Category: Current

Current Issues & News on Burma & Burmese people with the sub sections – News, Feature, Interview, Photo-News, Op-Ed and so on

Oakland Digital hosts first meeting between Burmese Community & White House AAPI Chair

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an article written by our host Oakland Digital.

http://us1.campaign-archive1.com/?u=09263c5f2e79b9a7cad2d6807&id=1bd43a4a7d&e=7939de2352

On Thursday, August 18th 2011, Oakland Digital Arts & Literacy Center (ODALC) hosted the first meeting between the Burmese Community and Daphne Kwok, Chair of President Barack Obama’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders. This historic gathering in downtown Oakland was part of the White House Initiative for positive change in the AAPI community.

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The Role of Students in the 8888 People’s Uprising in Burma

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By Assistant Association for Political Prisoners (Burma)

August 8th 2011

 Twenty three years ago today, on 8 August 1988, hundreds of thousands of people flooded the streets of Burma demanding an end to the suffocating military rule which had isolated and bankrupted the country since 1962. Their united cries for a transition to democracy shook the core of the country, bringing Burma to a crippling halt. Hope radiated throughout the country. Teashop owners replaced their store signs with signs of protest, dock workers left behind jobs to join the swelling crowds, and even some soldiers were reported to have been so moved by the demonstrations to lay down their arms and join the protestors. There was so much promise.

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SF Bay Area Burmese Successfully Hosts 88 Commenmoration

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The Burmese Community was able to successfully host the Commenmoration of the 23rd Anniversay of 8.8.88, which was held in Ceasar Chavez Education Center in Oakland, CA. The event was sponsored by 10 activist and ethnic organizations and around 100 guests attended. Stage performances, exhibitions, and presentations were part of said event.

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“Is he out of touch from reality?”

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Question for U Win Tin from MoeMaKa

July 25th, 2011

 

It has been a while we could not get interview with U Win Tin due to the poor phone line and also due to his health condition. As he was spending time in hospital, it was hard for us to get the phone connection with him too. Some has concerns for missing our weekly interview with U Win Tin but a few told us to give up doing interview pieces with U Win Tin because he became old, fragile and sick so that he had misses and out of touch with NLD and the current situation in Burma. However, we MoeMaKa as soon as we had chance to talk to him, we made interview with him again.

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Maung Yit – Internet Activism in Burma and Challenges

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Introduction

These notes were prepared when invited to attend the Al Jazeer Forum on May 17th 2011. I was invited and introduced on the forum page at (http://forum.aljazeera.net/us/node/425) as follows; ” Maung Yit is Founder and Editor of MoeMaKa News Group for Burmese Community founded in 2003. He works as an IT consultant at day and works as news blogger and editor at night for MoeMaKa News Group and with anonymous citizen journalists and writers/ artists from Burma. His mission is to promote and raise awareness of the struggle for democracy and freedom under the current repressive Burmese regime. He has published interviews with Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, U Win Tin and other Burmese activists from Burma on his website, blog and online publication.”

Even though attending the forum was a great experience for me and my participation in the “Stream” had some time limitation to express all my notes at the show, I have to take the liberty at our own website to post my notes for further reference to readers and interested audience.

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Rangoon View 1st Week of March 2011- MoeMaKa Street Journalist

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Delaying the parliament’s schedule, the present military government is speeding up its moves, to sell country’s natural resources and to give its cronies lucrative contracts to manage state-owned properties, at the same time.

It has been seen that not only the passenger buses, but also the luxurious cars like ‘Mark Two’, join the business of queuing up for petrol at the private stations for hours and reselling it on black market, to earn extra money of 10000 kyat.

The junta does not try to formulate the effective economic policies – letting private enterprises do business freely – to control the consumer goods prices, nor to enforce essential laws so as to be competitive in the market. Thus it is likely to cause inflation and social crises after junta’s plan to raise salaries.

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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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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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