News & Articles on Burma-Saturday, 08 January, 2011

News & Articles on Burma
Saturday, 08 January, 2011
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Court delivers verdict in Yuzana case, appeal likely
China to Build Massive Trade Center in Thailand
Is China expending its influential power on Burma?
Burmese Banks in Dispute over Airline Ownership
Africans Refuse Burmese Rice
Burma: No ethnic autonomy under military dominated sham parliament
UNAIDS to extend aid for Myanmar HIV victims
Kachins shun junta-organised Manau festival
Pearl emporium to be held in Naypyidaw
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Court delivers verdict in Yuzana case, appeal likely
Saturday, 08 January 2011 12:20 Phanida

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – The Kachin State Court in Myitkyina handed down its verdict in a land confiscation class action brought by a group of farmers yesterday, ordering the Yuzana Company to compensate plaintiffs for their losses.

The 63 plaintiffs, subsistence farmers from Phakant Township in Moenhyin District, Kachin State, had lodged the class action against the company in September 2010 for confiscation of family-owned lands in 2007.

The Yuzana Company has close ties to Burma’s ruling military leaders.

The verdict was reached this evening after a panel of judges considered witness testimony.

Under the decision the company must pay compensation to the amount of 80,000 kyat (US$80) per an acre of confiscated paddy field, 60,000 kyat (US$60) per acre of crops, and 30,000 kyat (US$30) per acre of garden. In addition, farmers must be compensated an additional 150,000 kyat (US$150) for loss of home, land rights activist, Bawk Jar told Mizzima.

“The compensation rate was set by the Kachin State Peace and Development Council", he said.

However, Lamung Tang Gun, one of the plaintiffs in the case said the court’s verdict was not fair.

“We have been unemployed for three years because of the confiscation of our farmlands. We demanded 800,000 kyat (US$800) from the company as compensation, but the court awarded only 80,000 kyat (US$80)”, he said.

“We cannot accept the verdict”.

The company was accused of confiscating more than 1,038 acres (420 hectares) held by the farmers in Warazuap, Aungra, Sharuzuap, Bangkok and Namsan villages. The firm planned to grow cassava and sugar cane as cash crops.

A total of 148 farmers had originally been party to the lawsuit. However, prior to the court case, the company had offered a settlement worth only 80,000 kyat (about US$80) per an acre, resulting in a number of farmers withdrawing from the class action.

At the time, only 17 plaintiffs remained but were joined by an additional farmers experiencing severe deprivation of livelihood.

The lawsuit was initially brought against company owner Htay Myint, an MP-elect from the junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party. However, his name was removed as defendant, replaced by Pu Kyi, reported to be his brother, on October 12.

Bawk Jar stated: “The farmers want to get their lands back. They want fair compensation from the company”

“If the farmers launch a protest, Htay Myint will be responsible for the mess” he said.

The plaintiffs plan to file an appeal on the decision with the Naypyidaw-based Supreme Court. http://mizzima.com/news/inside-burma/4732-court-delivers-verdict-in-yuzana-case-appeal-likely.html
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China to Build Massive Trade Center in Thailand
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Saturday, January 8, 2011

BANGKOK — China plans to build a massive $1.5 billion commercial complex in Thailand that will enable traders to send "Made In China" goods around the world without paying pricey tariffs often imposed in the West, Thai officials and Chinese state media said.

The China City Complex is expected to house more than 70,000 Chinese traders in a sprawling 5.4 million square-foot (500,000 square-meter) facility to be built on the eastern outskirts of Bangkok, Vijit Yang, chairman of the ASEAN-China Economic and Trade Promotion Association said Friday.

China signed a free trade agreement with Southeast Asian countries in January 2010 that reduces or removes tariffs on traded goods. Passing the goods through Thailand will allow Chinese traders to avoid the tariffs imposed by the U.S. and the European Union on many of their exports, said Vijit.

The plan will also give the appearance of reducing China's trade deficit with those countries, which hit $16.8 billion with the U.S. in November and $13.6 billion with the EU.

The surplus has become an increasingly sensitive issue in the EU and the U.S., which buy the vast bulk of China's exports, prompting traders to look for other ways of penetrating those markets.

Overall, China's trade has remained robust despite the global economic crisis. Exports in November jumped 34.9 percent from a year earlier to $153.3 billion, boosted by a surge in sales to other developing economies, which are recovering from the crisis faster than the U.S. and Europe.

The China Daily said the commercial center will sell Chinese-made garments, ornaments and household items, among other things.

Thailand's Deputy Commerce Minister Alongkorn Ponlaboot traveled to China on Wednesday to woo investors, the China Daily said.

Construction is scheduled to begin in March and take 18 months to complete, said Vijit, who is overseeing the project, according to the Thai Commerce Ministry.

Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva is scheduled to chair a ceremony in Bangkok to officially unveil the project on Jan. 18. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=20489
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Is China expending its influential power on Burma?
By Zin Linn Jan 07, 2011 11:29PM UTC

China is to rebuild Burma’s historic “Stilwell Road”, the route from India used by British and American forces to supply Chinese troops in the battle against Japanese occupation during the Second World War, as said by Dean Nelson of The Daily Telegraph.

The Stillwell Road, starting in Ledo in Assam in Northeast India, passes through the Pangsau pass in Burma and reaches Kunming in the Yunnan province of South China. The 1726km road, which was initially known as Ledo Road, was later renamed Stilwell Road.

During World War II, the road was built by the allies and Chinese forces under the Command of US Army General Joseph Stilwell with 632km falling in China and small stretch of 61km in India. Unfortunately, the stretch of the road in Burma is not maintained and in many places the road almost disappears.

One of the trucks in the first convoy to travel over the Stilwell Road kicks up a cloud of dust as it passes through the town of Bhamo in Burma, Feb. 18, 1945. Pic: AP.

The road was named after the American general “Vinegar Joe” Stilwell by Chiang Kai-shek, China’s nationalist leader, to honour his determination to find a faster way to get more military supplies from India to Kunming.

Allied forces had been hampered after Japanese troops seized the Burma Road, and were forced to transport supplies to their Chinese allies by air over the Himalayas. U.S. army engineers started work on the 478-mile road from Ledo in Assam (now in Arunachal Pradesh), India, to Mogaung in Burma in 1942.

With the help of Chinese troops, they cut through the high Pangsau Pass as an alternative route to Burma at Mu-se in January, 1945.

According to The Daily Telegraph, the road is now to be rebuilt by the Yunnan Construction Engineering Company in a joint venture with the Burmese military-backed Yuzana Group. The deal was signed by Burmese ministers and leaders of the Yunnan Communist Party on November 22. A 194-mile stretch of road will be built from Myitkyina to the Pangsau Pass, close to the Indian border.

In August 1999, Chinese, Indian, Burmese and Bangladeshi authorities met in China’s Yunnan province and approved an agreement, known as the Kunming Initiative. It was decided to improve communications between India’s northeast and south-western China, as said by the Indo-Burma News on 22 December, 2010.

On the other hand, the New Delhi government fears that the opening up of the road will create a security threat in northeast India as the road would connect the Kachin State of Burma, which is infamous for its armed groups that also raise many North-East Indian rebels.

India is afraid the road would grant an easier route for those insurgent groups. Furthermore, it might increase the volume of illegal drugs that penetrates India from the Golden Triangle.

Meanwhile, China’s political influence, thanks to its economic success, is going up. Due to China’s military and financial support for Burma’s cruel regime, its people are facing a prospect not of peace and safety measures, but of continuing conflict and violence. For energy-hungry China, Burma’s oil and gas reserves are important as it became a regional power.

Remarkably, the “Stilwell Road” passes mostly through the Kachin State of Burma. The Kachin Independence Army (KIA), one of Burma’s strong ethnic armed groups, is in a nervous face-off with the Burmese Army following the pressure to transform into the Border Guard Force.

The KIA is constantly claiming to have autonomy. The KIA had a 16-year ceasefire with the military regime and seeks self-reliance for the Kachin people. The International Crisis Group (ICG) said that the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) has had “basic discussions” with Beijing over the contours of a “genuine union” within Burma in which the ethnic groups would have autonomy, possibly similar to the Special Administrative Regions in China — Hong Kong and Macao.

Over the past decade, more than a million Burmese refugees and illegal migrant-workers have fled across the border into Thailand and China in order to evade the Burmese junta’s inhumane military offensives toward ethnic armed groups.

According to some observers, without resolving the ethnic autonomy issues, China’s development projects may not be completed in the allotted ttime. If China wants to promote its investments in Burma, it should not depend only on the rogue junta. Instead, it should also work with pro-democracy groups, such as the National League for Democracy and democratic ethnic groups.

Devoid of peace and stability in Burma, China’s dream of building mega-energy projects and communication courses for the South and South-East Asia market may not materialize. China may have to review its foreign relations strategy toward political oppositions in Burma. http://asiancorrespondent.com/45604/is-china-expending-its-influential-power-on-burma/
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Burmese Banks in Dispute over Airline Ownership
By YAN PAI Saturday, January 8, 2011

Three banks that bought Myanmar Airways International (MAI) last year are involved in a dispute over ownership of the airline, according to business sources in Rangoon.

Kanbawza Bank, which bought MAI early last year in partnership with the Cooperative Bank and the Tun Foundation Bank, has been trying to claim sole ownership of the airline since it was recently granted a permit to operate domestic flights, the sources said.

A businessman close to the Cooperative Bank told The Irrawaddy on condition of anonymity that the argument began when Aung Ko Win, a Western-sanctioned business tycoon and the owner of Kanbawza Bank, told other shareholders that he wanted to be the sole owner of MAI.

“Kanbawza Bank is the majority shareholder, followed by the Cooperative Bank. Now that the airline has obtained a new permit for domestic flights, Aung Ko Win said he wanted to manage it alone and tried to refund the others' shares,” said the businessman.

Aung Ko Win is reportedly close to Vice Snr-Gen Maung Aye, the regime's second in command.

Besides being Burma's main overseas carrier, MAI reportedly also had licenses to operate ground handling and passenger services and other airport-related businesses at the country's two international airports in Rangoon and Mandalay.

However, sources in the airline industry said that these licenses were recently given to Asia World, another company close to Burma's ruling generals. Asia World is expected to earn an annual income of US $6 million from ground handling services, the sources said.

As compensation for the loss of these licenses, MAI was granted permission to fly domestic routes, according to the sources.

The sources also said that the airlines are struggling because of a lack of passengers and difficulty buying spare parts for their aircraft due to economic sanctions imposed on them by the US and the European Union.

MAI was formed in 1993 as a joint venture between Myanmar Airways and Singapore business interests with the support of Royal Brunei Airlines. In February 2007, it was reorganized as a joint venture between Myanmar Airways, which retained 51 percent, and Hong Kong-based Region Air.

Currently, the only other Burmese airlines operating both domestic and international flights are Air Bagan and Air Mandalay. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=20491
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Africans Refuse Burmese Rice
By MYO MAUNG Saturday, January 8, 2011

A ship carrying Burmese rice was ordered to return to Burma in December after being refused docking permission in the Ivory Cost due to the unacceptable quality of the rice on board, according to a rice trader in Rangoon. Appriximately 25 percent of the exported rice was apparently broken.

This was not the first time that Burmese rice has been judged unacceptable, even to a continent as poverty-stricken as Africa.

Throughout 2010, Burmese rice exports were frequently held up at African ports, pronounced “unqualified,” and sent back to their port of origin. Sacks of rice from Burma were routinely dismissed as being wet, moldy, infested by weevils or containing too many grains that were broken to dust.

(Photo: AP)
In November, some 6,000 tons of rice exported to a country (which country?) in the Middle East were sent back, disqualified as “broken grains,” according to another rice trader in Rangoon.

Traders have said that due to an increase in the price of rice in Burma, many farmers or wholesalers mix the “good” rice with broken grains.

Burma was, until recently, selling rice at US $270-$280 per ton. The price, however, increased in the past months to $390 per ton.

The qualification of Burma’s rice exports are mostly checked by a branch of the Switzerland-based SGS, the world’s largest goods inspector.

Traders in Rangoon said that Burma’s rice exports increased dramatically in early 2009 due to greater demand from Africa and Bangladesh—mostly due to the cheap price of Burmese rice on the international market. Burma exported some 300,000 tons of rice between April and December of 2010.

In 2007-08, Burma’s rice exports amounted to a meager 358,500 tons—just 1.2 percent of total world exports that year, according to U Myint, a retired UN official and a director on the board of directors of Tun Foundation Bank.http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=20490
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Burma: No ethnic autonomy under military dominated sham parliament
By Zin Linn
opednews.com

Burma has already come to an end holding its namesake polls in last November. The elections were regarded as the ugliest vote rigging show of the country's history. According to Burmese junta's 2008 constitution, the incoming legislative body will convene its first session 90 days after the Election Day (7 November, 2010) to elect a president and two vice presidents and to form a new government. So, the new parliamentary session seems to be held in last week of this January as many political analysts have speculated.

Burma celebrated its 63rd anniversary of independence on 4th January, 2011. Burma gained its independence from Britain on 4 January, 1948. But the country experienced with democracy until 1962, when the military seized power to which it has since clung.

The current military junta has emerged in 1988 after violently suppressing mass pro-democracy protests. It held a general election in 1990, but refused to recognize the results after a landslide victory by the National League for Democracy (NLD) led by Aung San Suu Kyi, who has just released from house-arrest recently. She was under detention for more than a decade and a half and freed on 13 November, 2010.

Some ethnic Shan leaders believe that the then Shan's leadership decision to depart the British colonialism on 7th February 1947 had paved the way to Burma's Independence sunshine on 4 January 1948. The decision was taken by the Shan States Council, comprising the ruling princes and people's representatives of Shan States, as Shan State was known then, at the Panglong Conference from 3 to 12 February 1947.

So, up to this day, Shan community believe they deserve autonomy as a free people. However, Burmese military regime has no attitude to allowing equal status to the ethnic nationalities of Burma including the Shans. The major disagreement between junta and the opposition NLD led by Aung San Suu Kyi is no other than to give equal category to all ethnic groups.

Latest political scenario is still blurred although a multi-party general election on 7 November has been done. In accordance with the figures pronounced by Union Election Commission (UEC), a total of 1,148 candidates representing political parties and 6 independent candidates were elected as parliamentary representatives at three levels.

The Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), led by Prime Minister Thein Sein, won the majority of 882 parliamentary seats or 76.43 percent out of the total1, 154 seats. The USDP is followed by the National Unity Party (NUP) with 64 seats, Shan Nationalities Democratic Party (SNDP) with 57 seats, Rakhine Nationalities Development Party with 35 seats, National Democratic Force (NDF) and the All Mon Region Democracy Party (AMRDP) each with 16 at three levels of parliament.

Meanwhile, the SNDP Chairman Sai Aik Paung told a party conference in Taunggyi in mid-December that the party has achieved extraordinary unity among ethnic Shan nationals. The December 13-15 conference set up about 180 members, including 57 winning candidates from the November 7 election, as said by the Myanmar Times December 20 - 26, 2010 Issue.

The Shan Nationalities Democratic Party won 57 of the 156 seats and the third-largest number of candidates in national and regional legislatures, after the USDP.

Simultaneously, the three ceasefire armed groups have challenged Burma Army that pressured them to transform into Border Guard Forces (BGFs). For that reason, the groups have come around declining BGF plan in order to avoid Burmese junta's oppressive strategies. The UWSA, the NDAA, and the Shan State Army-North are along with the other armed ethnic groups which are defying the military regime's demands on them to join its Border Guard Force (BGF). Actually, the junta's BGF program intended to win over the ceasefire groups through laying down their arms.

Coincidentally, the United Wa State Army (UWSA)'s political wing United Wa State Party (UWSP) has drawn another contradict proposal which includes a point to demand for a state with the Right of Self Determination from the new government, quoting UWSP sources Shan Herald Agency for News said.

The UWSP's new proposal which is to be presented to the new parliamentary government expected to be held early 2011. In the proposal, UWSP says that their armed force will remain in the Wa State to defend their independence. Although they will not secede from the Union, they will steadfastly demand for a state with the Right of Self Determination from the upcoming government, upholding a policy of non-alignment and neutrality.

The said proposal was drawn at the UWSP's 5th annual district level party congress which is being held in Mongmai, 170 km north of its main base Panghsang from 20 to 29 December. According to a Wa officer, after the December Congress, the UWSP leading party committee will send its delegation to talk with the new government on the basis of 'Opposition to War' and 'Work for Peace and Development' principle.

Subsequently, General meeting of the 3rd Central Standing Committee (CSC) of the 14th KNU Congress was fruitfully held from December 14 to 19, 2010, according to the Karen National Union (Supreme Headquarters) source. KNU adopted the four guiding principles delineated by the late heroic leader Saw Ba U Gyi. The four principles are "Surrender is out of the question", "We shall retain our arms", "Recognition of Karen State must be complete" and "We shall decide our own political destiny."

KNU says in its statement dated 23 December 2010: "As the parliament and government that would come into being according to the SPDC Road Map were for realization of the 2008 Constitution, the meeting adopted the view that instead of resolving the problems faced by Burma, it would create more insecurity and conflicts, especially in the political and military fields."

According to SPDC's 2008 constitution, the incoming legislative body will convene its first session 90 days after the election to elect a president and two vice presidents and to form a new government. However, the first issue the new government has to head on be the question of self-determination. The ethnic parties not only representing in parliament but also from outside of the legislative body have the same demand in favor of autonomy.

As the self-styled new civilian government is the rebirth of the same military itself, the ethnic autonomy seems to be out of question. Correspondingly, national reconciliation proposal by Burma's Nobel laureate has also to be faced the same destiny. Thus, people of Burma have to continue struggle for national reconciliation plus self-determination.

Obviously, Burma's military dictators have held the recent polls, not to restore freedom, justice and equality but to resume the military dictatorial power and to monopolize the country's all-out economic opportunities. http://www.opednews.com/articles/Burma-No-ethnic-autonomy-by-Zin-Linn-110107-254.html
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UNAIDS to extend aid for Myanmar HIV victims
English.news.cn 2011-01-08 11:08:14 FeedbackPrintRSS

YANGON, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- The UNAIDS will extend supply of anti-retroviral (ARV) drug for Myanmar HIV victims up to 2015 under a joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, local media reported Saturday.

About 250,000 people were infected with HIV/AIDS in Myanmar, the Voice quoted the UN organization as saying.

A total of 20,000 HIV/AIDS patients or 27 percent of 74,000 in Myanmar have been treated with ARV drug, the report said.

Myanmar has achieved a unique distinction of bringing about a gradual declination of HIV prevalence in the country over the past decade.

The country's HIV prevalence rate dropped from 0.94 percent in 2000 to 0.67 percent in 2007 and to 0.61 percent in 2009.

There are 11 local non-governmental organizations (NGO), 21 international NGOs and 7 United Nations agencies actively collaborating with Myanmar's ministry of health in responding to HIV/AIDS.

Myanmar is also actively participating in the ASEAN work program in HIV/AIDS and Mekong regional HIV/AIDS projects as well as global and regional activities initiated by various UN agencies.

AIDS is one of the priority diseases of Myanmar's national health plan and prevention and care activities for HIV/AIDS are being implemented as a national concern. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/health/2011-01/08/c_13681406.htm
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Kachins shun junta-organised Manau festival
Friday, 07 January 2011 21:58 Mizzima News

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Less than half the usual number of visitors attended this Manau festival commemorating Kachin State Day, which kicked off today in Myitkyina, according to festival organisers.

This year’s Manau festival will run for five days before ending on January 11.

Unlike previous years, the 2011 festival was organised under the supervision of the Burmese military regime’s northern command officers.

“There were around 800 people at the opening ceremony, much less than last year. I hope more people come and enjoy festivities tomorrow”, La Kari La Awng, head of the festival organising committee told Mizzima.

Another committee member said: “Last year visitors filled the entire grounds. But this year people are keeping away because of the heavy security presence from police, fire fighters and armed soldiers”.

“No one wants to visit, and those who did, were unhappy”.

Previous opening ceremonies have been attended by up to 4,000 people, mostly ethnic Kachins from Burma, but also from neighbouring countries.

Diplomats and tourists also usually attend the ceremony.

“Authorities reminded people over loudspeakers to enjoy the festival to drum up numbers. We saw mainly USDP party members and fire fighters. Other people included soldiers and police”, said a local resident who visited the festival today.

Besides police and soldiers, the local authorities ordered mandatory security detail from 15 fire fighters from 40 Myitkyina ward.

The number of festival goers was matched by the number of security personnel, according to another attendee.

Rev. Zong Kyang and Pastor Dau Khau from the Kachin Christian Churches inaugurated the festival at 8am with prayers.

Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO) officials, who have resisted Burmese government pressure to transform into a Border Guard Force (BGF), did not officially attend today's festivities.

Northern command leaders had only extended an invitation to them on January 4.

Military Affairs Security General Staff Officer of military affairs security, Colonel Thet Pone informed Colonel Jee Nau from the KIO liaison office in Myitkyina that while they could attend, they must appear in civilian clothes.

The Manau festival was re-branded in state-owned media this week as the ‘Union Manau Festival’, causing offense to many Kachins. http://mizzima.com/news/inside-burma/4731-kachins-shun-junta-organised-manau-festival.html
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Pearl emporium to be held in Naypyidaw
Friday, 07 January 2011 21:53 Mizzima News

New Delhi (Mizzima) – A national pearl emporium is scheduled for January 11 to 13, 2011 in the Burmese capital Naypyidaw, according to the Myanmar Pearl Production and Trading Enterprise.

A similar gems emporium was held in the new capital in November 2010 where gems and pearls were sold by tender and auction.

Unsold pearl lots from the November’s emporium, as well as newly arrived lots from Pearl Island with be auctioned.

A special viewing for merchants will be arranged for January 11, while the tender process and sale by auction will commence the day after.

Sales will be in Burmese kyat.

Successful successful bidders will be announced by tender numbers using an imported electronic system.

Last year’s gem emporium resulted in the sale of 237 out of 240 lots.
http://mizzima.com/business/4730-pearl-emporium-to-be-held-in-naypyidaw.html
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