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BURMA RELATED NEWS - NOVEMBER 29, 2010
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Reuters AlertNet - MYANMAR: Border guard plan could fuel ethnic conflict
Thai ASEAN News Network - New Fighting Sends Burmese Fleeing across Border
Asian Correspondent - No space to practice 'Freedom of Expression' in Burma
Belfast Telegraph - Lily Cole visits Burmese refugees
Asia Times Online - Myanmar forges new trade highway
Scoop.co.nz - Burmese Junta Boot-Stamp Election Result
Việt Nam News - Myanmar, Singapore prepare for AFF Cup
The Washington Times - Suu Kyi seeks to review sanctions on Myanmar
UN News Centre - Visiting UN envoy urges Myanmar authorities to build on recent developments
Bangkok Post - Border traders hope for reopening
Bangkok Post - Mae Hong Son group tours post-election Burma
The Irrawaddy - Suu Kyi Encourages Families of Political Prisoners
The Irrawaddy - Tycoon Zaw Zaw Reportedly Gets Dawei Port Contract
The Irrawaddy - Local Journalists Barred from UN Envoy's Press Conference
DVB News - Suu Kyi hopes for UN dialogue
DVB News - Security tightened in Kachin capital
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Reuters AlertNet - MYANMAR: Border guard plan could fuel ethnic conflict
29 Nov 2010 08:23:27 GMT
Source: IRIN
BANGKOK, 29 November 2010 (IRIN) - Efforts by Myanmar's military government to incorporate that country's numerous armed ethnic groups into a single border guard force will probably lead to further conflict and spawn an influx of refugees into neighbouring countries, analysts and aid workers warn.
Myanmar, [ http://www.irinnews.org/IndepthMain.aspx?reportid=87861&indepthid=82 ] with an estimated population of 57.6 million, is one of the most ethnically diverse countries in Southeast Asia.
"Tensions are building as SPDC [government] troops are trying to control border crossings and incorporate the ethnic groups into a border guard force," K'Nyaw Paw, an advocacy team leader of the Forum of Burma's Community-Based Organizations, said. "We are preparing for more refugees as fighting can happen at any time."
Under Myanmar's military-drafted 2008 Constitution, all armed forces in the country must be placed under central military command - an ambitious undertaking in a country which has over a dozen armed ethnic groups (all but a handful of which have ceasefire agreements with the military government).
To achieve this, the regime has demanded that all of the ceasefire groups be incorporated into a Border Guard Force (BGF), which would entail disarming them, re-supplying them with government-issued weapons and making their troops subordinate to regional Myanmar military commanders.
To date, however, only two groups have agreed: the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) and the National Democratic Army-Kachin.
In August 2009, the refusal to join the BGF by one of the smallest ethnic factions in the country - the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army operating in the Kokang region of northern Shan State - resulted in a military offensive launched by government troops which led to more than 30,000 refugees [ http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?
ReportID=85953 ] fleeing over the border to China.
"The BGF is an indirect order [by the regime] for the ethnic groups to surrender their weapons," said Zin Linn, a Burma analyst who lives in exile in Thailand.
"But without guns, the groups cannot defend their rights and their people so they will hold on to their guns until they gain autonomy and self-determination," he said, adding that armed conflict will almost certainly break out and that refugees fleeing Burma will be "unavoidable".
Earlier this month, fighting broke out between government forces and a breakaway faction of the DKBA which opposes the group's decision to join the BGF.
On 7 November, the day of Myanmar's general elections, DKBA troops of Brigade 5 stormed the town of Myawaddy on the Burmese-Thai border and took over several key positions. Fighting for control of the town the next day led to some 20,000 people [ http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportID=91032 ] fleeing into Thailand, while clashes further south resulted in some 5,000 more refugees.
Although most of these refugees were repatriated to Myanmar within days, some 2,000 remain in hiding on the Myanmar side of the frontier, according to K'Nyaw Paw. "It is very difficult to access and get supplies to these people," she said.
Renewed fighting on 27-28 November between DBKA Brigade 5 troops and government forces has sent some 1,200 more refugees into Thailand, according to reports.
Fear of government offensives
Meanwhile, other groups such as the Kachin Independence Army and the United Wa State Army are preparing for possible military retaliation by the government for refusing to join the BGF, say analysts.
"Fearing that [government troops] may launch another offensive similar to that in Kokang, the major ceasefire groups along the border have been building up their forces," states a recent report [ http://www.crisisgroup.org/~/media/Files/asia/north-east-asia/B112%20Chinas%20Myanmar%20Strategy%20%20Elections%20Ethnic%20Politics%20and%20Economics.ashx ] by the International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based think-tank. "These groups see their weapons as the last source of leverage in their long-running battle for autonomy with the military government."
"Both the Kachin and Wa are recruiting troops, training, and collecting arms and ammunition," said Linn. "They are preparing for war."
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Thai ASEAN News Network - New Fighting Sends Burmese Fleeing across Border
UPDATE : 29 November 2010
With a new round of clashes between Burmese troops and Karen fighters re emerging near the Thai-Burmese border, both sides have beefed up security along the border opposite Thailand's Mae Sot district.
As fighting continues between Burmese troops and the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, or DKBA, three Burmese battalions have fortified areas along the Thai-Burmese border across from Tak's Mae Sot district after gaining control of the DKBA stronghold.
Karen fighters have retreated and regrouped and been putting pressure on the advancing troops by continually bombarding them.
Burmese and Karen villagers from Baan Meerapan, Baan Pharunoi and Pharu villages were forced to flee the violence by crossing the Moei River into Thailand.
Reports suggested that there are now more than 1,200 Burmese refugees in Mae Sot district and officials have set up a temporary refugee camp at Huay Mahawong Temple.
Tak Border Patrol Police Commander Police Major Rinawat Phuwattanatikan has assigned additional forces to safeguard the border and prevent drug traffickers from attempting to smuggle in narcotics.
Mae Sot district chief Kittisak Tomornsak disclosed that the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and other human rights organizations in Mae Sot district have been actively sending aid to the Burmese refugees.
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Asian Correspondent - No space to practice 'Freedom of Expression' in Burma
Nov. 30 2010 - 12:17 am
Zin Linn
Reporters from private journals and periodicals in Burma were inadmissible to be present at a press conference of a United Nation's special envy to Burma held before his departure on 28 November evening, according to sources in Rangoon.
The UN special envoy to Burma, Vijay Nambiar, spoke to foreign reporters inside the international airport in Rangoon at 5 pm. Mr. Nambiar was at closing stage of his two-day visit in which he met with both junta’s officials and recently released democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.
According to media sources, security personnel did not allow almost two dozens domestic correspondents with official press identifications to go into the airport. However, members of the Rangoon foreign correspondents club were allowed to be present at the press conference.
Reporters who were denied access included staff from The Myanmar Times, 7 Day, Venus, The Voice, True News, Weekly Eleven and other news journals.
As said by sources, the military junta's Press Scrutiny and Registration Division (PSRD) informed the journalists about the press conference and it will announce time and place later. But, it was likely a trick for PSRD never gave information on that press conference.
Finally, on the last minute, the matter leaked out and some journalists reached at the airport. Even though, security staff stopped the reporters at the doorway of the press conference. Actually, it is nonsensical action of the authorities as the journalists have their IDs with them. Attending a press conference must be a basic right for the media personnel.
In Burma, not only the political oppositions but also journalists and media personnel are under the junta’s strictest set of laws. Journalism is hazardous work. People still bear in mind that Japanese journalist Kenji Nagai was killed in the 2007 Saffron Revolution. Several citizen journalists are still in prison.
Burma was at the vanguard of press freedom in Southeast Asia before the 1962 military coup. The country then enjoyed a free press; censorship was something unheard of. As many as three dozen newspapers, including English, Chinese and Hindi dailies, existed between 1948 and 1962.
On the contrary, Burma stands downgraded from a free state to a prison state. All news media in Burma is strictly censored and tightly controlled by the military – all daily newspapers, radio and television stations are under supervision of the junta.
Some media related people and some politician have a dream prior of the recently held 7-November election that there may be a space for them in the upcoming parliaments. But, Freedom of speech for members of parliament in Burma will be restricted under laws that state the functioning of the newly elected government.
The restrictions announced on 26 November in an official gazette also set a two-year prison term for any protest staged within the parliament compound. The laws, signed by junta Chief Senior-General Than Shwe, stipulate that parliamentarians will not be allowed freedom of expression even in their respective chambers.
Thus, there will not be a space for not only parliamentarians but also for journalists to practice freedom of expression under the upcoming regime.
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Belfast Telegraph - Lily Cole visits Burmese refugees
Monday, 29 November 2010
Lily Cole has swapped the glamour of the glossies to see the conditions faced by displaced Burmese refugees.
The model and actress visited a camp on the Thailand-Burma border, which is home to 15,000 people, some of whom have lived there for more than 20 years.
Lily, 22, made the trip as part of her role fronting Christian Aid's Christmas appeal which aims to highlight the plight of millions of refugees.
Because of security issues in the camp, she is only the second high-profile figure - after Angelina Jolie - to be allowed to visit the refugees.
Lily, who is studying for a degree at Cambridge University, visited the Nai Soi camp in Mae Hong Son, north east Thailand.
It is one of nine along the border which shelter 145,000 people. Hundreds of thousands have crossed the border to flee Burma but they are confined to the camps and many are unable to earn a living.
Lily said: "Some of the refugees have lived in these camps for 26 years. It's a difficult idea to get my head around.
"The camps offer a refuge for people who have nowhere else in the world to feel safe and secure. If the funds were removed there would be nowhere for them to go. It's frightening.
There wouldn't be this space filled with so many children laughing and playing."
Christian Aid has been working with the Thailand Burma Border Consortium (TBBC) since 1985 providing food and shelter for the refugees.
Among those she met were Su Meh who arrived at the camp in 1996 after her village was razed by the Burmese military. She was given support by TBBC, which provided materials to build a home, and now earns money by weaving.
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Nov 30, 2010
Asia Times Online - Myanmar forges new trade highway
By Clifford McCoy
A multi-billion dollar port and infrastructure deal signed days before Myanmar's general election early this month could signal sweeping changes to the country and the wider region, while also serving as a pointer of how business may prosper under the new "civilian" but still military dominated regime.
The Dawei Development Project agreement between Myanmar and Italian-Thai Development, Thailand's largest construction company, will lead to construction of a deep-sea port and highway linking the two countries, and looks likely to bring to fruition a plan that has been around for more than a decade.
In May 2008, the idea gained new traction when a memorandum of understanding (MOU) was signed by then-Thai foreign minister Noppadon Pattama and Myanmar Foreign Minister Nyan Win on the sidelines of an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) foreign ministers' meeting in Singapore.
This was followed on October 11 this year by an agreement between Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and Myanmar Prime Minister Thein Sein in the Myanmar capital of Naypyidaw following talks on the development of the port as a special economic zone.
On November 2 - five days before the Myanmar elections - a deal was signed for the port and infrastructure project between Premchai Kratasuta, chairman of Italian-Thai Development, and Myanmar Port Authority managing director Thein Htay in Naypyidaw.
Italian-Thai in 2008 won a contract from the Myanmar government to survey and build a road linking Dawei with the central Thai city of Kanchanaburi.
Myanmar state media announced at the same time as the signing of the latest deal that a 40,000 hectare plot around Dawei would become Myanmar's first special economic zone (SEZ). In exchange for developing the project, the Myanmar government has granted Italian-Thai import duty exemptions, a 75-year concession to build and operate the heavy industrial portion of the project and a 40-year concession for the light industry part. The concessions can later be extended or revert to Myanmar control. Some observers say the entire project could be worth more than US$58 billion, making it Myanmar's largest singe investment project.
The Dawei Development Project consists of three phases: the construction of a transportation corridor to Thailand as well as roads linking the public utilities and facilities in the industrial zone; the port; and the industrial estate. The first stage is expected to take five years and the final two stages are expected to take another five years with total project completion expected in 2020.
Construction on an eight-lane highway linking the port to the central Thai city of Kanchanaburi is already underway and work is expected to begin on the port in Myanmar in January. Italian-Thai has said the first phase of the project will cost $8 billion with financing already secured from an unnamed private bank. The Thai government is also contributing $60 million toward the highway. The highway from the port will lead 130 kilometers to the Thai border, then on to Kanchanaburi. A rail line will be built parallel to the new road.
Construction plans for Dawei port, the second phase of the project, allow for 22 wharves capable of handling up to 25 vessels at a time of from 20,000 to 50,000 tonnes. Other sources say the port will be capable of handling vessels as large as 300,000 tonnes.
The third phase of the project is the construction of a 40,500-hectare industrial estate. Once completed, the estate will have seven zones; port and heavy industry, petroleum and chemical complex, upstream and downstream petrochemical complex, medium industry, light industry, and a town with homes, public facilities and a commercial complex.
The new port will be offer a shortcut between Europe and the Middle East and Asia. Cargo unloaded at Dawei will avoid the necessity of transiting the Malacca Strait. Several thousand kilometers and up to 10 days could be cut from transit times, lowering transportation costs.
The new port connects with the three economic corridors of the Asian Development Bank's Greater Mekong Sub-Region development project, which aims to create links between the economies of mainland Southeast Asia and China.
Through Myanmar's road network, goods can be shipped north to Moulmein where it intersects the East-West Economic Corridor (EWEC) through Moulmein, the Myanmar border town of Myawaddy and its Thai counterpart, Mae Sot, through Thailand to Savanakhet in Laos and finally the Vietnamese port of Danang.
To the east, the new transport corridor connects through Bangkok with both the Southern Economic Corridor (SEC) and the North-South Economic Corridor (NSEC). The SEC connects Bangkok with Phnom Penh and the port of Sihanoukville in Cambodia and Ho Chi Minh City and Vung Tau port in Vietnam. The NSEC links southwestern China and Thailand by routes passing through northern Myanmar and Laos. China is currently funding and facilitating the construction of a railway from Kunming through Laos to the Thai railhead at Nong Khai.
These links represent important trade routes for Chinese goods from its landlocked southwest. They also provide a more rapid route for Vietnamese, Cambodia and Thai goods to Europe by avoiding the journey around Singapore. Plans have also been proposed for a Chinese funded railway linking the new port with China directly through Myanmar.
Support for the project was given a boost by the five members of the Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS) which met for their fourth summit on November 17 in Phnom Penh. ACMECS is a working framework covering Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam aimed at bridging economic gaps between the countries. The group agreed to support the development of a so-called South-South Economic Corridor linking Dawei port with southern Thailand and Malaysia. The route would be linked by rail to the China-Laos railway and a $6.6 billion Chinese-funded railway project from Nong Khai through Bangkok to Padang Besar in northern Malaysia.
Thailand seems to have the most to gain from the Dawei project. Bangkok has aspirations of becoming a regional transportation hub. Thailand remains as Myanmar's top investor as of mid-2010 with some $10.3 billion in projects.
Several Thai companies are involved as sub-contractors or have expressed interest in becoming involved in the project. Amata Corporation has been named as the developer of the industrial estate for which, together with Italian-Thai, the company has carried out a two-year feasibility study. A subsidiary of state-owned PTT Chemical, Thai Tank Terminal, has also expressed interested in operating a storage terminal near the port. Siam Cement Group, Thailand's third-largest company by market value, is also interested in setting up a cement plant at the port. Bangkok Bank is reportedly interested in offering loans for the project.
Contributing reasons for such interest in developing the port are cheap labor and the lax or non-existent environmental laws in Myanmar. Recent environmental laws in Thailand sparked by public concern have slowed expansion of the country's Map Ta Phut petrochemical complex.
A proposal for a project to expand Pak Bara port in Satun province on Thailand's west coast and link via a land bridge to the port of Songkhla on the eastern coast failed to win approval from the office of the National Economic and Social Development Board after protests against the plan in July.
Italian-Thai is seeking investment partners for the Myanmar project and investors from Japan, Taiwan, China, India and South Korea have all reportedly shown interest. The Bangkok Post reported on November 14 that Abhisit sought support for the project on the sidelines of the Group of 20 meeting in Toronto in June. He reportedly encouraged Chinese companies to invest in projects in Amata's planned industrial estate.
For Myanmar, the benefits will come in the form of tens of thousands of jobs that will become available for construction of the project as well as later in the factories and refineries. Myanmar's government will benefit directly from a profit-sharing agreement with Italian-Thai, although the exact terms have not yet been made public.
Not all predictions for the Dawei port project are rosy. Proving the efficiency of these links will be important. Singapore port's proven efficiency could be a problem for the new port. In order to convince shippers that they will truly be saving time and money through the use of Dawei, goods will have to be processed and transshipped to truck and rail carriers speedily. Much also depends on the quality of the rail and road links slated to connect to the port.
Myanmar's road networks are notoriously bad. The portion of the EWEC from the Thai border, funded by Thailand and under construction by Thai companies, is still far from complete after several years of construction.
The routes also run through territory where guerrillas from the Karen National Union operate. They have been largely quiet in the past few years, but renewed pressure on the ethnic groups after the recent elections could result in renewed fighting. The New Mon State Party (NMSP) also has troops in the area. The NMSP's relationship with the government is tenuous after it rejected the regime's plan earlier this year to convert its armed wing into a Border Guard Force under army control before the November 7 elections.
In an example of what could happen, rebel soldiers took over the major border crossing at Myawaddy and a lesser one at Three Pagodas Pass on November 7. The road linking Myawaddy with Moulmein, part of the EWEC, has been the scene of insurgent ambushes in the past and a new route from Dawei could be equally as dangerous as it passes through territory where both the insurgent Karen National Union and the NMSP operate.
There are also concerns about possible human rights violations associated with the project. Numerous human rights reports in the early and mid-1990s detailed the use of tens of thousands of villagers as forced labor on an extension of the Myanmar rail network from the town of Ye to Dawei. Human rights groups allege villagers, including women and children, were forced to work without pay, denied medical attention and beaten and raped by soldiers.
The construction of the Yadana gas pipeline to Thailand by oil and gas companies Total of France and Unocal the United States in the same area drew even more criticism. Extensive documentation of human rights abuses linked to the project during its construction between 1995 and 1998 was produced by rights organizations. A court case in the United States against Unocal was settled out of court for an undisclosed amount of money. Unocal was later bought by Chevron.
Rights groups allege civilians were forcibly relocated to make way for the project and a security corridor around it without compensation. They were also conscripted for forced labor supporting the numerous battalions brought into the area to provided security for the oil companies and the pipeline. According to environmental and human rights organization EarthRights International, some 36,000 villagers were relocated to secure a corridor for the pipeline.
The Independent Mon News Agency, an exile media group, has already reported that its sources indicate the Dawei port project will be constructed where five villages are currently located. Although the inhabitants of the villages have yet to receive orders to relocate, in Myanmar where the government has a history of relocating people for "development" projects with little to no compensation, there is much worry.
The Dawei Development Project, if managed correctly, could be a boon for Myanmar as well as the region. However, as it seems to be shaping up, the project appears based on motives of exploiting Myanmar's cheap labor and environmental laws. While the jobs may be welcome, in the long run it may only be regional companies and Myanmar's generals who profit.
Clifford McCoy is a freelance journalist.
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Scoop.co.nz - Burmese Junta Boot-Stamp Election Result
Monday, 29 November 2010, 4:09 pm
Press Release: Terry Evans
Burma's "thought police" have wasted no time in imposing new laws to restrict freedom of speech for Members of Parliament in the new government.
Earlier this month, the military's political arm - the Union Solidarity and Development Party - swept to power in a sham election, controlled by the military and directly supervised by the army.
The new laws, signed by junta supremo General Than Shwe, ensure that the military retains power behind the scenes, as well as in parliament. They specify that parliamentarians will be allowed freedom of expression, unless their speeches "endanger national security, the unity of the country or violate the constitution". They also stipulate a two-year prison term for those who stage protests inside parliament grounds.
So, in Burma, George Orwell's words ring true: "Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past."
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Last update 29/11/2010 09:50:16 AM (GMT+7)
Việt Nam News - Myanmar, Singapore prepare for AFF Cup
VietNamNet Bridge – Myanmar men's football team had their first training session in Ha Noi yesterday, Nov 28, four days before playing against host Viet Nam in the ASEAN Football Championship.
As scheduled, Myanmar meet Viet Nam in the opening match in group B, which also includes Singapore and the Philippines, at My Dinh National Stadium on Thursday.
"We want to familiarise ourselves with the weather in Ha Noi. That's the reason we came here earlier," said the team coach, Tin Myint Aung.
"I cannot predict the match result between Viet Nam and Myanmar. We have been disqualified from group competition many times and we'll try out best to advance to the semi-final," he added.
Three-time champion Singapore, an archrival of Viet Nam, also arrived in Ha Noi yesterday.
Viet Nam and Indonesia will co-host the championship, known as the AFF-Suzuki Cup, on December 1-29.
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The Washington Times - Suu Kyi seeks to review sanctions on Myanmar
Asks how curbs affect people
By Ashish Kumar Sen
6:50 p.m., Sunday, November 28, 2010
Democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi wants to review the consequences of sanctions on her country, Myanmar, before she can determine whether these curbs need to be lifted or focused more sharply.
In a phone interview with The Washington Times from Yangon on Friday, Mrs. Suu Kyi said her National League for Democracy (NLD) party is "prepared to review the situation to find out if our people had really been hurt by the sanctions, and if they had been, in what way."
"We want to know if it's really time for sanctions to be lifted, or it's time for sanctions to be adapted," she said.
Mrs. Suu Kyi, who spent 15 of the past 21 years in detention, was released from house arrest on Nov. 13.
Last year, she sent a letter to Myanmar's ruling military generals suggesting that the NLD, the country's largest opposition party, may cooperate with them to bring about an end to sanctions.
The NLD periodically reviews the effectiveness of sanctions.
"If we find that the sanctions are only hurting the people and that there is no positive outcome as a result of the sanctions, then certainly we would consider calling on those who have imposed sanctions to think whether it is not time to stop them," Mrs. Suu Kyi said.
"But it is not as simple as all that," she said. "There are many, many aspects of sanctions undertaken by our supporters because they wanted to help us achieve the democratic process. So it is not as easy as saying, 'Well, we think that it's time for sanctions to be lifted.' "
While the Obama administration has initiated a senior-level diplomatic dialogue with Myanmar's authorities, sanctions continue to be an important tool of U.S. policy.
In July, a measure to extend sanctions on Myanmar sailed through Congress: The House passed the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act of 2003 in a voice vote, and it garnered the support of 99 of the Senate's 100 members.
A congressional source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity citing the sensitive nature of the matter, said several members of Congress are looking to Mrs. Suu Kyi for guidance.
"If they see her taking a more pragmatic and conciliatory approach, it would create a lot more space for a more flexible position" in Congress on sanctions, the congressional source said.
Mrs. Suu Kyi doesn't think there is anything wrong with the two-pronged U.S. approach toward Myanmar, which also is known as Burma.
"I think engagement is a good thing. Whether or not it has an effect on the generals is something that you must ask [U.S. officials]," she said.
A U.S. official, who spoke on background citing the sensitive nature of the matter, said the sanctions provide an important source of leverage for influencing the regime's behavior.
The Obama administration intends to keep the sanctions in place until Myanmar's regime releases all political prisoners, ends attacks against ethnic groups and establishes a meaningful dialogue with opposition groups, the U.S. official said.
Human rights groups estimate that Myanmar is holding 2,100 political prisoners.
Mrs. Suu Kyi said the international community must work in coordination to be effective in dealing with Myanmar's military rulers. "That would help a great deal. I think at the moment there are different policies with regard to Myanmar and it does detract from the eventual effectiveness of various initiatives," she said.
China, India and Thailand and other countries have engaged Myanmar's military rulers with an eye on the country's vast natural resources.
This engagement raises the question whether the U.S. has diminished its influence in Myanmar and made its people more dependent on their neighbors, particularly China, the congressional source said.
In an address to India's Parliament in New Delhi this month, President Obama urged India to condemn the violation of human rights and suppression of peaceful democratic movements in Myanmar.
The junta barred the NLD from participating in the Nov. 7 elections, which the U.S. declared a sham.
The party won the last election in 1990 by a landslide, but the military prevented it from ruling.
Ahead of this year's election, the military imposed laws that forced political parties to expel members with criminal records, including political prisoners such as Mrs. Suu Kyi. The NLD was dissolved after it refused to abide by these laws.
Mrs. Suu Kyi, a Nobel peace laureate, said her party did not take part in the elections because it didn't think the rules and regulations were fair.
The NLD has since set up a committee to look into allegations of irregularities and vote-rigging.
Last week, Myanmar's supreme court refused to hear Mrs. Suu Kyi's lawsuit challenging the decision to dissolve the NLD.
Mrs. Suu Kyi said she intends to appeal the court's decision but is not confident that she will get justice.
"We have had much experience in the past to indicate that we don't get free and fair hearings. But still, since we believe in the rule of law, we will pursue this case as far as possible," she said. "At the same time, the survival of the NLD does not depend on any court of law; it depends on the will of the people."
Mrs. Suu Kyi expects the NLD will continue to play the role of a "very, very strong opposition force" and wants the party to broaden its engagement with pro-democracy forces within Myanmar.
"What people don't seem to realize is that we have had restrictions placed on the party for the last 20 years. That is nothing new for us," she said. "What is new is that we have a far larger circle of supporters than we used to have in the past."
As for the role of the army in politics, Mrs. Suu Kyi said she was open to the idea of a "transition period in which we would have to think of ways of bridging over our differences in gradual stages."
"We know that transition will take time and it will have to go in stages," she said.
She said it was too early to tell whether her release is a sign that the regime of Senior Gen. Than Shwe is having a change of heart.
"I have been released from house arrest before and then put back in. So I think it is a little too early to say whether there has been real a softening," she said.
Although she has expressed her readiness for reconciliation talks with the junta, the generals have not reciprocated.
"If they had reached out to us, we would have grasped their hands," Mrs. Suu Kyi said.
Mrs. Suu Kyi said her life has turned "very, very hectic" since her release. Despite being freed from the confines of her home, she hasn't had time to venture out of Yangon. Her days have been packed with meetings and interviews.
On Saturday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's chief of staff, Vijay Nambiar, met her at her home in Yangon.
She also had an emotional reunion with her younger son, Kim.
"Seeing my son again was very, very nice and happy and lovely and all the nice words I can think of," Mrs. Suu Kyi said.
She said she has been struck by the large number of young NLD supporters.
"The proportion of young people among our supporters was not this high and they were not this enthusiastic" before she was put under house arrest, Mrs. Suu Kyi said.
She attributed the trend to the fact that "more and more people [in Myanmar] have come to realize that there is a need for change."
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UN News Centre - Visiting UN envoy urges Myanmar authorities to build on recent developments
28 November 2010 – A United Nations envoy on Sunday encouraged Myanmar authorities to build on recent developments towards democracy and national reconciliation, and to address concerns about the recent elections.
Vijay Nambiar, the Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Myanmar, said he listened to as many parties as possible about their hopes, expectations and concerns at this “critical juncture� for the country's future direction.
“In this process, strong concerns were expressed by many parties about the process and outcome of the recent elections, which I have urged the Government and the Union Election Commission to address as transparently as possible. This is important for laying the foundation of a credible transition,� he told reporters in Yangon at the end of a two-day visit.
The 7 November election, the first to be held in the country in 20 years, was part of a Government-designed timetable towards greater democratization. However, the polls drew strong concern, including from Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon who said the vote was held in conditions that were “insufficiently inclusive, participatory and transparent.�
During his visit, Mr. Nambiar, who is also Chief of Staff for the Secretary-General, met with pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was recently released after being under house arrest for much of the past two decades, and members of her party, the National League for Democracy.
He also met with representatives of some of the major political parties who participated in the 7 November polls and members of civil society groups.
“The United Nations has respected the position of all parties regarding the elections. It now encourages them to work constructively for the national interest. In order to succeed, any political transition should be broad-based and inclusive, and involve not only those who participated and won seats in the election, but also those who did not or could not,� said Mr. Nambiar.
In this connection, he called for the release of the estimated 2,200 political prisoners still detained in the country.
Mr. Nambiar, whose visit was carried out at the invitation of the Government and in continuation of the good offices dialogue between the UN and Myanmar, reaffirmed the world body's long-term commitment to continue to work with the Government and people of Myanmar in their efforts to address the political, humanitarian and developmental challenges facing their country.
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Bangkok Post - Border traders hope for reopening
Recent ethnic skirmishes have failed to dampen rising Thailand-Burma commercial sentiment, as no serious strife has occurred for more than a decade and most area residents are business-focused.
Published: 29/11/2010 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: Business
Border trade between Thailand and Burma will likely continue to remain strong despite the small skirmishes of recent weeks as demand for goods and services from both sides of the border is resilient.
Wiroon Khampilo, the president of the Chiang Rai Chamber of Commerce, said border trade and tourism between Thailand and Burma were positive, particularly at the Mae Sai-Tachilek checkpoint. There have been no serious border skirmishes there between ethnic rebels and Burmese government troops for over 10 years.
Goods exported to Burma from Chiang Rai include oil, petrol, whisky, coffee and equipment. Imports are logs, beans and cashew nuts.
Mr Wiroon said Burma wanted to maintain peace and build a stronger economy.
"Most people focus on trading and business, so the border situation does not really affect their lives," he said. "Reconciliation would create a bright outlook for trade."
The volume of trade through Mae Sai-Tachilek rose by 56% from January to September over the same period last year. Thailand exported as much as seven billion baht worth of goods, consumer products and necessities to Burma, while imports at the checkpoint only totalled 100 million baht.
"We want to improve business by extending the checkpoints' hours of operation," he said.
The chamber initiated the proposal and it will be officially announced on Jan 1.
Arun Jargota, the owner of Mae Sai-based Laksamee stores, said overall trade and tourism were improving.
"More goods are coming from Mae Sot in Tak to Mae Sai in Chiang Rai due to the Mae Sot-Myawaddy checkpoint closure," he said.
"We will likely lose the Thai markets in Burma to China. We have been trading with Burma for a long time, but Thai exports to Burma will likely drop due to southern China's interference."
Burma closed the Mae Sot-Myawaddy crossing on July 18 after accusing Thailand of building an embankment on the Moei River to alter the common border line. Clashes between Burmese troops and Karen rebels earlier this month further increased security concerns and curbed trading.
Tak Chamber of Commerce president Banphot Korkiartcharoen does not know when the checkpoint there will reopen.
He said he did not believe the general election and the release of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi would do much for Thailand-Burma border trade one way of the other and called for help from others to reopen the border.
Local jewellers and restaurant owners said business was sluggish.
Mahataya Kasem, the owner of Angel Gems jewellery shop, said businesses at the Mae Sot shopping centre on the Moei river banks were suffering.
However, she still believes her business will improve because the area is renowned for quality gems.
"New Year is a good time for jewellery sales, and we hope that the Thai and Burmese governments will reopen the border crossing in time for festivities," she said.
Exports include oil, palm oil, used motorcycles, construction materials, fuel, diesel, petrol and consumer products, while imports involve furniture, wood, red onions, cows, clothes and seafood.
"Local people near the Tak border are conducting business through personal contacts despite the closure," she said.
Prasobsuk Puangsakorn, the director of the Bank of Thailand's Northern Regional Office, said the region's border exports grew fast in the third quarter.
Import values in the North fell by 2.4% following a sharp decline in imports of vegetables, fruits and capital goods.
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Bangkok Post - Mae Hong Son group tours post-election Burma
Published: 29/11/2010 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: Business
Supoj Klinpraneet, the president of the Mae Hong Son Chamber of Commerce, led the 30-member group of businessmen from the province's trading, agricultural and tourism businesses on the five-day official visit following the release of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
The members travelled by Burma's Air Bagan from Chiang Mai to Rangoon, and also attended the 500th anniversary celebrations of Taungoo City, 220 km north of Rangoon.
Mr Supoj said it was too early to predict the future of Burma or the extent of political change and policy after the military-ruled country's first election in 20 years. "But for trade and tourism, a bright outlook is expected," he said.
"In fact, Burma's internal affairs policy is going to change for a new and better image among the international countries that used to boycott it."
Members of the chamber and the Mae Hong Son Tourist Business Association met with members of Burmese chambers of commerce on trade and tourism collaboration during the trip.
One of their main goals was to follow up and seek clear co-operation on a Thailand-Burma plan to upgrade the Ban Ton Noon border pass in Khun Yuam district of Mae Hong Son to a permanent checkpoint for trade and tourism between the two countries.
"The road cut from Huay Ton Noon border pass in Thailand to Burma's new capital, Naypyidaw, is only 200 kilometres, which is the shortest route," said Mr Supoj.
"So on this trip, we also want to [create more links] with other trade and tourism cities on the future route."
Mr Supoj said that Taungoo was a great ancient city with unspoiled traditions, and rich in natural resources, offering good travel potential.
The trip also featured the signing of an agreement between the Mae Hong Son Tourist Business Association and the Union of Myanmar Travel Association on tourism co-operation, as well as an agricultural collaboration agreement between the Mae Hong Son Chamber of Commerce and the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
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The Irrawaddy - Suu Kyi Encourages Families of Political Prisoners
By KO HTWE Monday, November 29, 2010
When Aung San Suu Kyi, accompanied by her son, met with more than 70 family members of Burma's political prisoners at a Monday afternoon ceremony offering alms to monks, seeing the recently released pro-democracy leader reunited with her son provided encouragement to the group, said family members of prisoners.
“I feel very happy for Suu Kyi and her son, and I hope that soon I can also meet with my own daughter and grandchild,� said Su Su Kyi, the mother of 88 Generation Students member
Thet Thet Aung, who is serving a 65-year prison term in Myingyan Prison, 396 miles from Rangoon, for her involvement in the 88 Generation Students movement.
Thet Thet Aung's husband, Chit Ko Lay, also a member of the pro-democracy group, was sentenced to 11 years and is serving his term in Pakkoku prison.
“I felt happy when I met with Suu Kyi and her son. It was like meeting with my own family,� said the mother of Dee Nyein Lin, who was charged with taking part in anti-government demonstrations and establishing an illegal organization and is serving a 15-year, six-month sentence in Hkamti Prison, Sagaing Division.
“When I meet with my own son, I don’t know how to express my happiness,� said Dee Nyein Li.
Nyunt Nyunt Oo, the mother of imprisoned 88 Generation Students member Pannate Tun, said that Suu Kyi told the group to take care of their imprisoned family members' health.
Suu Kyi also said the family members of political prisoners must continue their education despite financial problems, and promised to provide more details within one month about potential assistance, she said.
“Suu Kyi’s happiness was obvious on her face when she met with her son,� Nyunt Nyunt Oo said, adding that while she has the chance to meet and talk with her own son once every three months, Suu Kyi hadn't met with her son for a decade.
Pannate Tun is serving a 65-year sentence in remote Bhamo prison in Kachin State for his involvement in the anti-government uprising in 2007, as are many other leaders and prominent members of the 88 Generation Students group, including Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi, Htay Win Aung aka Pyone Cho, Mya Aye and Kyaw Min Yu.
“When my son was first imprisoned, I felt very sad. But the second time made me more mature,� said Nyunt Nyunt Oo. “The feeling depends on how mature you are.�
The alms ceremony, which took place in Pannitayama monastery in Bahan Township, marked the third anniversary of the death of the mother of Htay Kwe, an imprisoned leader of the 88 Generation Students group, who is currently serving a 65-year sentence in remote Buthitaung Prison in Arakan State.
During her first public speech following her release, Suu Kyi asked people to pray for the release of the more than 2,000 political prisoners currently held by the military regime.
According to the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners-Burma, there are 2,203 political prisoners in Burma.
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The Irrawaddy - Tycoon Zaw Zaw Reportedly Gets Dawei Port Contract
By WAI MOE Monday, November 29, 2010
A US-sanctioned crony of the Burmese junta, Zaw Zaw, has reportedly been granted major construction work on the Dawei deep-sea port, a US $8.6 billion project mainly financed by neighboring Thailand.
Business sources in Rangoon said Zaw Zaw’s Max Myanmar Group of Companies got a green light from the military junta for building Burma’s largest port and industrial area because he is a favored business associate of junta head Snr-Gen Than Shwe and a handful of other top generals.
“Even the top tycoon, Tay Za, has said that Zaw Zaw could be richer than him,� said a source, adding that Zaw Zaw has became very close to Than Shwe and other top generals, and the junta head warmly calls him “Phoe Zaw,� a nickname used for a near family member.
Photographs in the Burmese state media showed that Zaw Zaw accompanied Than Shwe on his recent state visit to China in September along with Than Shwe’s family members and senior officials of the junta.
During the trip Than Shwe visited the Shenzhen economic zone. Than Shwe said that he wanted the Dawei port project to be like the Shenzhen economic zone, the International Herald Tribune quoted the president of the Italian-Thai Development conglomerate as saying.
The Dawei Port project was approved by the junta on Nov. 2 in Naypyidaw. The junta's Secretary-1 ex-Gen Tin Aung Myint Oo witnessed the signing ceremony between Thailand’s Italian-Thai Development Co Ltd and the Myanma Port Authority.
However, The New Light of Myanmar reported at the time that the two country's agreed on the Dawei deep seaport, industrial estate and road and rail link to Thailand during a meeting of foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations on May 19, 2008, shortly after the Cyclone Nargis disaster.
The project, which will cover 250-square kilometers, is to be implemented in three phases over a 10-year period and is “the first-ever special economic zone in Myanmar,� according to Burmese media reports.
Reports in the international press have expressed concern that the port project would damage the environment and lead to forced relocation in the project area. The International Herald Tribune on Friday quoted Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva as saying, “Some industries are not suitable to be located in Thailand. That is why they decided to set it up there.�
Reporters in Rangoon tried to write articles on the naming of the Max Myanmar Group of Companies, but the Burmese censorship board, the Press Scrutiny and Registration Division (PSRD), rejected the articles, according to Rangoon journalists.
Zaw Zaw and the Max Myanmar Group of Companies were also involved in the construction of the junta’s new capital of Naypyidaw in the mid-2000s.
Zaw Zaw is also close to ex-Gen Tin Aung Myint Oo. Zaw Zaw and his so-called “business adopted son,� Zaw Win Shine, were with Tin Aung Myint Oo when he arrived at Singapore's Changi International Airport in April on a medical trip, said a Burmese national in Singapore, who witnessed Tin Aung Myint Oo's arrival.
Zaw Zaw and his business networks were added to the US targeted sanctions list in January 2009 along with other junta business associates.
“Zaw Zaw is the managing director of the Max Myanmar Group of Companies, a Burmese entity with interests in the gem, timber, construction, and tourism industries,� the US Department of Treasury described Zaw Zaw in a statement. “Max Myanmar has provided important services in support of the Burmese junta, particularly in the form construction projects.�
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The Irrawaddy - Local Journalists Barred from UN Envoy's Press Conference
Monday, November 29, 2010
Journalists from private media groups in Burma were not allowed to attend a press conference of a United Nation's special envy to Burma held before his departure on Sunday evening, according to sources.
Vijay Nambiar, the chief of staff for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, spoke to foreign reporters inside the international airport in Rangoon about 5 pm, as he was ending a two-day visit in which he met with both government officials and recently released pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Sources said about 20 domestic reporters with official press credentials were not allowed to enter the airport by security personnel. Members of the Rangoon-based foreign correspondents club, however, were permitted to attend the press conference, they said.
On Sunday, the military regime's Press Scrutiny and Registration Division (PSRD) reportedly informed news journals that the UN special envoy would hold a press conference and the time and place would be announced later.
“Of course reporters were very interested in such an event and hopeful that they would be able to attend,� said a Rangoon-based reporter.
He said the PSRD never informed them, but they were able to learn the location and time. However, security personnel blocked their access to the press conference.
“Security was just an excuse. Reporters should be allowed to get in if they can identify themselves. Reporters from foreign media were allowed, but those from domestic media weren't. That's intentional and mean,� said an editor from a Rangoon-based news journal.
Reporters who were denied access included staff from The Myanmar Times, 7 Day, Venus, The Voice, True News, Weekly Eleven and other news journals.
“We face difficulties in collecting news because the army, police and local authorities all restrict us from doing so. Even if we have news, we have to go through the PSRD before we publish it. We are working under very tight control. The situation may become worse when the new government lead by the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) takes office,� said a reporter, who asked to remain anonymous.
The PSRD suspended nine private journals last week for publishing news about Aung San Suu Kyi that did not follow its guidelines.
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DVB News - Suu Kyi hopes for UN dialogue
By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Published: 29 November 2010
A senior UN official said yesterday that he had urged the Burmese government to address concerns over the country’s recent elections, which were widely dismissed as a sham.
Vijay Nambiar, the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s chief of staff, said at the end of his two-day Burma visit that “strong concerns were expressed by many parties about the process and outcome of the recent elections�.
He said he had urged the government and the election commission to address these “as transparently as possible�.
“This is important for laying the foundation of a credible transition� to democracy, he added, saying he had also called for the release of Burma’s political prisoners, believed to number more than 2,000.
The junta’s political proxy has claimed an overwhelming victory in the controversial 7 November poll – Burma’s first in two decades – amid opposition complaints of cheating and voter intimidation.
Critics say the vote was a charade aimed at preserving the rule of the military junta, and Ban has said the poll was “insufficiently inclusive, participatory and transparent�.
During his visit, Nambiar also met members of the opposition movement including Aung San Suu Kyi, who was released from seven years of house arrest on 13 November, less than a week after the election.
The democracy icon, detained for much of the past 20 years and sidelined during the poll, said on Saturday that the discussion had been enlightening but hoped it was the first of many.
“I think we may need many and frequent meetings to sort out all the problems that… the United Nations is dealing with at the moment in Burma,� she said.
Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party boycotted the vote because of rules that appeared to exclude the dissident from participating and was subsequently disbanded by the junta. The party won the previous vote in 1990 but was never allowed to take power.
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DVB News - Security tightened in Kachin capital
Published: 29 November 2010
Privately-owned shops are being forced to close and visitors restricted from moving around Kachin state capital Myitkyina as the Burmese army ups pressure on a ceasefire group there.
Around 30 shops were forced to close over the weekend, a Myitkyina resident told DVB. The majority of these were near to a Burmese army outpost and military training school.
“Apparently [it was done] for internal security in the army – to prevent being [sabotaged] whilst waging war at the frontline,� the man said. Tension is high between the ruling junta and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), which has refused to transform into a pro-government border militia.
He added that commander-level army officials were not allowed to bring visitors to the outpost, while all civilians were banned from entering.
It follows heavy fighting earlier this month in Karen state, when forces from a breakway faction of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) captured key government positions in Myawaddy.
Last week an order was sent from Naypyidaw to the headquarters of the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO), the political wing of the KIA, ordering it to close down all but three of its offices in the northern Burmese state. A key trade route that serviced KIA territory with goods from China was also blocked by the military.
That followed the death of two Burmese army troops, who were killed on 22 November after stepping on a landmine allegedly laid by the KIA. The incident has ratcheted up animosity between KIA and the junta, who agreed a ceasefire in the mid-1990s that now appears tenuous.
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Tuesday, November 30, 2010
BURMA RELATED NEWS - NOVEMBER 29, 2010-TIN KYI
BURMA 2010 ELECTION RECAP by ALTSEAN-BN 2010/1077: November 26, 2010
L T S E N
B U R M A
A L T E R N A T I V E A S E A N N E T W O R K O N B U R M A
c amp a i g n s , a d v o c a c y & c a p a c i t y - b u i l d i n g f o r h uma n r i g h t s & d emo c r a c y
P O B O X 2 9 6 , L A R D P R A O P O S T O F F I C E , B A N G K O K 1 0 3 1 0 , T H A I L A N D
TEL 081 850 9008 [6681] 850 9008 EMAIL publications@altsean.org WEB www.altsean.org
BN 2010/1077: November 26, 2010
BURMA 2010 ELECTION RECAP
Election Day
Widespread evidence of electoral fraud, irregularities, threats, harassment, and lack of independent
monitoring characterized Election Day and the days leading up to it:
• In the days before the election, local SPDC officials, polling station officials, and Union Solidarity
and Development (USDP) members throughout the country solicited advance and proxy votes, in the
overwhelming majority of cases specifically for the USDP.
• In many races, the addition of large numbers of advance votes for the USDP tipped the balance in
favor of its candidates.
• Local SPDC officials, Election Sub-commission members, polling station officials, and USDP
members harassed, detained, and discriminated against members and supporters of “opposition”
parties and prevented them from monitoring the vote.
• SPDC officials and members of local Election Sub-commissions actively campaigned for USDP
candidates. USDP members campaigned in the vicinity of - and sometimes inside - polling stations, in
direct violation of the SPDC election laws.
• Polling station officials failed to act in a professional, transparent, and impartial manner. In many
cases, polling station officials denied voters the right to vote and invalidated votes for “opposition”
parties.
• Booths at polling stations did not allow voters sufficient privacy to cast their votes. Ballot boxes at
polling stations were not adequately secured.
• Large numbers of voters in ethnic nationality areas found that their names were not on the voter rolls
when they went to the polling station.
• SPDC officials and USDP supporters threatened and harassed journalists and reporters trying to cover
the vote. Police in Myawaddy, Karen State, detained a Japanese journalist.
• The SPDC refused to allow international and domestic observers to monitor all polling activities.
• At least six political parties filed complaints with the SPDC Election Commission. Various party
leaders said that they would not recognize the election results due to alleged fraud and irregularities.
Reactions
The election process was met by widespread condemnation inside and outside Burma, with the
significant exception of ASEAN and China:
• Democratic Party (Myanmar) Executive Secretary Cho Cho Kyaw Nyein said the “ugliest and most
extreme level of vote-stealing took place.”
• National Democratic Force (NDF) Chairman Than Nyein said the party “never expected” the polls to
be free and fair but that the restrictions were “far more than we anticipated.”
• NDF leader Khin Maung Swe said that with the large scale advance voting by the USDP “possibly,
there will be a boycott of the poll results due to these incidents.”
• Rakhine Nationals Progressive Party Chairman Aye Maung said that if the USDP won, “ethnic and
other pro-democracy parties will boycott the election results.”
• All Mon Region Democracy Party spokesperson Nai Nwe said that if they lost the election, than “it
means the government has cheated.”
2
• UN Sec-Gen Ban Ki-moon said the “voting was held in conditions that were insufficiently inclusive,
participatory and transparent.”
• Japan’s FM Seiji Maehara said the elections “cannot be said to be complete and fair.”
• US President Barack Obama said it was “unacceptable to steal elections, as the regime in Burma has
done again for all the world to see.”
• Canada’s FM Lawrence Cannon said “Canada is deeply disappointed that the regime did not live up
to its own commitment to hold a free and fair election.”
• EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton said the SPDC
“did not take the necessary steps to ensure a free, fair and inclusive electoral process,” and that they
were “not compatible with internationally accepted standards.”
• ASEAN Chair Vietnam hailed the election as “a significant step forward” and encouraged the country
“to continue to accelerate the process of national reconciliation and democratization.”
• China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei called the elections a “critical step” and said they
were carried out in a “steady and smooth manner.”
Results
• In total, the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) won 883 (or 76.52%) of the 1,154 seats
at stake in the election.
• In the People’s Assembly (Lower House), the USDP won 259 (79.69%) of the 325 seats. The USDP
dominated in the ethnic Burman-dominated Divisions. It won all seats in Mandalay and Tenasserim
Divisions, and over 90% of the seats in Irrawaddy, Magwe, Pegu, and Sagaing Divisions. In ethnic
States, the USDP won about 63% of the seats, with performances ranging from a low 46% in Shan
State to 100% in Karenni State.
• In the National Assembly (Upper House), the USDP won 129 (76.79%) of the 168 seats. The USDP
dominated in the ethnic Burman-dominated Divisions. It won all seats in Irrawaddy, Magwe,
Mandalay, Pegu, and Tenasserim Division and over 90% of the seats in Sagaing Division. In ethnic
States, the USDP won about 60% of the seats, with performances ranging from a low 41.6% in
Arakan State to 100% in Karenni State.
• In the Division and State Parliaments, the USDP won 495 (74.89%) of the 661 seats. Again, the
USDP dominated in the ethnic Burman-dominated Divisions. It won over 90% of the seats in Magwe,
Mandalay, Pegu, and Tenasserim Divisions, and over 80% of the seats in Irrawaddy, Rangoon, and
Sagaing Divisions. In ethnic areas, the USDP won about 55% of the seats, with performances ranging
from a low 40% in Arakan State to 100% in Karenni State.
• The USDP’s overwhelming majority in both houses of Parliament, coupled with the 25% of the seats
occupied by the military, means that the USDP/military bloc can unilaterally amend the 2008
constitution (which, for ordinary matters, requires the approval of over 75% of the representatives of
both houses of Parliament). In addition, the USDP/military bloc can unilaterally elect Burma’s next
President.1
• Out of the 37 political parties that contested the polls, 15 parties did not win any seats. Of the 22
parties that took at least one seat, 15 of them won less than 1% of the seats.
• Seventeen of the 24 ethnic-based parties that participated in the polls won at least one seat. In total,
they accounted for 15.69% of the seats.
• The second largest vote winner, the pro-junta National Unity Party (NUP), won only 63 seats (or
5.46%) although it fielded 975 candidates.
• The largest “opposition” party, the National Democratic Force (NDF), won 16 seats (or 1.39%).
• The SPDC Election Commission claimed that the overall turnout was 73.8% and even reached over
102% [sic] in some areas.2 To date the Election Commission has failed to publish any official
statistics on voter turnout. In some areas it was reported that the turnout was as low as 35%.3
1 The Presidency consists of one President and two Vice-Presidents, elected by the Presidential Electoral College. The
Presidential Electoral College is composed of three groups from the National Parliament: a) The 330 elected representatives from
the People’s Assembly; b) The 168 elected representatives from the National Assembly; and
c) The 166 appointed Defense Services personnel from both Assemblies. Each group elects a Vice-President. Then the entire
National Parliament elects the President from among the three Vice-Presidents.
2 DPA (09 Nov 10) Pro-junta party heads for victory in Burma's election; Irrawaddy (19 Nov 10) Election Results a Joke
3 WSJ (08 Nov 10) Burma’s hollow election; IPS (10 Nov 10) Few Surprises in First Poll in 20 Years
ျမန္မာသတင္းမ်ား-၂၇၊ ၂၈-၁၁-၂၀၁၀
ေဒၚစုနဲ႔ ကုလအတြင္းေရးမႉးခ်ဳပ္ ကိုယ္စားလွယ္ ေတြ႔ဆံု(VOA)
ဦးခင္ညႊန္႔ ဗီဒီယိုဖိုင္အေပၚ အမ်ိဳးမ်ိဳး ေဝဖန္သံုးသပ္
ဧရာဝတီ Saturday, 27 November 2010 19:19
လႊတ္ေတာ္တြင္ ေဝဖန္ပါက ေထာင္ ၂ ႏွစ္က်ႏိုင္
ဧရာဝတီ Saturday, 27 November 2010 19:15
စစ္အစိုးရႏွင့္ DKBA တိုက္ပြဲ ထပ္ျဖစ္
ဧရာဝတီ Saturday, 27 November 2010 18:20
ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္ ရခိုင္လူငယ္မ်ားႏွင့္ ေတြ႕ဆံုမည္
November 28, 2010
ေဒၚစုနဲ႔ ကုလအတြင္းေရးမႉးခ်ဳပ္ ကိုယ္စားလွယ္ ေတြ႔ဆံု(VOA)
ကုလသမဂၢ အတြင္းေရးမႉးခ်ဳပ္ရဲ႕ အထူးကိုယ္စားလွယ္ ဗီေဂ်း နမ္ဘီးယားဟာ ျမန္မာႏိုင္ငံကို ႏွစ္ရက္ၾကာခရီး စတင္ေရာက္ရိွၿပီး ဒီကေန႔ မြန္းလဲြပိုင္းမွာေတာ့ ျမန္မာ့ဒီမိုကေရစီေခါင္းေဆာင္ ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္နဲ႔ ေတြ႔ဆံုခဲ့ပါတယ္။ ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္ အပါအ၀င္ တိုင္းရင္းသားေခါင္းေဆာင္ေတြနဲ႔ မစၥတာနမ္ဘီးယားတို႔ ေတြ႔ဆံုစဥ္မွာေတာ့ ျမန္မာႏိုင္ငံ အမ်ိဳးသား ျပန္လည္ သင့္ျမတ္ေရး ကိစၥေတြကို အေလးေပး ေဆြးေႏြးညိႇႏိႈင္းခဲ့ၾကတယ္လို႔ သိရပါတယ္။ ကိုသားညြန္႔ဦးက ဆက္သြယ္ေမးျမန္းထားပါတယ္။
ကုလသမဂၢ အတြင္းေရးမႉးခ်ဳပ္ရဲ႕ ျမန္မာႏိုင္ငံဆိုင္ရာ အထူးကိုယ္စားလွယ္ မစၥတာ နမ္ဘီးယားဟာ ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္ေနအိမ္မွာပဲ ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္ အပါအ၀င္ အမ်ိဳးသားဒီမိုကေရစီ အဖဲြ႔ခ်ဳပ္ေခါင္းေဆာင္ေတြအျပင္ တိုင္းရင္းသား ေခါင္းေဆာင္အခ်ိဳ႕နဲ႔ အားလံုးစုစုေပါင္း ၁ နာရီၾကာ ေတြ႔ဆံုခဲ့ပါတယ္။ မစၥတာနမ္ဘီးယားဟာ ျမန္မာႏိုင္ငံအေရး တာ၀န္ယူၿပီးကတည္းကဆိုရင္ ဒါ ပထမဆံုး သူ႔ရဲ႕ ျမန္မာႏိုင္ငံ ခရီးစဥ္ျဖစ္သလို ျမန္မာျပည္တြင္း အတိုက္အခံ အင္အားစုေတြနဲ႔ ပထမဆံုး စတင္ေတြ႔ဆံုမႈလည္း ျဖစ္ပါတယ္။ အမ်ိဳးသားဒီမိုကေရစီအဖဲြ႔ခ်ဳပ္ (NLD) အေနနဲ႔ကေတာ့ အမ်ိဳးသား ျပန္လည္သင့္ျမတ္ေရးကို ဦးတည္တဲ့ကိစၥရပ္ေတြကို အေလးေပး ေဆြးေႏြးခဲ့တယ္လို႔ NLD ေျပာခြင့္ရသူ ဦးအုန္းႀကိဳင္က ေျပာပါတယ္။
“ေန႔လည္ မြန္းလြဲ ၂ နာရီမွာ မစၥတာ နမ္ဘီးယားဟာ အေထြေထြအတြင္းေရးမႉး ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္နဲ႔စၿပီး ေဆြးေႏြးပါတယ္။ ေဆြးေႏြးၿပီးတဲ့ေနာက္ ၂ နာရီခြဲမွာ က်ေနာ္တို႔ ဥကၠဌ ဦးတင္ဦး၊ NLD အလုပ္အမႈေဆာင္အဖြဲ႔မ်ား အားလံုး ပါ၀င္တဲ့၊ ဗဟိုအလုပ္အမႈေဆာင္မ်ားအဖြဲ႔၊ အဲဒီအထဲမွာ အေထြးေထြ အတြင္းေရးမႉးလည္း ပါ၀င္ပါတယ္။ ဗဟိုအလုပ္အမႈေဆာင္အဖြဲ႔နဲ႔ ထပ္ၿပီးေတာ့ ေဆြးေႏြးပါတယ္။ ေဆြးေႏြၿပီးတဲ့ေနာက္ CRPP အဖြဲ႔၀င္ တိုင္းရင္းသားေခါင္းေဆာင္မ်ားျဖစ္တဲ့ ဦးေအးသာေအာင္၊ ဦးႏုိင္ထြန္းသိန္း၊ ဦးပုက်င္းရွင္းထန္၊ ဦးေထာင္ကုိထန္း စတဲ့ တိုင္းရင္းသားေခါင္းေဆာင္မ်ားနဲ႔ အတြဲလိုက္ေပါ့ ဆက္ၿပီးေတာ့ က်ေနာ္တုိ႔နဲ႔အတူ ဆက္ၿပီးေတာ့ ေဆြးေႏြးပါတယ္။ ၂ နာရီကေနစတဲ့ ေဆြးေႏြးပြဲဟာ ၃ နာရီမွာ အဲဒီလို အစီအစဥ္အလိုက္ ေဆြးေႏြးၿပီးတဲ့ေနာက္ ၿပီးသြားပါတယ္ခင္ဗ်။”
ေဆြးေႏြးတာက ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္ အိမ္မွာပဲလားခင္ဗ်။ -
“ဟုတ္ပါတယ္ခင္ဗ်ာ။ ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္ အိမ္မွာပါ။ က်ေနာ္တုိ႔ တိုင္းရင္းသား ေခါင္းေဆာင္မ်ားပါ ေနာက္ဆံုးမွာ ပါ၀င္ၿပီး ေဆြးေႏြးၾကတာေပါ့။ တိုင္းရင္းသား ေခါင္းေဆာင္မ်ားက ႏိုင္ငံေရး ျပႆနာကို ေျပလည္ဖို႔ဆိုရင္ အမ်ိဳးသား ျပန္လည္သင့္ျမတ္ေရး ရေအာင္ ႀကိဳးပမ္းတာေအာင္ျမင္ဖို႔ဆိုရင္ က်ေနာ္တို႔ တုိင္းရင္းသားေတြရဲ႕ အခန္းက႑ဟာလည္း အလြန္အေရးပါမွာျဖစ္တဲ့အတြက္ေၾကာင့္ တုိင္းရင္းသားေခါင္းေဆာင္ CRPP အဖြဲ႔၀င္ ေခါင္းေဆာင္မ်ားကိုပါ အေထြေထြ အတြင္းေရးမႉးခ်ဳပ္က ဖိတ္ၾကားၿပီးေတာ့ မိတ္ဆက္ေပးၿပီးေတာ့ ေတြ႔တာျဖစ္ပါတယ္။”
အဲဒီေတာ့ တိုင္းရင္းသားေခါင္းေဆာင္ေတြနဲ႔ ေတြ႔တဲ့သေဘာက မစၥတာ နမ္ဘီးယားက စီစဥ္တာမဟုတ္ဘဲနဲ႔ ဒီဘက္ NLD က စီစဥ္ေပးတဲ့သေဘာေပါ့။ -
“အဲဒီ အကုန္လံုးေပါ့ ညိႇႏိႈင္းၿပီးေတာ့ စီစဥ္တဲ့သေဘာပါပဲခင္ဗ်။”
ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္နဲ႔ ေတြ႔ဆံုစဥ္မွာေရာ ဘာအေၾကာင္းရပ္ေတြမ်ား ေျပာျဖစ္လဲခင္ဗ်။ -
“ေတြ႔ဆံုေဆြးေႏြးပြဲနဲ႔ပတ္သက္လို႔ေတာ့ အေသးစိတ္ ထုတ္ျပန္ဖို႔မရွိပါဘူး ႏွစ္ဖက္စလံုးက။ ဒါေပမဲ့ က်ေနာ္ ေျပာႏိုင္တာကေတာ့ လက္ရွိ ျမန္မာ့ႏိုင္ငံေရး အေထြေထြ အေျခအေနေတြကို ျပည့္စံုစြာ ပြင့္ပြင့္လင္းလင္း ရင္းရင္းႏွီးႏွီး အျမင္ခ်င္း ဖလွယ္ၾကပါတယ္။”
မစၥတာ နမ္ဘီးယားနဲ႔ အဲန္ကယ္လို႔ ပထမဆံုး ေတြ႔ရတဲ့အေခါက္ဆိုေတာ့ ဘယ္လို ယူဆလဲခင္ဗ်။ အခု ေတြ႔ဆံုေဆြးေႏြးမႈနဲ႔ပတ္သက္လို႔ အားရေက်နပ္မႈရွိသလား၊ လိုအပ္ခ်က္ေတြ ရွိေသးလား။ -
“ႏွစ္ဖက္စလံုးက ေဆြးေႏြးခ်က္ေတြဟာ ကုိယ့္အျမင္ကို ပြင့္ပြင့္လင္းလင္း ရင္းရင္းႏွီးႏွီးေပါ့ေလ ဖလွယ္ၾကတာျဖစ္တဲ့အတြက္ေၾကာင့္ ေဆြးေႏြးပြဲဟာ တကယ့္ကို ရင္းႏွီးပြင့္လင္းတဲ့ ေဆြးေႏြးပြဲျဖစ္ပါတယ္။ ၿပီးေတာ့လဲ က်ေနာ္တုိ႔ အဖြဲ႔ခ်ဳပ္က အေထြေထြအတြင္းေရးမႉးခ်ဳပ္ ကလည္းပဲ ျမန္မာႏုိင္ငံက ႏုိင္ငံေရးျပႆနာဟာ အမ်ိဳးသား ျပန္လည္သင့္ျမတ္ေရး အျမန္ဆံုးရေအာင္ က်ိဳးပမ္းရမွာဆုိတာကို အစကတည္းက ေျပာထားပါတယ္။ ထို႔အတူ ကုလသမဂၢ အေထြေထြအတြင္းေရးမႉးခ်ဳပ္ မစၥတာ ဘန္ကီမြန္းရဲ႕ မႏွစ္က ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္ ေမြးေန႔ သ၀ဏ္လႊာမွာကိုပဲ ျမန္မာႏိုင္ငံေရးျပႆနာကို ေျဖရွင္းဖို႔ဆိုတာဟာ အမ်ိဳးသား ျပန္လည္သင့္ျမတ္ေရး ရေအာင္ အရင္လုပ္ရမယ္ဆိုတာကို ေျပာထားတာျဖစ္ေတာ့ အဲဒီဆီကို ဦးတည္ႏုိင္တဲ့ အျပဳသေဘာေဆာင္တဲ့ ေဆြးေႏြးပြဲတရပ္ ျဖစ္တယ္ဆိုတာကို ခံစားမိေၾကာင္း က်ေနာ္ကေတာ့ ေျပာခ်င္ပါတယ္။”
ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္နဲ႔ ျဖစ္ေစ၊ NLD နဲ႔ျဖစ္ေစ ထပ္ၿပီးေတာ့ ေတြ႔ဆံုႏိုင္တဲ့ အလားအလာ ရွိေသးလားခင္ဗ်။ -
“ဒီကေန႔ ေဆြးေႏြးပြဲမွာေတာ့ ထပ္ၿပီးေတာ့ ေနာက္ထပ္ ေဆြးေႏြးပြဲေတြ ရွိမယ္လို႔ေတာ့ ႏွစ္ဖက္စလံုးကေတာ့ သေဘာထား ေပးပါတယ္။ ဒါဟာ ပထမဆံုးအႀကိမ္ ေဆြးေႏြးပြဲ ျဖစ္ပါတယ္။ ေနာက္ အလားတူ ေဆြးေႏြးပြဲေတြဟာ မၾကာခဏ ျဖစ္သြားမွာပါလို႔ အဲဒီလို သံုးသပ္ၾကတာသိပါတယ္။”
အမ်ိဳးသားဒီမုိကေရစီအဖဲြ႔ခ်ဳပ္ ေျပာခြင့္ရသူ ဦးအုန္းႀကိဳင္ ျဖစ္ပါတယ္။ မစၥတာ နမ္ဘီးယားဟာ ျမန္မာႏိုင္ငံျခားေရး၀န္ႀကီး ဦးဉာဏ္၀င္းနဲ႔ သီးျခားေတြ႔ဆံုသလို ေရြးေကာက္ပဲြ၀င္တဲ့ အျခားႏိုင္ငံေရးပါတီေတြနဲ႔လည္း ေတြ႔ဆံုခဲ့ပါတယ္။ ဒါေပမဲ့လို႔ ၿမိဳ႕ေတာ္ ေနျပည္ေတာ္ကိုေတာ့ သြားေရာက္မယ့္အစီအစဥ္ မရိွဘူးလို႔သိရပါတယ္။
ဦးခင္ညႊန္႔ ဗီဒီယိုဖိုင္အေပၚ အမ်ိဳးမ်ိဳး ေဝဖန္သံုးသပ္
ဧရာဝတီ Saturday, 27 November 2010 19:19
ႏိုင္ငံေတာ္ဝန္ႀကီးခ်ဳပ္၊ ဗိုလ္ခ်ဳပ္ႀကီးေဟာင္းႏွင့္ စစ္ေထာက္လွမ္းေရး အႀကီးအကဲေဟာင္း ဦးခင္ညြန္႔ကို ရဲခ်ဳပ္ ဗိုလ္မႉးခ်ဳပ္ ခင္ရီက လာေရာက္ေတြ႔ဆံုၿပီး ေခၚထုတ္သြားသည့္ ဗီဒီယိုကလစ္သည္ အင္တာနက္တြင္ ပ်ံ႕ႏွံ႔ေနၿပီး ျမန္မာ့အေရး ေစာင့္ၾကည့္ေလ့လာသူမ်ား အေနျဖင့္ အမ်ိဳးမ်ိဳး သံုးသပ္လ်က္ရွိေၾကာင္း သိရွိရသည္။
ရဲခ်ဳပ္ ခင္ရီ ဦးေဆာင္သည့္ ရဲအရာရွိမ်ားႏွင့္ ဦးခင္ညြန္႔တို႔ ေတြ႔ဆံုေဆြးေႏြးသည့္ ဗီဒီယိုဖိုင္သည္ ၁၆ မိနစ္ေက်ာ္ ရွည္လ်ားေသာ္လည္း အသံဖိုင္ ပါဝင္ျခင္း မရွိေပ။ အဆိုပါ ဗီဒီယိုဖိုင္သည္ လူမႈကြန္ယက္ ဝက္ဘ္ဆိုက္ တခုျဖစ္သည့္ Facebook တြင္ ယမန္ေန႔ ညေနမွစ၍ ပ်ံ႕ႏွံ႔ေနျခင္းျဖစ္သည္။
ဦးခင္ညြန္႔သည္ ယခုအခ်ိန္တြင္ အသက္ ၇၀ ေက်ာ္ရွိၿပီး စစ္အစိုးရလက္ထက္တြင္ ပထမဆံုးေသာ ႏိုင္ငံေတာ္ဝန္ႀကီးခ်ဳပ္ ျဖစ္ခဲ့သည္။ ထိပ္သီးပိုင္း ရာထူးမ်ားအတြင္း အာဏာၿပိဳင္ဆိုင္မႈမ်ားေၾကာင့္ ၂၀၀၄ ခုႏွစ္တြင္ ရာထူးမွ ဖယ္ရွားခံရၿပီး ေနအိမ္အက်ယ္ခ်ဳပ္ျဖင့္ ထိန္းသိမ္းခံခဲ့ရသည္။
စစ္ေထာက္လွမ္းေရးေဟာင္း ဦးခင္ညြန္႔ကို ေနျပည္ေတာ္သို႔ ေခၚယူၿပီး တိုင္းရင္းသား လက္နက္ကိုင္အဖြဲ႔မ်ားႏွင့္ ေဆြးေႏြးေစမည္ဟု ယခုႏွစ္အတြင္း ေကာလာဟလသတင္းမ်ား ထြက္ေပၚဖူးသည္။
ရဲခ်ဳပ္ခင္ရီက ဦးခင္ညြန္႔ကို အေလးျပဳေနဆဲျဖစ္ေၾကာင္း ဗီဒီယိုဖိုင္တြင္ ေတြ႔ရသည္။ ဦးခင္ညြန္႔က ၎၏ အိမ္ေရွ႕တံခါးကို ကိုယ္တိုင္ဖြင့္ေပးခဲ့ၿပီး ရဲခ်ဳပ္ႏွင့္ မိနစ္အနည္းငယ္ခန္႔ ေဆြးေႏြးၾကသည္။ ရဲခ်ဳပ္ ခင္ရီက ဦးခင္ညြန္႔ႏွင့္ ဇနီးျဖစ္သူ ေဒါက္တာ ေဒၚခင္ဝင္းေရႊတို႔ကို တစံုတခု ရွင္းျပေျပာဆိုၿပီးေနာက္ ၎တို႔ ဇနီးေမာင္ႏွံက ေျမးျဖစ္သူမ်ားကို ႏႈတ္ဆက္ေၾကာင္း ေတြ႔ရသည္။
ဦးခင္ညြန္႔ႏွင့္ ဇနီးျဖစ္သူကို ေနရာမွန္းဆ၍ မရေသာ ေနရာတေနရာသို႔ ေခၚေဆာင္သြားၿပီး ဦးခင္ညြန္႔က ရဲခ်ဳပ္ခင္ရီႏွင့္ အဖြဲ႔ကို တစံုတရာ ေျပာဆိုေနေၾကာင္း ေတြ႔ရသည္။ ေနာက္ခံအေနအထားအရ ဦးခင္ညြန္႔၏ နဂိုမူလ ေနထိုင္သည့္အိမ္ မဟုတ္ေၾကာင္း ခန္႔မွန္းရသည္။
စစ္တပ္အသိုင္းအဝိုင္းမွ အမည္မေဖာ္လိုသူတဦးက “ဒါက ထူးဆန္းေနပါတယ္။ ဘာလို႔လဲဆိုေတာ့ ရာထူးက ဖယ္ရွားခံထားရတဲ့ သူတေယာက္ကို လက္ရွိတာဝန္ထမ္းေဆာင္ေနဆဲ အရာရွိက ဘယ္ေတာ့မွ အေလးျပဳေလ့မရွိဘူး” ဟု ဆိုသည္။
အေမရိကန္ႏိုင္ငံတြင္ စစ္သံမႉးအျဖစ္ တာဝန္ထမ္းေဆာင္ခဲ့ဖူးသည့္ ဗိုလ္မႉးေဟာင္း ဦးေအာင္လင္းထြဋ္က “အရာရွိႀကီးေတြနဲ႔ လွ်ိဳ႕ဝွက္ေဆြးေႏြးဖို႔ ဦးခင္ညြန္႔ကို သိပ္မၾကာေသးခင္ကပဲ တပ္မေတာ္ ဧည့္ေဂဟာကို ေခၚသြားဟန္တူပါတယ္” ဟု ၎၏ အျမင္ကို ေျပာသည္။
ယခုကဲ့သို႔ ဗီဒီယိုဖိုင္ ပ်ံ႕ႏွံ႔ေနရျခင္း အေၾကာင္းအရင္းကို မည္သူကမွ အတိအက် မသိရွိဘဲ မၾကာေသးမီက ေနအိမ္အက်ယ္ခ်ဳပ္မွ လြတ္ေျမာက္လာသည့္ ျမန္မာ့ဒီမိုကေရစီ ေခါင္းေဆာင္ ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္ႏွင့္ ပတ္သက္မႈရွိႏိုင္ေၾကာင္း ေျပာဆိုမႈမ်ားလည္း ေပၚထြက္လာသည္။
စစ္တပ္ အသိုင္းအဝိုင္းကမူ ႏိုဝင္ဘာလ ၇ ရက္ေရြးေကာက္ပြဲ ေန႔ကတည္းကပင္ ဦးခင္ညြန္႔ကို လႊတ္ေပးခဲ့သည္ ဟုလည္း ေျပာဆိုၾကေသာ္လည္း အတည္ျပဳႏိုင္ျခင္း မရွိေပ။
ဦးခင္ညြန္႔ကို စတင္ထိန္းသိမ္းခဲ့ခ်ိန္မွ စ၍ အျပင္သို႔ ၄ ႀကိမ္ထြက္ခဲ့ေၾကာင္း၊ ေနာက္ဆံုးအႀကိမ္ အျပင္ထြက္မႈမွာ ဝန္ႀကီးေဟာင္းတဦးျဖစ္သူ ဗိုလ္မႉးခ်ဳပ္ တင့္ေဆြ ဇနီး၏ စ်ာပနသို႔ သြားေရာက္ခဲ့ျခင္းျဖစ္ေၾကာင္း ေတြ႔ရသည္။
စစ္ေထာက္လွမ္းေရး အႀကီးအကဲေဟာင္း ဦးခင္ညြန္႔သည္ တခ်ိန္က အာဏာအရွိဆံုး ပုဂၢိဳလ္တဦး ျဖစ္ခဲ့ၿပီး ၁၉၉၀ ႏွစ္မ်ား၌ “ဝ” ေသြးစည္းညီညြတ္ေရး တပ္မေတာ္ (UWSA)၊ ကခ်င္လြတ္လပ္ေရးတပ္မေတာ္ (KIA) တို႔ႏွင့္ အပစ္အခတ္ရပ္စဲေရး ကိစၥမ်ားတြင္ အဓိက က်သူတဦး ျဖစ္ခဲ့သည္။
ဦးခင္ညြန္႔ႏွင့္ ၎၏ စစ္ေထာက္လွမ္းေရးအဖြဲ႔မ်ား ဖယ္ရွားခံရၿပီးေနာက္ ယခုလက္ရွိအေျခအေနတြင္ စစ္အစိုးရႏွင့္ တိုင္းရင္းသား အပစ္ရပ္ အဖြဲ႔မ်ားအၾကား ဆက္ဆံေရး အႀကီးအက်ယ္တင္းမာေနေၾကာင္း ေတြ႔ရွိရသည္။
ဦးခင္ညြန္႔သည္ ႏိုင္ငံတကာႏွင့္ ဆက္ဆံေရး၌ ထိုးေဖာက္ႏိုင္သည့္ ပုဂၢိဳလ္အျဖစ္ သတ္မွတ္ခံရခဲ့ၿပီး စကၤာပူဝန္ႀကီးခ်ဳပ္ ေဟာင္း လီကြမ္ယုကလည္း ဦးခင္ညြန္႔ကို ျမန္မာ စစ္အစိုးရ အရာရွိမ်ားအနက္ အထက္ျမက္ဆံုးဟု ခ်ီးမြမ္းခဲ့ဖူးသည္။
ဦးခင္ညြန္႔၏ ဇနီး ေဒါက္တာ ေဒၚခင္ဝင္းေရႊ၏ အကိုေတာ္စပ္သူ ေဒါက္တာသန္းၿငိမ္းက ယခုပ်ံ႕ႏွံ႔ေနသည့္ ဗီဒီယိုဖိုင္ ႏွင့္ပတ္သက္၍ မည္သို႔မွ် နားမလည္ေၾကာင္း၊ ဦးခင္ညြန္႔၏ မိသားစုႏွင့္လည္း အဆက္အသြယ္မရွိသျဖင့္ ယခု ျဖစ္ပ်က္ေနသည့္ ကိစၥမ်ားကို မသိရွိေၾကာင္း ဧရာဝတီသို႔ ေျပာသည္။
ဦးခင္ညြန္႔ အာဏာရွိေနစဥ္မွ ၂၀၀၈ အကုန္ပိုင္းအထိ ေဒါက္တာသန္းၿငိမ္းသည္ ႏိုင္ငံေရးအက်ဥ္းသားအျဖစ္ အက်ဥ္းက် ခံေနခဲ့ရၿပီး ေရြးေကာက္ပြဲ ဝင္ေရာက္ယွဥ္ၿပိဳင္ခဲ့သည့္ အမ်ိဳးသားဒီမိုကေရစီအင္အားစု (NDF) ၏ လက္ရွိ ဥကၠ႒ ျဖစ္သည္။
ႏိုင္ငံေရးအကဲခတ္မ်ားက ယခုတႀကိမ္ ဦးခင္ညြန္႔ကို ဗိုလ္ခ်ဳပ္မႉးႀကီးသန္းေရႊက တိုင္းရင္းသားလက္နက္ကိုင္မ်ားႏွင့္ ညႇိႏႈိင္းေရးတြင္သာ အသံုးခ်႐ံုမကဘဲ အတိုက္အခံေခါင္းေဆာင္ ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္ႏွင့္ ေဆြးေႏြးရာတြင္ပါ အသံုးခ်မည္ဟု ခန္႔မွန္း ေျပာဆိုၾကသည္။
ဦးခင္ညြန္႔သည္ ၂၀၀၃ ခုႏွစ္တြင္ ႏိုင္ငံေတာ္ဝန္ႀကီးခ်ဳပ္ ျဖစ္လာၿပီးေနာက္ ပါတီစံုဒီမိုကေရစီ ႏိုင္ငံေတာ္သစ္ဆီသို႔ ဟုဆိုကာ လမ္းျပေျမပုံ ၇ ခ်က္ကို ခ်မွတ္ခဲ့သည္။
ႏိုင္ငံေရးအက်ဥ္းသားမ်ား ကူညီေစာင့္ေရွာက္ေရးအသင္း (AAPP) ၏ တြဲဘက္အတြင္းေရးမႉး ကိုဘိုၾကည္က “ဦးခင္ညြန္႔ ေထာင္ခ်ခဲ့တဲ့သူေတြ မနည္းပါဘူး။ တခ်ိဳ႕ဆိုရင္ ၁၉၈၉ ေလာက္ကတည္းက အခုခ်ိန္ထိ ေထာင္ထဲမွာ ရွိေနၾကတုန္းပဲ။ ဒါေပမယ့္ အခုလိုမ်ိဳး ဝမ္းနည္းစရာကိစၥကိုေတာ့ က်ေနာ္တို႔လည္း မျမင္ခ်င္ပါဘူး၊ သူ႔ကိုမွ မဟုတ္ဘူး၊ ဗိုလ္ခ်ဳပ္မႉးႀကီး သန္းေရႊကိုလည္း အခုလိုမ်ိဳး အေျခအေနမ်ိဳးမွာ မေတြ႔ျမင္ခ်င္ပါဘူး” ဟု ဧရာဝတီသို႔ ေျပာသည္။
ဦးခင္ညြန္႔ကို အဂတိလိုက္စားမႈမ်ားျဖင့္ ၂၀၀၄ ခုႏွစ္တြင္ အင္းစိန္ေထာင္တြင္း အထူးတရား႐ံုး၌ စစ္အစိုးရက ေထာင္ဒဏ္ ၄၄ ႏွစ္ ခ်မွတ္ခဲ့ေသာ္လည္း ေနအိမ္အက်ယ္ခ်ဳပ္အျဖစ္သာ ခ်ဳပ္ေႏွာင္ထားခဲ့သည္။
လႊတ္ေတာ္တြင္ ေဝဖန္ပါက ေထာင္ ၂ ႏွစ္က်ႏိုင္
ဧရာဝတီ Saturday, 27 November 2010 19:15
ေပၚေပါက္လာမည့္ လႊတ္ေတာ္အတြင္း လြတ္လပ္စြာေျပာဆိုခြင့္ ျပဳမည္ဟု ဆိုေသာ္လည္း ႏိုင္ငံေတာ္လံုၿခံဳေရးႏွင့္ ဒို႔တာဝန္ အေရး (၃)ပါးကို ထိခိုက္ပါက ေထာင္ဒဏ္ ၂ ႏွစ္၊ လႊတ္ေတာ္အတြင္း ဆႏၵျပပါကလည္း ေထာင္ဒဏ္ ၂ ႏွစ္ ျပစ္ဒဏ္ ခ်မွတ္မည္ဟု ယမန္ေန႔တြင္ ဗိုလ္ခ်ဳပ္မႉးႀကီးသန္းေရႊက လက္မွတ္ထိုး ထုတ္ျပန္လိုက္ေၾကာင္း သိရွိရသည္။ Read more Add comment (1) Hits: 49
စစ္အစိုးရႏွင့္ DKBA တိုက္ပြဲ ထပ္ျဖစ္
ဧရာဝတီ Saturday, 27 November 2010 18:20
ကရင္ျပည္နယ္ ျမဝတီၿမိဳ႕ ေတာင္ဘက္ ၅ မိုင္အကြာ ေဒသတြင္ စစ္အစိုးရတပ္မ်ားႏွင့္ DKBA တို႔ ယေန႔ တိုက္ပြဲ ျဖစ္ပြားေၾကာင္း သတင္းရရွိသည္။ ေဒသခံတခ်ိဳ႕ ထိုင္းဘက္သို႔ ထြက္ေျပးၾကေၾကာင္းလည္း သိရွိရသည္။
ဒုကၡသည္မ်ားအတြက္ ဆန္မ်ားကို ရယကအဖြဲ႕ ကိုယ္က်ိဳးအတြက္သံုး
ဧရာဝတီ Friday, 26 November 2010 15:21
ရခုိင္ျပည္နယ္ ေလေဘးသင့္လူထုအတြက္ စစ္ေတြၿမဳိ႕နယ္ ခရစ္ယာန္ သာသနာျပဳ အသင္းမွ ဆန္အိတ္ ၅၀ ကို ႏုိ၀င္ဘာ ၂၂ ရက္ေန႔က လွဴဒါန္းခဲ့ရာ ေပါက္ေတာၿမဳိ႕နယ္ ေျမငူကၽြန္းရွိ ၿပိဳင္းေတာင္ ေက်းရြာအုပ္စုမွ ရယက ဥကၠဌ ဦးေ၀လူႏွင့္ အဖြဲ႕၀င္ ဦးေက်ာ္ေမာင္တုိ႔က တဦးလွ်င္ ဆန္ ၁၀ အိတ္စီ ယူခဲ့ၿပီး ဒုကၡသည္မ်ားကို အိတ္ ၃၀ သာ ေဝငွေပးခဲ့ေၾကာင္း ေဒသခံမ်ားက ေျပာသည္။
ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္နဲ႔ စစ္အစိုးရ ေတြ႔ဆံုေဆြးေႏြးဖို႔ ေထာင္တြင္းမွ တုိက္တြန္း
2010-11-27
ကုန္ေစ်းႏႈန္းက်ဆင္းေရး ဆႏၵျပတဲ့ ႏိုင္ငံေရးအက်ဥ္းသား ကိုထင္ေက်ာ္က ျမန္မာ့ ဒီမိုကေရစီ ေခါင္းေဆာင္ ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္နဲ႔ စစ္အစိုးရ ေခါင္းေဆာင္ေတြ ေတြ႔ဆံုေဆြးေႏြးၿပီး ျမန္မာ့အေရးကိုေျဖရွင္းဖို႔ အက်ဥ္းေထာင္ထဲကေန ေမတၱာရပ္ခံ တိုက္တြန္းလိုက္ပါတယ္။
ကိုထင္ေက်ာ္ဟာ ေထာင္ဒဏ္ ၁၂ ႏွစ္ခြဲ ခ်မွတ္ခံထားရၿပီး လက္ရွိ စစ္ကိုင္းတိုင္း ခႏၱီးေထာင္မွာ အက်ဥ္းက်ခံေနရပါတယ္။
အခုလို ေတြ႔ဆံုေဆြးေႏြးေရး တိုက္တြန္းခ်က္ကို ၿပီးခဲ့တဲ့ရက္ပိုင္းက ေထာင္ဝင္စာ သြားေတြ႔ခဲ့တဲ့ ဇနီးျဖစ္သူ မသန္းသန္းေမာ္နဲ႔ အမွာစကား ပါးလိုက္တာပါ။ ဒါ့အျပင္ ကိုထင္ေက်ာ္က ဒီမိုကေရစီေရး လႈပ္ရွားသူေတြအတြက္ သတင္းစကား ပါးလိုက္တယ္လုိ႔ ဇနီးသည္ မသန္းသန္းေမာ္က ေျပာပါတယ္။
“ကိုထင္ေက်ာ့္ သေဘာထားေလးကေတာ့ ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္နဲ႔ ႏိုင္ငံေတာ္ အႀကီးအကဲေတြနဲ႔ ေတ႔ြဆံုေဆြးေႏြးၾကမယ့္ ကိစၥကို သူ႔အေနနဲ႔လည္း ဝမ္းပမ္းတသာ ေတာင္းဆုိလိုက္တယ္ေပါ့။ သူ႔ရဲ႕ နိယာမေလး တခုေတာ့ က်မကို ထုတ္ေပးလိုက္တယ္။ ဒါေလးကိုလည္း ဒီမုိကေရစီ လႈပ္ရွားေနတဲ့သူေတြ အားလံုး သိေအာင္ ေျပာျပေပးလိုက္ပါတဲ့။ သူေရးထားကေတာ့ D= TS2။ ဒီ ဆိုတာက Democracy ဒီမုိကေရစီေပါ့။ တီ ဆုိတာက Trust ယံုၾကည္မႈေပါ့့။ အက္စ္ ဆုိတာက Stemina သက္လံုေပါ့။ ဒီမုိကေရစီ ကိုလုိခ်င္ရင္ ယံုၾကည္မႈနဲ႔ အားေကာင္းတဲ့ သက္လံုနဲ႔ ေျမွာက္လုိက္လုိ႔ရွိရင္ ဒီမုိကေရစီဆုိတာ ရႏုိင္ပါတယ္ေပါ့။ အဲဒီ သေဘာတရားေလးပါ”
ေလာေလာဆယ္ ကိုထင္ေက်ာ္ဟာ က်န္းမာေရး ေကာင္းမြန္ေနတယ္လုိ႔ ဆုိပါတယ္။ ဒါေပမယ့္ သူနဲ႔ တတိုက္တည္း အတူ ရွိေနတဲ့ နိုင္ငံေရးအက်ဥ္းသား ကိုတင္ထူးေအာင္ကေတာ့ ခါးနာေဝဒနာ ခံစားေနရၿပီး ေဆးကုသမႈ လံုလံုေလာက္ေလာက္ မရရွိဘူးလို႔ သိခဲ့ရေၾကာင္း ကိုထင္ေက်ာ္ရဲ႕ ဇနီးျဖစ္သူက ေျပာပါတယ္။
“သူနဲ႔အတူတူ ေဘးခ်င္းအခန္းေပါ့။ ႏုိင္ငံေရးအက်ဥ္းသား ရခုိင္အမ်ဳိးသားေလး တင္ထူးေအာင္ကေတာ့ ခါးနာလုိ႔ ဆရာဝန္လာေတာ့ ဓာတ္မွန္ရိုက္ဖို႔ လုိတယ္တဲ့။ လုိတယ္သာ ေျပာသြားတာ ခုထိလည္း ဓာတ္မွန္ မရုိက္ေသးဘူး။ ေဆးကုသမႈလည္း မရွိေသးဘူး ဆုိတာကိုေတာ့ သူေျပာလိုက္ပါတယ္”
ခႏၱီး အက်ဥ္းေထာင္ကို အပို႔ခံထားရတဲ့ ႏိုင္ငံေရး အက်ဥ္းသားေတြထဲမွာ လူ႔အခြင့္အေရး လႈပ္ရွားသူ မစုစုေႏြးလည္း ရွိေနတယ္လို႔ သိရပါတယ္။
ေရြးေကာက္ပဲြကိစၥ ႏိုင္ငံေရးပါတီေတြနဲ႔ ကုလကိုယ္စားလွယ္ ေဆြးေႏြး
By ရန္ႏိုင္ စေန, 27 ႏိုဝင္ဘာ 2010
ကုလသမဂၢအတြင္းေရးမႉးခ်ဳပ္ရဲ႕ ျမန္မာႏုိင္ငံဆုိင္ရာ အထူးအႀကံေပးပုဂၢိဳလ္ မစၥတာ ဗီေဂ်း နမ္ဘီးယားဟာ ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္ ဦးေဆာင္တဲ့ အမ်ိဳးသားဒီမိုကေရစီ အဖဲြ႔ခ်ဳပ္နဲ႔ ၁၉၉၀ ေရြးေကာက္ပဲြ လႊတ္ေတာ္ကိုယ္စားျပဳေကာ္မတီက တုိင္းရင္းသားေခါင္းေဆာင္တခ်ိဳ႕ နဲ႔ ေတြ႔ဆုံခဲ့ၾကသလိုပဲ ၂၀၁၀ ေရြးေကာက္ပဲြမွာ ၀င္ေရာက္ယွဥ္ၿပိဳင္ခဲ့တဲ့ အတိုက္အခံႏုိင္ငံေရးပါတီ တခ်ိဳ႕နဲ႔လည္း ဒီကေန႔မွာ ေတြ႔ဆုံခဲ့ပါေသးတယ္။ ဒီေတြ႔ဆုံေဆြးေႏြးမႈအတြင္းမွာ ၂၀၁၀ ေရြးေကာက္ပဲြ အေျခအေတြနဲ႔ပတ္သက္ၿပီး ေျပာဆုိေဆြးေႏြးခဲ့ၾကပါတယ္။ ဒီအေၾကာင္း အျပည့္စုံကို ကုိရန္ႏုိင္က တင္ျပထားပါတယ္။
ျမန္မာႏုိင္ငံကို ၂ ရက္ၾကာခရီးစဥ္အျဖစ္နဲ႔ ေရာက္ရွိေနတဲ့ ကုလသမဂၢ အတြင္းေရးမႉးခ်ဳပ္ရဲ႕ ျမန္မာႏုိင္ငံဆုိင္ရာ အထူးအႀကံေပးပုဂၢိဳလ္ မစၥတာ ဗီေဂ်း နမ္ဘီးယားဟာ ၂၀၁၀ ေရြးေကာက္ပဲြကို ၀င္ေရာက္ယွဥ္ၿပိဳင္ခဲ့ၾကတဲ့ အမ်ိဳးသားဒီမုိကေရစီအင္အားစု (NDF) ပါတီ နဲ႔ ဒီမိုကရက္တစ္ပါတီ (ျမန္မာ) တုိ႔နဲ႔လည္း ရန္ကုန္ၿမိဳ႕ ကုလသမဂၢရုံးမွာ ဒီကေန႔ညေနပိုင္းက ေတြ႔ဆုံေဆြးေႏြးခဲ့ၾကပါတယ္။ အဲဒီေတြ႔ဆုံေဆြးေႏြးမႈအတြင္းမွာ ၂၀၁၀ ေရြးေကာက္ပဲြ အေျခအေနေတြနဲ႔ အနာဂတ္ ျမန္မာႏုိင္ငံေရးအေျခအေနေတြအေပၚမွာ အဓိကထား ေျပာဆိုျဖစ္ခဲ့တယ္လို႔ ဒီမိုကရက္တစ္ပါတီ (ျမန္မာ) ရဲ႕ ဥကၠ႒ျဖစ္တဲ့ ဦးသုေ၀က အခုလို ေျပာပါတယ္။
“သူေဆြးေႏြးတာကေတာ့ ပထမကေတာ့ ဒီလိုေပါ့။ က်ေနာ္တို႔ ေရြးေကာက္ပြဲရဲ႕ အေျခအေနေတြေပါ့။ က်ေနာ္တုိ႔ ေတြ႔ရႀကံဳရတဲ့ဟာေတြကို သူက ေမးတယ္။ အဲဒီေတာ့ ေရြးေကာက္ပြဲနဲ႔ပတ္သက္တဲ့ဟာေတြက တရားမွ်တမႈ ဘယ္ေလာက္ရွိလဲ မရွိဘူးေပါ့ဗ်ာ။ အဲဒါေတြေမးတယ္။ ေနာက္ၿပီးေတာ့လည္း က်ေနာ္တို႔ပါတီက ဘာေတြ ဆက္ၿပီးေတာ့ လုပ္ဦးမလဲေပါ့။ တျခား လုပ္ငန္းေတြေရာ ဘယ္လိုလုပ္ၿပီးေတာ့ ရပ္တည္မလဲ။ ေရွ႕ဆက္ၿပီးေတာ့ ဘာေတြ တိုင္းျပည္အတြက္ လုပ္ႏိုင္မယ္လို႔ထင္သလဲေပါ့။ ဒါမ်ိဳးေတြလည္း သူက ေမးပါတယ္။”
ဒီကေန႔ ေတြ႔ဆုံေဆြးေႏြးမႈမွာ ဒီမိုကရက္ပါတီ (ျမန္မာ) က ဦးသုေ၀နဲ႔အတူ တျခားပါတီ ေခါင္းေဆာင္ ၃ ဦးျဖစ္တဲ့ ေဒၚသန္းသန္းႏု၊ ေဒၚေနရည္ဗေဆြ နဲ႔ ေဒၚခ်ိဳခ်ဳိေက်ာ္ၿငိမ္း တုိ႔ပါ ပါ၀င္ခဲ့ၿပီး ေရြးေကာက္ပဲြ မဲမသမာမႈေတြနဲ႔ ပတ္သက္ၿပီးေတာ့လည္း ေျပာဆုိ ေဆြးေႏြးခဲ့တယ္လို႔ ေျပာပါတယ္။ ဒါ့အျပင္ ဒီမိုကရက္တစ္ပါတီ (ျမန္မာ) အေနနဲ႔ အနာဂတ္ ျမန္မာႏုိင္ငံေရးမွာတင္မကဘဲ တုိင္းျပည္တိုးတက္ေရးအတြက္ လိုအပ္ေနတဲ့ တျခားကိစၥရပ္ေတြမွာလည္း တျခားႏုိင္ငံေရးပါတီေတြ နဲ႔အတူ ပူးေပါင္း လုပ္ေဆာင္သြားဖို႔အျပင္ ကုလသမဂၢအတြင္းေရးမႉးခ်ဳပ္ မစၥတာဘန္ကီမြန္းရဲ႕ အဓိက ရည္မွန္းခ်က္ျဖစ္တဲ့ ျမန္မာႏုိင္ငံမွာ အမ်ိဳးသား ျပန္လည္သင့္ျမတ္ေရး ျဖစ္ေပၚလာဖုိ႔ကိစၥနဲ႔ ပတ္သက္ၿပီးေတာ့လည္း ေျပာဆိုျဖစ္ခဲ့တယ္လို႔ ဆုိပါတယ္။ မစၥတာ နမ္ဘီးယားရဲ႕ ခရီးစဥ္အေပၚမွာေတာ့ ဦးသုေ၀က အခုလို ေျပာပါတယ္။
“သူတုိ႔ကေတာ့ က်ေနာ္ထင္တယ္။ အခုဟာကေတာ့ သူတုိ႔အားလံုး ေတြ႔ဆံုၿပီးတဲ့အခါက်ေတာ့ က်ေနာ္တို႔ပါတီတင္ မကဘူးေပါ့ေနာ္။ သူက တျခားေသာအဖြဲ႔ေတြနဲ႔ ပါတီေတြနဲ႔လည္း ေဆြးေႏြးမွာေပါ့။ အဲဒီအခါက်ေတာ့ အားလံုးရဲ႕ သေဘာထားေတြ၊ အားလံုးရဲ႕ အေတြ႔အႀကံဳေတြကို စုစည္းၿပီးေတာ့ သူတို႔လည္းပဲ ဆံုးျဖတ္ခ်က္တခုခု ခ်မွာေပါ့။ အဲဒီေတာ့ သူတို႔က ေမးခြန္းေတြေမးတာေတြ မွတ္တာေတြကလည္း ေျပေျပျပစ္ျပစ္ေပါ့၊ ေကာင္းပါတယ္။ သူတို႔ရဲ႕ ဆက္ဆံပံု ဆက္ဆံနည္းေတြလဲ။ တျခားေတာ့ မသိဘူးေပါ့ေနာ္။ သုိ႔ေသာ္ က်ေနာ္ ထင္တာကေတာ့ သူတို႔ အားလံုး data (အခ်က္အလက္) ေတြရေအာင္ အရင္ယူၿပီးေတာ့မွ သူတို႔ ဆံုးျဖတ္ခ်င္တဲ့သေဘာ ရွိပါတယ္။”
ဒါ့အျပင္ မစၥတာ နမ္ဘီးယားဘက္ကလည္း ကုလသမဂၢအေနနဲ႔ ျမန္မာႏုိင္ငံေရး ေရွ႕အနာဂတ္အတြက္ ဘယ္လို အကူအညီေပးႏုိင္မလဲ၊ ဘယ္လိုအကူအညီမ်ိဳးေတြကို လိုအပ္သလဲ စတာေတြကို ေျပာဆုိျဖစ္ခဲ့တယ္လို႔ ဦးသုေ၀က ေျပာပါတယ္။ တဘက္မွာလည္း ဒီကေန႔ ေတြ႔ဆုံေဆြးေႏြးခဲ့ၾကတဲ့အထဲမွာ ပါ၀င္တဲ့ အမ်ိဳးသားဒီမုိကေရစီ အင္အားစုပါတီရဲ႕ ေခါင္းေဆာင္ ဦးခင္ေမာင္ေဆြကေတာ့ ဒီေတြ႔ဆုံေဆြးေႏြးမႈနဲ႔ ပတ္သက္ၿပီး အခုလို ေျပာပါတယ္။
“သူတို႔ကေတာ့ ေမးယံုပဲေမးတာပဲ။ ေမးခြန္းေတြပဲ ခြေမးေနတာပဲ။ ေရြးေကာက္ပြဲက ဘာျဖစ္တယ္၊ ျပည္သူေတြကေရာ ေက်နပ္ရဲ႕လား မေက်နပ္ဘူးလားေပါ့။ ဒါမ်ိဳးေတြေပါ့ဗ်ာ။ ေနာက္ၿပီးေတာ့ ေရြးေကာက္ပြဲ မသမာမႈေတြက ခင္ဗ်ားတို႔ ဘယ္လိုလုပ္ထားလဲ။ ဒါမ်ိဳးေတြပါပဲ။ အဲဒီေတာ့ တျခားမွာလည္းပဲ ေရွ႕က ႏုိင္ငံေရးပါတီေတြနဲ႔ ေတြ႔သြားၿပီးဆိုေတာ့ ဒီအေၾကာင္းအရာေတြအေပၚမွာ က်ေနာ္တုိ႔ အျမင္ေပါ့ဗ်ာ။ ကြဲလြဲတဲ့အျမင္ေတြကို သိသြားရင္ ၿပီးတာပါပဲ။ သိပ္ၿပီးေတာ့လည္း ထူးျခားလွတယ္လို႔ မထင္ပါဘူး။ လာၿပီးေတာ့ ေမးတဲ့စမ္းတဲ့သေဘာပဲ ရွိပါတယ္။ ေမးစမ္းၿပီးေတာ့ ဘာလုပ္ေပးႏိုင္တယ္၊ ညာလုပ္ေပးႏုိင္တယ္ ကတိေပးသြားတာလဲ မရွိပါဘူး။ က်ေနာ္တို႔ သိခ်င္တာနဲ႔ ေရြးေကာက္ပြဲ သံုးသပ္ခ်က္ကို လိုခ်င္တာေလာက္ပါပဲ။ သိပ္ၿပီးေတာ့ ထူးျခားလွတယ္မဟုတ္ပါဘူး။”
အမ်ိဳးသားဒီမုိကေရစီအင္အားစုပါတီ ေခါင္းေဆာင္ ဦးခင္ေမာင္ေဆြ ေျပာျပသြားတာ ျဖစ္ပါတယ္။ ရန္ကုန္ၿမိဳ႕က UNDP ရုံးမွာ ဒီကေန႔ ျပဳလုပ္ခဲ့တဲ့ ေတြ႔ဆုံေဆြးေႏြးမႈ အတြင္းမွာ မစၥတာ နမ္ဘီးယားဟာ ဒီမုိကရက္တစ္ပါတီ (ျမန္မာ) နဲ႔ အမ်ိဳးသားဒီမုိကေရစီအင္အားစု NDF ပါတီတုိ႔အျပင္ တျခား ႏုိင္ငံေရးပါတီေတြနဲ႔လည္း ေတြ႔ဆုံခဲ့တယ္လို႔ သိရပါတယ္။
၂၁ ရာစု ပင္လံုကို ႏိုင္ငံတကာ ေထာက္ခံမႈေပးရန္ ေတာင္းဆို
မဇၥ်ိမသတင္းဌာန | ေသာၾကာေန႔၊ ႏုိဝင္ဘာလ ၂၆ ရက္ ၂၀၁၀ ခုႏွစ္ ၂၂ နာရီ ၄၂ မိနစ္
ခ်င္းမိုင္ (မဇၩိမ)။ ။ ၂၁ ရာစု ပင္လံုညီလာခံ အျမန္ဆံုး အေကာင္အထည္ေပၚလာေရး ႏိုင္ငံတကာ အသိုင္းအဝိုင္းက ပူးေပါင္းၾကရန္ ျမန္မာ့အေရး ပူးေပါင္းေဆာင္ရြက္သူမ်ားအဖြဲ႔က တိုက္တြန္းသြားသည္။
ဘန္ေကာက္ၿမိဳ႕ ႏိုင္ငံျခားသတင္းေထာက္မ်ား ခန္းမတြင္ ယေန႔ျပဳလုပ္သည့္ သတင္းစာရွင္းလင္းပြဲတြင္ စစ္မွန္သည့္ ျပည္ေထာင္စု တည္ေဆာက္ေရးအတြက္ ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္က ၂၁ ရာစု ပင္လံုညီလာခံဟု ေခၚေသာ တုိင္းရင္းသားေပါင္းစံု ပါဝင္သည့္ ညီလာခံ အေကာင္အထည္ေဖာ္ႏိုင္ေရး ႏိုင္ငံတကာက အသိအမွတ္ျပဳ ေထာက္ခံၾကရန္ ပန္ၾကားလိုက္သည္။
“ဒုတိယ ပင္လံုညီလာခံဆိုတာ အင္မတန္မွ အေရးႀကီးတဲ့ လုပ္ငန္းစဥ္တခုျဖစ္တယ္” ဟု ျမန္မာ့အေရး ပူးေပါင္း ေဆာင္ရြက္သူမ်ားအဖြဲ႔မွ မခင္ဥမၼာက ေျပာသည္။
ဇုိမီးအမ်ဳိးသား ကြန္ဂရက္ ဥကၠ႒ ပူက်င့္ရွင္းထန္က တုိင္းရင္းသားလူမ်ဳိးစုမ်ား တန္းတူေရးႏွင့္ ကုိယ္ပုိင္ ျပ႒ာန္းခြင့္ကို အာမခံေသာ ညီလာခံ ေခၚယူေရးတာဝန္ကို ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္အား ယခုလ ၂ဝ ရက္က လႊဲေျပာင္းေပးခဲ့သည္။
သို႔ေသာ္လည္း ေရြးေကာက္ပြဲတြင္ ၅၉ ေနရာ အႏိုင္ရခဲ့ေသာ က်ားျဖဴေခၚ ရွမ္းတိုင္းရင္းသား ဒီမိုကရက္တစ္ပါတီ ေခါင္းေဆာင္တဦးက ဒုတိယပင္လံုညီလာခံ က်င္းပရန္ အခ်ိန္ေစာေသးသည္ဟု မဇၩိမကို မၾကာခင္က ေျပာခဲ့ဖူးသည္။
ေဝဖန္သူမ်ားကလည္း ဤ၂၁ ရာစု ပင္လံု ညီလာခံသည္ ပဋိပကၡလမ္းေၾကာင္းကို ဦးတည္ေနၿပီး ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္ ဦးေဆာင္လုပ္လွ်င္ ဖမ္းဆီးခံရႏိုင္ကာ ႏိုင္ငံေရးလႈပ္ရွားမႈမ်ား ေႏွာင့္ေႏွးသြားမည္ဟု ထင္ေၾကး ေပးၾကသည္။
မခင္ဥမၼာကေတာ့ ဤအေျခအေနမ်ဳိးသည္ ႏိုင္ငံေရးေခါင္းေဆာင္ အနည္းစု၏ ယူဆခ်က္သာျဖစ္ၿပီး တႏိုင္ငံလံုး အတုိင္းအတာႏွင့္ ယွဥ္ပါက မေျပာပေလာက္ဟု ဆိုသည္။
ျမန္မာအစိုးရအေနျဖင့္ ၂၁ ရာစု ပင္လံုညီလာခံကို လက္ခံရန္ ခဲယဥ္းေသာ္လည္း ေရြးေကာက္ပြဲဝင္ ႏိုင္ငံေရးပါတီမ်ားႏွင့္ ႏိုင္ငံတကာ၏ အားေပးေထာက္ခံမႈ က်ယ္က်ယ္ျပန္႔ျပန္႔ ျဖစ္ေပၚလာပါက ယခုညီလာခံ အေကာင္အထည္ ေပၚလာႏိုင္သည္ဟု သူက ယံုၾကည္သည္။
ေရြးေကာက္ပြဲအၿပီးေနာက္တရက္ ထိုင္းျမန္မာနယ္စပ္ တိုက္ပြဲမ်ားမွ က်န္ရွိေနေသးေသာ စစ္ေျပး ဒုကၡသည္မ်ားကိုလည္း အကူအညီေပးရန္ ယေန႔ သတင္းစာရွင္းလင္းပြဲတြင္ မခင္ဥမၼာ ထည့္သြင္း ေျပာဆိုသြားသည္။
မဲေဆာက္တြင္ ပုန္းခိုေနေသာ စစ္ေျပးဒုကၡသည္ ႏွစ္ေထာင္ရွိေနၿပီး ဘုရားသံုးဆူ တြင္လည္း စစ္ေျပးဒုကၡသည္ ၁ဝဝ ေက်ာ္ က်န္ေနေသးသည္ဟု မခင္ဥမၼာက မဇၩိမကို ေျပာသည္။
DKBA ႏွင့္ KNU တပ္ဖဲြ႕မ်ားက နအဖတပ္ လာရာလမ္းေၾကာင္းတြင္ ေျခကုပ္ယူထား
November 26, 2010
ေစာသိန္းျမင့္ (ေကအုိင္စီ)
အင္အား ၁၀၀နီးပါးရွိ နအဖ တပ္ဖြဲ႕၀င္မ်ားသည္ ကရင္ျပည္နယ္ ျမ၀တီခ႐ုိင္ ေ၀ၚေလေဒသရွိ နယ္ေျမခံတပ္မ်ားအား လစာလာ ေပးရန္အတြက္ ယေန႔မနက္ ေရာက္ရွိလာရာ ၎တို႔လာရာ လမ္းေၾကာင္းမ်ားကို ဒီေကဘီေအႏွင့္ ေကအဲန္ယူတပ္ဖဲြ႕မ်ားက ေျခ ကုပ္ေနရာယူထားေသာေၾကာင့္ နအဖစစ္တပ္မ်ား တက္လာရန္ အခက္ႀကံဳေနရသည္ဟု သိရသည္။
ဒီေကဘီေအ (၉၀၉)တပ္ရင္းမွဴး ဒုဗုိလ္မွဴးႀကီး ေစာစတီးက “အခု သူတုိ႔ (နအဖ)ဖလူးရြာကို ေရာက္ၿပီးလို႔ သိရတယ္။ တပ္ရင္းတစ္ ရင္းပဲတဲ့။ အင္အား (၇၀-၈၀)ေက်ာ္ေလာက္ ရွိတယ္။ အခုသူတုိ႔ လာမယ့္လမ္းေၾကာင္းတေလွ်ာက္မွာ က်ေနာ္တုိ႔လူေတြ အကုန္ လုံး ေစာင့္ေနတယ္ဆုိေတာ့ တက္လာဖုိ႔ အခက္ေတြ႕ေနတယ္။ က်ေနာ္တုိ႔နယ္ေျမထဲကို ၀င္လာရင္ေတာ့ ထိပ္တုိက္ပဲ။ လမ္းအေျခ အေနကို ၾကည့္ရင္းလာရတယ္ဆုိေတာ့ ဒီည သူတုိ႔တပ္ေတြ ရွိတဲ့ေနရာကို ေရာက္ခ်င္မွ ေရာက္မယ္။”ဟု ေျပာသည္။
ေ၀ၚေလေဒသရွိ နအဖစစ္တပ္ စကခ(၈)လက္ေအာက္ခံတပ္ရင္းမ်ားႏွင့္ တုိင္းတပ္မ်ားအား ထုံးစံအတုိင္း လမကုန္ခင္ လစာလာ ေပးရန္အတြက္ တနသၤာရီတုိင္းအေျခစုိက္ စကခ(၈) လက္ေအာက္ခံ ခလရ(၆၂)တပ္ရင္းသည္ ဘုရားသုံးဆူၿမိဳ႕နယ္ သံျဖဴဇရပ္မွ ျမ၀တီသုိ႔ ယမန္ေန႔က ေရာက္ရွိလာၿပီး ယေန႔မနက္တြင္ ျမ၀တီမွတဆင့္ ေ၀ၚေလေဒသ ဖလူးေက်းရြာသို႔ စစ္ကား ၃စီးျဖင့္ ေရာက္ ရွိလာသည္ဟု ဒီေကဘီေအဘက္က ေျပာသည္။
လက္ရွိအခ်ိန္တြင္ အဆုိပါ နအဖစစ္တပ္မ်ား တက္လာႏုိင္မည့္လမ္းေၾကာင္းမ်ားျဖစ္ေသာ ပေလာတပုိ၊ တေခၚထူ၊ ေက်ာက္ခက္၊ ဘလယ္ဒို၊ ေသေဘာဘုိး၊ ေလးေ၀ၚ၊ ဆုံဆည္းၿမိဳင္၊ အူကေလ့ထာ့စသည့္ေနရာမ်ားတြင္ ေကအဲန္အယ္လ္ေအႏွင့္ ဒီေကဘီေအ တပ္ဖဲြ႕၀င္မ်ား ၀င္ေရာက္ေနရာယူထားၿပီးျဖစ္ေၾကာင္း သိရသည္။
ေ၀ၚေလေဒသတြင္ နအဖစစ္တပ္မွ လႈပ္ရွားတပ္မ်ားျဖစ္ၾကေသာ စကခ(၈)လက္ေအာက္ခံ ခမရ(၄၀၁)၊ (၄၀၄)၊ (၄၀၉)တပ္ရင္း မ်ားႏွင့္ တုိင္းတပ္မွ ခလရ(၉၇)တပ္ရင္းတုိ႔သည္ ယခုလို ၀င္ေရာက္လာေသာ ခလရ(၆၂)တပ္ရင္းအတြက္ လုံၿခံဳေရးယူေပးႏုိင္ျခင္း မရွိေၾကာင္း ေကအဲန္အယ္လ္ေအ တပ္ရင္း(၂၀၁)မွ တပ္ၾကပ္ႀကီး ေစာထီးခုက ယခုလို ေျပာသည္။
“ဒီမွာရွိ နအဖ လႈပ္ရွားတဲ့တပ္ေတြက လႈပ္ရွားတပ္ပဲ အမည္ခံပဲျဖစ္ေနတယ္။ တခ်ိန္လုံး စခန္းထဲမွာပဲ ပုန္းေအာင္းေနတယ္။ သူတုိ႔ အတြက္လည္း သူတို႔က လုံၿခံဳေရးယူထားရတယ္ဆုိေတာ့ အခု တက္လာတဲ့ တပ္ရင္းကို ဘယ္လုိလုပ္လာၿပီးေတာ့ လုံၿခံဳေရးလာ ယူေပးႏုိင္မွာလဲ။”ဟု ေကအိုင္စီကို ေျပာသည္။
ေ၀ၚေလေဒသ ဘုရင့္ေနာင္ကုန္း၊ ကနဲေလး၊ ေမာခီးတုိ႔တြင္ လႈပ္ရွားေနေသာ နအဖ စကခ(၈)ႏွင့္ တုိင္းတပ္မွ တပ္ရင္းမ်ားသည္ ယခုလဆန္းပုိင္းက နအဖႏွင့္ ဒီေကဘီေအ တပ္ဖဲြ႕တုိ႔ၾကား အျပန္အလွန္ ပစ္ခတ္မႈျဖစ္ပြားခဲ့ၿပီးေနာက္ပုိင္း ထီးတပလယ္ေက်းရြာ ေတာင္ကုန္းရွိ ခလရ(၉၇)တပ္ရင္းသည္ ရိကၡာျပတ္လပ္မည့္ အေျခအေနတြင္ ရွိသည္ဟုလည္း သိရသည္။
ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္ ရခိုင္လူငယ္မ်ားႏွင့္ ေတြ႕ဆံုမည္
November 28, 2010
ရခိုင္ျပည္နယ္ထဲမွ ဒီမုိကေရစီအေရး တက္ၾကြစြာ လူပ္ရွားေဆာင္ရြက္ေနသည့္ ရခိုင္လူငယ္ ၆ ဦးႏွင့္ ေတြ႕ဆံုလိုေၾကာင္း ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္မွ ေျပာဆိုသည္ဟု ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္ႏွင့္ ေတြ႕ဆံုခြင့္ရခဲ့သူ ရခိုင္အမ်ိဳးသမီး မပံသုစံက ေျပာသည္။
သူမက “ကၽြန္မ ဒီလ ၂၄ ရက္ေန႕ ညေနပိုင္းမွာ တျခား ေခါင္းေဆာင္ေတြနဲ႕ အတူ ေဒၚစုကုိ ေတြ႕ခြင့္ ရခဲ့ပါတယ္။ အဲဒီမွာ ရခိုင္အမ်ိဳးသားေတြဆီက ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္ကို ေပးပုိ႕တဲ့ အိတ္ဖြင့္ေပးစာကို သြားေပးစဥ္မွာ ခုလို ေျပာဆိုခဲ့တာ ျဖစ္ပါတယ္” ဟု ေျပာသည္။
၎ျပင္သူမက “ကၽြန္မတို႕ ရခိုင္ လူငယ္ေတြက အခု New Generation အဖြဲ႕အေနနဲ႕ ဒီမုိကေရစီ အေရးအတြက္ လူပ္ရွားေနတာေတြ ရွိပါတယ္။ အဲဒီအဖြဲ႕ အေၾကာင္းကို ေျပာျပတဲ့ အခါ သူမက လူငယ္ ၆ ဦးနဲ႕ ေတြ႕ခ်င္တယ္လို႕ ကၽြန္မကို ေျပာလိုက္ပါတယ္။ ဘယ္ေန႕ ေတြ႕ျဖစ္မယ္ဆိုတာေတာ့ မသိရေသးပါဘူး” ဟု ေျပာသည္။
ရခိုင္အမ်ိဳးသားမ်ားက ေဒၚစုထံသို႕ ေပးပို႕ေသာ အိတ္ဖြင့္ေပးစာ ကိစၥေမးျမန္းရာ သူမက ယခုကဲ့သို႕ ေျပာသည္။
“ ရခိုင္အမ်ိဳးသားေတြက ေဒၚစု လြတ္လာျပီးတဲ့ေနာက္ပိုင္းမွာ အိတ္ဖြင့္ေပးစာေတြကိုု ေရးသား ေပးပို႕ ၾကပါ တယ္။ အင္တာနက္ အီးေမးလ္က တဆင့္ ေရးတဲ့ စာေတြလည္း ပါတာ ေပါ့ေလ။ အဲဒီစာေတြကို စုေပါင္းျပီး ကၽြန္မက ယူသြားျပီး ေဒၚစုကို ေပးခဲ့တာ ျဖစ္ပါတယ္။ စာထဲမွာ အမ်ားစု ေရးသားထားကေတာ့ ဂီရိေၾကာင့္ ဒုကၡေရာက္ေနၾကတဲ့ ေလေဘးသင့္ ရခိုင္ျပည္သူေတြကို ေဒၚစု အေနနဲ႕ ေမ့မထားဖို႕နဲ႕ ကယ္တင္ဖို႕ ဆိုတာရယ္။ ေနာက္အေၾကာင္းအရာေတြက လက္ရွိ မီးရထားလမ္းေဖါက္လုပ္ေနတဲ့ ေနရာမွာ ေျမာက္ဦးျမိဳ႕က ရခိုင္ ေရွးေဟာင္း အေမြအႏွစ္ပ်က္စီးဆံုးရွံဳးေနတာကို ၀င္ေရာက္ဟန္႕တားဖို႕နဲ႕ ကန္႕ကြက္ရွဳတ္ခ်ေပးဖို႕ ေတာင္းဆိုထားတဲ့ စာေတြ ျဖစ္ပါတယ္။ ေဒၚစုဟာ တိုင္းရင္းသားေတြရဲ႕ ခံစားေနရတဲ့ ခံစားမူေတြကို နားအလည္ဆံုး ဗမာ ေခါင္းေဆာင္ တစ္ဦးျဖစ္တဲ့ အတြက္ ရခိုင္လူမ်ိဳးေတြရဲ႕ ယံုၾကည္မူေတြကို ပိုရေအာင္ ဒါေတြကို လုပ္ေဆာင္ေပးဖို႕ တုိက္တြန္းေရးသားထားတဲ့ စာေတြ ျဖစ္ပါတယ္။”
အဆိုပါ အိတ္ဖြင့္ေပးစာတြင္ ေရးသားထားေသာ စာမ်ားကိစၥကို ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္မွ ယခုကဲ့သို႕ ျပန္ေျပာခဲ့သည္ဟု သူမက ေျပာသည္။
“ ေဒၚစုက လက္ရွိ ဂီရိ မုန္တ္ိုင္းေၾကာင့္ ရခိုင္ျပည္သူေတြ အတိဒုကၡခံစားေနရတာေတြကို ၾကားသိ ေနရ တယ္လို႕ ေျပာပါတယ္။ ဒါေတြြအတြက္ သူမ အေနနဲ႕ အထူး စိတ္မေကာင္းျဖစ္ေၾကာင္း ေျပာဆိုပါတယ္။ ရခိုင္ေလေဘးအတြက္ သိန္း ၅၀ သူမအေနနဲ႕ ကူညီေပးထားတယ္ဆိုတဲ့ အေၾကာင္း ေျပာပါတယ္။ ေျမာက္ဦးမွာ ရခိုင္ေရွးေဟာင္း ယဥ္ေက်းမူ အေမြအႏွစ္ေတြကို ဖ်က္ဆီးေနတဲ့ ကိစၥ ေဒၚစု အေနနဲ႕ ေလ့လာဖို႕ လိုေနေသးတယ္လို႕ ေျပာပါတယ္။ သူမအေနနဲ႕ ကန္႕သတ္ခ်က္ေတြ မ်ားစြာရွိေနေသးတဲ့ အတြက္ လူသိရွင္ၾကား ထုတ္ေဖၚ ေျပာဆိုႏိုင္ျခင္း မရွိေသးတာကို နားလည္ ခြင့္လႊတ္ဖို႕ ေျပာပါတယ္။”
၎ျပင္ ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္မွ ရခိုင္အမ်ိဳးသားမ်ားကို သူမ အေနနဲ႕ အေလးထားပီး သူမထံသို႕ စာေရးသား ေပးပို႕ၾကသည့္ အတြက္ ေက်းဇူးတင္ေၾကာင္း ေျပာဆိုသည္ဟု မပံသုစံက ေျပာသည္။
“ ေဒၚစု ေျပာတာကေတာ့ တိုင္းရင္းသားေတြက ဗမာေတြကို မေက်နပ္မူေတြ ရွိေနတုန္းဘဲလို႕ ေျပာပါတယ္။ ခုလို ျဖစ္ရတာကလည္း မဆလ ေခတ္နဲ႕ လက္ရွိ စစ္အာဏာရွင္ေတြ ေခတ္တေလ်ာက္မွာ တိုင္းရင္းသားေတြ အေပၚ ဖိႏွိပ္မူေတြ ရွိခဲ့လို႕ ျဖစ္တယ္။ ခုလို အေျခအေနေတြေၾကာင့္ တခ်ိဳ႕ တိုုင္းရင္းသားေခါင္းေဆာင္ေတြ ဆိုရင္ အခုအခ်ိန္ထိ သူမနဲ႕ လက္တြဲ လုပ္ေဆာင္ဖို႕ မ၀ံ႕မရဲ ျဖစ္ေနတုန္းဘဲလို႕ ေျပာပါတယ္။ ဒါေပမယ့္ ရခိုင္ ေခါင္းေဆာင္ အမ်ားစုကေတာ့ သမိုင္းအရ မေက်နပ္မူေတြ ရွိေနေပမယ့္ သူမနဲ႕ လက္တြဲျပီးေတာ့ ျမန္မာ ဒီမုိကေရစီအေရး အတြက္ ပူးေပါင္းေဆာင္ရြက္ လုပ္ကိုင္ေနတာေတြ ရွိတယ္။ အဲဲဒီအတြက္ သူမအေနနဲ႕ ေက်းဇူးတင္ေၾကာင္းနဲ႕ ၀မ္းသာတယ္လို႕ ေျပာဆိုပါတယ္။”
မပံသုစံမွာ ရခိုင္အမ်ိဳးသမီး ေခါင္းေဆာင္ တစ္ဦး ျဖစ္ျပီး လူမူေရး လုပ္ငန္းမ်ားကို တက္ၾကြစြာေဆာင္ ရြက္ေနသူ အမ်ိဳးသမီး တစ္ဦး ျဖစ္သည္။
နယ္စပ္တ၀ုိက္သုံး ထုိင္းလက္ကုိင္ဖုန္းမ်ားကုိ နအဖအာဏာပုိင္တုိ႕သိမ္း
November 27, 2010
ယခင္အပတ္မွစ၍ သွ်မ္းျပည္အေရွ႕ပုိင္း ပုံပါက်င္ျမိဳ႕နယ္ခြဲ ေဒသခံမ်ားထံမွ ထုိင္းလက္ကုိင္ဖုန္းအလံုး ၆၀ ေက်ာ္ကုိ အာဏာပုိင္မ်ားဖမ္းဆီး သိမ္းယူသည္ဟု နယ္စပ္သတင္းရပ္ကြက္က ဆုိပါသည္။
“ေရြးေကာက္ပြဲေလာက္ကစျပီး အေျခအေနက ၾကပ္ေနတာ။ ျပည္ပကုိသတင္းေတြေရာက္မွာ စုိးလုိ႕ေနမွာေပါ့။ အလုံးေပါင္း ၆၀ ေလာက္သိမ္းယူသြားတယ္။ စင္းမ္းကဒ္ေတြေရာဘဲ။ တခ်ဳိ႕ေတာ့ ဖုန္းဘဲယူသြားတယ္။ တခ်ဳိ႕ကုိ ေတာ့ လူပါ ေခၚေမးတယ္ ့” – နယ္စပ္ေရာက္ မုိင္းတုံေဒသခံတဦးကေျပာသည္။
နယ္စပ္ေဒသတ၀ုိက္ ျပည္ပလက္ကုိင္ဖုန္းမ်ားအသုံးျပဳလာၾကသည္မွာ မုိင္းဆတ္၊ မုိင္းတုံ၊ ပုံပါက်င္ေဒသမ်ား သာမဟုတ္။ သွ်မ္း ျပည္ အေရွ႕ပုိင္းတြင္မုိင္းျဖတ္၊ တာေလ၊မုိင္းဖုန္း၊ တာခ်ီလိတ္ တုိ႕၌လည္းက်ယ္က်ယ္ျပန္႕ျပန္႕ အသုံးျပဳေန၏။
သွ်မ္းျပည္ေျမာက္ပုိင္းတလႊား မူဆယ္၊ နမ့္ခမ္း၊ သိႏၷီ၊ လားရွဳိး၊ တန္႕ယန္း၊ မုိင္းရွဴး ျမိဳ႕နယ္မ်ားႏွင့္အေရွ႕ပုိင္း NDAA-ESS မုိင္းလား၊ UWSA ၀ ထိန္းခ်ဳပ္နယ္ေျမတုိ႕တြင္ တရုတ္အိမ္ဖုန္း၊ လက္ကုိင္ဖုန္း မ်ားတြင္တြင္ၾကီးအသုံးျပဳခဲ့ၾက သည္မွာ ၁၀ ႏွစ္ေက်ာ္ခန္႕ရွိျပီျဖစ္၏။
“ ျပည္ပလက္ကုိင္ဖုန္းေတြ က်ယ္က်ယ္ျပန္႕ျပန္႕သုံးေနတာဟာ ေဒသခံလူထုအတြက္သာမက အာဏာပုိင္ေတြ အတြက္ပါ အက်ဳိးရွိ တာဘဲ။ ေနရာတုိင္း ျမိဳ႕နယ္တုိင္းမွာ အာဏာပုိင္ေတြ၊ အရာရွိေတြကုိယ္တုိင္က သုံးေနတာ။ အစုိးရထုတ္ေပးတဲ့ဖုန္းထက္သုံး လြယ္တယ္။ ေစ်းလည္းေပါတယ္ေလ” – ဟု နယ္စပ္ေန အသက္ ၅၀ ေက်ာ္ ပုဂၢုိလ္တဦးကေျပာသည္။
ပုံပါက်င္ လက္ကုိင္ဖုန္းသိမ္းယူမႈသည္ ၁- ေရြးေကာက္ပြဲသတင္း၊ လူ႕အခြင့္အေရး ခ်ဳိးေဖာက္ခံရမႈသတင္းမ်ား အဆက္မျပတ္ ထြက္ေပၚေနျခင္းကုိ ပိတ္ပင္လုိျခင္း၊ ၂- ျပည္ပလက္ကုိင္ဖုန္းမ်ား ေပၚထင္တြင္က်ယ္စြာျပန္႕ပြါး လာမႈကုိတားျမစ္လုိျခင္း အျပင္ ၃- ရုိက္စားလာဘ္ထုိးေငြ တိုးျမွင့္ရယူလုိျခင္းတုိ႕ေၾကာင့္ျဖစ္သည္ဟုဆုိ၏။
“လာဘ္ထုိးေငြ တုိးရခ်င္တယ္ ဆုိတာက – ကားလုိင္စင္လုပ္ေပးသလုိေပါ့။ ဘာမွၾကိဳတင္အသိေပးအေၾကာင္းၾကား တာမဟုတ္ဘဲ လုပ္ေပးလုိက္ရပ္လုိက္။ ေနာက္ပုိင္း လုိင္စင္မဲ့ ကားေတြဖမ္းလုိက္။ ကားပုိင္ရွင္ေတြလဲ အဖမ္း မခံရေအာင္ လာဘ္ထုိးတယ္။ ခြံ႕ေက်ြးတယ္။ အခုလဲ အဲလုိဘဲ။ လက္ကုိင္ဖုန္းေတြဖမ္း တာလဲ အတူတူအႏူႏူဘဲ” ျပည္ပလက္ကုိင္ဖုန္းကုိင္ေဆာင္အသုံးျပဳေနသည္မွာ သွ်မ္းျပည္မွတင္မက တနသၤာရီတုိင္း၊ ကယားျပည္၊ ကရင္ျပည္၊မြန္ျပည္၊ ရခုိင္ျပည္ႏွင့္ ကခ်င္ျပည္ နယ္စပ္ျမို႕မ်ား၌လည္း ထုိင္း၊ တရုတ္၊ အိႏၵိယလက္ကိုင္းဖုန္း အမ်ားအျပား အသံုးျပဳေနသည္ကို ေတြ႕ရွိရသည္။
News & Articles on Burma-Monday, 29 November, 2010-ZIN LIN
News & Articles on Burma
Monday, 29 November, 2010
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Local Journalists Barred from UN Envoy's Press Conference
Only Than Shwe Can Get West to Lift Sanctions
Myanmar forges new trade highway
UN envoy Nambiar asks Myanmar junta to address global concerns
Suu Kyi hopes for UN dialogue
Top junta officers tour front line bases
Security tightened in Kachin capital
MYANMAR: Border guard plan could fuel ethnic conflict
Suu Kyi seeks to review sanctions
Border traders hope for reopening
Refugees Again Pour Into Thailand after Fighting Resumes
Tycoon Zaw Zaw Reportedly Gets Dawei Port Contract
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Local Journalists Barred from UN Envoy's Press Conference
By THE IRRAWADDY Monday, November 29, 2010
Journalists from private media groups in Burma were not allowed to attend a press conference of a United Nation's special envy to Burma held before his departure on Sunday evening, according to sources.
Vijay Nambiar, the chief of staff for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, spoke to foreign reporters inside the international airport in Rangoon about 5 pm, as he was ending a two-day visit in which he met with both government officials and recently released pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Sources said about 20 domestic reporters with official press credentials were not allowed to enter the airport by security personnel. Members of the Rangoon-based foreign correspondents club, however, were permitted to attend the press conference, they said.
On Sunday, the military regime's Press Scrutiny and Registration Division (PSRD) reportedly informed news journals that the UN special envoy would hold a press conference and the time and place would be announced later.
“Of course reporters were very interested in such an event and hopeful that they would be able to attend,” said a Rangoon-based reporter.
He said the PSRD never informed them, but they were able to learn the location and time. However, security personnel blocked their access to the press conference.
“Security was just an excuse. Reporters should be allowed to get in if they can identify themselves. Reporters from foreign media were allowed, but those from domestic media weren't. That's intentional and mean,” said an editor from a Rangoon-based news journal.
Reporters who were denied access included staff from The Myanmar Times, 7 Day, Venus, The Voice, True News, Weekly Eleven and other news journals.
“We face difficulties in collecting news because the army, police and local authorities all restrict us from doing so. Even if we have news, we have to go through the PSRD before we publish it. We are working under very tight control. The situation may become worse when the new government lead by the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) takes office,” said a reporter, who asked to remain anonymous.
The PSRD suspended nine private journals last week for publishing news about Aung San Suu Kyi that did not follow its guidelines. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=20206
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EDITORIAL
Only Than Shwe Can Get West to Lift Sanctions
Monday, November 29, 2010
Recently, The Irrawaddy published a news piece under the headline “West Waits for Suu Kyi Sanctions Signals.”
“American and European business organizations are reconsidering their position on Burma following the freeing of Aung San Suu Kyi,” the article said, reporting on the growing sense of anticipation that the Nov. 13 release of the Burmese pro-democracy icon might bring an end to a decades-old ban on doing business with the country's military rulers.
“It’s fairly clear that the sanctions haven’t brought political change, but instead have outsourced jobs from US firms to their competitors in other countries that trade freely with Myanmar [Burma],” the article quotes Tami Overby, the US Chamber of Commerce's vice president for Asia, as telling The Wall Street Journal.
“American firms would urge Congress and the [Obama] administration to consider easing the sanctions if Ms. Suu Kyi and the opposition signal an openness to revisions in the sanctions regime,” Overby added.
These remarks betray once again the misguided view held by many in the West that Suu Kyi holds the keys to removing the sanctions against the Burmese junta. Instead of putting this burden on the shoulders of Burma's democratic opposition leader, critics of sanctions should be asking what the regime itself has done to give Western countries a reason to shift their policy.
The answer, of course, is precious little. Suu Kyi has been freed, but that still leaves more than 2,000 other political prisoners languishing in Burma's gulag. If the regime had any interest in getting the West to drop its sanctions, it would, at the very least, unconditionally release all of these detainees.
Sanctions-bashers occasionally pay lip service to the plight of Burma's prisoners of conscience, but their real concern is clearly that they are losing investment opportunities to China and the junta's other greedy regional “partners”.
While sanctions critics often insist that an influx of foreign capital would raise Burma's standard of living, the evidence suggests otherwise. The massive flow of cash coming into the country from around Asia has done nothing to alleviate the desperate poverty of ordinary Burmese, and there's no reason to believe that Western cash would have a more beneficial impact.
Increasingly, however, Western corporations are feeling that they are missing the boat in Burma, and so they are reviving tired old arguments about how their presence in the country would somehow enlighten the generals by introducing them to the ways of the West.
From a purely profit-driven perspective, it's hard to blame them for wanting a piece of the action. China, Thailand, India, Singapore and South Korea have all heavily invested in Burma's primary industries, and new opportunities are opening up in other sectors, including manufacturing.
Chinese companies alone invested US $8 billion in Burma in the first six months of this year, mostly in gas, oil and hydroelectric development projects, according to a Reuters report based on official Burmese statistics.
And neighboring Thailand has even bigger ambitions, with plans to develop a deep-sea port and 64,000-hectare industrial zone in Tavoy, in southern Burma's Tenasserim Division.
The framework concession agreement on the project, signed between Bangkok-based Italian-Thai Development and the Burmese Port Authority, is worth $13.4 billion and is expected to transform the area into a major transport and manufacturing hub.
“We need tons of workers,” said Italian-Thai's president, Premchai Karnasuta, in a recent article by The New York Times. “We will mobilize millions of Burmese.”
What's missing from this, however, is any discussion of how such investment will improve lives in a country that was once one of the most developed in the region, but has since been reduced to a shambles by its inept and avaricious rulers.
Just as they think nothing of locking people up for expressing their opinions, Burma's rulers don't seem too concerned about most citizens' lack of access to basic health care and education. As long as this remains the case, there is no reason to believe that lifting sanctions will serve any purpose other than to enrich Western corporations and, of course, the generals.
So why hold Suu Kyi responsible for the sanctions policy? Although she widely seen as the voice of her people, she is not the conscience of the West, which is obliged by its own professed values, and not the views of one woman, to insist that Burma's rulers respect the rights of its people.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/opinion_story.php?art_id=20203
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ASIA TIMES ONLINE: Nov 30, 2010
Myanmar forges new trade highway
By Clifford McCoy
A multi-billion dollar port and infrastructure deal signed days before Myanmar's general election early this month could signal sweeping changes to the country and the wider region, while also serving as a pointer of how business may prosper under the new "civilian" but still military dominated regime.
The Dawei Development Project agreement between Myanmar and Italian-Thai Development, Thailand's largest construction company, will lead to construction of a deep-sea port and highway linking the two countries, and looks likely to bring to fruition a plan that has been around for more than a decade.
In May 2008, the idea gained new traction when a memorandum of understanding (MOU) was signed by then-Thai foreign minister Noppadon Pattama and Myanmar Foreign Minister Nyan Win on the sidelines of an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) foreign ministers' meeting in Singapore.
This was followed on October 11 this year by an agreement between Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and Myanmar Prime Minister Thein Sein in the Myanmar capital of Naypyidaw following talks on the development of the port as a special economic zone.
On November 2 - five days before the Myanmar elections - a deal was signed for the port and infrastructure project between Premchai Kratasuta, chairman of Italian-Thai Development, and Myanmar Port Authority managing director Thein Htay in Naypyidaw.
Italian-Thai in 2008 won a contract from the Myanmar government to survey and build a road linking Dawei with the central Thai city of Kanchanaburi.
Myanmar state media announced at the same time as the signing of the latest deal that a 40,000 hectare plot around Dawei would become Myanmar's first special economic zone (SEZ). In exchange for developing the project, the Myanmar government has granted Italian-Thai import duty exemptions, a 75-year concession to build and operate the heavy industrial portion of the project and a 40-year concession for the light industry part. The concessions can later be extended or revert to Myanmar control. Some observers say the entire project could be worth more than US$58 billion, making it Myanmar's largest singe investment project.
The Dawei Development Project consists of three phases: the construction of a transportation corridor to Thailand as well as roads linking the public utilities and facilities in the industrial zone; the port; and the industrial estate. The first stage is expected to take five years and the final two stages are expected to take another five years with total project completion expected in 2020.
Construction on an eight-lane highway linking the port to the central Thai city of Kanchanaburi is already underway and work is expected to begin on the port in Myanmar in January. Italian-Thai has said the first phase of the project will cost $8 billion with financing already secured from an unnamed private bank. The Thai government is also contributing $60 million toward the highway. The highway from the port will lead 130 kilometers to the Thai border, then on to Kanchanaburi. A rail line will be built parallel to the new road.
Construction plans for Dawei port, the second phase of the project, allow for 22 wharves capable of handling up to 25 vessels at a time of from 20,000 to 50,000 tonnes. Other sources say the port will be capable of handling vessels as large as 300,000 tonnes.
The third phase of the project is the construction of a 40,500-hectare industrial estate. Once completed, the estate will have seven zones; port and heavy industry, petroleum and chemical complex, upstream and downstream petrochemical complex, medium industry, light industry, and a town with homes, public facilities and a commercial complex.
The new port will be offer a shortcut between Europe and the Middle East and Asia. Cargo unloaded at Dawei will avoid the necessity of transiting the Malacca Strait. Several thousand kilometers and up to 10 days could be cut from transit times, lowering transportation costs.
The new port connects with the three economic corridors of the Asian Development Bank's Greater Mekong Sub-Region development project, which aims to create links between the economies of mainland Southeast Asia and China.
Through Myanmar's road network, goods can be shipped north to Moulmein where it intersects the East-West Economic Corridor (EWEC) through Moulmein, the Myanmar border town of Myawaddy and its Thai counterpart, Mae Sot, through Thailand to Savanakhet in Laos and finally the Vietnamese port of Danang.
To the east, the new transport corridor connects through Bangkok with both the Southern Economic Corridor (SEC) and the North-South Economic Corridor (NSEC). The SEC connects Bangkok with Phnom Penh and the port of Sihanoukville in Cambodia and Ho Chi Minh City and Vung Tau port in Vietnam. The NSEC links southwestern China and Thailand by routes passing through northern Myanmar and Laos. China is currently funding and facilitating the construction of a railway from Kunming through Laos to the Thai railhead at Nong Khai.
These links represent important trade routes for Chinese goods from its landlocked southwest. They also provide a more rapid route for Vietnamese, Cambodia and Thai goods to Europe by avoiding the journey around Singapore. Plans have also been proposed for a Chinese funded railway linking the new port with China directly through Myanmar.
Support for the project was given a boost by the five members of the Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS) which met for their fourth summit on November 17 in Phnom Penh. ACMECS is a working framework covering Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam aimed at bridging economic gaps between the countries. The group agreed to support the development of a so-called South-South Economic Corridor linking Dawei port with southern Thailand and Malaysia. The route would be linked by rail to the China-Laos railway and a $6.6 billion Chinese-funded railway project from Nong Khai through Bangkok to Padang Besar in northern Malaysia.
Thailand seems to have the most to gain from the Dawei project. Bangkok has aspirations of becoming a regional transportation hub. Thailand remains as Myanmar's top investor as of mid-2010 with some $10.3 billion in projects.
Several Thai companies are involved as sub-contractors or have expressed interest in becoming involved in the project. Amata Corporation has been named as the developer of the industrial estate for which, together with Italian-Thai, the company has carried out a two-year feasibility study. A subsidiary of state-owned PTT Chemical, Thai Tank Terminal, has also expressed interested in operating a storage terminal near the port. Siam Cement Group, Thailand's third-largest company by market value, is also interested in setting up a cement plant at the port. Bangkok Bank is reportedly interested in offering loans for the project.
Contributing reasons for such interest in developing the port are cheap labor and the lax or non-existent environmental laws in Myanmar. Recent environmental laws in Thailand sparked by public concern have slowed expansion of the country's Map Ta Phut petrochemical complex.
A proposal for a project to expand Pak Bara port in Satun province on Thailand's west coast and link via a land bridge to the port of Songkhla on the eastern coast failed to win approval from the office of the National Economic and Social Development Board after protests against the plan in July.
Italian-Thai is seeking investment partners for the Myanmar project and investors from Japan, Taiwan, China, India and South Korea have all reportedly shown interest. The Bangkok Post reported on November 14 that Abhisit sought support for the project on the sidelines of the Group of 20 meeting in Toronto in June. He reportedly encouraged Chinese companies to invest in projects in Amata's planned industrial estate.
For Myanmar, the benefits will come in the form of tens of thousands of jobs that will become available for construction of the project as well as later in the factories and refineries. Myanmar's government will benefit directly from a profit-sharing agreement with Italian-Thai, although the exact terms have not yet been made public.
Not all predictions for the Dawei port project are rosy. Proving the efficiency of these links will be important. Singapore port's proven efficiency could be a problem for the new port. In order to convince shippers that they will truly be saving time and money through the use of Dawei, goods will have to be processed and transshipped to truck and rail carriers speedily. Much also depends on the quality of the rail and road links slated to connect to the port.
Myanmar's road networks are notoriously bad. The portion of the EWEC from the Thai border, funded by Thailand and under construction by Thai companies, is still far from complete after several years of construction.
The routes also run through territory where guerrillas from the Karen National Union operate. They have been largely quiet in the past few years, but renewed pressure on the ethnic groups after the recent elections could result in renewed fighting. The New Mon State Party (NMSP) also has troops in the area. The NMSP's relationship with the government is tenuous after it rejected the regime's plan earlier this year to convert its armed wing into a Border Guard Force under army control before the November 7 elections.
In an example of what could happen, rebel soldiers took over the major border crossing at Myawaddy and a lesser one at Three Pagodas Pass on November 7. The road linking Myawaddy with Moulmein, part of the EWEC, has been the scene of insurgent ambushes in the past and a new route from Dawei could be equally as dangerous as it passes through territory where both the insurgent Karen National Union and the NMSP operate.
There are also concerns about possible human rights violations associated with the project. Numerous human rights reports in the early and mid-1990s detailed the use of tens of thousands of villagers as forced labor on an extension of the Myanmar rail network from the town of Ye to Dawei. Human rights groups allege villagers, including women and children, were forced to work without pay, denied medical attention and beaten and raped by soldiers.
The construction of the Yadana gas pipeline to Thailand by oil and gas companies Total of France and Unocal the United States in the same area drew even more criticism. Extensive documentation of human rights abuses linked to the project during its construction between 1995 and 1998 was produced by rights organizations. A court case in the United States against Unocal was settled out of court for an undisclosed amount of money. Unocal was later bought by Chevron.
Rights groups allege civilians were forcibly relocated to make way for the project and a security corridor around it without compensation. They were also conscripted for forced labor supporting the numerous battalions brought into the area to provided security for the oil companies and the pipeline. According to environmental and human rights organization EarthRights International, some 36,000 villagers were relocated to secure a corridor for the pipeline.
The Independent Mon News Agency, an exile media group, has already reported that its sources indicate the Dawei port project will be constructed where five villages are currently located. Although the inhabitants of the villages have yet to receive orders to relocate, in Myanmar where the government has a history of relocating people for "development" projects with little to no compensation, there is much worry.
The Dawei Development Project, if managed correctly, could be a boon for Myanmar as well as the region. However, as it seems to be shaping up, the project appears based on motives of exploiting Myanmar's cheap labor and environmental laws. While the jobs may be welcome, in the long run it may only be regional companies and Myanmar's generals who profit
Clifford McCoy is a freelance journalist. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/LK30Ae01.html
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UN envoy Nambiar asks Myanmar junta to address global concerns
Press Trust Of India
Yangon, November 29, 2010
First Published: 16:42 IST(29/11/2010)
Last Updated: 16:46 IST(29/11/2010)
The UN special envoy to Myanmar, Vijay Nambiar, has pressed the country's ruling military junta to address global concerns over the recent elections here to lay the foundation for a "credible transition" to democracy and national reconciliation. Wrapping up his two-day visit here, Nambiar, who is
also UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's chief of staff, told reporters that he has urged the Myanmar government and the Union Election Commission to address as transparently as possible the concerns about the process and outcome of November 7 elections.
"Strong concerns are expressed by many parties about the process and outcome of the recent elections which I have urged the government and the Union Election Commission to address as transparently as possible," Nambiar said yesterday. "This is important for laying the foundation for a credible transition (to democracy)," he said.
The military has ruled Myanmar since 1962 and the recent elections were widely criticised as sham, with alleged vote-rigging in favour of the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party, which received a sweeping majority in both houses of Parliament.
Nambiar, a former Indian diplomat who was appointed UN special envoy to Myanmar earlier this year, also called for the government to release "some of the political prisoners who remain in detention." He said he listened to as many parties as possible about their "hopes, expectations and concerns at this critical juncture" following the polls and the release of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest.
"In order to succeed, any political transition should be broad-based and inclusive and involve not only those who participated in the elections but also those who could not or did not.
In this connection, I also call for the release of some of the political prisoners who remain in detention," Nambiar was quoted as saying by Kyodo news agency. Nambiar, who arrived in Myanmar on Saturday, met Suu Kyi for about 90 minutes, exchanging views on the current political situation.
He termed the meeting as "very valuable" but emphasised that many such meetings would be required to sort out all the problems facing the country. http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/myanmar/UN-envoy-Nambiar-asks-Myanmar-junta-to-address-global-concerns/Article1-632267.aspx
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Suu Kyi hopes for UN dialogue
By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Published: 29 November 2010
A senior UN official said yesterday that he had urged the Burmese government to address concerns over the country’s recent elections, which were widely dismissed as a sham.
Vijay Nambiar, the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s chief of staff, said at the end of his two-day Burma visit that “strong concerns were expressed by many parties about the process and outcome of the recent elections”.
He said he had urged the government and the election commission to address these “as transparently as possible”.
“This is important for laying the foundation of a credible transition” to democracy, he added, saying he had also called for the release of Burma’s political prisoners, believed to number more than 2,000.
The junta’s political proxy has claimed an overwhelming victory in the controversial 7 November poll – Burma’s first in two decades – amid opposition complaints of cheating and voter intimidation.
Critics say the vote was a charade aimed at preserving the rule of the military junta, and Ban has said the poll was “insufficiently inclusive, participatory and transparent”.
During his visit, Nambiar also met members of the opposition movement including Aung San Suu Kyi, who was released from seven years of house arrest on 13 November, less than a week after the election.
The democracy icon, detained for much of the past 20 years and sidelined during the poll, said on Saturday that the discussion had been enlightening but hoped it was the first of many.
“I think we may need many and frequent meetings to sort out all the problems that… the United Nations is dealing with at the moment in Burma,” she said.
Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party boycotted the vote because of rules that appeared to exclude the dissident from participating and was subsequently disbanded by the junta. The party won the previous vote in 1990 but was never allowed to take power.
http://www.dvb.no/news/suu-kyi-hopes-for-un-dialogue/13125
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Top junta officers tour front line bases
Monday, 29 November 2010 15:52 Hseng Khio Fah
Top military officers had made a trip to areas on the Sino-Burma border facing ceasefire groups, Shan State Army (SSA) ‘North’, the United Wa State Army (UWSA) and National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA) aka Mongla group, according to local sources.
They included Joint Chief of Staff, Lt-Gen Min Aung Hlaing, former Commander of Shan and Kayah states, Maj-Gen Aung Than Htut, Commander of No.2 Bureau of Special Operations, former Northeastern Region Command Commander and Maj-Gen Kyaw Swe, Chief of Military Affairs Security (MAS) and former commander of Southwest Region Command who made a 3 day inspection of front line bases in Shan State East and North from 24 to 26 November.
Lt-Gen Min Aung Hlaing
“Altogether there were four of them. But the 4th officer was not unidentified. Some said he was Tin Aung Myint Oo, State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) Secretary 1,” a source said.
The four traveled by helicopter and landed at Monglai, southwest of Mongyawng Township, opposite the National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA)’s 911th Brigade base, on 24 November.
On the next day, they went through Mawfa (now known as Markmang)to Tangyan, 115 miles west of UWSA’s Headquarters Panghsang and reportedly met Tangyan Area Commander and all battalion commanders in the township, a local source said.
Afterwards, the team continued the trip to Kunlong, north of the Wa-controlled territory and turned back to Shan State North’s capital Lashio on 26 November. “They held a meeting with Laogai Regional Operations Command (ROC), Military Operations Command (MOC) #16 of Hsenwi and Northeastern Region Command commander Aung Kyaw Zaw,” a source close to the junta said.
Details of the discussion were unknown, but it was believed to be in connection with the ceasefire groups that had refused to become Border Guard Forces (BGFs) and later to surrender.
Over 50 military trucks from Lashio carrying weapons and supplies were seen heading to Kunlong on the next day, a source said. “It is not certain whether the move was connected to the 26th November meeting or not,” he added.
According to an unconfirmed report, the military junta is planning to invite the UWSA to another meeting. “General Khin Nyunt (who was ousted in 2004) could be the negotiator,” a Thai source speculated. Khin Nyunt had in 1989 successfully negotiated ceasefire pacts with the groups.
The ruling military junta had severed relations with the UWSA, NDAA, Shan State Army (SSA) ‘North’ and Kachin Independence Army (KIA) since 1September, when the groups refused to disarm. http://shanland.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3340:top-junta-officers-tour-front-line-bases&catid=86:war&Itemid=284
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Security tightened in Kachin capital
By DVB
Published: 29 November 2010
Privately-owned shops are being forced to close and visitors restricted from moving around Kachin state capital Myitkyina as the Burmese army ups pressure on a ceasefire group there.
Around 30 shops were forced to close over the weekend, a Myitkyina resident told DVB. The majority of these were near to a Burmese army outpost and military training school.
“Apparently [it was done] for internal security in the army – to prevent being [sabotaged] whilst waging war at the frontline,” the man said. Tension is high between the ruling junta and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), which has refused to transform into a pro-government border militia.
He added that commander-level army officials were not allowed to bring visitors to the outpost, while all civilians were banned from entering.
It follows heavy fighting earlier this month in Karen state, when forces from a breakway faction of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) captured key government positions in Myawaddy.
Last week an order was sent from Naypyidaw to the headquarters of the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO), the political wing of the KIA, ordering it to close down all but three of its offices in the northern Burmese state. A key trade route that serviced KIA territory with goods from China was also blocked by the military.
That followed the death of two Burmese army troops, who were killed on 22 November after stepping on a landmine allegedly laid by the KIA. The incident has ratcheted up animosity between KIA and the junta, who agreed a ceasefire in the mid-1990s that now appears tenuous.
http://www.dvb.no/news/security-tightened-in-kachin-capital/13119
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MYANMAR: Border guard plan could fuel ethnic conflict
Photo: Chandler Vandergrift/IRIN
Some 20,000 Burmese fled to Thailand earlier this month
BANGKOK, 29 November 2010 (IRIN) - Efforts by Myanmar’s military government to incorporate that country’s numerous armed ethnic groups into a single border guard force will probably lead to further conflict and spawn an influx of refugees into neighbouring countries, analysts and aid workers warn.
Myanmar, with an estimated population of 57.6 million, is one of the most ethnically diverse countries in Southeast Asia.
“Tensions are building as SPDC [government] troops are trying to control border crossings and incorporate the ethnic groups into a border guard force,” K’Nyaw Paw, an advocacy team leader of the Forum of Burma’s Community-Based Organizations, said. “We are preparing for more refugees as fighting can happen at any time.”
Under Myanmar’s military-drafted 2008 Constitution, all armed forces in the country must be placed under central military command - an ambitious undertaking in a country which has over a dozen armed ethnic groups (all but a handful of which have ceasefire agreements with the military government).
To achieve this, the regime has demanded that all of the ceasefire groups be incorporated into a Border Guard Force (BGF), which would entail disarming them, re-supplying them with government-issued weapons and making their troops subordinate to regional Myanmar military commanders.
To date, however, only two groups have agreed: the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) and the National Democratic Army-Kachin.
In August 2009, the refusal to join the BGF by one of the smallest ethnic factions in the country - the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army operating in the Kokang region of northern Shan State - resulted in a military offensive launched by government troops which led to more than 30,000 refugees fleeing over the border to China.
“The BGF is an indirect order [by the regime] for the ethnic groups to surrender their weapons,” said Zin Linn, a Burma analyst who lives in exile in Thailand.
“But without guns, the groups cannot defend their rights and their people so they will hold on to their guns until they gain autonomy and self-determination,” he said, adding that armed conflict will almost certainly break out and that refugees fleeing Burma will be “unavoidable”.
On 7 November, the day of Myanmar’s general elections, DKBA troops of Brigade 5 stormed the town of Myawaddy on the Burmese-Thai border and took over several key positions. Fighting for control of the town the next day led to some 20,000 people fleeing into Thailand, while clashes further south resulted in some 5,000 more refugees.
Although most of these refugees were repatriated to Myanmar within days, some 2,000 remain in hiding on the Myanmar side of the frontier, according to K’Nyaw Paw. “It is very difficult to access and get supplies to these people,” she said.
Renewed fighting on 27-28 November between DBKA Brigade 5 troops and government forces has sent some 1,200 more refugees into Thailand, according to reports.
Fear of government offensives
Meanwhile, other groups such as the Kachin Independence Army and the United Wa State Army are preparing for possible military retaliation by the government for refusing to join the BGF, say analysts.
“Fearing that [government troops] may launch another offensive similar to that in Kokang, the major ceasefire groups along the border have been building up their forces,” states a recent report by the International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based think-tank. “These groups see their weapons as the last source of leverage in their long-running battle for autonomy with the military government.”
“Both the Kachin and Wa are recruiting troops, training, and collecting arms and ammunition,” said Linn. “They are preparing for war.”
nr/ds/cb
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Suu Kyi seeks to review sanctions
By Ashish Kumar Sen
The Washington Times
6:50 p.m., Sunday, November 28, 2010
Democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi wants to review the consequences of sanctions on her country, Myanmar, before she can determine whether these curbs need to be lifted or focused more sharply.
In a phone interview with The Washington Times from Yangon on Friday, Mrs. Suu Kyi said her National League for Democracy (NLD) party is "prepared to review the situation to find out if our people had really been hurt by the sanctions, and if they had been, in what way."
"We want to know if it's really time for sanctions to be lifted, or it's time for sanctions to be adapted," she said.
Mrs. Suu Kyi, who spent 15 of the past 21 years in detention, was released from house arrest on Nov. 13.
Last year, she sent a letter to Myanmar's ruling military generals suggesting that the NLD, the country's largest opposition party, may cooperate with them to bring about an end to sanctions.
The NLD periodically reviews the effectiveness of sanctions.
"If we find that the sanctions are only hurting the people and that there is no positive outcome as a result of the sanctions, then certainly we would consider calling on those who have imposed sanctions to think whether it is not time to stop them," Mrs. Suu Kyi said.
"But it is not as simple as all that," she said. "There are many, many aspects of sanctions undertaken by our supporters because they wanted to help us achieve the democratic process. So it is not as easy as saying, 'Well, we think that it's time for sanctions to be lifted.' "
While the Obama administration has initiated a senior-level diplomatic dialogue with Myanmar's authorities, sanctions continue to be an important tool of U.S. policy.
In July, a measure to extend sanctions on Myanmar sailed through Congress: The House passed the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act of 2003 in a voice vote, and it garnered the support of 99 of the Senate's 100 members.
A congressional source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity citing the sensitive nature of the matter, said several members of Congress are looking to Mrs. Suu Kyi for guidance.
"If they see her taking a more pragmatic and conciliatory approach, it would create a lot more space for a more flexible position" in Congress on sanctions, the congressional source said.
Mrs. Suu Kyi doesn't think there is anything wrong with the two-pronged U.S. approach toward Myanmar, which also is known as Burma.
"I think engagement is a good thing. Whether or not it has an effect on the generals is something that you must ask [U.S. officials]," she said.
A U.S. official, who spoke on background citing the sensitive nature of the matter, said the sanctions provide an important source of leverage for influencing the regime's behavior.
The Obama administration intends to keep the sanctions in place until Myanmar's regime releases all political prisoners, ends attacks against ethnic groups and establishes a meaningful dialogue with opposition groups, the U.S. official said.
Human rights groups estimate that Myanmar is holding 2,100 political prisoners.
Mrs. Suu Kyi said the international community must work in coordination to be effective in dealing with Myanmar's military rulers. "That would help a great deal. I think at the moment there are different policies with regard to Myanmar and it does detract from the eventual effectiveness of various initiatives," she said.
China, India and Thailand and other countries have engaged Myanmar's military rulers with an eye on the country's vast natural resources.
This engagement raises the question whether the U.S. has diminished its influence in Myanmar and made its people more dependent on their neighbors, particularly China, the congressional source said.
In an address to India's Parliament in New Delhi this month, President Obama urged India to condemn the violation of human rights and suppression of peaceful democratic movements in Myanmar.
The junta barred the NLD from participating in the Nov. 7 elections, which the U.S. declared a sham.
The party won the last election in 1990 by a landslide, but the military prevented it from ruling.
Ahead of this year's election, the military imposed laws that forced political parties to expel members with criminal records, including political prisoners such as Mrs. Suu Kyi. The NLD was dissolved after it refused to abide by these laws.
Mrs. Suu Kyi, a Nobel peace laureate, said her party did not take part in the elections because it didn't think the rules and regulations were fair.
The NLD has since set up a committee to look into allegations of irregularities and vote-rigging.
Last week, Myanmar's supreme court refused to hear Mrs. Suu Kyi's lawsuit challenging the decision to dissolve the NLD.
Mrs. Suu Kyi said she intends to appeal the court's decision but is not confident that she will get justice.
"We have had much experience in the past to indicate that we don't get free and fair hearings. But still, since we believe in the rule of law, we will pursue this case as far as possible," she said. "At the same time, the survival of the NLD does not depend on any court of law; it depends on the will of the people."
Mrs. Suu Kyi expects the NLD will continue to play the role of a "very, very strong opposition force" and wants the party to broaden its engagement with pro-democracy forces within Myanmar.
"What people don't seem to realize is that we have had restrictions placed on the party for the last 20 years. That is nothing new for us," she said. "What is new is that we have a far larger circle of supporters than we used to have in the past."
As for the role of the army in politics, Mrs. Suu Kyi said she was open to the idea of a "transition period in which we would have to think of ways of bridging over our differences in gradual stages."
"We know that transition will take time and it will have to go in stages," she said.
She said it was too early to tell whether her release is a sign that the regime of Senior Gen. Than Shwe is having a change of heart.
"I have been released from house arrest before and then put back in. So I think it is a little too early to say whether there has been real a softening," she said.
Although she has expressed her readiness for reconciliation talks with the junta, the generals have not reciprocated.
"If they had reached out to us, we would have grasped their hands," Mrs. Suu Kyi said.
Mrs. Suu Kyi said her life has turned "very, very hectic" since her release. Despite being freed from the confines of her home, she hasn't had time to venture out of Yangon. Her days have been packed with meetings and interviews.
On Saturday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's chief of staff, Vijay Nambiar, met her at her home in Yangon.
She also had an emotional reunion with her younger son, Kim.
"Seeing my son again was very, very nice and happy and lovely and all the nice words I can think of," Mrs. Suu Kyi said.
She said she has been struck by the large number of young NLD supporters.
"The proportion of young people among our supporters was not this high and they were not this enthusiastic" before she was put under house arrest, Mrs. Suu Kyi said.
She attributed the trend to the fact that "more and more people [in Myanmar] have come to realize that there is a need for change." http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/nov/28/suu-kyi-seeks-to-review-sanctions/
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Border traders hope for reopening
Recent ethnic skirmishes have failed to dampen rising Thailand-Burma commercial sentiment, as no serious strife has occurred for more than a decade and most area residents are business-focused.
* Published: 29/11/2010 at 12:00 AM
* Newspaper section: Business
Border trade between Thailand and Burma will likely continue to remain strong despite the small skirmishes of recent weeks as demand for goods and services from both sides of the border is resilient.
Burmese traders wait at the border gate at Tachilek to do business in Mae Sai district in Chiang Rai.
Wiroon Khampilo, the president of the Chiang Rai Chamber of Commerce, said border trade and tourism between Thailand and Burma were positive, particularly at the Mae Sai-Tachilek checkpoint. There have been no serious border skirmishes there between ethnic rebels and Burmese government troops for over 10 years.
Goods exported to Burma from Chiang Rai include oil, petrol, whisky, coffee and equipment. Imports are logs, beans and cashew nuts.
Mr Wiroon said Burma wanted to maintain peace and build a stronger economy.
"Most people focus on trading and business, so the border situation does not really affect their lives," he said. "Reconciliation would create a bright outlook for trade."
The volume of trade through Mae Sai-Tachilek rose by 56% from January to September over the same period last year. Thailand exported as much as seven billion baht worth of goods, consumer products and necessities to Burma, while imports at the checkpoint only totalled 100 million baht.
"We want to improve business by extending the checkpoints' hours of operation," he said.
The chamber initiated the proposal and it will be officially announced on Jan 1.
Arun Jargota, the owner of Mae Sai-based Laksamee stores, said overall trade and tourism were improving.
"More goods are coming from Mae Sot in Tak to Mae Sai in Chiang Rai due to the Mae Sot-Myawaddy checkpoint closure," he said.
"We will likely lose the Thai markets in Burma to China. We have been trading with Burma for a long time, but Thai exports to Burma will likely drop due to southern China's interference."
Burma closed the Mae Sot-Myawaddy crossing on July 18 after accusing Thailand of building an embankment on the Moei River to alter the common border line. Clashes between Burmese troops and Karen rebels earlier this month further increased security concerns and curbed trading.
Tak Chamber of Commerce president Banphot Korkiartcharoen does not know when the checkpoint there will reopen.
He said he did not believe the general election and the release of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi would do much for Thailand-Burma border trade one way of the other and called for help from others to reopen the border.
Local jewellers and restaurant owners said business was sluggish.
Mahataya Kasem, the owner of Angel Gems jewellery shop, said businesses at the Mae Sot shopping centre on the Moei river banks were suffering.
However, she still believes her business will improve because the area is renowned for quality gems.
"New Year is a good time for jewellery sales, and we hope that the Thai and Burmese governments will reopen the border crossing in time for festivities," she said.
Exports include oil, palm oil, used motorcycles, construction materials, fuel, diesel, petrol and consumer products, while imports involve furniture, wood, red onions, cows, clothes and seafood.
"Local people near the Tak border are conducting business through personal contacts despite the closure," she said.
Prasobsuk Puangsakorn, the director of the Bank of Thailand's Northern Regional Office, said the region's border exports grew fast in the third quarter.
Import values in the North fell by 2.4% following a sharp decline in imports of vegetables, fruits and capital goods. http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/economics/208619/border-traders-hope-for-reopening
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Refugees Again Pour Into Thailand after Fighting Resumes
By LAWI WENG Monday, November 29, 2010
Fighting broke out again at the weekend between government troops and a faction of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), causing more than 1,000 refugees to flee into neighboring Thailand.
Karen refugees fled to the Thai border on Sunday after fighting broke out over the weekend in Phaluu village in Kawkareik Township between Burmese government forces and troops from Brigade 5 of DKBA, according to humanitarian organizations who are helping the refugees on the Thai border.
Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Monday, Naw Iris, the coordinator of the Thailand-based Committee for Internally Displaced Karen People said the refugees began coming on Saturday with many arriving on Sunday.
Many of the refugees are from Phaluu village about 40 kilometers south of the Mae Sot-Myawaddy border crossing on the Thai-Burmese border. They are currently taking shelter at a Buddhist temple and Thai school in Pop Phra District in Thailand's Tak Province.
The fighting started at 8:30 p.m. On Friday and lasted through the night and all Saturday after DKBA troops ambushed junta troops, said a Phaluu villager who fled to Thailand.
“The fighting was not close but we could hear explosions, which is why we ran away,” the woman said, adding that all the villagers had abandoned Phaluu.
Humanitarian organizations including the Thailand Burma Border Consortium and International Red Cross and the Thai authorities are helping the refugees, who will return home as soon as fighting in the village has stopped as it is harvest time, Naw Iris said.
The fighting began when DKBA troops led by Lt Col Kyaw Thet ambushed junta troops attempting to send rations to troops that seized former DKBA Brigade 5 headquarters at Waw Lay village on Nov. 10, burning the homes of DKBA members.
Prevented from getting through with supplies, the junta force had to remain in Phaluu village, according to local sources.
At least one villager from Phaluu village was injured in the attacks according to the Karen Human Rights Group, which is active in the area. Casualties in the DKBA and Burmese army forces are unknown.
Local sources said the Burmese army sent reinforcements to Phaluu village on Saturday night, but the situation is confused. Groups of villagers sent back by the Thai army each day have had to return as fighting on the Burmese side of the border continues.
Fighting between the Burmese army and DKBA Brigade 5 began when Col Saw Lah Pwe, who refused to put his troops under Burmese army command as a border guard force, attacked Myawaddy and Three Pagodas Pass townships on Nov. 8, the day after the Burmese election.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/highlight.php?art_id=20205
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Tycoon Zaw Zaw Reportedly Gets Dawei Port Contract
By WAI MOE Monday, November 29, 2010
A US-sanctioned crony of the Burmese junta, Zaw Zaw, has reportedly been granted major construction work on the Dawei deep-sea port, a US $8.6 billion project mainly financed by neighboring Thailand.
Business sources in Rangoon said Zaw Zaw’s Max Myanmar Group of Companies got a green light from the military junta for building Burma’s largest port and industrial area because he is a favored business associate of junta head Snr-Gen Than Shwe and a handful of other top generals.
“Even the top tycoon, Tay Za, has said that Zaw Zaw could be richer than him,” said a source, adding that Zaw Zaw has became very close to Than Shwe and other top generals, and the junta head warmly calls him “Phoe Zaw,” a nickname used for a near family member.
Zaw Zaw (standing) and Tay Za (seated) at a party in Rangoon in 2009. (Photo: The Irrawaddy)
Photographs in the Burmese state media showed that Zaw Zaw accompanied Than Shwe on his recent state visit to China in September along with Than Shwe’s family members and senior officials of the junta.
During the trip Than Shwe visited the Shenzhen economic zone. Than Shwe said that he wanted the Dawei port project to be like the Shenzhen economic zone, the International Herald Tribune quoted the president of the Italian-Thai Development conglomerate as saying.
The Dawei Port project was approved by the junta on Nov. 2 in Naypyidaw. The junta's Secretary-1 ex-Gen Tin Aung Myint Oo witnessed the signing ceremony between Thailand’s Italian-Thai Development Co Ltd and the Myanma Port Authority.
However, The New Light of Myanmar reported at the time that the two country's agreed on the Dawei deep seaport, industrial estate and road and rail link to Thailand during a meeting of foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations on May 19, 2008, shortly after the Cyclone Nargis disaster.
The project, which will cover 250-square kilometers, is to be implemented in three phases over a 10-year period and is “the first-ever special economic zone in Myanmar,” according to Burmese media reports.
Reports in the international press have expressed concern that the port project would damage the environment and lead to forced relocation in the project area. The International Herald Tribune on Friday quoted Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva as saying, “Some industries are not suitable to be located in Thailand. That is why they decided to set it up there.”
Reporters in Rangoon tried to write articles on the naming of the Max Myanmar Group of Companies, but the Burmese censorship board, the Press Scrutiny and Registration Division (PSRD), rejected the articles, according to Rangoon journalists.
Zaw Zaw and the Max Myanmar Group of Companies were also involved in the construction of the junta’s new capital of Naypyidaw in the mid-2000s.
Zaw Zaw is also close to ex-Gen Tin Aung Myint Oo. Zaw Zaw and his so-called “business adopted son,” Zaw Win Shine, were with Tin Aung Myint Oo when he arrived at Singapore's Changi International Airport in April on a medical trip, said a Burmese national in Singapore, who witnessed Tin Aung Myint Oo's arrival.
Zaw Zaw and his business networks were added to the US targeted sanctions list in January 2009 along with other junta business associates.
“Zaw Zaw is the managing director of the Max Myanmar Group of Companies, a Burmese entity with interests in the gem, timber, construction, and tourism industries,” the US Department of Treasury described Zaw Zaw in a statement. “Max Myanmar has provided important services in support of the Burmese junta, particularly in the form construction projects.” http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=20211
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