2-9 July: Still No Freedom for Burma’s Students

July 10, 2012

Over the weekend, Thein Sein’s government has shown to harbour the same paranoia regarding students that successive military regimes have held for the past fifty years as nearly two dozen student activists were arrested on Friday evening.

Saturday July 7 marked fifty years since the massacre of students by the Ne Win-led military regime and the subsequent bombing of the student union building at the University of Rangoon. To mark the event, a group of students planned to hold a ceremony at the long-empty building and lay a wreath at its door. Yet in a shameless act of fear, the authorities arrested around twenty student activists in a pre-emptive act, and detained them until after the event had been scheduled to take place. Students were not only arrested in Rangoon, but in Lashio, Mandalay, Shwebo, and Myingyan too. According to an 88 Generation Student spokesperson, the authorities claimed they just wanted to talk to the organizers of the event but this scarcely fools anyone.

When General Ne Win staged a coup in 1962, students who protested were brutally fired upon. Following this the army blew up the student union building at University of Rangoon and it has not reopened since. After students led the protests of 1988, the University of Rangoon was closed and in the following years universities were relocated to outside the main urban centres of Burma, thus making it difficult for students to come together.

To this day the forming of a student union remains outlawed, thus demonstrating how the military backed government is still doing all it can to prevent freedom of association. Students have to sign a pledge upon entering university that they will not become involved in any political activities. Those who do become involved face arrest, as we have seen over the weekend. All Burma Federation of Students Union (ABFSU) (an outlawed student organization) member, D Nyein Linn, who spent Friday night in prison stated, “When you look to a democratic nation – the constitution allows freedom for formation of associations, but we feel like this law is unreachable to us. We don’t feel the law can provide us safety.”

Son Chhay, a Cambodian lawmaker who was visiting Burma at the time in his role as Vice-President of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucasus (AIPMC) echoed this sentiment, “If they are even going to arrest people before any crime has taken place, this shows that they continue to use fear and intimidation to repress.”

Thus, President Thein Sein has joined the ranks of Ne Win and Than Shwe by forcefully preventing students from gathering peacefully. We call on President Thein Sein to immediately remove student unions from the list of unlawful organizations, repeal the Unlawful Association Act along with other existing laws that restrict freedom of association, thus allowing student unions to be formed.

The President would also do well to adhere to the advice of his economic advisor, U Myint, who called for the reopening of the University of Rangoon and rebuilding of the student union building as this would constitute “an important landmark in national reconciliation and a memorable way to start a new chapter in our history.” It seems, however, that fifty years of barring the union of students is not long enough for the current government.

News Highlights

Around 25 political prisoners released in last amnesty

Union Election Commission tells Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to stop calling the country “Burma”; she answers that under freedom of expression, she can choose how to refer to her country

Inside Burma

Daw Suu visits her constituency of Kawhmu to listen to residents describe their daily hardships before attending a session of Parliament at the Lower House for the first time

President Thein Sein’s office reshuffles deputy ministers from six ministries

Vice President Tin Aung Myint Oo resigns, ostensibly for health reasons; former general and chief minister of Rangoon Region Myint Swe is nominated as his replacement

88 Generation Student Group meets with Shwe Mann, speaker of the Lower House of Parliament, and raises the issue of needed legal reforms

Shwe Mann leads a group of MPs to visit Arakan State

Kachin Independence Organization rejects the government’s offer to hold peace talks in Bhamo Township after clashes with the Burma Army take place near Laiza

Burma Army denies entry to UN aid agencies transporting humanitarian supplies to 30 refugee camps sheltering thousands of Kachin people

Shan State Army-North agrees to withdraw from two of its military bases

Clashes continue in Shan and Karenni States despite ceasefire agreements and in Thandaung Township, Karen State

Karen Environmental and Social Action Network expresses concerns about a lack of transparency in the Norway Peace Initiative process

Construction of controversial dam projects on the Salween River are accelerating after the signing of a ceasefire agreement with the Karen National Union

Max Myanmar pulls out of the controversial Tavoy project, leaving the viability of the project in doubt

Around 40 monasteries are being destroyed in Naypyidaw to make way for new development projects

Railways Minister Aung Min confirms plans to begin construction later this year of a railway linking Rangoon and Bangkok

Regional

ASEAN says it will release only some elements of the draft ASEAN Human Rights Declaration

President Thein Sein to visit Thailand on July 22; postpones trip to Bangladesh

International

US Senate confirms the nomination of Derek Mitchell as the first US Ambassador to Burma in two decades

Britain’s biggest companies, including British Petroleum and Shell, send representatives to Burma as part of the first government-sponsored trade delegation to the country in nearly two decades

Jackie Chan arrives in Burma to campaign against child trafficking

Latest from the Blog

Burma’s Parliament Must Strive for Greater Transparency and Accessibility
By Burma Partnership

Actions

More than 1,500 people peacefully protest in Myitkyina, Kachin State, calling for the release of a detained refugee who has been brutally tortured by security forces. See more photos here

Opinion

Will the Burma Road End in Democracy?
By Walden Bello
Foreign Policy in Focus

Crawling up Through the Wreckage
The Economist

Burmese Lawyers Suspicious of Reforms
By Kremena Krumova
The Epoch Times

Statements and Press Releases

Open Letter to the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (AMM) on the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration
By 63 national and regional organizations

Situation in Rakhine (Arakan) State and the Rule of Law
By 31 human rights groups worldwide

Myanmar: Release Remaining Prisoners of Conscience
By Amnesty International

AIPMC Calls for Release of Student Leaders Detained Ahead of July 7 Commemoration Events
By ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus

Student Activist Arrests Warning Sign on Limits of Burma Reform
By Burma Campaign UK

No Political Prisoners Must Remain in Jail! Free Myint Aye!
By Burma Campaign UK

Mass Arrests of Rohingya Taking Place
By Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK

Burma: Campaign Groups Call for Citizenship Law Reform
By Christian Solidarity Worldwide

Burma: Mass Arrests, Raids on Rohingya Muslims
By Human Rights Watch

ASEAN: Ensure Declaration Meets Rights Standards
By Human Rights Watch

Thailand: Don’t Deport Pregnant Migrant Workers
By Human Rights Watch

Letter to the AMM From International Organisations on the Draft ASEAN Human Rights Declaration
By International Commission of Jurists, International Federation for Human Rights, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Dignity International and Article 19

UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Jackie Chan Meets Young Trafficking Survivors in Myanmar
By United Nations Children’s Fund