A plea for forgiveness

The mother was holding her baby tightly under an umbrella, trying her best to guard him from the pouring rain.

I could not see her face in the picture. But as a mother, I could feel her shaking fear, not for herself, but for her baby's safety, as a group of soldiers forced her and other Karen refugees to board a boat back to the war zone in Burma.

As a Buddhist, I know I should not feel enraged. Yet I was doubly enraged at the forced repatriation in Mae Hong Son last week.

It is bad enough to know that Thai troops have no heart for the innocent people who are war victims. But to force them back to face possible violence and death on the holy day of Asarnha Bucha? How could they possibly do this?

The cruelty is eye-opening. When such an important holy day has no power to arouse even a pinch of morality among those who declare themselves as the protectors of Buddhism, and when society at large feels nothing against such inhumanity, we are in a very deep, dark pitch.

But condemnation, however legitimate, only deepens our negativity. To have any hope at all of cleansing our souls and our sins, we must probe the roots of such cruelty.

It helps to go back to the gist of the Buddha's First Sermon on Asarnha Bucha Day. In case we have forgotten, here it is:

Our suffering stems from our likes and dislikes rooted in the false sense of self.

To end this cycle, we need to see that we are mere temporary composites of mind and matter under the natural laws of impermanence and conditionality. To realise this truth, the Buddha advises we follow the Eight-fold Path to see for ourselves the natural laws or dharma, to maintain ethical conduct, and to foster spiritual development.

The path helps us to avoid hurting or exploiting others. When the cessation of anger, greed and delusion can be many lifetimes away, constant contemplation on impermanence can miraculously fill our hearts with calm and loving kindness.

The realities of our daily struggles and politics have made it difficult to follow the path. That is why we celebrate Asarnha Bucha, so we can stop and review ourselves.

Buddhism is an optimistic system. People are not originally bad. Our behaviour is conditioned. We can change when the conditioning changes.

So we must ask why the military and the public believe that forced repatriation is not sinful? Also, why do we believe we are good Buddhists when we treat ethnic peoples like dirt?

Is it because fear has made us heartless? Is it because our traditional concept of sin has become too narrow for the modern age? Or is it because we are the faithful followers of a religion much more powerful than Buddhism - that of racist nationalism?

Is it all of the above?

The forced repatriation in Mae Hong Son last week was not the first, and it won't be the last, which failed to shake our hearts.

The public felt undisturbed when a group of youngsters from the Hmong refugee camp in Phetchabun was repatriated to Laos without their parents. Their camp was burned down after a petition against power and sexual abuse. And when they tried to make their voices heard in Bangkok, they were immediately deported to risk their lives from persecution in Laos.

Similarly, we feel nothing in using immigrant workers as slave labour, or when their families are shattered by separate deportations.

Meanwhile, the deep South has become a war zone because we insist on seeing the ethnic Muslim Malays as outsiders.

If this is not racist nationalism, what is?

As the country is fired up by the Preah Vihear nationalistic frenzy, I wonder how the Karen mothers and their children are doing back in the war zone.

It is still raining hard. Can they find shelter and food? Can they stay safe? Can they forgive us our sins?

Sanitsuda Ekachai is Assistant Editor (Outlook), Bangkok Post.

Email: sanitsudae@bangkokpost.co.th


--Source: Bangkok Post

HRW Urges Donors to Ensure Burma's Rulers Do Not Divert Cyclone Aid

The U.S.-based rights group said Wednesday that aid efforts in Burma should be monitored by an independent body co-managed by donors and the United Nations. It says such a body would boost the transparency and accountability of the aid process.


The group says that since the cyclone struck in May, Burmese leaders have restricted travel by foreign aid workers and arrested some locals involved in relief efforts.

Human Rights Watch says international donors should pressure Burma to adhere to basic principles on the provision of aid.

--Read More: here

Japan Monitoring Aid Distribution to Burma

Japanese aid to Burma for the reconstruction phase in the cyclone affected areas of the Irrawaddy Delta will be determined based on an assessment of how effectively emergency aid has been delivered, a top Japanese official at the United Nations said on Thursday.

--Read More: here

Three Laputta Refugee Camps to Close

Burmese authorities will close three remaining refugee camps in Laputta, one of the areas hardest-hit by Cyclone Nargis, on August 5, forcing about 6,000 remaining refugees to return to their villages, according to sources in the township.

--Read More: here

Groups worried about end to Myanmar relief flights

BANGKOK, Thailand - Humanitarian groups say the ending of United Nations aid flights in Myanmar next month could slow a relief effort that already has come under fire for leaving many of the 2.4 million survivors without adequate food and water.

The U.N. plans to end an air link between Thailand's Don Muang airport and Myanmar Aug. 10 as well as withdrawal five helicopters that have ferrying relief supplies to the hard hit Irrawaddy delta.

The U.N. claims the move is a routine step in the relief efforts as Myanmar begins to shift into reconstructing villages, schools and the agriculture sector in the delta where 84,537 were killed and 53,836 more are missing.

--Source: here

Asean engagement of Myanmar not successful: US

WASHINGTON - A US official says the 10-member Association of South-east Asian Nations recognises that a strategy of engagement to encourage more democracy in military-led Myanmar has not been successful.

US Ambassador to Asean Scot Marciel added on Thursday that he was not being critical; other efforts to force change in Myanmar also have foundered. He says the United States welcomes Asean members who have been working to encourage Myanmar to open up.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice travels to Singapore next week for the Asean Regional Forum. Myanmar is likely to be a topic of discussion.

Mr Marciel is praising Asean for its forceful, 'unprecedented' statement of criticism of Myanmar's violent crackdown on peaceful protesters last year. -- AP

--Source:: here

Myanmar: Burmese junta profiting from aid funds?

Even as cyclone victims reel under the devastating impact of Nargis, the military rulers are lining their pockets from the aid funds donated by the international community including the UN. The money is being made by way of a twisted currency exchange mechanism – dollar to local Burmese kyat, a source in the Burmese military establishment said.

--Read More: here

First the storm, then the plague

The flies are unbearable.’ When asked how things are in the Cylone-affected Irrawaddy delta of Myanmar, the first thing that they describe is the flies. Thick clouds of biting flies fill the air around the villages, having bred in the bloated carcasses of the buffalo killed by the storm. ‘There are so many, that some of the remaining buffaloes have even been killed from the bites.’

--Read More: here

Uphill task in rebuilding lives in Nga Pu Taw

Victims of Cyclone Nargis in a village in Nga Pu Taw Township are facing an uphill task in rebuilding their lives. The trail of destruction left many dead and swept away belongings, said an...

--Read More: here

Additional £17.5 million by DFID to help Burmese cyclone survivors

Solomon
10 July 2008

New Delhi - United Kingdom's Department for International Development (DFID) on Wednesday announced that it will provide an additional £17.5 million to help cyclone victims, adding to a total of £ 45 million in aid since Cyclone Nargis lashed Burma two months ago.

David Leslie, spokesman of DFID said the donation will be handed over on Thursday during a United Nations' flash appeal in New York to aid groups working in Burma's Irrawaddy and Rangoon division.

United Nations aid agencies as well as several other international humanitarian groups have said emergency relief works and reconstruction programmes could come to halt unless more funds are provided.

The United Nations World Food Programme has said it requires US$ 28 million more to keep its six-month programme running.

The International Federation of Red Cross on Wednesday said it needed US$ 72.5 million to fund its three-year relief plans which will include emergency relief as well as long term reconstruction programmes.

Alistair Henley, head of the IFRC's Asia Pacific Zone said hundreds of thousands of Burmese people in the Irrawaddy and Rangoon division have been living precarious lives long before the cyclone hit them.

"Nargis has left them weaker and more vulnerable than ever. We must ensure not only that they regain what they lost but have improved and safer lives in the future," Henley said.

Leslie said, the DFID has decided to provide additional funds as a response to the flash appeal by the UN and international humanitarian groups.

Douglas Alexander, Secretary of DFID, in a statement on Wednesday said, "While access has improved and the rate of delivery of relief goods continues to increase, we believe that around 300,000 people are at quite serious risk if they do not get more help soon."

Leslie said, "We will wait and see what the flash appeal contains today, and then we will make an assessment where the money will go."

"We have assessment teams in Burma, they are looking at where the fund is needed for each organization," he added.

On May 2 and 3, Cyclone Nargis hit Burma's coastal divisions of Irrawaddy and Rangoon, leaving more than 138,000 dead and missing and devastated over 2.4 million people's lives.

Following the natural disaster in Burma, DFID immediately announced £5 million in aid and an additional £12 million on May 15. The DFID announced a further £10.5 million donation following the ASEAN/UN pledging conference in Rangoon on May 25, which Douglas Alexander attended.

Burma's military government, however, has appealed for US$ 11 billion in aid to fund emergency relief works and reconstruction in the cyclone affected region.

--Source: Mizzima News

UN to Continue Bangkok Briefings: Holmes

A top United Nations official said on Wednesday that the world body would continue to hold press briefings on the progress of relief efforts in cyclone-hit areas of Burma in Bangkok when needed, despite the preference of the Burmese military regime that they be held in Rangoon.

--Read More: here

Report Slams Beijing’s Burma Policy

A US-based rights group called “8-8-08 for Burma” has released a report condemning the Chinese government for its support of the Burmese military junta just one month ahead of the Beijing Olympics’ opening ceremony.

--Read More: here

Thousands of Karenni IDPs Hide in Jungle

An estimated 4,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) are currently hiding in the jungle near Hpasawng Township, about 94 kilometers south of the Karenni State capital Loikaw, according to a Karenni relief group.

--Read More: here

Regime Asks UN to Stop Press Conferences in Bangkok

Burma’s military government has asked the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and other UN agencies not to hold press conferences in Bangkok but in Rangoon, according to sources in the former Burmese capital.

--Read More: here

International community must step up response

Now, more than two months after Cyclone Nargis left a trail of death and destruction in Burma, events and developments elsewhere around the globe have captured many of the region's news headlines. But not being the centre of the media's attention does not mean that the plight of Burma is over. Unfortunately, that is far from being the case.

--Read More: here

Families still waiting for news of detained relatives - Zarganar

The families of Zarganar, Zaw Thet Htway and others involved in voluntary aid work for cyclone victims who were arrested by Burmese authorities say they are still waiting for information on their relatives.

--Read More: here

Over 400 orphans still search for parents: UNICEF

Two months after the deadly Cyclone Nargis ripped across Burma's southwestern coastal divisions, more than 400 children are still frantically searching for their parents, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said on Monday.

--Read More: here

Cyclone Orphans Take Low-Paid Work to Survive

Using a small oil lamp to seal the ends, a woman and

two children pack cheroots in to plastic bags in a small factory in Pegu,
58 kilometers (36 miles) north of Rangoon.
Sources said children orphaned by Cyclone Nargis
had migrated to the cities to find work. (Photo: AFP)

By VIOLET CHO
The Irrawaddy News

Many children orphaned by Cyclone Nargis are being employed in low-paid jobs in the Irrawaddy delta and Rangoon, according to monks in the region.

Monasteries throughout the region opened their doors to orphans, but a monk in Mawlamyinegyunn Township said children who lost their parents in the storm often preferred to live with adult survivors in their own communities, where they found work in the paddy fields and fish farms.

Other children who had lost their parents had migrated to the cities to find work in tea shops, small businesses and households, often encouraged by family members, the monk said. Some were as young as 10.

A senior monk in Mawlamyinegyunn said his monastery had sent 20 orphaned children to Phaungdawoo monastery in Mandalay, where they were being educated.

“There are so many children who desperately need care, and we are now trying to collect information and data about orphans so we can help them,” he said.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said on Monday that 428 children had been separated from their parents by the cyclone. More than 50 centers had been established to help them, said UNICEF spokesman Zafrin Chowdhury.

According to government figures, more than 84,000 people died in the cyclone and 54,000 are missing. The most vulnerable victims of the disaster were children, UNICEF said.

The International Labour Organization has expressed concern about the possibility that children may be forced to help in reconstruction work, and has warned UN agencies and relief workers of “the increased risk of incidences of forced labor, child labor, human trafficking and migrant labor as the authorities and individuals come to grips with the sheer size of the tragedy.”

Rangoon-based journalist Aung Thet Wyine contributed to this report.
--Read More: here

Junta Profits from Growing Gap in Value of Cash and FECs

The growing gap between the value of the US dollar and Burmese foreign exchange certificates (FECs)—introduced in 1994 to ensure that most hard currency that enters the country ends up in government hands—is turning Cyclone Nargis relief efforts into a major cash cow for Burma’s ruling junta.

--Read More: here

Burma aid tents through at last

Cornwall-based disaster aid charity Shelterbox has just received the first pictures of its aid helping victims of the Burma cyclone.

Hundreds of tents have been erected as part of the international response to the 2 May cyclone which left more than 130,000 people dead or missing.


--Read More: here