Tin Oo Released
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| Tin Oo, the deputy leader of the National League for Democracy, speaks to reporters after his release from house arrest. (Photo: AFP) |
Tin Oo, the detained deputy leader of Aung San Suu Kyi’s opposition party, was released on Feb. 13 as the term of his house arrest expired. The 82-year-old vice chairman of the National Leagues for Democracy (NLD) and former military commander-in-chief had been held under house arrest without trial for six years. Tin Oo said he would continue to work for democracy, serving as vice chairman of the NLD and coordinating political activities with Suu Kyi and the party’s 20-member Central Executive Committee. He also said he was “very hopeful” Suu Kyi would also be released soon, noting that in 1995 he was released from an earlier stint in prison not long before Suu Kyi herself was set free. Tin Oo thanked the United Nations, the European Union and others for pressing for his release from detention, during which the junta tried to isolate him as much as possible. His home telephone line was cut, but he was allowed a radio. “Thanks to the sweetness of the democratic media, I never lost touch with the world,” he said.
Two Popular Web Sites Blocked in Vietnam
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| Patrons of an Internet café in Hanoi play games online. (Photo: AFP) |
Two pioneering Web sites that stretched the limits of free expression in Vietnam say they have been hacked and shut down, months after the Communist government blocked the social networking site Facebook. Both sites had been critical of Vietnam’s policies toward China, a subject of great sensitivity to the government, whose efforts to maintain good relations with its massive northern neighbor sometimes run foul of nationalist sentiment. Both sites were generally restrained in tone, however, and neither had called for an end to Vietnam’s single-party system. The closure of the sites came amid Vietnam’s latest crackdown on dissent, in which 16 pro-democracy activists were jailed in just over three months.
NLD Still Undecided about Election
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| Supporters of detained NlD leader aung San Suu Kyi gather on the steps of the Sydney Opera House in October 2009. (Photo: Getty Images) |
Burma’s detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi said in February that the general election planned for this year will lack credibility unless the regime allows freedom of information. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate—who is serving an 18-month extension of her house arrest—also said her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), has not yet decided whether to contest the election, said Nyan Win, her lawyer and NLD spokesman. The party’s offices in several townships have still not been allowed to reopen, making it difficult for party members to communicate with each other.
Burmese Ships in Asia-Pacific War Games
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| Nyi Nyi Aung |
Burma’s navy worked alongside Australian patrol boats during a four-day naval war game exercise hosted by India in February.
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