-locals

stand-up-for-monks/2007/10/01/1191091027787.html – Accessed 24 September 2009.

23. ‗Pay money, get electricity post Nargis: Rangoon resident‘ 2008, Burma News

International website, source: Independent Mon News Agency, 27 June

http://www.bnionline.net/news/imna/4375-pay-money-get-electricity-post-nargis

rangoon-resident.html – Accessed 7 October 2009.

24. Pepper, D. 2008 ‗Aftermath of a Revolt: Myanmar‘s Lost Year‘, The New York Times

website 5 October, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/05/weekinreview/05pepper.html –

Accessed 25 September 2009.

25. ‗Myanmar regime imposes satellite TV fee‘ 2008, Euro-Burma Office website, source:

Associated Press, 02 January http://euro-burma.eu/doc/jan2008.pdf – Accessed 29

September.

26. Chan, M. 2005, ‗Kachin‘s Anti-Government Forces Burma drew the Union Constitution

in 1947 and so got the united independence in 1948‘ The Kachin State website

http://www.kachinstate.com/history.html – Accessed 28 September 2009.

27. Naw, S. 2004 ‗Shaky Future for the KIO‘, The Irrawaddy website, April

http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=953 – Accessed 28 September 2009.

28. Khun, S. 2007, ‗Junta Blamed for Worsening Situation in Kachin State‘, The Irrawaddy

Media website http://www.irrawaddymedia.com/article.php?art_id=6549 – Accessed 28

September 2009.

29. ‗Kachin National Organisation‘ 2005, Kachinland website

http://kachinland.wordpress.com/2005/12/31/hello-world/ – Accessed 28 September

2009.

30. ‗News in Brief‘ 2007, Kachin State website, 15 October

http://www.kachinstate.com/news211007.html – Accessed 28 September 2009.

31. ‗Nang Seng New Campaigns Officer Joins Burma Campaign UK‘ 2008, Burma

Campaign UK website, 17 June http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/index.php/news-and-reports/news-stories/Nang-Seng-New-Campaigns-Officer-Joins-Burma-Campaign-UK/8

– Accessed 28 September 2009.

32. ‗Last Month In Burma – News from and about Burma‘ 2009, The Burma Campaign UK

website, January http://burmacampaign.org.uk/images/uploads/Last_Month_Jan_09.pdf –

Accessed 24 September 2009.

33. US Department of State 2008, International Religious Freedom Report 2008 – Burma,

September 19, www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2008/108402.htm – Accessed 22 September

2008.

34. United States Commission on International Religious Freedom 2009, USCIRF Annual

Report – Countries of Particular Concern: Burma, Refworld

http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/4a4f2737a.html – Accessed 24 September 2009.

35. ‗View from inside – Interview with Major Thawng Za Lian‘ 2003, Rhododendron News,

Volume VI. No III. July-August, Chin Human Rights Organization website

http://www.chro.ca/publications/rhododendron.html?layout=blog&start=35 – Accessed

25 September 2009.

36. ‗Ethnic Kachin Christians live under duress‘2008, Kachin News Group, 11 December

http://bnionline.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5549&Itemid=1 –

Accessed 12 December 2008.

37. OpenNet Initiative 2007, ‗Burma (Myanmar)‘, OpenNet Initiative website

http://opennet.net/sites/opennet.net/files/myanmar.pdf – Accessed 1 October 2009.

38. ‗Kachin Theological College Gets ADSL Internet‘ 2009, Kachin News Group website, 11

September http://www.kachinnews.com/index.php/news/1094-kachin-theological

college-gets-adsl-internet.html – Accessed 24 September.

39. ‗Missionary Atlas Project Pacific Rim (Asia) Myanmar‘ 2008, World Map.org website

http://worldmap.org/maps/other/profiles/myanmar/Myanmar%20Profile.pdf – Accessed

24 September 2009.

40. International Crisis Group 2001, Myanmar: the Role of Civil Society, Asia Report No. 27,

6 December

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Accessed 17 July 2009.

41. Badgley, J.R. (Ed) 2004, ‗NBR Analysis – Reconciling Burma/Myanmar: Essays on U.S.

Relations with Burma‘, National Bureau of Asia Research website, March,

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2009.

42. ‗Burma ‗faces Asean expulsion‘ 2003, BBC News website, 20 July

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3081557.stm – Accessed 25 September 2009.

43. ‗Asean ‗Frustrated, Disillusioned‘ But Not Giving Up On Myanmar‘ 2006, Ministry of

Foreign Affairs (Malaysia) website, source: BERNAMA

http://www.kln.gov.my/?m_id=7&vid=136 – Accessed 25 September 2009.44. ‗Asean express ―revulsion‖ at Myanmar‘s violent repression‘ 2007, The Star website, 28

September

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/9/28/nation/20070928112543&sec=natio

n – Accessed 25 September 2009.

45. ‗Malaysia to put Burma under spotlight‘2009, The Age website, February 23

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46. Ginsberg, J. 2009, ‗ASEAN: The Association of Southeast Asian Nations‘, 25 February,

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source: The New Light of Myanmar, 22 August

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Malaysia.htm – Accessed 24 September 2009.

48. ‗Malaysia-Myanmar Business Opportunities Seminar‘ 2005, Ministry of International

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2009.

50. Women‘s Commission for Refugee Women and Children 2008, Desperate Lives:

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51. Amnesty International 2009, Amnesty International Annual Report 2009 – Malaysia, AI

website http://thereport.amnesty.org/en/regions/asia-pacific/malaysia – Accessed 1

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52. ‗Being refugees in Malaysia increasingly unsafe‘ 2008, Kachin News website, 19

February

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2009.

53. ‗Malaysian intelligence agents interact with Burmese organizations‘ 2009, Democracy for

Burma website, source: Kachin News Group, 28 March

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have-been-meeting-leaders-from-10-main-multi-ethnic-organizations-hailing-from

burma-in-malaysia-since-last-february-said-burmese-community-leaders-in-the-country

the/ – Accessed 23 September 2009.

54. International Federation of Human Rights 2008, Undocumented Migrants and Refugees in

Malaysia: Raids, Detention and Discrimination, FIDH website, March

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source: Burma Underground

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56. RRT Country Research 2006, ‗RRT Country Information Request – MMR30017‘, 8

March.

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