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ビルマ市民フォーラム メールマガジン 2009/3/30
People's Forum on Burma
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
ビルマ情報ネットワーク（BurmaInfo）からのメールを転送させていただき
ます(2009年3月27日【0912号】）。
（重複の際は何卒ご容赦ください。）
ＰＦＢ事務局
http://www1.jca.apc.org/pfb/
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ビルマ情報ネットワークの「今週のビルマのニュース」をお送りします。
「今週のビルマのニュース」バックナンバー
http://www.burmainfo.org/weekly.html
ビルマ情報ネットワーク （www.burmainfo.org）
秋元由紀
========================================
今週のビルマのニュース Eメール版
2009年3月27日【0912号】
========================================
【今週の主なニュース】
「民主化実現には200～300年必要」とタンシュエ将軍、ほか
・「国軍の日」の27日、ビルマ軍政は首都ネピドーで軍事
パレードを行った。軍政トップ・タンシュエ将軍は演説で、
「成熟した民主主義は1日で実現できず、200年から300年
はかかる」と述べた（27日付日経）。アウンサンスーチー氏
が書記長を務める国民民主連盟（NLD）も同日、党本部で
式典を開き、軍政に対し、政治囚の釈放と民主化勢力との
対話の再開を改めて呼びかけた（27日付イラワディ）。
・「国軍の日」前日の26日、最大都市ヤンゴンで爆弾が爆発し、
1人が死亡した（26日付AFP）。19日にはシャン州ラショーでも
爆弾が爆発したがけが人はなかった
（27日付シャン・ヘラルド・ニュース）。
・インセイン刑務所の裁判所で、新たに13人に禁固刑判決が
宣告された。サイクロン被災者救援活動を行ったり、アウンサン
スーチー氏の解放を求めたことが理由とされた（24日付イラワディ）。
・国民民主連盟（NLD）の中央執行委員会は19日付けで
軍政に書簡を出し、軍政が2010年に計画している総選挙
にどう対応するか党内部で協議するため、自宅軟禁中の
アウンサンスーチー氏（NLD書記長）やティンウー氏
（同副議長）と会うための許可を求めた。軍政からの
返事はまだない（24日付ミジマ）。
【その他】
米国務省高官がビルマを訪問、ほか
・中国共産党中央政治局の李長春常務委員がビルマを
訪れ、26日には軍政のテインセイン首相と会談した。
委員は、中国がアラカン州沖から雲南省まで石油とガス
を運ぶパイプライン（通称シュエ・パイプライン）の敷設や、
水力発電所の建設など4つの項目についてビルマ軍政と
協力するという合意に調印した。全長2,000キロメートルの
シュエ・パイプライン敷設費用は12億ドルに上ると推定
されており、中国が全額を負担するものと見られる
（27日付日経およびロイター）。
・米国国務省のブレーク東南アジア部長がビルマを訪れ、
25日に首都ネピドーで軍政の外相と会談したほか、国民
民主連盟（NLD）や少数民族団体とも会談した。国務省は、
氏の訪問は米国のビルマに対する政策や方針の変更を
反映するものではない、とした（25日付国務省、26日付
ワシントン・ポスト）。
訪問を受け軍政情報相のチョーサン准将は「米国と話し
合う用意がある」と述べた（27日付ロイター）。
・国連人権理事会は27日、ビルマについての決議を採択
した。決議はビルマで組織的な人権侵害が起きていることを
批判し、2,100人以上いるとされる政治囚を釈放するよう軍政
に呼びかけた。また、ビルマの人権状況に関する特別報告者
の任期も1年延長した（27日付ロイター）。
【ビルマへの政府開発援助（ODA）約束状況など】
新たな発表はなし
【イベントなど】
・政治囚の釈放を求める署名活動
ビルマ政治囚支援協会・国民民主連盟（解放地域）日本支部ら
（JR新宿駅西口三井住友銀行前、28日～29日13時～）
・在日ビルマ人共同行動実行委員会アクション－
ビルマ軍事政権に対しスーチーさんを含むすべての
政治囚の釈放と対話の促進を要請するアピール行動
（在日ビルマ大使館前、27日15時～）
・ビルマ市民フォーラム例会「政治囚の早期釈放を！（仮題）」
ビルマ政治囚支援協会(AAPP) ボーチー氏
（池袋・ECOとしま8階、4月11日18時～）
・ビルマのお正月「ダジャン水かけ祭」
ビルマ民主化同盟主催
（井の頭恩賜公園、4月12日10時半～）
・ミニアルバム「ミャンマー軍事政権に抗議する
ポエトリー・リーディングQUIET」
（いとうせいこう×沢 知恵×ダブマスターＸ）
4月22日発売
・ロヒンギャ民族集団訴訟（難民不認定処分の取消、
退去強制令発付の取消／無効確認を求める）
原告本人尋問
（東京地裁709号法廷、4月22日13時半～）
☆春秋社より新刊のお知らせ～
アラン・クレメンツ著「ダルマ・ライフ－日々の生活に"自由"を見つける方法」。
著者はビルマで得度して僧になった初めての米国人。
国際的な注目を集めるビルマの状況に対して、
新たな角度から光をあてる一冊。
四六判／372頁／定価（本体2500円＋税）
★ジェーン・バーキン最新アルバム『冬の子供たち』が
発売中。アウンサンスーチー氏に捧げる楽曲「アウンサンスーチー」を収録。
【もっと詳しい情報は】
きょうのビルマのニュース（平日毎日更新）
http://d.hatena.ne.jp/burmainfo/
ビルマ情報ネットワーク
http://www.burmainfo.org/
【お問い合わせ】
ビルマ情報ネットワーク 秋元由紀
====================================
今週のビルマのニュース Eメール版
2009年3月27日【0912号】
作成： ビルマ情報ネットワーク
協力： ビルマ市民フォーラム
====================================
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Fw: [burmainfo] 今週のビルマのニュース（0912号） 民主化実現に３００年？ 米国務省高官がビルマを訪問 ほか
Isolated heroine still haunts Burma
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/world/story.html?id=1428500
Isolated heroine still haunts Burma
Aung San Suu Kyi
Peter Goodspeed, National Post
Published: Thursday, March 26, 2009
A Burmese national living in Thailand yells "free Burma" while holding a portrait of pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi outside the Burmese embassy in Bangkok last year.
Despite years in detention and forced isolation, pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi still has the power to encourage her followers and enrage Burma's military rulers.
The charismatic daughter of independence hero, Aung San, and winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize for her struggle to bring democracy to her country, she has been confined to her home without any contact with the outside world since September, 2000.
Known fondly to the residents of Rangoon simply as "The Lady," she has lived in virtual solitary confinement for 13 of the last 19 years in a heavily guarded, whitewashed villa on the south shore of Inya Lake.
Surrounded by soldiers and coils of barbed wire, the sickly 63-year-old widow is allowed to see only her doctor -- every two months -- a live-in maid and her jailers.
Not since Nelson Mandela became the personification of South Africa's struggle against apartheid, despite spending 27 years in jail, has anyone else approached the same level of political heroism in the face of repression.
Now, the United Nations has declared, for the fifth time in 18 years, Ms. Suu Kyi's detention is arbitrary and a violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. But this time, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention added a twist to its ruling by declaring it also violates Burma's own constitution.
The working group, an arm of the UN Human Rights Council, said Ms. Suu Kyi is being held under Burma's 1975 State Protection Law, which provides for the detention of anyone deemed a threat to the "security of the state or public peace and tranquility" for up to five years.
Under this law, the detention order must be renewed every year and the law says it is renewable for a maximum of only five years.
In Ms. Suu Kyi's case, that five-year period ended at the end of May, 2008.
The UN group called for her immediate release.
"I am under no illusion the junta will listen to the United Nations," says Jared Genser, her family's Washington lawyer. "There is no quick and easy answer to the problem of Burma, so we have to take it one step forward at a time."
A breakthrough appears unlikely since Burma is undergoing yet another political crackdown before parliamentary elections scheduled for early next year.
This month, five members of Ms. Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) were arrested, joining about 2,100 political prisoners in Burma's jails. That is almost double the number of political prisoners held in the country at the same time last year.
The Burmese junta has unveiled a "road-map to democracy," which calls for a national election next year to transfer power from uniformed officers to a civilian dictatorship.
But the new constitution, approved by 94.5% of voters in an apparently rigged referendum last year, guarantees a quarter of all legislative seats to the armed forces and bars opposition leaders, such as Ms, Suu Kyi, from ever holding office.
However, her continued imprisonment is proof of her political clout. Though silent and ailing, she remains dangerous as the only person who can unite a broad array of forces against the generals.
pgoodspeed@nationalpost.com---------
National PostTIMELINE OF DETENTION
1988: Aung San Suu Kyi, who has spent most of her life in Britain, returns to Burma as pro-democracy protests sweep country. Uprising crushed. 1989: Placed under house arrest.
1990: As head of the opposition movement and NLD leader, wins national elections by a landslide. Generals nullify elections.
1991: Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for "one of the most extraordinary examples of civil courage in Asia in recent decades"
1995: Released and tens of thousands rally to her cause. 2000: Again placed under house arrest. Awarded U. S. Presidential Medal of Freedom, U. S.'s highest civilian honour.
Close
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Officers fear a coup on road to vote
http://www.thenational.ae/article/20090329/FOREIGN/106071163/-1/NEWS
Larry Jagan, Foreign Correspondent
Last Updated: March 29. 2009 8:30AM UAE / March 29. 2009 4:30AM GMT BANGKOK // Myanmar’s leader has warned political parties planning to contest elections scheduled for next year that they must shun foreign ideologies.
“Democracy in Myanmar today is at a fledgling stage and still requires patient care and attention,” Gen Than Shwe said in an address to troops assembled in Naypitdaw, the capital, to celebrate Armed Forces Day.
“We have to ensure that the progress of democracy in the country does not affect non-disintegration of the union and non-disintegration of national solidarity.”
Gen Than rarely speaks in public except at the annual Armed Forces Day, which marks the day in 1945 when the army of Myanmar, also known as Burma, launched its resistance fight against the Japanese occupation forces. But this year’s celebration is different, as it may be the last before the country is ruled by a civilian government – which would be the first since 1962.
Beneath the pomp and ceremony, and the show of strength and harmony, there are signs of splits and dissension within the ranks over the army’s future role in the country as well as over the country’s political future and the road map to democracy.
The last three stages of the seven-stage road map to democracy, announced in Aug 2003, could dramatically change the role of the army as it involves free and fair elections and the convening of the national and provincial parliaments, followed by the establishment of a developed and democratic nation under the new parliament and constitution.
A battle is emerging between those who control most of Myanmar’s assets and those who see themselves as the country’s guardians.
On one side are the ministers and members of the ruling State Peace and Development Council, who have major business interests and are associated with Gen Than’s brainchild, the mass community-based organisation, the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA). They have been running the government for nearly a decade and have accumulated massive wealth.
On the other side are the middle- and top-ranking generals, who graduated from the Defence Services Academy, as did their mentor, second-in-command Maung Aye. They see their main role as the protector of the people, and are anxious to see the military machine transformed into a professional army and withdraw from politics and the economy. They have become dismayed at the excessive corruption within government and understand that it is undermining the army’s future role in the country.
As the conflict between these two groups escalates, Gen Than’s deteriorating health and increasing reclusiveness have effectively left the country without a real leader. The result is inertia in government administration.
“Everyone is trying to second guess the big boss, and all critical decisions are being deferred until they are sure he has actually given them the go-ahead,” said a European businessman who was recently in Naypitdaw.
There is also fear that one of the contesting factions may launch a “soft coup” in the near future, according to military sources in Myanmar. But the real army, as these officers see themselves as, is going to have to act quickly if it is to remain a force to be reckoned with.
In the new political environment, the USDA will play a crucial role: either as the key pro-military party or an intermediary between the army and whatever political party emerges. All this will significantly increase its power and control over the country’s new political process.
Senior members of the army are increasingly resentful of the growing dominance of Gen Than’s USDA and the likely curtailment of the army’s authority in the months leading up to the election.
“When the new parliament is elected, it will bring an abrupt end to the army’s absolute power,” said a Myanmar government official.
These ministers and top USDA officials have all amassed huge personal fortunes from smuggling and kickbacks. “These fellows are out of control and raking in the money from bribery and fraud; no one can touch them,” a military source in Myanmar said. “They are building enormous war chests while they can. Some will use it for the elections, but there are others who are reluctant to squander their ill-gotten wealth on the election campaign.”
Many in the army are concerned that this group is planning a grab for power using the USDA as a front.
There is also resentment and frustration among junior officers in the ministry of defence, many of them divisional commanders.
“They are watching their unscrupulous colleagues hiding behind the uniform, building up massive fortunes from corruption in government, and they are worried that this is tarnishing the image of the army as a result,” a source in Naypitdaw said.
Although the grumbling and resentment have increased, there are still no signs of a coup.
“There is no doubt that many in the army are extremely unhappy with the way things are going, and are concerned about what will happen to them after the elections,” said Byo Nein, the son of a former government minister and a Thailand-based writer who follows Myanmar’s military affairs.
“But they are army officers and will continue to obey their orders unquestioningly.”
So far there is little to suggest that they are planning a purge of their opponents in the same way that the former prime minister, Khin Nyunt, and his intelligence apparatus were crushed five years ago.
“Nothing can be ruled out at this stage as resentment and anger is growing among the junior officers and the rank-and-file soldiers,” said Win Min, an independent analyst based at Chiang Mai University in northern Thailand.
ljagan@thenational.ae
Toshiba Said to Buy Majority Stake in Nuclear Fuel Company
http://asianenergy.blogspot.com/
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
By Megumi Yamanaka
March 30 (Bloomberg) -- Toshiba Corp., Japan’s largest supplier of reactors, plans to buy a controlling stake in a nuclear fuel supplier to help compete with global rivals for new atomic power plants, officials said.
Toshiba’s Westinghouse Electric Co. seeks to buy more than 50 percent ofNuclear Fuel Industries Ltd. from Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd. andFurukawa Electric Co., said two officials close to the negotiations who declined to be named before an announcement. Yuichiro Horiba, a spokesman at Osaka- based Sumitomo Electric confirmed the talks and said the companies have yet to reach a decision.
Better access to fuel may help Toshiba win orders as competition with France’sAreva SA and an alliance between Hitachi Ltd. and General Electric Co.intensifies. Nuclear power generation is set to increase as developing countries led by China and India build more reactors to meet demand and cut carbon emissions blamed for global warming.
“It’s more profitable to package reactors with the fuel,” Fujii Tomoyuki, an analyst at Okasan Securities Co., said by phone from Tokyo today. “Customers don’t want to take risks associated with the nuclear fuel business, and offering them together will help win orders.”
Toshiba spokeswoman Hiroko Mochida and Furukawa spokesman Toshinori Kimura declined to comment.
The two officials didn’t say how much Toshiba may pay for the proposed stake. The Yomiuri newspaper reported yesterday that Toshiba will buy all of Nuclear Fuel Industries at a cost of more than 20 billion yen ($205 million).
Hitachi Venture
Toshiba wants to buy a stake in Nuclear Fuel Industries partly because of concern that the company may be pushed out of another fuel venture with General Electric and Hitachi, one of the officials said.
Toshiba and Hitachi each own 24.5 percent of Global Nuclear Fuel Japan Co. while General Electric holds 51 percent. General Electric and Hitachi merged their nuclear energy business in July 2007, a year after Toshiba bought Westinghouse.
Toshiba, which is forecasting its first net loss in seven years, is focusing on nuclear energy as the global recession cuts profit from semiconductors, its main business. The company aims to win orders to build 39 reactors by 2015, it said in the mid-term business plan unveiled in January.
Shares in the company have tumbled 42 percent in the last six months,outpacing the 27 percent decline in the benchmark Topix index. The stock fell 8 percent to close at 263 yen at in Tokyo.
Nuclear Fuel Industries was formed in 1972 and sells atomic fuel rods to companies including Tokyo Electric Power Co. and Kansai Electric Power Co., the country’s biggest utilities. The company operates one plant at Ibaraki, north of Tokyo, and another in Osaka.
The world needs 32 new nuclear power plants a year to meet a goal of halving emissions by 2050, International Energy Agency Executive Director Nobuo Tanaka said in June.
India plans to add 40,000 megawatts of nuclear capacity by 2020, while China has increased its goal to 75,000 megawatts from a previous target of 40,000 megawatts, the Shanghai Securities News said today.
To contact the reporter on this story: Megumi Yamanaka in Tokyo
Engage With Burma
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/27/AR2009032702855.html
Saturday, March 28, 2009; Page A12
The March 15 editorial "Burma's Bullies" called for caution in negotiating with the authoritarian regime in Burma, a country for which even the name (it's also known as Myanmar) is in dispute in the United States. Caution is required, but the Obama administration's interest in a dialogue is the most welcome U.S. approach toward that country in 18 years. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's comment that neither isolation nor engagement has worked was partly accurate. The United States has tried isolation, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) tried constructive engagement (a euphemism for economic advantage), but this country has not tried engagement.
All of us want to see all political prisoners released, human rights honored, media censorship lifted, the independence of a now-subservient judiciary restored, and the economic conditions of desperately poor people improved. But to describe, as The Post did, the brave Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi as the country's "rightful ruler" is both inaccurate and an approach that ensures that dialogue will fail.
The opposition victory in the May 1990 elections was indeed complete, but those elections, tragically denied by the state, were not (contrary to popular belief) for a new government, but for a constitutional convention.
The Post editorial stipulated that "U.S. engagement must be conditional." That is a recipe for failure; it implies subservience to which the Burmese will not agree. Engagement should be unconditional, but agreement on improving relations should indeed be conditional.
DAVID STEINBERG
Burma blames dissident groups for bomb blast
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/world/burma-blames-dissident-groups-for-bomb-blast-20090328-9evn.html
March 29, 2009
Burma's junta has accused two dissident groups in exile of plotting a bomb attack in the country's economic hub Rangoon that killed a man two days ago, state media says.
The New Light of Myanmar (Burma), a mouthpiece for the military government, said the explosion at a city guesthouse on the eve of an annual military parade had killed the bomber himself, a man thought to be in his twenties.
Two women were also injured, it said.
"On examination of the explosives and accessories found in the room and on the dead body, it was found that the blast occurred while the man was setting up a timed bomb," the newspaper said.
They said the All Burmese Student Democratic Front (ABSDF) and Whole Burma United Revolutionary Front (WBURF) were responsible -- two rebel groups based on Thailand's border, formed in the wake of a failed student uprising in 1988.
"After investigating it was found the blast was linked to the ABSDF insurgent group and WBURF insurgent group," the paper said, adding that authorities seized dynamite, a detonator and other bomb-making materials from the scene.
Military-ruled Burma has been rocked by a series of small bomb blasts in and around Rangoon in recent months, usually blamed on armed exile groups or ethnic rebels.
"Destructive elements and insurgents have been plotting to plant bombs in an attempt to undermine community peace and stability and to cause panic among the people," the paper said.
The military has ruled Burma since 1962, partly justifying its grip on power by claiming the need to fend off ethnic rebellions which have plagued its remote border areas for decades.
Democracy activists have also been accused of violence with state-run media accusing two members of detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) of bombing pro-government offices in July 2008.
The NLD won a landslide victory in 1990 elections, but the junta never allowed it to take office. Aung San Suu Kyi has been under house arrest almost constantly since.
AFP
Source: smh.com.au
China, Burma to build cross border gas pipeline
http://www.mizzima.com/news/inside-burma/1906-china-burma-to-build-cross-border-gas-pipeline.html
by Mungpi
Friday, 27 March 2009 21:09
New Delhi (Mizzima) - China and Burma on Thursday signed four contracts, which included the construction of a cross border oil and gas pipeline, Burma’s state-run media said.
The New Light of Myanmar, Burma’s official newspaper on Friday reported that the Burmese Energy Minister Brig-Gen Lun Thi and Head of China’s National Energy Administration, Mr. Zhang Guobao signed a cooperation agreement on the Sino-Burma Oil and Gas pipeline.
The other contracts include a framework agreement on Development of Hydropower Resources in Burma by China, a Memorandum of Understanding on Buyer’s Credit for Construction Projects between the Export-Import Bank of China and the Ministry of Finance and Revenue of Burma. Both China and Burma also agreed on Economic and Technical Cooperation between the two countries.
The contracts were signed between Burmese and Chinese officials, who accompanied Li Changchung, member of the politburo of the central committee of Communist Party of China (CPC), during his visit to military-ruled Burma.
According to the Chinese central government website, the Sino-Burma cross border gas pipeline is designed to link a port city in Burma with Kunming, capital of southwest China's Yunnan Province.
According to a Reuters report, Yunnan is to start construction of the pipeline in the first half as part of its 72 billion Yuan (S$15.9 billion) worth of energy projects this year.
The pipeline, according to a Sino-Burmese analyst Aung Kyaw Zaw, is strategically important for China as it could cut down on the detour of oil cargoes through the congested Malacca Strait and also strengthen China's access to Burma’s rich energy reserves.
Burma in December awarded China the right to buy oil from its offshore block–A gas field in the Bay of Bengal for a period of 30 years.
Aung Kyaw Zaw said Li’s visit to Burma, which is part of a four-nation tour, could also be to push Burma to implement the agreement.
“China is worried that Burma is delaying work on the gas pipeline construction,” said Aung Kyaw Zaw.
Li, during his visit to Burma, met several officials including the junta supremo Snr. Gen Than Shwe, and exchanged views on developing good-neighbourly and friendly ties between China and Burma, according to the Burmese state-run paper.
Western nations particularly the United States and the European Union have imposed stringent economic sanctions on Burma, restricting its companies from investing in the country.
But China, which has raised its voice against western sanctions on Burma, has been investing in Burma and has signed several contracts for business deals.
Suu Kyi News on Chinese TV
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=15384
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By THE IRRAWADDY Friday, March 27, 2009
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A state-run Chinese TV station in Yunnan Province broadcast news on Wednesday concerning detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
According to sources in Ruili on the Sino-Burmese border, the news program stated that the Geneva-based UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention had declared that the ongoing house arrest of the Nobel Prize laureate was illegal and contrary to the domestic law of Burma.
It is rare to see Suu Kyi’s picture or hear mention of her name in the Chinese media as Beijing has long been a strong supporter of the Burmese junta.
Burma observers have suggested that the apparent recognition of the Burmese opposition leader by a Chinese network could signal a cooling in Beijing’s support for the Burmese junta.
The broadcast came just days after the visit of a high-level US diplomat to Burma. Observers said that amid signs of a shifting US approach toward the military rulers, China might be worried that the US will influence the Burmese regime and may be looking to intimidate the junta by winning favor with the opposition.
During his four-day visit to Burma, Stephen Blake, director of the State Department's Mainland Southeast Asia Office, held talks with senior members of the opposition National League for Democracy, which is led by Suu Kyi.
Suu Kyi is being held under the terms of Burma’s State Protection Act of 1975, which provides for detention for up to five years to persons judged to pose a threat to the sovereignty and security of the state and the peace of the people. Suu Kyi already served that sentence, but it was extended for a further 12 months. Her current detention is due to expire on May 24.
China and Myanmar seal gas export deal
http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Asia/Story/A1Story20090327-131496.html
Fri, Mar 27, 2009
Reuters
BEIJING - A Myanmar gas consortium led by South Korea's Daewoo International has signed an agreement to sell natural gas to China, China's Xinhua news agency said on Thursday.
China and Myanmar plan to build oil and gas pipelines through Myanmar and into China's southwestern Yunnan province, bypassing the long journey around the Malacca Strait for oil cargoes and solving the problem of getting the gas to market, Chinese media have reported.
Few western companies will invest in the former Burma because of its poor human rights record and continued detention of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, which has led to a broad range of U.S. and European sanctions.
China, typically wary of supporting or imposing sanctions and one of Myanmar's few diplomatic allies, has shown no qualms about investing in its neighbour, eager for its natural gas, oil, minerals and timber to feed a booming economy.
Daewoo said last year it had picked China as a preferred bidder for natural gas from a project in Myanmar, putting it at the front of a queue that also includes India and Thailand.
Top Chinese officials have said that Beijing will encourage its energy companies to make more forays abroad to ensure the country's energy security, an even more important strategy than exploration at home.
Beijing also offered incentives such as cheap loans and tax breaks to energy firms to fund their foreign exploration. --REUTERS
Myanmar: Junta Chief Sets Guidelines For 2010 Polls
http://www.mysinchew.com/node/22637
NAYPYITAW, MYANMAR: Myanmar's junta chief set some ground rules Friday (27 March) for historic elections scheduled for 2010, calling on political parties to avoid smear campaigns and to remember it will take awhile to establish a "mature" democracy.
Senior Gen. Than Shwe rarely says anything in public except at the annual Armed Forces Day, a holiday celebrated Friday to mark the military's might with a customary ostentatious display of troops and military equipment.
As a traditional practice, the public was not allowed to attend the tightly guarded event at a massive parade ground in Naypyitaw, the remote administrative capital the junta moved its government offices to in 2005.
After reviewing more than 13,000 troops from inside a moving convertible, Than Shwe gave a 17-minute speech that focused on elections scheduled for 2010 _ which will be the first polls in almost two decades.
The elections are the last stage of the junta's so-called "roadmap to democracy," a process critics have called a sham designed to cement the military's four-decade grip on power.
The 76-year-old Than Shwe said political parties that contest the elections should "refrain from inciting unrest, avoid personal attacks and smear campaigns against other parties."
Parties that carry out "mature party organizing work will receive the blessing of the government," he said, but added the country should not expect a "well-established democracy" overnight.
"Democracy in Myanmar today is at a fledgling stage and still requires patient care and attention," Than Shwe told the invited guests, which included military leaders, government ministers and reporters. Foreign media were denied visas to cover the event.
"As a Myanmar proverb puts it, 'a recently dug well cannot be expected to produce clear water immediately' _ understanding the process of gradual maturity is crucial," he said.
A precise election date has not been set and it is not yet known who will contest the polls. Before a political party can participate it must meet the standards of a "political parties registration law," which has not yet been announced by the government.
Myanmar has been under military rule since 1962.
The current junta took power in 1988 after violently crushing a pro-democracy uprising. Two years later it refused to hand over power when Aung San Suu Kyi's political party won a landslide election victory.
Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has been under house arrest for 13 of the last 19 years.
As part of its roadmap, the junta drafted a new constitution that enshrines the military's leading role in politics. One of the provisions of the constitution effectively bars Suu Kyi from holding any kind of political office in Myanmar, also known as Burma.
Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy did not participate in the drafting process and says last year's constitutional referendum _ which adopted the charter by 92% _ was engineered by the junta. It has called for a review process that includes pro-democracy groups and ethnic representatives.
In his speech, Than Shwe clearly indicated there will be no review, saying the "constitution (was) adopted by the people."
Armed Forces Day is held every 27 March to commemorate the day in 1945 when the Myanmar army rose up against Japanese occupation forces.
Initially called Resistance Day, the name was dropped in 1974 to avoid offending Japan, Myanmar's top aid donor in the 1970s. In recent years, commemoration speeches have refrained from mentioning the fight against the Japanese. (AP)
MySinchew 2009.03.27
UN rights body condemns systematic abuses in Myanmar
http://in.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idINLR72918320090327
Fri Mar 27, 2009 6:18pm IST
By Stephanie Nebehay
GENEVA, March 27 (Reuters) - The United Nations on Friday condemned what it called systematic human rights violations in Myanmar and urged the ruling military junta to release all its political prisoners, believed to number 2,100.
The Western-sponsored resolution was criticised by most Asian countries and Russia who said the non-binding resolution was counter-productive.
"Condemnation and exerting pressure are not helpful to fundamentally solving the problem," China's envoy said. The resolution called on Myanmar's military rulers to halt "politically motivated arrests" and immediately release without conditions all political prisoners held in "harsh conditions, in unknown locations or without charge."
They included opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel laureate whose latest house arrest began in 2003.
The Human Rights Council also called on Myanmar authorities to review the "harsh sentences" handed down against critics since November at closed-door trials and to end impunity for human rights abusers.
The council also extended for one year the mandate of its special investigator on Myanmar, Tomas Ojea Quintana, saying the situation in the country needed careful monitoring.
Quintana, in a report to the Council earlier this month, said about 400 political prisoners had been given sentences ranging from 24 to 65 years in recent months.
The Argentinean lawyer called for the release of more than 2,100 political prisoners -- including activists, journalists and people arrested for lodging complaints about forced labour -- to allow them to take part in an election set for 2010.
Quintana, who has visited Myanmar twice in the past six months, has urged the country to halt its use of civilians in forced labour -- including as "human minesweepers."
Wunna Maung Win, Myanmar's ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva, rejected the resolution as "lopsided and highly intrusive." "We believe country-specific, politically motivated resolutions have no place in the work of the Council," he said. "Nevertheless, as a member of the United Nations we shall continue cooperation with the Human Rights Council."
Yangon's envoy recently told the Council the country holds no political prisoners, only individuals serving prison terms for breaking domestic laws.
Myanmar's military, which has ruled in various guises since 1962, has promised an election in 2010 as part of what it calls a "roadmap to democracy." Western governments have criticised the poll as a sham aimed at entrenching military rule.
The country's information minister said on Friday his country would open talks with the United States after a rare visit by a top U.S. diplomat amid a review of Washington's policy towards the regime.
The United States, which is not a Council member, was among co-sponsors of the EU text, along with Australia and Canada.
The Geneva forum ends its four-week session on Friday. (Editing by Matthew Jones)
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UN reappoints Myanmar investigator, slams junta
http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=904866&lang=eng_news
Associated Press
2009-03-27 08:18 PM Fonts Size:
The U.N. Human Rights Council has reappointed an investigator to provide detailed human rights reports in Myanmar for another year.
The 47-nation body passed a resolution Friday condemning violations in the country also known as Burma. It urged the government to release all political prisoners.
Myanmar's military junta had sought to end the work of U.N. investigator Tomas Ojea Quintana, saying life has improved in the southeast Asian country.
Myanmar says the resolution aims to embarrass the government. China, Russia, India and some other Asian countries did not back the Europe-proposed resolution, saying it was condemnatory and unhelpful.
TATA Motors to make trucks in Burma
http://www.mizzima.com/news/inside-burma/1902-tata-motors-to-make-trucks-in-burma.html
by Salai Pi Pi
Friday, 27 March 2009 17:52
New Delhi (Mizzima) – India’s leading automaker TATA Motors on Thursday met Burmese Minister of Energy (2) Vice-Admiral Soe Thein, and held parleys on setting up a truck manufacturing unit in Burma, the state-run media said.
The New Light of Myanmar, Burma’s official newspaper, on Friday reported that Mr. Manas Kumar Mishra of TATA Motors Ltd. on Thursday met Soe Thein in Naypyitaw, Burma’s new jungle capital and discussed setting up a truck manufacturing unit in Burma.
“Both sides discussed the speedy implementation of a heavy turbo truck assembly and component parts production factory project and starting manufacturing operations from December 2009,” the paper said.
A document of India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), which is in Mizzima’s possession said the project is part of India’s “Look East Policy”, which includes setting up several bilateral development projects such as construction of roads, power projects, oil refinery units, transmission lines, telecommunications, and Information technology services in Burma, by India.
The MEA said India has sanctioned a USD20 million Line of Credit (LoC) for setting up a truck manufacturing unit to be taken up by TATA Motors.
Since the formal launch of the “Look East Policy” in 1994, India has engaged Burma in areas of trade and development and has maintained regular exchange of high-level officials visits.
India’s Vice-President M. Hamid Ansari last month, paid a four-day visit to Burma, during which the two countries signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on setting up a Industrial Training Centre and a Centre for English Language Training (CELT).
According to the MEA, bilateral trade between India and Burma for the fiscal year 2007-08 stood at USD 901.3 million. For the same fiscal year, Burma’s export to India was USD 7272.85 million, while India’s export was USD 173.46 million.
TATA Motors Ltd is the world’s fourth largest truck manufacturer and second largest bus manufacturer.
Edited by Mungpi
World's inaction in Burma a crime
http://www.independent.ie/opinion/letters/worlds-inaction-in-burma-a-crime-1688594.html
Friday March 27 2009
A recent report into the humanitarian effort following last May's Cyclone Nargis, which killed 140,000 people and left many hundreds of thousands homeless, accuses the Burmese government of blocking aid to the victims.
While we should not be surprised that the Burmese authorities, notoriously one of the most repressive regimes in the world, abused their position, what's truly shocking is that the international community allowed it to happen.
This is yet another example of the utter inability of the UN Security Council in its current guise to serve the needs of those who need them most.
The UN has a responsibility to protect those who are being mistreated by their government, yet not one single UN soldier set foot on Burmese soil to ensure that the aid reached those who needed it.
The report calls for the Burmese to be brought before the International Criminal Court for their actions.
But what is truly criminal is the international community's inaction -- sitting on its hands while the world's most vulnerable were left to fend for themselves as their government so cruelly ignored their suffering.
John O'Shea
Goal, PO Box 19 Dun Laoghaire
Myanmar junta chief urges political parties to behave - Summary
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/261759,myanmar-junta-chief-urges-political-parties-to-behave--summary.html
Posted : Fri, 27 Mar 2009 06:41:58 GMT
Author : DPA
Naypyitaw, Myanmar - Myanmar's military supremo on Friday urged political parties to abide by the constitution his junta pushed through last year and avoid "inciting unrest" prior to a general election planned in 2010. Senior General Than Shwe, 76, who heads the State Peace and Development Council, as the ruling junta styles itself, vowed to hold the election "systematically."
"I would like to request those who will be involved in organizing work for parties to refrain from inciting unrest, to avoid personal attacks and smear campaigns against other parties and to find unity in diversity by practising tolerance, forgiveness and understanding toward one another," Than Shwe said in a speech marking the 64th anniversary of Armed Forces Day.
Than Shwe appeared in good health as he stood in the hot sun for more than an hour to review 13,000 troops marching at the parade grounds in Naypyitaw, the military's new capital, in the annual ceremony marking the birth of the Myanmar Army, which has dominated the country's politics since a coup in 1962 toppled elected prime minister U Nu.
In his 10-minute speech, Than Shwe focused on the need for political parties to abide by the pro-military constitution and preserve the unity of the nation at a time then the country is gearing up for the election, whose date the junta has yet to set.
The last election, held in 1990, was won by the National League for Democracy (NLD), led by Aung San Suu Kyi, daughter of Myanmar independence hero General Aung San, who is deemed the founding father of the armed forces.
It was still uncertain whether the NLD would contest the upcoming polls. The party's electoral win in 1990 was ignored by the military, which has kept Suu Kyi under house arrest for the 13 of the past 19 years.
Than Shwe warned that democracy in Myanmar is not yet "mature" and the military "has to safeguard the constitution and assure whoever is doing organizing work for political parties does it maturely."
In May, the junta pushed through a nationwide referendum on a new constitution that would essentially cement military control over any elected government in the future.
The referendum was highly criticized abroad because not only was it neither free nor fair but it was also pushed through on May 10 despite the devastation wrought by Cyclone Nargis, which hit central Myanmar on May 2-3, leaving 140,000 dead or missing.
Although the junta drew criticism for slowing down an international relief operation for the victims of Nargis, apparently to assure the referendum was carried out, Than Shwe used Armed Forced Day to brag of the relief effort.
"Another clear instance of the united strength of the government, the people and the armed forces can be seen in the expeditious and effective relief, resettlement and rehabilitation in the aftermath of the disaster brought about by the cyclone in 2008," he said, neglecting to mention the contributions made by the international aid community.
The constitution, which took 14 years to draft, was a crucial part of Myanmar's seven-step so-called road map to democracy, which is to end with next year's election.
Myanmar's military hierarchy is seeking to establish a "discipline-flourishing democracy," in which the armed forces play a guiding and disciplining role.
Meanwhile, in Yangon, authorities acknowledged that one man died and two other people were injured when a bomb exploded Thursday night in the North Okalapa district.
It was believed that the man who died had planted the bomb, allegedly as a sign of protest before Armed Forces Day.
Copyright, respective author or news agency
စန္းရွင္း (Sanction) လိုအပ္ေသးေၾကာင္း ထပ္မံျငင္းခံုျခင္း
http://burmadd.blogspot.com/2009/03/sanction_20.html
စန္းရွင္း (Sanction) လိုအပ္ေသးေၾကာင္း ထပ္မံျငင္းခံုျခင္း
ျမန္မာျပည္ကို အေနာက္ႏုိင္ငံအစိုးရမ်ားမွ စန္းရွင္းလို႔ေခၚတဲ့ စီးပြားေရးအရ ပိတ္ဆို႔အေရးယူထားတာ ဆယ္စုႏွစ္ တခု ေက်ာ္ခဲ့ ပါၿပီ။ ဒီဆယ္ႏွစ္ေက်ာ္ ကာလေနာက္ပုိင္းမွာ အျငင္းပြားေနၾကတာေတြလဲ ေနရာအႏွံ႔မွာ ရႈ႔ေထာင့္မ်ဳိးစံုနဲ႔ ရိွေနပါတယ္။ စစ္ အစိုးရကို အခုလို စီးပြားေရးအရ ပိတ္ဆို႔တာနဲ႔ ပတ္သက္ၿပီး ေထာက္ခံသူေတြရိွသလို ကန္႔ကြက္ သူေတြလည္း ရိွေနပါတယ္။
Ko Zaw Min
အသစ္တက္လာတဲ့ အမရိကန္ႏုိင္ငံျခားေရးဝန္ႀကီး မစၥကလင္တန္က အေမရိကန္အစိုးရအေနနဲ႔ ျမန္မာႏုိင္ငံအေပၚ ထားရိွတဲ့ သူတို႔ရဲ့ ေပၚလစီမ်ားကို ျပန္လည္ေလ့ေလာသံုးသပ္မယ္လို႔ တေလာတံုးက ေျပာခဲ့ပါတယ္။ သူတို႔ အေမရိကန္ ေတြရဲ့ ေပၚလစီ ေတြဟာ ျမန္မာ့ဒီမိုကေရစီ အေရးအတြက္ အမွန္တကယ္ လက္ေတြ႔က်မက် ဆုိတာကို ျပန္လည္သံုးသပ္ မယ္လို႔ ဆိုလုိက္တာ လည္း ျဖစ္ပါတယ္။ သို႔ေသာ္ မစၥကလင္တန္က အေမရိကန္ေတြ အေနနဲ႔ စစ္အစိုးရအေပၚ စီးပြားေရးအရပိတ္ဆို႔အေရးယူတဲ့ သူတို႔ရဲ့ ေပၚလစီကို ေျပာင္းမယ္လို႔ေတာ့ အတိအလင္း မေျပာေသးပါဘူး။ အဲသလို အသံမ်ားထြက္လာတာနဲ႔ တၿပိဳင္တည္း ဆိုသလို စီးပြားေရးပိတ္ဆို႔ အေရးယူမႈဟာ ျမန္မာျပည္အတြက္ အလုပ္မျဖစ္ဘူး ဆိုတဲ့ လူပုဂၢိဳလ္မ်ားက အေမရိကန္ေတြေတာ့ ျမန္မာႏုိင္ငံနဲ႔ပတ္သက္လို႔ သူတို႔ ေပၚလစီကို ေျပာင္းေတာ့မယ္လို႔ ဝမ္းသာ အားရျဖစ္ၾကပါတယ္။
တကယ္တန္း ေျပာရရင္ အေမရိကန္က ျမန္မာစစ္အစိုးရကို စီးပြားေရးအရ ပိတ္ဆို႔အေရးယူတဲ့ ေပၚလစီကို ခ်မွတ္ခဲ့ေပမဲ့ ဒီလို ပိတ္ဆို႔အေရးယူျခင္းဟာ ၿပီးျပည့္စံုတဲ့ ပိတ္ဆို႔မႈ မဟုတ္ခဲ့ပါဘူး။ အေျခခံအားျဖင့္ ဆိုရရင္ ေနာက္ထပ္ ရင္းႏွီးျမဳတ္ႏွံမႈ အသစ္ မလုပ္ဖို႔ဆိုတဲ့ ျဖစ္စဥ္ေအာက္မွပဲ သြားခဲ့တာျဖစ္ပါတယ္။ ရိွထားၿပီးသား ရင္းႏွီးျမဳတ္ႏွံမႈေတြ အတြက္ အၾကံဳးမဝင္ပါ။
တရုတ္တို႔၊ အိႏိၵတို႔၊ ထုိင္းႏုိင္ငံတို႔၊ မေလးရွားတို႔၊ စကၤာပူတို႔နဲ႔ စီးပြားေရးအရ အခ်ိတ္အဆက္ေတြ ရိွေနတဲ့အတြက္ ျမန္မာ စစ္ အစိုးရက ဒီပိတ္ဆို႔မႈကို မမႈပါဘူးလို႔ ဆိုသူေတြလည္း ရိွပါတယ္။ ဒါေပမဲ့ တဖက္မွာ ျပန္တြက္ၾကည့္ျပန္ ေတာ့လည္း ျမန္မာ စစ္အစိုးရအတြက္ေတာ့ ဒီလို စီးပြါေးရးအရ ပိတ္ဆို႔ခံရျခင္းဟာ အထိနာတာေတာ့ အမွန္ပါဘဲ။ ဒါေၾကာင့္ ကုလ အထူး ကိုယ္စားလွယ္ မစၥတာဂမ္ဘာရီ ျမန္မာႏုိင္ငံကို ေနာက္ဆုံးတေခါက္ လာေတာ့ ျမန္မာဗိုလ္ခ်ဳပ္မ်ားက သူတို႔အေပၚ စီးပြားေရး အရ ပိတ္ဆို႔ထားတာေတြ ျပန္ရုပ္သိမ္းဖို႔ အေနာက္ႏုိင္ငံေတြကို တိုက္တြန္းေပးပါလို႔ ေျပာခဲ့ပါတယ္။ ဒါဟာ ဘာကိုျပသလဲ ဆိုရင္ အေမရိကန္ အပါအဝင္ ဥေရာပႏုိင္ငံမ်ားရဲ့ ပိတ္ဆို႔မႈဟာ စစ္ဗိုလ္ခ်ဳပ္မ်ားအဖို႔ အထိနာတယ္ဆိုတာကို ျပဆိုေနတဲ့ အေထာက္အထားပါ။
ကေန႔ အေရွ႔ေတာင္အာရွမွာ ျမန္မာႏိုင္ငံထက္ အလြန္႔အလြန္သာလြန္ၿပီး စီးပြားေရးေကာင္းေနတဲ့ ႏုိင္ငံမ်ား၊ အေရွ႔အာရွမွာ တရုတ္အပါအဝင္ စီးပြားေရး သိပ္တိုးတက္ သိပ္ေကာင္းေနတဲ့ႏုိင္ငံမ်ား ရိွေနၾကပါတယ္။ အဆိုပါ ႏုိင္ငံမ်ားဟာ အိမ္နီးျခင္း ကုန္သြယ္ေရးေလာက္နဲ႔ အခုလို တိုးတက္လာေနတာ မဟုတ္ပါ။ တကမၻာလံုးနဲ႔ ကုန္သြယ္ ေနလို႔သာျဖစ္ပါတယ္။ အထူး သျဖင့္ အေမရိကန္ေစ်းကြက္နဲ႔ ဥေရာပႏုိင္ငံမ်ားေစ်းကြက္မ်ားမွာ မျဖစ္မေန ကူးသန္းၿပီး ေရာင္းဝယ္ ေဖာက္ကားေနရပါ တယ္။
ဆိုလိုျခင္တာကေတာ့ ရိုးရိုးပါဘဲ။ နဂိုထက္ပိုၿပီး ခ်မ္းသာတိုးတက္ျခင္ရင္ ကိုယ့္ထက္ခ်မ္းသာတဲ့ သူမ်ားနဲ႔ ဆက္ဆံ ေရာင္း ဝယ္ ေဖာက္ကားဖို႔လိုပါတယ္။ ႏုတ္ခမ္းပဲ့ျခင္း မီးမႈတ္ေနလို႔ကေတာ့ ဒံုရင္းပဲ ရိွမွာပါ။ ႀကိဳက္သည္ျဖစ္ေစ မႀကိဳက္သည္ ျဖစ္ေစ ေျပာဖို႔ တခုရိွပါတယ္။ ခ်မ္းသာျခင္ရင္ မိမိထက္ ခ်မ္းသာတိုးတက္ၿပီးသား မိမိထက္ အေျခခုိင္တဲ့ အရင္းရွင္ ႏုိင္ငံမ်ားနဲ႔ အဆင္ ေျပဖို႔လိုပါတယ္။ တရုတ္အစိုးရ သည္ပင္လွ်င္ အထက္က ေျပာခဲ့တဲ့ ေစ်းကြက္မ်ားနဲ႔ ကင္းႏုိင္ျခင္း မရိွပါဘူး။ ျပန္ေကာက္ရမယ္ ဆိုရင္ ျမန္မာစစ္အစိုးရရယ္၊ စစ္အစိုးရနဲ႔ အလြမ္းသင့္တဲ့ လူေတြရယ္ ေျပာေနသလို အိမ္နီး ျခင္းႏုိင္ငံမ်ားနဲ႔ စီးပြားေရးအရ ကုန္သြယ္ျခင္းျဖင့္ အေမရိကန္အပါအဝင္ အေနာက္ႏုိင္ငံအစိုးမ်ားကို ဂရုစုိက္စရာ မလိုဘူး ဆိုတာ တကယ္ေတာ့ မဟုတ္ပါ။ ႏုိင္ငံေရးအရ ကစားတဲ့ေနရာမွာ (သို႔) ႏုိင္ငံတကာ အစည္းအေဝးမ်ားနဲ႔ ကြန္ဖရင့္ေတြမွာ ႏုိင္ငံေရးလက္နက္ တခုအေနနဲ႔ ထည့္သြင္း အသံုးခ်ျခင္းထက္ မပုိပါ။
ေကာင္းပါၿပီ။ အေမရိကန္နဲ႔ ဥေရာပႏုိင္ငံေတြက စီးပြားေရးအရ ပိတ္ဆို႔တာကို ရုတ္သိမ္းလုိက္ၿပီ ဆိုပါစို႔။ အဲသည့္အတြက္ ျမန္မာျပည္မွာ ႏုိင္ငံျခား ကုမၸဏီေတြလိမ့္ဝင္လာၿပီ ဆိုပါစို႔။ ျမန္မာျပည္သူ ျပည္သားေတြ ထီေပါက္သလုိ အဆင္ေျပလာ မယ္လို႔ ဘယ္သူေတြက အာမခံမွာလဲ။ ႏုိင္ငံျခားကုမၸဏီေတြ အမ်ားအျပား ေရာက္လာၾကလို႔ ႏွစ္အနည္းငယ္အတြင္း စီးပြား ေရးဦးေမာ့လာမယ္လို႔ ဘယ္လိုေျပာႏုိင္မလဲ။
ႏုိင္ငံျခားရင္းႏွီးျမဳတ္ႏွံမႈမ်ား ပိုမ်ားလာလို႔ ပိုၿပီးစီးပြားေရးေကာင္းလာမွာထက္ လက္ရိွတည္ရိွေနတဲ့ ျမန္မာျပည္ရဲ့ ႏုိင္ငံေရး၊ အုပ္ခ်ဳပ္ေရး၊ ဥပေဒေရး ယဥ္ေက်းမႈေတြအေပၚကေန တြက္ထုတ္လုိက္ရင္ ပိုေတာင္ဆိုးလာဦးမယ္လို႔ ရဲရဲႀကီး ေျပာလုိက္ ပါ့မယ္။
ရွင္းပါအံ့။ ျမန္မာျပည္မွာ အုပ္ခ်ဳပ္ေရးအဆင့္အတန္း အလြန္နိမ့္ပါတယ္။ စစ္တပ္ကပဲ ေနရာတုိင္းမွာ အုပ္ခ်ဳပ္ ေနပါတယ္။ ဒါေၾကာင့္ ဘာလုပ္လုပ္ အုပ္ခ်ဳပ္သူလူတုိင္းကို ေၾကာက္ေနရသလို လာဘ္ေပးလာဘ္ယူ မ်ားကလည္း ေၾကာက္ခမန္းလိလိ ႀကီးမားလြန္းပါတယ္။ ဥပေဒေရးရာကို ၾကည့္ျပန္ေတာ့လည္း ဥပေဒစိုးမိုးမႈ လံုးလံုးမရိွပါ။ ကိုယ္နဲ႔ မတဲ့သူမွန္သမွ် ၿပိဳင္ဖက္ မွန္သမွ်ကို အျပဳတ္တုိက္ဖို႔ ဥပေဒလက္လြတ္ ၿဖိဳခြင္းတဲ့နည္းကို သံုးပါတယ္။ ေဒၚဝင္းဝင္းႏုရဲ့ မႏၱေလးဘီယာစက္ရံုကို စစ္တပ္နဲ႔ ဝင္သိမ္းခဲ့တာကို ျပန္ၾကည့္ႏုိင္ပါတယ္။ ကိုယ္ရဲ့စီးပြားဖက္မ်ားၾကေတာ့ လိုသလို အခြင့္ထူးေတြကို ေပးထားၿပီး ႀကိဳက္တဲ့ စီးပြား ေရးကို ႀကိဳက္သလို လုပ္ခြင့္ေပးပါတယ္။ ေနာက္အေရးႀကီးတဲ့ အခ်က္တခုကေတာ့ ႏုိင္ငံတခုမွာ မရိွ မျဖစ္လိုအပ္တဲ့ ႏုိင္ငံ တကာ အဆင့္မီွ အေပၚထပ္အေဆာက္အဦ (လမ္း၊ တံတား၊ ေလဆိပ္၊ ေရဆိပ္၊ လွ်ပ္စစ္စြမ္းအင္ အစရိွျဖင့္) မရိွပါဘူး။ ေနာက္အဆိုးဆံုး အခ်က္ကေတာ့ တည္ၿငိမ္တဲ့ ေငြေၾကးစနစ္မရွိတဲ့ ကိစၥပါ။ အခုအထိ အေမရိကန္ (၁) ေဒၚလာရဲ့ ေပါက္ေစ်း ဟာ ေျခာက္က်ပ္ဝန္းက်င္မွာဘဲ ရိွေနပါေသးတယ္။
အခုလက္ရိွ အေျခအေနမွာ အုပ္ခ်ဳပ္ေရးႏွင့္ ဥပေဒေရးတို႔ ျဖစ္ျခင္သလို ျဖစ္ေနေတာ့ ဗိုလ္ခ်ဳပ္မ်ားနဲ႔ အလြမ္းသင့္တဲ့ စီးပြားေရး ကုမၸဏီေတြက လုပ္ျခင္သလို လုပ္ပါတယ္။ အရွည္ကိုမၾကည့္ပါ။ ဥပမာတခုအေနနဲ႔ တင္ျပရရင္ ေတဇရဲ့ သစ္ကုမၸဏီကို ရွမ္း ျပည္အတြင္း သစ္တန္တသိန္း ခုတ္ခြင့္ေပးလုိက္ျခင္းပါဘဲ။ သဘာဝအရင္းအျမစ္ေတြကို စနစ္တက် ဘယ္လို ထုတ္ယူသံုးစြဲ ရမလဲဆိုတာကို ဂရုစုိက္ျခင္းမရိွပါ။ မိမိနဲ႔ အဆင္ေျပတဲ့ ဗိုလ္ခ်ဳပ္မ်ား အုပ္ခ်ဳပ္ေနစဥ္၊ အာဏာ ရိွေနစဥ္မွာ ရသေလာက္ ညွစ္ယူထားဖို႔က စီးပြားေရးသမားမ်ားရဲ့ အျမင္ပါ။ သူတို႔ဖက္က ၾကည့္ရင္လည္း ဗိုလ္ခ်ဳပ္ေတြ အခ်င္းခ်င္း အာဏာလုလို႔ သူတို႔ဖက္ကဗိုလ္ခ်ဳပ္ေတြ ရံႈးနိမ့္ခဲ့ရင္ အရင္လက္ထက္ မွာတံုးက ရထားတဲ့ အခြင့္အေရးေတြ ပိတ္သြားႏုိင္ပါတယ္။ အဲသည္ ေတာ့ မိုးရြာတံုးေရခံၾကေဟ့ ဆိုတဲ့မူကို လက္ကုိင္ထားၿပီး စီးပြားေရးသမားမ်ားကလည္း လုပ္ၾကပါတယ္။
အဲသည္ေတာ့ အခုလိုအခ်ိန္မွာ အေမရိကန္နဲ႔ အေနာက္ႏုိင္ငံေတြက သူတို႔ရဲ့ စီးပြားေရးပိတ္ဆို႔မႈ ေပၚလစီေတြကို ျပန္လည္ရုပ္ သိမ္းၿပီး သူတို႔ရဲ့ကုမၸဏီမ်ား ျမန္မာျပည္ကို သြားေစလုပ္ေစဆိုၿပီး ခြင့္ျပဳလုိက္တယ္ဆိုပါစို႔။
အရင္ဆံုး အျမတ္မရဘဲ ႏွစ္နာမွာက ျမန္မာျပည္သားေတြသာ ျဖစ္ပါတယ္။ လာသမွ် ႏုိင္ငံျခားကုမၸဏီေတြ အရည္ ညႇစ္သြား တာကို တုိင္းျပည္ကခံရမွာပါ။ ဒါဟာ အုပ္ခ်ဳပ္ေရးႏွင့္ ဥပေဒေရးတို႔ ျဖစ္ျခင္သလိုျဖစ္ေနတဲ့ အေျခအေနေၾကာင့္ပါ။ စနစ္ ပ်က္ေနတဲ့ တုိင္းျပည္မွာ ဘယ္လိုႏုိင္ငံျခား ရင္းႏွီးျမဳတ္ႏွံ႔မႈေတြ လာလာ လူတစုကလြဲလို႔ တိုင္းသူျပည္သားမ်ား အက်ဳိးခံစား ရမွာ မဟုတ္ပါ။ ေျပာရရင္ ေလးငါးႏွစ္ေလာက္အတြင္းမွာ ျမန္မာျပည္ရဲ့ သဘာဝရင္းျမစ္ေတြ ကုန္ခမ္း သြား ပါလိမ့္မယ္။ ရတုန္းယူထားတဲ့ဆို႔ ေခတ္ႀကီးမွာ လုပ္ရတဲ့ စီးပြားေရးမို႔ ဘယ္စီးပြားေရး သမားကမွ သဘာဝအရင္းအျမစ္ ေတြကို ထိန္း သိမ္း ၿပီး စနစ္တက်လုပ္မယ္လို႔ မထင္လုိက္ပါနဲ႔။ စီးပြားေရးသမား ဆိုတာ ဗမာျဖစ္ျဖစ္ ႏုိင္ငံျခားသားျဖစ္ျဖစ္ အတူတူပါဘဲ။ လူတစုအတြက္ ေကာင္းေပမဲ့ လူမ်ားစုအဖို႔ အက်ဳိးထိခုိက္ပါတယ္။
ဒီေနရာမွာ ေျပာလိုတာက ႏုိင္ငံေရးမဟုတ္ပါ။ အတုိက္ခံဒီမိုကေရစီ အုပ္စုမ်ားကို ေထာက္ခံလို႔ သူတို႔ေပၚလစီကို ႀကိဳက္လို႔ စီးပြားေရးပိတ္ဆို႔ျခင္းကို ေထာက္ခံေနျခင္း မဟုတ္ပါ။ ကိုယ့္ျပည္သူေတြအတြက္ ဘယ္ေလာက္ အက်ဳိးရိွမလဲ။ အေကာင္း ထက္ အပ်က္ကပိုမ်ားလာႏုိင္သလား (သို႔) အပ်က္ထက္ အေကာင္းေတြဘဲ ေပၚလာ မလားဆိုတာကို ႀကိဳတင္တြက္ခ်က္ဖို႔ လိုတာမို႔ တင္ျပျခင္းသာ ျဖစ္ပါတယ္။
ထပ္မံျဖည့္စြက္လိုတဲ့ အျခားအခ်က္မ်ားလည္း ရိွပါေသးတယ္။ ဒါကေတာ့ ဥပမာအားျဖင့္ ေတဇကုမၸဏီဟာ ျမန္မာ ကုမၸဏီ ျဖစ္ပါတယ္။ ျမန္မာကုမၸဏီတခုက ရွမ္းျပည္အတြင္းက ရွမ္းလူထုေတြ ႏွစ္အတီအေတ ကတည္းက ပုိင္ဆုိင္လာတဲ့ သစ္ေတာ ေတြကို ဝင္ၿပီးခုတ္ျခင္သလို ခုတ္သြားတာ မတရားပါဘူး။ ကိုယ္က်င့္သိကၡာအရ မွားယြင္းပါတယ္။ ရွမ္းလူထုရဲ့ သဘာဝအရင္း အျမစ္ကို ရွမ္းလူထုကသာ အဆံုးအျဖတ္ ေပးရမွာျဖစ္ပါတယ္။ သို႔ေသာ္လည္း အုပ္ခ်ဳပ္ေရးနဲ႔ ဥပေဒေရး ေတြ ျဖစ္ခ်င္သလို ျဖစ္ေနတဲ့ အခ်ိန္မွာ ရွမ္းလူထုဟာ လက္မိႈင္ျခၿပီး ထုိင္ၾကည့္ ေနရတာကလဲြလို႔ ဘာမ်ားတတ္ႏုိင္ပါ့မလဲ။ ဥပမာ တခုအေနနဲ႔ ရွမ္းကုမၸဏီတခုက ႏုိင္ငံျခားမွာ ေရာင္းရင္ ဝင္ေငြေကာင္းလို႔ဆိုၿပီး ျမန္မာျပည္အလယ္ပုိင္းက ကုကၠိဳပင္ ေတြကို အလံုးအရင္းနဲ႔ ခုတ္ခ်င္သလို လာခုတ္မယ္ဆိုရင္ ျမန္မာေတြ ဘယ္လိုခံစားရမလဲ။ ကုိယ္ခ်င္းစာတတ္ဖို႔လိုပါတယ္။ အဲသလိုပါပဲ က်န္ေနတဲ့ တုိင္းရင္းသား ျပည္နယ္မ်ားက အရင္းအျမစ္ေတြကို ထုတ္ယူ၊ သံုးစြဲ၊ ေရာင္းျခမယ္ဆိုရင္ အဆိုပါ တုိင္းရင္းသားလူထုရဲ့ အဆံုး အျဖတ္နဲ႔သာ ျပဳလုပ္ျခင္းက ေရရွည္အနာဂတ္ ျပည္ေထာင္စုအတြက္ ပိုေကာင္းပါလိမ့္မယ္။
ေနာက္တခ်က္ကေတာ့ စြမ္းအင္ကိစၥပါ။ အခုရေနတဲ့ သဘာဝဓာတ္ေငြ႔ကို ႏုိင္ငံျခားအကုန္ထုတ္ၿပီး ေရာင္းတာထက္ ႏုိင္ငံ သားေတြ အလုပ္လုပ္ဖို႔ ကုန္ထုတ္လုပ္ဖို႔ သံုးစြဲခြင့္ေပးဖို႔လိုပါတယ္။ ဥပမာအားျဖင့္ ငါးလုပ္ငန္းက ႏုိင္ငံျခားကို ငါးေတြတင္ပို႔ မယ္ ဆိုပါစို႔။ မတင္ပို႔ခင္စပ္ၾကား ငါးေတြပုတ္မကုန္ေအာင္ အေအးခန္းႀကီးေတြနဲ႔ ထားရပါတယ္။ သို႔ေသာ္ ျမန္မာႏုိင္ငံမွာ လွ်ပ္စစ္စြမ္းအင္ကို လံုေလာက္ေအာင္ မစီမံေပးႏုိင္လို႔ ဒီဇယ္အင္ဂ်င္ႀကီးမ်ားနဲ႔ အဲသည့္ အေအးခန္းမ်ားကို လည္ပတ္ရပါ တယ္။ ဒီဇယ္ဖိုး ထပ္ကုန္တဲ့အတြက္ ထိုငါးမ်ားပုဇြန္မ်ားကို ႏုိင္ငံျခားပို႔တဲ့အခါမွာ ျမတ္သင့္သေလာက္ အျမတ္ မက်န္ ေတာ့ပါ။ ဒီၾကားထဲမွာလည္း အုပ္ခ်ဳပ္စီမံခန္႔ခြဲေရး ပ်က္စီးယိုယြင္း ေနတဲ့အတြက္ ငါးေတြ ႏုိင္ငံျခား မပို႔ခင္မွာ ဟိုေပး သည္ကမ္း လုပ္ရတဲ့အတြက္ ကုန္ၾကစရိတ္ ထပ္တက္လာပါတယ္။
အခုေနအခါမွာ စီးပြားေရးပိတ္ဆို႔မႈေတြ မရိွေတာ့ဘူး ဆိုပါစို႔။ ႏုိင္ငံျခားရင္းႏွီး ျမဳတ္ႏွံမႈေတြလည္း တျပံဳႀကီးဝင္လာ ၾကၿပီ ဆိုပါစို႔။ သူတို႔အရင္လုပ္မွာက ဘယ္လိုစီးပြားေရးလုပ္ငန္းမ်ဳိး ျဖစ္မယ္ထင္ပါသလဲ။ ေခတ္မီွစက္ရံုေတြ ေထာင္ၿပီးလုပ္မယ္ လို႔ ထင္ပါသလား။ မထင္ပါခင္ဗ်ားလို႔သာ ျပန္ေျပာရမွာပါ။ ျမန္မာျပည္ဟာ ဘာမွအဆင္သင့္ မျဖစ္ေသးတဲ့ ႏုိင္ငံျဖစ္တာမို႔ စက္မႈလုပ္ငန္းေထြထက္ သဘာဝ အရင္းအျမစ္ေတြကို တုိက္ရိုက္ ထုတ္ယူ ေရာင္းစားလိုတဲ့ ကုမၸဏီေတြကသာ အမ်ားစု ျဖစ္ပါလိမ့္မယ္။ အဲတာက အရင္းနည္းၿပီး အခိ်န္တိုတိုအတြင္းမွာ အျမတ္မ်ားလို႔ဘဲ ျဖစ္ပါတယ္။ သဘာဝ အရင္းအျမစ္ေတြ ျဖစ္တဲ့ သစ္ေတာမ်ားကို ခုတ္ယူျခင္း ေရာင္းျချခင္း၊ ေရနံနဲ႔ သဘာဝ ဓာတ္ေငြ႔မ်ားကို ထုတ္ယူျခင္း၊ ငါးမ်ားအလြန္ အကၽြံ ဖမ္းျခင္း၊ ပတ္ဝန္းက်င္ကို ညွစ္ညမ္းေစတဲ့ သတၳဳမုိင္း လုပ္ငန္းမ်ား တုိင္းျပည္အႏွံ႔ေပၚလာျခင္း၊ ျမစ္ေတြကိုပိတ္ၿပီး ဆည္ ေဆာက္ျခင္း၊ သစ္ေတာမ်ားကို ဧကေပါင္း သိန္းနဲ႔ခ်ီၿပီး ခုတ္ထြင္၍ ေငြအျဖစ္ျမန္တဲ့ ေရာ္ဘာလို ဆီအုန္းလို အပင္မ်ား စုိက္ပ်ဳိးျခင္း စတာေတြအျပင္ ေျမာက္မ်ားလွတဲ့ ေငြရလြယ္တဲ့ လုပ္ငန္းမ်ားကိုသာ လုပ္ၾကမွာပါ။
စက္မႈလုပ္ငန္းမွာ လာေရာက္ျမဳတ္ႏွံမယ့္ ႏုိင္ငံျခားကုမၸဏီေတြလည္း အနည္းအက်ဥ္း ရိွေကာင္းရိွပါလိမ့္မယ္။ သို႔ေသာ္ ဘယ္လုိစက္မႈ လုပ္ငန္းမ်ားကို ထူေထာင္မွာလည္းဆိုတာ ဒီေနရာမွာ ေမးစရာရိွပါတယ္။ ဥပမာ အားျဖင့္ ၁၉၉ဝ ခုႏွစ္မ်ား တံုးက ဘဂၤလားဒက္ရွ္ ႏုိင္ငံမွာ ႏုိင္ငံျခား အထည္ခ်ဳပ္စက္ရံုေတြ မိႈလိုေပါက္ခဲ့ပါတယ္။ အက်ဳိးဆက္ အားျဖင့္လည္း ဘဂၤလား ေအာက္ေျခ ျပည္သူေတြ အလုပ္မ်ားရခဲ့ပါတယ္။
သို႔ေသာ္ ၁၉၉၄ ေနာက္ပုိင္းမွာ ကမၻာ႔အထည္ေစ်းကြက္ အေျပာင္းအလဲမ်ားလိႈင္းမ်ားက ႏုိင္ငံတကာ အထည္ခ်ဳပ္လုပ္ငန္း ကို ေကာင္းေကာင္းႀကီး ဒုကၡေပးပါတယ္။ ဘဂၤလားဒက္ရွ္ႏုိင္ငံကိုလည္း ခ်န္မထားခဲ့ပါဘူး။ (ဘဂၤလားဒက္ရွ္ အတုိက္ခံမ်ား ေၾကာင့္ မဟုတ္ပါ) ဘဂၤလားဒက္ရွမွာလည္း အထည္ခ်ဳပ္စက္ရံုေတြ တရံုၿပီးတရံု ပိတ္ကုန္ပါတယ္။ အဲသည္ေတာ့ အလုပ္လက္မဲ့ေတြ ၿမိဳ႔ေပၚမွာ ေသာင္တင္ခဲ့ၾကပါတယ္။ အဆိုးဆံုးကေတာ့ အထည္ခ်ဳပ္စက္ရံု ရင္းႏွီးျမဳတ္ႏွံမႈက ဘဂၤလား ဒက္ရွ္ ႏုိင္ငံအတြက္ ဘာနည္းပညာမွ ခ်န္မထားခဲ့ႏုိင္ပါဘူး။ သူလည္းထြက္ ကိုယ္လည္း လက္မဲ့က်န္ ဆိုတာမ်ဳိးဆိုသလို ျဖစ္ခဲ့ပါတယ္။ ေနာက္ တခ်က္ သတိထားဖို႔ကလည္း အထည္ခ်ဳပ္လုပ္ငန္းဆိုတာ ဆင္းရဲတဲ့ႏုိင္ငံမ်ားမွာ ခ်မ္းသာတဲ့ ႏုိင္ငံ ေတြက လာေထာင္စားတဲ့ လုပ္ငန္းျဖစ္ပါတယ္။ အလုပ္ရွင္ေငြရွင္ ျပန္ထြက္သြားတဲ့အခါမွာ ဆင္းရဲသားဟာ လက္ခ်ည္းပဲ က်န္ရစ္ပါတယ္။ အနည္းဆံုး တူတူတန္တန္ နည္းပညာ ေလးေလာက္ေတာ့ က်န္ရစ္ခဲ့သင့္တာေပါ့။ အဝတ္အထည္ပဲ ခ်ဳပ္တတ္တဲ့ နည္းပညာေလာက္သာ က်န္ရစ္ခဲ့တာေတာ့ ရင္နာစရာပါ။ အခုလည္း တရုပ္ျပည္မွာ အထည္ခ်ဳပ္လုပ္ငန္း ေတြ၊ အရုပ္စက္ရံုေတြ ပိတ္ရေတာ့ တရုတ္ လုပ္သား သန္းေပါင္းမ်ားစြာ အလုပ္လက္မဲ့ ျဖစ္တာကို ရင္ဆုိင္ေနရပါတယ္။
လက္ရိွ စီးပြြါးေရးပိတ္ဆို႔ခံထားရတဲ့ အေျခအေနမွာေတာင္ သဘာဝအရင္းအျမစ္ေတြကို လုပ္ျခင္သလို လုပ္ေနၾကတာ စီးပြား ေရး ပိတ္ဆို႔မႈ မရိွလို႔ကေတာ့ အခ်ိန္တုိတိုအတြင္း ကုန္ပါေပါ့လားဆိုတဲ့ ဘဝကိုရင္ဆုိင္ရမွာပါ။ နိဂံုးခ်ဳပ္ရရင္ေတာ့ ႏုိင္ငံေရး၊ အုပ္ခ်ဳပ္ေရး၊ ဥပေဒေရး ပ်က္ျပားေနတဲ့ ျမန္မာႏုိင္ငံ၊ တနည္းဆိုရရင္ ေျခာက္လံုးပူး ေသနတ္ကို ခါးထိုးၿပီး အရက္မူးေနတဲ့ ေကာင္းဘြိဳင္ေတြ ဗိုလ္က်အုပ္ခ်ဳပ္ေနတဲ့ ျမန္မာႏုိင္ငံကို အခုေနအခါ အေနာက္ ႏုိင္ငံမ်ားက စီးပြားေရး ပိတ္ဆို႔တာကို ျပန္ဖြင့္ လုိက္ရင္ ေကာင္းက်ဳိးထက္ ဆုိးက်ဳိးသာ ပိုမိုမ်ားျပား လာလိမ့္ဆိုတာ အတပ္ေျပာရဲပါတယ္။
ေဇာ္မင္း (လူ႔ေဘာင္သစ္)
၁၈ ရက္ မတ္လ ၂ဝဝ၉ ခုႏွစ္
Cruise Specialists Hosts Name Top Five Cruise Ports Around the World
http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/cruise-specialists-hosts-cruise-ports-world/
LaGraff and Atkins recently revealed their top five spots to visit onboard a cruise:
1. Islands of Tahiti: Water, Water, Water! "If you love to swim, these
are the best waters in the world for a dip," explained Atkins.
"The islanders spend hours in the warm, blue waters. Every day you
can see families playing on the beach and gracefully bodysurfing the
waves." The duo recommends snorkeling while drifting with the
current down the beachfront, watching the hundreds of colorful fishes.
2. Saigon: "The streets are utter chaos with noisy scooters, cars,
hawkers and street vendors, but Saigon is a fun place to visit,"
said LaGraff. "You can visit the American War museum, check out the
fascinating Cu Chi tunnels, shop at the colorful local markets in
Chinatown, or pamper yourself with reasonably priced spa
treatments."
3. Burma: "We added Burma to our list because of its past and
hopefully its future," declared LaGraff. "Before the military
takeover, the Burmese people were some of the most artistic and
enlightened in the world. We find their everyday street scenes
fascinating, as well as the hundreds of breathtaking Buddhist pagodas
that dot the landscape."
4. Sydney: "We love entering Sydney by ship as the entrance is through
a narrow pass called the heads," described Atkins. "Slowly the
great city unfolds like a movie, culminating in the magnificent opera
house." They travel everywhere around Sydney on the fast and
efficient ferry system. One of their favorite activities is climbing the
famed harbor bridge Sydneysiders call "the hangar" to get a
good workout and enjoy super views of the city.
5. Shanghai: "We hereby declare Shanghai our favorite shopping city in
the world, surpassing our old number one -- Hong Kong," exclaimed
Atkins. "There are bargains galore, and street stalls are loaded
with all sorts of clothes and collectibles. Tailors are good and cheap,
as are the fabrics, especially silk. One of the couple's favorite
places to visit in Shanghai is the Bund, a lively people watching
pedestrian walkway along the Pudong River that boasts excellent views of
Shanghai.
Thailand supports democratization of Burma: Abhisit
http://www.mizzima.com/news/election-2010/1891-thailand-supports-democratization-of-burma-abhisit.html
by Usa Pichai
Wednesday, 25 March 2009 20:08
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) - The Prime Minister of Thailand has said talks with ethnic rebels, the Karen National Union, depends on the Burmese military junta and the United Nations, reiterating that Thailand supports democratization and national reconciliation in the country.
Abhisit Vejjajiva, Thailand’s Prime Minister on Tuesday was commenting on the Burmese government’s desire that Thailand persuade the KNU to begin a process of reconciliation with the junta and contest the 2010 general elections.
“The issue depends on the Burmese regime and the UN to make the discussion operational. Thailand would help as a neighbouring country. However, the negotiation should be held to solve the problem because some ethnic group members migrated to live in Thailand,” Abhisit said, according to a report in a Thai government website.
The Thai PM also added that he has not yet been informed that the Thai Foreign Minister agreed to hold talks with the ethnic group, which does not see eye to eye, with the junta’s constitution.
“At the moment, the Burmese junta has worked mainly with the UN rather than with the ASEAN,” he said.
He said the Thai government supported efforts by the Burmese government regarding national reconciliation and the restoration of democracy in the country.
In addition, he added the position of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations was clear. It wanted to see all parties take part in Burmese general elections in the coming year.
However, numerous voices from among the international community have expressed doubts whether the 2010 election will allow fair participation by all parties.
Abhisit’s comment came after Thailand’s Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said, during his visit to Burma that he was asked by the military junta to meet representatives of ethnic rebels and to persuade the KNU to join the junta’s road map to democracy.
Kasit made his introductory two-day visit to Burma on Sunday and Monday, discussing bilateral issues and laying the groundwork for an official visit by Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.
The Karen Nation Union and the Shan State Army, which rejected the junta-backed seven-step road map to democracy, are two major armed factions continuing to wage war against the regime.
On Tuesday David Takapaw, Vice-President of the KNU, reacted saying that they will not yield to any form of pressure to partake in the 2010 general election unless Burma’s generals implement changes in their roadmap.
However, Takapaw said the KNU is ready to hold talks with the Burmese regime if it is aimed at addressing the ongoing conflict in Burma.
China's grand bargain
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2009/03/26/chinas_grand_bargain/?page=full
By Robert I. Rotberg
March 26, 2009
AS THE G20 group of nations prepares to meet next week to discuss the world economy, a grand bargain with geostrategic significance is implicitly being crafted between Washington and Beijing. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hinted as much when she said in February that the United States would not hammer China about its human rights violations.
China and the United States need each other. China wants the United States to keep its trillions of dollars in Treasury securities safe and valuable. It would like Washington to stop beating the hollow drum of foreign-exchange policy and yuan deflation. China also wants the United States to help reinflate the global economy so that it can grow back from 6 percent per annum GDP to 8 percent or more. Otherwise unrest may escalate.
China also does not want the United States to press human rights issues for fear of further encouraging dissent. That posture obviously goes for Tibet, for the Uighur claims on Xinjiang, for labor violations in the Guangdong area, and, possibly, for attacks on China's abysmal food security record.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other members of Congress are rightly appalled at any backtracking. Criticism of China's record at home and abroad is well-merited.But, as Secretary Clinton and President Obama know, Washington needs China's help on global climate change and on such key security issues as North Korea, Burma, Iran, Sudan, and Zimbabwe.
Restraining the nuclear ambitions and capacity for mischief of the odious regime in Pyongyang is unlikely without China's support for a negotiated dismantling of fissile enrichment and missile launching facilities. Only China has the necessary leverage and influence with Kim Jong-il and his regime.
On Burma, Clinton has admitted that US and European sanctions have accomplished little, and that the ruling military junta pays little attention to what the UN, the Association of Southeastern Nations, or the West wants by way of ameliorations and respect for internal human and political rights. It only responds to Beijing, its funder, main supplier of arms, commercial and strategic partner, and a key economic mainstay.
On Iran, the Obama administration will also need China (and Russia) in finding diplomatic or economic means to deter Iran's rush toward nuclear capability. Absent such support, the task of constraining or preventing Iran from becoming a bomb maker is difficult, if not impossible. (China is Iran's largest trading partner.)
In Africa, China is a major investor. China imports more than 10 percent of its oil from Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria, and Sudan, and obtains minerals such as copper from Zambia and Congo, platinum and chrome from Zimbabwe and South Africa, and much more. It also purchases large forests of African timber. None of that mercantile activity is objectionable to Africa or the United States, nor should Washington worry about Chinese infrastructural construction of ports, railways, and roads in Africa.
But China also supplies arms to Africa. It backs President Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe, gives him aircraft and armored cars, and takes land and minerals in exchange. Oppression in Sudan is heavily facilitated by China, which trains the pilots who bomb Darfuri refugee camps and provides the weapons with which the janjaweed and others kill innocent civilians. More so, China pumps Sudan's oil, guards the oil wells and pipeline, runs the refinery, and funds President Omar al-Bashir, recently indicted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes. If the Obama administration is going to reduce the killing fields in Darfur and remove Mugabe from power in Zimbabwe, it will need China's help.
As the global economy continues to fray, there is a crucial need for collective action on fiscal matters, monetary policy, antagonism against protectionism, and on help for the developing world. The United States and Europe cannot create or fulfill such an agenda without China's cooperation. Only with China can they craft policies to create increased domestic consumption everywhere (especially in China and other surplus-rich Asian economies) and thus avert the collapse of global prosperity.
Any such grand bargain is messy, but necessary and compelling.
Robert I. Rotberg is director of the Program on Instrastate Conflict at Harvard's Kennedy School and President of the World Peace Foundation. He recently published "China into Africa: Trade, Aid, and Influence."
Are You Funding Forced Abortions in China?
http://newsblaze.com/story/20090325074631zzzz.nb/topstory.html
Not only elective abortions. Forced abortions.
It doesn't matter whether you are pro-life or pro-choice on this issue. No one can support forced abortion, because it is not a choice.
What do I mean by "forced abortions"? Here are a couple of examples from the U.S. Department of State China Report, just released on February 25, 2009: "In March [2008] family planning officials in Henan Province reportedly forcibly detained a 23-year-old unmarried woman who was seven months pregnant. Officials reportedly tied her to a bed, induced labor, and killed the newborn upon delivery. In April [2008] population-planning officials in Shandong provinces reportedly detained and beat the sister of a woman who had illegally conceived a second child in an attempt to compel the woman to undergo an abortion."
According to the Congressional-Executive Commission on China report, released on October 31, 2008, "Violators of the [one-child] policy are routinely punished with exorbitant fines, and in some cases, subjected to forced sterilization, forced abortion, arbitrary detention, and torture."
In my opinion, systematic use of forced abortion is a crime against humanity. And now, you and I will be footing the bill.
Just this month, Congress quietly passed $50 million in funding for UNFPA, the United Nations Family Planning Fund. The bill includes language that voids Kemp-Kasten, which for 23 years has stood to prevent US dollars from funding coercive family planning.
The US cut off funding UNFPA in 2001 because an investigation, headed by then Secretary of State Colin Powell, found that UNFPA was complicit with the Chinese Family Planning officials in coercive implementation of China' One-Child Policy. According to our own State Department, as well as Amnesty International, China Aid and others, the implementation of China's One-Child Policy remains coercive.
Why must we fund forced abortion with our tax dollars?
Not only are women dragged out of their homes screaming and pleading in "family planning raids," but the One-Child Policy has also led to many other serious human rights violations. I'll name just three:
1. Gendercide. Because of the traditional preference for boys, most of the aborted babies are girls. There are 120 boys born for every 100 girls born in China, and in some areas the number is as high as 130 boys born for every 100 girls. Since the One-Child Policy was instituted in 1978, 400 million births - greater than the entire population of the United States - have been "prevented." You could say that an entire nation of women is not living in China today because they were selectively aborted before they were born. This is gendercide.
2. Human Trafficking and Sexual Slavery. Because of abortion, abandonment, and infanticide of baby girls, there are an estimated 30 million Chinese men who will never marry because they cannot find wives. This gender imbalance is a powerful, driving force behind trafficking in women and sexual slavery from nations surrounding China. According to the February, 2009 State Department China Report, "Over the past five years, there reportedly was an increase in cross-border trafficking cases, with most trafficked women and girls coming from North Korea, Mongolia and Vietnam. Others came from Burma, Laos, Russia and Ukraine."
3. Female suicide. According to the World Health Organization, China has the highest female suicide rate of any country in the world. Approximately 500 Chinese women commit suicide each day. Forced abortion traumatizes women. Could this high suicide rate be related to forced abortion?
And now, our taxpayer dollars will subsidize forced abortion in China. Think about that when you write your check to Uncle Sam on April 16. Then let President Obama and your Congressional Representatives know what you think. If there's enough of an outcry, Congress can pass an amendment blocking our UNFPA funding from going to nations that practice coercive family planning. China should be excluded from UNFPA funding.
The great 19th century admirer of American democracy, Alexis de Tocqueville once observed, "America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great." May we not lose our goodness, and hence our greatness as a nation by funding forced abortions in China.
EU eyes extending Myanmar sanctions - officials
http://in.reuters.com/article/southAsiaNews/idINIndia-38696420090325
Wed Mar 25, 2009 4:25pm IST
JAKARTA (Reuters) - The European Union will wait until next month before deciding whether to extend sanctions against Myanmar, a special envoy said on Tuesday, although another EU official saw little prospect of them being lifted.
There has been an emerging debate in the international community over policies towards Myanmar after Washington said it was reviewing its policy and conceded that sanctions had not influenced the junta on human rights and democracy.
The EU's special envoy to Myanmar, Piero Fassino, said there had been no decision yet on new sanctions, which expire at the end of April.
"Our attitude about this is in relation with the evolution of the situation. If there will be some positive new steps, we take note," said Fassino, who is on a trip to the region before reporting back to Brussels.
"The European Council many times declared we are ready to change the sanctions if there are some positive steps in (the) direction to obtain our goals," he said, without elaborating.
But another EU official was pessimistic there could be progress within a month to justify lifting sanctions.
"The chances that (the junta) will move in the next month, there is only one month's time, I don't think they're very big," the official told Reuters, asking not to be identified.
The sanctions apply to a long list of Myanmar officials and firms associated with its military rulers.
The EU has been pushing Myanmar to open a dialogue with the opposition, release political prisoners and guarantee elections due in 2010 are free and fair.
The junta, which has ruled the former Burma since 1962, has refused to recognise a 1990 landslide election victory of the opposition National League for Democracy. Its leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been under house arrest for most of the past two decades.
Myanmar has been pursuing its own "roadmap" to democracy, which includes a referendum on an army-drafted constitution.
Western governments have criticised the poll as a sham aimed at entrenching military rule. The 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which Myanmar is a member, has sought to address democratic reforms and human rights issues in the former Burma under a policy of "constructive engagement".
But the EU and Washington have urged ASEAN to put more pressure on their neighbour.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said last month on a trip to the region that the sanctions had not influenced the junta, but also said that trying to engage them had failed.
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Burma key to war on drugs
http://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/13930/burma-key-to-war-on-drugs
Published: 25/03/2009 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: NewsPrime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva is to kick off a new campaign against illegal drugs next week. And there is good reason for the new impetus on the "war on drugs".
In announcing the new campaign, Mr Abhisit cited frightening new evidence that the rate of addiction is rising once again. His figures appear to confirm the general feeling throughout the country that neither drug suppression nor treatment have been adequate. The government must lead the fresh campaign against illicit drugs while keeping in mind that the public will not accept either legal abuses or official violence of the past.
The serious drug problem in today's world has several faces. One of the most important is that the drugs which debase and imperil the country come almost exclusively from outside. Thailand of the past was a drug producer, home to traffickers selling out their country and exporting their illegal products. Today, the country imports virtually all illegal drugs. Chiefly, they come from Burma, where the government appears to do little against one of the world's richest and most prolific trafficking rings. So-called recreational drugs also come from South America and Europe, frequently carried through neighbouring countries along the way.
Mr Abhisit has promised to increase border security as part of the six-month anti-drug programme he will kick off on April 1. Of all the ways to fight drug trafficking, this may be the most difficult and prone to failure. The long and difficult Burmese and Lao borders in particular are virtually impossible to seal. Smugglers detect an effort to guard one portion of border and move to another.
The premier and his anti-drug security forces of the military and police should put more emphasis on gaining information about the drug gangs. Last week, a joint US-Thai operation dealt a significant blow to the narcotics trade when agents arrested some top traffickers and hit them where it really hurts - in their pocketbooks.
Authorities seized more than 117 million baht in cash and goods. The three arrested men, former associates of the late heroin warlord Khun Sa, admitted to having sold 750kg of heroin and methamphetamines in the past year.
The arrested men pinpointed a large drugs laboratory. Close to the Thai border of Tak province, it is reportedly owned by the United Wa State Army, Southeast Asia's biggest and most influential drug cartel. The UWSA thrives in what seems to be the absence of any action against the group by the generals in Burma.
The public backs increased government action against drugs. Weekly surveys by Abac Poll show that drugs have been the top overall concern of viewers of the premier's weekly talk on TV. Mr Abhisit was correct to equate drugs with terrorism and international crime as the chief threats to the country. The prime minister correctly ordered that the war on drugs must adhere to civil and human rights.
Two additional steps are vital to defeat the drug traffickers. The first is to make good on Mr Abhisit's pledge to redirect some anti-drug resources to help addicts and victims. It is as necessary to reduce the demand for drugs as the supply. But the key to reducing supply rests with the military dictators of Burma. Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya was in Burma and agreed to talk about the Burmese concern over the Karen resistance, but without gaining any concessions from the junta on the UWSA. So long as Burma allows drug trafficking to flourish, Thailand and other neighbours will remain at a disadvantage.
Myanmar opposition urges US to talk to junta
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gtK-SdwRWf4Gw5Om2FeG2vaMYKRwD9754CJO1
Hosted by Back to Google News
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Myanmar's opposition party urged the U.S. to open talks with the country's junta, a spokesman said Wednesday, the last day of an American diplomat's visit amid signs of a shifting U.S. approach to the military rulers.
The U.S. is Myanmar's strongest critic and applies political and economic sanctions against the junta for its poor human rights record and failure to hand over power to a democratically elected government.
But President Barack Obama's administration has said it is reviewing its Myanmar policy, which thus far has done little to nudge the junta toward reforms.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has said Washington is "looking at what steps we might take that might influence the current Burmese government and we're also looking for ways that we could more effectively help the Burmese people." Burma is another name for Myanmar.
During a four-day visit, Stephen Blake, director of the State Department's Mainland Southeast Asia office, held talks with senior members of the opposition National League for Democracy, led by Nobel Peace laureate Ang San Suu Kyi.
He told the party that "no decision has been made" about future U.S. policy toward Myanmar, party spokesman Nyan Win said, adding that the party urged the U.S. to initiate talks with the junta.
Blake also met with Myanmar Foreign Minister Nyan Win at the administrative capital of Naypyitaw during the trip, U.S. Embassy spokesman Richard Mei said.
The state-controlled New Light of Myanmar newspaper said Wednesday that Blake and the foreign minister, who is not related to the opposition party spokesman, "discussed issues of mutual interest and promotion of bilateral relations."
Myanmar was Blake's last stop on a tour of Southeast Asia that also took him to Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Thailand, Mei said. He called Blake's Myanmar trip "a fairly routine visit by the person in charge of these countries."
Blake also met other government officials, representatives of the United Nations and private groups, Mei said.
Myanmar has been under military rule since 1962. The current junta came to power in 1988 after crushing pro-democracy demonstrations and killing as many as 3,000 people. It called elections in 1990 but refused to honor the results when Suu Kyi's party won overwhelmingly. Suu Kyi has spent 13 of the last 19 years under house arrest.
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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NDF welcomes mediator role by Thailand to end conflict in Burma
http://www.asiantri bune.com/ oldsite/show_ news.php? id=3089
Asian Tribune - Date : 2003-03-16
The Central executive Committee of the National Democratic Front (NDF) has expressed warm welcome to the Prime Minister of Thailand and his government for the offer to participate in the process of seeking a peaceful solution to the longstanding conflict in Burma as a good neighboring gesture.
In a statement has clearly stated its position on the offer of the Prime Minister of Thailand to play a mediator role between the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) and the armed ethnic groups for the national reconciliation of Burma.
The statement further announced: “The NDF, which is a political alliance and was formed by armed-resistance ethnic groups in 1976, has attempted several times with great efforts in order to solve the problems by political means, but without success. Therefore, the NDF would like to request and encourage to the Prime Minister of Thailand to play mediation and state its willingness to cooperate in such a peaceful process as necessary.”
The full text of the NDF is given below:
(1) It is learned through the Thai newspapers and news agencies after having visited Burma that Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra offered to play mediator between the State Peace and Development Council ( SPDC ) and the armed ethnic groups of Burma.
(2) The NDF warmly welcomes the Prime Minister of Thailand and his government for the offer to participate in the process of seeking a peaceful solution to the longstanding conflict in Burma as a good neighboring gesture.
(3) The NDF, which is a political alliance and was formed by armed-resistance ethnic groups in 1976, has attempted several times with great efforts in order to solve the problems by political means, but without success. Therefore, the NDF would like to request and encourage to the Prime Minister of Thailand to play mediation and state its willingness to cooperate in such a peaceful process as necessary.
(4) However, the NDF believes it is necessary to study and discuss the basic guidelines that the Thai government will employ in these diplomatic negotiations. We also believe that the NDF should be allowed to meet and discuss with the body that will lead negotiations.
(5) Owing to the fate of every ethnic group in Burma depends on achieving real peace and democracy, the NDF welcomes political dialogue leading to the cessation of war and violence in Burma. As the dialogues have been one of the main political objectives of the NDF, this position statement is released in order to work out in accordance with the NDF policy.
http://www.asiantri bune.com/ oldsite/show_ news.php? id=3089
IMF warns global crisis could lead to war
http://www.moneymarketing.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=183168&d=340&h=341&f=342
Leah Milner - 24-Mar-2009
The managing director of the International Monetary Fund has warned that the global financial crisis can exacerbate social unrest in emerging economies and even lead to war.
Speaking at a meeting of the International Labour Organization yesterday, Dominique Strauss-Kahn called for increased co-operation between the IMF and ILO, warning of the dire consequences of allowing the crisis to develop into a "wasteland of unemployment".
He said the international economy could start to recover in 2010, but this is dependent on bold policy decisions, reiterating his call for a global fiscal stimulus of 2 per cent of international GDP.
Strauss-Kahn warned that there are particular dangers in emerging economies, that have been dependent on the international community for capital.
He said:“IMF support in this case is not enough.
"These countries need to rebuild their model and learn to live with less capital inflow. Financial help alone without a change of policy is not useful."
He said that poor countries not only face the risk of unemployment and social unrest, but also threats to democracy and even war.
US State Department official visits Myanmar
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/261400,usstate-department-official-visits-myanmar.html
Posted : Wed, 25 Mar 2009 04:12:08 GMT
Author : DPA
Category : Asia (World)
Asia World News | Home
Yangon - A US State Department official has met with Myanmar's foreign minister to promote bilateral relations with the pariah regime, state media reports said Wednesday. Stephen Blake, director of the State Department's Mainland Southeast Asia Office, met Tuesday with Myanmar Foreign Minister Nyan Win in Naypyitaw, Myanmar TV reported. "He met with Nyan Win and discussed about promoting bilateral relation between Myanmar and America," the state-run channel said.
Blake also met with high officials from other ministries during his visit in Naypyitaw, situated about 350 kilometres north of Yangon, government sources said.
"I was surprised when I heard the news broadcasted on TV," said a retired Myanmar diplomat who asked to remain anonymous.
"Even though he is just a director from State Department, his trip seemed to be significant one because no high-ranking officials from [the] United States have visited here for a long time," the source said.
The US has imposed sanctions on Myanmar in 1988 after the regime launched a brutal crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators that left an estimated 3,000 people dead.
It has not posted a full ambassador to Myanmar for years.
There have been signs that US President Barack Obama may reexamine US policy towards Myanmar in light of the failure of sanctions and tough talk to significantly influence the ruling junta's policies over the past two decades.
US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton during her visit to Indonesia last month that the US was conducting a review on its foreign policy towards Myanmar.
Copyright, respective author or news agency
EU could ease Myanmar sanctions
http://www.eubusiness.com/news-eu/1237969023.15
25 March 2009, 11:53 CET
(JAKARTA) - The European Union could consider easing sanctions on Myanmar at a top meeting next month if it sees democratic progress in the military-ruled nation, the EU's senior Myanmar envoy said Wednesday.
The European Council, the EU's principal decision-making body, could vote for an easing of sanctions if Myanmar's military junta eases restrictions on opponents ahead of elections slated for 2010, Piero Fassino told reporters.
"The European Council many times declared we are ready to change the sanctions, suspend the sanctions, if there are some positive steps in the direction of our goal," Fassino said.
"If in the next month, there is some positive evolution, for example putting in place real democratic guarantees, we'll consider this, we'll reflect how to handle these measures," he said.
The European Council's external relations council is slated to discuss sanctions against Myanmar at the end of April.
Fassino said the EU would only consider the 2010 elections to be free and fair if the government passes fair electoral rules and frees political prisoners, including opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
"It is impossible to achieve a free and fair election if the leader of the opposition is in prison," he said.
Fassino's comments were made at the end of his visit to Indonesia, following meetings with Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda and Association of Southeast Asian Nations secretary general Surin Pitsuwan.
Asian nations including Indonesia, which underwent a turbulent transition from military-led rule to democracy a decade ago, could play a key role in ensuring the fairness of 2010 elections, Fassino said.
Text and Picture Copyright 2009 AFP. All other Copyright 2009 EUbusiness Ltd. All rights reserved. This material is intended solely for personal use. Any other reproduction, publication or redistribution of this material without the written agreement of the copyright owner is strictly forbidden and any breach of copyright will be considered actionable.
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