By Ariel Lin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

YANGON, Myanmar – In Myanmar’s largest city, security was tightened as rumors spread that pro-democracy activists would launch protests against an upcoming referendum on a draft constitution.  Riot police and junta supporters carrying batons were deployed at major road junctions and Buddhist monuments.  Dissidents in Myanmar and exile groups have urged voters to vote against the constitution, saying it is merely a ploy to perpetuate more than four decades of military rule.

Hundreds of Myanmar nationals living overseas said “No” to the country’s proposed new constitution. In Singapore, about 500 Myanmar nationals wearing red or t-shirts with the word “No”, gathered outside the Myanmar embassy to protest against the country’s proposed new constitution.  They were prevented from voting on their country’s draft constitution when they refused demands from embassy personnel to remove T-shirts.  “It’s a sham referendum,” said Myo Mying Maung, spokesman for the Overseas Burmese Patriots.  He urged everyone to vote ‘no’ “because the draft constitution is for a sham democracy”.  A  student said. “It’s not for a true and real democracy as all the terms in the constitution are biased toward the military regime.”

In Tokyo, at least 150 Myanmar citizens were protesting at the Burmese embassy, demanding that all Burmese expatriates be allowed to vote in the referendum.  Several demonstrators were injured and one man arrested during scuffles with Japanese police.  In Thailand, the demonstrators, organized by the Joint Action Committee for Democracy in Burma, chanted slogans against the May 10 referendum. Protest organizers called the vote a ploy to help Burma’s ruling generals keep their grip on power.

Meanwhile, the European Parliament is scheduled to hold a debate on Burma this week in Strasbourg and will vote on a new resolution which would exert more pressure on the Burmese military junta, according to the parliament’s official website.  These measures included a ban on the import of gemstones, timber and precious metal.

For more information, please see:

AP – Security tightened in Myanmar amid possible demonstration – 27 April 2008

AFP – Myanmar nationals in Singapore signal ‘no’ as they wait to vote – 27 April 2008

Bangkok Post – Burma bars anti-constitution group from voting – 27 April 2008

Bloomberg – Myanmar Nationals in Singapore, Indonesia Vote on Constitution – 27 April 2008

Reuters – Myanmar nationals protest constitution in Singapore – 27 April 2008

DHAKA, Bangladesh – Bengali settlers destroyed seven tribal villages belonging to the Jumma tribal people in the Chittagong Hill Tracts region in Bangladesh.

According to the rights group Survival International, “Jumma villagers, including women and children, were beaten in the attack and their belongings looted. One hundred houses were destroyed and the Jumma villagers have fled into the surrounding forests. Bengali setters were also injured.”

Violence in the area increased after the army-backed Bangladesh government took power in January 2007. Several tribal groups have demanded implementation of a December 1997 treaty that had ended a 20-year uprising for autonomy. The government had promised regional councils that it would withdrawal of troops. Although about seventy military camps have moved, hundred remain. Over 2,500 people have been killed in clashes between supporters and opponents of the treaty during the last two decades. Opponents believe that the treaty does not give sufficient autonomy.

For more information, please see:

AFP – Tribal Villages Torched in Bangladesh: Officials – 26 April 2008

HANOI, Vietnam – In 2006 three men were arrested by the Ho Chi Minh police in Vietnam for demonstrating against the Communist government and calling for civil liberties and democracy in Vietnam.  The three men are members of what has been named the Bloc 8406 group.  This group is named after the day April 18, 2006, when its founding members were arrested for posting pro-democracy writings on-line.  The group has been outlawed by the Vietnam government.

The three men, Pham Ba Hai, Nguyen Ngoc Quang and Vu Hoang Hai, have received terms of 2-5 years of jail time by the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court.  The Vietnam News Agency and other state-controlled media outlets have reported that the three men were charged with posting documents online that, “distorted history, attacked administrations and tarnished the party and state officials, and incited people to protest.”

More recently, Vietnamese blogger, Nguyen Van Hai, was arrested under charges of “tax evasion.”  Hai is a pro-democracy activist who has reported on the protests against the Olympic torch relay.  Hai is part of a larger network of bloggers called the Union of Independent Journalists.  Other members of this group have been calling protests during the upcoming torch relay and have helped to organize demonstrations against China’s claim of sovereignty over the Paracel Islands.

For more information, please see:

Macau Daily Times – Vietnam Jails Three Pro-Democracy Activists – 27 April 2008

Bangkok Post – Vietnam Arrest Blogger for Reporting Torch Protests – 27 April 2008