A court inside Myanmar's notorious Insein prison sentenced a comedian who has criticized the government's cyclone response to 14 more years Thursday, bringing his total prison term to 59 years, his lawyer said. Comedian and activist Zarganar was given a 45-year prison sentence last week after he was convicted on charges related to interviews he gave to foreign media outlets. In the interviews, he said the government was too slow in responding to a May cyclone that killed more than 84,000 people. Myanmar's military, which has held power since 1962, tolerates no dissent. It frequently arrests artists and entertainers regarded as opposing the regime.
Comedian and activist Zarganar was given a 45-year prison sentence last week after he was convicted on charges related to interviews he gave to foreign media outlets.
In the interviews, he said the government was too slow in responding to a May cyclone that killed more than 84,000 people.
Myanmar's military, which has held power since 1962, tolerates no dissent. It frequently arrests artists and entertainers regarded as opposing the regime.
Burma and China recently signed a US $2.5 billion project for the construction of oil and gas pipelines between Burma's southwestern port of Kyaukpyu and China's Yunnan Province. Work is due to start in early 2009. According to analysts, Burma is important for China economically and strategically as a trading outlet to the Indian Ocean for its landlocked inland provinces of Yunnan and Sichuan and as a factor in its "two oceans" objective."Myanmar [Burma] is part and parcel of China's grand strategic design to achieve its goal of becoming a great power in the 21st century," said Poon Kim Shee, a scholar in international relations, in a paper, Political Economy of China-Myanmar Relations: Strategic and Economic Dimension. (...) During Burma's current period of military rule, China has also become one of the junta's main business partners. Chinese migration to Burma has grown steadily since 1988 following the opening of the border to trade. Economic life in Burma's second largest city, Mandalay, and other towns in the north is now heavily influenced by Chinese businessmen, leading in some circles to an increase in Burmese nationalistic sentiment and resentment of Chinese influence. Burmese writers and cartoonists sometimes reflect on the situation directly and indirectly. Published short stories and cartoons have noted ironically that that there are more Chinese than Burmese in central Mandalay, where the Chinese language is widely spoken and an increasing number of signs are written in Chinese. "If you want to see and hear Burmese, you should go outside of Mandalay," a famous Burmese cartoonist commented in one of his drawings.
Economic life in Burma's second largest city, Mandalay, and other towns in the north is now heavily influenced by Chinese businessmen, leading in some circles to an increase in Burmese nationalistic sentiment and resentment of Chinese influence.
Burmese writers and cartoonists sometimes reflect on the situation directly and indirectly. Published short stories and cartoons have noted ironically that that there are more Chinese than Burmese in central Mandalay, where the Chinese language is widely spoken and an increasing number of signs are written in Chinese.
"If you want to see and hear Burmese, you should go outside of Mandalay," a famous Burmese cartoonist commented in one of his drawings.
