News & Articles on Burma
Wednesday, 19 January, 2011
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Fighting Spreads in Karen State
Trade unions may be allowed back into Burma
Conditions Set for MPs to Attend Parliament
Now is Not the Time to Lift Sanctions
Burma rights report says minority group killed, raped
Human rights group says Myanmar survey offers evidence of crimes against humanity
Army abuse in Chin state ‘extraordinary’
MYANMAR: Chin State abuses "crime against humanity" - NGO
Disturbing Burma
Direct flights agreed between Cambodia and Myanmar
Burmese soldiers arrest eight Thais
ILO Welcomes Burma's Proposed New Labor Laws
Buildings Collapse as Heavy Snow Hits Burma's Far North
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Fighting Spreads in Karen State
By SAW YAN NAING Wednesday, January 19, 2011
MAE LA OON, Thailand--Although more than 16,000 Karen people were sheltering at close quarters in Mae La Oon refugee camp, the night was silent. Among the shadows of the banana trees, the moonlight flickered across the river.
Suddenly, the whiz of a mortar shell arcs across the sky like a shooting star. For a second there is a vacuum of silence, then the resounding boom of an explosion rocks the northern Thai jungle. The heavens are instantly illuminated as gunfire and artillery consume the area.
It was 9:30 pm on Jan. 17. The fighting between Burmese government forces and the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) was taking place about 30 km from the camp, on Kasaw Wah Lay Mountain, opposite Thailand's Sop Moei District.
We heard the echo of artillery shells thundering across the valley until 10:30 pm. Some households in the camp had already packed their belongings in case the shelling came any closer and they had to flee.
I rushed to a hut where the camp security guards were based. Through their walkie-talkies and satellite phones, we found out that the fighting was going on around Noh Day, Kasaw Wah Lay and the former Karen National Union (KNU) headquarters, Manerplaw.
Several refugees told me they have had to endure this every night since mid-December. Now I was experiencing it for myself. I could barely fathom what it must be like to get woken up by these thunderous explosions on a nightly basis.
The camp authorities announced on loudspeakers that everyone should be alert and to pack their valuables. People lingered near the underground bunkers that had been dug in case of such an emergency.
A few days earlier, three Burmese soldiers were arrested inside Mae La Oon refugee camp and later expelled. Rumors were spreading that spies for the Burmese military regime had been deployed in Mae La Oon and at Mae Ra Ma Luang, another refugee camp close by.
Karen sources on the border said that an estimated eight battalions around Kasaw Wah Lay Mountain had been recently reinforced; meanwhile, KNU Brigade 5 was recruiting in the local area.
KNU sources said a small group of Burmese troops at Kasaw Wah Lay had been cut off from their unit and were unable to receive rations and supplies. The Thai border authorities have reportedly provided rations in recent weeks to other Burmese troops.
The fighting is expected to escalate as both the KNU and the Burmese army beef up their forces in the combat zone.
Thailand has also deployed a unit of soldiers to Sop Moei District after mortar shells landed in a Thai village on the night of Nov. 17.
Several refugees said they fear that the Burmese army can fire down on the camp from Kasaw Wah Lay Mountain. Many said they are praying for a cease-fire.
“We fed up with the fighting. We want to live in peace,” said Si Mon, a housewife in Mae La Oon refugee camp.
“We don’t go to big cities like Rangoon and attack them [the Burmese] and try to take over their land,” said Saw Htee, a former KNU fighter. “We don’t want their land. We don’t want armed conflict. We fight them because they come here and attack us. They come to our land and try to oppress our people.”
The KNU's war with the Burmese army is one of the world's longest running conflicts. The insurgent group was formed in 1947 and took up arms against the central Burmese government in 1949, just one year after Burma had gained independence from British colonial rule.
Decades of repression by the Burmese regime has resulted in more than 150,000 Burmese refugees, mostly Karen, displaced to refugee camps in Thailand.
Many refugees ultimately decide to resettle in third countries. Some 60,000 Karen refugees have been resettled in the West, according to a humanitarian aid agency, Thailand Burma Border Consortium.
Having lived in a refugee camp for more than a decade, Si Mon said that she always expected to return to her village in Karen State. However, she is now on the UNHCR list as waiting to resettle in the US as she has given up all hope of ever seeing her hometown ever again.
On Nov. 8, one day after Burma's general election, serious fighting erupted between Burmese troops and a renegade faction of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), Brigade 5. The conflict has since spread north.
With an estimated 1,000 troops, Brigade 5 is led by Brig-Gen Saw Lah Pwe, and is the only DKBA battalion to reject the Burmese junta’s border guard force plan. It has since allied with the KNU. On Nov. 17, a group of about 40 soldiers belong to a Karen breakaway group called Klow Htoo Baw also returned to KNU Brigade 6 areas.
Local residents in Kyaukkyi Township in Pegu Division said that fighting between the KNU and Burmese government forces broke out near the town on Jan. 11.
Skirmishes between DKBA Brigade 5 and Burmese regime troops have been reported on a near-daily basis in Waw Lay and Phaluu in southern Karen State.
The Burmese army is also reported to be reinforcing its forces and supplies west of the Salween River in northern Karen State, and near the border with Karenni State. KNU Brigade 5 troops in Papun District in northern Karen are reported to be on high alert.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=20562
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RADIO AUSTRALIA NEWS
Trade unions may be allowed back into Burma
Girish Sawlani
The Burmese government is set to table new legislation that could allow workers to establish trade unions.
The proposal has been welcomed by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), which says it's working with the Burmese government to improve workers' rights in the impoverished nation.
The ILO's representative in Burma, Steve Marshall, says it's a significant move by the government.
"It is obviously extremely significant, the situation has arisen that the constitution that was adopted in 2008 has a provision that makes allowance for the right of persons, particularly workers to be represented, which would lead them to the situation of collective bargaining."
Since the Burmese military's crackdown on the country's trade union movement, many groups have been driven from the country or reduced to underground associations.
Recently, suspected trade unionists were still being arrested and imprisoned despite the government having already ratified the ILO convention on the Freedom of Association.
But international pressure has seen the government adopt a lighter approach to workers' dissent.
Since November 2009, there have been a series of strikes in Rangoon, with workers protesting and demanding higher wages - with little or no interference from armed forces.
And as far as the new legislation is concerned, Mr Marshall says the initiative is driven by the government.
"It was brought to our attention by senior government representatives that with the adoption of the new constitution, it was the intention to put those principles into practice."
'It is being driven from inside the government at a very senior level, which is excellent."
The latest developments come amid calls from Southeast Asian neighbours for Western nations to either lift or ease their crippling sanctions against Burma.
Moves to permit the establishment of trade unions could vindicate ASEAN's stance that Burma has made significant progress towards democracy, especially since the release of opposition figurehead, Aung San Suu Kyi.
But many, including Dr Myint Cho, an exiled Burmese national who now heads the Burma Office in Sydney, say they are still sceptical about the government's motives.
Dr Cho says he has seen such gestures before.
"I have seen it so many times before, when the previous regime formed a non-independent trade union under the control of the government. So they controlled totally the movement of the trade union in the past."
"Right now, because of international pressure for the workers' rights in Burma, the regime is trying to use this kind of initiative as a public relations move to relax international pressures."
Even if legislation gets passed through parliament, Dr Myint Cho doesn't expect the new trade unions to be genuinely independent.
"Under the current military controlled government, that kind of parliament is just a sham and it cannot operate freely,"
"So of course the pressure from the current military regime, the parliament will adopt some kind of policies in dealing with the trade unions around the world, as well as the International Labour Organisation. So I don't expect the newly formed trade union organisations will be independent and genuine."
Steve Marshall, from the International Labour Organisation, says while there will be scepticism his organisation is adopting a wait and see approach.
"We do need to put into consideration that this is a very major step and we don't know at this stage what structure will be put into place,
Whether it will be a full liberal trade union type structure or whether it will be one of the other models that exist elsewhere in the world which are slightly more constrained."
"That is something that we will be continuing to discuss with the government in terms of the structures concerned."
The bill is set to be tabled before the country's new parliament, which holds its first session later this month. http://www.radioaustralianews.net.au/stories/201101/3116835.htm?=
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Conditions Set for MPs to Attend Parliament
By BA KAUNG Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Burma's newly elected lawmakers say they have been notified of several conditions that have been imposed on their attendance at the opening session of Parliament due to be convened at the end of this month.
The MPs elected in the controversial November elections will not be allowed to bring into the Parliament mobile phones, recorders and laptop computers, according to Dr. Myat Nyar Na Soe, an elected representative of the National Democratic Force (NDF) party.
“We can't complain about these conditions because they are in line with the State Secrets Act in the constitution,” said Myat Nyar Na Soe, adding that the MPs had been told that they would be provided with telephone service while within the Parliament building in Naypyidaw and that their traveling costs would be covered.
A dress code has also been set for the lawmakers, according to the invitations that were sent to MPs to attend Parliament. While Burmese MPs were told to dress in traditional Burmese attire, those representing ethnic parties were told to wear representative ethnic costume.
On Jan.31, the representatives will meet in Naypyidaw to elect the heads and deputy heads of the two-chamber Parliament and also to nominate vice-presidents. On the same day, new regional legislatures will convene, according to reports in the state media.
One of the three vice-presidents will be nominated by the army while two others will be appointed by a majority of civilian representatives in the Upper and Lower Houses.
Last week, six ethnic political parties, including the Shan Nationalities Democratic Party and the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party, discussed a proposal to nominate an ethnic representative as a vice-president in the new government.
Myat Nyar Na Soe said that the NDF, which broke away from the main opposition party National League for Democracy to contest the election, supports the idea of an ethnic representative becoming a vice-president.
“As far as I know, Dr. Aye Maung, the chairman of the RNDP, is tipped for that position,” he said. “I believe other non-ethnic opposition parties will back him.”
Aye Maung declined to comment on the possibility, but said that unity between ethnic and opposition parties will be an important issue toward any successful negotiations in the new government.
Other sources said that Khin Aung Myint, Burma's Minister for Culture, and businessman Khin Shwe—both elected lawmakers representing the junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party—are possible nominees for the vice-presidential post.
One of the three vice-presidents who is required to be “acquainted with political, administrative, economic and military affairs” will be selected as president.
According to recent unconfirmed reports obtained by The Irrawaddy, junta chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe has already appointed himself as the President of the new government.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=20561
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CONTRIBUTOR
Now is Not the Time to Lift Sanctions
By SINA SHUESSLER Tuesday, January 18, 2011
The release of Aung San Suu Kyi and the holding of an election in November 2010 constitute new reasons to consider lifting international sanctions against Burma, according to opponents of the sanctions policy, who argue that these recent moves show that the ruling military regime is now more open and the country is taking small steps towards democracy.
Such arguments are nothing new. So-called experts have been saying for several years that the sanctions strategy has failed and that the European Union should revise its policy toward Burma. For example, Michael von Hauff, an economist at the University of Kaiserslautern in Germany, told Deutsche Welle, Germany’s international broadcaster, that sanctions were counterproductive and that the EU should try to engage in a dialogue with the regime.
Christian Hauswedell, the Asia commissioner of the German Federal Foreign Office, echoed this sentiment, writing in the preface of a publication by the Friedrich-Ebert-Foundation in 2008 that the sanctions policy had failed. According to Hauswedell, the EU should be led by geostrategic factors rather than by emotions.
However, what this debate reveals is not so much the failure of the sanctions themselves, but rather, how little is known about the European sanctions regime and the theory of international sanctions.
Initially, sanctions were introduced as an instrument to change state behavior by putting international pressure on a regime that was threatening peace or violating norms like human rights. Thus, in order for international sanctions to be effective, they had to impact on different groups within the state in different ways. Economic sanctions have to focus on the loss of income of groups benefiting from the targets of the government’s policy and therefore create incentives for these groups to undertake political reforms.
International sanctions also serve to provide moral support to opposition groups. This can result in a regime change directly—by persuading the government that the sanctioned policy is not worth the price—or indirectly—by inducing popular pressure and finally the demise of the government.
In addition, sanctions are also an instrument to uphold international norms and to demonstrate solidarity with internal opposition groups. Sanctions send a signal not only to the target state, but also to other potential violators of international norms, showing that this behavior will lead to consequences. Therefore, even if sanctions have no real economic impact and cannot change state behavior directly or indirectly, they send a positive signal regarding the importance of international norms.
When taking a closer look at the European sanctions towards Burma, it becomes obvious that they have never had an economic impact. The EU implemented an investment ban on Burma but made exceptions for the oil and gas industries, which constitute Burma’s most important sector for international investment. Therefore, companies like the French oil giant TOTAL can do their business as usual even under European sanctions.
Other European companies are also active in Burma, some in quite sensitive areas. A report by the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) on the Burmese regime’s nuclear ambitions showed the involvement of the German companies Trumpf and Deckel Maho Gildemeister (DMG) despite the European arms embargo, which extends to providing technical assistance and advice with regard to military activities.
In October 2010, another German company, Ferrostaal, celebrated its 25th year of activities in Burma as part of the Burmese-German joint venture Myanmar Fritz Werner.
Now more German companies are looking at opportunities in Burma. As early as December 2009, the German-Malaysian Chamber of Commerce and Industry inspected the Burmese market’s potential for investment and trade.
“Among the European nations, Germany is one of our larger trading partners, even considering the sanctions,” Myint Soe, the joint secretary of the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry, told The Myanmar Times after the visit.
Trade sanctions against Burma have always had their critics, who say that banning trade has a greater negative impact on ordinary Burmese than on the regime. But even the EU's so-called “smart sanctions” have loopholes or have been poorly implemented. When the EU identified 176 individuals as targets of the sanctions back in 2003, it also wanted to include their families, including their partners, children and grandchildren. However, in the end, the list included the names of just six grandchildren.
One may ask, then, whether the EU ever had any real plan for implementing the sanctions. If there is a problem with the sanctions, it is not with the policy itself, but with the way it has been carried out. Critics should therefore be pressuring the EU to devise a more feasible sanctions policy, rather than calling for the sanctions to be dropped altogether.
It is also important to remember that even if the European sanctions are not particularly well designed to change state behavior by putting economic pressure on the Burmese regime, they still have a symbolic function: providing moral support to the political opposition and highlighting the importance of human rights and democracy.
The Burmese regime has still not fulfilled any of the European benchmarks that must be met before sanctions can be lifted, including a tangible dialogue between the government, the democratic opposition and the ethnic parties, the release of all political prisoners and an end to human rights violations in the ethnic states. If the EU lifts the sanctions at this point, it would only demonstrate to the whole international community that human rights and democracy have lost their importance for European politics.
Sina Schuessler is a researcher at the Center for Conflict Studies at Philipps University Marburg in Germany.
Copyright © 2008 Irrawaddy Publishing Group | www.irrawaddy.org
http://www.irrawaddy.org/opinion_story.php?art_id=20553
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Bangkok Post
Burma rights report says minority group killed, raped
* Published: 19/01/2011 at 01:30 PM
* Online news: Asia
The Burma junta has been commiting abuses in a remote state that need a crimes against humanity investigation, an international rights group said Wednesday.
An ethnic Chin refugee child (C) from Myanmar sits with his mother and sister at their living quarters in New Delhi. The Myanmar junta has been commiting abuses in a remote state that need a crimes against humanity investigation, an international rights group said Wednesday.
The Physicians for Human Rights group trained volunteers to survey hundreds of families in Chin state, many of whom said relatives had been killed, raped or forced into slave labor.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu, the anti-apartheid campaigner, and former International Criminal Court prosecutor Richard Goldstone called the results of the survey "devastating" as they joined a call made in the report for an international inquiry into alleged crimes of humanity across Burma.
Physicians for Human Rights issued its report ahead of a review of Burma's record by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva next week.
Demands for an international commission of inquiry have eased since Burma's election in November, which was dominated by pro-junta parties, and the later release of democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.
But the US-based group, which shared the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize for its work in the international campaign to ban landmines, said the election had not "addressed the suffering" of the Burma people.
Its "Life Under The Junta" report said that Burma's "authoritarian system, with all the harm it has generated remains intact" and ethnic minorities like the Chin have faced "particularly brutal treatment under military rule."
The survey, carried out between October 2009 and November 2010, interviewed 621 families across Chin state, which is on the border with India. Physicians for Human Rights said it was the first detailed study of its kind.
Crimes committed in Chin state "include murder, rape, torture, group persecution and other inhumane acts," said the report.
The group said more than 90 percent of the families had reported that at least one member of the family had been forced into unpaid labor for the military or government.
Six families said a relative had been killed by soldiers, another 29 reported relatives had disappeared, 23 said a family member had been tortured, 17 that one person in the group had been raped or sexually violated by the military.
The report said that nearly a third of rape victims and nearly 20 percent of torture victims were aged under 15. Seventeen families said a child from the group had been forcibly conscripted into the Burma army. Some of the child soldiers were as young as 11, the report said.
"Forced labor is often performed at gunpoint under military oversight," said Physicians for Human Rights.
"Government soldiers reportedly beat and even shoot to death civilians while they labor under duress." The "military have also made civilian laborers serve as minesweepers and human shields to protect the soldiers while marching on dirt roads."
The Burma government has tried to turn remote Chin state into a major producer of tea and jatropha, also known as the physic nut.
To do this many families have been forced to stop growing their own food, the report said, and many have been displaced. There are an estimated 75,000 displaced Chin in India and 50,000 in Malaysia.
"Decades of neglect and widespread abuses have, moreover, devastated the Chin who have remained in (Burma) and rendered them highly food insecure and vulnerable to natural disaster." It said 114 villages in the southern township of Kanpalet face food shortages because of rat infestation. http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/asia/217148/burma-rights-report-says-minority-group-killed-raped
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Human rights group says Myanmar survey offers evidence of crimes against humanity
GRANT PECK Associated Press
1:34 a.m. EST, January 19, 2011
BANGKOK (AP) — A human rights group says a survey it conducted reveals flagrant and widespread abuses by Myanmar's army, and could be used as evidence to prosecute the country's military rulers for crimes against humanity.
Physicians for Human Rights, which shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 for campaigning against land mines, says in a report issued Wednesday that it has documented abuses against Myanmar's Chin minority including killings, beatings, forced labor, religious persecution, disappearances, torture, rape and widespread pillaging.
It describes its survey as the first to assess the scale and scope of alleged crimes against humanity in Myanmar, supporting a barrage of earlier published material.
"The data don't lie and this report puts in stark light the horrors that the Chin people are enduring," Physicians for Human Rights chief executive Frank Donaghue said in a statement.
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Myanmar's government had no immediate comment. In the past, it has denied allegations of widespread abuses.
The U.S.-based group says its 64-page report — "Life Under the Junta: Evidence of Crimes Against Humanity in Burma's Chin State" — provides evidence of at least eight human rights violations that could be taken to the International Criminal Court.
It also urges the United Nations to establish a commission of inquiry to investigate reports of human rights violations in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma.
"The approach used by the investigators lets us see the widespread and systematic nature of these abuses and the results are devastating," South African religious leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu said in a statement released by the group.
In the past year, pro-democracy and human rights groups have stepped up a campaign urging that the alleged abuses of the junta be heard by the International Criminal Court and that the U.N. Security Council set up a commission of inquiry.
Their pressure comes as the junta makes a self-proclaimed transition to democracy, with the country's first parliament in more than two decades due to convene this month following November elections. Critics allege that the process is a charade, meant to provide a fig leaf of respectability for continued rule by the military.
Myanmar's ethnic minorities, comprising 30-40 percent of the country's 56 million people and clustered mostly in border regions, have for decades sought autonomy from the central government, often resorting to armed struggle and triggering fierce repression by the army.
While the plights of more populous groups along the Thai border, such as the Karen and the Shan, are fairly well publicized, the Chin — Christians living in the remote mountains of northwestern Myanmar — are often neglected.
For the new report, 621 randomly selected households throughout Chin State's nine townships responded to an 87-question survey in January to March 2010 about their life during the previous 12 months.
Nearly 92 percent of the respondents reported at least one episode of forced labor, such as hauling military supplies or building roads. Government authorities, primarily soldiers, committed more than 98 percent of the overall abuses, including killings, rapes, torture and abductions, according to the responses. Fifteen percent of the households reported members being tortured or beaten by soldiers.
Physicians for Human Rights says its findings constitute evidence of activities that are regarded under international law as crimes against humanity.
It also says the case against the junta qualifies to be brought before the International Criminal Court because the abuses were carried out after the court began operating in 2002 and were committed by government authorities as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against a civilian population.
The International Criminal Court, headquartered in the Netherlands, is the world's first permanent war crimes tribunal. Under the Rome treaty that established the tribunal, the court can step in only when countries are unwilling or unable to dispense justice themselves for genocide, crimes against humanity or war crimes.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-as-myanmar-human-rights,0,1738951.story
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Army abuse in Chin state ‘extraordinary’
By FRANCIS WADE
Published: 19 January 2011
State-sanctioned abuses in Chin state are widespread and in many cases may qualify as crimes against humanity, the authors of a comprehensive survey-based report claim.
The situation in Burma’s remote northwestern ethnic state has to date been left out of much of the debate on whether crimes against humanity and war crimes are occurring in Burma.
The UN is under pressure to launch an investigation into what legal experts claim is a mountain of evidence that suggests such crimes may have been committed by the Burmese military, particularly in the country’s ethnic border regions, such as Karen state.
A new report by the US-based Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), co-recipient of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize, adds fuel to that fire, alleging that it found “widespread reports of human rights violations among 621 randomly selected households” in Chin state. At least eight of those types of violations “fall within the purview of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and may constitute crimes against humanity”.
One in seven of these houses reported that at least one family member had been tortured or subjected to “inhumane treatment” by Burmese troops, who committed 98 percent of the recorded abuses, while 570 households were subjected to what qualifies under international law as a crime against humanity.
One third of all forcible conscriptions into the army were of children under the age of 15, which is illegal under both international law and Burmese domestic law. One in eight of the Chin households had at one point been forcibly displaced.
“The data don’t lie and this report puts in stark light the horrors that the Chin people are enduring,” said Frank Donaghue, CEO of Physicians for Human Rights, in a statement released with the report. “No nation has the right to oppress its people, but to the extent that we abandon those people, we allow the crimes to continue.” PHR’s deputy director, Richard Sollom, said that the levels of violence against civilians there was “extraordinary”.
The report includes a forward by former UN Chief Prosecutor Richard J. Goldstone and Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu, who said that “the results are devastating”. Goldstone said that it should give further impetus to the UN to establish a Commission of Inquiry into whether crimes against humanity are being committed.
The survey comprised 87 questions asked by surveyors between February and March last year. Similar findings were recorded in a 2009 report by the New York-based Human Rights Watch, who called on the government in neighbouring Mizoram state in India to extend protection to Chin who have fled across the border.
Chin state has also been struck by a severe famine in recent years that stems from mass infestation of rats in farmland who devour crops and grain. The rats are attracted to the flowering of the bamboo plant, a phenomenon that occurs only twice a century.
http://www.dvb.no/news/army-abuse-in-chin-state-%E2%80%98extraordinary%E2%80%99/13751
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MYANMAR: Chin State abuses "crime against humanity" - NGO
BANGKOK, 19 January 2011 (IRIN) - Myanmar's military government is guilty of crimes against humanity in Chin State, targeting minority Christians, says the US-based NGO, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) in a new report.
"There is little humanitarian information on Chin State because it is remote with no infrastructure or easy access from neighbouring India. It is a neglected region," said Richard Sollom, a PHR deputy director and principal author of Life Under the Junta, released on 19 January.
PHR surveyors documented almost 3,000 separate incidents of abuse among 621 households (3,281 people) from 2009-2010, including forced labour, rape, torture, abduction, arbitrary execution, arrest, and forced conscription of children.
Almost 92 percent of all surveyed households reported at least one family member subjected to forced labour. More than 62 percent of those surveyed reported working under the threat of physical harm, death or at gunpoint, according to PHR.
Steve Marshall, the UN International Labour Organization Liaison Officer for Myanmar, told IRIN that in certain areas, "villagers are literally corralled into labour under major physical threat".
"Forced labour is just two words but a lot happens when people are taken to a job site, and marched hundreds of kilometres away from their villages. Young girls are taken away from the protection of fathers, uncles, and brothers, making them much more vulnerable to sexual assault and rape," Sollom said.
Sexual violence is used by the Burmese military as a tool to "persecute and demoralize" the Chins, according to the report. Men, women, and children reported sexual violations by government soldiers, with almost 30 percent of rape victims under the age of 15.
UN report
With an eye to the first UN Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the human rights situation in Burma on 27 January, PHR and Tomas Ojea Quintana, the UN Special Rapporteur on Myanmar, are calling for a UN Commission of Inquiry into Myanmar's human rights situation.
"The quantitative data poses questions the Myanmar government has to respond to. The condemning evidence aims to bring justice and accountability to Chin State," said Sollom.
Abductions
Two southern townships in Chin State, Paletwa and Mindat, are home to 97 percent of all reported abductions and disappearances allegedly carried out by government and local police in Chin State, according to the report.
Almost 15 percent of households reported at least one incidence of torture - defined by PHR as "the infliction of severe suffering or pain lasting over 10 minutes" - by the Burmese military. Seventeen out of every 100 reports came from children younger than 15.
More than 10 percent of households reported family members suffering from either fatal weapon injuries or extrajudicial killings.
"The army thinks they can do anything they want with the Chin people because we are an ethnic and religious minority. They have the power to kill with impunity," said Salai Ling, who escaped from Chin State and sought exile in Thailand in 1996.
dm/pt/mw http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=91659
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Disturbing Burma
Editorial Desk
The Jakarta Post
Publication Date : 19-01-2011
Few were expecting any surprises from the Asean Ministerial Retreat in Lombok, Indonesia over the weekend. So when news emerged that the 10-member group was urging an easing of sanctions against Burma (Myanmar), we found it rather shocking, if not altogether disturbing.
The introduction of a regime sanctioned constitution, general elections and the release of Aung San Suu Kyi are grounds for Indonesia and fellow members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) to be cautiously optimistic, but nothing more than that. They are certainly not worth betting Indonesia’s international credibility on.
The argument put forward using the election and Suu Kyi’s release as rationale was flawed and premature.
The elections were held under extremely restrictive conditions, to the point that even Indonesian foreign policy analysts here criticised the limitations being placed on international poll watchers. In other words, the process was not open to the kind of scrutiny and critique common in standard elections around the world.
The right to free expression - whether through public rallies criticizing the government or a free press - remains void.
We dare Asean ministers and leaders to publicly avow that the citizens of Burma have the right to express and channel their aspirations towards a viable political opposition that has the same rights as the ruling regime.
And while the release of Suu Kyi is a nudge in the right direction, are there any assurances of a cessation of political or ethnic persecution when the authority of the regime is under threat? The answer remains no.
When a regime so unabashedly engaged in open political suppression with military force, such as was the case during the saffron revolution just three years ago, we should keep our suspicions on alert.
Nor do we find it difficult to shake off our incongruity when, in 2008, a constitutional referendum was passed with an almost unanimous 92 percent of the ballots, a number which Joseph Stalin would have been proud of.
We are sad Asean would feel it necessary to risk its credentials - yet again - when a cloud of uncertainty still hangs over Burma. Indonesia should encourage the process of opening up in Myanmar, but it should not put its reputation on the line for a regime that only has itself to blame for its predicament. http://www.asianewsnet.net/home/news.php?id=16861&sec=3
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Direct flights agreed between Cambodia and Myanmar
Jan 18, 2011, 3:43 GMT
Phnom Penh - Cambodia and Myanmar have agreed to begin direct flights in a bid to boost tourism, local media reported Wednesday.
Cambodia's Minister of Tourism Thong Khon said the twice-weekly flights would link Myanmar's capital Yangon and Cambodia's tourist centre of Siem Reap, home to the Angkor Wat temple complex.
He said Myanmar Airways International would operate the flights, with the first scheduled for February 23.
Thong Khon announced the deal at the ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF), a week-long gathering of the Association of South-East Asian Nations in Phnom Penh to boost tourism to the region and between the group's 10 member states.
He said Cambodia was also using the opportunity of hosting the ATF to try and negotiate improved flight connections with other countries.
'We are hopeful that if we have direct flights with Russia and Japan, their tourists will increasingly come to our country,' he told the Phnom Penh Post newspaper.
Around 2.5 million people visited Cambodia last year, of whom just 2,600 were from Myanmar. Tourism is one of Cambodia's key economic pillars. http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/business/news/article_1612801.php/Direct-flights-agreed-between-Cambodia-and-Myanmar
-----------------------------------------
Bangkok Post
Burmese soldiers arrest eight Thais
* Published: 19/01/2011 at 12:00 PM
* Online news: Local News
Eight Thais from Tak's Phop Phra district were arrested by Burmese soldiers after the villagers crossed the border on Wednesday morning.
Reports said the eight people had crossed the border to fish and harvest a crop of corn.
They were named as Mr Methee Khiritassanai, Mr Paetoo Khiriklaiwan, Tanu Khiriklaiwan, Mrs Mamee Khiriklaiwan, Mr Morshi, Mrs Tala, Mrs Palamo and Mr Pakue.
They are being held at the Third Tactical Command in Burma, the reports said.
A group of Thai villagers were seeking their release by negotiating with the Burmese soldiers, but it was difficult as the soldiers were from other areas and were assigned to deal with the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) troops in the area.
According to reports from Burma, five of the detained Thais were caught planting corn and the three others were fishing.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/breakingnews/217137/burma-soldiers-arrest-eight-thais
-------------------------------------------
ILO Welcomes Burma's Proposed New Labor Laws
Ron Corben | Bangkok 18 January 2011
The International Labor Organization (ILO) says it is encouraged by proposed legislation in Burma to allow greater freedom for labor unions, but remains concerned about the use of forced child labor in the military and private sector.
The ILO representative in Burma, Steve Marshall, speaking to reporters Tuesday, said Burma’s military is preparing legislation that will allow for legal trade unions, with rights to strike. Marshall said this is a further step in signs of economic reform.
The legislation is set to be presented before a new parliament elected last November and due to hold its first session in late January. Marshall said the legislation marks a major step in the country’s labor rights.
"Obviously, the issue of freedom of association, which is effectively the right of workers and people to be represented which includes the issues of, for example, collective bargaining, it would include the issues of the right to strike ... they are critical and if passed into law make a big change in terms of the way in which the society is able to develop," said Marshall.
The military government in Burma, also known as Myanmar, already has ratified the internationally recognized Freedom of Association Convention, which is the standard set by the ILO.
Marshall says, though, that while the introduction of the legislation is a step towards an improved labor market in Burma, the overall reform program remains in its early days.
Human rights groups say while unions and associations have been a feature of Burma’s economic and political life, they have been tightly regulated by the military.
Trade unionists also have been jailed for activities "not sanctioned’ by the military." Thailand-based rights group, Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma), says of the more than 2,100 political prisoners currently detained, 44 are labor activists.
The ILO’s chief goal in Burma has been to assist in ending forced labor and it has an agreement with the military government that enables complaints to be lodged with the organization’s country offices. Last year the ILO received 370 complaints, marking a sharp increase over recent years.
Marshall said the ILO remains concerned over ongoing issues of child labor and recruitment of child soldiers into Burma’s armed forces. He said there have been signs of progress in dealings with the armed forces.
"In the area of child soldiers - yes - there is a general positive move," said Marshall. "In the last year, for example, 73 children - as a result of complaints made to the ILO - were released and discharged from the military."
The military government recently announced a program of national military service for both men and women that may come into effect beginning in 2012.
Burma’s army, faced with problems of recruitment and desertion, has looked to underage recruitment using labor brokers. Marshall said the proposed national service is expected to have a direct impact on child recruits.
Marshall added that many children often are lured into forced labor due to poverty when families are unable to pay for the child’s education.
But forced labor remains a major problem across Burma, with rights groups citing villages forced to construct roads and other work for the military, while jailed prisoners also are recruited for local industries.
A further assessment of Burma’s labor practices is expected to take place in February, when an ILO mission, including labor specialists, will appraise the reforms and new labor legislation. http://www.voanews.com/english/news/asia/southeast/ILO-Welcomes-Burmas-Proposed-New-Labor-Laws-114145209.html
--------------------------------------------
Buildings Collapse as Heavy Snow Hits Burma's Far North
By KO HTWE Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Heavy snowfall in northern Kachin State on Sunday caused the collapse of several buildings belonging to a customs office in the Panwa Valley, near the border with China, according to local residents.
“I've never experienced anything like it,” said one resident of the area. “The snow came down like heavy rain, causing a number of buildings to collapse. No one was injured, but travel in and out of the area has been blocked for days.”
Meanwhile, in nearby Chipwe Township, local residents said that transportation was slowed by snow and hail.
A customs building that has collapsed under the weight of heavy snow in the Panwa Valley of Kachin State, near the border with China. (Photo: The Irrawaddy)
“People are having trouble getting around because of all the snow and hail on the road,” said an employee of Asia Wall, a local company, adding that poor travel conditions have prevented outside aid groups from reaching the remote area.
According to a resident of Bamaw Township, several older people in the area have reportedly gone into shock due to the extremely cold weather.
Earlier this month, Tun Lwin, a retired director-general of the Department of Meteorology and Hydrology in Rangoon, predicted that a cold wave would hit the region four times between January and March.
Temperatures in the region would rise and fall depending on the speed and direction of winds from high-altitude areas of China, he added on his website.
Freezing conditions in high-altitude areas of western, eastern and northern Burma at the end of December have continued into the new year, with Hakha and Mindat townships in Chin State and Loilem and Pinlaung townships in southern Shan State experiencing below-zero temperatures at night.
According to the state-run New Light of Myanmar, recent nighttime temperatures in Kachin and Chin states have been 3-4°C below January averages.
Temperatures are also falling in parts of Shan State, where local residents reported cold winds and light rain.
“The temperature has been falling since Sunday. The wind is significantly colder these days than usual in Loilem Township,” said Moe Moe, a resident of the area.
The cold wave has also hit northern Vietnam, killing around 9,200 cows and buffaloes and closing schools, according to reports in the country's state-run media. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=20566
Thursday, January 20, 2011
News & Articles on Burma-Wednesday, 19 January, 2011
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
"Prime Minister KAN's TV" E-mail Service (January 17, 2011)
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Prime Minister KAN's TV
-------------------------------------------------------------------
The following are the messages contained in the videos:
"No. 11 [New Year] The First Broadcast of 2011 -- Have Confidence
in Japan!"
Prime Minister: Happy New Year!
Narration: Since the start of the year, Prime Minister Kan has been
speaking his mind to the people at every opportunity, be it during
his New Year's press conference, in live interviews on TV programs,
or when he became the first incumbent Prime Minister to appear on
a live Internet program. The Prime Minister's positive tone in
these programs is backed by his confidence in Japan's potential,
which he thoroughly contemplated over the New Year holiday period.
For example...
Prime Minister: The biggest problem faced by Japan's agricultural
sector now is that young people find it quite difficult to engage
in it. This is epitomized by the fact that the current average age
of the people engaged in such work is 66. But is this how it should
be? There may be a number of young people who prefer working under
the sun in a green field to using computers or doing office work.
I would like to eliminate the various barriers to agricultural
activities. That is one thing that I would like to work on.
Narration: Besides increasing the number of young people working in
agriculture, the sector could also change its form. The site visits
the Prime Minister has gone on since last December have reinforced
his confidence about this.
Prime Minister: The agricultural sector should move beyond being
a primary industry that just produces goods like rice and
vegetables and aim to handle food processing and delivery as well.
In doing so, the sector should also aim to add value to these
processes. We term this kind of industry a "sixth-order industry."
Japanese cuisine has been overwhelmingly favored by many leaders
during APEC meetings and on other occasions. Some have even said, "
There is no cuisine as delicious and healthy as Japanese cuisine."
Our cuisine is made possible by the agricultural sector. We should
have confidence in this sector and export Japanese products to the
world. I think Japan's agricultural sector can be revived through
such approaches.
Narration: Last year, the Prime Minister had direct interaction
with many state leaders. His main principles remained firm
throughout these interactions.
Prime Minister: Last year there was great concern over the security
situation in Asia. A stable Japan-US alliance is essential and
indispensable to many countries in the Asian region as well --
a number of Asian leaders have told me this. The alliance is
definitely international public goods.
We should therefore think upon the Japan-US alliance with
confidence, knowing that it exists not only for the sake of Japan
and the United States, but also for the stability of Asia and the
world at large.
In this context, we should seek to have more open relations with
China, Russia, and many other countries.
Narration: Open international relations. The slogan "Opening Japan
in the 21st century" isn't just about the liberalization of trade.
Prime Minister: "Opening up Japan" concerns not only the economy
and our security situation, but also issues of human security, such
as the problems taken up in the activities of JICA or the
initiatives of Mr. Tetsu Nakamura in Afghanistan, which are roles
that Japan should play and that the international community expects
Japan to play.
I met a number of world leaders last year. I heard many comments
stating that Japan is one of the models they aim to emulate, and
many expressions of gratitude for the provision of various medical
and educational services to children through Japan's official
development assistance (ODA) and other means. Japan has played
a major role in the international community so far, and I believe
it can play a significant role in the future as well.
It's time we take a positive attitude once again and open up to the
world. Let's regain confidence in ourselves!
===================================================================
Publication : Cabinet Public Relations Office
1-6-1 Nagata-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-8968, Japan
ဇန္န၀ါရီ တဆယ့္ခုႏွစ္ရက္
ေအးစက္စူးရွတဲ့
ေဆာင္းေလၾကမ္းတို႔ရဲ႕
အၫွာအတာကင္းမဲ့မႈကို အံတုရင္း
သူစိမ္းဆန္ေသာ ဇန္န၀ါရီေန႔ရက္မ်ားထဲ
ငါ... မင္းကို သတိရေနမိတယ္...။
တခါတရံ
ေန႔မွန္း ညမွန္းမသိရတဲ့
အေမွာင္ခန္းေလးထဲမွာ...
တခါတရံ
ၾကိဳးသမားေတြရဲ႕
ေခ်ာက္ခ်ားဘြယ္ရာ
အခန္းထဲမွာ...
အခုေတာ့ ရာဇ၀တ္သားေတြနဲ ့
ေရာႁပြန္းေနတဲ့ အခန္းထဲမွာ
ေလးဆယ့္ခုႏွစ္ႏွစ္ေျမာက္ေမြးေန႔ကို
မင္း ဘယ္လိုခံစားမႈမ်ိဳးနဲ႔
ေက်ာ္ျဖတ္ေနမွာလဲဆိုတာ
ငါ သိခ်င္လိုက္တာ...။
ကုန္လြန္ခဲ့တဲ့...
ျပီးဆံုးခဲ့တဲ့...
ေထာင္တြင္း တဆယ့္သံုးႏွစ္ကို ၾကံ့ၾကံ့ခံရင္း
ေနာက္ထပ္ ျဖတ္သန္းရမယ့္
တဆယ့္သံုးႏွစ္တာကာလကို
ဘယ္လိုခံႏိုင္ရည္ေတြနဲ႔
မင္း... ျဖတ္သန္းမယ္ဆိုတာ
ငါ... ေၾကေၾကကြဲကြဲနဲ႔
ေတြးေနမိေသးတယ္။
သားေတြ အနားမွာမရွိဘဲ
ေရာက္ေရာက္လာတဲ့
(သားေတြရဲ႔)
ေမြးေန႔ေတြကိုလည္း
ရင္ကြဲပက္လက္ မ်က္ရည္စက္နဲ႔
အေမ ျဖတ္သန္းေနမွာ အေသအခ်ာပါပဲ။
ငါ့မွာေတာ့...
အေ၀းေျမတေနရာကေန
ေၾကကြဲေနရင္း
အေမ့ရဲ႕ သားေတြအေပၚထားတဲ့
ခ်စ္ခ်င္းေမတၱာတရားမွာ ခိုနားေနမိတယ္။
ေလးဆယ့္ခုႏွစ္ႏွစ္ေျမာက္ ေမြးေန႔မွာ
ညီတေယာက္က
အကိုတေယာက္ကို ခ်စ္ျမတ္ႏိုးတဲ့တရား
ရဲေဘာ္တေယာက္က
သူ႔ရဲ႕တိုက္ေဖၚတိုက္ဖက္
ေသြးေသာက္ တေယာက္ကို ယံုၾကည္ေလးစားတဲ့တရား
ခ်စ္ခ်င္းေမတၱာမ်ားနဲ႔ နာၾကားပါ။
ငါတို႔ ဘယ္ေတာ့မွ ဒူးမေထာက္ဘူး...
ငါတို႔ ဘယ္ေတာ့မွ လက္မေျမွာက္ဘူး...
ငါတို႔ ဘယ္ေတာ့မွ အရႈံးမေပးဘူး...။
(ေမာ္လၿမိဳင္ေထာင္တြင္းမွ အကိုသို ့)
ရဲရင့္သက္ဇြဲ
News & Articles on Burma-Tuesday, 18 January, 2011
News & Articles on Burma
Tuesday, 18 January, 2011
-------------------------------------------------------------
Rules for parliament released
Junta to Increase Scrutiny of NGOs' Finances
Ex-Military Official Berates Farmers at Land Seizure Meeting
Eleven Media Quits Journalism Committee
Sanctions call ‘echoes Burmese junta’
Myanmar court to consider Suu Kyi party appeal
Junta balkanizing units for new command
ASEAN’s political correct
Editorial: Disturbing Myanmar
Influential Magazine Closes, Deepening Burma's Isolation
Myanmar marketing committee to launch fun run
Goldpetrol re-enters Burmese wells
East Timor and Asean: new strategic imperatives
Drafted Into Prison
------------------------------------------------
Rules for parliament released
By AHUNT PHONE MYAT
Published: 18 January 2011
The 1000-plus MPs preparing for the first session of parliament on 31 January have been carefully instructed in what to wear, and what not to bring.
An invitation sent out to the men and women who won seats in Burma’s elections last November calls on MPs to report to the parliament office in the secretive capital Naypyidaw by 27 January.
Despite the overwhelming victory of the pro-junta Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), politicians from 22 parties, as well as several independent candidates, will travel to Naypyidaw next week in lieu of the first seating.
“Materials banned from being brought into the parliament premises include cameras, radios, cassette players, computers, hand phones, any kind of voice transmission or recording devices, ammunitions and explosives, bags, shoulder bags and Gaung Baung boxes [for carrying the traditional Burmese turban],” said Dr Myat Nyarna Soe, an MP-elect from the National Democratic Force (NDF).
On 28 January the MPs will be issued with certificates by the Union Election Commission to recognise them as MPs, as well as MP identification cards, summarised personal biographies and law books.
Dr Myat Nyarna Soe said that strict dress codes had also been issued for men and women. Men will wear a “stiff-collar shirt, appropriate type of longyi, [Burmese] jacket and the Gaung Baung [turban]”, while women are required to wear long-sleeved jackets and a scarf.
“Ethnic [MPs] can wear their own traditional attires and the Tatmadaw [army] members are to wear the dress appointed by the Ministry of Defence.”
A quarter of parliamentary seats automatically went to pre-appointed military officials prior to the vote. They will be involved in the election of a parliamentary head – one of the top items on the agenda for the first session – as well as the election of a president and three vice presidents.
Critics claim that the presence of the military alongside the 80 percent of elected seats won by the USDP, which is backed by the ruling junta, means that prospects of a true civilian government are unlikely.
No word has yet been given on what role the ageing junta chief Than Shwe will play. Several of his senior military colleagues resigned their posts prior to the elections in order to compete.
Dr Myat Nyarna Soe predicted the first session may last between two and four weeks – the two-chamber Union Parliament will meet in Naypyidaw at the same time the various regional legislatures convene around the country.
http://www.dvb.no/news/rules-for-parliament-released/13742
------------------------------------------------
Junta to Increase Scrutiny of NGOs' Finances
By NA YEE LIN LATT Tuesday, January 18, 2011
The Burmese authorities are preparing to check the expenditures of local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to determine whether they are spending illegally acquired money, according to official sources.
An official from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MOHA) told The Irrawaddy that Police Col Sit Aye, the head of the Police Force’s Department Against Transnational Crime, will lead the operation to examine the NGOs' expenses and take action against them if they are found to be doing anything illegal.
“The authorities will check NGOs to see if any of their expenses violate the existing Money Laundering Control Law. If a group can't present proper records of their expenditures, it could be dissolved,” the official said.
“The operation seems to be aimed at small NGOs founded by Burmese living in the country,” he added.
Others agreed with this assessment.
“Although the authorities said they will examine the expenditures of all NGOs, I don't think they will be able to touch international agencies such as World Vision. They can only control domestic NGOs led by Burmese,” said an NGO worker in Rangoon.
“For example, they can check how much money a domestic NGO has received from donors, who it got it from, and by what means. If it received funding from overseas organizations but the money didn't come through an official bank transfer, the organization could be charged,” the NGO worker added.
The MOHA official said the authorities will not only dissolve NGOs that cannot submit proper records of their expenditures but also charge responsible individuals with violating money laundering laws.
Many small unregistered NGOs in Burma have reportedly received financial assistance from other countries via private agents, or “hundies.”
A source close to the MOHA told The Irrawaddy that the increased scrutiny of local aid groups is aimed at NGOs that financially supported political parties during last year's election.
Some observers expressed concern that the move could impede the work of local aid groups.
“The authorities should be encouraging NGOs to do the work that they can't do themselves, but instead, they seem intent on reducing the number of social organizations and those who want to help others,” said a person who founded an NGO inside Burma but asked to remain anonymous.
Many social organizations emerged in Burma after Cyclone Nargis struck the country in May 2008, but many of them have yet to officially register as NGOs and are still operating as community-based organizations with funding from international aid agencies, Western embassies or donations from overseas Burmese. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=20554
--------------------------------------------------
Ex-Military Official Berates Farmers at Land Seizure Meeting
By KO HTWE Tuesday, January 18, 2011
In an apparent attempt to solve grievances about land confiscation, a former top military official met with farmers in Rangoon on Friday and told them that their lands were transferred to private companies because they “had proved unable to create a lush green environment in the countryside.”
Ex-Lt-Gen Myint Swe, who was in November elected to the Nationalities' Parliament representing the junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), made the inflammatory comment to 150 farmers who had gathered at the Good Brothers Company office in Dagon Seikkan Township.
Approximately 8,500 acres of land belonging to 800 farmers in Rangoon Division have been confiscated by the Burmese authorities in the past two years and distributed to private companies. The farmers have generally been offered little or insufficient compensation for the seizures and, in many cases, the companies have continued to use the confiscated land for agricultural purposes although the official line is that the land is needed for housing developments.
“There have been no less than 343 land confiscations in Rangoon Division,” said Pho Phyu, a lawyer who has previously represented farmers in land seizure cases.
After the meeting with Myint Swe, the farmers held a second meeting at which they decided not to recognize the USDP member's comments as an official statement, added Pho Phyu.
Myint Swe—who was previously the military commander of Rangoon Division and is widely expected to assume the role of Chief Minister of Rangoon Division in the new government—was accompanied by Aung Win, the director general of the Department of Housing and Human Settlement Development (DHHS), as well as the owners of 11 companies that have taken over the lands.
According to Pho Phyu, Myint Swe had called the meeting to resolve escalating tensions after farmers had demonstrated in front of the office of the General Administrative Department of Eastern Rangoon District.
“Myint Swe said that the farmers cannot demand the right to manage the farmlands by themselves, because those lands belong to the State, and he urged them to cooperate with the companies,” said Aung Maung, one of the farmers' leaders at the first meeting.
“It is like we are not human,” he said.
Similarly, 1,300 acres of land were seized and 600 farmers were evicted from their lands in Hpakant Township in Kachin State between 2006 and 2008. Farmers were not fully compensated and were displaced to areas far from their homesteads. Several of the farmers banded together to hire legal teams, which in August filed lawsuits claiming the land seizures were illegal.
It is also alleged that Khin Shwe of the Zay Gabar Company confiscated nearly 400 acres of land in Kyaikmayaw Township in Mon State to build the biggest cement factory in Burma. Khin Shwe is an elected USDP candidate for the Nationalities Assembly in Twantay Township in Rangoon Division.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=20555
------------------------------------------------
Eleven Media Quits Journalism Committee
By HEIN THU Tuesday, January 18, 2011
The Eleven Media Group, a leading media organization in Rangoon, has resigned from the recently formed Committee for Professional Conduct (CPC), according to media sources.
The CPC was reportedly formed to cooperate with the government-affiliated Myanmar Writers and Journalists Association (MWJA), and the military regime's censorship board, the Press Scrutiny and Registration Division (PSRD).
“If there are many people within the CPC who constantly seek opportunities for their own benefit and who have reputations for breaching the codes of conduct for journalism, it [the CPC] will not be respected by either the government or the people, and its objectives will not be fulfilled,” said Eleven Media Group's website, quoting the agency's CEO Dr. Than Htut Aung.
The website also said that the Eleven Media Group will not cooperate with the CPC unless the committee amends its constitution in accordance with Eleven Media's six-point proposal regarding the committee's membership criteria: to follow the code of conduct for journalism; to maintain good character and reputation; to show a willingness to protect journalists; to stand firmly on the side of the principles of journalism and be flexible; not to prioritize self-interests; and not to receive directly or indirectly sponsorship from the government, political parties, businessmen, embassies or NGOs.
Dr. Thein Myint, the Group's managing editor, said he attended a CPC meeting on Jan.13, and consulted with other members of his news agency directly after the meeting. He said they then made the decision to quit the CPC, and a formal resignation letter was sent to the PSRD that same day.
According to Than Htun Aung, the Eleven Media Group joined the CPC because it was told that the CPC would be an independent body that would preserve the codes of conduct for journalism, and protect the freedom and responsibilities of journalists. The group decided to leave the CPC because it did not think that the CPC would be independent under its current composition.
Another CPC meeting participant, however, told The Irrawaddy that the final point of the Eleven Media Group's proposal—“not to receive directly or indirectly sponsorship from the government, political parties, businessmen, embassies or NGOs”—was not agreed upon at the meeting.
Chaired by Ko Ko of the MWJA, the CPC was formed on Jan. 7 this year. It comprises representatives from the MWJA, PSRD, members of news journals and freelance journalists.
Khin Maung Nyo, a CPC member, said he thinks the committee will continue to move ahead despite the Eleven Media Group's decision to resign.
In late December, a group of Burmese journalists organized an awards ceremony titled “Myanmar Press Awards 2010,” to honor young and independent journalists for their endeavors. However, the PSRD asked the organizers to postpone the ceremony. Later, the organizers were reportedly told that they needed to cooperate with the CPC if they wanted to hold such an event.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=20543
------------------------------------------------
Sanctions call ‘echoes Burmese junta’
By HTET AUNG KYAW
Published: 18 January 2011
A key figure in Burma’s opposition has launched a broadside against recent calls by five ethnic parties to end Western sanctions on the Southeast Asian pariah.
The debate over the economic blockade first enacted by the US in the mid-1990s was rekindled yesterday after a meeting of regional foreign ministers in Indonesia concluded that sanctions on Burma must be dropped.
The meeting coincided with a statement released by five ethnic parties who all won seats in Burma’s recent elections that said sanctions “are causing many difficulties in the important areas of trade, investment and modern technologies for the development of ethnic regions”.
But, according to Win Tin, a senior member and co-founder of the National League for Democracy (NLD), the parties “all sound like the military junta”, which has also claimed that sanctions are hurting Burmese people.
“I don’t think sanctions harm the people as they only mean to block the fortunes made by the military generals and their cronies through their arms deals.”
But the NLD’s once unequivocal backing for all aspects of the US and EU sanctions packages, that include a block on importing Burmese goods such as jade and teak, may be softening, Win Tin signalled. “Trade sanctions may hamper the people as well so we are keen to listen to their [the people’s] voice and collect their opinion.”
Critics of sanctions say they have failed in their one main objective: the weakening of the ruling generals’ grip on power. The rise of China as an economic giant and key ally of the junta has meant that it can survive regardless of trade with the West, while Burma’s regional neighbours, many of whom will have backed yesterday’s motion, continue to pour billions into the economy.
One of the ethnic parties to sign the statement was the Rakhine Nationalities Democratic Party (SNDP), which came fourth in the 7 November elections.
“It has been analysed for over 20 years whether the sanctions are really taking effect on the [government’s] budget or just damaging the people,” said Dr Aye Maung, chairman of the RNDP.
“There is controversy over whether problems with the development of the country are caused by sanctions. Whether this is true or not is what we’ll have to analyse thoroughly from both sides.”
Ending sanctions now would cause a softening in the new government and spur the transition toward democracy in Burma, he added, calling for an “immediate” end to the blockade.
The other parties who signed the statement are the Shan Nationalities Democratic Party (SNDP), which came third in the polls, the All Mon Region Democracy Party, the Chin National Party and Phalon-Sawaw Democratic Party.
The five make up a combined 126 of more than 1000 seats in the new parliament, which is set to hold its first session on 31 January.
http://www.dvb.no/news/sanctions-call-%E2%80%98echoes-burmese-junta%E2%80%99/13738
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Myanmar court to consider Suu Kyi party appeal
Posted: 18 January 2011 1404 hrs
YANGON: Myanmar's Supreme Court will this month consider whether to hear democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi's latest appeal against the dissolution of her political party, her lawyer said Tuesday.
"We have to give our argument for the special appeal on January 24 at the Supreme Court in Naypyidaw," said Nyan Win, one of three attorneys who will represent the Nobel Peace Prize winner at the hearing in Myanmar's capital.
"We will argue that the dissolution of the party which won a free and fair election (in 1990) was not in accordance with the law," he said.
It is not yet known whether Suu Kyi will attend the hearing.
Her National League for Democracy (NLD) was disbanded last year for opting to boycott the military-ruled country's first election in 20 years in response to rules that seemed designed to bar her from taking part.
The party won a 1990 election in a landslide but the result was never recognised by the regime.
Suu Kyi was freed from more than seven years in detention on November 13, days after a poll in which the main junta-backed party claimed overwhelming victory, amid opposition allegations of intimidation and fraud.
Shortly after Suu Kyi's release, the Supreme Court refused to hear her lawsuit against the junta for dissolving the NLD. She had unsuccessfully filed an earlier suit with the Supreme Court aimed at preventing its abolition.
Court verdicts in the military-ruled country rarely favour opposition activists, and a series of appeals by Suu Kyi against her house arrest -- before it expired in November -- were rejected.
-AFP/ac http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/1105389/1/.html
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Junta balkanizing units for new command
Monday, 17 January 2011 16:12 Hseng Khio Fah
The Burma Army’s Northeastern Region Command,with its headquarters Lashio, Northern Shan State, have been breaking up units under its command for the newly installed military command in Southern Shan State, according to sources close to local junta.
“60 men from each infantry battalion were picked up to move out to the new command,” a source in Lashio said. The new command reportedly requires 1,500 officers and men.
The selection started a week ago in Lashio and Hsenwi, where the Military Operations Command (MOC) #16 is based.
“Those chosen were reported to be unhappy because they don’t want to go. They think going there is like going to their doom,” the source said.
Earlier this month, there were reports the Burma Army had installed a new military command that would oversee areas between Taunggyi and Kengtung from its Kholam headquarters in Shan State South’s Kunhing township commanded by Brig-Gen Mya Tun Oo.
A number of border watchers commented the Burma Army’s new move is to cut communications between armed groups that have been transformed into Border Guard Force (BGF) and those that had refused to. Its other objective is also to prepare for a major operation against non-BGFs after the new government has been formed.
According to some sources, some soldiers had already applied to retire from the military service in order to avoid going to the new command.
A border watcher on the Sino-Burma border commented, “There may likely be another recruitment drive if the number of troops is less than their [the junta] quota. What with the ongoing desertions, all Burma Army units must be understrength.”
Sun Tzu, ancient Chinese military expert admonishes: “Should you strengthen your van, you will weaken your rear; should you strengthen your rear, you will weaken your van; should you strengthen your left, you will weaken your right; should you strengthen your right, you will weaken your left. If you send reinforcements everywhere, you will be weakened everywhere.”
The Burmese army has since 2009 been recruiting and also beefing up local militias to reinforce its campaign against armed groups who did not join its BGFs program.
http://www.shanland.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3413:junta-balkanizing-units-for-new-command&catid=86:war&Itemid=284
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ASEAN’s political correct
18 January 2011
The Southeast Asian organisation has finally found the will to reflect on Myanmar. The call on the part of ASEAN foreign ministers to lift sanctions against Yangon must have come after serious deliberations.
Irrespective of the fact that the military regime reigns supreme to this day, Myanmar has walked an extra mile in realising the goals that the civil society and pro-democracy parties had set for itself. The November elections, though sham in character, have at least forwarded the process of transition to democracy with the release of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. It goes without saying that the ultimate victims of socio-economic sanctions were the people and it had hardly mattered for the generals in power. This whiff of fresh air that has come with the freedom wave is in need of being bolstered, and the best way to do that is to empower the people by disseminating opportunities for growth and social mobility. The ASEAN should not merely stop at voicing for the sanctions to be lifted but also deliberate how could a nation reeling under abject poverty and political curbs be rehabilitated.
It’s high time the tedious process of nation building begins in Myanmar. The world community’s focus on its political parameters and the desire to dislodge the generals is now overstretched. Myanmar under Suu Kyi has exhibited a unique tolerance module and that needs to appreciated and reenacted in other flashpoints of the world. By deciding to peacefully work with the generals for a complete transition to civilian supremacy, Suu Kyi has put the junta on the mat. As rightly stated by Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa the elections should be seen as ‘conducive’, and efforts should be made to get the country back on the map of world recognition.
As the ASEAN believes lifting of sanctions can buoy the ongoing dialogue between pro-democracy groups and the junta, and provide a solution to the pestering conflict. Yangon’s problem, like Pyongyang, is one of recognition and provision of opportunities for its socio-economic progress. This is why development must not be allowed to dissipate for reasons of expediency. While Myanmar is another hotbed of heterogeneous communities, the desire on the part of its ethnic groups to lift sanctions should not be ignored. An exploding Myanmar is much dangerous than a contained nation under the tin-pot governance of military generals. ASEAN’s courage to speak out in adversity is genuine leadership, and should be measured beyond the prisms of real-politick. The decision is politically correct.
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/displayarticle.asp?xfile=data/editorial/2011/January/editorial_January33.xml§ion=editorial&col =
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Editorial: Disturbing Myanmar
The Jakarta Post | Tue, 01/18/2011 9:32 AM | Editorial
Few were expecting any surprises from the ASEAN Ministerial Retreat in Lombok over the weekend. So when news emerged that the 10-member group was urging an easing of sanctions against Myanmar, we found it rather shocking, if not altogether disturbing.
The introduction of a regime sanctioned constitution, general elections and the release of Aung San Suu Kyi are grounds for Indonesia and fellow members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to be cautiously optimistic, but nothing more than that. They are certainly not worth betting Indonesia’s international credibility on.
The argument put forward using the election and Suu Kyi’s release as rationale was flawed and premature.
The elections were held under extremely restrictive conditions, to the point that even Indonesian foreign policy analysts here criticized the limitations being placed on international poll watchers. In other words, the process was not open to the kind of scrutiny and critique common in standard elections around the world.
The right to free expression — whether through public rallies criticizing the government or a free press — remains void.
We dare ASEAN ministers and leaders to publicly avow that the citizens of Myanmar have the right to express and channel their aspirations towards a viable political opposition that has the same rights as the ruling regime.
And while the release of Suu Kyi is a nudge in the right direction, are there any assurances of a cessation of political or ethnic persecution when the authority of the regime is under threat? The answer remains no.
When a regime so unabashedly engaged in open political suppression with military force, such as was the case during the saffron revolution just three years ago, we should keep our suspicions on alert.
Nor do we find it difficult to shake off our incongruity when, in 2008, a constitutional referendum was passed with an almost unanimous 92 percent of the ballots, a number which Joseph Stalin would have been proud of.
We are sad ASEAN would feel it necessary to risk its credentials — yet again — when a cloud of uncertainty still hangs over Myanmar. Indonesia should encourage the process of opening up in Myanmar, but it should not put its reputation on the line for a regime that only has itself to blame for its predicament. http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2011/01/18/editorial-disturbing-myanmar.html
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Influential Magazine Closes, Deepening Burma's Isolation
By Robert Horn / Bangkok Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2011
What one of the world's most repressive dictatorships could not silence, the global recession and shifting donor policies finally did. The Irrawaddy, considered the most influential English-language magazine covering events in military-ruled Burma, indefinitely suspended publication of its print edition this month because of financial difficulties. "It is a sad and painful decision, but we must be realistic," Aung Zaw begin_of_the_skype_highlighting end_of_the_skype_highlighting, the founder and editor tells TIME. He vowed to press ahead with the magazine's growing web site, but added that it has been a struggle to increase revenues from online publishing.
Burma is an extremely closed society, and despite a flourishing of local private publications in recent years, journalists and media within the country operate under a strict and punitive censorship regime imposed by its military rulers. The Committee to Protect Journalists, an international organization, reported that 13 journalists are now imprisoned in Burma, the fourth-highest number in the world, and second in Asia behind China. The Irrawaddy, founded as a newsletter in 1993 by Burmese exiles who fled a military slaughter of pro-democracy activists in 1988, provided a window into an opaque country and a military elite shrouded in secrecy. "It was an important resource and quite reliable,'' says Bertil Lintner, a Thailand-based author and analyst on Burma.(See recent photographs of Burmese icon Aung San Suu Kyi.)
Lintner says that following November's elections, the first in Burma in two decades, some international donors started cutting funds to exile groups on grounds that real change is finally taking place within the country and resources should be shifted there. "That's a lot of hype. Nothing has really changed,'' Lintner says. The elections were regarded by most democracy advocates and many Western governments as rigged and a sham designed to preserve military rule. But Lintner says donors are fearful that by continuing to support exile groups they will antagonize the generals and lose opportunities to launch projects and programs within Burma. Aung Zaw begin_of_the_skype_highlighting end_of_the_skype_highlighting said some donors also cited tighter budgets because of the global recession as the reason for a cutback in funding.
The Irrawaddy's print circulation was tiny — only a monthly 5,000 copies each month, 700 of which were clandestinely circulated within Burma — and so was reliant on funds from Western donors. Nonetheless, it was read by policymakers in the diplomatic community, international organizations and the international media, expanding its importance and influence beyond its numbers. Most readers, however, were members of a globally dispersed community of Burmese exiles. The magazine's online Burmese and English-language editions received a combined 9.1 million visitors in 2010, according to Aung Zaw begin_of_the_skype_highlighting end_of_the_skype_highlighting.
Not all the visitors, however, were supporters. The website has weathered three massive cyber attacks during the past three years. Aung Zaw begin_of_the_skype_highlighting end_of_the_skype_highlighting says evidence points to the military regime as the orchestrator of the attacks, thought they were launched from cyber-addresses mostly in China, but also Australia and the U.S. "It shows we are doing something right. Our materials are subversive to the regime," Aung Zaw begin_of_the_skype_highlighting end_of_the_skype_highlighting says. (Read about Burma's 'First Lady of Freedom.')
Members of the junta, however, were also among the magazine's readers, the founder claims, adding that government officials have told him they include Senior General Than Shwe, the aging head of the military government. "They hate us, but some admire us,'' he says. "On the other hand, the regime will be happy to hear the news [of our suspension]." Nonetheless, Aung Zaw begin_of_the_skype_highlighting end_of_the_skype_highlighting and his staff, which has numbered as many as 60 in the past, remain determined to keep reporting and even relaunch a print edition at some point. "One day, hopefully soon, I hope to bring this publication to Burma."
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2042200,00.html#ixzz1BMQ82G1z
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2042200,00.html#ixzz1BMPvsqzc
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Myanmar marketing committee to launch fun run
09:42, January 18, 2011
Myanmar Marketing Committee (MCC), which undertakes promotion of international tourism market for the country, will launch its 3rd fun run in Yangon to raise fund for the committee's activities, the committee's administrator Ma Aye Aye told Xinhua Monday.
The fun run will be held at the Kandawkyi Park on Jan. 29 and live music performances and amusement games will be attached, she said.
Members of the committee such as travel agencies and hoteliers as well as foreign embassy family members will join the one-day event, she added.
The 5-kilometer run will comprise three categories of man, woman and child under eight, and first, second and third winners will be awarded, according to the administrator.
MMC has held such competition in 2008 and 2009.
Source:Xinhua http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90779/90867/7264289.html
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Goldpetrol re-enters Burmese wells
Singapore-listed Interra Resources said its 60% owned subsidiary Goldpetrol Joint Operating Company had re-entered wells at the Yenangyaung and Chauk fields in Burma and re-completed them as oil producers.
Upstream staff 18 January 2011 03:10 GMT
At the Yenangyaung field Goldpetrol re-entered and completed the YNG-2459 well last month which flowed at a rate of 22 barrels of oil per day. The well was drilled in 1931, but was shut-in with the onset of the Second World War.
At the Chauk field the Chauk-950 well, which produced over 206,000 barrels of oil between 1956 and 1982, was re-entered and placed on pump producing a stable flow of 32 bpd.
Interra added Goldpetrol re-entered and re-completed several wells last year that contributed about 90 bpd towards total production in Burma. http://www.upstreamonline.com/live/article241771.ece
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REGIONAL PERSPECTIVE
East Timor and Asean: new strategic imperatives
By Kavi Chongkittavorn
The Nation
Published on January 17, 2011
When Burma was admitted to Asean on a fast track in 1997, it was done with one objective in mind--to manage China's southward influence into the continental Southeast Asia and beyond. The decision was made two years earlier in Bangkok albeit all the problems and uncertainties the pariah state inherited which remains the problems until today. For Asean, the unseen danger of leaving Burma alone, however, would be far greater.
Will the same criteria on Burma be used again when the Asean leaders ponder whether to admit East Timor as the 11th member of Asean sometimes soon? This frequently asked question among the Asean senior officials has no clear answer at the moment. But it does manifest a similar dilemma. President Jose Ramos Horta has reiterated that East Timor wants to join Asean by 2012 and the application will be ready this month when Indonesia takes up the Asean chairmanship. But the real admission would take a longer timeframe, which could be beyond 2015. After all, it was Horta who first asked Asean to consider its membership in Asean in November 2001 when it was still under UN East Timor Public Administration.
The timeframe has been further delayed partly because of the country's lack of human resources in Asean affairs and English-language speakers. The Jakarta-based Asean Secretariat has provided assistance and capacity-building training for the East Timorese officials for sometimes now. But truth be told, as time goes by, it is clear that beyond the often cited personnel and resource limitations, the Asean leaders have other serious concerns about East Timor.
Obviously, to compare Burma with East Timor is to compare an apple with an orange. Unlike Burma's current undemocratic status, East Timor is a young democracy despite all internecine domestic problems since independence in 2000. The country has never been isolated by international community. Foreign aids keep pouring in and their leaders are news headlines makers throughout the world. Horta received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1996. However, when it comes to strategic matters, Burma and East Timor share one commonality—initmate ties with China. Both nations are rich in energy resources.
Since the country's May political turmoil in 2006, other foreign investors, uncertain of their future prospects and local political conditions, chose to leave the country. But the Chinese business community not only chose to stay but continued to increase their investment and overall presence. For the past four years, China has tripled its investment as well as foreign aids. This trend is also accelerating.
To fully understand China-East Timor relations, one has to appreciate the overall Beijing's diplomatic approach to the so-called the Community of Portuguese Language Nations (CPLN), which includes Brazil, Angola, Cape Verde, Mozambique, Guinea Bisseau. Another Portuguese speaking country, South Tome and Principles, has a diplomatic tie with Taiwan. This network allows China to penetrate East Timor's society and market through its Portuguese speaking personnel.
On the surface, China's symbol of growing interest and presence could be seen through huge infrastructure constructions—common features of China's foreign development assistance--whether they are highways, stadiums, bridges, dams, etc. In Dili alone, Bejing has offered the gifts in the form of construction of the Presidential Palace, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a new defense headquarters.
One question that begs an answer is whether East Timor's membership in Asean will become a new flash point between China and Asean as was the case of Burma. After the Burma's admission, both sides consistently avoided to discuss the situation due to differences and strict observance of non-interference principle. For the first ten years after Burma's membership, the Asean members remained divided and could not muster a common approach to Burma. China also played a low profile role following Asean's views and positions on Burma.
It was not until the Asean summit in Singapore 2008 that China and Asean broke ranks and displayed their first diplomatic disagreement on Burma overtly. Beijing objected to the host's recommendation upfront that the former UN special envoy for Burma, Ismail Gambari, should brief the East Asian leaders after his visit to Burma due to the sensitivity of the issue at the time. Since then, Asean realized that if the Burma's political crisis continued, the divide between Asean and China would also be widened. After the November's poll, both sides expressed support for the Burmese military junta.
With such precedence, the Asean leaders have to think hard on East Timor's application. When Asean accepted Burma as member, the grouping was quick to achieve consensus due to pressing China's influence. In the case of East Timor, Asean has to consider vital strategic factors as well as pros and cons of additional member. In the past, Asean chose to expand quantitatively while engaging with other intra-regional organizations. For a while, number matters in the regional power politic. Now further consolidation within Asean is needed.
Beyond verbal supports, new concerns among Asean have emerged with East Timor's s ability to integrate with the grouping's overall scheme of things. Singapore, for instance, views the inclusion of a new member that is poor—in this case the poorest in Asean--and fragile could widen development gap and drag down Asean as whole as it continues to integrate new members since 1995 and implement the Asean community blueprints of 2015. Indonesia wants Asean to include East Timor as soon as possible to counter growing China's influence there. Thailand and the Philippines strongly support Dili membership as it can offer fresh views on nation-building and democracy. However, other Asean members are less sanguine.
To help East Timor, Asean would soon dispatch an assessment team to Dili to evaluate the preparation and readiness. It is interesting to note that the future expansion of Asean does not confine to East Timor as Papua New Guinea, an observer since 1986, continues to push for the grouping's membership. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono expressed support of the PNG's long standing desire during his visit there last March. Officially, the grouping has stated that PNG is not in a Southeast Asian nation. But that does not stop Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare from coming back. Whatever decision Asean is taking in the near future will impact on the grouping's own strategic imperatives.
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2011/01/17/opinion/East-Timor-and-Asean-new-strategic-imperatives-30146500.html
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Murphy's Law Article Index
Drafted Into Prison
January 18, 2011: Myanmar (Burma) recently announced that last year it had secretly passed a law introducing conscription for all men (18-45) and women (18-35). The law was passed by a parliament controlled by a military dictatorship that has run the country for decades. The secrecy was probably because the military just conducted the first national elections since the early 1990s. The elections were rigged, but presented to the world as a return to democracy. But what has all that got to do with conscription? One possibility is that conscripting opponents of the new government would be easier than arresting them, and less likely to cause a political uproar home, and abroad.
About one percent of Burma's 50 million people are in the armed forces (including paramilitary "intelligence" and "security" secret police type organizations.) The secret police keep an eye on the troops, and the troops keep an eye (and often gun pointed at) the people. Myanmar only spends about a billion dollars a year on the armed forces, most of that going to pay and living expenses of infantry troops. Conscripts are often paid little, or nothing, and can be kept in what amount to prison camps, and used as slave labor. In many poor countries, conscripts often spend much of their time on non-military tasks (like growing their own food.)
Most of the Burmese troops serve in 500 infantry (60 percent of them "light infantry") battalions. The "light" units are cheap to maintain. No vehicles, and few heavy weapons. But such units are excellent for controlling unruly citizens. About half the infantry do just that, being assigned to 22 Operation Control Commands (OCCs), which cover most of the country. Each OCC has about ten infantry battalions, trained to deal with unrest, patrolling and low level infantry combat. In the last two decades, the number of infantry battalions has nearly doubled.
Myanmar has also been building up a mechanized force of about ten divisions. They are doing this by purchasing bargain basement (and relatively primitive) armored vehicles from China and other low cost providers. The problem is that, the military budget is so meager, that there is no money to buy fuel for training these mechanized units. Some of the generals really believe that the United States is going to invade. It's clear to any military planner that the United States could move in and seize several of the major urban areas in the country in a matter of days. This is something most Burmese would like to see happen, but there much less enthusiasm for this in America. As a result, Myanmar's mechanized might sits there waiting to be used against any civilian unrest. http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htmurph/articles/20110118.aspx
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News & Articles on Burma-Monday, 17 January, 2011
News & Articles on Burma
Monday, 17 January, 2011
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Keep Targeted Sanctions in Place, Says NLD
Heavy Artillery Fire Continues in Karen State
DKBA landmine injures 10
Censor board launches new body
Asean says Burma sanctions should be dropped
Time to lift sanctions on Myanmar, ASEAN says
Burma ethnics, Asean call for sanctions lift
Asean Calls Lifting of Sanctions on Burma
Steel body proposes complex in Burma or Koh Kong
Looking to build hope in a troubled Burma
East Timor and Asean: new strategic imperatives
Burma moves to finish legendary supply route
ASEAN highlights Suu Kyi’s role in a democratic Burma
Imprisoned Poet Found Solace as a Librarian
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Keep Targeted Sanctions in Place, Says NLD
By THE IRRAWADDY Monday, January 17, 2011
Burma's opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), said it would continue to support targeted sanctions against the country's ruling regime while the party is reviewing other trade sanctions, according to a senior party official.
“We have consistently supported the targeted sanctions against the regime leadership and its cronies, and we will continue to do so. But as we have said, we will review trade sanctions to find out if they are hurting the people,” said Win Tin, a senior NLD leader.
His comment followed calls by the foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and also by an alliance of five ethnic political parties in Burma for an end to Western economic sanctions against Burma.
“Such calls are dishonest and those who made them are merely toeing the line of the military regime,” said Win Tin, adding that the sanctions have hurt the junta and its cronies and helped the opposition in its struggle for democracy.
On Sunday, the Asean rotating chair, Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa, said that the international community should respond to recent developments in Burma, such as last year's general election and the release of NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi, by removing or easing sanctions against the country's ruling regime.
The calls from the regional body came a day after an alliance of five ethnic minorities parties that participated in the controversial Nov. 7 election issued a joint statement urging an end to the sanctions, saying that they “are causing many difficulties in the important areas of trade, investment and modern technologies for the development of ethnic regions.”
“We want to see the end of sanctions against economic investments in our country because they are hurting the people,” said Sai Saung Si, the deputy chairman of the Shan Nationalities for Democracy Party, one of the five ethnic political parties which issued the declaration on Saturday.
Since her release from house arrest late last year, Suu Kyi has expressed a desire to review the sanctions, saying she was prepared to work together with Burma's military rulers to remove sanctions that were hurtful to the people.
While the Obama administration has initiated a senior-level diplomatic dialogue with the Burmese military leadership, sanctions continue to be an important tool of US policy.
The Washington Times recently quoted a US Congressional source as saying that the Obama administration would not lift sanctions until the Burmese regime releases all political prisoners, ends attacks against ethnic groups and establishes a meaningful dialogue with opposition groups.
More than 2,000 political prisoners remain behind bars in Burma as the country prepares to convene its first session of Parliament in 22 years at the end of this month. The Parliament will be dominated by pro-military lawmakers who won in last year's polls.
Meanwhile, the National Democratic Force, a party that broke away from the NLD last year to take part in the election, said that it plans to submit a bill to the Parliament that would grant a general amnesty to all political prisoners and exiled dissidents.
http://irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=20539
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Heavy Artillery Fire Continues in Karen State
By SAI ZOM HSENG Monday, January 17, 2011
The Burmese army is continuing to use heavy artillery fire against a breakaway faction of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) and its allies after more than a week of intensifying clashes near the Thai border, according to DKBA and Karen National Union (KNU) sources.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a DKBA officer told The Irrawaddy on Monday that skirmishes between the armed group's renegade Brigade 5 and Burmese troops have continued amid the shelling in Manerplaw, Kasawah Lay, Nuday, Waw Lay and Phaluu.
Manerplaw is the former headquarters of the KNU, whose armed wing, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) has joined DKBA Brigade 5 in the fighting, along with troops from the All Burma Students' Democratic Front.
“Refugees in the Mae La Oo refugee camp [in Thailand] could hear the heavy artillery exploding very close to the border between 9:30 and 10:30 last night, but I heard that nobody was injured,” a Karen source said.
“The refugees from the camp are so frightened that they have started to collect their belongings in case they have to flee,” he added.
According to a KNU source, DKBA Brigade 5 has requested reinforcements from the KNLA, which has agreed to send its Brigade 5 to the area.
The source also said that the number of dead or wounded in the latest fighting is still not known, but added that there were reports of injured Burmese troops being carried from the combat zone through the Thai border town of Mae Sot to Myawaddy in Karen State.
Meanwhile, a resident of Phaluu in Karen State's Kawkareik Township told The Irrawaddy that the DKBA ambushed a Burmese military convoy in the area on Sunday. The attack targeted two trucks carrying ammunition and equipment to Burmese troops on the front line, the source said.
According to a source close to the Burmese army's Southeast Regional Command, troop reinforcements have been traveling to the front line since late last week.
“About 50 army trucks were sent to Kawkareik Township last Thursday from battalions based in Arakan State. They are under the command of the 44th Infantry Division,” the Burmese military source said.
A KNU officer said that it was unclear if the Burmese army is increasing its troop strength in the area or just sending in replacements.
“We will have to wait and see if they are sending in extra troops to try to wipe us out, or if they're just rotating their troops. Either way, the fighting will continue,” he said.
Fighting started in the area on Nov. 7, when DKBA Brigade 5, led by Col Saw Lah Pwe, clashed with Burmese troops in Myawaddy on the day of Burma's first election in 20 years.
The rest of the DKBA, which has long been a key ally of the Burmese junta, has joined a border guard force (BGF) under Burmese military command. According to an unconfirmed report, the regime’s troops have taken control of the Manerplaw area with support from the BGF.
http://irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=20538
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DKBA landmine injures 10
Monday, 17 January 2011 14:07 Kyaw Kha
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – A landmine planted by Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) troops injured five Burmese Border Guard Force (BGF) soldiers and five civilians near Myawaddy on Friday.
DKBA troops detonated the mine while BGF Battalion No. 1022 second-in-command Bo Cameraman was traveling in a truck on the Myawaddy-Kawkereik highway between positions taken up by the junta’s infantry Battalions 355 and 356 near Thingannyinaung village in Myawaddy Township in Karen State, according to DKBA Major Saw San Aung, head of the Kolohtupaw Strategic Command.
BGF troops and eyewitnesses said that Bo Cameraman, his wife, four BGF troops and four passengers were injured in the blast.
“No one was killed, but they received shrapnel and splinter injuries in their legs, hands and shoulders”, a BGF force member told Mizzima.
All of the wounded were treated at Myawaddy hospital. The blast created chaos among nearby junta troops who opened fire into the woods, eyewitnesses said. Whoever detonated the mine escaped.
Major Saw San Aung said that his troops attacked the BGF vehicle because the junta is reinforcing its troops and supplies in collaboration with the BGF in Myawaddy Township.
“The enemy is invading our area with heavy manpower so we showed them we could hit them in their back at any time”, he told Mizzima.
“Our intention is to show them that we can do what we want at any time in the towns. If we didn’t care about civilian casualties, we could do bigger assaults in either the daytime or nighttime. We refrain from doing because we don’t want to see civilians become cannon fodder”, said Major Saw San Aung.
Junta troops closed the Myawaddy-Kawkereik highway after the blast, but it again opens on Monday afternoon.
In a similar ambush, a tripwire mine planted by the DKBA on the Myawaddy-Kawkereik highway injured at least eight people on January 7.
The Myawaddy-Kawkereik highway is controlled by the BGF and is a major import route for cars, motorcycles, electrical appliances, foodstuffs and textiles from Thailand into Burma.
When the DKBA converted their army into the regime’s BGF, a small faction refused to accept the junta’s offer and reunited with the KNU to take up arms against the regime.
The DKBA-KNU and junta forces have been fighting each other since November 8 in Myawaddy and Kawkereik townships. http://www.mizzima.com/news/inside-burma/4757-dkba-landmine-injures-10.html
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Censor board launches new body
By MOE AYE
Published: 17 January 2011
A new unit ostensibly charged with protecting the interests of journalists and issuing guidelines for media practice has been formed by Burma’s draconoian censor board.
Media freedom in the Southeast Asian pariah is amongst the world’s lowest – all material in the various domestic news journals and magazines in circulation has to be vetted by the Press Scrutiny and Registration Division (PSRD) prior to publication.
The PSRD’s role in establishing the new body, the Committe for Professional Conduct (CPC), has thus worried interested parties. It was the PSRD that last year forced newspapers to report that the pentalty for calling for a boycott of the 7 November elections was 5 to 30 years’ imprisonment.
”We really want the sort of committe which can protect and promote us,” said one Rangoon-based journalist, speaking on condition of anonymity. ”But we are disappointed because the committe is established by the PSRD.”
The PRSD has however said that it will not interfere with the workings of the 25-strong CPC, which includes 15 journal editors and two members of the censor board. Some, however, are not so sure.
”We hoped that the CPC would be independent from the PSRD and that censorship may also be loosened,” said another journal editor. ”It is now obvious that everything we had thought is totally wrong. The PSRD will be taking a leadership role in the CPC, and it is questionable if free press will emerge in the near future, despite a new government being formed.”
Another journalist likened the new body to the elections last year, which have been shrouded in controversy.
”Some politicians said the election was a big chance and that they will fight for changes in the parliament,” said a veteran Rangoon journalist. ”Some say they will boycott it because the election will not bring any changes. Indeed, we do need such a committe but it should not be like this.”
Burma was recently ranked as the world’s fourth biggest jail for journalists by the New York-based Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CPJ). It also came 171 out of 175 countries in Reporters sans frontieres’ Press Freedom Index last year.
http://www.dvb.no/news/censor-board-launches-new-body/13727
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BBC NEWS ASIA-PACIFIC
17 January 2011 Last updated at 04:25 GMT
Asean says Burma sanctions should be dropped
Indonesian foreign ministry foto of Asean foreign ministers, Lombok, Indonesia 16 Jan 2011 Asean foreign ministers gathered for an informal retreat on Lombok, Indonesia
Asean foreign ministers have said that sanctions against military-ruled Burma should be dropped.
They echoed the call from five ethnic minority political groups in Burma who had earlier urged an end to sanctions.
Ministers from the Association of South East Asian Nations said Burma's recent election warranted a positive international response.
Analysts have described the November elections as a sham, but Asean welcomed the voting exercise as a step forward.
The Indonesian Foreign Minister, Marty Natalegawa, described the elections as "conducive and transparent" in remarks at the informal meeting of Asean ministers, held on the Indonesian island of Lombok.
Asean, which includes Burma, would like to see "the immediate or early removal or easing of sanctions that have been applied against Myanmar by some countries," Mr Natalegawa told reporters.
He described the pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi as "some part of the solution not the problem," in Burma.
"Asean leaders again urge, especially after the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and the elections, that the policy on sanctions against Myanmar be reviewed as they have an impact on development in Myanmar," Mr Natalegawa said.
Time to act?
"Aung San Suu Kyi's release and the elections weren't enough. We encourage an open and conducive dialogue in Myanmar," he said, using the military rulers' name for Burma.
"Developments must not be allowed to dissipate," he added.
Indonesia is the current chair of Asean.
The ethnic groups said in a statement issued from inside Burma that sanctions "are causing many difficulties in the important areas of trade, investment and modern technologies for the development of ethnic regions.
"We ethnic parties together request that the United States and European countries lift sanctions," the parties said.
The five groups, which all won seats in Burma's recent elections, include: the Shan Nationalities Democratic Party (SNDP), the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party, the Chin National Party, the All Mon Region Democracy Party and the Phalon-Sawaw Democratic Party.
The US, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and other nations impose a variety of sanctions on dealing with the military rulers of Burma.
These include bans on trade with companies tied to the ruling generals in Burma, freezes on some firms' assets and barriers to loans and some aid.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12203719
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The Jakarta Post
Time to lift sanctions on Myanmar, ASEAN says
Abdul Khalik and Andi Haswidi, The Jakarta Post, Lombok | Mon, 01/17/2011 10:55 AM | Headlines
ASEAN urged an easing of the sanctions against Myanmar, but urged the country’s military junta to continue efforts to reconcile with the opposition, especially with Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
During their retreat meeting here Sunday, ASEAN foreign ministers spoke about the need for countries such as the US, the European Union (EU) and Canada — all ASEAN dialogue partners — to consider lifting their sanctions because the country had successfully conducted general elections and released Suu Kyi from house arrest late last year.
Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said there was an external dimension to the Myanmar issue, namely a belief by ASEAN countries for the early removal or easing of sanctions applied against Myanmar by several countries.
“We believe that recent developments need to be responded to the international community, especially to ensure that economic development in Myanmar can take place.
However, it should be remembered that lifting the bans and reconciliation go hand in hand,” Marty said after the meeting.
Myanmar joined ASEAN in 1997 despite strong opposition from Western nations.
The US and a number of other countries imposed sanctions — both diplomatic and economic — on Myanmar for its poor human rights record and slow move toward democracy.
ASEAN member states, Marty said, reinforced the importance of having dialogue that was inclusive to ensure that all parties concerned could contribute to Myanmar’s future development.
ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan said Myanmar “should cease to be a problem” this year.
“We still want them to form an inclusive government and continue to adhere to democratic principles,” he said.
ASEAN will continue to assist Myanmar if the country requested it, Surin said.
Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said that after elections last year, Myanmar would convene its parliament to elect a president.
“There is a return to democracy. So some countries [that continue to place] sanctions against Myanmar should wake up and nurture the democratization process, provide trade assistance and so on, to improve the quality of life of Myanmar’s people,” he said.
Marty said the sanctions hit the people of Myanmar hard, and urged that assistance to the country would help develop the country and its people.
Surin said a number of ASEAN countries looked for the opportunity to help Myanmar while businesspeople eyed the country as an investment opportunity.
“There are huge opportunities in the country,” he said.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2011/01/17/time-lift-sanctions-myanmar-asean-says.html
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Bangkok Post
Burma ethnics, Asean call for sanctions lift
* Published: 17/01/2011 at 06:30 AM
* Online news: Asia
Politicians within and outside Burma Sunday called on Western nations to lift sanctions against the country, whose new parliament is preparing to convene for the first time this month.
Association of Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN) foreign ministers pose for a group photo during the ASEAN Foreign Ministerial Meeting (AMM) retreat on Indonesia's Lombok island. Politicians within and outside Myanmar Sunday called on Western nations to lift sanctions against the country, whose new parliament is preparing to convene for the first time this month.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) called for the lifting of the punitive measures enforced by the United States and European countries, echoing a joint declaration by major ethnic political parties in Burma.
The ethnic groups' statement said sanctions "are causing many difficulties in the important areas of trade, investment and modern technologies for the development of ethnic regions".
"We ethnic parties together request that the United States and European countries lift sanctions," the parties said of the measures imposed by the West in response to the junta's poor human rights record.
The declaration was signed by the Shan Nationalities Democratic Party (SNDP), the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party, the Chin National Party, the All Mon Region Democracy Party and the Phalon-Sawaw Democratic Party.
All five groups won seats in Burma's controversial elections in November, with the largest ethnic winner being the SNDP, which will take a total of 57 seats when parliament and regional legislatures convene on January 31.
The government-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party claimed an overwhelming majority in the polls, winning 882 out of around 1,160 seats amid allegations of fraud and intimidation, plus the exclusion of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Despite major Western criticism of Burma's first poll in 20 years, Asean had welcomed November's "conducive and transparent" elections, Indonesia's Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said at a retreat hosted for the bloc on the island of Lombok.
Asean also welcomed the release of Nobel laureate Suu Kyi from more than seven years under house arrest in Rangoon shortly after the vote. She had spent 15 of the past 21 years in detention.
"Asean leaders again urge, especially after the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and the elections, that the policy on sanctions against Burma be reviewed as they have an impact on development in Burma," Natalegawa said.
Burma is a member of Asean, which has a policy of non-interference in members' domestic affairs and has engaged with Burma's government rather than imposing sanctions.
Burma remains one of the world's poorest nations following decades of mismanagement by successive military regimes, and some areas have also been wracked by decades of civil conflict between the junta and ethnic rebels.
The United States bans trade with companies tied to the junta in Burma, also known as Burma. It also freezes such firms' assets and blocks international loans for the state.
US President Barack Obama's administration launched a dialogue with Burma's military rulers in 2009, but it has said it will lift sanctions only in return for progress on democracy and other concerns.
After years of espousing punitive steps against the junta, Suu Kyi has shown signs of softening her stance, writing to junta chief Than Shwe in September 2009 to offer suggestions on getting sanctions against the country lifted.
Since her release, Suu Kyi has told AFP that she does not see sanctions as a "bargaining chip" to secure concessions from the regime, but she has not publicly spoken on the issue in detail.
In December, during the first high-level visit to Burma by a Washington envoy since her release, she discussed the economic measures with Joseph Yun, US deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs. http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/asia/216764/burma-ethnics-asean-call-for-sanctions-lift
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Asean Calls Lifting of Sanctions on Burma
By NIVELL RAYDA / JAKARTA GLOBE Monday, January 17, 2011
LOMBOK ISLAND, Indonesia — The Association of Southeast Asian Nations on Sunday appealed to the international community to lift the sanctions and embargoes imposed on Burma in light of “significant developments” that point toward a more democratic system.
At the first Asean foreign ministers’ retreat under Indonesia’s leadership, Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said: “Asean is keen on playing a leading role in ensuring that the sanctions are lifted or at least eased.”
The United States and other Western nations have imposed political and economic sanctions on Burma to punish the junta for its poor human rights record and slow move toward democracy.
But the release of Burma’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the election in 2010 “are sure signs that the country is heading toward a more democratic system,” Marty said.
The election in November — the first for 20 years — was won by the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party and was fraught with allegations of fraud. It has also been dismissed as a sham by many nations, including Indonesia.
As had been widely predicted, Suu Kyi was released one week after the elections, thus making her unable to contest them.
Burma’s main ethnic political parties on Sunday also called for the lifting of economic sanctions as the country’s new parliament prepares to convene for the first time.
They said the sanctions “are causing many difficulties in the important areas of trade, investment and modern technologies for the development of ethnic regions.”
The declaration was signed by the Shan Nationalities Democratic Party (SNDP), the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party, the Chin National Party, the All Mon Region Democracy Party and the Phalon-Sawaw Democratic Party.
All five groups won seats in Burma’s controversial elections in November, with the largest ethnic winner being the SNDP, which will take a total of 57 seats when parliament and regional legislatures convene on January 31.
The government-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party claimed an overwhelming majority in the polls, winning 882 out of around 1,160 seats amid allegations of fraud and intimidation, plus the exclusion of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Meanwhile, Marty also said that Asean would like to mediate talks between Burma’s junta and the opposition.
Asean Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan said other state leaders would like to have more access to Burma, particularly to its opposition parties.
“We are encouraging the evolution of the political reconciliation inside,” he said. “I think we should have at least equal access to visit, to listen and to give encouragement to all parties.”
Burma’s Foreign Minister U Nyan Win said his country welcomed Asean’s decision to help ease the political pressure against Burma, but declined to comment on the group’s plan to mediate talks with opposition leaders.
Additional reporting from AFP http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=20533
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Bangkok Post
Steel body proposes complex in Burma or Koh Kong
* Published: 17/01/2011 at 12:00 AM
* Newspaper section: Business
The government should consider establishing a steel industrial estate in neighbouring countries at a cost of up to 100 billion baht for infrastructure including a deep-sea port, says the Iron and Steel Institute of Thailand.
The institute would recommend Burma and Cambodia as potential locations for a complex covering 15,000 rai, said president Wikrom Vajragupta.
Koh Kong is considered the most appropriate location in Cambodia for the estate, which will house integrated steel manufacturing including upstream smelting facility, while Dawei is recommended in Burma, as it is the site of a planned industrial and port complex worth tens of billions of dollars.
The institute hopes to propose the plan to the National Industrial Development Committee chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Trairong Suwannakhiri within the first quarter for submission to the cabinet later.
"The development of a steel estate in a neighbouring country will help strengthen Thailand's capacity as the centre of Asean Economic Community (AEC)," said Mr Wikrom.
"The Thai steel industry, meanwhile, will be able to tap an abundant workforce as well as growing steel demand in the neighbouring countries if the steel estate is operated."
The master plan for the industry also envisages another option of developing the steel estate with an eco-town concept in Thailand, with five recommended locations including Songkhla, Pattani and Prachuap Khiri Khan.
The institute has pushed for Thailand to establish a steel smelting plant to lower the cost of existing mid- and downstream steel manufacturers but the plan has faced heavy opposition from environmentalists.
Mr Wikrom said Thailand last year overtook Vietnam to regain its position as the largest steel market in Southeast Asia. Consumption totalled 14 million tonnes, up 40% from 2009.
This year, conservative demand growth is projected at about 6-8% to 15 million tonnes.
The automotive industry, which is expected to produce nearly 2 million cars and pickup trucks, will lead the demand growth in the manufacturing sectors along with electrical appliance and machinery makers.
The construction industry is also forecast to have strong demand for steel, thanks to planned government infrastructure projects and more private-sector work, he said.
"Steel prices are projected to surge sharply and be volatile in the first half of this year, mainly pushed by rising coal prices due to the severe floods in Australia," said Mr Wikrom. http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/economics/216722/steel-body-proposes-complex-in-burma-or-koh-kong
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Looking to build hope in a troubled Burma
By Simon Scott
5:30 AM Monday Jan 17, 2011
Political leaders much talked about in their own time are, with a few notable exceptions, largely forgotten by history.
Their influence and fame begin to expire as soon as their hold on power does and often their lives never seem to live up to their words.
They frequently become just a name in a book on a library shelf, a paragraph, perhaps, in a student's history notes or the answer to a tricky question at a pub quiz night.
Aung San Suu Kyi, on the other hand, seems destined to outlive her time.
More than just a spokeswoman for Burma's struggle for democracy, "The Lady", as her people affectionately call her, is the embodiment of that struggle itself.
Like a modern Gandhi, she lives those timeless and universal notions which have always appealed to humans - freedom, sacrifice, endurance, peace, courage, forgiveness and most of all, hope, when there is little reason for it.
At 65 years of age, she has spent 15 of the past 21 years under house arrest in Rangoon for speaking out against the country's repressive ruling regime and yet still remains fearless.
Released from house arrest only two months ago, she is already risking her freedom by speaking publicly about the troubles in Burma.
Although Suu Kyi has been released, more than 2000 political prisoners remain behind bars in Burma.
The daughter of Burma's famous independence leader General Aung San and a Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Suu Kyi became involved in politics in Burma in 1988 and led the National League for Democracy (NLD) to victory in the 1990 elections - a victory that was denied her by the ruling military regime which refused to give up power.
She is a mother of two and recently met her youngest son Kim Aris for the first time in 10 years after he was finally granted a visa to visit her in Burma.
Herald: Looking ahead in 2011, what is your vision for the future of Burma and what kind of a role do see yourself playing in that future?
Suu Kyi: Well, what I see for 2011 is the need to try to make the people understand that we have the capacity to bring about change. What I want most of all is to empower the people and make them understand 'we are the ones who can bring about change in this country'.
Herald: It seems that the Burmese people have pinned their hopes on you. Do you feel that it is realistic for them to see you as the saviour of Burma?
Suu Kyi: I think they should pin their hopes on themselves. I always tell people, that they can't hope without endeavour. If they have any hopes, they have got to work towards the realisation of their hopes. I'll do everything I can to help bring about the realisation of the hopes of our country, but they also have to do their part.
Herald: At the end of 2010 two key events occurred in Burma, the November elections and your own release from house arrest. Do you think these events can be seen as being a sign of positive change?
Suu Kyi: My release from house arrest had to do with the fact that my term of detention was over anyway and they could not legally have kept me under dentition anymore. Of course, if they wanted to they could have done anything at all, but I think that they decided that it was much better to be legalistic. So I don't think that this was anything out of the ordinary. As for the elections, it was part of the road map that they had written out - that they had blueprinted some years ago. So, I don't think it was a new development. It was just another step in the road map they had marked out.
Herald: Critics say the November vote was a charade aimed at preserving the current rule in Burma and giving it legitimacy in the eyes of the international community. Do you agree? Can you think of one positive thing that came out of the election?
Suu Kyi: I think it did make some people understand what elections should not be about, or how elections should not be conducted. I think that is positive, if people can start to get an understanding of what should not be done if elections are supposed to be democratic.
Herald: It seems that the ruling generals are in a bind of sorts. Even if they really do decide they want to move the country towards democracy, they will no doubt be fearful that by handing more power to the people they will be putting themselves at risk for retribution, such as being put on trial for crimes against humanity. Is there any way to get out of this bind?
Suu Kyi: I think that we need a new kind of thinking on both sides. The people need to be more confident of their ability to change things, and at the same time, I think those in authority have to learn to think that they should not see the people as the enemy.
Herald: Many people in New Zealand support you and your struggle for democracy in Burma. Do you have anything you would like to say to them? Is it really possible for the average New Zealander to make a difference in Burma?
Suu Kyi: Oh, yes, of course. Anybody who supports our movement gives us some strength, helps us in some way however small it may be. And I'm immensely grateful to the people of New Zealand for the interest they have taken in our movement. After all, New Zealand is far removed from us and it is a completely different sort of society and yet, the fact that they care enough, about the rights of the people in Burma, is a great boost to our morale, it does strengthen us. I have been trying to build up a network for Democracy in Burma and would like to think the people of New Zealand would be a strong and very active part of the movement.
Herald: In January 2010 the Australia and New Zealand Free Trade Area was established. This was a trade agreement between Australia and New Zealand and Asean member countries, including Burma. Do you think countries like New Zealand should sign these kinds of agreements which facilitate economic co-operation and trade with Burma?
Suu Kyi: We would very much like to be certain that whatever business activities [or] economic activities New Zealand undertakes with regard to Burma, [that they] keep in sight very, very clearly the need for certain policies in this country with regards to the rights of workers and with regards to accountability and transparency and other necessary democratic values.
Herald: What is your current advice to New Zealand tourists wanting to visit Burma and why?
Suu Kyi: We are going to work out a policy on tourism as to what kind of tourists and what way we would welcome tourists to come. How they should come and how they should go about the country. What kind of hotels they should use and what kind of facilities they should use and what they should look out for.
Herald: Do you mean doing things in such a way so that money gets directed towards the people rather than the regime?
Suu Kyi: That's right. In such a way that tourism would benefit the people rather than the powers that be.
Herald: Your youngest son Kim was recently able to come to Burma to visit you for the first time in a decade. What was it like seeing him after all that time?
Suu Kyi: Oh, it was lovely. I think the loveliest thing of all was that we didn't feel we had been apart for 10 years. It was very nice. We felt very close to each other, as close as we have ever been.
Herald: Was there any one moment or time during your son's visit that was especially memorable?
Suu Kyi: Just being together, I think, and he cooked breakfast for me one day which was very nice. I didn't have time to cook for him at all.
Herald: What did he cook?
Suu Kyi: He made me a mushroom omelette. [It was] very tasty. He is a good cook.
Herald: What are your hopes in terms of seeing him again? Do you think he will be able to visit you again?
Suu Kyi: We hope so - both of us hope very much that he will be able to come again soon. But it depends on many, many things, because he has other commitments as well.
Herald: Now that you have been released from house arrest, are you concerned about your own safety and security? Are you fearful your life is at risk or that you may be re-arrested?
Suu Kyi: Actually, I have to admit, I don't think about it very much. People keep speaking about my security, but I believe it is the duty of the Government to look after the security of all its citizens including myself. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10700075
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East Timor and Asean: new strategic imperatives
Kavi Chongkittavorn
The Nation (Thailand)
Publication Date : 17-01-2011
When Burma was admitted to Asean on a fast track in 1997, it was done with one objective in mind - to manage China's southward influence into the continental Southeast Asia and beyond. The decision was made two years earlier in Bangkok albeit all the problems and uncertainties the pariah state inherited which remains the problems until today. For Asean, the unseen danger of leaving Burma alone, however, would be far greater.
Will the same criteria on Burma be used again when the Asean leaders ponder whether to admit East Timor as the 11th member of Asean sometimes soon? This frequently asked question among the Asean senior officials has no clear answer at the moment. But it does manifest a similar dilemma. President Jose Ramos Horta has reiterated that East Timor wants to join Asean by 2012 and the application will be ready this month when Indonesia takes up the Asean chairmanship. But the real admission would take a longer timeframe, which could be beyond 2015. After all, it was Horta who first asked Asean to consider its membership in Asean in November 2001 when it was still under UN East Timor Public Administration.
The timeframe has been further delayed partly because of the country's lack of human resources in Asean affairs and English-language speakers. The Jakarta-based Asean Secretariat has provided assistance and capacity-building training for the East Timorese officials for sometimes now. But truth be told, as time goes by, it is clear that beyond the often cited personnel and resource limitations, the Asean leaders have other serious concerns about East Timor.
Obviously, to compare Burma with East Timor is to compare an apple with an orange. Unlike Burma's current undemocratic status, East Timor is a young democracy despite all internecine domestic problems since independence in 2000. The country has never been isolated by international community. Foreign aids keep pouring in and their leaders are news headlines makers throughout the world. Horta received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1996. However, when it comes to strategic matters, Burma and East Timor share one commonality—initmate ties with China. Both nations are rich in energy resources.
Since the country's May political turmoil in 2006, other foreign investors, uncertain of their future prospects and local political conditions, chose to leave the country. But the Chinese business community not only chose to stay but continued to increase their investment and overall presence. For the past four years, China has tripled its investment as well as foreign aids. This trend is also accelerating.
To fully understand China-East Timor relations, one has to appreciate the overall Beijing's diplomatic approach to the so-called the Community of Portuguese Language Nations (CPLN), which includes Brazil, Angola, Cape Verde, Mozambique, Guinea Bisseau. Another Portuguese speaking country, South Tome and Principles, has a diplomatic tie with Taiwan. This network allows China to penetrate East Timor's society and market through its Portuguese speaking personnel.
On the surface, China's symbol of growing interest and presence could be seen through huge infrastructure constructions - common features of China's foreign development assistance - whether they are highways, stadiums, bridges, dams, etc. In Dili alone, Bejing has offered the gifts in the form of construction of the Presidential Palace, ministry of foreign affairs and a new defence headquarters.
One question that begs an answer is whether East Timor's membership in Asean will become a new flash point between China and Asean as was the case of Burma. After the Burma's admission, both sides consistently avoided to discuss the situation due to differences and strict observance of non-interference principle. For the first ten years after Burma's membership, the Asean members remained divided and could not muster a common approach to Burma. China also played a low profile role following Asean's views and positions on Burma.
It was not until the Asean summit in Singapore 2008 that China and Asean broke ranks and displayed their first diplomatic disagreement on Burma overtly. Beijing objected to the host's recommendation upfront that the former UN special envoy for Burma, Ismail Gambari, should brief the East Asian leaders after his visit to Burma due to the sensitivity of the issue at the time. Since then, Asean realised that if the Burma's political crisis continued, the divide between Asean and China would also be widened. After the November's poll, both sides expressed support for the Burmese military junta.
With such precedence, the Asean leaders have to think hard on East Timor's application. When Asean accepted Burma as member, the grouping was quick to achieve consensus due to pressing China's influence. In the case of East Timor, Asean has to consider vital strategic factors as well as pros and cons of additional member. In the past, Asean chose to expand quantitatively while engaging with other intra-regional organizations. For a while, number matters in the regional power politic. Now further consolidation within Asean is needed.
Beyond verbal supports, new concerns among Asean have emerged with East Timor's s ability to integrate with the grouping's overall scheme of things. Singapore, for instance, views the inclusion of a new member that is poor - in this case the poorest in Asean--and fragile could widen development gap and drag down Asean as whole as it continues to integrate new members since 1995 and implement the Asean community blueprints of 2015. Indonesia wants Asean to include East Timor as soon as possible to counter growing China's influence there. Thailand and the Philippines strongly support Dili membership as it can offer fresh views on nation-building and democracy. However, other Asean members are less sanguine.
To help East Timor, Asean would soon dispatch an assessment team to Dili to evaluate the preparation and readiness. It is interesting to note that the future expansion of Asean does not confine to East Timor as Papua New Guinea, an observer since 1986, continues to push for the grouping's membership. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono expressed support of the PNG's long standing desire during his visit there last March. Officially, the grouping has stated that PNG is not in a Southeast Asian nation. But that does not stop Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare from coming back. Whatever decision Asean is taking in the near future will impact on the grouping's own strategic imperatives. http://www.asianewsnet.net/home/news.php?id=16794&sec=3
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Burma moves to finish legendary supply route
Chinese company awarded contract to complete Stilwell Road, built during the Second World War
By JONATHAN MANTHORPE, Vancouver Sun January 16, 2011 10:27 PM
For most of the last 65 years the legendary Stilwell Road linking India and China through northern Burma has been swallowed by the jungle, passable only on foot, or too dangerous a route to contemplate because of local insurrections.
But now the "Great Snake" linking India's northeastern Assam province to China's far western Yunnan is being rebuilt in a project that will reinforce Burma's prospects as a hub for southeast Asian trade.
Burma's new government, a thinly-veiled front for the military junta, has awarded a contract to the Chinese company, Yunnan Construction Engineering Group, to rebuild a 312-km stretch of the road from Myitkyina in the country's northern Kachin state, to Pangsau Pass - nicknamed Hell Pass by the original builders - on the border with India's Changlang district of Arunachal Pradesh state.
This contract will largely complete the work, which started with surveys in 2005, to rebuild the road constructed between 1942 and late 1944 to ferry military supplies to the armies of Chinese leader General Chiang Kai-shek battling the invading Japanese.
Then the road, named for the American commander in the region Gen. (Vinegar Joe) Stilwell, was seen as an essential lifeline in the war against Japan.
Now it is figured the Stilwell Road could cut 30 per cent off the cost of transporting goods between China and India as well as facilitating the trade between both those countries and Southeast Asia.
There's some disgruntlement in India it's a Chinese company that has the contract to rebuild this final link in the road chain. It's hard to escape the fact that in the last few years China has taken on the reconstruction of Burma's almost non-existent infrastructure as a high priority project.
This is not simply an act of generosity toward towards Burma's ruling generals, who call the country Myanmar. It is aimed at giving China every advantage in extracting and exporting Burma's large reserves of natural resources.
There's bountiful supplies of petroleum and natural gas, timber, copper, coal, precious stones, and fish and other foods from the sea.
Beijing figures say China invested the equivalent of nearly $9 billion in Burma in the first five months of last year, much of it in infrastructure schemes.
These include a 2,000-km rail link between Burma's commercial capital Rangoon and Kunming, the capital of China's Yunnan province; a $5-billion hydroelectric plant; and a $100-million airport for the country's new capital, Naypyidaw, which the generals built in 2004 to give themselves some security in the event of an American invasion.
This feverish Chinese activity has included reconstruction and paving of the old Burma Road, which linked Rangoon to Kunming in the days when Burma was part of the British Empire and which was the supply route for Generalissimo Chiang and Chinese armies in the early part of the Second World War.
But when the Japanese over-ran Burma in 1942, this route was cut. The allies continued to supply Chiang by an airlift from India "over the Hump" of mountains in northern Burma and western Yunnan.
The Stilwell Road from the railhead at Ledo in India's Assam to the junction with the northern reaches of the Burma Road at Mong-Yu in Burma's Shan province was intended to take about 65,000 tonnes of supplies a month to Chiang.
This was far more than the airlift was able to move at the time.
However, though disease and the perils of construction in terrible terrain took 1,133 American lives - one for every mile of road built - and those of many more local labourers, the Stilwell Road never came close to matching the tonnage moved by the airlift.
Indeed, it had only just made it into full swing as a transportation route when the war ended in August 1945.
The road fell rapidly into disrepair after the war and the last clearly documented occasion on which anyone drove its full length was in 1955.
More recently, the physical problems of travelling on what has become no more than a footpath in many places and which in others has disappeared entirely was compounded by the almost continuous warfare between the military regime and the guerrillas of the ethnic minorities in the border regions.
The junta has until now been reluctant to agree to rebuilding the Stilwell Road for fear in would play into the hands of the ethnic militias in the region, especially the Kachin.
Those fears seem to have subsided and the Stilwell Road may at last have the chance to fulfil the role for which it was designed almost 70 years ago.
jmanthorpe@vancouversun.com
© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun
Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Burma+moves+finish+legendary+supply+route/4117139/story.html#ixzz1BGxe2zQb
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ASEAN highlights Suu Kyi’s role in a democratic Burma
By Zin Linn Jan 16, 2011 9:43PM UTC
Burma’s major ethnic political parties called on Sunday for Western nations to lift economic sanctions on the country as its new parliament prepares to convene for the first time, according to AFP.
A joint declaration said that sanctions put into effect by the United States and European countries are reason for countless troubles in the important areas of trade, investment and modern technologies for the progress of ethnic regions.
The declaration was signed by the Shan Nationalities Democratic Party (SNDP), the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party (RNDP), the Chin National Party (CNP), the All Mon Region Democracy Party (AMRDP) and the Phalon-Sawaw Democratic Party (PSDP).
The said ethnic parties collectively requested that the United States and European countries lift sanctions.
All five parties won seats in Burma’s controversial elections last November. The SNDP achieved unexpected success among ethnic parties, as it won 57 seats in parliament and regional legislatures to convene on Jan 31.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) also wishes to lift sanctions imposed by the U.S. and Europe against its member Burma/Myanmar after th elections and the release of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, it said Sunday.
As reported by Reuters, ASEAN will keep pushing Burma to build on the release of Suu Kyi by including her in the political system, but countries which uphold sanctions against the country should recognize progress made so far, said Marty Natalegawa, foreign minister of Indonesia and ASEAN chair this year.
Many foreign governments have used sanctions on Burma to transform the regime’s unacceptable behavior in the areas of human rights. The sanctions aim to stop the junta obstructing the aspirations of its own people, and force the junta to seek a peaceful solution through dialogue to reconcile the political stalemate in Burma.
The sanctions provide effective tools to advance the dialogue process. All foreign investments help finance the Burmese junta, which spent over 40 percent of national budget to develop and modernize the armed forces. Obviously, using those armed forces, the military regime has been mistreating its own citizens.
According to democratic dissidents, the impact of sanctions on the population is small because foreign investments in Burma focus on the extraction of natural resources, especially gas and oil. Investment in natural resources extraction cannot cause severe effects in terms of creating employment and small business opportunities within the country’s general economy.
Anyhow, people inside and outside of Burma are interested in Mr. Marty Natalegawa’s goodwill message by including Aung San Suu Kyi in the incoming political system in this military-run nation. Putting her in the contemporary political structure will also pave the way to lifting the sanctions. However, it may depend upon the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), led by Prime Minister Thein Sein
The USDP won the majority of 882 parliamentary seats amid allegations of fraud and intimidation in November, plus the exclusion of opposition leader Suu Kyi. The USDP is followed by the National Unity Party (NUP) with 64 seats, Shan Nationalities Democratic Party (SNDP) with 57 seats, Rakhine Nationalities Development Party with 35 seats, National Democratic Force (NDF) and the All Mon Region Democracy Party (AMRDP) each with 16 at three levels of parliament.
So, all the parties that will participate in the new parliament ought to consider the suggestion of Natalegawa if they really want to move the economic sanctions on Burma. Indonesia, chair of ASEAN in 2011, wants progress this year after the topic was among the first to be discussed at the three-day meeting, Natalegawa told Reuters.
Regional ASEAN summits, designed at building an economic community by 2015 that would include some 500 million people and some of the world’s fastest growing economies, have often been put in the shadow by controversy over the Burmese military junta.
http://asiancorrespondent.com/46289/marty-natalegawa-raises-suu-kyi%E2%80%99s-role-to-ease-sanction-on-burma/
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Imprisoned Poet Found Solace as a Librarian
By KO HTWE Monday, January 17, 2011
Imprisoned politicians and activists in Burma who smuggle books into their cells to read have always faced severe punishments if caught by the prison guards, but that deadlock was broken by an imprisoned poet who founded two libraries where prisoners can now help themselves to literature, novels and other publications.
“This was the most meaningful thing I could possible have done in prison,” said Saw Wai who was released in May. “By setting up these libraries, I discovered the only pleasure that existed in that world of pain.”
Rangoon poet Saw Wai, 50, was imprisoned for 28 months after mocking regime chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe with his poem “14th February,” which was published in Love Journal in 2008. The poem contained seven lines in which the first word from each line formed a vertical message reading “Than Shwe is foolish with power” in Burmese language.
Saw Wai was originally sentenced to two years in prison for harming “Public Tranquility.” Last year, he was presented in absentia with a Hellman/ Mammett Award by the US-based Human Rights Watch for his courage.
“After I had been in prison for seven months, I told the prison authorities that I wanted to open a library,” he told The Irrawaddy. “After I got permission, I managed to set up a library with about 1,000 books in Insein Prison hospital.”
Some months later, he went on to found a similar library in Yamethin Prison in Mandalay Division. Now, he said, the prison libraries continue to receive donations of books, magazines and publications from private donors and organizations.
Before the International Committee of the Red Cross began monitoring abuses and conditions in Burmese prisons in 1999, prisoners risked severe penalties, such as solitary confinement, if they attempted to read books.
“Years ago, when we were banned from reading, we used to collect the filters of our cheroots [many Burmese cheroots are made from newspaper] and try to find other pieces that were from the same article or were related topics,” said U Javana, the coordinator of Sasanamoli, a Burmese Buddhist monks' organization based in Mae Sot, Thailand.
U Javana was arrested for meeting in December 1992 with the then UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Burma Prof. Yozo Yokota, and telling him about human rights violations in the country. U Javana was sentenced to 19 years imprisonment in 1993. He served his sentence at Insein, Tharyawaddy and Taungoo prisons.
But although prisoners are now permitted to read in their cells, some publications, especially those with political content, are strictly forbidden.
“Most of the criminals who are assigned positions as librarians are not interested in politics anyway, so they tear the books up and use them as toilet paper,” U Javana added.
The prohibition against political prisoners reading was originally introduced in the era of the Burma Socialist Programme Party under Gen. Ne Win, said Bo Kyi, the joint-secretary of Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners—Burma.
“They [the military junta] are switching the rules by allowing certain reading activities, then banning them,” he said. “By law, prisoners should have the chance to read and write. They can read certain books and magazines, but they still don't have the right to sit an exam in prison.”
Of the more than 2,000 political prisoners in Burma, at least 42 are poets, writers, journalists, bloggers and musicians, according to the Association of Assistance for Political Prisoners—Burma.
http://irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=20537
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