News & Articles on Burma-Sunday, 26 December, 2010

News & Articles on Burma
Sunday, 26 December, 2010
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Ten things we can do about Burma
Does junta use drug as a weapon in Burma’s politics?
India should speak up for Myanmar: Amartya Sen
Burmese refugees sent back home
Weekly Business Roundup (December 25, 2010)
Don't Try to 'Control' New Gov't, Regime Tells Opposition
Burmese Freedom of Press hits a new low
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Ten things we can do about Burma
By Amartya Sen
Cambridge, MA
Published on December 25, 2010

Burma has been under the jackboot of a supremely despotic military junta for almost half a century now, with collapsing institutions, arbitrary imprisonment, widespread torture, organised rapes and killings, and the terrorisation of minority communities including the Chins, the Karen, the Shan and the Rohingyas. The release in November of the opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, from unjust imprisonment was not just a great moment for celebration, it should also make us think more clearly about what the world can do to help Burma achieve reconciliation and build a democratic foundation for the future.

The military generals designed the recent election, the first in twenty years, in a crooked way to ensure that they, or their proxies or cohorts, will stay in power. Most gratuitously, 25 per cent of the seats were reserved for military rulers; strong pro-democracy candidates were barred from participation; opposition leaders and activists were kept in confinement; and criticism of the regime was totally banned in pre-election speeches.

So, what can the world do now? The answer is: A great deal.

First, many analysts of Burmese affairs have called for an international Commission of Enquiry on Burma, possibly led by the United Nations. The case for this is very strong, especially after the manipulated election.

Second, the framework of sanctions and embargos has to be made more effective. General sanctions that hurt the Burmese people (such as restrictions on garment exports from Burma) can be sensibly replaced by those that isolate the military rulers - by targeting their business activities and their financial transactions overseas.

Third, at the top of the list of potentially effective targeted sanctions must be an embargo on the trading of arms and armaments of all kinds.

Fourth, there is a strong political case for considering imposing sanctions on those natural commodities - such as minerals, gems, timber, and oil and gas - that yield huge profits for individuals in the regime.

Fifth, severe financial restrictions and prohibitions imposed on large transactions from Burma can be a well-targeted and effective policy.

Sixth, a ban on foreign travel imposed on the generals at the head of the regime can also be effective.

Seventh, neighbouring countries, particularly China but also Thailand and India - which provide support to the military regime in exchange for their own commercial gains - have a special responsibility. Aside from the doubtful morality of supporting such an oppressive regime, this continued and tacit support may well turn out to be a prudential mistake. The tyrants of Burma will, sooner or later, fall - as all tyrants eventually do. However, the memory of the betrayal of the Burmese people will last a long time, just as the intense anti-Americanism in Latin America today draws on the history of US support for the brutal South and Central American regimes of yesteryear.

Eighth, the Western countries are sharp in rhetoric when denouncing Burma's rulers, but they do not do what is entirely within their power to do - like withdrawing from lucrative Burmese business, and imposing financial sanctions.

This is bad in itself, but it also makes it harder to persuade China, India and Thailand to do the right thing.

Ninth, and most important - there has to be an end to the sense of dejection and hopelessness that is so dominant among the Burmese people. The fight, we have to remember, is for the beginning of democracy in Burma, not for tiny concessions from an entrenched military government.

Finally, in a non-defeatist approach, we have to start thinking about how a post-military government will deal with the culprits of the past. There is a strong case for not threatening bloody revenge but opting instead for the sagacity of offering amnesty in exchange for remorse. Even butchers have to find a "way out" if they are not to go on fighting - and tyrannising - to the bitter end.

With well-targeted policies, carried out with determination and clarity of reasoning, we can make the Burmese leaders withdraw.

The change can come more quickly than most people imagine.

Amartya Sen is an Indian economist who was awarded the 1998 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences.
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home/Ten-things-we-can-do-about-Burma-30145136.html
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Does junta use drug as a weapon in Burma’s politics?
By Zin Linn Dec 26, 2010 11:15PM UTC
The Burmese junta’s mouthpiece newspaper New Light of Myanmar reported yesterday that in 2010-2011 poppy cultivation seasons, a total of 5745.03 acres of poppy plantations were destroyed up to 13 December 2010.

The paper also says that during the period from 14 to 20 December, a total of 1564.9 more acres of poppy plantations were destroyed in States and Regions. Therefore, 7309.93 acres of poppy plantations have been destroyed till 20 December.

Out of 1564.9 acres of poppy plantations, a total of 1270.35 acres of poppy plantations were destroyed in Pekhon, Pinlaung, Hsihseng and Kalaw townships in Shan State (South), 199.1 acres in Monghsat, Mongkhat, Mongping, Kengtung, Tachilek and Mongton townships in Shan State (East), and 1564.9 acres in Lashio, Tangyan, Hsenwi, Namhkam and Kutkai townships in Shan State (North), as said by the New Light of Myanmar.

Burma is the second largest opium producing country after Afghanistan, as indicated by the United Nation. Burma’s Minister for Home Affairs and Chairman of the Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control, Maj-Gen Maung Oo said the drug eradication program had successfully brought down the cultivation of opium in the country. But nearly all observers of the drug question in Burma speak out that there is very little improvement.

According to a report – Poisoned Hills – issued on 26 January 2010 by the Paluang Women’s Organization (PWO), opium poppy cultivation in Burma is swelling all over again in areas controlled by the military regime or the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). Shockingly, number of drug addicts is rising speedily in Shan state where opium is now being grown. At the same time as the rising of poppy growing is also killing the traditional tea cultivation in northern parts of the country.

PWO says opium cultivation in Burma’s northern Shan State has increased five-fold in recent years. It is much higher than the areas given by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). In the “Poisoned Hills”, field assessments were carried out of opium growing over three seasons in two main areas: Mantong and Namkham. The Report says, “It was found that the number of villages growing opium in the targeted survey area of Mantong Township has tripled from 2006 to 2009. PWO surveyed 75 villages in Mantong. During the 2006-7 season only 24 of these villages grew opium. This increased to 35 villages in the following season. By the 2008-9 seasons all of the villages were growing opium.”

It continued that poppy cultivation has increased six fold from 2006 to 2009, from 1,568 acres (635 hectares) to 9,707 acres (3,928 hectares). Most analysts on drug issue pointed out poverty as a major reason for Shan State’s continuing drug problem.

Opium crops only need a short time to grow and promptly generate income for impoverished farmers. To stop growing poppy, an alternative through cash crop substitution programs must be provided. According to some political analysts, poppy growing and opium production in Shan State have increased over the past two years due to political volatility in Burma and growing economic misery caused by cronyism, corruption and unprofessional nature of the military junta.

Six well-known drug lords in Burma represented the junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP). They are among those elected on the 7 November elections, according to Shan Herald Agency for News (S.H.A.N.).

Two of them, Liu Guoxi, candidate of USDP who ran for a seat in Constituency No.11 of upper house in Northern Shan State and Bai Xuoqian, a candidate for state legislature in Laogai Constituency No.2 won their seats automatically as there were no rivals in their areas, a source from the Sino-Burma border said.

Liu Guoxi, 75, was dubbed as a drug kingpin in the Far Eastern Economic Review during the mid 90’s. He is deputy of Bai Xuoqian, who ascended to the leadership of Kokang, following the overthrow of his predecessor Peng Jiasheng by the Burma Army last year. The other four are U Myint Lwin aka Wang Guoda, U Ti Khun Myat, Panhsay U Kyaw Myint and U Keng Mai, the junta-backed local militia chiefs, who are notorious among local people as drug dealers in Shan State North’s Kutkhai, Muse and Namkham townships, Shan Herald News said.

It seems that unless the strategies of militarization of SPDC are challenged, drugs trade will take place ad infinitum, as if the drug is a kind of weapon for SPDC to grab hold of the sovereign power. Thus, a negotiated resolution of the root cause of civil war in Burma is immediately needed so as to tackle the drug question which intertwined with the country’s long-lasting political conundrum.
http://asiancorrespondent.com/44683/does-junta-use-drug-as-a-weapon-in-burma%E2%80%99s-politics/
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IndiaExpress.Com: Sun, 26 Dec 2010
India should speak up for democratic forces in Myanmar: Amartya Sen

Noble laureate Amartya Sen has expressed displeasure over India's silence on the issue of restoring democracy in Myanmar and supported US President Barack Obama's criticism of New Delhi not speaking for Aung San Suu Kyi and democratic forces there.

"India should speak up. It is for India to take action. The US has woken up. I would like it (New Delhi) to take more action. I would like to have speech and action from both (countries)."

Sen was also critical of the reports that India is maintaining silence in return for support to the military junta there, to curb Bodo and Mizo rebels in the Northeast. Asked if India's stand was understandable or a Faustian bargain, he said, "It is not understandable. It is a terrible bargain".

Sen was reminded of his remarks that his heart "broke" to see the Prime Minister of his "democratic country" welcome the "butchers from Myanmar".

Asked if he raised this issue with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the renowned economist said, "I told him. He listened to it. He didn't reply. I wasn't saying change the policy right now. It would be something I hope he would consider. He would think about and place it before the Government."

The 77-year-old Nobel Prize winner also expressed confidence that the dictators in Burma would eventually "disappear". But the silence of India and other countries like Thailand and China would "continue to linger for long", he remarked.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/india-should-speak-up-for-democratic-forces-in-myanmar-amartya-sen/729465/
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The Nation:Sun, 26 Dec 2010
Burmese refugees sent back home

Tak -- Two hundred and thirty-three refugees from Burma Saturday agreed to go home after Thai soldiers told them that fighting between Burmese troops and Karen rebels on the other side of the border of Tak's Phop Phra district had ended.
Colonel Supachoke Thawatpeerachai Saturday urged the refugees to return home and said Thai authorities would accommodate them. So the refugees started to pack their belongings and crossed the bridge over to the Burmese side on foot. UNHCR officials and those from other NGOs also observed them.
The move came after an assistant to Ban Valley Neu village headman Boontham Suwansri fell ill from meningococcal infection following his visit to the refugees at an old helipad near the village. However, it wasn't confirmed if the man, who reportedly crossed over to the Burma side often, got the disease after visiting the refugees. Boontham is being treated at Mae Sot Hospital for high fever though his condition is stable. http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home/Burmese-refugees-sent-back-home-30145194.html
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Weekly Business Roundup (December 25, 2010)
By WILLIAM BOOT Saturday, December 25, 2010

China Port in Bangladesh Faces Logistics ‘Problems’

China is to go ahead with plans to finance a new port on the Bangladesh coast close to the border with Burma and build a new road linking the port to the Chinese province of Yunnan.

The port, capable of handling the biggest ocean-going container ships, will be constructed at Sonadia, near Cox’s Bazar.

It will be close to the port reconstruction being financed by India at Sittwe on Burma’s west coast.

No development time frame or cost for the project has been disclosed, said ports news magazine Dredging Today, which noted: “[Bangladesh] needs a deep-seaport to handle its ever-increasing external trade and offer port facilities to some other neighboring countries, including India, China and Myanmar [Burma].”

Some observers question why China would back a new port in Bangladesh when Beijing already has great influence in Burma.

“This is a curious development and suggests the Chinese are not putting all their eggs in one basket where Burma is concerned, although to access the Bangladesh coast from Yunnan will mean a road passing through either Burma or India,” said a commercial attaché at a Western embassy in Bangkok.

“From a trade point of view, I suspect this will be fraught with problems,” said the official, speaking to The Irrawaddy this week on condition of anonymity.

Vietnam-Burma Trade Grows over 60 Percent in 2010

Trade between Vietnam and Burma has increased more than 60 percent in 2010 as the Vietnamese push commercial contacts with the Burmese military.

Two-way trade for this year will be above US $160 million, compared with $99 million in 2009, said the official Radio Vietnam.

Vietnam’s links with Burma have intensified this year with an increase in investment and direct flights.

In March, a branch of Vietnam’s state-owned Bank for Investment and Development was opened in Rangoon and the Vietnamese Agricultural Ministry is financing the development of 200,000 hectares of rubber plantations in Burma.

Vietnam Airlines also began a five-days-a-week service between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City and Rangoon.

The intensification of Vietnam’s links with Burma has come during Hanoi’s turn as chairman of the Association of Southeast Nations, to which both countries belong.

Synthetic Drugs Production Grows in Burma’s Shan State, Says UN

Production and consumption of synthetic methamphetamine drugs is increasing in Burma, says a United Nations agency.

Most of the manufactured drugs are being exported to neighboring countries such as Thailand, but domestic consumption is also on the rise, said a report by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

It said much of the production was in Burma’s Shan State.

Seizure of pills tripled in 2009 over 2008, and between January and September of this year, more than 44 million pills were seized in Thailand alone. More than 22 million pills were confiscated in Laos, said UNODC.

“Authorities in both Myanmar [Burma] and Thailand confirm that the manufacture of crystalline methamphetamine is now occurring in the Golden Triangle,” said UNODC coordinator Deepika Naruka.

Vietnam Agency to Target European Tourists for Burma Trips

A Vietnamese travel agency which has opened an office in Rangoon says it will offer “customized holidays” to Europeans wanting to visit Burma.

Ho Chi Minh City-based Vietnam Today Travel said Burma will be added to regional packages it is offering, which include visits to Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and now Burma.

The firm said it would target English, French, Spanish and Italian speaking customers.

Many travel firms in Europe shun Burma under European Union economic sanctions restraints.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=20412
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Don't Try to 'Control' New Gov't, Regime Tells Opposition
By BA KAUNG Saturday, December 25, 2010

Burma's democratic opposition should stop calling for national reconciliation and instead ally itself with the country's newly elected government to achieve “national reconsolidation,” according to a commentary published in the state-run New Light of Myanmar on Saturday.

In the Burmese regime's first apparent response to pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's repeated calls for dialogue with the country's ruling generals, the commentary urged opposition groups to regard the junta-backed government that will be formed sometime early next year as a “democracy ally.”

Junta chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe, right in foreground, walks to attend the graduation parade of the No. 12 Intake of the Defense Services Medical Academy on Dec. 24 in Naypyidaw. (Photo: AP)
The commentary referred specifically to Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party and ethnic groups which boycotted last month's election. The junta's proxy party claimed a landslide victory in the polls, which were widely dismissed as a sham by international observers.

It also warned the NLD, which has tried in the past to pressure the regime to hold talks with the opposition, not to use similar tactics in the future.

“Any ways to achieve national reconsolidation through non-violent, violent, indirect and direct approaches designed to control the ruling government will never come to fruition,” it said.

Notably absent from the commentary was the phrase “national reconciliation,” which is the stated aim of the NLD and and its ethnic allies. Instead, it refers to “national reconsolidation”—a term more in line with the regime's goal of strengthening central control over the country's many minority groups.

“How can we reconsolidate before we can reconcile with each other?” said Chin Sian Than, a Chin ethnic leader who boycotted last month's election.

“This commentary indicates yet again that the regime will press ahead with its own plans,” he said.

The front page of the New Light of Myanmar also highlighted the theme of national reconsolidation, in a speech given to the graduating class of a military medical academy in the capital Naypyidaw on Friday by junta chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe.

“I would like to urge you to build on the national reconsolidation that has been achieved and avoid all thoughts and notions that might lead to the disintegration of the Union,” he was quoted as saying.

In the speech, Than Shwe also also claimed that Burma's ethnic minorities are now enjoying the fruit of development projects his regime has undertaken since it came into power in 1988. He added that coming governments would continue their efforts for the country based on these foundations.

In January, Burma is expected to hold its first parliament in more than two decades.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/highlight.php?art_id=20413
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Burmese Freedom of Press hits a new low after photojournalist Zeya’s sentence
Sun, 2010-12-26 01:09 — editor
By - Zin Linn
26 December, (Asiantribune.com):

Freedom of Press in Burma received another blow as Photojournalist Sithu Zeya has been sentenced to eight years in jail last Tuesday. Zeya was sentenced by the military controlled court system for his photos of the scene of an explosion at a traditional water festival pavilion near a Rangoon lake in early according to his lawyers.

Burma also resumed the detention of journalists from time to time. Journalists based in Rangoon say the detentions were part of a continued crackdown by the military authorities on those involved in the anti-junta activities including covering news in the exile media.

Sithu Zeya was sentenced three years for violating the Immigration Act and five years for violating the 1957 Unlawful Associations Act for links he made with unlawful organizations, according to his lawyer U Aung Thein, At some point in cross-examination by special branch police, Sithu Zeya apparently confessed his former relationship with an official from the exile media organization Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB).

Moreover, he also confessed that he was present at media training in Thailand. The police plaintiff put forward those confessions at the trial. His lawyer said the case will be appealed to a higher court because the evidence shown to the township court was flawed and there were not enough witnesses.

Earlier in November 2008, Win Maw, a 47-year-old activist and rock musician, was sentenced to a 17-year imprisonment by a township court for his journalistic activities for Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), based in Norway. A military-controlled township court in Burma has handed down a 20-year jail term to freelance reporter Hla Hla Win, a young video journalist who also worked with the Burma exile broadcaster DVB, as the ruling junta continues its crackdown on the free press. She was arrested in September 2009 after taking a video interview at a Buddhist monastery in Pakokku, a town in Magwe Division, the Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontieres and the Burma Media Association said in a joint statement. For that she was given a seven-year prison sentence in October.

In an additional case, the Special Court in Insein prison sentenced reporter Ngwe Soe Lin to a 13-year sentence in prison under section 33(a) of the Electronic Act and section 13(1) of the Immigration Emergency Provisions Act on Jan. 27, 2010 for allegedly attempting to smuggle information to exiled media, according to prominent Rangoon lawyer U Aung Thein. Ngwe Soe Lin was detained in a Rangoon Internet café on June 26, 2009 and accused of working for the DVB.

Burma was at the forefront 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.

The situation changed in 1962 when the military seized power. All newspapers were nationalized and a Press Scrutiny Board created to enforce strict censorship on all forms of printed matter. Since then, censorship and self-censorship have become commonplace in Burma.

The Press Scrutiny and Registration Division (PSRD) is a major tool or repression of the Than Shwe military regime. Not surprisingly, 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.

The radio, television and other media outlets are monopolized for propaganda warfare by the regime and opposition views are not allowed.

Currently, PSRD or state censor-board has been stepping up barring on news and interviews with Democracy Icon Aung San Suu Kyi as instruction comes from information ministry based in the junta’s capital Naypyidaw, one editor who wants to remain anonymous said.

Journalists from Venus journal had met Suu Kyi on 14 December and People’s Era journal on 17 December. Both journals put forward the copies of their interview with the Lady and respective photos to the infamous PSRD. The censor-board yet notifies the journos that any issue of the Lady would be postponed due to the instruction from Naypyidaw.

One sports journal and eight news periodicals including 7 Day News, The Voice, People’s Era and Venus journals have been suspended by the junta’s PSRD because of covering news articles of Burma’s Nobel laureate.

The board has also released notice limiting the size of Aung San Suu Kyi’s portrait to a maximum of 2 x 3 inches for publication in journals. In addition, the board also barred the journals not to cover her photos on front or back pages.

If the junta is sincere about democratic reforms, the media must be free at the outset. Access to information is crucial to a healthy democracy. Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights says, “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers."

But in Burma, the political opposition as well as journalists and media personnel are under the strictest rules of the stratocracy. In most countries, journalists or media workers can do their jobs and live well. But in military-ruled Burma, it is very thorny and hazardous work.

Japanese journalist Kenji Nagai was killed while covering the 2007 Saffron Revolution, and some citizen journalists are still in prison.

According to the Burma Media Association and Reporters Sans Frontieres, at least 12 journalists and dozens of media workers are still in custody since the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis and the constitutional referendum in May 2008.

Although the optimistic politicians and media personnel hope for better free-press environment after the 7-November polls, the scenario seems depressing. Free speech or free press would not be allowed under the new disguised civilian government which will appear in early 2011. Freedom of Press will remain the status quo under the unchanged military control.

-Asian Tribune- http://www.asiantribune.com/news/2010/12/25/burmese-freedom-press-hits-new-low-after-photojournalist-zeya%E2%80%99s-sentence

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