Between Isolation and Inter Nationalization- The State of Burma-SIIA_papers_4
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Thursday, February 26, 2009
Releated article to UDP -Irrawaddy_True Story of the Man behind the Peace Initiatives in Myanmar
http://democracyforburma.wordpress.com/2009/02/25/releated-article-to-udp-irrawaddy_true-story-of-the-man-behind-the-peace-initiatives-in-myanmar/
February 25, 2009 · No Comments
Mostly audience knows and sees only performers and dancers on the stage, but they don’t know a man who is behind the scene (curtain). But the man behind the scene is the one who feel, create, instruct and direct the whole story for all the performers to have a wonderful interesting show with no flawless move in the audience’s (public) eyes.
Now time comes and need to tell the true story of the man who is behind the ceased-fire initiatives in Myanmar history. Who are the architectures of peacemakers to reach ceased fired agreements between Myanmar military government and so many ethnic armed groups mostly based China-Burma border areas. From the government side, many people know and gave the full credits to late-sacked Prime Minister Gen. Khin Nyunt, but who is the main and key players in the ethnic groups most of them just broke away from the Communist Party of Burma-CPB. There are so many stories and rumors; and some people also wanted to pretend or get credits like a peace initiators. Before talking details about how the ethnic armed splinter groups reached the ceased fire agreements with the military government after they revolted against central control power of the CPB militarily and politically.
The Kyu Hkok-Panghsai battle was very severe fighting between the military government and the CPB army. It took almost a year long fierce fighting and losing so many lives from sides as well as innocent civilians and local villagers. The fighting started on Oct-Nov-1987 and ended in June 1988. In that fierce and deadly fighting, U Kyaw Myint was one of the commanders of CPB and who led and command his CPB battalion in the Mong Koe region in northern Shan State in Myanmar.
U Kyaw Myint involved in the freedom movement in 1968 as a teenager to fight and to protect freedom, peace and equality for ethnic minorities in Myanmar from the socialist dictator regime who ruled the country with a iron fist since in 1962 after Gen. Ne Win brutally staged a military coup and crackdown the democratic government. Later U Kyaw Myint joined the Communist Party of Burma-CPB and worked in information and public relation department to organize the local people to fight for their own freedom and their own rights. As a local young talent party organizer with so many language skills, U Kyaw Myint got the attention from his superiors for his loyalty, energy, working hard and leadership skills these are beginning days of U Kyaw Myint’s long walk to the current leadership status which he got and reached not because of luck or chance, it is result and outcome of his commitment, devoted and hardworking. U Kyaw Myint is deserved his leader position as he worked and earned to get this level. In these days, there are only a few leaders in Myanmar like U Kyaw Myint who has diverse experiences from politic to military to economic knowledge’s and skills. U Kyaw Myint is not idealistic and dreamer, he is very practical and real person who showed and had a solid result on his life. No matter how it hard or bad, at the end, U Kyaw Myint overcome the hardship and won and controlled the situations. He had so many time life threatening situations, but he did not scare or being afraid, rather than face the challenge face to face. This is real man who mostly stayed quiet and silent and less talking in public.
Commander U Kyaw Myint saw so many people died and lost their lives including their properties and assets, but did not see any result for many years fighting and started thinking to find out another way what can be done to avoid catastrophes. Same time he had sentiments and distrust on the leadership of CPB with not realistic and practical approach to solved the Myanmar’s civil war which is started since independent is granted in 1948.
U Kyaw Myint had disagreement with his superiors from of the BCP political wing and started regrouping his troops in the region. The problem between U Kyaw Myint and the CPB Central spouted in May 1988. The CPB issued death sentence to U Kyaw Myint for his coup and openly disobey the central command of the CPB, but in September 1988, U Kyaw Myint successfully gained and controlled the Mong Koe region as an independent militia group. The CPB’s total control on Mong Koe region was ended after the central committee member and the representative of the CPB PoliBureau, U Ba Than, from CPB’s northern command was arrested and forced to leave from the area. Era of CPB’s military power started sun-set.
As a newly established military group, some many challenges and difficulties from all sides came onto U Kyaw Myint’s head who was dealing and fighting with two front wars: one is CPB troops who want to catch him dead or alive and other was the government troops. Same time some junior commanders in his troops wanted to challenge his revolt when the troops had facing the shortage of supplies, foods, medicine and ammunitions. U Kyaw Myint considered to switch a very dangerous and uncertain move to solve the tremendous challenges facing his troops. He needed to find some temporary solutions to feed his troops and to control his troop properly. So he wanted to end the war with the government to hold hi breath and tried to find friends in enemy’s side. He made a bore move and decision to stop fighting with government and to get at least temporary ceased fire with the government. That is how the first ceased fire agreement was initiative and rooted in May 1989. After so many month negotiation and dialogue between U Kyaw Myint’s Mong Koe group and then intelligent chief, Gen. Khin Nyunt, the final settlement and peace agreement officially signed between two sides in September 1989.
This event was the first ceased fire agreement signed and reached between the military government and the broke-way groups from the CPB. U Kyaw Myint was the first commander of the CPB who opposed and revolted against the CPB. It will not be overstated if U Kyaw Myint was the person who initiated and triggered the bottom to collapse the CPB totally who can resist and fought militarily against the central government for many decades. The first peace door was opened and Gen. Khin Nyunt also found a common ground with U Kyaw Myint to get expand his peace missions among the ex-CBP army commanders who were friends and colleagues of U Kyaw Myint.
That time, no one dared to resist the CPB’s authority and power in the CPB even the ceased fire leaders knew if they failed what price they have to pay-life. U Kyaw Myint put his life in risk and started and changed with believe in himself and his commanders Burma’s revolutionary scene forever After reaching a ceased fire groups, U Kyaw Myint was approaching, persuading and encouraging his fellow commanders in the CPB to against the CPB and to stand for themselves and to fight and protect their own people under their leaderships. These missions are not easy and not smooth to getting in touch with other CPB commanders in different military division in eastern and northern Burma region where there is not transportation and communication system established. Meanwhile the CPB ordered their troop to arrest and kill him wherever they saw or found. Under the darkness of the situations, U Kyaw Myint can reach out and gained the trusts among his once colleagues of CPB army commanders.
After the Mong Koe group, the second group was Ko Kang brothers as U Kyaw Myint and Peng Jiafu, brother of Ko Kang leader Pheung Kya-Shin (Peng Jiasheng), secretly communicated and arranged to get the ceased fire agreement with the authorities. March 12, 1989, mutiny break out in Kokang area and Kokang mutineers capture the CPB’s Northern Bureau headquarters at Mong Koe in two days later. Then U Kyaw Myint was able to reach and get in touch with Chao Ngi Lai, a commander of CPB’s 2nd battalion in Wa region. Finally Wa groups also separated from the CPB and joined the ceased fire clubs as his pioneers. On April 17, 1989, Wa troops capture the CPB’s Panghsang headquarters, ending forty-one-year long Communist insurgency in Burma. In early of December 1989, Zahkung Ting Ying, commander of CPB’s 101 War Zone in Kachin State, followed the steps as his fellow CPB commanders. Now clear who started the end game of the BCP military power which even the government troops could not fight over many decades.
That was how the ceased fire agreements have been reached and so many people are involved behind the scene. U Kyaw Myint was one of the key players to make happened. U Kyaw Myint had great respect and admire among his colleagues- commander as they got the training together, live and sleep together, and fought together as military commanders of the CPB, but they were kids for the CPB Polibureau, especially in the party side.
Once they are just junior commanders of the CPB, but after breaking away from their mother party-CPB, all the military groups needed to restructure, reorganize and reformat their chain of command including the civilian administration in the areas they controlled. To be sustainable, they have to plan and manage the business and economic projects in their controlled areas even they received rations from the government.
U Kyaw Myint is one of the ceased fire groups’ leaders who regained support from Chinese government that stopped all supplies and supports to the newly broke way groups since they were no longer parts of the CPB. That is not true as most people thought that the ceased fire groups have a golden path to walk to shake hands with the military regime after they revolted against the CPB. From the scrap conditions to now the strongest and the united powerful ethnic political forces are not easy journeys the ceased fired leaders managed to escape from the worst situations to now better conditions. These groups never got any support from international communities morally or financially like other democratic forces in Thai-Burma borders.
In 1993, U Kyaw Myint moved to Yangon as a representative of the Alliance of ceased fire groups mostly from northern and eastern of Myanmar. He also established and managed a Myanmar Kyoen Yeom Co., Ltd company, which focused on mining, timer and border trade with China. U Kyaw Myint transformed very quickly from a life of CPB’s foot soldier to a powerful business tycoon in Myanmar under his leadership and business management. U Kyaw Myint joined the management team of the Prime Commercial Bank in Yangon to finance and invest the capital for the country’s business projects including construction and development project across the country.
As a representative of the ceased fire groups, U Kyaw Myint challenged and talked to directly Sr. Gen. Than Shwe to share power with opposition including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. That is the main reason U Kyaw Myint got trouble with the authorities, not because of business monopoly as the media stated. In 1997 the military government shut down all the business and companies under control and management of U Kyaw Myint and put him prison for over one year in solitary confinement, but the authorities kept him in the prison comfortably compared to other prisoners. The intelligent owned and appreciated U Kyaw Myint’s contribution in the peace process with ethnic groups. Even now Myanmar did not have full-scale peace and political settlement, because of U Kyaw Myint’s initiatives, gun-shots’ sound are silent and fighting are stopped in the ceased fired areas, and save hundred of thousand of people lives and at least many local people can stay and live in their own village as normal. Who can deny these facts and who can ignore this? But U Kyaw Myint invested and started this journey with his life and blood. Imagine, if he failed at the beginning, sorry there will not be ceased fire agreements as we have now. But nobody know the true.
U Kyaw Myint was able to manage to escape from the Mandalay prison, especially when taking medical treatment from the prison hospital and landed in Thai-Burma border by disguising as a monk even he is devoted Christian. Again U Kyaw Myint did not get warm welcome from the opposition even the NCGUB invited to come and talked in Oslo, Norway under arrangement between Norwegian government and NCGUB. U Kyaw Myint had been attacked by outside media including the Irrawaddy Magazine based in Thailand by accusing as a controversial businessman linking with the drug trafficking.
The Irrawaddy Magazine repeatedly wrote and printed false information about U Kyaw Myint even without solid proof or evidences. These are some sample appeared again and again on the Irrawaddy magazine as follow about U Kyaw Myint; “Myanmar Kyone Yeom was accused of acting as a “money-washing machine” for the UWSA. “Michael Hu Hwa (a.k.a. Colonel Kyaw Myint), who claimed to be a deputy minister of finance for the UWSA, openly and brazenly flouted Burmese business laws and regulations.” But U Kyaw Myint is not a Wa ethnic and wasn’t colonel in the UWSA. His position was General position the UWSA.
U Kyaw Myint is a Kachin (Lachyik tribe) born in Phi Maw in Eastern Kachin State, border with China in 1951 but his mother is a Burmese-Chinese. His Kachin name is Zahkung Zung Sau. He joined the CPB when he was 17 year old as a foot solider in 1968 and promoted up to second-in command of 101 War Zone in Northern Division of the CPB army under Zahkung Ting Ying who become later a leader of the New Democratic Army-Kachin, one of the ceased fire group in Myanmar. He married with N’hkum Nang Bawk. Her father is N’hkum Zau Mai, who is late chief of staff of CPB army. Only a few people know about two powerful CPB Chief of staffs- Lahtaw Naw Seng (CPB first chief of staff and N’hkum Zau Mai who served the second and last CPB Chief of Staff until he joined United Wa State Party as one of core leaders, but most of Burmese oppositions or students are grown up with leftist lecturer and CPB. They knew more about Burman who are mostly powerful and in-charge of the party line, but the military wing are totally depended the local ethnic troops and totally controlled of two popular Kachin commanders with both top solider of CPB army, U Kyaw Myint worked and served very closely.
After short meeting with exiled Burmese group, U Kyaw Myint had a bad impression and decided to stay away from the politics and emphasized on the business and family matters. U Kyaw Myint and family moved to United States and lived there for a few years. U Kyaw Myint also took the MBA program in Singapore but stopped the studying after one year. His formal education and practical business management skills opened new opportunities after moving to Canada from United Stats. U Kyaw Myint get some loan from his business friends and deposited the money into firming and agriculture business in Manitoba, Canada. After working a few years, his farming business expanded not just growing potato and wheat, but also opening eco-tourism from Asian countries to his firm to get Canadian firming life style experiences.
Form the firming community in Alberta, his name is recognized and known his financial management and marketing ability. Then U Kyaw Myint moved to Vancouver and started his own aprivate company called NAH Development Group company mostly investing different sectors in North America’s financial market. U Kyaw Myint walked through as a foot soldier of the CPB’s army to successful businessman and well experiences investors in the North America’s global out-reach financial market.
Everybody knows how it was difficult and big challenges settling in third world countries as an immigrant. Forget about to own and run the millions-dollar business company, in the reality, it was very hard to own and run a family-own coffee shop and restaurant in West. U Kyaw Myint stands on his own-feet and run and managed his own company, but never forget his native-land. Here U Kyaw Myint’s words and believe should be quoted as sample. U Kyaw Myint believes, if people want to do or get in politics, they need to know how to make money and earn the money for their own family survival. If people want to do politic with other people’s donation and grants, these kinds of politicians will be upper-class baggers, but they cannot be a good leader of the country. If people don’t know or have business management skills, how these people can manage and run the country properly and successfully. Now U Kyaw Myint prepared to come back and lead the Myanmar politic as an experience politician, influential leaders in ceased fire groups, successful businessman to make Myanmar country back to normal. U Kyaw Myint has military experiences- more than 27 year fighting in the jungle, and political and negotiation skills with business management experiences. He already showed who he was and he can grow in anywhere he live. But he did not have any ambition to become a leader of the country, but he wanted to be strong and solid supporter for new generations who are the future leaders of the country in Myanmar. That is only reason he founded the United Democratic Party of Myanmar-UDP with other colleagues.
People want to damage his reputation and to ruin his personal and political characters, so they labeled and accused him as some one who are rich and successful because of drug trafficking. Now the history need to be corrected and things needed to be straight, otherwise rumors and accusation become true and the true will be sinking in deep behind the scene. Now this is right time to tell the true story of the man who behind the peace initiatives and ceased fire agreements in Myanmar.
Mostly Burmese or foreign media never met or interviewed with U Kyaw Myint even though they wrote and talked about him. But Now I will start tell his story chapter by chapter. http://www.kachinpost.com/article.html#Tru
Myanmar democrats urge Japan to change policy toward junta
Asian Political News , May 28, 2001
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TOKYO, May 21 Kyodo
A labor union leader working for democracy in Myanmar urged Japan on Monday to use its influence with the country's ruling military junta to promote the cause of democracy.
Japan is in a position to use its ''economic and political influence on the Burmese military regime'' to ensure that dialogue will progress and be fruitful, Thaung Htun, representative of the U.N. Affairs of the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB), told the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan.
Thaung Htun said, ''There are lots of ways and means that the Japanese government can be helpful'' in aiding progress in dialogue between the military junta and Myanmar's pro-democracy movement led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
He said no ''unilateral initiative'' should be taken by any country in its relations with Myanmar, but instead they should coordinate ''with other international key players'' and ''in concert with the democracy movement'' to avoid undermining dialogue.
With Myanmar's dismal human rights records failing to improve, as evidenced by forced relocation and labor and the detention of more than 1,000 political prisoners, he said he is suspicious of the military junta's ''commitment'' to the dialogue process.
He said that no one seems to know the substance or direction of the talks, which began last October, and noted that dialogue has been stalled since March.
He specifically cited the Japanese government's plan to consider offering Myanmar a grant worth about 3 billion yen to repair an aging hydroelectric power station.
''We believe the Japanese government decision is very premature and...sends the wrong signal to the military...that they can continue to pretend...(and) deceive the world'' over having serious talks, he said.
He also downplayed Japan's stated reason of providing ''humanitarian assistance'' to poor people in Myanmar, saying this is hardly the case as the country's ''power distribution system'' shows the military elite and a select number of people amassing benefits for themselves at the expense of ordinary people.
Tin Win, of the outlawed Federation of Trade Unions-Burma (FTUB) Japan Branch, echoed these sentiments, saying the military leaders have ''definitely changed their tactics'' because of growing economic problems, ''but not their attitude.''
He also expressed his hopes for a ''comprehensive engagement'' involving the junta and the pro-democracy movement, thus going beyond the ''constructive engagement'' advocated by neighboring Southeast Asian countries to build economic and political ties with Yangon.
FTUB Secretary General Maung Maung, meanwhile, appealed to Japan ''to listen to us for once'' and not ''advocate the military regime'' especially at next month's annual meeting of the International Labor Organization (ILO).
He reminded Japan that even with the imposition of sanctions against Myanmar by the ILO last November, the junta still imposes forced labor.
The conference, hosted by the FTUB, was also attended by four other Myanmar unionists -- all unanimous in urging Japan to review its foreign policy toward Myanmar, particularly the resumption of large-scale official development assistance (ODA), until a full dialogue process emerges toward ''genuine national reconciliation.''
Japan is considering resuming grant aid to Myanmar, following the launch last October of dialogue between the junta and Suu Kyi after a hiatus of seven years. Japan suspended its ODA to Myanmar in 1988 when the country's junta seized power after Suu Kyi's party won the general election.
COPYRIGHT 2001 Kyodo News International, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2001 Gale Group
U.S. to seek ASEAN cooperation on new Myanmar tack
http://uk.reuters.com/article/usPoliticsNews/idUKTRE51O3D920090225
Wed Feb 25, 2009 12:44pm GMT Email | Print | Share| Single Page[-] Text [+]
1 of 1Full SizeHANOI (Reuters) - The United States wants Southeast Asian states to press for reform, openness and political progress in Myanmar, while seeking views on a new approach toward the military-ruled country, a senior U.S. diplomat said on Wednesday.
The comments come after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced during a visit to Asia last week that the United States was taking a fresh look at its policy on Myanmar to seek ways to sway the country's ruling junta.
"What we're asking of other ASEAN members really is, first and foremost, welcome their thoughts and ideas on how we can best work together," Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Scot Marciel told reporters in Vietnam.
"And second, that they use whatever contacts and access that they have in the country to encourage new thinking and reform, increased openness and political progress," he said.
Marciel said the U.S. goal "remains to encourage release of political prisoners, dialogue between the government and the people and the opposition, and overall progress."
He said Washington wants Myanmar to stop "going in a negative direction."
Washington has gradually tightened sanctions on the generals who have ruled the former Burma for more than four decades to try to force them into political rapprochement with Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition National League for Democracy.
Myanmar's opposition won a 1990 election landslide only to be denied power. Suu Kyi has been in prison or under house arrest for more than half of the past two decades.
Clinton, however, said that neither the sanctions nor ASEAN's non-interference approach has worked, and there was a need for new thinking in Myanmar policy.
Marciel also serves as U.S. Ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, which groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. He will attend the annual ASEAN summit in Hua Hin, Thailand this weekend.
(Reporting by John Ruwitch; Editing by Paul Tait)
Changing patterns in Burma's media
http://english.dvb.no/news.php?id=2252
Htet Aung Kyaw
Feb 25, 2009 (DVB)–With one of the most strictly-controlled media environments in the world, Burmese journalists who oppose the military government are forced to work in secret, with the prospect of lengthy imprisonment an everyday threat.
Exiled news organizations in countries such as Thailand and India work covertly with networks of journalists inside Burma, receiving and publishing articles and commentary on political developments inside the country.
The last few years have also seen a rise in internet bloggers, and subsequently a fierce crackdown by the regime. In 2008, two bloggers were jailed for 20 years each for publishing critical material of General Than Shwe.
DVB spoke to a number of journalists and media experts, both Burmese and foreign, to discuss the current media environment within Burma, and to highlight the differences for media inside and outside the country.
Maung Maung Myint is chair of the Burmese Media Association, Kyaw Zwa Moe is deputy editor of The Irrawaddy, and Larry Jagan is a freelance journalist with a focus on Burma.
DVB began by asking what the current situation is like for media freedom in Burma.
Maung Maung Myint: "It's obvious that Burmese government's pressure on the media inside the country has been more intensified since after the 2007 September uprisings – there has been sentencing of journalists and media right activists to long prison terms throughout this time.
"The situation on the Burmese media freedom is not good and we think it will be the same until 2010. After that, if we are unlucky, things will even get worse."
Kyaw Zwa Moe: "In Burma, now we have more journalists than we had 20 years ago. Despite various difficulties, the censor laws and the pressure from the government, they are doing what they can with an increased capacity."
"And we see that they are trying their best to reach their message and information to the audience."
Larry Jagan: “Twenty years ago the Burmese media was completely government-controlled and no dissident or different opinions were allowed.
“Now we see, particularly in the print media, a proliferation of magazines and newspapers, none of which are necessarily anti-government but many of which have pushed the boundaries of journalism, particularly on issues like HIV/Aids, the environment, and the economy.”
DVB: What is the significance of the outside media? Are exiled journalists affected by bias, and do foreign journalists have adequate expertise?
Kyaw Zaw Moe: "It is important for the journalists to be independent. There is always a factor about self-censorship, such as not criticising the democratic movement even when there is something wrong with it because the journalist himself/herself has is from the movement.
“This depends on how much they believe, understand and how much ethics they follow in their journalist profession."
Maung Maung Myint: "I don't see that the Burmese youths who became journalists out of the 1988 uprising and the other movements are holding bias thoughts just because they came from that path.
“They have their brain, and their own ability to see and hear things and they have their common sense to differentiate what is right or wrong. If one values his or her own status of being a journalist, then he or she will also value the quality of the news which is measured by truthfulness.
“A journalist who respects this will stand on the same side with the truth."
Kyaw Zaw Moe: "Another issue we are having with the media outside is that, we always emphasise on being the first to publish a news without trying to verify whether the information in it real or not, because the competition among the organisations here is big."
DVB: How much confidence can we can have in the outside media (with non-independent journalists and organisations worried about funding) and the inside media (with issues of oppression and self-censorship)?
Kyaw Zwa Moe: "I am positive about this. Despite increasing pressure from the government, we are having more committed journalists who aim for a more successful, independent media society in Burma.
“To have a say what will happen in next five years, it depends a lot on how much we, the media both inside and outside Burma, have in our mind to learn, devote and follow the media ethics."
Maung Maung Myint: "As long as there are people inside Burma who are fighting for the media freedom with a great sacrifice, the future light of the Burmese media will never go dim.
“At the same time, the media people inside Burma need to have an active communication with the media people outside. In that way, we will have more understanding towards each other and a better channel of information flow which will profit the people of Burma to get more knowledge and information.
“This is an achievement we have already gained to some level, but I have to admit that, we, the media people, have to do more than this as our people are not living in freedom like people in other countries."
Larry Jagan: “What I would say is that my experience is that Burmese journalists inside the country are very courageous. They try to push the boundaries quietly in their own way. They know far more than they are ever able to get into print.
“In the last five years or so there has been some very good training of Burmese journalists but what they all tell me is that we are waiting for the day when democracy comes so that we can be real journalists because there’s no way we can be journalists under the military regime.”
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Dream Algebra-Free Burma
http://www.exclaim.ca/musicreviews/generalreview.aspx?csid1=130&csid2=847&fid1=36764
Dream Algebra
Free Burma
By Nilan Perera
This release by Rainer Wiens plots the latest facet of musical progression by one of Canada's most creative artists. The subtext of groove provides a rich base for compositions that are populated by a multi-level chorus of songs. These songs range from the literal representations of birds to interwoven melodies that dance with each other and have a remarkable habit of staying in the listener's memory. Wiens' extensive study of West African rhythms has informed much of this CD but it's nowhere near as straightforward as the simple application of rhythms. In "No Obvious Solution," for example, the groove cooks happily along, and one rests comfortably in its wake, but then the rhythms morph into permutations that leave Africa for parts unknown. This extrapolation is the result of a carefully thought-out method that takes each instrumental part and rephrases it to the point of vertigo — quite an ear-opening and remarkable experience. Wiens' sophisticated use of rhythm plus an adherence to clear and beautiful harmonic material has borne fruit in a music that someone can not only react to as a listener but, like all good popular music, can also comfortably inhabit as a participant. However, the music isn't the only thing that informs this CD. The title isn't simply a political slogan; it represents a lived experience.
What's the story behind the title?
Wiens: I was working on this music at the same time the political demonstrations were happening in Burma in 2007 and it brought up memories of a trip I made there in 1991. During that journey, I was smuggled across the border from Thailand to visit with the rebel Karen tribesmen. It was an incredible experience. Among many amazing things that happened there was a gamelan performance in the middle of the jungle by musicians who had to pile all their instruments on the backs of elephants and flee Burma because they made music that criticized the government. In spite of incredible hardship, the people in this camp were friendly and generous and I felt humbled by their ability to smile in the face of tragedy. As a result, I developed a strong attachment to this warm and courageous community. Sadly, all the friends I met there were later killed in raids by the Burmese military.
And how did this affect you in 2007
This memory gave me the emotional push to complete the music, get the ensemble organized and make the CD. I then decided to dedicate all the proceeds to the people of Burma via the Buddhist monks, who have set up an aid network that bypasses the military dictatorship. (Independent)
US President's Historic Message Balances Urgency, Optimism
ANALYSIS
Video
Highlights: Obama's Address to Congress
Excerpts from President Obama's first major address to a Joint Session of Congress on Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2009.
Not since Franklin Roosevelt delivered his first fireside chat, eight days into his presidency, have Americans been more hungry -- and more desperate -- for economic leadership. And not since FDR has there been an economic agenda as bold or ambitious, or as likely to reshape American capitalism.
Just a month in office, Obama has already pushed through additional fiscal stimulus equal to 5 percent of the country's economic output. His Treasury Department is about to embark on the second phase of a program that will lead to greater government control and ownership of some of the nation's biggest banks. He has assembled a team to pull off what amounts to a bankruptcy reorganization for automakers that will leave taxpayers as one of the industry's biggest creditors. And within months, the president has promised to deliver the blueprint of a new regulatory architecture that will dramatically increase the government's oversight of financial firms.
If all of that weren't enough of a challenge, Obama vowed to move quickly to revamp the health-care system, put the government on a credible path toward a balanced budget, dramatically reduce the country's carbon footprint, rewrite the tax code and reform public schools.
"Action, and action now," is how FDR put it in his time. In Obama's translation, "that day of reckoning has arrived, and the time to take charge of our future is here."
It remains an open question whether by trying to do so much so fast, Obama will be able to create the momentum and sense of urgency necessary to overcome pushback from many Republicans, the inevitable opposition from special interests and the natural tendency of the system to return to the old political equilibrium.
Already there are signs that the demands of the president's ambitious agenda have overwhelmed the economic team that has been assembled at the White House, the Treasury and other federal agencies. And there are some who warn that in asking Congress to consider so many different issues, Obama runs the risk of political gridlock as one initiative is held hostage to another.
But as Obama sees it, his strategy is not to find a way to maneuver a wildly ambitious economic program through the twists and turns of a hostile and byzantine political system, but to use the urgency of the moment and his considerable political capital to reform that system and transform the way politics is done.
Certainly in his speech last night, Obama has reinforced the image of a serious and purposeful leader who aims to rise above partisan sniping and neutralize much of the cynicism that has infected American politics. His critique of the failures of the past were powerful and unassailable. And while his program is certainly open to criticism, he made clear that he would rather engage critics than simply defeat them. He attempted to be the grown-up in the room, willing to accept responsibility and prodding others to do the same.
While the economic challenge facing Obama resembles the one faced by FDR, there is one important difference. By the time Roosevelt became president in March 1933, the stock market had long since collapsed and the economy was already well into depression. He had nowhere to go but up.
Obama, by contrast, arrived in Washington just as the effects of the financial crisis had begun to hit Main Street and the economy was beginning its precipitous decline. Whatever he might do to slow or moderate the downturn, things will inevitably get worse before they get better.
For that reason, his speech was carefully crafted to prepare the country for a deep and nasty recession while reassuring us that we'll pull through it if we pull together behind his program.
It was hardly the only balancing act that the president needed to pull off.
He sought to give voice to the incredible anger that Americans feel toward Wall Street while reminding them of their own culpability and convincing them that the only way to avoid economic calamity may be to commit even more government money to rescue some of Wall Street's biggest players.
He acknowledged the failure of government to balance its accounts, regulate financial markets and spend money wisely, even as he called on Americans to reaffirm their faith in government and expand its scope and powers.
He aimed to satisfy the demands of investors and consumers and business executives for greater clarity and certainty in government policies, even as he was forced to acknowledge that many of the details are still to be worked out.
Last night, Obama tried to walk each of these fine lines, delivering his message with the same sense of confidence in himself, in his ideas and in his country that won him the presidency in the first place.
SEAPA Alert: Burmese government refuses literary awards event
25 February 2009
Source: Mizzima News
Organizers of the "Tawphayalay Aung Zay Memorial" literary awards
were forced to change its venue on 24 February after Burmese
authorities refused their request to use a local hotel as venue of
the event.
The Township Peace and Development Council (TPDC) Kyauktada
Township in Rangoon did not give the organizers the permission to
use a hotel in the area as venue.
"The hotel asked us to show an official permit for the event. Only
the government's official Literary Organization is exempted from
this requirement," Daw Davies Thant Zin, daughter of the late
Tawphayalay, after whom the award was named, told Mizzima.
The event was instead held in the residence of Davies, with only 30
people in attendance, instead of the 100 who had been invited.
Davies said they staged the awards ceremony last year at Thamada
(President) Hotel last year without asking for a permit. At the
time, the government did not require literary events to ask for
permit for their respective events.
The literary circle said that the government's refusal to issue a
permit might be related to a book launching held in January this
year which was attended by U Win Tin, who had been released from
prison last year after spending 19 years in detention. He is also
one of the leaders of the "National League for Democracy" (NLD).
Burmese authorities have been known to arrest literary writers and
poets who write articles critical of the government. Magazines that
publish these also get censored, if not penalized.
The government arrested in January 2008 a poet, Saw Wai, over his
poem entitled "February 14". When the first letter of each line of
his poem were put together, it said: "Power Crazy Than Shwe". Tan
Shwe is a senior general in the junta.
Contents of publications are also routinely censored. In August
last year, the Censor Board approved only five poems out of 16
submitted by the literary journal, "Cherry Magazine". The censors'
decision was also so delayed that the magazine had to skip an
issue and lose advertising revenue.
The organizers of "Tawphayalay Memorial Literary Prize" this year
invited over 100 persons from the media and literary circles,
including U Win Tin. The award has been given annually since 2007.
Tawphalay is the great grandson of the last Burmese monarch, King
Thibaw and Queen Su Phaya Latt. He wrote some historical books,
including "The New Generation Loved by the People", "Ngamauk Ruby
in London" and "From Yadanbon to Ratnagiri". He died on 18 June
2006.
--------------------------------
Mizzima News ( http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=92apN&m=1cjdoSm1sjKXin&b=WkqKFLn0aLRjoKl8cIUi2g ) is a news organization
headquartered in New Delhi, India, run by exiled Burmese
journalists. A SEAPA partner, it aims to promote awareness about
the situation in Burma and promote democracy and freedom of
expression in the country.
------------------------------------------------------------
Southeast Asian Press Alliance.
Bangkok Office: 3B, 3rd floor, Thakolsuk Place, No. 115 Terddumri Road, Dusit, Bangkok 10300. Tel. (662)2435579 Fax.(662)2448749
Thai PTTEP cancels swap of Myanmar stakes with CNOOC
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20090225/tbs-pttep-cnooc-7318940.html
Reuters - Wednesday, February 25BANGKOK, Feb 25 - Thailand's PTT Exploration and Production PCL
The contract for the swap had expired before approval was won from Myanmar's government, so it became invalid, PTTEP said in a statement to the exchange.
PTTEP International, an operator of oil and gas fields in army-ruled Myanmar, will maintain its 100 percent holding in blocks M3 and M4.
The company had signed a deal with CNOOC Myanmar Ltd last April, hoping to swap its 20 percent stake in offshore gas blocks M3 and M4 to the Chinese firm in exchange for a 20 percent share of CNOOC's A4 and C1 blocks.
Blocks M3 and M4 in the Gulf of Martaban off Myanmar have strong gas potential.
Block A4 is a gas field located off the former Burma's Rakhine coast, while C1 is a potential onshore oil field.
PTTEP, a subsidiary of PTT
PTTEP also owns 100 percent of offshore block M9, which is still under exploration in the Gulf of Martaban, south of Yangon, Myanmar's main city.
At the midday break, PTTEP shares were up 1.12 percent at 90 baht while the main index <.SETI> was up 0.57 percent.
North Korea Announces Plans for 'Satellite' Launch
http://www.freevoa.com/2009/02/north-korea-announces-plans-for.html
Feb 24, 2009
North Korea has spelled out in its clearest terms yet its intention to launch what it describes as a "communications satellite."
A South Korean watches television news showing file image of North Korea's missile, at railway station in Seoul, 24 Feb 2009
Official North Korean media broadcast a statement Tuesday from the country's science ministry saying "preparations to launch an experimental communications satellite are now making brisk headway."
North Korea has not specified when it will conduct the launch, which it says will carry a satellite named Kwangmyongsong 2 into orbit. North Korean media says the successful launch will be "another giant stride forward in building an economic power."
It is the clearest confirmation Pyongyang has given of U.S. and South Korean suspicions the North intends to launch a long-range rocket potentially capable of reaching the United States. South Korea's Defense Minister rejected the notion of a satellite launch Tuesday, saying the North was planning a ballistic missile test.
Baek Seung-joo, a senior researcher at the state-backed Korean Institute of Defense Analyses in Seoul, says Tuesday's announcement means a launch is now inevitable.
He says this is just like 2006, when North Korea carried out its nuclear weapons test after announcing it first. Now that they have gone public, he says, Pyongyang cannot help but conduct the launch in order to demonstrate its strong will.
North Korea's last test of its most advanced long-range missile was in 2006, a few months before the nuclear test. It triggered sharp United Nations sanctions in the form of United Nations resolution 1718, which also prohibited future missile launches.
South Korea's Foreign Ministry repeated warnings Tuesday that a North Korean launch would violate that resolution, and trigger more U.N. punishment.
Yang Moo-jin, a professor at Seoul's University of North Korean Studies, says the legality may not be so black and white.
He says labeling this a satellite launch may help Pyongyang skirt the United Nations resolution, which mainly dealt with ballistic missiles.
Joseph Bermudez, a senior analyst with Jane's Defense Weekly, is one of the world's top experts on North Korea's missile programs. He says even if the launch is a satellite, the North's missile program will benefit.
"So anything they could do to develop the Space Launch Vehicle is very much applicable to a ballistic missile program," he said. "Materials and technology for one could help the other."
Bermudez has said satellite imagery indicates the launch could come any day now. Many South Korean experts have a more conservative estimate, saying a launch is unlikely before next month.
Posted by Learner at 10:14
Labels: News
Release all political prisoners in Myanmar: EU
http://www.newkerala.com/topstory-fullnews-99376.html
Release all political prisoners in Myanmar: EU
Brussels, Feb 24 : The European Union has called for 'an immediate and unconditional release' of all political prisoners and detainees in Myanmar, including opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
The EU presidency, held currently by the Czech Republic, urged for an all-inclusive dialogue between the authorities and the democratic forces, including ethnic groups in Myanmar, EuAsiaNews reported.
The statement issued by the presidency pointed to the recent visit by the UN Secretary General's Special Adviser Ibrahim Gambari and noted with regret that there is no tangible outcome of his visit to Burma.
The EU shares the view expressed by Gambari that it is the time to demonstrate the Myanmar's commitment to addressing concretely the issues of concern to the international community.
--- IANS
Yosano wants steps to prop up stocks- JAPAN
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nb20090225a1.html
Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2009
Kyodo News
The government may work out fresh measures to bolster Tokyo stock prices that have been plunging in step with New York markets, Finance Minister Kaoru Yosano hinted Tuesday.
"The fallout of falling stock prices is greater than we expected. We are witnessing many negative wealth effects with impaired assets held by banks and insurance firms," Yosano said, describing continued declines in stocks as "not desirable at all."
Yosano said he would closely monitor the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Tuesday after New York stocks tumbled Monday to their lowest level in 11 years and nine months, before deciding how the ruling parties and government should respond.
Yosano said the government will consider ways to boost stock prices as proposed Monday by Fujio Mitarai, chairman of the Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren).
The leader of the country's most influential business lobby urged the government to use public funds to buy stocks in a price-maintaining operation.
"A supplementary budget worth about ¥25 trillion to finance rapid-acting measures should be compiled and implemented" after the fiscal 2009 budget is passed, Mitarai said.
He proposed the figure because the gap between the nation's potential and actual growth rates in terms of gross domestic product was estimated at minus 4.3 percent, or ¥20 trillion, in the October-December quarter, with the negative figure indicating excess supply.
The Nikkei average fell 107.60 points, or 1.5 percent, Tuesday, with investor sentiment battered after the Dow Jones index closed Monday at its lowest level since May 1997 on growing pessimism about the future of the U.S. economy.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura said a quick recovery in U.S. stock prices is indispensable for boosting Japanese stocks, and pledged that the government will implement stimulus steps by enacting budget bills to remove the sense of uncertainty from the economic outlook.
In a related move, the Bank of Japan resumed Monday its purchase of stocks held by commercial banks as part of its efforts to help strengthen their financial base and encourage them to lend more to businesses amid the global credit turmoil.
Translated Survey on Chinese Multinational Investment in Burma's
http://www.earthrights.org/content/view/624/114/
Extractive and Hydroelectric Industries Now Available
Chinese, Burmese and Spanish versions now available
February 24, 2009, Chiang Mai, Thailand – EarthRights International announces the release this month of the Chinese, Burmese, and Spanish language versions of the most comprehensive survey on Chinese multinational corporate investment in military-ruled Burma. Originally released in English in September 2008, the survey, titled China in Burma: The Increasing Involvement of Chinese Multinational Corporations in Burma’s Hydropower, Oil and Natural Gas, and Mining Sectors, is the most comprehensive survey on Chinese investment in Burma to date and identifies 69 Chinese MNCs involved in 90 completed, current, and planned projects in the hydropower and extractive sectors in Burma.
The release of this survey in Chinese, Burmese, and Spanish languages helps make information about China’s expanding search for energy available to people in Chinese, Burmese, and Spanish speaking communities around the world where Chinese MNCs are operating.
The survey documents projects varying from small hydropower dams completed in the last two decades to planned dual oil and natural gas pipelines across Burma to southwestern China. This research draws upon government statements, English and Chinese language news reports, and company press releases, and builds upon previous ERI research collected between May and August 2007 that identified only 26 Chinese MNCs involved in 62 projects in Burma.
Ka Hsaw Wa, Executive Director of EarthRights International noted the importance of publishing the survey in the Burmese language, stating, “We’ve repeatedly seen foreign companies coming into Burma with disregard for local people and the environment. Given what we know about development projects in Burma and the current situation, we’re concerned about this marked increase in the number of these projects. Now at least some local people can read about information that the companies and the military government are failing to provide.”
“We’re concerned about the lack of information available in the public domain about these projects and others like them,” said ERI Researcher Alek Nomi, principal author of the research. “We hope the release of this research in multiple languages spoken by communities affected by China’s global search for natural resources provides a resource for communities, NGOs, journalists, policymakers, and governments around the world.”
According to the junta’s own statistics, foreign investment in Burma nearly doubled in the first nine months of 2008 compared to the same period in 2007, with the mining sector accounting for almost 90 percent of the total foreign investment – investment from January to September 2008 increased to $974.9 million dollars from $502.5 million. China is leading foreign investment in Burma, accounting for $855 million of the $860.9 million invested in the mining sector alone.
The intensifying battle over Internet freedom
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0224/p09s01-coop.html
From China to Syria, repressive nations are cracking down hard on digital dissidents.
By Joanne Leedom-Ackerman
from the February 24, 2009 edition
E-mail a friend Print this Letter to the Editor Republish ShareThisE-mail newsletters RSS
Washington - Eleanor Roosevelt never imagined the Internet.
Neither did the other framers of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 60 years ago when they enshrined the right to freedom of expression. Yet they wisely left room for just such a development by declaring in Article 19: "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers."
Today, the Internet is both the vehicle and the battleground for freedom of expression around the world. The struggle between writers and governments over this free flow of information has escalated this past year and promises to intensify. Those supporting open frontiers for ideas and information need to be on high alert and take steps necessary to protect those silenced and to keep the Internet unencumbered.
Last year became the first time that more Web journalists were jailed than those working in any other medium, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
China, Burma, Vietnam, Iran, Syria, and Zimbabwe have led the clampdown. They have arrested writers, blocked websites and Internet access, set strict rules on cyber cafes, and tracked writers' work. In response, some writers have used proxy search engines, encryption, and other methods to try to get around censorship and detection.
"As in the cold war [when] you had an Iron Curtain, there is concern that authoritarian governments, led by China, are developing a Virtual Curtain," says Arvind Ganesan, director of the Business and Human Rights Program at Human Rights Watch. "There will be a free Internet on one side and a controlled Internet on the other. This will impede the free flow of information worldwide."
In the past year, writers in general have been arrested and imprisoned for such alleged charges as "inciting subversion of state power" (China), "insulting religion" (Iran), "threatening state security" (Burma), "defaming the President of the Republic" (Egypt), "storing cultural products with contents against the Socialist Republic" (Vietnam), and "spreading false news" (Syria).
"The Internet is reshaping society from the ground up," notes Larry Siems, the director of the Freedom to Write program at PEN American Center. "For instance there are two new novels from girls who are housebound in Saudi Arabia, but these were published on the Internet." The question remains whether the writers can maintain their freedom in cyberspace, which they do not have in their physical space.
International PEN's Writers in Prison Committee regularly tracks approximately 900 cases of writers around the world who are under threat, arrested, attacked, or killed, with roughly 150 new cases each year. "There has definitely been a rise in the numbers of Internet writers, editors, and bloggers attacked," notes Sara Whyatt, director of International PEN's Writers in Prison Committee. "The Internet has caused an explosion of free speech. Governments of all sorts are finding this a challenge."
China, which is particularly adept at blocking Internet use, leads the list of countries with long prison terms and the highest number of writers in prison. China's crackdown on writers before the Olympics and the arrest in December of leading dissident writer Liu Xiaobo, one of the authors of Charter 08, which advocates democratic reform in China, contradicts the government's claim that it is easing up on restrictions. In spite of Liu's detention, Charter 08 has circled the globe via the Internet, gathering signatures of Chinese from the mainland and the diaspora.
Because the Internet operates outside the structures of government, it challenges hierarchies of power and empowers the individual voice as never before. As many as 40 countries are engaged in some kind of Internet filtering and censorship, according to OpenNet Initiative. To counter these restrictions, human rights organizations and private companies, including Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo launched the Global Network Initiative (GNI) this fall. GNI, which sets voluntary standards to safeguard privacy and curtail censorship, is worthy of support.
The US Congress is watching its implementation closely and will also be considering legislation (the Global Online Freedom Act) to prevent Internet companies from assisting foreign governments in censoring content and revealing user information.
There are legitimate concerns about those who misuse the Internet, but a balance is possible between privacy and a government's ability to track criminal and terrorist networks. Authoritarian governments should not use law enforcement needs as an excuse to shut down opposition and muzzle free expression. Keeping the digital highway open for the hundreds of millions of legitimate users is vital to freedom of expression and the free flow of information worldwide. It will take vigilance, agreed standards, and technological innovations to protect the Internet's open structure.
One can imagine Eleanor Roosevelt today sitting at her computer sending out protests, even blogging as she and others frame the principles to keep this corridor of communication unfettered and free.
• Joanne Leedom-Ackerman, a former Monitor reporter, is a vice president of International PEN and a board member of Human Rights Watch.
National Reconciliation in Myanmar.
http://cplash.com/post/National-Reconciliation-in-Myanmar973.html
Published on Tue, 24 Feb 2009 11:08
Posted by SatbirSinghBedi
According to Times of India dated 24.2.2009, declaring his willingness to visit Myanmar again, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged the country's military government to follow up its recent prisoner release by freeing all political detainees and quickly resuming talks with the opposition without preconditions.
While Ban said there should not be any preconditions to a return visit, he made clear that the international community wants to see significant steps by Myanmar's military junta toward national reconciliation and "full democratisation."
"This is the time for Myanmar to seize the opportunity before it to send positive signals," he said. The secretary-general has come under mounting pressure to go back to Myanmar following visits by his top envoy, Ibrahim Gambari, in August and early February which produced no movement on key issues.
These include UN recommendations to open a serious political dialogue between detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the government, release Suu Kyi and some 2,200 other political prisoners, promote national reconciliation, and ensure that elections in 2010 will include all opposition and minority groups. Ban noted that following Gambari's latest visit Myanmar's junta announced an amnesty for more than 6,300 prisoners which reportedly includes some 23 political prisoners "as of now," including "individuals whose names Mr. Gambari discussed with the authorities during his visit."
According to Free Burma Coalition, "Over the decades, the Burmese government has subjected its citizens to epic misrule, systematically destroying every institution of society except the Army, whose leaders have made staying in power their overriding goal. The streets of Rangoon and Mandalay are monitored by the secret police and by a group of armed thugs known as Swan Arr Shin—the Masters of Force. Dissidents are routinely tortured. The generals' irrational economic policies have reduced one of Asia's richest countries, once the world's leading exporter of rice, to penury. Burma's gross domestic product per capita is now less than half that of its neighbor Cambodia. Economic sanctions—a form of protest against the government's human-rights abuses—have made the
country even poorer."
At this period of time, the Myanmar is really facing tough times and national reconciliation is necessary. Govt. of India should also do its bit to forge national
reconciliation in Myanmar so that ordinary person in Myanmar enjoys human rights and the abject poverty of Myanmar is reduced.
Satbir Singh Bedi
Myanmar releases detainees, but not political prisoners
http://www.smartbrief.com/news/un_wire/storyDetails.jsp?issueid=05B5B0E9-A1FF-4993-A742-918E9773A5E3©id=04747417-D7FA-4305-B1E4-077629A17AF4
UN Wire | 02/23/2009
The government of Myanmar released some 6,300 prisoners, though political prisoners were few among them. Only 20 were released -- some of them members of the opposition National League for Democracy group. Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar's most famous political prisoner, still is living under house arrest. Tomás Ojea Quintana, a UN special envoy, recently visited Myanmar and gave a bleak report on its human rights record -- which has included lately a crackdown on journalists, bloggers and even comedians. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is under increasing pressure to make a trip there to press for reconciliation and reforms. Washington Post, The (02/23) Google (02/21)
ASEAN under spotlight during crises
http://www.inquirer.net/specialfeatures/thefinancialcrunch/view.php?db=1&article=20090224-190711
February 24, 2009 10:04:00
Martin Abbugao
Agence France-Presse
SINGAPORE -- Southeast Asia's regional bloc will come under close scrutiny once more as its leaders meet in Thailand this week for a summit watered down by the absence of big guns China, India and Japan.
Political woes in key member states and a global economic slump are putting new pressure on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to show its relevance despite persistent criticisms it is a talking shop, analysts said.
Host and current ASEAN chair Thailand is struggling against an impending recession, riven by political turmoil and locked in a border dispute with Cambodia, while Malaysia's ruling party is fighting off a resurgent opposition.
Singapore, ASEAN's wealthiest member per capita, is meanwhile facing its worst recession since independence.
Myanmar's junta continues to defy an international outcry to release democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi and to carry out democratic reforms.
And months after a US housing problem erupted into the worst global economic crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s, ASEAN has yet to come up with a coordinated response, analysts said.
"Within ASEAN, the key challenge is a lack of leadership, which has contributed to fragmentation," said Bridget Welsh, a Southeast Asia specialist at Johns Hopkins University in the United States.
"The meeting has no focus, and it is likely not to have one as a result of internal pressures on regimes," she told AFP.
ASEAN officials said a key agenda item for the summit, which runs from Friday until Sunday, will be how the region will deal with the economic crisis.
On Sunday, ASEAN finance ministers and their counterparts from China, Japan and South Korea agreed to a 120-billion-dollar fund to help regional states cope with financial stress.
ASEAN is to contribute 20 percent while its bigger neighbors would chip in 80 percent, mirroring the lopsided power balance -- although there is no timeframe yet for when it will be operational.
"There's nothing much they (ASEAN states) can do," said Song Seng Wun, a Singapore-based regional economist with CIMB-GK Research.
"The global recession has affected everyone, and to a different degree those with much larger domestic markets will be looking at their domestic economies to cushion the slowdown."
Originally planned as a celebration of a landmark charter that ASEAN hopes will strengthen the 10-nation regional bloc, the summit became a victim of Thailand's political upheaval.
It was deferred from December after protesters opposed to the previous government seized Bangkok's two airports.
Traditional back-to-back meetings with the leaders of China, Japan and South Korea, as well as Australia, India and New Zealand were provisionally postponed to April, leaving the meeting an all-ASEAN affair.
The absence of the big powers "takes the momentum out of the summit," Welsh said. Even the international media is scaling down its coverage.
While ASEAN chief Surin Pitsuwan is working to strengthen the bloc, any changes will be gradual because "the regional political context and economic contractions are not conducive to these ambitions," Welsh said.
ASEAN remains relevant as a discussion forum and to articulate the region's interests opposite bigger countries, she said.
But "expectations of substantive outcomes have usually been unmet and this pattern is likely to continue," she added.
Debbie Stothard, coordinator of the Alternative ASEAN Network on Burma, a human rights group, said ASEAN needs to further engage with civil society organizations.
Burma is the former name of Myanmar, where the ruling junta is accused of committing massive human rights abuses.
Activists have expressed fears that an ASEAN human rights body will be powerless to punish rights violators in countries like Myanmar.
"ASEAN will always be a hostage to one or more of its members," Stothard told AFP. "Its effectiveness and relevance is in jeopardy."
Former ASEAN chief Rodolfo Severino defended the grouping, saying it has overcome more serious problems in the past.
ASEAN continues to be the main driver for wider regional engagement and needs to be strengthened, said Severino, who heads the ASEAN Studies Centre at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore.
"This means that ASEAN has a great responsibility and it should exert greater leadership," he said.
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Democracy plan fuels war in Myanmar
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/KB25Ae02.html
By Brian McCartan
MAE SOT, Thailand - At a November meeting of ethnic minority and pro-democracy groups in the northern Thai town of Chiang Mai, a representative of the Danish government development agency DANIDA called on the dissident participants to take part in the political process inside Myanmar, including support for the upcoming 2010 elections, or face funding cuts.
Those behind-closed-door remarks were followed in January by a visit to Myanmar of Danish Development Minister Ulla Toraes and Norwegian minister Erik Solheim. While officially presented as a visit to observe Cyclone Nargis relief efforts, several Myanmar watchers questioned whether the delegation breached a European
Union prohibition on high-level visits to Myanmar.
Meanwhile, the United Nations has been wishy-washy on its stance towards the elections, with Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Special Envoy to Myanmar Ibrahim Gambari simply requesting that the ruling generals ensure that the elections are free and fair. Amid growing calls for Ban to make another visit to Myanmar, the UN has said little concerning what would make the elections internationally acceptable or what actions the international community should take if they are not.
Behind the silence is a growing notion among certain Western governments and international aid agencies that the junta's controversial planned elections will usher in a new era of stability to Myanmar. The reality is that the junta's push to legitimize its electoral process is already causing greater instability, especially along Myanmar's borders with Thailand and China. Myanmar's various ethnic-based ceasefire organizations are making moves to secure their power bases and territory in order to either maintain their bargaining positions whatever government results from the elections or, if push comes to shove, go back to war.
The elections represent the fifth step on the military regime's seven-step "roadmap to democracy". The generals have said that before the elections can take place the various ethnic insurgent ceasefire groups along the country's border areas must disarm and become legal political parties. Only once a "discipline flourishing democracy" has been established, says the government, will the concerns of the various ethnic groups be addressed.
With a year to go before the polls, ethnic insurgent organizations are being forced to decide whether to carry on the struggle or become state-controlled militias. Although Gambari was able to meet with certain ethnic Shan politicians on his visit in early February, and UN Human Rights Envoy Tomas Ojea Quintana met last week with members of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), it is unlikely that these staged meetings would have given either envoy a real sense of the dilemma facing many of the ethnic organizations.
For many Myanmar analysts and ethnic leaders there is a real worry that a military showdown is brewing between the generals and the ethnic groups that could tilt the region towards fighting on a scale not seen in over 20 years. Increased government pressure to disarm has already resulted in increased fighting along the Thai-Myanmar border as a Karen insurgent group allied with the junta tries to create more space for itself.
With little faith in the central government and its post-election promises, many other ceasefire groups say they will retain rather than give up their arms. Since the first ceasefires were signed in 1989, ethnic armies have resisted handing over their arms because they believe without them it would be impossible to negotiate a final settlement on equal terms or protect their people from a regime renowned for its gross human rights abuses.
The junta's disregard for ethnic group representatives at the National Convention to draft a new constitution, which was completed in 2007, and the forced disarmament of several smaller groups has only intensified ethnic distrust of the generals. Initial pressure to disarm, or at least to become militias or border guards under the control of Myanmar's armed forces, began prior to the completion of the National Convention.
That pressure intensified after the controversial national referendum held in May that approved a new constitution, which paved the way for next year's elections. The generals contend that under democracy there will be no need for ethnic organizations to retain their arms and instead that they should form political parties to represent their minority interests.
Electoral dilemma
Ethnic political organizations are caught on the horns of an electoral dilemma: if they boycott the polls, their grounds for criticizing the results will be weakened; by contesting, they will seemingly condone a process which most observers, including several ethnic leaders, view as a sham. Different groups are taking different approaches, though all have a common thread: the retention of arms.
The largest ceasefire groups are based in northern Myanmar, along the border with China. They include the United Wa State Army (UWSA) with an estimated 15,000-20,000 fighters, the National Democratic Alliance Army-Eastern Shan State (NDAA-ESS) with around 2,500 and the Shan State Army-North (SSA-N) with up to 10,000 men, and the Kachin Independence Organization/Army (KIO/A) with between 3,000 and 5,000 soldiers in Kachin State. The UWSA, NDAA and SSA-N all agreed to ceasefires in 1989, while the KIO signed on in 1994.
With a large and well-equipped army, wealth derived through legitimate business as well as drug trafficking, and support from China, the UWSA has historically played hard ball with the junta. In a move which observers see as a test of the generals' commitment to their new constitution, the UWSA has recently started stamping official documents as "Government of Wa State, Special Autonomous Region, Union of Myanmar" and changed its official office signs to read the same.
The constitution sets out a "Self-Administered Division" for the Wa and the UWSA is in effect declaring its rule over the area. The move comes amid increased tensions following a December meeting between UWSA officers and Major General Kyaw Pyoe from the Golden Triangle Command based in eastern Shan State. The general ordered the UWSA to disarm and reform into a government-controlled militia, a request that was rejected out-of-hand by the UWSA.
Underscoring that authority, a 30-man government delegation led by Lieutenant General Ye Myint, chief of Military Affairs Security, or Myanmar's military intelligence agency, was forced on January 19 to disarm when it crossed into Wa-controlled territory. Ye Myint's main mission, to discuss the upcoming elections, was instead limited to economic matters. The UWSA has yet to comment on whether it will participate in the polls, but recent moves to establish a factory for the production of small arms and ammunition, suggest that the UWSA is instead readying for a fight.
The NDAA, which is closely allied with the UWSA, has also resisted government calls to disarm and tensions have since grown with the Myanmar army. Meanwhile, the arrest in February 2005 and continued detention of SSA-N chairman Major General Hso Ten, along with several other Shan leaders, has soured relations and SSA-N troops have since joined the non-ceasefire Shan State Army-South along the border with Thailand. Both groups are expected to resist rather than allow themselves to be disarmed and become government-led militias.
In Kachin State, the KIO has declared it will not participate in the elections, but recently gave its approval to civilians who wish to set up a Kachin political party to contest the polls. The group has said that it hopes to enter into a dialogue with a new democratic government. And in the southern Myanmar areas of Mon State and Tenasserim Division, the New Mon State Party (NMSP) declared after a recent congress that it will not participate in the elections and would not disarm. The NMSP has been a consistent thorn in the regime's election plans, including its move to walk out of the National Convention in protest over lack of consideration of ethnic issues and a March 2008 statement stating its opposition to the national referendum.
Several ceasefire group leaders have remained coy about their preparations for possible hostilities. On the ground, observers describe military preparations including trainings and increased recruitment, as well as growing apprehension among the civilian populace. The junta, too, appears to be preparing for armed showdowns. It has for years increased troop numbers in areas
Continued 1 2
Page 2 of 2
Democracy plan fuels war in Myanmar
By Brian McCartan
near ceasefire groups and recent reports suggest that these troops are being reinforced with heavy weapons, including 76mm and 105mm artillery and with specialized troops, including Light Infantry Divisions 66 and 88.
With those movements, reports are spreading along border areas that the regime may move to rehabilitate various middle and senior ranking members of the now defunct Directorate of Defense Services Intelligence (DDSI), including former prime minister and DDSI head General Khin Nyunt. The DDSI was responsible for brokering many of the ceasefires, but was dismantled amid corruption allegations in 2004 which most observers saw as an intra-junta purge against the increasingly powerful Khin Nyunt and
his followers. The former top-ranking junta member is has been sentenced to 44 years and is now under house arrest.
Insurgent officers say Khin Nyunt's rapport with the ethnic groups has not been equaled by the Military Affairs Security, which replaced DDSI. According to one insurgent official, Myanmar army commanders have realized that Khin Nyunt's men knew how to handle the ceasefire groups and have even recently begun seeking out their opinions on how to bring ethnic groups into the election process.
Their inclusion is necessary to give the elections legitimacy among the international community and more importantly to bring all of the country's territories under the generals' nominal control. Yet the only major group which has so far agreed to the border guard arrangement is the government-aligned Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), which controls territories in Myanmar's eastern Karen and Mon States.
Economic lures
Viewed by some as a test case for how ceasefire groups may evolve under Myanmar's new democracy, the outlook so far is not good for stability. The DKBA was told at a meeting in the capital Naypyidaw in December that under the new constitution they were to become a border guard force. Under the terms of the agreement, which has so far not been made public, the DKBA was promised control over border tax checkpoints and continued concessions for transportation, logging and other businesses.
Sources close to the DKBA say the move was unpopular because it means handing over political power over to a Myanmar-dominated regime - a concession which goes against the founding principles of the Karen's long struggle - and several officers threatened to resign as a result.
Rather than release statements or make a show of force, the group has instead concentrated on seizing new territories particularly former Karen National Union-controlled areas near Myawaddy and Kayin Seikgyi townships across from Tak Province in Thailand, to gain administrative control over lucrative border trades, including mining operations and cross-border agribusiness projects, in the new democratic era.
For all its statements of representing the cause of self determination and equality for the ethnic Karen people, the armed group is believed by many to be motivated more by business opportunities, including drug trafficking, it needs guns to maintain. The DKBA has so far not made any statements about whether or how it will contest the 2010 elections. Three Karen political parties currently exist, but none have any connection with the DKBA and only one, the Karen State National Organization, won any seats in the 1990 election. The election itself, according to rival KNU vice president Saw David Thakabaw, may split the DKBA into competitive, business-driven factions.
By playing ceasefire groups-cum-militias against other insurgent groups, the junta could bid to keep ethnic groups weak and divided while building its new nominally democratic power structure through elections. Concessions such as the tax checkpoints promised to the DKBA provide some incentive for joining the border guard scheme as opposed to renewed fighting. These could yet be strong economic lures for some of the ceasefire groups, particularly in relation to tentative deals with neighboring and considerably wealthier Thailand.
Thai Army commander General Anupong Paochinda paid a two day visit to Myanmar in mid-February where he met with junta leader Senior General Than Shwe, Defense Minister Thura Shwe Mann and Foreign Minster Nyan Win. It is perhaps significant that Anupong, rather than Thai Foreign Minster Kasit Piromya, handled the meeting where border issues were on the agenda.
Several cross-border business schemes are in the works, but have not been completed due to instability. For instance, an agreement was reached in May 2007 for Thai agribusinesses to cultivate tax-free over seven million hectares of land in Myanmar border areas. The agreement includes four areas of Mon and Karen States designated for contract farming, totaling some 300,000 hectares. Myanmar farmers were to grow under contract cassava, rubber, oil palm, sugarcane, beans and corn for export to Thailand.
The project appears to have stalled however due to complaints by Thai investors over taxes levied by Myanmar government officials, as well as the DKBA and KNU. Conflict over taxes on the corn harvest resulted in fighting between the KNU and DKBA south of Mae Sot in October and November, sources say. The fighting spilled over into Thailand on several occasions resulting in the shooting up of villages, burning of food storage barns, and at least one shootout between DKBA and Thai soldiers. One Thai soldier was injured by a landmine in the skirmish.
Still the DKBA has been working on new roads leading north and south of Myawaddy to service the plantations and commercial agriculture projects along the border. Other cross-border projects envisioned include a border trade zone at the border town of Myawaddy and industrial zones in Pa'an and Moulmein. The projects, financed though loans and grants from Bangkok, are designed to curb the mounting influx of Myanmar migrant workers into Thailand, now estimated at over 2 million people.
But while the DKBA is angling for business opportunities, the rival KNU has resisted Thai incentives to end fighting against the Myanmar army. That's inhibited the group's armed wing, the Karen National Liberation Army, ability to fight along the border and allowed the DKBA to seize several of the areas it formerly controlled. A KNU official told Asia Times Online his group had no plans for ceasefire talks and that it would not participate in the 2010 elections. That means democracy is just as likely to bring more, not less, instability to Myanmar's contested border areas.
Brian McCartan is a Chiang Mai-based freelance journalist. He may be reached at brianpm@comcast.net.
(Copyright 2009 Asia Times Online (Holdings) Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact us about sales, syndication and republishing.)
Myanmar Plans Full Coverage of Public Access Centers in Whole Country
http://english.cri.cn/6966/2009/02/24/1821s457543.htm
2009-02-24 20:30:56 Xinhua Web Editor: Xu Leiying
Myanmar has planned full coverage of public access centers (PAC) in every township in the country to facilitate communication links, according to the Myanmar Info-Tech Tuesday.
Over 400 PAC opened in 44 townships in Myanmar since 2004, the sources said, adding that plans are underway to open more PAC in the remaining townships especially in the rural areas.
According to the telecommunications authorities, the number of internet users in Myanmar has reached over 300,000, up from merely dozens in four years ago.
Myanmar has been striving for the development of ICT to contribute its part to the national economic development. In December 2007, Myanmar's first largest ICT park, also known as the Yadanabon Myothit Cyber City, was introduced in Pyin Oo Lwin, a northern city of Myanmar in Mandalay division.
The cyber city, which covers an overall area of 10,000 acres (4, 050 hectares), is located in the hilly Pyin Oo Lwin near a highway, 67 km east of the second largest city of Mandalay in the north, and 20 percent of the cyber city area produce software and hardware.
The internet of the cyber city not only links with the whole country but also connect neighboring China, Thailand and India.
With the establishment of the cyber city, more and more local and foreign information technology (IT) companies have sought investment in the cyber city for the development of IT business undertakings.
Ban welcomes amnesty in Myanmar as ‘first step’ toward democratization
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=29991&Cr=myanmar&Cr1=
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon briefs media after participating in meeting of the Friends of Myanmar
23 February 2009 – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today welcomed an amnesty announced by the Government of Myanmar, which reportedly includes some 23 political prisoners, as a “first step” toward release of all such detainees and further progress on democratization.
“This is the time for Myanmar to seize the opportunity before it to send positive signals,” he said following a meeting with his Group of Friends on Myanmar, which includes neighbouring countries of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and other concerned States.
Citing further steps to be taken, Mr. Ban reiterated his call for the release of the hundreds of political prisoners still in detention, including opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and the resumption of dialogue between the Government and the opposition “without delay and without preconditions.”
Today’s meeting follows a briefing last week in which Mr. Ban’s Special Advisor, Ibrahim Gambari, told the Security Council that there was some movement toward “tangible outcomes” from his 31 January to 3 February visit to Myanmar as part of the Secretary-General’s good offices mandate.
After being updated Mr. Gambari, the Group of Friends expressed its unified support for the continuation of the good offices efforts, Mr. Ban said, adding that “our Myanmar interlocutors have also indicated the importance they attach to the good offices’ work.”
The Special Adviser is prepared to extend the UN’s political facilitation with both the Government and the opposition to build on previous efforts, he noted.
Asked by correspondents whether he himself is considering another visit to the South-East Asian nation, the Secretary-General replied that he will try to go, but nothing yet has been discussed in terms of timing and agendas.
“As a matter of principle, I am telling you that I am willing to make a return visit to build upon what I had discussed last May, including political issues,” he said, adding that there would not have to be preconditions for his visit.
“This is a part of ongoing consultation and negotiations and efforts by the international community, and also entrusted to me by the General Assembly,” Mr. Ban explained.
In regard to further discussions with the Group of Friends, he added: “We have a unity of support. But at the same time I would like to see some unity of approaches among members. This is what we are now continuing to consult with the countries concerned.”
The ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC) will be hosting the “Renewed ASEAN Leadership towards Social Justice in Myanmar” seminar on 26 Fe
The ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC) will be hosting the “Renewed ASEAN Leadership towards Social Justice in Myanmar” seminar on 26 February 2009 at the JW Marriot Hotel in Bangkok from 9am onwards.
February 24, 2009 · No Comments
Bangkok, 24 February, (Asiantribune.com): The ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC) will be hosting the “Renewed ASEAN Leadership towards Social Justice in Myanmar” seminar on 26 February 2009 at the JW Marriot Hotel in Bangkok from 9am onwards.
The aims of the seminar to highlight the key issues of current concern in Myanmar/Burma in advance of the ASEAN Summit meeting in Hua Hin, Thailand.
The seminar is expected to bring together politicians, members of parliament from some ASEAN countries, leaders of the Burma democracy movement, Thai civil society and academics.
Presentations and discussions will look at the current social, political and economic problems the country faces as well as the role of ASEAN in the country’s crisis.
The seminar will conclude with the opening of a photo exhibit on political prisoners in
Myanmar.
- Asian Tribune -
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