Talking Point with Pat Dodson: Can Australia afford not to be reconciled?

Abortion reform is up against Buddhism in Thailand

The discovery of more than 2,000 foetuses stored at a Bangkok temple has made front-page news across Thailand. As most abortion is illegal in Thailand, the case has shone a spotlight on a massive backstreet industry and sparked national debate about the country's current abortion laws, which date from the 1950s. With abortion routinely recognised as a "sin" in Theravada Buddhism, religion has played a significant social and political role in this debate.

Chamlong: Santi Asoke

The undertaker at Wat Phai Ngern is accused of accepting regular deliveries of foetuses in plastic bags from an intermediary, who was paid by clinics to dispose of them discreetly. Buddhist temples are often used to store bodies prior to cremation but, with the local crematorium out of order, complaints about the smell led to the discovery of the operation. The bags are thought to have come from up to 20 different locations, sparking a crackdown on 3,900 suspected illegal clinics nationwide.

In 1993 the Thai health ministry estimated there were 80,000 illegal abortions a year. An earlier study suggested the total was closer to 300,000. In urban areas doctors are responsible for many of the illegal abortions by providing them for congenital disorders and HIV infections.

This is despite the fact the law only permits abortions in cases of rape or physical risk to the woman's health. Illegality means that medical standards remain low – a study in 1993 found that over 1% of women attending regional hospital for illegal abortions subsequently died due to complications.

Theravada Buddhism in Thailand is a socially conservative force. About 95% of the population are Buddhist and Buddhism remains closely tied to the state.

Sociologist James Hughes explains that most eastern Buddhist commentators, through an acceptance of karmic rebirth, believe consciousness begins at conception. Therefore, "all abortion incurs the karmic burden of killing". While some monks such as Phra Thepwethi believe in a "middle way" (which regards abortion as a sin, but sometimes as the best option) the framing of abortion in terms of sin still has a significant cultural influence.

A survey of women who had had abortions found that more than half were fearful of community exposure and a third worried that they would suffer bad karma. Andrea Whittaker, in her book, Abortion, Sin and the State in Thailand also explains that "fear of bap (sin) is the most common reason given by women with unplanned pregnancies for why they didn't abort".

Thai Buddhism has also had a key political role in maintaining current abortion laws, which have remained unchanged since 1956. Public discussions on reform began in the 1970s and culminated in 1981 by passing of amendment in the House of Representatives. This proposed widening the legality of abortion to include considerations of mental wellbeing, congenital abnormalities and some cases of contraceptive failure. However, Major General Chamlong Srimuang mobilised a powerful religious coalition to successfully lobby against the amendment.

Chamlong's intervention marked a more overt role for Buddhism in politics. He is a member of the Buddhist movement Santi Asoke, whose founder, Phra Phothirak, challenged the idea that Thai monks should not comment on contemporary social issues. Phothirak believed that monks had a duty to speak out to oppose abortion as the killing of human life, arguing that "those who say they are religious but who don't say anything don't know about religion or morality".

The Santi Asoke sect, which broke away from the Buddhist sangha in 1989, has been described as "radical Buddhism" for its anti-modernist conservatism and strict monastic codes. Chamlong, now a leading political figure, is responsible for the political wing of the Santi Asoke movement. For these followers, abortion is linked to the influence of western promiscuity and is "un-Buddhist, anti-religious and therefore un-Thai".

Members from the mainstream Buddhist sanga also continue to oppose the liberalisation of abortion laws. After a conference in 2006 where NGOs called for the wider legalisation of abortion, a monk named Phra Mahamanoj responded: "We Buddhists … firmly disagree with legal abortion and the destruction of life. If you don't want something to happen, don't do it."

Following the recent temple discovery, leading monks have again been speaking out. Phramaha Vudhijaya Vajiramedhi was unequivocal: "In [the] Buddhist view, both having an abortion and performing an abortion amount to murder. Those involved in abortions will face distress in both this life and the next because their sins will follow them."

The scandal has given momentum to calls for political reform. A Democrat MP has proposed a bill on "consensual and necessary abortions", which would liberalise current laws. This has been supported by Maytinee Bhongsvej, of the Association for the Promotion of the Status of Women (APSW), but she believes that change will be difficult to implement. "People's attitudes are the major obstacle. For Thai society, abortion is a sin," she says.

The prime minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva, has ruled out any legal changes, saying that the current laws are "good enough". Thai advocacy groups like Women's Health Advocacy Foundation point out that liberalising abortion laws would be in line with public opinion, would align the law more closely with the realities of current abortion provision and would also significantly reduce preventable medical complications. However, any reform must contend with Theravada Buddhism – which, with its integral part in political and social structures, retains a significant influence over the debate on abortion in Thailand.

[RAP: RAP wonders how Thailand endures the high-pitched, droning figures like Chamlong with their self-appointed position as arbiters of what is and isn't Thai.

These women who are courageous enough to search out, pay for and go through with these operations knowing the senseless condemnation that will come if they are discovered need to be supported by any Thai who is concerned for human rights, women's rights or children's rights.

It is time for the sangha in Thailand to turn its inquiring light inwards. When these men in robes make precepts and keep them, then they can comment on the morality of people outside the walls of the wat, but it is difficult to take seriously the words of these men, who will never be pregnant (but if the gossip pages are to be believed are helping women to become pregnant), so far behind the times, contemptuous of women and hypocritical.

When the sangha shows wisdom, insight and engages in a moment of self-criticism maybe reasonable people might listen to their opinions. 

Time to educate children in school to make informed choices, talk to children in the home and defend them, provide health services without discrimination to women and men and legalize abortion. ]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/nov/25/abortion-reform-buddhism-thailand

In the current slave trade, Indonesia the largest exporter

Upon hearing the news of the murder of an Indonesian housemaid and of another who was severely tortured, both in Saudi Arabia, the nation went through somewhat predictable motions. The government lodged protests with the Saudi ambassador and the public went into a frenzied outrage - fueled by a barrage of media reports about the ordeal that many poor Indonesian women working overseas go through.
Typically, all of the responses demanded the same thing: better deals and better protection for these women working abroad. No one — not the government, not the politicians and not even the activists in advocacy groups that help these women — are suggesting that the practice of sending housemaids be stopped completely.
The stakes are just too high, in terms of employment opportunities and the billions of dollars of foreign exchange earnings these housemaids send home. The nation has just too much to lose from phasing out what is essentially a 21st century version of the slave trade.
Live-in housemaids — whether in Jakarta, Surabaya, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Riyadh, Dubai, Hong Kong, Taipei or anywhere else in the world — essentially work under arrangements not unlike the slavery system of old.
The contract that a maid signs is unenforceable the moment after she steps into the house. She becomes a slave and the employers become her masters. The masters can disregard contracts, international conventions and national and international laws. There is nothing that she, the slave, can do. The only law applicable inside the house is what master says. Like the old slavery system, the maid a piece of property owned by the masters.

Don’t be misled when a maid tells you that she is treated kindly, like a member of the family. That is precisely the bond that evolves between servants and masters, instead of the professional or contractual kinds of relationships found in most other areas of employment.
While most maids may work for benevolent families, some unfortunate women have violent employers, such as Sumiati, who is now nursing severe wounds in a Saudi hospital after abuses allegedly inflicted by her employers, or worse, allegedly murderous employers, such as the family who employed Kikim Komalasari.
Nobody knows for sure how many others are there like Sumiati and Kikim — not only about Saudi Arabia, the Middle East or Malaysia, but also here in Indonesia, where the bulk of the Indonesian women work as housemaids.
The few cases that do surface are just the tip of the iceberg. Out of fear stemming from the master-servant relationship, most cases of abuse in Indonesia and elsewhere go unreported.
The whole point of the slavery-like system is that there is not much that the law or the government can do to protect maids from being abused  – except to take action after the fact (and then only if maids have the courage to report their employers to the police, assuming they were still alive). There is no mechanism that can prevent the employers from abusing their maids if they want.
Another factor that makes housemaids comparable to slaves is the absence of free will. Like olden-day slaves, these women are condemned to this kind of life by abject poverty and a lack of educational opportunities. Most are destined to such work by circumstance. Being a housemaid was never their choice.
Unfortunately, the nation’s attitude is not helping them. Instead, everyone seems to want to maintain this slavery system.
Indonesian households are the biggest beneficiaries of modern day slavery, so they have no interest or incentive in phasing out the system. Just listen to the complaints that housewives make two weeks every year when their pembantu take annual leave for Idul Fitri. Some families are so dependent on housemaids that they check into five-star hotels in their absence.
Indonesians, first and foremost, need their housemaids. Those sent abroad are just a surplus that the country has decided to generously share with other countries in the world.
The government, which should take the initiative to phase out the slavery system, is instead glorifying housemaids as “heroines of foreign exchange”. But officials are only interested in the forex receipts and commissions they get from labor exporting agencies. The way these vulnerable housemaids are harassed after their return shows the contradiction between what the government says and what it does.
More than 65 years after Indonesia’s founders proclaimed independence, it is disheartening to see that the nation, with the government in the lead, is deliberately perpetuating a system which keeps part of the nation in perpetual poverty and ignorance  —  ultimately to work as slave labor for others, at home and abroad.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/11/24/in-current-slave-trade-indonesia-largest-exporter.html

[RAP: Brilliant, angry, forthright and clear commentary. More like this please. If only the Indonesian government recognized the importance of this issue.

In this comment "Don’t be misled when a maid tells you that she is treated kindly, like a member of the family. That is precisely the bond that evolves between servants and masters, instead of the professional or contractual kinds of relationships found in most other areas of employment." RAP is reminded of the "house-negro" (as opposed to the "field negro") spoken of by Malcolm X, only with Indonesian Domestic Workers they're already called "house"-maids. ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEruHQ2N9WM&feature=related )

It is irrelevant how pleasant life might be with her owner, domestic workers have rights and must be respected or brought home. No third option.]

Paper Tricks Burma's Junta

The generals are made a laughing-stock



Wild Courage: There are times when somebody does something so wildly courageous – or quixotic – that it makes you proud just to be in the same profession with them. That happened a week ago when Burma's best-selling sports journal, First Eleven, led the paper with three front-page headlines that appeared to be about football — "Sunderland Freeze Chelsea," "United Stunned by Villa" and "Arsenal Advance to Grab Their Hope."

But the paper, run by an individual named Dr. Than Htut Aung, altered the letter colors to spell out a message so that the combined colored letters read: "Su Free Unite & Advance to Grab The Hope." That revealed the news to Burma's long-suffering population that democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi had been released from seven years of house arrest by the hated junta that has run the place for the last 31 years.

That was a stunning dare and one that made the ruling State Peace and Development Council, as Burma's ruling junta calls itself, a laughing-stock in the eyes of the world. It earned First Eleven a two-week suspension from publication, which was probably light punishment, considering the junta's previous actions. People have been sent to jail for the possession of fax machines.

The country's papers were only allowed to carry the briefest mention of Suu Kyi's releases from detention. They was not allowed to carry any criticism of the country's blatantly rigged national elections although some districts apparently reported that more than 100 percent of the voters had endorsed the junta, which didn't allow Suu Kyi to stand – probably judicious, since she probably would have pulled the 86 percent victory percentage she won in the 1990 election that the junta refused to recognize.

Much of the independent Burmese press distinguished themselves in a way that reporters in the west and more civilized countries have never had to deal with. In order to get their stories out they have darted into internet cafes, filed a few lines and skipped out for the next place before those monitoring the cafes could figure out what they were up to. A team of reporters dared detention to report stories for Asia Sentinel and other independent media. In addition to First Eleven, three privately owned journals were reprimanded by the censorship board for reporting on Suu Kyi's release. Open News was also suspended for two weeks for announcing her release and carrying news of her speech to her supporters. "Burma, which heavily censors print and broadcast media, has also applied extensive restrictions on blogging and other Internet activity," according to a prepared release by the Committee to Protect Journalists, which calls the country the worst in the world for bloggers. One – Maung Thura, popularly known as Zarganar, was sentenced to 59 years in jail for disseminating videos of Tropical Cyclone Nargis in 2007, for which the country was woefully unprepared.

"Authorities heavily regulate (internet) cafés, requiring them, for example, to enforce censorship rules," the CPJ said. "The government, which shut down the Internet altogether during a popular uprising in 2007, has the capability to monitor e-mail and other communication methods and to block users from viewing Web sites of political opposition groups, according to OpenNet Initiative. At least two bloggers are now in prison."

According to an article in The Irrawaddy, staff at First Eleven fooled the Press Scrutiny and Registration Division (PSRD) by sending them copy for approval in black and white. "When the publication was released, people quickly began talking about it. That's how we found out. After that, the Ministry of Information took action against the journal," a staff member of the censorship board told Irrawaddy.

Other Rangoon papers took other action. Because they couldn't run any large photos of Suu Kyi or put her photo on the front page, most printed the story and picture as a "supplement." When they sold the copies at newsstands, the supplements, with large photos of Suu Kyi, were wrapped around the papers to become the cover.

At least 12 reporters for local publications are behind bars in Burma, CPJ said in a prepared release. In addition, the Burmese arrested Toru Yamaji, a reporter with Agence-France Presse, indicating he had been arrested in Myawaddy, on the country's eastern border with Thailand while trying to cover the country's first elections in two decades. The CPJ quoted Japan's embassy in Rangoon saying Yamaji was flown to the capital after being detained. In September 2007, the video journalist Kenji Nagai, who also worked for APF, was shot and killed while covering demonstrations by Buddhist monks and their supporters in Rangoon.

http://www.asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2831&Itemid=208

Migrant Workers under attack in Saudi Arabia and Malaysia

Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Tue, 11/23/2010 12:21 PM | 

Mbak Sumiati's Injuries

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono should go to Saudi Arabia to directly handle the latest abuse cases involving two Indonesian migrant workers there to avoid incidents like these occurring again, the Regional Representatives Council said.

Council deputy chairman Laode Ida said in his address to the its plenary session Monday that overhauling the labor export procedure would not be enough to end abuse against Indonesian maids in Saudi Arabia.

He said the President needed to talk with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia to have the kingdom promise that the brutal torture against Indonesian maids there would not happen again. Government officials, council members and civil society groups have flown to Saudi to settle the case, but Laode said he was pessimistic about lobbying against the Saudi government to push for a thorough investigation into the two cases and taking concrete action against the perpetrators.

“Yudhoyono is the first and main official held responsible for the two cases and therefore he has to show strong commitment to protect all Indonesian citizens abroad,” he said, adding the two cases were a strong slap in the face for the government and a humiliation to the nation.

The torture of Sumiati, a migrant worker from Dompu, West Nusa Tenggara, who was in intensive care in Jeddah after being tortured by her employer and the murder of Kikim Komalasari, another domestic worker from Cianjur whose body was discovered at a rubbish spot in Abha, Saudi Arabia, recently, has sparked strong reaction from numerous sides at home, including the council and the House of Representatives.

Istibsyaroh, chairwoman of Committee III on labor, health and social affairs at the council, said that based on her committee’s report, the plenary session agreed to ask the government to temporarily suspend the labor supply to countries that had no political commitment to protecting Indonesian migrant workers while overhauling the labor export procedure.

The government’s decision to continue supplying workers to Saudi Arabia goes against the 2004 Labor Export and Protection Law, which allows labor export only to countries that have labor agreements with Indonesia, she said.

“The government must take a moratorium until the two countries make sure that both will comply with the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families and sign a labor agreement with Indonesia,” she said.

Indonesia suspended labor supply to Malaysia from July 2009 following similar cases of Indonesian migrant workers in the informal sector and the neighboring country’s reluctance to sign the bilateral labor agreement, which sets monthly minimum wages and a weekly one day off for Indonesian workers.

Saudi Arabia is home to more than 1 million migrant workers from Indonesia, while Malaysia is home to more than 2 million workers and mostly have been employed as domestic workers with a monthly wage of around Rp 1.5 million (US$160).

Domestic workers in the two countries have been prone to abuse in their work place because they are not protected under their labor law as have been treated as part of their employers’ families. The two countries have been closely monitored by the Asian Human Rights Watch for the rampant abuse of foreign workers.

Manpower and Transmigration Minister Muhaimin Iskandar said in a coordination meeting with officials from the Foreign, Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection and Home ministries, as well as the National Agency for Labor Export and Protection that the government would revise the labor contract to help provide protection for Indonesian migrant workers. “The government will review the labor contract between workers and their employers to prevent any labor abuse in the future,” he said.

( http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/11/23/dpd-calls-tougher-diplomacy-over-abuse.html )

By NINIEK KARMINI (AP)

 She arrived in Saudi Arabia a high-spirited 23-year-old, eager to start work as a maid to help support her family back home. Four months later, Sumiati was Indonesia's poster child for migrant abuse, alone and staring vacantly from a hospital bed, her face sliced and battered.
 

Mbak Sumiati in hospital

But while public anger has forced President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's government to acknowledge the problem for the first time, few expect any firm action to be taken.
Gruesome images snapped of Sumiati, now recovering in the Saudi city of Medina, have been splashed on the front pages of local newspapers and led television newscasts for more than a week.

Her employer — who has been taken in for questioning by police — is accused of cutting off part of her lips with scissors, scalding her back with an iron, fracturing her middle finger, and beating her legs until she could hardly walk.

"It's hardly the first such case," said Wahyu Susilo, a policy analyst at Indonesia's advocacy group, Migrant Care. "Again and again we hear about slavery-like conditions, torture, sexual abuse and even death, but our government has chosen to ignore it. Why? Because migrant workers generate $7.5 billion of dollars in foreign exchange every year."

Workers from Asian countries dominate service industries in the Middle East and there have been many reports of abuse — including allegations in recent days that an employer in Kuwait drove 14 metal pins into the body of a Sri Lankan maid.

"The wanton brutality alleged in these cases is shocking," said Nisha Varia, senior women's rights researcher at the New York-based Human Rights Watch, which called on authorities to investigate claims promptly and bring those responsible to justice.

She and others called cases like that of Sumiati the "tip of the iceberg. "But countries that export labor have a responsibility as well, Nisha said. Though Indonesia sends more than 6.5 million workers abroad every year, it has drawn much criticism for failing — despite repeated promises — to ratify a 1990 U.N. convention on the protection of migrant workers. It also has not signed a bilateral agreement with Saudi Arabia that would give workers a legal basis to challenge employers.

But Oon Kurniaputra, an adviser to Indonesia's Minister of Manpower and Transmigration, argued Tuesday that the problem is not the fault of governments.
It is with profit-hungry recruitment agencies that lure young men and women overseas without ensuring their safety when they get there, he said.

Sumiati's case prompted President Yudhoyono to call a Cabinet meeting late last week to discuss ways in which the government could — and would — do more. It turned out to be a public relations disaster.
It emerged during the talks that another Indonesian maid, 36-year-old Kikim Komalasari, had allegedly been tortured to death by her Saudi employer, her body found in a trash bin on Nov. 11 in the town of Abha.
"It's shocking to hear this ... it's beyond inhumane," said Yudhoyono, as the government sent a team of diplomats to the scene to investigate. "I want the law to be upheld and to see an all-out diplomatic effort."
Some lawmakers suggested a moratorium on sending domestic workers to Saudi Arabia, something that is considered unlikely given the close economic and political ties between the predominantly Muslim countries.
It also comes at a sensitive time, with hundreds of thousands of Indonesians in Saudi Arabia performing in the annual hajj pilgrimage.

Yudhoyono, meanwhile, had a proposal of his own: Give all migrant workers cell phones so they can call family members or authorities if they need help. "It just shows how little he understands the problems domestic workers abroad are facing," scoffed Rieke Dyah Pitaloka, an opposition lawmaker who is dealing with labor and domestic workers affairs. "Their employers are locking them up and taking away their passports ... they aren't going to let them keep a phone."

Most people believe little will change until girls are better educated and prepared for better jobs in Indonesia, a sprawling archipelagic nation of 237 million people, where the average wage is less than $300 a month.
Sumiati, a recent high school graduate from a fishing village on Sumbawa island, was bouncing with enthusiasm when she left for Saudi Arabia on July 18 with the help of a local recruitment agency, according to family and friends.

She saw it as a chance to be able to help her three younger siblings through school.

End Brutality Towards Domestic Workers

When the family — together with the rest of the country — first saw the cell phone picture of their little girl on television, they "went crazy."
"Her mother ... started crying hysterically and lost consciousness," Sumiati's uncle, Zulkarnain, was quoted as saying in the English-language The Jakarta Globe.

When they got Sumiati on telephone in the hospital, she said in a voice almost unrecognizable: "Please come in the form of angels and take me back home to my village."

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/9373991


Associated Press= JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) —

Extra Reporting: http://liranews.com/mdgs-en/2010/11/16/sadistic-housemaid-viciously-tortured/

http://news.okezone.com/read/2010/11/16/337/393881/kemenlu-juga-fasilitasi-keluarga-sumiati-ke-arab (Bahasa Indonesia)

[RAP: RAP supports the calls for strong diplomacy between Indonesia and Saudi Arabia on this issue. We have been present at the agency offices and departure points, when young women and men leave for uncertain, overseas experiences and the vulnerability that comes with it.

It is common practice for migrant workers to have their passports taken off them, to be denied access to phones and money, to be denied their right to adequate rest and reasonable work loads. The Indonesian government is negligent in allowing Indonesians to go overseas, unprepared and with no means of asking for help without cast-iron guarantees from overseas governments to protect and defend them. It is crucial for these safeguards to be put in place now, before the next murder takes place. Halt the flow of labour to the countries in which the abuse is taking place until those countries can demonstrate their determination to stop the abuse.]

Thai woman to be hanged for drug trafficking in Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur -- Malaysia's High Court has sentenced a Thai woman to death by hanging after she was caught with 98 capsules of cocaine in her stomach, a news report said Friday.

Phrueksa Taemchim, 26, was detained by antinarcotics police at a bus stop in July last year, shortly after her arrival on a flight from Buenos Aires.

During an Xray examination at the hospital, police discovered the mother of one had swallowed the drug capsules in an effort to smuggle them back to Thailand, the Star newspaper reported.

The court handed down the death sentence on Thursday.

Despite Malaysia's tough drug laws, an increasing number of foreign drug smugglers have been detained in recent years.

In the first nine months of 2010, 382 foreigners were arrested for suspected drug trafficking, a 70percent increase over the same period last year, government records showed.

Authorities say smuggling is rampant as the country is used as a transit point to channel the drugs to neighbouring Southeast Asian nations.//DPA

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home/Thai-woman-gets-death-sentence-for-drug-traffickin-30142719.html

Aung San Suu Kyi in her own words...

Finally free from the clutches of Burma's ruling generals and the lonely life of house arrest they subjected her to, Aung San Suu Kyi now finds she cannot escape from herself.
At the headquarters of her currently-outlawed political party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), images of her are everywhere: on posters, calendars and pamphlets, T-shirts, necklaces and earrings.
As she poses politely for photos, the Guardian asks who the golden bust behind her represents. "It's supposed to be me," she says. "I wish people wouldn't make busts or posters of me, it is a very strange thing to be looking at yourself all the time. It's not like this at my house, I promise you. I have pictures of my children."
The building is filled to overflowing; the noise of a hundred conversations reverberate off the peeling wars and concrete floors. Today, there are more people than chairs, and those left without crouch against walls.
Across the road, perched on conspicuous orange motorbikes, the government's spies are kept busy, watching her party headquarters through camera lenses and binoculars. But Aung San Suu Kyi is unconcerned about the attention from the military's special branch. They will be her companion every day she is free.
"That is for them to worry about. I can only do what I feel I need to do, what I can do for the people of Burma," she says. "They will follow me, I cannot stop that. I cannot worry."
Aung San Suu Kyi is 65, but looks 20 years younger. A hint of grey at her temples is the only physical sign of the strains of two decades spent resisting a brutal military regime. She has a piercing gaze, which rarely moves from her interrogator, and her response is deliberate when pushed about the government's overt, hostile attention. She is not frightened that she could be detained again – a fate that has befallen her for 15 of the last 21 years.
"It is not a fear, it's a possibility that I live with. I understand that is the situation, and I have to accept it. They have done it before, and it is very possible they will do it again, but it is not something I fear every day. It is my situation."
It is nearly a week since military officials came to her door at 54 University Avenue, Rangoon, and told her she was free, noting perversely, her good behaviour.
Since then, she has been almost constantly in meetings of one sort or another. Diplomats and journalists from every corner of the globe have formed a queue at the bottom of the stairs leading to her door. She has taken phone calls from presidents and prime ministers. She has met with NLD party elders to discuss strategy and legal challenges and sanctions policy.
But she has stopped too, amid the throng of admirers, to talk to people on the street, old women who claim kinship, children who have a flower for her.
She has spoken with her sons by phone every day – something she could never do before, though there is no word on when she will be allowed to see them – she has visited the high court to lodge an appeal against her party's disbanding, and visited an HIV/AIDS shelter. Everywhere she goes, she is mobbed.
She is happy, "because now I am free".
She talks candidly about her years under house arrest, saying it was "far, far easier" than the time currently being served by Burma's 2,100 political prisoners. They must be freed before any real progress will be made, she insists.
Reluctantly, she concedes that there were moments of pessimism. "Despair is not the right word, but there were times that I would worry … a lot, not so much for myself, for my situation, but for the future of the country."
But she has little time for introspection and none for self-pity. The overwhelming feeling during the last seven-and-a-half years she spent confined to her damp, two-storey home was, she says, that "there weren't enough hours in the day".
"As unbelievable as it may sound, it's true. When I tell you that I had to listen to the radio for six hours every day, that is a big chunk of time, and that was solid work, just to make sure I caught all of the Burmese programs, just so I could keep up with what was going on. Because if I missed something, there was no one to come around to tell me 'did you hear about'. I needed to keep myself informed."
She says she read, for work and pleasure, biographies and spy novels were favourites at the end of the day, and she meditated regularly. "And then there was the house to run and to maintain, there really was a lot to do."
She laughs at the ridiculous lengths the junta went to in its ad hoc imprisonment. "I was both prisoner and maintenance woman," she says, mimicking a feeble effort with a hammer.
"No one was allowed to come to fix the house. I had to fix everything that went wrong around the place. The two people I was with (her live-in maids, a mother and daughter) were completely non-mechanical and non-electrical, so I had to learn with great difficulty how to do these things."
She was not always successful. For several days following cyclone Nargis in 2008, the trio lived by candlelight.
But she is less interested in reflecting on the years of isolation than on what happens next in her country.
Internationally, Aung San Suu Kyi's release has been described as Burma's "Mandela moment", comparing it to the day in 1990 when Nelson Mandela walked free from prison in South Africa. She hopes it may one day prove so, but is wary of the comparison now.
"I think that our situation is much more difficult than South Africa's. South Africa had already made some movement towards democracy when Mandela was released. Here in Burma, we are nowhere near that. We haven't even begun."
"And I feel our case is a lot more difficult than South Africa."
South Africa's fault line was clear-cut, apartheid was based on race, she says. "Colour is something that everyone can see straight away. Here, it is less obvious who is who, because we are all Burmese. It is Burmese discriminating and oppressing Burmese.
"I have often thought everything would be much easier if all the NLD supporters were coloured purple. Then it would be obvious who is being jailed and who is being discriminated against. And the international community would be angered more easily, they could easily say 'you cannot discriminate against the purples'."
Where Burma goes from here is unclear, she says, "we are a country in limbo".
She realises the power of her freedom to the people of Burma, though she is always conscious that there are many others in her movement, and thousands still in prison. "I don't believe in one person's influence and authority to move a country forward. I am honoured by the trust people have in me, but one person alone can not bring democracy to a country.
"Change is going to come from the people. I want to play my role … I want to work in unison with the people of Burma, but it is they who will change this country."

From: The Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/18/aung-san-suu-kyi-burma-interview

Asylum, Detention and Democracy in Australia

[RAP: Julian Burnside gives an excellent account, based on his work with asylum seekers, of the effects of detaining innocent and traumatized adults and children and treating them as criminals in order to discourage other innocent and traumatized people from asking us for help. Some of what he has to say provides some context for recent incidents in Australian detention centres such as the unaccompanied children scuffling and the self-harm and suicide, most recently of Ahmad Al Akabi  this morning and the protests that resulted from it. There are more parts to these presentations available from the source]

South-east Asia needs to back Suu Kyi before euphoria fades

Only a united international response can help bring democracy to Burma.

Burma's political drama has tended to follow a well-worn script. In this story, a clique of military dictators with a draconian national security mentality face off against Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel peace laureate who spearheads a popular democracy movement.
At certain moments, many of us, particularly in Western democracies, stand to applaud the courage and principled struggle of Suu Kyi and Burma's countless other democrats. Soon after the applause fades we tend to hear, in muted terms, of the crackdowns, imprisonments and heartaches that follow. Usually, our attention moves on and Burma languishes without the full-bore scrutiny its military dictatorship deserves.

 

When Suu Kyi was released at the weekend, an understandable wave of elation reverberated around the world. Her long-awaited freedom was tentatively greeted by an optimism that the time had come to write a new chapter in Burma's historic struggle for democratic renewal.
Many hope that Suu Kyi is destined to make history. Her father, Burma's enduring national hero, Aung San, was assassinated in 1947 just months before the country gained independence from Britain. Suu Kyi then spent many years abroad, where she lived in relative anonymity, as her country spiralled into dictatorship.
That anonymity vanished in 1988 when, as Aung San's daughter, she emerged to lead a nationwide pro-democracy movement.
Suu Kyi's commitment to democratic goals has seen her spend 15 of the past 21 years locked up. Weathering heartbreaking personal tragedies, she has steadfastly refused to compromise on the need for free and democratic political participation.
For the world and for her own people, she has maintained her defiance in the face of profound provocation and personal loss. But now that she has been released from house arrest, some serious challenges loom.
First, she will need rapid orientation to a new domestic political and social landscape. While the tyranny of Burma's military dictatorship has not faltered, the country has still changed significantly since she was last able to travel widely in 2003. Crucially, the ability of the country's military leadership to fortify themselves with revenues from foreign-funded natural resource projects has changed some of the economic equations.
Second, history suggests that international attention wanes quickly and Suu Kyi may not enjoy the luxury of a slow re-emergence.
Many hope that Burma's democrats can promptly outmanoeuvre their military rulers and catalyse a new era of national politics.
The optimists also anticipate that her gravitas and unique personal story can help knit together the country's disparate ethnic groups. Suu Kyi's father is often held up as the country's last great unifier and, as the heir to his federalist tendencies, she carries the hopes of many who live in the country's ethnic minority areas.
Third, Suu Kyi now faces a military dictatorship that has attempted to cultivate its own modicum of regional legitimacy through this month's elections. Among South-East Asian nations, and also for the leaders of key partners such as China, the elections were considered a respectable step towards greater democracy.
But could an international coalition firmly support Suu Kyi in pushing Burma's military leadership into dialogue and compromise?
Every previous effort to generate a consensus for genuinely democratic politics has failed. Any chance of success would require the active leadership of countries such as Thailand and Singapore, and it would obviously benefit from any support that the Chinese and Indian governments could muster.
Long-lasting and positive change in Burma will only come by fully engaging with the real political and economic interests of Burma's neighbours. Countries such as Australia can support this process by emphasising the need to cultivate a wider international consensus.
Burma's senior military leaders will have anticipated the elation among Westerners that has followed Suu Kyi's release. They will also expect that within days or weeks our attention will dissipate, so that they can return to governing the country with relative impunity and without daily scrutiny from the international media.
But what have they failed to anticipate? Could they prove to be blindsided by a regional effort, backed by South-East Asian voices, to support a genuinely free democratic process at this pivotal moment? The tantalising possibility of regional leaders seeking to distance themselves from the dictatorship is worth close consideration. They have been habitually circumspect in their criticism of Burma's dictatorship but, while there are few indications that a radical change of tone is imminent, they are the powers best positioned to send a strong message about their shared commitment to democratic institutions.
Leaders from Thailand and Indonesia have already welcomed Suu Kyi's release. Her dignified resistance would benefit from the region's full and unflinching support as she seeks any opportunity to change Burma for the better.

Nicholas Farrelly is a South-East Asia specialist in the College of Asia and the Pacific at the Australian National University. He wrote his doctoral thesis at Oxford University on politics in Burma.

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/southeast-asia-needs-to-back-suu-kyi-before-euphoria-fades-20101115-17ub5.html

Australia's factories of mental illness have claimed yet another victim

NEW calls have been made for an overhaul of immigration detention following the apparent suicide of an Iraqi detainee at Sydney's Villawood centre. Detainees were today staging a hunger strike following the man's death, which comes after a series of rooftop protests at Villawood sparked by the suicide of Fijian detainee Josefa Rauluni in September.

The Greens today demanded an overhaul of Australia's immigration detention system, while refugee advocates said it was taking too long for claims to be processed.
Police and immigration officials said a 41-year-old man had been found unconscious in a shower cubicle at Villawood early this morning.
“The detainee attempted self-harm,” a NSW police spokesman said.
“Staff and ambulance officers attempted to revive the man and he was taken to Liverpool Hospital where he was pronounced dead a short time later.”
The spokesman said police were treating the death as “non-suspicious”.
Refugee advocate Sara Nathan named the man as father of three Ahmad Obeid Al Eqabi, who she said had committed suicide after having his claim for asylum twice rejected by the Department of Immigration.
Ms Nathan said the man had arrived by boat last year and was detained at Christmas Island before being transferred to Villawood in April.
“He hung himself because he feared he would be killed if he returned to Iraq,” she said.
“Why is it taking over a year for claims to be processed? It is costing taxpayers' dollars to keep people in detention ... these long periods should cease.”
There are currently 164 irregular maritime arrivals at Villawood, a centre that holds 314 detainees in total, which includes overstays.
Refugee Action Coalition spokesman Ian Rintoul said up to 100 refugees were today on hunger strike at Villawood following Mr Al Eqabi's death.
An Iranian inmate at Villawood, Mosan Manoucheripour, also said a lot of people were grieving and would begin protests.
“We start to do the hunger strike for showing my protest against the act of Immigration, and we want to mourn for this man who died,” he told ABC radio earlier.
Mr Manoucheripour said about 30 detainees had gathered to listen to the Koran.
“They are very very upset and confused and they couldn't sleep, they want to be awake until morning and they want to start the hunger strike,” he said.
However the Department of Immigration said the situation at the facility was “calm” and they had not noticed anything out of the ordinary.
“There were no significant numbers of people not consuming breakfast this morning,” a departmental spokesman said.
“While staff are saddened with two deaths in recent months the important task is to ensure the welfare of the department's clients ... that is the first priority.”
Mr Rintoul said a full inquiry was needed into the Mr Al Eqabi's death.
“The factories of mental illness have claimed yet another victim,” he said in a statement.
“Incidents of self-harm are becoming daily occurrences at detention centres across the country.”
Greens immigration spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young said detention has a “devastating” impact on the mental health of asylum seekers.
“What we've seen overnight was a man who was so desperate and so sickened by his detention that he's taken his own life,” she told reporters in Canberra.
“It's a very, very sad event and I hope that the government quickly reviews the way that they're managing the system.
“We really need a total overhaul of the immigration detention system.”
Three groups of asylum-seekers, including Chinese and Sri Lankan Tamils, staged rooftop protests at Villawood in September after Mr Rauluni, 36, leapt to his death from a roof ahead of his deportation.
This year there have been 119 boat arrivals carrying a total of 5693 passengers and 296 crew.
There are currently 2920 irregular maritime arrivals detained on Christmas Island and 2677 in mainland facilities including the Villawood detention centre.

[RAP: RAP wonders if the Coalition will be celebrating this latest tragedy as it seems to fit with their anything to "stop the boats" message. And with this, more of Australia's humanitarian vote is turning Green.]

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/tensions-rise-at-sydneys-villawood-detention-centre-after-inmates-death/

Amnesty’s silence on lese majeste

By Andrew Walker at New Mandala:

Marwaan Macan-Markar has written an important article for IPS on the (non-)response of Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch to ongoing lese majeste oppression in Thailand. Here is an extract:

AI [Amnesty International] broke its long silence on lese majeste when Darunee’s case began in June this year. It criticised the court for ordering a closed trial of the proceedings, which a judge on the bench justified as a “matter of national security.”
But AI stayed clear of raising concerns if the law infringed on the right to freedom of expression. Public statements delivered earlier by HRW [Human Rights Watch] have also studiously avoided this fundamental right.
“We have felt that working in a more private capacity than in a public way is the most appropriate and the most effective response on the lese majeste issue to date,” says Benjamin Zawacki, South-east Asia researcher for AI. “There is an implicit knowledge of the sensitivity of this law.”
“There are competing interests at stake; one is the right to freedom of expression. But you have an institution here that has played an important role in the protection of human rights in Thailand,” Zawacki explained in an interview. “We can see why the monarchy needs to be protected.”
The Bangkok-based Zawacki admitted, however, that the law has been abused. “The lese majeste law, as is currently applied in the last three years, has been used for the suppression of free speech for largely political purposes and not for the protection of the monarchy, for which the law was drafted,” he says.

The Asian Human Rights Commission has been more outspoken.
And, in one of his email circulars, Jiles Ungpakorn writes:

In my view, there is little point in writing letters to the Thai authorities about this. However, what would be more useful is to write to Amnesty International and demand that they start taking up and campaigning for lese majeste prisoners in Thailand.

http://asiapacific.anu.edu.au/newmandala/2009/09/05/amnestys-silence-on-lese-majeste/

Unaccompanied Detained Children in Fight at Melbourne Immigration Detention Centre

AN investigation will be held into a brawl involving about 50 unaccompanied Afghan asylum-seeker boys at a Melbourne immigration detention centre. Department of Immigration spokesman Sandi Logan said the boys were unaccompanied minors and were yesterday involved in “a number of separate scuffles in the dining room” of the Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation centre in Broadmeadows, in Melbourne's west.
The brawl erupted after 98 unaccompanied minors were transferred from Australia's Christmas Island detention centre to the Melbourne centre over the weekend.
Seven of the boys, aged about 15-18, were taken to hospital, most with cuts and bruises and one with a possibly fractured nose.
One boy remains in hospital, with the rest having been returned to the detention centre.
Mr Logan said furniture and windows in the dining room were also damaged during the brawl, which broke out before 8pm, but no staff were injured.

“Victoria Police were called and assisted to restore order in about 30 minutes, with the individuals returned to their rooms,” Mr Logan said.
“The centre is now calm and has been since last night.”
A department spokesman said there were currently 136 people being held at the centre.
Mr Logan said detention services providers would investigate the incident and provide a full report.
AAP

[RAP: "Department of Immigration spokesman Sandi Logan said the boys were unaccompanied minors"  RAP wonders whether this was "a brawl" or "separate scuffles" and notes that having been in positions of responsibility in secure institutions that it is a fine line between needing police assistance and not. Often it is the presence of the police itself that decides the seriousness with which an event is viewed. 

The only surprising aspect of this story of unaccompanied, stressed and traumatized children, detained by Australia and then becoming involved in horizontal conflicts and violence is that it wasn't predicted and the risks contained. Primarily, it must be said the risks should be contained by releasing all these children from detention immediately and caring for them according to our international and human rights obligations. And as with most comparable countries stop detaining and criminalizing people for seeking asylum and feigning surprise when people's behaviours reflect their treatment and the contexts in which they're held.]


http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/teenage-brawl-erupts-at-melbourne-immigration-detention-centre/

Indonesian Transgender Sex Workers Escape From Kidnappers

Two Indonesian transsexuals held against their will by a prostitution syndicate were rescued by authorities in Russia, an embassy official said on Friday.

Aji Surya, a counselor at the Indonesian Embassy in Moscow, said the victims had sought work in Russia as prostitutes, but later found themselves tied up and gagged in an apartment where they were forced to perform sex acts without payment.

He said the embassy had received a tip from a female caller, identified by authorities only as S, at dawn on Monday.

A security guard at the embassy picked up the call and heard a woman whisper that Indonesians were being held.

“They have not been allowed to leave this apartment and have been forced to render services to customers without pay. Please help,” the caller reportedly said.

After being notified, Hamid Awaluddin, the Indonesian ambassador, ordered his staff to contact the police.

A team of counselors were also dispatched on Monday morning to meet with officials at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which ordered police in Moscow to conduct an investigation.

Aji said Russian police launched a sting operation on Monday evening, with undercover officers posing as clients. This led to a raid on the apartment, where the two Indonesians were found.

A third Indonesian transsexual reportedly trapped by the prostitution ring, however, remained missing, according to Aji.


Antara 

[RAP: Disappointing, sensationalized language in the report that seems to be a very positive story of cooperation between Indonesian officials and Russian authorities, leading to the rescue of two Indonesian sexworkers. This reporting would be much improved without terms like "sex slave" and if the "prostitution syndicate", which is unlikely to be involved only in prostitution, was referred to more accurately as a crime syndicate.]

A Great Day for Freedom?

In the refugee case, the court (unanimously) said that the offshore processing of asylum seekers had to be conducted with procedural fairness and according to law. The fact that the former immigration minister Philip Ruddock had tried to deny legal rights to possible refugees by containing them in black holes like Christmas Island did not excuse the ministerial obligation to observe binding decisions of the Australian courts or the Migration Act itself.

Ruddock's invention, we recently discovered, was the result of some creative discussion around his family dinner table.
Already the court's decision is being flagged by the ''stop the boats'' brigade as an open invitation to asylum seekers and people smugglers to overrun our borders.
Not quite. The broader challenges to the Migration Act and the minister's discretion on granting protection visas were not upheld.
The way in which chapter three and rules of procedural fairness are applied by the High Court are far from consistent. After all, the court has held that it is perfectly legal to lock up a person indefinitely without charge. It has also held that secret evidence can be used by courts to make decisions and that can be done without showing the evidence to the party adversely affected and having it properly tested.
Chief Justice James Spigelman of NSW, who would have been chief justice of the High Court had it not been for Kevin Rudd, said something last month that we all know, but least expect judges to say publicly: ''It is all too easy to dress up a conclusion, reached on other grounds, by selecting from the smorgasbord of maxims and principles of interpretation those which assist the achievement of the predetermined result.''
Yesterday was an emphatic statement by the High Court led by Robert French. Further, ministers ignore the law and the judges at their peril. That both major decisions were scheduled to come thudding down from on high on the same day rubs in the points even more forcefully.
justinian@lawpress.com.au

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/a-great-day-for-freedom-as-gavel-falls-on-government-20101111-17pc0.html

Boat people victims of a big lie

MY FATHER dug up a photo from the family archives last week of my late Great Aunt Rita, his father’s sister. She is standing aboard a boat that had just arrived in Port Melbourne in the late 1940s. Staring at her across the deck is a crowd of well-dressed, young smiling faces.

You’d have to wonder why they were smiling. They had just travelled six weeks across the ocean from southern Europe after fleeing the ravages of World War II.
Many were alone, many had lost entire families.
Perhaps it was because they knew that interest rates in Australia were then controlled by the government.
Rita was this country’s first welfare officer, having served as immigration minister Arthur Calwell’s secretary.
Her job was to ensure safe passage of post-war displaced people to this country under the government’s policy of Populate Or Perish.
I’m told she would often get on the boat herself and sail to Europe to collect the lost and bewildered, travel back with them, many with little or no English, and help them resettle as the New Australians.
She was a pioneer in a program that eventually transformed the mono-cultural character of Australia. Most would say for the better.
Looking at these pictures, it struck me, as odd as it may sound, that the big four banks have done the political debate on asylum seekers a service this past week, by making too much money and charging people more to have some of it.
They have put the issue in context. And in doing so they have exposed the great lie of the recent election campaign and the moral perversion that accompanied it.
Today, unless you live in Inverbrackie, the only thing in your hand would be a calculator and the last thing on your mind would be the threat of a population explosion or cultural dilution. One of the burdens of living in Australia is that you have to invent horrors to be outraged by.
In the past week, as people recalculate their monthly mortgage payments, hundreds of asylum seekers have quietly arrived at our shores.
A daily missive from the Government heralds the arrival of yet another boat from unknown destination.
But you wouldn’t know it unless you’re on Brendan O’Connor’s email list. And what of the new Paul Erlich-inspired population bomb? But barely a word mentioned.
It simply goes to prove, in a stark demonstration of electoral caprice, that the recent federal election was fought, largely, around a big fat lie - that Australia was at risk of being swamped by boat people. Again.
It’s no wonder that there is some deep soul searching going on in the Labor Party at present. Much of it is about how it approached this issue during the election in response to the Coalition’s well-worn dog whistle. Greg Combet called it for what it is last week when he suggested the values of compassion, equity and social justice had been abandoned in favour of focus groups and polling.
And so it is with this deliberately confused debate around immigration, population and illegal entrants and the push polling of fear that has driven it.
Its effect has been a wilful distortion which encourages the issue of illegal entrants to be confused and demonised in the community as an excuse for failures to deal with the broader discussion on immigration levels and population numbers, which neither side of politics has an answer for.
The fact is that the number of boat arrivals in the past year numbered 5237, which is 3.15 per cent of the total immigration program of 168,623. If you take it as a percentage of the 2009 net overseas migration figures or population growth which was 320,400, the percentage is down under 1 per cent.
Here’s another figure. In 2008, there were an estimated 42 million displaced people in the world, 15.2 million refugees and almost one million asylum seekers.
Australia is abou tNo. 22 in the world in the ranking of countries most likely to have people lining up at the border to get in. More people actually apply to get into Cyprus and Malta than they do Australia.
YESTERDAY, the Sunday papers warned that we have hit record high numbers of people arriving by boat, although the figure is only marginally higher than it was in 2001.
Julia Gillard was right when she said it would take 20 years to fill the MCG with asylum seekers as they arrive at their current rate to Australia.
More backpackers are in this country illegally than people who arrive by boat.
But what she failed to do - and still fails to do - is clearly articulate the issue as not one about a bigger Australia and immigration levels but one that has distinct and separate obligations, which we as a country have signed up to.
With every wave of migration to Australia - whether forced or encouraged, and largely in reaction to war - there have been accompanying campaigns of fear that white European heritage and culture would be further diluted.
Whether it was the Greeks and Italians, Eastern Europeans, Russians or Turkish, or the Indochinese that followed, the same fears were raised in the community and fostered for political advantage.
How ironic that there is probably not an Australian alive today who hasn’t eaten at a Vietnamese or Chinese restaurant. Beer companies now even make ads about kebabs. We all eat Greek salads and spaghetti bolognese.
Hell, there is even a North African diner in Neutral Bay that is permanently booked out.
Sadly, the current hysteria is a case of history repeating itself under a different racial and religious banner. This time the fear being cultivated is that we are to be swamped by Muslims.
Again, the notion is an absurdity. Not just because many fail, sometimes deliberately, to make distinctions between Islam and extremism, but because the numbers simply don’t stack up.
For a start, of the three main groups currently dominating illegal entrants to the country, the Tamils from Sri Lanka are predominantly Catholic or Hindu. They are not Muslim.
Of the Afghan refugees, the majority are Hazara. And while they are Muslim, the reason most are fleeing their country is because the Taliban are terrorising them for not being Muslim enough.
On both sides of politics, there are decent men and women who privately see this issue through a prism of compassion, humanity and reason.
But the politics of fear that has been allowed to fester in the community has swamped the judgment of those whose responsibility it is to lead by example and principle, and not by misguided populism. Populism should be reserved for bashing banks and a bit more humanity put back into the debate about asylum seekers.

From: Simon Benson in The Daily Telegraph.

http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/simonbenson/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/boat_people_victims_of_a_big_lie/

Defamation VS Democracy

A brilliant legal history and wide-ranging diagnosis of current discontent

This big, brave and important book argues that defamation laws are the cornerstone of Thailand's authoritarian political culture. They have strangled the media, wrecked public debate, undermined artistic and intellectual work, and ensured impunity for a long litany of state crimes. They underpin an authoritarian control of thought and expression that is extraordinary in a country that likes to think of itself as a democracy. [...]

This book is a brilliant essay on Thailand's legal history based on very detailed research into legislation and case law. In addition, it offers a complex, thoughtful and wide-ranging diagnosis of current discontents. Its rich historical and international perspective should make Thailand's democrats and Democrats pause to wonder where the country is heading.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/leisure/book/205282/defamation-vs-democracy

Nearly 200 teenage girls give birth

Thailand had two young girls who became mothers at the age of just nine years old, according to a survey by the Provincial Administration Department.

Sex Education is needed at home and in school

The survey, conducted from 2000 to 2009, documents extensive underage pregnancies in Thailand over the past decade. Details were revealed yesterday at a children's rights forum in the North.Aside from the two nine-year-olds, the survey also said there were eight girls who became mothers at the age of 10, 15 who became mothers at the age of 11, 75 aged 12 years old, 481 aged 13 years old, 2,781 aged 14 years old, 8,999 aged 15 years old and 19,402 aged 16 years old.
In 2008 alone, nearly 70,000 teenage girls (69,387) had children - an average of 190 teenage mothers giving birth every day.
Officials who conducted the national survey predicted the amount of young mothers was likely to increase.
Chusri Chuto, a senior pro?fessional development officer at the Social Development and Human Security Ministry, said the issue of underage sex and pregancies was just one of many child problems discussed at the forum.
The forum has been held annually since 1989 so that chil?dren and youths can express their opinions, talk about their problems as part of efforts to protect their rights.
She said the northern forum called on the government to ensure children's development, protection and participation without discrimination. They wanted every agency to consid?er or give priority to issues so that children benefit.
After each region had held their own forum, their propos?als will be submitted to Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva the day after the national forum, scheduled for November 19, is held.

[RAP: Away from the sensationalism of the first, bold sentence of the report and the lives of young women and girls reduced to stats there is a pressing issue here. While these girls and women are as capable as any other of loving their babies, we can assume that in the majority of cases the pregnancies were unintended and if there were safe legal options open to them many would not have gone through with their pregnancy and birth. There are of course illegal abortion clinics in Thailand, that sometimes involve small doorways, under flights of stairs around the back of small, private hospitals and the implied shame as well as prohibitive costs. But for many girls and women the research (and possible exposure) necessary to find the clinic, the costs and difficulty getting to it and the fear of an unsafe, unhygienic operation means many cannot go through with it.

Sex and relationship education in Thailand operating inside the 'sweet girl' 'bad/smart boy', "do as you're told and listen to your parents and teachers" model is dis-empowering young women and the results are evident in the report above. In addition, as reported by The Nation in July a girl who chooses or is forced to remain pregnant then faces the prospect of school exclusion and social stigma leading to problems that will last well beyond the nine-month term and very often well beyond her generation.

In 2009, The Nation reported on the need for clearer and more honest communication within familes "Some parents do not have sufficient communication with their children or ensure that they have accurate information about their bodies and the biological changes they are going through. Some even treat the issue as inappropriate. It is time that parents began to communicate with children on these issues more honestly." and schools "Sex education is absent or insufficient in schools partly because some conservatives treat the issue as taboo." Rates of unplanned teenage pregnancies and the resulting difficult process of finding a safe abortion are shown to be higher in conservative dominated areas and in girls and young women who become pregnant the rates of suicide rise. It is time for change and to grow up.

A study in Chiang Mai found a need for "targeted training and support for teachers; peer-led sex education by teenagers; story-based scenarios to promote applied learning; local development of educational materials; and use of trained sexual health professionals to address learning needs of pupils, teachers, and parents."

Young people have sex for many reasons and their reasons are usually the same as for adults. Bearing in mind that in Thailand young people's curiosity, hormones and impulsiveness will lead to sex, like they do everywhere else, Thailand needs to look at this properly. Thailand's young women and girls (and boys) deserve better, they deserve help accessing help and advice, accessing contraception, accessing learning about relationships and assertiveness to overcome coercion. If this doesn't come from their parents, teachers, and health workers it will come from their friends and from movies and online. Where that leads to, is here.]

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home/2010/11/07/national/Nearly-200-teenage-girls-give-birth-30141689.html

Burma's cynical bid for approval, a rigged ballot

The military's elaborate seven-point road map is designed simply to assure the Army will still rule.

 

In democracies, going to the polls is the best method for voters to keep or remove politicians who have fulfilled or failed to respond to the needs of their constituencies. However, the scheduled election in Burma today has a different function. It merely aims to legitimise the horrible regime of General Than Shwe, who has ruled his country with an iron fist.
After decades of oppression, the regime believes that it can give itself a face-lift by staging an elaborate multi-pronged scheme of democratisation, known as a seven-point road map. This blueprint will reach its finale when the polling booths across Burma open today.
The outcome is clear: the government's nominee party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party, will win the majority. It is 20 years since the previous election, when the opposition party, led by Aung San Suu Kyi, overwhelmingly won the vote. Burma's top generals have since learnt valuable lessons on how not to be defeated again. This time around, they have devised a long-term strategy and complicated ways and means to ensure that the USDP and their cronies in various forms and colours will win big. No wonder, several townships have the audacity to declare winners ahead of the polls. The Burmese military junta leaders are clever enough to use the electoral process as an effective instrument to wash their bloody hands. After all, the world community still considers a bad election better than no election. There have been lessons aplenty offering an insight into the role elections play in failed states or underdeveloped or controlled nations.
Take for instance what happened in Afghanistan or Sudan. Subsequent international acceptance was given, although reluctantly. With that kind of political expediency, the junta has chosen to go with the growing sentiment that an election, albeit heavily rigged and managed, is better than none.
No wonder the election in Burma has generated serious division among the Burmese community both inside and outside the country. Supporters continue to view the poll as a small window to express their preferences - the only freedom they have. Some of these voters obviously want to use their votes as an ultimate tool to punish the regime that has ignored the population. For opponents, today's election is a sham and nothing positive will come out of it. It is sad that no international monitoring teams or observers are allowed to assess the real intention of the estimated 27.4 million voters.
Representatives of UN agencies and foreign missions will be allowed to visit some polling stations, but with restrictions. Repeated Asean offers to dispatch a team of observers, which would join up with their missions based inside Burma, has been ignored by the regime. Even without any cooperation, Asean is poised to accept the poll's outcome, which we already know.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home/2010/11/07/opinion/Burmas-cynical-bid-for-approval-a-rigged-ballot-30141680.html

Burma soldier: 'I would never vote in this election'

Myo Myint Cho, 48, served in the Burmese army. Discharged after losing a leg and an arm in a minefield, he became a supporter of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and started giving speeches outside military bases. He was jailed for 15 years, suffering mistreatment and torture. He has lived in the US since 2008 and is the subject of a new British documentary, Burma Soldier, directed by Nic Dunlop. 

End the junta

If I were in Burma, I would never vote in this election. I never trust to the government's promises. When the junta held an election in 1990, it promised the Burmese people and the international community that it would transfer power to the elected body and return to barracks.
The military broke their promise, arrested elected candidates and threw them into prison. Now they are trying to hold another sham election to give legitimacy to the 2008 constitution, which reaffirms absolute control of the junta. So if people vote in this election, it means further legitimising of the military government.
There are different ways to weaken the junta. Some believe in armed struggle, some believe in non-violence. I believe in mass movement combined with international pressure. If we can stage mass movement – you can call it people power movement – it should be led by Aung San Suu Kyi and the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), which won the last election in 1990 with 60% of the vote. The junta must come to the table to negotiate with democratic forces. I believe that this is the best way to weaken the regime. There is a role for economic sanctions but they are not the one and only way to change Burma's political situation. The US should continue its diplomatic pressure and should try to persuade to China, India, and other Southeast Asian countries to impose economic sanctions against the regime.
There are so many soldiers in Burma who feel like me. However, they have no opportunity to express how they feel and they dare not. On the surface, Burma's military seem to be strong, but many of the lower ranks do not like their officers as the higher-ups act only out of self-interest. Last month I heard about dissatisfied soldiers who tried to stage a demonstration. The generals routinely neglect the daily problems and needs of their soldiers, who are deserting more and more. The number of deserters is getting bigger and bigger. However, you will never be able to get an accurate number because every regiment commander always omits the number of deserters.
Very few people in Burma have access to the internet or satellite, although some people in big cities do have internet access. But many Burmese have DVD players at home, so if they have DVD or video compact discs they will be able to watch the film.
I hope it will make soldiers serving the regime think about their actions and their treatment of civilians. After watching it, they can ask themselves whether their behaviour towards civilians is good or bad, just or unjust. I hope it will help them turn towards the people and to join the people's movements.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/05/burma-election-myo-myint-cho

Widening income gap key obstacle to true democracy, panel says

From Bangkok Post:
  
Many negative socio-economic factors such as absentee parents and gaps in economic conditions and educational opportunities hinder the development of Thai democracy, a panel said yesterday.  
Seven per cent of the 20 million households in Thailand have absentee parents, which results in their children being left behind to be looked after by ageing grandparents. This leads to inadequate educational care for children - a trend that is growing especially in the North and Northeast, Niphon Puapongsakorn, chairman of the Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI), said.
"This matter is directly linked to the current [political] conflict," he said. Niphon was speaking at a conference on social equality and Thai democracy organised by the King Prajadhipok Institute. The "replication of poverty" continues because grandparents, who are often less educated than their children, cannot nurture the need for knowledge in their grandchildren.
Another worrying trend is the widening income gap. Those with just high-school education under their belts experience the slowest growth in income, while people from low-income families are less likely to enter university.
Niphon said another worrying disparity was the huge gap of wealth, which could be bridged if the government introduced inheritance tax.
In a separate survey, Thawilwadee Burikul, King Prajadhipok Institute's research and development director, said only 25 per cent of Thais had savings. Meanwhile, 7 per cent of the respondents said they had to change residence recently because they could no longer afford the rent.
As for the dropping level of trust in society, Thawilwadee said most respondents had little trust in what they saw on television since the 2006 coup, while only 1 per cent of the population were politically active on the Internet.

Respondents in her survey were asked to weigh the value of democracy vis-a-vis the economy, and about half said the two were equally important, while 17 per cent considered the economy more important.
Only 6 per cent of the respondents valued democracy more.
Thawilwadee said that if people cared for the quality of democracy they should pay more attention to issues such as caring, allowing and accepting people who think differently and helping raise the level of trust among fellow countrymen.


http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home/2010/11/06/politics/Widening-income-gap-key-obstacle-to-true-democracy-30141641.html