‘They are not working for the people’

Monday, 13 June 2011 13:57 Mizzima News

(Interview) – The Karen National Union (KNU) has been in armed conflict against the Burmese government for the right to self-determination for 64 years. The KNU is one of the most powerful opposition organizations on the Thai-Burma border. Mizzima reporter Kyaw Kha interviewed KNU Vice Chairman Pado David Tharkapaw, on possible peace negotiations, the new government and ethnic Karen politics. Tharkapaw is also chairman of the National Democratic Front (NDF) and the chairman of National Council of the Union of Burma (NCUB).

Question: What do you see as the difference between the new and old government? What is the relation between the KNU and the new government?

Answer: I don’t see any changes especially in their main policy. This new government is the one run by the same army officers in civilian clothing. They are following the same policies of the old military regime. They are ruling the country for the benefit of a handful of the rulers whose obsession is autocracy and a unitary state. They are ruling the country for the sake of army generals only. They are not working for the people. I see them as working only to hold on to their power.

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Tay Za talks sanctions, business and politics

Monday, 06 June 2011 13:12 Raimondo Bultrini

(Interview) – No foreign journalist had ever been allowed to cross the threshold of Tay Za’s luxurious villa located a few hundred yards from the home of Aung San Suu Kyi, the icon of the country’s pro-democracy opposition, in Rangoon. I did so recently with strong reservations, well aware of its owner’s pro-regime reputation and his allegedly unscrupulous business practices.

Ever since he began his rise, becoming a billionaire through his connections with Burma’s dictatorial military junta, Tay Za had been obliged to live as unobtrusively as any of its generals. He owns the largest network of businesses in Burma and is one of the masters of the most tightly regulated economy in Asia, perhaps the world.

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Nai Htar Wa Ra, Mon leader, dies at ५५-Tuesday, 22 February 2011 21:02 Kun Chan

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Nai Htar Wa Ra, 55, a leader of the New Mon State Party (NMSP) who suffered from diabetes and hypertension, died suddenly on Tuesday morning.

A central executive committee member, party officials said he died at party headquarters in southern Mon State.

‘His heart was also weak. In the early morning, he could not breathe well, and he died about 2
a.m.’, said Nai Tala Nyi, a NMSP central executive committee member.

On Sunday, Nai Htar Wa Ra presided at a ceremony to mark the 64th Mon National Day held in Panangpain Village near the party headquarters, where he read an official message sent by the NSMP chairman.

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