Tibetan Man Self-Immolates Near Lhasa
JULY 9, 2012— A Tibetan man from a village outside of Lhasa set himself on fire at the weekend in protest against Chinese rule, sources told RFA, in a rare self-immolation in the Tibet Autonomous Region.
The man, in his 20’s, shouted slogans in support of Tibet’s spiritual leader the Dalai Lama as he staged the fiery protest in the seat of Damshung county (in Chinese, Dangxiong) in Lhasa prefecture on Saturday.
“He did it around 1 p.m. on July 7 in front of an old community hall in Damshung. He was able to walk about 100 meters (110 yards) with his body on fire before falling down,” a source in Lhasa city told RFA, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“He called for the long life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama,” the source said.
Police took him away from the scene to get him medical treatment, the source said.
Condition unknown
His identity and condition could not be confirmed, though he is believed to be 22 or 23 years old and a resident of Damshung’s Chode village.
“The police arrived and took him to a local hospital in Damshung but they could not treat him there, so he was rushed to a hospital in Lhasa city,” one source said.
“Ninety percent of his body was reported to be burnt.”
A Tibetan in exile with contacts in Damshung said police had prevented others from seeing the protestor and telling others about his condition.
“No one was allowed to see him after he was rushed to the [Damshung] hospital and at the same time some were warned not to give information to outside sources,” the source said.
“At this point, we don't know where he is and dead or alive.”
An officer at the Damshung police station contacted by RFA denied the incident.
Authorities have tightened security in Damshung since the incident, the exile source said, citing contacts in the region.
“Right now the security is extremely tight in Damshung. All phone lines are cut off and those in Lhasa city cannot reach their contacts in Damshung,” he said on Sunday.
43 self-immolations
The Damshung incident brings to 43 the total number of self-immolations reported since February 2009 as Tibetans challenge Chinese policies which they say have robbed them of their rights.
Of the 43, the Damshung man is the fourth to self-immolate in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR).
All of the other self-immolations have occurred in Tibetan-populated areas of the Chinese provinces of Sichuan, Qinghai, and Gansu.
The burnings have intensified over the past year and resulted in a Chinese security clampdown across the region.
The authorities have detained hundreds of monks from monasteries and jailed scores of Tibetan writers, artists, singers, and educators for asserting Tibetan national identity and civil rights, exile sources say.
Previous self-immolator
Meanwhile, the condition one of the two men who self-immolated in central Lhasa in May—in the only incident reported in Tibet’s capital city—remains unclear.
RFA previously reported that Thargyal, who self-immolated along with another young man sources identified as Tseten Dorjee in front of the Jokhang Temple on May 27, had died Saturday evening after succumbing to his injuries.
But subsequent information indicated that he remains under intensive care.
“On July 7, Thargyal … had all the indications that he died. However the medical team at the police hospital in Lhasa conducted three hours of emergency recovery treatment and he recovered,” a source in Lhasa told RFA Sunday, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Since the two men self-immolated in Lhasa, authorities have tightened security in the city, closing down a hotel where the two men had stayed and a restaurant where they had worked, another source there said.
"Security restrictions in Lhasa were increased after the incident and now the level of surveillance and restriction is still intense,” he said.
He added that the restrictions had been tightened ahead of the Dalai Lama’s 77th birthday on July 6 and targeted those from the Tibetan-populated areas neighboring the TAR.
“Tibetans who are not residents of Lhasa need five different permits to stay there and the restrictions are more intense on those Tibetans who come from the Kham and Amdo regions,” the source said.
Reported by RFA’s Tibetan Service. Translated by Karma Dorjee. Written in English by Rachel Vandenbrink.
View this story online at: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/tibet/self-immolation-07092012190739.html
Radio Free Asia is a private, nonprofit corporation broadcasting and publishing online news, information, and commentary in nine East Asian languages to listeners who do not have access to full and free news media. RFA’s broadcasts seek to promote the rights of freedom of opinion and expression, including the freedom to “seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” RFA is funded by an annual grant from the Broadcasting Board of Governors.
If you no longer wish to receive RFA news releases, send an e-mail to engnews-leave(a)rfanews.org. To add your name to our mailing list, send an e-mail to engnews-join(a)rfanews.org .
#####
All media inquiries may be sent to Rohit Mahajan at <mailto:mahajanr@rfa.org> mahajanr(a)rfa.org.
cid:image001.png@01CCE405.460E1840
Thein Sein Predicts Tough Fight in 2015 Elections
SEPT. 28, 2012— Burmese President Thein Sein predicted Friday that his ruling military-backed party will face a "neck-and-neck" fight from opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) in crucial 2015 elections.
He said unlike the 2010 polls, when his Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) swept nearly 80 percent or 883 seats out of the 1,154 electoral seats that were up for grabs, the elections in three years time will be very different.
"Back in 2010, USDP hardly had a rival as it was the strongest one," Thein Sein told RFA's Burmese service on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York which he is attending.
"It [USDP] has been organizing for many years, and had a good foundation then. But later, the NLD came in and it also has certain amount of supporters. So in 2015, both have to compete neck-and-neck and have to try hard, that's what I see," the former military general said.
The NLD had boycotted the 2010 elections called by the then ruling military junta and the party was legally banned as a result.
Reform process
Although the polls were seen as unfair by human rights groups, they ushered in a nominally civilian government led by Thein Sein who launched a reform process that encouraged Western governments to lift long running sanctions on the once pariah state.
Thein Sein also allowed the NLD to re-register itself, paving the way for the party to contest in April 2012 elections for the first time since 1990, when the NLD's poll victory was not recognized by the military rulers then.
The NLD swept 43 of the 44 seats up for grabs in April by-elections, becoming the biggest opposition party in the military-dominated parliament.
Four of the seats captured by the NLD were in Naypyidaw, the country's capital and bastion of the military and government.
Political pundits say the next election in 2015 will be crucial as it will determine whether the powerful military will accept a win by the NLD.
At present, 25 percent of parliamentary seats are reserved for active duty military officers and together, the military and the USDP control more than 80 percent of the seats.
Another term
On Thursday, Thein Sein said in reply to a question at a forum that he may consider serving another term in office if the country and people want him to do so.
"If I have my way, I will only serve one term,” said the 67-year-old leader, who assumed office for a five-year term beginning March 2011.
“But of course the future of the position depends on the needs of country and the wishes of the people,” he said in response to a question from the floor at a forum hosted by the New York-based Asia Society.
It was believed to be his first direct response to a question on his future since he came to power under a nominally civilian government replacing decades of brutal military rule.
Reported by Thin Thiri of RFA's Burmese service. Translation by Khin May Zaw. Written in English by Parameswaran Ponnudurai.
View this story online at: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/burma/election-09282012195833.html
Radio Free Asia is a private, nonprofit corporation broadcasting and publishing online news, information, and commentary in nine East Asian languages to listeners who do not have access to full and free news media. RFA’s broadcasts seek to promote the rights of freedom of opinion and expression, including the freedom to “seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” RFA is funded by an annual grant from the Broadcasting Board of Governors.
If you no longer wish to receive RFA news releases, send an e-mail to engnews-leave(a)rfanews.org. To add your name to our mailing list, send an e-mail to engnews-join(a)rfanews.org .
#####
All media inquiries may be sent to Rohit Mahajan at <mailto:mahajanr@rfa.org> mahajanr(a)rfa.org.
cid:image001.png@01CCE405.460E1840
Burma ‘One Step’ Away From Peace in Kachin
SEPT. 20, 2012— Authorities in Burma are just “one step” away from striking a peace deal with ethnic Kachin rebels, removing one of the last key obstacles to the process of national reconciliation in the country, the government’s top peace negotiator said Thursday.
“For now, only the Kachin are left in the [peace] process. But I think even the Kachin issue—this problem will be solved in only one step further,” Aung Min, a minister in President Thein Sein's office, told RFA’s Burmese service in Washington.
Burma recently signed peace agreements with 10 other armed ethnic groups, but the three rounds of peace talks since November held with the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) in northern Burma’s Kachin state have yielded little outcome.
As recently as the end of last month, Burmese government troops were pounding KIA positions in clashes that have raged since a 17-year peace agreement between the two sides was shattered in June last year. The war started when Burma won independence from Britain in 1948.
Kachin organizations say that 90,000 people have been displaced—many across the border to China—in the fighting since the ceasefire ended.
Minister Aung Min was a surprise attendee at a grand ceremony at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday when opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi received the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest U.S. civilian award, from American lawmakers for her decades-long "struggle promoting human rights and democracy" in Burma.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who attended and spoke at the ceremony, acknowledged Aung Min as well as Than Swe, the new Burmese ambassador in Washington, for putting aside their differences with the opposition and honoring Aung San Suu Kyi’s achievement.
Aung Min said he was pleased to have been praised during the event by both Clinton and Aung San Suu Kyi for his role in helping with Burma’s national transition.
“I am very glad both Hillary Clinton and Aung San Suu Kyi recognized us,” he said.
“I am glad I had the chance to attend this kind of ceremony and to perform my duties as a politician. I am very proud and satisfied.”
Clinton acknowledged the difficulties in reconciling between factions that have been at odds for so long, but said that Washington would lend its support throughout the process whenever necessary.
Aung Min said his decision to attend the ceremony was a sign of how far the nation had come in mending ties between factions.
"We are mainly focusing now on ethnic issues and reconciliation, which we all need. In national reconciliation we aim to be all-inclusive,” he said.
“As you can see, we work together both inside and outside the Parliament,” where Aung San Suu Kyi is leading the opposition onslaught.
Democratic model
On Wednesday, the United States removed sanctions that blocked any U.S. assets of the Burmese president and the speaker of its lower house of parliament and that generally barred American companies from dealing with them.
Thein Sein and lower house speaker Shwe Mann, once members of the former military junta who have received kudos for driving reforms in the 18 months since the military ceded power, were both removed from the U.S. Treasury's list of "specially designated nationals."
The move came ahead of Thein Sein's visit to New York for the annual U.N. General Assembly next week, when he is expected to meet senior U.S. officials.
Since Aung San Suu Kyi won a parliamentary seat in April, Washington has normalized diplomatic relations with Burma and allowed U.S. companies to start investing there again.
Aung Min said Burma is appreciative of the model the U.S. provides and welcomed the assistance in transitioning the government towards a democracy.
“The U.S. has been on this track for 200 years, and we have done so for only a little over a year. I would say the process is going smoothly.... We are on the right track,” he said.
“The U.S. is a major democratic country. We will have to learn a lot from them and will also need their support. That's why I thank the U.S. for understanding and supporting us.”
Aung Min also said he wanted the Burmese people to know that the new government has their interests in mind and said they should be assured that it was working towards a compromise among all ethnic groups in the country.
“To the Burmese people, I would like to say that national reconciliation is, indeed, happening,” he said.
“My trip to the U.S. is also for the good of national reconciliation. And on this, we have the support and recognition of the U.S. and the rest of the international community.”
Reported by Khin Maung Soe. Translated by Khin May Zaw. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.
View this story online at: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/burma/kachin-09202012184127.html
Radio Free Asia is a private, nonprofit corporation broadcasting and publishing online news, information, and commentary in nine East Asian languages to listeners who do not have access to full and free news media. RFA’s broadcasts seek to promote the rights of freedom of opinion and expression, including the freedom to “seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” RFA is funded by an annual grant from the Broadcasting Board of Governors.
If you no longer wish to receive RFA news releases, send an e-mail to engnews-leave(a)rfanews.org. To add your name to our mailing list, send an e-mail to engnews-join(a)rfanews.org .
#####
All media inquiries may be sent to Rohit Mahajan at <mailto:mahajanr@rfa.org> mahajanr(a)rfa.org.
Suu Kyi Calls for Removal of “Roots of Hatred'
SEPT 18, 2012— Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi called Tuesday for the removal of the "roots of hatred" that have fueled the conflict between ethnic Rakhines and Muslim Rohingyas in western Burma, saying the issue has to be resolved through respect for human rights and rule of law, and negotiations.
"Basically, whenever there is hate, there is fear. So, hate and fear are very closely related. You have to remove the roots of hatred—that is to say you have to address these issues that make people insecure and that make people threatened," she told RFA's Burmese service in an interview.
"Whenever people talk about conflict resolution, whatever kind of advice they give, there is one that is unavoidable—you have to talk to one another, you have to negotiate, you have to sort out your problems through speech rather than violence," she said.
Aung San Suu Kyi has been criticized by rights groups for not speaking out more forcefully on the Rohingya issue following bloody violence between the Rohingya and Rakhine communities in Rakhine state in June, which killed 80 people and left tens of thousands displaced.
The clashes had sparked international allegations that human rights violations were being committed against the Rohingya, who the United Nations says are the world's most oppressed group. The Burmese authorities do not regard them as an ethnic group even though they have lived for generations in the country.
Last week, exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama told students in India that he had written to Aung San Suu Kyi about the Rohingya issue but did not receive a response.
"We wrote a letter to Suu Kyi regarding the violence but we got no reply. My representative in [New] Delhi even met the Burmese Ambassador here but it has been four weeks and we have not heard from them. There is no channel for us to approach," the Dalai Lama said, according to the Press Trust of India.
Silence
In an indirect reference to her relative silence on the Rohingya issue, Aung San Suu Kyi said earlier that many did not realize that her National League for Democracy (NLD), the main opposition party in parliament, was not in the government.
She said that the NLD is not in a "position to decide what we do and how we operate because we are not a government."
"This needs to be understood by those who wish the NLD to do more."
Aung San Suu Kyi, who arrived on Monday for a nearly three-week U.S. visit, also explained that her NLD gave top priority to human rights and the rule of the law in any resolution of the conflict, noting that such differences were a universal problem and not confined to Burma only.
"I have always said—this is the policy of my party—that human rights and rule of law are necessary in order to bring down tensions in such a situation."
"But in the long run, you have to build up harmony between the communities through understanding, through exchange."
She also stressed that human rights should be applied to "everybody and equally" to all groups.
"To ignore either human rights or rule of law or to insist on human rights and pretend rule of law is another matter will not work. These two have to go together."
Aung San Suu Kyi also said that her NLD party wants to help the government to end the crisis in Rakhine state.
"We [the NLD] do not want to make political capital out of the situation in Rakhine state. We want to give the government all the opportunities it needs to defuse the situation there," she said earlier when speaking at a Washington forum organized by the Asia Society.
"We want to help the government in any way possible to bring about peace in Rakhine state."
'Great concern'
Two weeks ago, the United States expressed “great concern” over the humanitarian situation in Rakhine state, following a visit by the American ambassador to the area.
"Broad swathes of both communities have been affected, and the humanitarian situation remains of great concern,” the U.S. Embassy in Rangoon said in a statement after the visit by a group led by newly appointed Ambassador Derek Mitchell and senior State Department official Joseph Yun.
“Going forward, it will be important to address the urgent needs, while also laying the groundwork for a long-term, sustainable and just solution” to the conflict," the embassy said.
Burmese President Thein Sein had recently suggested that the Rohingyas should be deported, raising an outcry from rights groups. Thousands of Buddhist monks took to the streets to back his call and protest against the Rohingyas.
Reported by Nyein Shwe for RFA's Burmese service. Written in English by Parameswaran Ponnudurai, Joshua Lipes and Rachel Vandenbrink.
View this story online at: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/burma/rohingya-09182012133807.html
Radio Free Asia is a private, nonprofit corporation broadcasting and publishing online news, information, and commentary in nine East Asian languages to listeners who do not have access to full and free news media. RFA’s broadcasts seek to promote the rights of freedom of opinion and expression, including the freedom to “seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” RFA is funded by an annual grant from the Broadcasting Board of Governors.
If you no longer wish to receive RFA news releases, send an e-mail to engnews-leave(a)rfanews.org. To add your name to our mailing list, send an e-mail to engnews-join(a)rfanews.org .
#####
All media inquiries may be sent to Rohit Mahajan at <mailto:mahajanr@rfa.org> mahajanr(a)rfa.org.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Sept. 18, 2012
Contact: Rohit Mahajan 202 530 4976 <mailto:mahajanr@rfa.org>
mahajanr(a)rfa.org
Radio Free Asia Hosts Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi
Opposition leader commends RFA for keeping Burmese people informed
WASHINGTON, DC - Radio Free Asia (RFA) today hosted Aung San Suu Kyi at its
Washington headquarters as part of her tour of the United States. The Nobel
Peace Prize winner praised RFA for serving as a critical information
lifeline for her and the Burmese people during the military junta's
authoritarian rule and the country's current era of transition and reform.
"This is, in many ways, as I have been saying, the last mile," Aung San Suu
Kyi said. "This is the time we need all the help possible to make sure that
our country keeps on the right path. This is another way of saying RFA is
needed more than ever for us in Burma and for other people in other places,
which are not yet free."
Aung San Suu Kyi addressed her remarks to all RFA staff including its nine
language services. Recently elected to serve as a member of Burma's
parliament, the leader of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD)
also shared her thoughts about the country's future, underscoring the need
establish rule of law to achieve lasting democratic reform and an end to
ethnic divisions that have plagued Burma. During her visit, Aung San Suu Kyi
was interviewed by RFA's Burmese Director; met with RFA President Libby Liu
and Vice President John Estrella; and spoke over tea with RFA Board members
Michael Meehan, Victor Ashe, and Susan McCue, and with RFA leadership.
RFA's Burmese language service will broadcast its interview with the Nobel
laureate by radio, satellite television, and digitally online as part of its
daily webcast. Aung San Suu Kyi's visit to the United States marks her first
since she was placed under house arrest in 1990. Aung San Suu Kyi will
address the United Nations in New York and receive the Congressional Gold
Medal from U.S. lawmakers on Capitol Hill over the next week.
# # #
Radio Free Asia is a private, nonprofit corporation broadcasting and
publishing online news, information, and commentary in nine East Asian
languages to listeners who do not have access to full and free news media.
RFA's broadcasts seek to promote the rights of freedom of opinion and
expression, including the freedom to "seek, receive, and impart information
and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." RFA is funded by
an annual grant from the Broadcasting Board of Governors.
Rohit Mahajan
Media Relations Manager
Radio Free Asia
Email: mahajanr(a)rfa.org
Desk: (202) 530-4976
Cell: (202) 489-8021
www.rfa.org
Massive Raid on Tibetan Monastery
SEPT. 4, 2012— Hundreds of heavily armed Chinese security forces raided a Tibetan monastery in the northwestern province of Qinghai at the weekend, taking away four monks previously targeted for detention and holding another monk for taking photographs of the raid, Tibetan sources said.
Local Tibetans believe at least three of the monks were picked up during the Saturday raid for providing foreign media outlets with details about two nearby self-immolation protests in June, an India-based Tibetan told RFA, citing sources in the region.
Monks who intervened to stop the detentions were beaten, the sources said.
“On Sept. 1, Chinese police and Public Security Bureau officers in about 60 vehicles suddenly arrived at Zilkar monastery in the Dzatoe township of Tridu county in Qinghai’s Yulshul [in Chinese, Yushu] prefecture,” the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The monastery, the scene of unauthorized funeral ceremonies following the self-immolations, had been told in a phone call earlier in the day to expect an official “visit,” believed by the monks to be routine, the source said.
“Shortly afterward, the monastery’s electricity and all means of communication were cut off,” he said.
The fully armed security forces in riot gear surrounded the monastery, the source said, adding, that “they came to detain four monks whose names and other information about them were already known.”
Police 'filled the monastery'
Chinese police conducting the raid were so numerous that they “filled the monastery” and appeared to outnumber the monastery’s own 500 monks, the source said.
Detained in the raid were Lobsang Jinpa, 30; Tsultrim Kalsang, 25; Ngawang Monlam, 30; and Sonam Yignyen, 44.
A fifth monk, Sonam Sherab, 45, was taken into custody when he was observed filming the police operation, the source said.
Computers and DVDs were seized from the monks’ rooms by the police, who also beat and pointed guns at other monks who pleaded with them not to take the men away, he said.
“Locals suspect that three of the monks were taken away because they had contacted outside media about the recent self-immolations of two Tibetans in Yulshul,” he said.
“Another is believed to have been detained for possessing photos of [exiled spiritual leader] the Dalai Lama.”
Monk seized in town
Separately, police in China’s northwestern Gansu province last week took into custody a Tibetan monk believed to have been involved in a March 20 protest against Chinese authorities, according to a local source.
“On Aug. 28, Kalsang Gyatso, 28, a monk at the Bora monastery, was detained and taken away from a bathhouse in Tsoe town,” the source said, also speaking on condition of anonymity.
Gyatso, with permission from senior monks who were supervising a retreat, had gone to the nearby town and was bathing with friends when he was detained, the source said.
“The police, who were not in uniform, asked which of the men was Kalsang Gyatso, but his friends refused to identify him,” he said.
“The police then pointed directly at him, overpowered his friends, and took him away in a police vehicle,” he said, adding that no explanation was given for the detention.
When family members later sought word from county and prefecture offices on Kalsang Gyatso’s condition and place of detention, “no information was given to them,” he said.
Kalsang Gyatso comes originally from Yagpa Yarne village in Labrang (in Chinese, Xiahe) county in Gansu’s Kanlho (in Chinese, Gannan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, the source said.
“His father is Kalsang Tsering, and Dronpu Thar is his mother,” he said.
The day after Kalsang Gyatso was detained, a group of 30 county, prefecture, and provincial-level officials, together with a press team, arrived at Bora monastery to conduct a “legal education” session for the monks, the source said.
Growing concern
Human rights groups have expressed concern over the increasing number of Tibetan detentions amid the 51 self-immolations in protest against Chinese rule since February 2009.
Last week, police also detained a monk from the restive Kirti monastery in Sichuan province, which has been the epicenter of the burning protests, along with another Tibetan, possibly in connection with the deadly self-immolation protests in the area.
The London-based Free Tibet said it "has grave concerns for the well being of the hundreds of Tibetans who we know are in detention following protests, often in locations unknown to their families, without any legal rights and at very serious risk of being tortured."
“Tibetans’ fundamental human rights are being ignored by international leaders who are afraid of risking their relationships with China. The time has come for each one of us to speak up and demand Tibetan freedom,” Free Tibet Director Stephanie Brigden said last week.
Separately, the U.S.-based advocacy group International Campaign for Tibet has asked Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who began a two-day visit to Beijing on Tuesday, to “continue to insist on demonstrable improvements in the human rights situation [in Tibet].”
Reported by RFA’s Tibetan service. Translated by Karma Dorjee and Dorjee Damdul. Written in English by Richard Finney.
View this story online at: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/tibet/raid-09042012155726.html
Radio Free Asia is a private, nonprofit corporation broadcasting and publishing online news, information, and commentary in nine East Asian languages to listeners who do not have access to full and free news media. RFA’s broadcasts seek to promote the rights of freedom of opinion and expression, including the freedom to “seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” RFA is funded by an annual grant from the Broadcasting Board of Governors.
If you no longer wish to receive RFA news releases, send an e-mail to engnews-leave(a)rfanews.org. To add your name to our mailing list, send an e-mail to engnews-join(a)rfanews.org .
#####
All media inquiries may be sent to Rohit Mahajan at <mailto:mahajanr@rfa.org> mahajanr(a)rfa.org.