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Price Hikes as Gas and Transport Charges Go Up in Burma

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MoeMaKa Reporter (Yangon)

February 28, 2011

In Burma, merchants and travelers complainingly said that prices of goods and transport charges were rising up, as the domestic price of petrol and diesel went up by over 30%, because of the rise in the price of the fuel in the world. Commodity prices in Yangon and other towns are now shooting up for the high costs of transport, affected by the restriction called ‘ASEAN STANDARD’, which is not allowed trucks to exceed permitted payload and imposed recently by the authority concerned.

During this week, the price of diesel reached 4000 kyat (over US $4) from 3800 kyat, and then it rose up to 4200 kyat (over US $5), in next few days. The petrol price, similarly, went up more 500 kyat (around US $0.50) than its last week’s price and reached 3900 to 4000 kyat (around US $5) in black market.

Although gasoline is being sold at the price of 2500 kyat per gallon, a price fixed by the regime in private stations, the owners of automobiles and motorcycles have to wait for several hours to get a permit to buy it with that price. Thus the work queuing up for petrol and reselling it in black market becomes business in Burma. In the illegal trade, the price of petrol went up to 3900 kyat (over US $4).

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View form Rangoon – by MoeMaKa Street Reporter

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Last Week of February, 2011

 

Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) Plans to Seize the Low Level Administrative Power

After attempting forcibly to win over 80 percent in last year’s election, occupying 25% of parliamentary seats by the military officers and forming a Cabinet overwhelmed by their own members, USDP is planning to replace the positions of the quarter level administration with its members.

News, during these days, has spread that USDP started replacing its members in the ranks of quarter peace and development council, in some Rangoon’s townships.

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Thee Brothers Teaching Burmese Dance to Displaced Children

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MoeMaKa Ywar Saw Gyi

February 24, 2011

Kyal Thee, a comedian of Thee brothers, stated that they started teaching Burmese traditional dancing to displaced Burmese children for free at their home in Chiang Mai. According to their announcement posted on their blog http://theelaytheet4t.blogspot.com, the dancing class would start at 11:00 am on Saturday and it is free of charge. He also added that the course will only last for 2-3 months.

“We believe that Burmese traditional arts, music, and dance will greatly help them to feel happy, and soothe their tired minds and bodies while these stateless Burmese children, who had to cross from their homeland to another country, are both physically and mentally suffering from harshness of life, poverty and pressures of different surroundings. It is also our wish to do so,” said Ko Kyal Thee.

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Friends of MoeMaKa will Pledge to Continue the Support of NLD Works Towards Political Prisoners

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MoeMaKa

February 25, 2011

At the beginning of year 2011, MoeMaKa media team announced that 600 political prisoners being currently helped by NLD’s social assistance body would be honored with ‘Friends of MoeMaKa Award.’ We would like to present to our world-wide readers that, according to our commitment, we were able to make the donations of over US $1000 to those political prisoners after raising an initial aid of over US $6 from our reserve funds, courtesy of donations of MoeMaKa team members and added collected public contributions.

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Petrol Price Hikes in Burma as Middle East Crisis Arises

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February 25, 2011

It is seen, during these days, that world-wide price of oil went up because of political instability in Middle East countries and Burmese domestic fuel prices followed it.

Price in Yangon (US $4)

According to the automobile owners from Yangon and the countryside, it is learnt that prices for a gallon of diesel suddenly rose up to 3800 kyat from 3000 kyat, and high octane petrol suddenly rose up to and to 3500 from 3300 kyat (around US $4 of black market rate).

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Union Day of Burma in Different Perspectives

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Khin Hnin Lwin (Yangon)

February 13, 2011

The Armed Union Day

It was on the afternoon of February 11. Being riding in a city bus, I saw a scene from its window: armed men in military uniforms were standing here and there while some uniformed police were searching for something by digging the grass using iron sticks at the both sides of Pyi road, in front of the people’s square and former parliament building. The faces of those in search of something seemed to show that they were doing this work only dutifully, and they had to carry out this task because of the order from superiors even though they did not expect to find anything.

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Burmese in Singapore Celebrate Burma Union Day and Birthday of Suu’s Father

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MoeMaKa Reporter (Singapore)

February 14, 2011

Yesterday, the admirers and prople of Burma in Singapore gathered and were able to successfully commemorate the Union day of Burma and the 96th birthday of Bogyoke Aung San, the founding-father of Burma’s independence and the father of present NLD leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. It is reported that the organizers had to negotiate repeatedly and faced many obstacles to obtain the permission for the ceremony site in which, to hold the event, hence they could not make it widely known to Burmese in Singapore.

A friend of Moemaka told that this is the first ceremony ever organized in Singapore regarding Burma history. The desired banner for the event “Birthday of Bogyoke Aung San” was not allowed by Singapore authority. So, we had to use the co-banner read “The Union Day and Bogyoke’s Birthday.” The shows of national costumes and music concert of ethnic nationalities brought the celebration alive.

As far as Moemaka could inquire, Singapore government granted the permission for the celebration only at the last minute. “MoeMaKa world-wide readers did not, in advance, learn of the event as being Saturday in Singapore when the invitation was posted in Ywa-Saw-Gyi section of its blog”, said informants from Singapore. It is also seen that few people could manage to attend to the commemoration because the organizers had to urge and invite as much as they could reach in a very short time.

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Burmese in NYC With 30 Food Vendors to Raise Fund to Help Burma

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MoeMaKa Reporter (New York)

February 15, 2011

It is reported that over 30 food stalls will participate in the charity sale of the Burmese and Asia traditional food, planned to be held in Woodside compound of New York city coming February 23, Sunday. The residents of NYC are collectively hosting this fund-raising and members of Citizen of Burma (CoBA) New York chapter and World Arakanese Organization (WAO) formed by local well-wishers, will volunteer their services to do sundry tasks and chores.

“We will collect donations by selling foods and drinks. We are going to cook and serve favorite dishes of Burmese families such as Mohinga(rice noodles with gravy), Shan noodles, Wet-thar-dote-htoe(well-cooked, sliced meat and entrails of a pig, skewered and served with chilli or tomato sauce),Tofu salad, Phet-htout-gyaw(minced meat, wrapped in dough, fried), Samusa(fried-stuffed pastry) salad, as well as buttered rice with chicken curry, Kyet-thar-kala-thar-hin(rustled up chicken curry) and other varieties of Rakhine traditional food. We will donate what we have earned from this sale,” an organizer explained the arrangements of the fair to MoeMaKa.

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Political Prisoners in Tharyawaddy Jail Receives More Sentences Over 60 Years

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Moe Yan Ma Ka, February 13, 2011

At 2:00 pm on 11.2.2011, seven political prisoners from Thayawaddy prison were charged with code 4(A) and code (3) under explosives Act and sentenced to many years of imprisonment by the court of Tarmwe township in Yangon east district.

Those who received their additional sentences are Ko Htaw Lwin, Ko Kyaw Swar Lin (aka) Kusaryel, Ko Kyaw Zin Oo, Ko Htet Ko Lwin and Daw Khin Yee as well as the former central committee member of ABSDF Ko Aye Min Naing, also a member of Patriotic Democratic Party and Democratic Party for New Society (DPNS), which was aborted by the junta in the 1990 election and his wife Ma San San Maw.

On the 25th of March,2008, being accused of possessing explosives and related items in Kusaryel, all of them were originally put on trial for several acts such as code 17(1), 13(1),19(A),6(1), and were sentenced to 18 years in prison under the decision (dated 5.9.2008) by Pegu division court.

In the same month, another trial for code 4(A), they were again faced in the courts of Kyauktada and Panbadan townships of Yangon, adding 20 years imprisonment, making  a total of 38 years for each of them.

For the third time, from the same courts, they [above mentioned activists] received two further separate sentences of 10 years each for code 3(6) of assisting those who try to explode. At that time, all of them had been already sentenced to 58 years in prison.

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Maung Sue San Accuses Second Pinlon of Meaningless Move by The Opposition

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MoeMaka Reporter

February 5, 2011

 

 

In today’s issue of ‘Myanmar Alin’ newspaper, the translator and article writer Maung Sue San accusingly wrote, in his article, that the Second Pinlon Conference is pointless, hailing the forthcoming Union Day.

He described that the second Pinlon currently mentioned by the NLD is not a reasonable move and only reflects illogical thoughts of those proclaim it, although he “can understand the first Pinlon as a process of seeking institutions” for country’s independence struggles being the period of institutions were needed.

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While USDP Parliament in Progress, Burmese Internet Speed at a Snail’s pace

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MoeMaKa reporter (Yangon) February 5, 2011 It is learnt that the internet speed for the public use is so slow during this week including Yangon area in Burma, and Myanmar Post and Telecommunications department (MPT) answered that the main server…

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Junta Transferring Government’s Buildings to Private Business Secretly

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MoeMaKa Reporter (Yangon)

February 3, 2011

Headquarter of Myanmar Petroleum and Natural Gas being surrounded by scaffoldings in need of repairs

After the last year election, three government buildings in Yangon downtown area are the last in the process of secretly transferring state-owned properties to private companies, by the present regime, before the new government comes into power.

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Regime’s USDP Parliaments appointed USDP’s President- Thein Sein

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MoeMaKa Reporter (Yangon)

February 4, 2011

This afternoon, news emerged that Burmese junta’s newly-convened parliaments elected vice-president and retired general U Thein Sein as new President of Burma with 408 votes out of 659. Holding the position of Prime minister appointed by current regime’s War Council, Thein Sein, an ex-general, ran in the last year election for the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP).

It is a matter to keep watch how he will form a government, and who will occupy the minister posts in the Cabinet. According to the junta’s 2008 constitution, the President shall lead the Nation Defense and Security Council regarding the armed forces.

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Burmese in Rakhine Still Short of Relief Aid and Program- WAO told MoeMaKa

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MoeMaKa Interview

1st February, 2011

 

Cyclone Giri struck the Rakhine coast on October 22-23 in 2010, devastating many people, buildings, and businesses in the region. Moemaka was able to have a chance to interview a Rakhine social organization about its experience and activities for providing relief aids, and rehabilitation of the storm-affected areas. The organization said that Burmese residents of New York City (NYC) are planning to launch a fund raising, coming February 20. Moemaka recently spoke with Ko Kyaw Win and Ko Zaw Zaw Htun, spokespersons for the World Arakanese Organization (WAO), whichcarries out the job of rebuilding areas destroyed by Cyclone Giri. This is the interview:

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