SEAsia April Newsletter

8/7/2019 SEAsia April Newsletter

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March 2011 SEA RAN Newsletter 1

AMNESTYINTERNATIONAL

SOUTHEAST ASIA REGIONAL ACTION NETWORK

April 2011

COUNTRY NEWS

Indonesia, 2 Singapore, 5

Myanmar, 1, 3 Thailand, 5

Philippines, 4 Vietnam, 5

Th i s Pr i son Wh er e I L ive

Film Premier, Arlington, Virginia, March 30,

2011

This 90-minute documentary film examinesAmnesty International Prisoner ofConscience, Zarganar. A popularcomedian, Zarganar is serving a 35-year

sentence in Myanmar for speaking outabout the governments failure to acceptinternational aid in the wake of CycloneNargis. British filmmaker Rex Bloomsteinand German stand-up comedian MichaelMittermeier secretly traveled to Burma tomake a film about this courageous man,who describes himself as the loudspeakerfor the Burmese people.

Copies of this film have been sent to each

Regional Office, and Amnesty Internationalhas permission to use the film withmembers.

Time for your groups movie night?

Welcome Leila Chacko

Country Specialist for Pacific Islands,

Japan, co-specialist for the Philippines

Leila comes to us with over five years of

experience in the area of human

trafficking, has worked in New Zealand

with the Shakti Ethnic Womens Support

Group, was an intern at the AmnestyInternational Mid-Atlantic Office, and

participated in the Japan Exchange and

Teaching Program in Niigata, Japan.

She is currently studying for the Florida

Bar Exam good luck, Leila!

Countries in this issue

Cambodiap. 3 Myanmar p. 5

Indonesia p. 4 Thailand p. 6

Malaysia p. 5 Vietnam p. 6


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Over 1,000 people attended the big GOTBevent in New York City on April 8th. Co-groupcoordinator, Claudia Vandermade, attended theevent and helped organize the Indonesia actionat Dag Hammarskjold Plaza. Earlier in the day,John Miller of the East Timor & IndonesiaAction Network addressed a crowd at TheCooper Union and highlighted human rights

concerns in Indonesia with a focus on the caseof Filep Karma of West Papua.

John Miller and Jakob Schmidt at

the NYC Indonesia rally.

Members of Arlington Group 159 attended the premier ofThis Prison Where I Live. In

this photo: Scarlett Nge Oo Mon (Zarganars daughter), Nancy Galib, co-country

specialist for Myanmar, Lwin Mar Oo (Zarganars wife), and Sara Weber, the new

leader of Group 159. Zarganars family has moved to the Los Angeles, and Scarlett

will be speaking with Amnesty groups in the area about her fathers imprisonment.

Contact a Myanmar country specialist for more information.

Two Get on the Bus events feature Southeast Asia Actions!


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A week later, on April 15th, Washington DC held its firstGet on the Bus DC event. In a great first year effort,over 100 people came to the Dupont Circle area andrallied at a number of embassies, including Myanmarand Indonesia. For Myanmar, the plan was to knock onthe embassy door and deliver a box of over 1,000 Keysto Freedom. However, the embassy was inexplicablyclosed on that Friday.

Update: Cambodia

Amnesty News:

Sungmin Sohn and Folabi Olagbaju

lead the rally at the Indonesian

Embassy in Washington DC.

Max? and Simon Billeness knock on

the door of the Myanmar Embassy.

On April 12th

Amnesty Internationalwrote an open letter in support of theresidents living around Boeung KakLake. The letter expresses concernabout the situation of up to 1,500families, or as many as 10,000 people,who are still living around Boeung KakLake. They have been faced withuncertainty and the threat of forcedeviction from their homes since thecompany which was granted a 99 yearlease for development of the landbegan filling the lake with sand inAugust 2008. Around 2,000 familieshave already been forcibly evictedsince then without proper consultation.


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In the News:

Cambodians and Thais traded gunfire and diplomatic insults over disputed templesalong their shared border reported The Economist (4.26.11). This is the secondtime in only a few months that the border has become the scene of bloodshed.Hundreds of civilians have been forced to flee their homes. Todd Pitman wrote in

The Irrawaddy (4.29.11) that these clashes were probably more about domesticpolicy than territory. Analysts believe that Thailands military, which overthrewformer Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra ina 2006 coup, is flexing its muscleahead of elections expected in June or July. The fighting may also benefitCambodian premier Hun Sen, allowing him to portray himself as a victim of abullying Thailand.

Foreign men who are older than 50 and any foreign man who earnsless than US$2,500 per month will nolonger be allowed to marry Cambodianwomen, according to new marriage

regulations introduced by the ministry ofForeign Affairs (Asia Times, 4.2.11). Thestrict new rules aim to curb surginghuman trafficking often facilitated under theguise of marriage. However, Ou Virak,president of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, recently expressed hisdisagreement from a rights perspective, saying that the choice about whom tomarry should be up to the woman, not the government.

Update: Indonesia

Amnesty News:

On April 15th Amnesty International issued a public statement calling on Indonesianauthorities to ensure a prompt, impartial and effective investigation into theunnecessary and excessive use of firearms by security forces that led to the deaths of atleast two Papuans and injuries to three others a few days earlier.

According to credible sources, on the morning of 13 April 2011 police officers from theMoanemani sub-district police (Polsek) raided a gambling operation at the Moanemani

Market Complex in Dogiyai district in Papua province, seizing money belonging toDominokus Auwe, aged 27. Later that morning when Dominokus Auwe visited theMoanemani sub-district police station to ask about his money, the police reportedly shothim in the chest and head, killing him in front of the station. Police continued shootingand injured two other men who had followed Dominokus Auwe. Albertus Pigai, aged 25,was shot in the ribs, while Vince Yobe, aged 23, was shot in the chest. Another man inthe vicinity, Matias Iyai, aged 27, was also shot in the leg and foot.

Keep up-to-date with

human rights inSoutheast Asia. Join us

onFacebook.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=118152191565865http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=118152191565865http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=118152191565865http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=118152191565865


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In the News:

New legislation before Indonesias parliament aims to give special powers to intelligenceagencies charged with fighting terrorism. While advocates of the bill argue tougher lawsare needed to pre-empt attacks, if passed as proposed the legislation will erode civil

liberties and represent a significant setback for the countrys fledging democracy. Thebill proposes to grant the main state intelligence agency, known as BIN, the power toarrest suspected terrorists before they attack (Asia Times, 4.16.11).

Update: Malaysia

Amnesty News:

Singapores president should grant clemency to aMalaysian man sentenced to be hanged for a

drug-trafficking charge, Amnesty Internationalsaid on April 5th. The countrys highestcourt dismissed Yong Vui Kongs final appealon Monday, meaning that the 23-year-oldcould be executed in the coming days, unlessPresident S.R. Nathan grants clemency, arequest that he has previously rejected.Singapore has condemned this young man tothe gallows based on drug laws thatautomatically presumed his guilt, said DonnaGuest, Amnesty Internationals Deputy Directorfor the Asia-Pacific. The President shouldspare Yong Vui Kongs life without delay, and Singapore should review its heavy-handeddrug laws and abolish the death penalty.

Update: MyanmarIn the News:

Burmas state-sponsored gang of thugs, Swan Arr Shin, may be transformed into aPeoples Security Force according to sources at the office of Military Affairs Security.Swan Arr Shin became infamous after several violent incidents, most notably when theywere involved in a mass attack on pro-democracy leader Aung San Su Kyi and herconvoy in Depayin in 2003, and nationwide monk-led demonstrations in 2007 (TheIrrawaddy 4.26.11).

Yong Vui Kong


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Update: Thailand

In the News:

The Southern Border Provinces Administration Centre secretary-general, PanuUthairat, recently claimed that the multi-agency outfit had achieved its target of

getting 80% of the people the authorities suspect of having links with insurgentsin the deep South to turn themselves into the authorities between January andMarch this year. An article from the editorial desk ofThe Asia News Network(4.28.11) calls this claim into question, citing brutal violence over the past sixmonths in the deep South, including roadside ambushes of security forces andnearly daily car bombings.

Most of these alleged sympathizers are people, mostly young men, who are on theauthorities blacklist. A suspect gets on such a list because local officials believethey are either a sympathizer or an active member of an insurgent cell. Often the

accusations come from local residents who come under a government-sponsoredemployment scheme; and part of their work involves spying on neighbors,particularly suspected members of the Malay Muslim insurgents. Over the years, anumber of people on these blacklists have been killed, often shot at close range.There is good reason to believe that many of these killings were carried out bypro-government death squads.

Human Rights Watch reports (4.27.11) that the Thai government has shut downcommunity radio stations associated with the anti-government Red Shirtmovement. The crackdown followed the governments announcement that itwould dissolve parliament on May 6th, in preparation for national elections. The

upcoming elections can hardly be credible if the government closes downopposition radio stations and websites, said Brad Adams, Asia director at HumanRights Watch. This government came into office saying it was committed toprotecting rights, but it has become the most prolific censor in recent Thaihistory.

Update: Vietnam

Amnesty News:

On April 5th Amnesty stated that Viet Nam must release a high-profile activist sentencedto seven years imprisonment for calling for an end to one-party rule. Human rightsdefender and environmental activist Cu Huy Ha Vu was convicted of conductingpropaganda against the state by a court in Ha Noi on the 4th after calling for amultiparty system in online articles and for giving interviews to foreign media. Vu wasalso sentenced to three years of house arrest upon the completion of his seven yearprison term. This was a sham trial, with the presumption of innocence and right to a


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defence completely ignored, said Donna Guest, Amnesty Internationals Asia-PacificDeputy Director. Cu Huy Va Vu is a prisoner of conscience and should be immediatelyand unconditionally released.

In the News:

Reporters without Borders reported (4.4.11) that dissident Cu Huy Ha Bu wassentenced to seven years in jail on a charge of propaganda against the state.According to RWB, seventeen netizens are currently in prison in Vietnam for callingfor democracy of a multi-party system; this is the second highest number of jailedcyber-dissidents in the world.

On April 26th, human rights defender Mr. Vi Duc Hoi had his jail sentence reducedfrom eight years to five years by an appeals court in northern Lang Son province.This sentence will be followed by three years of house arrest (FrontLine, 4.26.11).

Further Reading:

Caught in the Crossfire: Southeast Asias

Press Freedom Challenges for 2011from the

Centre for Independent Journalism.
http://cijmalaysia.org/2011/03/22/caught-in-the-crossfire-southeast-asias-press-freedom-challenges-for-2011/http://cijmalaysia.org/2011/03/22/caught-in-the-crossfire-southeast-asias-press-freedom-challenges-for-2011/http://cijmalaysia.org/2011/03/22/caught-in-the-crossfire-southeast-asias-press-freedom-challenges-for-2011/http://cijmalaysia.org/2011/03/22/caught-in-the-crossfire-southeast-asias-press-freedom-challenges-for-2011/http://cijmalaysia.org/2011/03/22/caught-in-the-crossfire-southeast-asias-press-freedom-challenges-for-2011/http://cijmalaysia.org/2011/03/22/caught-in-the-crossfire-southeast-asias-press-freedom-challenges-for-2011/


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Meet your amazing and dedicated team of Country Specialists:

Brunei, Singapore, Malaysia Jeanne Marie Stumpf [email protected]

Indonesia Max White (and Timor-Leste,

Papua New Guinea)

Gartini Isa

Carole Marzolf

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

Laos, Thailand Tyrell Haberkorn [email protected]

Myanmar Jim Roberts

Nancy Galib

Anil Raj

[email protected]

Philippines, Perfecto Boyet-Caparas

Leila Chacko (and Pacific

Islands)

[email protected]

[email protected]

Vietnam Jean Libby [email protected]

Co-Group and RAN Coordinator,

Newsletter editor

Claudia Vandermade [email protected]

Have a question about AIs work in a particular country? Wondering how to take your

country work a step further? Contact a Country Specialist, or the Co-Group Coordinator,

Claudia Vandermade.
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]

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SEAsia April Newsletter