Peaceful Burma (ျငိမ္းခ်မ္းျမန္မာ)平和なビルマ

Peaceful Burma (ျငိမ္းခ်မ္းျမန္မာ)平和なビルマ

TO PEOPLE OF JAPAN



JAPAN YOU ARE NOT ALONE



GANBARE JAPAN



WE ARE WITH YOU



ဗိုလ္ခ်ဳပ္ေျပာတဲ့ညီညြတ္ေရး


“ညီၫြတ္ေရးဆုိတာ ဘာလဲ နားလည္ဖုိ႔လုိတယ္။ ဒီေတာ့ကာ ဒီအပုိဒ္ ဒီ၀ါက်မွာ ညီၫြတ္ေရးဆုိတဲ့အေၾကာင္းကုိ သ႐ုပ္ေဖာ္ျပ ထားတယ္။ တူညီေသာအက်ဳိး၊ တူညီေသာအလုပ္၊ တူညီေသာ ရည္ရြယ္ခ်က္ရွိရမယ္။ က်ေနာ္တုိ႔ ညီၫြတ္ေရးဆုိတာ ဘာအတြက္ ညီၫြတ္ရမွာလဲ။ ဘယ္လုိရည္ရြယ္ခ်က္နဲ႔ ညီၫြတ္ရမွာလဲ။ ရည္ရြယ္ခ်က္ဆုိတာ ရွိရမယ္။

“မတရားမႈတခုမွာ သင္ဟာ ၾကားေနတယ္ဆုိရင္… သင္ဟာ ဖိႏွိပ္သူဘက္က လုိက္ဖုိ႔ ေရြးခ်ယ္လုိက္တာနဲ႔ အတူတူဘဲ”

“If you are neutral in a situation of injustice, you have chosen to side with the oppressor.”
ေတာင္အာဖရိကက ႏိုဘယ္လ္ဆုရွင္ ဘုန္းေတာ္ၾကီး ဒက္စ္မြန္တူးတူး

THANK YOU MR. SECRETARY GENERAL

Ban’s visit may not have achieved any visible outcome, but the people of Burma will remember what he promised: "I have come to show the unequivocal shared commitment of the United Nations to the people of Myanmar. I am here today to say: Myanmar – you are not alone."

QUOTES BY UN SECRETARY GENERAL

Without participation of Aung San Suu Kyi, without her being able to campaign freely, and without her NLD party [being able] to establish party offices all throughout the provinces, this [2010] election may not be regarded as credible and legitimate. ­
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon

Where there's political will, there is a way

政治的な意思がある一方、方法がある
စစ္မွန္တဲ့ခိုင္မာတဲ့နိုင္ငံေရးခံယူခ်က္ရိွရင္ႀကိဳးစားမႈရိွရင္ နိုင္ငံေရးအေျဖ
ထြက္ရပ္လမ္းဟာေသခ်ာေပါက္ရိွတယ္
Burmese Translation-Phone Hlaing-fwubc

Monday, December 15, 2008

Isolation or Engagement? It’s Than Shwe’s Choice -IRRAWADDY

http://www.irrawaddy.org/opinion_story.php?art_id=14796

COMMENTARY
Isolation or Engagement? It’s Than Shwe’s Choice
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By AUNG ZAW Monday, December 15, 2008

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Since Gen Ne Win seized power in 1962, Burma has proudly proclaimed its neutrality in international affairs. Under Snr-Gen Than Shwe, the country’s “active and neutral” foreign policy remains in place, although many question whether this accurately describes the way Burma now relates to the rest of the world.

Than Shwe’s regime has long been a target of Western sanctions, which include a visa ban that prohibits the paramount leader himself from traveling to the West. Relations with neighboring countries are, however, more cordial. This has produced a foreign policy that is more selective than neutral.

Last week, the general who routinely snubs visiting UN envoys welcomed Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, who received Than Shwe’s special envoy, Foreign Minister Nyan Win, in September 2007 amid the brutal crackdown on monk-led protests.

State-run papers reported that Than Shwe briefed the Chinese minister on Burma’s domestic situation, including the progress of reconstruction work in the cyclone-hit Irrawaddy delta. More importantly, the general reported on the country’s “democratic process and economic development, based on the principles of independence and self-determination,” according to China’s Xinhua news agency.


The junta chief also reassured his visitor that Burma continued to value its paukphaw (fraternal) friendship with China.

Burmese leaders have traditionally used the term “paukphaw” to refer to relations with China. This special relationship has, however, been subject to numerous strains over the years. This was especially true in the 1960s and 70s, when China aided the Communist Party of Burma (CPB).

Although the “big brothers” in Beijing dubbed Ne Win a “fascist,” the Burmese strongman was pragmatic and visited China several times to repair ties. He held high-level talks with Chinese leaders and maintained a good relationship. In return, leaders from China also paid several state-level visits to Burma.

But as Ne Win dined with leaders in Beijing, Than Shwe and other mid-ranking officers posted in the northern frontier region in the 1970s and 80s continued the fight against Chinese-backed communists. They would never forget China’s efforts to overthrow the government in Rangoon.

Today the CPB is gone, and its troops never did march down to Rangoon. China has been the regime’s major ally since the military coup of September 1988, supplying the regime with military and economic aid. Border trade between the two countries has also expanded, to an estimated annual level of US $1.5 billion.

Now China is planning to build a gas pipeline in 2009, linking Sittwe on the Arakanese coast with China’s landlocked province of Yunnan. China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) will head the $2.5 billion pipeline project with a 50.9 percent stake, while Burma’s state-run Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE) will hold the rest.

Besides the MOGE’s stake in the project, Beijing will also be counting on the regime to keep armed groups along the China-Burma border under control.

Although military leaders in Burma have expressed dissatisfaction with the quality of some of the military hardware and jet fighters they have purchased from China, they still appreciate Beijing’s unwavering support, including exercising its veto at the UN Security Council.

However, it is important not to overestimate China’s influence over Burma. China could also be looking for an alternative to Than Shwe, and like everyone else, Chinese officials are looking at the post-Than Shwe era and beyond the planned 2010 election.

Chinese know that the aid policy and economic cooperation over the past 20 years has not paid off much.

Chinese remain skeptical that the aid, economic cooperation and investment in Burma will translate into meaningful economic development. It is obvious that Burma is descending into a failed state. China is only helping to preserve the regime.

It is unfortunate that China, which once sought to overthrow the Ne Win regime, is now backing one of the most repressive regimes in the world. Than Shwe often tells his generals that as long as he can count on three countries—China, India and Russia—for backing, his regime will survive. Of these three, China is obviously the most crucial.

Increasingly, however, the junta has been looking beyond China for new friends, new markets and economic cooperation.

This month, Burma confirmed that it will open an embassy in Kuwait. Tomorrow marks the tenth anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between Burma and Kuwait.

Kuwaiti Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser al-Mohammed al-Ahmed al-Jaber al-Sabah visited Burma in August and signed an agreement on economic and technical cooperation between the two countries.

During a meeting with the visiting prime minister, Than Shwe informed him of his “road map” to “disciplined democracy” and explained the need for the army to safeguard Burma’s unity and stability. Deputy Foreign Minister Maung Myint visited Kuwait recently looking to expand Burma’s trade and business activities there.

This is not the first time the regime has looked to the Middle East to expand its diplomatic relationships. In 2006, Iran’s deputy minister for oil paid a visit to Burma to express his country’s interest in cooperating with the junta.

In April of last year, we also saw Burma formally restore its ties with North Korea. Relations between the two countries had been severed for more than two decades after North Korean state-sponsored terrorists launched a deadly bomb attack on a high-ranking South Korean delegation of politicians who were visiting Rangoon.

However, a clandestine diplomatic relationship had been restored as early as the 1990s. In recent years, North Korean technicians have been seen in Rangoon and in the newly built capital. Well-informed sources reported that North Korean agents usually stay at state-owned guesthouses on the outskirts of Rangoon. The lack of transparency surrounding the North Korean agents’ frequent visits to Burma has fueled rumors about the nature of the cooperation between these two “outposts of tyranny.”

But even as Than Shwe looks to broaden Burma’s diplomatic horizons, it is clear that he remains very selective when choosing potential allies. In May, Cyclone Nargis offered an opportunity to forge friendlier ties with the US and the West, but Than Shwe opted to spurn their offers of assistance because they came in warships.

The paramount leader doesn’t really count the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) as an ally, but maintains a normal relationship with the regional grouping. His regime’s recent decision to send prominent dissidents to jail demonstrated his disregard for the principles laid out in the Asean charter.

With regard to Burma’s closest neighbor, Thailand, we have seen many ups and downs in the relationship over the past two decades. Thaksin Shinawatra, the billionaire Thai prime minister who was ousted in 2006, cultivated close business ties to the Burmese junta. But even during the relatively amicable period of Thaksin’s rule, Burma felt compelled to buy state-of-the-art MiG 29 jet fighters from Russia to counter the Thailand’s F16 jet fighters.

When looking for new friends, Than Shwe steers clear of countries that take are likely to take issue with his regime’s human rights record. His treatment of the democratic opposition and detention of Aung San Suu Kyi and 2,000 other political prisoners are also taboo topics.

To return to Ne Win—the charismatic leader frequently visited Western countries for medical treatment or annual vacations. Ne Win and the ministers and generals who served under him acquired a taste for the finer things the West had to offer, even if they had no appetite for Western democratic values.

Ne Win had bank accounts in Switzerland and liked to stay in London. He and top leaders had TVs and video players long before Burma officially introduced these marvels of technology in the late 1980s. Top leaders and their wives were encouraged to go to hospitals in Europe when they needed to have check-ups—not to Singapore, where Than Shwe regularly visits for medical examinations.

Ne Win and his senior ministers often visited Europe to get aid and loans. The former Federal Republic Germany, or West Germany, was a favorite destination. Germany’s Fritz Werner Company helped Burma to build an arms industry as early as the 1950s to suppress ethnic insurgency.

Thanks to his “engagement” with the West, Ne Win even received military assistance from the US to suppress narcotics in the 1970s. US-made helicopters were also used to attack ethnic civilians and insurgents, but there was no protest from Washington.

Under Ne Win, Burmese army officers were not only sent to Asian nations but also to the US and UK for military education. Under former spy chief Gen Khin Nyunt, dozens of army officers were CIA or UK-trained. Ne Win and Than Shwe all benefited from this sort of engagement and cooperation from the West.

Until 2004, Burma’s feared secret police agency ran a ruthless and efficient spy network inside and outside of the country. Ironically, this would not have been possible without the contributions of countries that now regard Burma’s current rulers as international pariahs.

Every time Than Shwe shakes hands with a visiting state leader or foreign diplomat, critics of his regime shake their heads in dismay at the willingness of many in the world to ignore his egregious crimes against the people of Burma. Than Shwe’s occasional forays into international diplomacy may help him to stay in power, but they will do nothing to improve the plight of Burma’s oppressed people.


Copyright © 2008 Irrawaddy Publishing Group | www.irrawaddy.org




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Asean's charter has to negotiate uncharted waters

http://www.bangkokpost.com/151208_News/15Dec2008_news19.php

THANIDA TANSUBHAPOL


After more than 40 years the Association of Southeast Asian Nations today effects the Asean charter, which makes this regional grouping a legally cognizant organisation. Foreign ministers of the 10 member countries will celebrate this milestone at the Asean Secretariat in Jakarta.

Drawing up the charter has been a perplexing topic in the Asean community for more than five years. That it is reaching fruition belies the fact that Asean has been in existence for almost two generations without any actual fully legal status.

For sure, Asean as a group has made many binding agreements, but this is in the absence of any mechanism to enforce its members to comply. That has given Asean poor credibility in the international negotiation arena.

The Asean charter is intended to make the 10 members in Southeast Asia a cohesive community with three strategic pillars - politics and security, economic, and socio-cultural - by 2015.


The formation of the Asean "community" has the aim of making the members part of the same family and giving them the capacity to facilitate trade together as well as having more bargaining power and more capability to compete in the international stage in all fields.

The formalising of the charter will create a lot of changes to how Asean works. For example, Asean's human rights body can now be set up to protect and promote human rights issues among member countries. Plus, more active participation by civil societies will see more active engagement with Asean's policies and its work.

In addition, the charter has increased the Asean chairman's role in order to respond quickly to emergencies.The Asean leaders will meet twice a year as opposed to once a year. Urgent issues or crises that affect Asean can be discussed and tackled immediately.

A dispute settlement has also been established under the charter allowing Asean member states to resolve their disputes through dialogue, consultation and negotiation. If any dispute remains unresolved, it will be referred to the Asean summit for a decision.

It also means the Asean Secretariat will have more power to monitor and report on the members' compliance to the leaders' forum. If any nation does not comply with agreements, the secretariat will report to the leaders.

As for the secretariat itself, it will have four deputy secretaries-general compared to the current two. Each will take responsibility for one of the four community pillars as well as administrative work, civil society issues and human rights.

To be more active, each Asean country will have a permanent representative to Jakarta to coordinate and facilitate the more than 700 meetings around the world annually. The permanent representative with the rank of an ambassador can call for an urgent meeting and implement any agreement. This will facilitate Asean's work.

Thailand, as the host of the 14th Asean summit, which has been postponed for a few months, has set a theme for the meeting entitled "Asean Charter for the Asean People". This is intended to encourage Asean to reach out to the citizens of the 10 member states and try to promote more harmony within the body.

But this will be no easy task as the 10 member countries encompass a wide development gap and the people of each country tend to be competitive towards one another rather than share a common interest in harmony.

Vitavas Sivihok, Thailand's Asean director-general, concedes Asean still has a long way to go. Asean as yet cannot be called a "community", although some productive progress can be expected in the next seven years.

"The charter will give Asean legal authority. It's like a man has reached the legal age of maturity, so he can do things on a legal level," Mr Vitavas said.

It is hoped that problems affecting Asean countries, such as those related to the environment, labour, food, health, human resource development and education, which were not addressed much in the past, will be tackled step by step through the Asean coordinating council chaired by the foreign ministers. The council will take care of three Asean community councils in each pillar before forwarding particular cases to the leaders.

Mr Vitavas said cooperation under the economic pillar has the clearest objectives as the group has free trade agreements (FTA) among members and other countries. The Asean charter, therefore, will give other countries that much more confidence to make further agreements with Asean.

"In terms of signing FTAs with other countries, if Asean is in total agreement then it will show that each member country will have considered the pros and cons at a level in which Asean will not be at a disadvantage with other partners," he said.

As for the political and security pillars, Mr Vitavas believed the policy of non-interference will become more relaxed. If two member states are in dispute over an issue, Asean will not interfere in internal matters, but the leaders now will have more licence to raise questions for discussion than before.

Dealing with the non-compliant members, he said, will still be a challenge, even though the charter will give the secretariat more enforcement authority.

"If an issue is brought up at a leaders' meeting, we will be able to seek measures to deal with the situation."

Asean's panel on human rights is now working hard to complete the task of establishing the terms of reference for the Asean office which is expected to be up and working on issues by next year.

He acknowledged the socio-culture pillar is Asean's weakest point. "We know little about our neighbours and Asean members. We have no mechanisms to link our peoples together and we have no shared language. A strong community must have a people working in harmony. There must be more kinds of activities that involve the participation of all peoples," Mr Vitavas said.

Bringing the concept of Asean to the people is the big challenge. Thailand will try to reposition Asean so it is seen less as a state-administered body by promoting the role of civil society and academia.

"We have to build a people's forum in parallel with the state forum. We should not be afraid that civil society will pose a challenge to the organisation. We ultimately just have to bring a convergence to what are parallel tracks."

Prapat Thepchatree, the director of Asean studies at Thammasat University, backs the Asean charter as it will create a more complete entity. But he questions why it has taken so long.

In contrast, he said, the United Nations established its charter in 1945, while Asean has lain neglected as an authoritative body for more than 40 years.

Mr Prapat has carefully studied the Asean charter and believes it will not do much to help improve Asean. Charter or not, he says, Asean will be little different as there are still many weak points.

"The charter is not a guideline for Asean in the long run, just until 2015. It still adheres to the non-interference policy as it remains unclear as to how this will actually change. Although the charter signifies the setting up of a human rights body, ultimately there might be complete paralysis as those officials who are drafting the [terms of reference] come from member countries such as Burma who might not want to see their countries being affected by it," Mr Prapat said.

Another weak point is that there is no clear mechanism for civil society to take part in Asean. "Asean was set up long after the UN was founded, yet it is more outdated than the UN in many aspects. Asean therefore should look to the UN or European Union models which let non-government organisations register as consultative counsel."

That is no surprise as many Asean members such as Burma, Laos and Vietnam are under dictatorial rule. They do not want the people's participation.

The objective of Asean as a community, he said, still lacks sincerity. "If we want Asean to be compared with the EU, then there is little hope.


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Junta rejects Aung San Suu Kyi's petition: NLD-LA

http://www.mizzima.com/news/inside-burma/1434-junta-rejects-aung-san-suu-kyis-petition-nld-la.html

by Solomon
Friday, 12 December 2008 22:20

New Delhi (Mizzima) – The Burmese military junta has rejected outright a petition by the lawyer of detained Burmese pro-democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, to review the extension of her house arrest period, an official of her party in exile said.

Nyo Ohn Myint, in-charge of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Thailand-based National League for Democracy-Liberated Area (NLD-LA) said, the junta last week rejected the petition by Aung San Suu Kyi's lawyer Kyi Win to review her detention which has gone beyond five years in the last term.

"The appeal was rejected and at the same time they [junta] have forbidden Kyi Win to meet Aung San Suu Kyi to explain about the appeal to her," said Nyo Ohn Myint.


Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who completed her last five years in detention in May 2008, is having to contend with an extension for another year. But the NLD-LA in their statement said, according to the law she has the right to appeal.

But lawyer Kyi Win, said he had not been informed of the rejection of the appeal by the regime and that he was told that authorities are working on the case, and that he no longer requires to meet Aung San Suu Kyi.

"They [authorities] told me that they are now working on the case and so they said I no longer need to meet Aung San Suu Kyi," Kyi Win told Mizzima.

But he, however, added that "I will try to meet Aung San Suu Kyi again."

Meanwhile, a source close to the NLD said, Kyi Win had also been threatened by the authorities not to reveal the rejection of the petition in Aung San Suu Kyi's case.

While the information cannot be independently verified, Nyo Ohn Myint said, the junta's action is likely to be related to their planned 2010 general election, for which they fear the release of Aung San Suu Kyi might foil their determination to successfully conduct the polls.

"This shows that the ensuing 2010 election will be not be fair and just, and it also means denial of Aung San Suu Kyi from participating in political activities and rejection of the international call to conduct free and fair elections," Nyo Ohn Myint said.

Aung San Suu Kyi had been detained for the past 13 of 19 years.

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UN chief visit would help Myanmar: EU envoy

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081215/wl_asia_afp/japanmyanmarunrightsdiplomacy_081215075259

TOKYO (AFP) – The European Union's special envoy on Myanmar said Monday a visit by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to the military-ruled nation would have a positive impact and trigger dialogue with the opposition.

Ban, who in May made the first visit by a UN chief to Myanmar in almost 45 years, said Friday that the atmosphere was not right for a return trip.

EU envoy Piero Fassino, a former Italian foreign minister, said that a visit by Ban must be "carefully prepared."

"We believe that a personal initiative by Ban Ki-moon could prove positive in establishing a serious dialogue between the junta, democratic opposition and ethnic minorities, which has not yet taken place," Fassino told reporters on a visit to Tokyo.

Last week more than 100 former leaders wrote to the UN chief urging him to travel to Myanmar to secure the release of political prisoners including democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has spent years under house arrest.

Leaders who signed the letter included ex-US presidents George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, ex-Australian premier John Howard, former Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi and ex-Philippine leaders Fidel Ramos and Corazon Aquino.



Fassino, who has not travelled to Myanmar in the year since his appointment, was in Japan as part of a tour of Asian nations.

He called for the world to act now to ensure the fairness of elections that Myanmar's military regime says it will hold in 2010.

"We cannot afford to stay still. We have to act now to obtain democratic guarantees," Fassino said.

"We want Myanmar's society and citizens to decide their own future. We want the 2010 general elections to be held in a fair and free environment," he added.

Ban said on Friday that he was frustrated at the failure of Myanmar's military to restore democracy.

"At this time I do not think that the atmosphere is ripe for me to undertake my own visit there," he said.

But he added: "I am committed, and I am ready to visit any time, whenever I can have reasonable expectations of my visit, to be productive and meaningful."

The European Union and United States have both slapped sanctions on Myanmar, but most Asian countries have focused instead on dialogue. China is Myanmar's main ally, while Japan -- in a rare break with Western allies -- is a major donor to the country.

Fassino said he was visiting Asia in hopes of finding a united front on Myanmar.

"The main concern for Asian countries is to avoid the destabilisation of the region," Fassino said.

"The EU and the US have implemented sanctions to force the opening of dialogue. The assessment of the tools to obtain this objective can differ but the goal is the same," he said.

Fassino said Japan, with its historical ties to Myanmar, had a "very important role to play," especially from next month when it becomes a member of the UN Security Council.

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Climate change, food security affecting Asian countries - Healthcare Minister

http://www.dailynews.lk/2008/12/15/news21.asp

“Every minute, a woman dies during pregnancy and childbirth because she did not receive adequate care and prompt treatment.

“By increasing interventions for safe motherhood, we can save the lives of half a million women and seven million infants each year, and at the same time prevent millions of women from suffering from infections, injury and disability,” said Minister of Healthcare and Nutrition Nimal Siripala de Silva at the International Conference of Parliamentarians of South East Asian Region countries. The conference was held in Hanoi, Vietnam on December 12.

The Minister said: Since its inception in 1981 in Beijing, the AFPPD has come a long way taking up many burning and vital issues in order to support the formulation of multi sectoral policies related to population and development in the countries of our regions.”


“These meetings have brought greater understanding and cooperation among the parliamentarians of our countries and they have helped us learn from the experiences of one another and on the whole to steer our policies in complimentary ways.”

“You have selected an important and extremely relevant theme for deliberations this year - “The climate and food security challenges in the light of population growth”, Minister de Silva said.

“I wish to emphasize that climate change and food security are two of the most significant issues that threaten the lives of the people of our countries, and in some instances they could threaten even our very survival as nations. Therefore we appreciate the work of the Asian Forum of Parliamentarians to make us well aware of these issues and help to prepare ourselves well in advance to meet the challenges that are upon us.”

“Perhaps nowhere is the need for reproductive health services more urgent than in the fight against HIV/AIDS and in family planning. Reproductive health services that empower women and young people with life-saving information and skills will help prevent HIV from spreading and further reduce suffering and social and economic setbacks.

The UNFPA reminds us very rightly that directing more resources to all these issues is critical in attaining the Millennium Development Goals, the internationally agreed framework to halve poverty by the year 2015,” he said.

“We are living in very uncertain times. Obviously, recent information on the meltdown in the American banking industry drew everyone’s attention, but the actual literal meltdown of ice in the North and South poles and of the Himalayas do not get sufficient attention but if the risks to humankind will be far greater than any bank collapse.”

“Countries of South East Asia are at different stages of development of their national food and nutrition policies. UN information indicates that countries like Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Myanmar have already established their national policies and work plans.

Bhutan has included food security as a part of its primary healthcare programme. In Thailand we know that their food security policy is a major part of the health development plan and the healthy lifestyles strategy while DPR Korea and Timor Leste have concentrated on nutrition management in crisis situations,” the Minister said.

He said however the most critical issue in the Region right now is the increase in food prices and food insecurity. Rising food prices have been transmitted to the South East Asian countries but still the increases are slightly less than that seen internationally. A quick comparison indicates that the rise in Bangladesh has been the sharpest, while being moderate in Nepal with the lowest rise being in Indonesia.

The onset of the price increases have also varied, with some affected as early as 2006 and others not until mid 2008. The effect depends partly on the price but also on other factors such as recent natural disasters. Consumers in the countries with the highest national per capita incomes such as Indonesia, Thailand and Sri Lanka had been less responsive to the change in prices than countries with lower GNPs.”

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South East Asia to launch charter

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7783073.stm

By Lucy Williamson
BBC News, Jakarta


Asean's charter enshrines non-interference alongside human rights
Ten South East Asian countries are launching a regional charter setting out their shared aims and methods of working together.

The Association of South East Asian Nations, or Asean, has existed for more than 40 years, but until now has had no written constitution.

Today's launch is seen as a milestone in the group's history.

However, the charter has little power to force change on the group's most pressing issues.

Run a finger down the list of principles in the new Asean charter and its priorities are clear.

Number one calls for "respect for the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of member states".

Number two, for "peaceful settlement of disputes".


Number three calls for "non-interference in member states internal affairs", and number four sets out again their right to live without external interference.

Non-interference

The issue of how much leverage Asean has over its members' behaviour has been a political hot potato throughout the writing of this charter.

When it was finally signed a year ago, one of its members - Burma - had just made headlines by brutally suppressing pro-democracy demonstrations.

The new charter calls for member countries to respect fundamental freedoms and protect human rights, and it sets up the creation of a human rights court.

But the details of how that court will operate have yet to be worked out.

Any disputes over member states' behaviour will be dealt with on the basis of "consultation and consensus" - principles that Asean holds dear.

The group likes to project a family image, preferring inclusion and compromise to isolation and judgement.

This charter is a key point along the road for Asean.

It makes the group into a legal entity, and formally sets out its joint vision economically as well as politically.

But many are waiting to see how much the new agreement will do to bring that vision closer to reality.

The agreement was signed in November 2007 and was scheduled to have been launched at a summit in Thailand this month.

But political unrest in Bangkok forced the postponement of the summit, until late February.


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Thai opposition leader elected new PM

http://asia.news.yahoo.com/081215/afp/081215073031asiapacificnews.html

BANGKOK (AFP) - Thai opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva was elected Monday as the nation's third prime minister in four months, triggering protests from supporters of the old government who tried to block parliament.

British-born Democrat Party leader Abhisit will head up a weak coalition government after winning a parliamentary vote, nearly two weeks after a court dissolved the ruling party linked to ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

At least 100 angry Thaksin supporters clad in red shirts scuffled with police and threw traffic barriers outside the gates of parliament to try to prevent lawmakers from leaving after the session.

"Abhisit gained more than half of the vote, therefore I declare that Abhisit has been voted as the new prime minister," House Speaker Chai Chidchob announced.


He said Abhisit, 44, had won votes from 235 lawmakers to 198 votes for ex-police chief Pracha Promnog, who had been proposed by the former ruling party and its allies.

Oxford-educated Abhisit gave no immediate indication of his policies but has previously said his priority would be to restore the economy after months of protests against the previous government.

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"I thanked all members of parliament who voted for me," said Abhisit, who becomes Thailand's 27th prime minister and the first from the Democrat Party in eight years.

"But I will not be speaking about my political stance before the royal command is issued," he said.

Officials said the decree from the king officially installing Abhisit as premier was likely to be given on Tuesday.

Democrat Party secretary general Suthep Tuangsuban said the cabinet list was expected in about a week, adding that he was "confident" the government would be stable despite its thin majority.

The vote follows six months of increasingly disruptive protests by the anti-Thaksin People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), which peaked with a week-long blockade of Bangkok's airports beginning in late November.

The turmoil left 350,000 passengers stranded and has badly hit both Thailand's international image and its economy, with GDP growth forecast at just two percent next year.

PAD supporters said the previous government was running the nation on behalf of Thaksin, and had already occupied the prime minister's offices since August and forced the suspension of parliament on one occasion.

Twice-elected Thaksin, a telecoms tycoon and former policeman, was overthrown in a coup in 2006 and remains in exile abroad to avoid corruption charges.

Thaksin alienated elements of the old elite in the palace, military and bureaucracy, who saw his immense popularity among the urban and rural poor as a drain on some of their power.

Since elections restored democracy in Thailand in December 2007, the Constitutional Court has removed two Thaksin-linked prime ministers.

In September this year, the court ruled that elected premier Samak Sundaravej must be stripped of office over his hosting of TV cooking shows.

On December 2, the court dissolved the PPP and handed a five-year political ban to then-premier Somchai Wongsawat, who is Thaksin's brother-in-law, over vote fraud charges dating back to last December's polls.

Several members of the PPP defected to the Democrat Party in recent days, along with several smaller parties that were part of the previous coalition government.

Abhisit failed to win over Thaksin's rural supporters in the elections, but is believed to have the backing of the kingdom's old establishment and the military.

Thawee Suraritikul, a political science professor at Sukhothai University, said Abhisit's Democrats will face a shaky coalition and a slim majority.

"Their first three months will be a crucial period. They have many problems waiting for them -- economics, and the sharing of power among coalition partners," he told AFP.

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Thirty more firms financing Burmese junta

http://www.mizzima.com/news/global-financial-crisis-a-burma/1436-thirty-more-firms-financing-burmese-junta.html

by Mizzima News
Saturday, 13 December 2008 15:29

New Delhi (Mizzima) - The lack of effective sanctions on Burma's military rulers has allowed business firms to invest in the Southeast Asian nation providing millions in revenue to the regime, which faces international condemnation given its appalling human rights record, a campaign group said on Thursday.

Burma Campaign UK, in its new 'Dirty List' of companies which have business operations or links to Burma and provide direct or indirect financial support to the ruling regime, said it found 30 more companies financing the Burmese generals, making up the new list of 170 companies.

Mark Farmaner, Director of the BCUK said the list of companies proves that the international community has not imposed proper sanctions on Burma's military rulers to stop these companies from financing the junta.


According to the BCUK, these companies, which have business operations in Burma or has links, are providing billions of dollars to the military regime, which faces condemnation for its appalling human rights record.

While the European Union and the United States have imposed economic sanctions on Burma's military rulers, the lack of sanctions from other countries including Asian countries and the absence of concrete action by the United Nations has allowed business firms to continue dealing with Burma's rulers and providing the much needed revenue to it, the BCUK said.

"If there were sanctions, from the UN, from Asian countries and from the EU, these companies would not be able to operate in Burma," said Farmaner, adding the international community despite its rhetorical condemnation has seen to "No action".

"… and what you had from the UN is nothing, there are no UN sanctions at all," said Farmaner.

He added that although the UN has accused the Burmese military regime of committing crime against humanity by using slave labour, and for flouting the Geneva Convention by targeting civilians, "the UN has not implemented one single sanction against the regime, not even an arms embargo."

Human rights activists have accused business companies operating in Burma of not only aiding the military regime financially but also accused that their involvement has escalated rights abuses in areas where they operate.

Oil giants Total of France and UNOCAL of the US, which had deals with Burma's military government to explore and develop the Yadana and Yetagun gas fields in Southern Burma, were accused of indirectly being involved in human rights abuses perpetrated by the Burmese Army while guarding the gas pipelines connected to Thailand.

Johny Chatterton, Campaigns Officer at the BCUK, in a press release on Thursday said, "To those that claim investment aids the people of Burma, the evidence shows the opposite is true. As investment has increased, the human rights situation has deteriorated."

Chatterton added that new targeted sanctions against the Burmese regime should be implemented if the international community is serious about cutting the regime's financial lifeline.

Some of the companies that are named in the list include Toyota, Qantas, TOTAL Oil, Orient Express, Kuoni, TUI, Schlumberger, BBC Worldwide, Lonely Planet Daewoo, China National Offshore Oil Corp, and Hutchison Whampoa, owner of 3 Mobile.

The BCUK said the new companies added to the list are the result of new information and an inflow of new investment in Burma's gas and hydroelectricity sector. The list according to the group includes 34 companies in the oil and gas sector, 28 companies in the hydroelectricity sector and 57 companies in the tourism sector.

Farmaner, however, said, the list, which is based on research, fails to include all business firms financing the military regime, and is not a comprehensive list as information from the military-ruled country remains limited and difficult to obtain.

But he said, "These are the ones that we have concrete evidence that their involvement in Burma is directly or indirectly funding the SPDC," referring to the Burmese military regime by its official name – State Peace and Development Council.

Reporting by Solomon, writing by Mungpi


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