News & Articles on Burma-Thursday, 13 January, 2011

News & Articles on Burma
Thursday, 13 January, 2011
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Hydropower attracts big investment in Myanmar
Freed Myanmar democracy icon seeks to revive party
Conscription Law Likely to Drive More Youths out of Burma
Armed conflict threat looms large in Burma
Industrial projects boon to real estate in Burma
Myanmar To Privatise 90 Per Cent Of State-Owned Industries This Year
Can Indonesia turn Asean into a global player?
NLD to donate rice, water pipes to famine victims
Myanmar enacts military draft law for men, women
Thais Barred From Entering Into Myanmar For Safety
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Myanmar Times: January 10 - 16, 2011
Hydropower attracts big investment in Myanmar
By Juliet Shwe Gaung

ONE-THIRD of the total foreign investment in Myanmar went into the hydropower sector during the first seven months of the 2010-2011 fiscal year, and hydropower represented the second-largest investment sector, according to official figures.

Figures from the government’s Central Statistical Organisation show that from April to October 2010, foreign investment in the power sector reached US$5.03 billion. Total foreign investment in all sectors during the period was $15.9 billion.

Investment in hydropower was second only to oil and gas, which amounted to $9.8 billion, while the mining sector stood in third place with investment totalling $990 million during the period.

In 2010 a total of seven memoranda of understanding (MOU) and memoranda of agreement (MOA) were signed between investors and the Department of Hydropower Planning under the Ministry of Electric Power (1).

In February, the government signed an MOA with China for implementation of a 1400 megawatt (MW) hydropower project on the upper Thanlwin (Kunlong) River in Shan State. An MOU was also signed between China and the Htoo Group of Companies for construction of a coal-fired thermal power plant in Yangon.

In April, an MOA was signed with Thailand and China for implementation of the 1360MW Hutgyi hydropower project in Kayin State, and the following month an MOU was signed with China for construction of the 520MW Mawlite hydropower project and a Kalewa coal-fired power plant, both in Sagaing Region.

July saw the signing of an MOA with China for a 1055MW Ngaw Chan Hka hydropower project in Kachin State.

China and Thailand signed another MOU with the government in November for the 1400MW upper Thanlwin (Ming Long) project in Shan state. Other agreements were signed in the same month for the 520MW Shwe Li (2) and 280MW Belin hydropower projects in Shan state.

There are currently 16 hydropower stations and one coal-fired power plant operating in Myanmar. The most recent to open was the Yeywa hydropower project in Mandalay Region, the first dam built in the country using roller compacted concrete construction techniques. Opened on December 15, it has the capacity to generate 790MW of power.

The 75MW Shwegyin hydropower project is about 80 percent complete and is one of 10 projects due to be completed in 2012. Altogether these projects will generate 1656MW, in addition to the 2100MW currently generated for the entire country though hydropower.

A former official from the Ministry of Electric Power (1) said Myanmar was unable to exploit all the identified hydropower resources on its own, so it had signed joint-venture agreements with neighbouring countries like Thailand, China and Bangladesh for implementation and export of power.

The joint-venture projects not only generate foreign exchange revenue during the concession period, but also increase the country’s overall power generation, because the agreements entitle Myanmar to 10-15pc of the annual electricity generated from the power stations free of charge, he said.
http://www.mmtimes.com/2011/business/557/biz55702.html
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Freed Myanmar democracy icon seeks to revive party
AP

YANGON, Myanmar – Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is seeking to revive her political party in military-run Myanmar by launching an appeal to the Supreme Court of a ruling that upheld its banning, her lawyers said Thursday.

Suu Kyi, who freed from house arrest in November, has sent her team of lawyers to the capital of Naypyitaw to submit the appeal, said one of the lawyers, Nyan Win.

The legal move appears to be largely symbolic, since Myanmar's courts invariably adhere to the junta's policies, especially on political matters. Previous appeals by Suu Kyi to the courts, on matters such as her detention, have been shunted aside or dismissed.

A similar appeal in November to restore the National League for Democracy was dismissed. The party lost its legal status because it failed to reregister in order to take part in general elections that month, claiming the balloting would be neither free nor fair.

The elections were swept by a party close to the ruling military junta, and the opening session of the new Parliament is scheduled for Jan. 31.

Nyan Win told earlier told reporters that the state Election Commission does not have the authority to dissolve the NLD, which was registered under a previous party registration law. Suu Kyi's party won a landslide victory in the last election in 1990, but was not allowed to take power by the military.

The 65-year old Nobel prize laureate has spent 14 of the past 20 years under house arrest. Her last period of detention lasted seven years. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110113/ap_on_re_as/as_myanmar_suu_kyi
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Conscription Law Likely to Drive More Youths out of Burma

13 January 2011: The new decree recently issued by Burma's ruling military junta obligating every citizen over the age of 18 years to enter military service will likely cause more young people to flee the country, the Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO) has warned.

According to a new law enacted by the ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) on November 4, and entered into the official gazette on December 17 last year, young men and women between the ages of 18 and 35 are required to serve in the Burmese military for at least two years. Failure to perform military service is punishable by imprisonment of up to three years.

But the new decree is likely to cause more youths to flee the country to avoid being forcibly called to serve in the military.

Salai Bawi Lian Mang, Executive Director of Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO) said, "When enforced, this new measure will almost certainly cause an exodus of more youths out of Burma as we have seen in the pre-election period, in which dozens of young people fled to India from Chin State to avoid conscription into the militia forces."

According to CHRO, several dozen youths from southern Chin State's Paletwa Township fled to India in January of 2010 when the Burmese army tried to forcibly enlist them for the militia service.

Other incidents of forcible conscription involving minors and high school students were reported by CHRO from Matupi Township.Two army deserters recently interviewed by the CHRO said that they were drafted in 2007 before they were only 16 and 17 respectively by troops from Burma Army Light Infantry Battalion (304) stationed at Belkong village of Maupti Township. CHRO also reported that since June 2009 as many as 1,160 youths were conscripted into the militia service in the Matupi Township area.

Young people are more likely to be called to perform mandatory and unpaid work, as well as, targeted for conscription into the army and militia services. In Chin State, these measures have caused the forced migration of people, especially the youths, out of Chin State. More refugees in neighboring countries are young people under the age of 35. http://chinlandguardian.com/news-2009/1160-conscription-law-likely-to-drive-more-youths-out-of-burma.html
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Armed conflict threat looms large in Burma
By Zin Linn Jan 12, 2011 8:49PM UTC

The inauguration of the Pathein-Monywa road built by Public Works of the Ministry of Construction took place at the pavilion near Kankalay Junction in Kyaunggon Township on January 11, with an address by Burma’s Prime Minister Thein Sein.

Thein Sein underscored peace, stability, national unity and national development as key necessities for democratization.

In his speech, he said, “Before long, Hluttaw (Parliament) sessions will be held to form Union government, R e g i o n / S t a t e governments, self-administered zone leading bodies along with a check and balance system for three pillars, namely legislative, executive and judicial sectors. Community peace, stability, national unity and national development are requirements of democratization. So, these requirements are to be fulfilled all the more in such a transitory period.”

Meanwhile, conflicts between the junta’s armed forces and ethnic Karen armed units have been continuing along the Thai-Burma border near Mae Sot in Tak Province of northwestern Thailand. As 11 shells have struck into the Thai side, the Thai head of the Thai-Burma Border Committee (TBC) in Mae Sot has sent a letter to the TBC office in Burma’s Myawaddy district urging the Burmese soldiers to cautiously seek their targets in order to avoid firing into Thailand.

Although Thein Sein highlighted the importance of peace and stability, the military junta has enacted a law that could draft men and women into its army and mete out prison sentences of up to five years for draft dodgers, according to an official document.

The law, dated Nov. 4, 2010, but yet to be made public, will come into force when proclaimed by the ruling military council, said an official gazette with limited circulation. The law says that every male between the age of 18 and 45 and females between 18 and 35 may be drafted to serve for two years, which could be increased to five years in times of national emergencies.

Without any external threats, the Burmese army has been expending its strength over 400,000 soldiers and is one of the strongest in the region. Its armed forces have been engaging in ongoing conflicts with several ethnic rebel groups seeking self-determination since 1948.

According to Irrawaddy News, the Burmese regime has been reinforcing its troops in several areas where ethnic armed groups that did not follow the border guard force (BGF) plan are based, according to ethnic sources. Armed reinforcements have been reported in southern Karen State and in central and southern Shan State in eastern Burma since early December last.

Sporadic armed clashes has been going on in recent weeks between the junta’s troops and armed ethnic groups such as the Karen National Union (KNU), the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) Brigade 5, the Shan State Army–North (SSA-North) and Shan State Army-South (SSA-South).

According to a report by the Thailand-based Kachin News Group (KNG), the junta also began dispatching fresh troops and munitions in Kachin State in late November.

KNG said eye witnesses had confirmed that a number of vehicles carrying military supplies arrived in Bhamo Township in Kachin State on November 30 from Mandalay. They said that the military trucks continued to Laiza, close to the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) headquarters which is on the Sino-Burmese border. The KIO is the second largest ethnic armed group in Burma with some 10,000 fighters. It is also one of the ethnic rebels that denied the junta’s BGF policy.

Several analysts believe conflicts could rise as more ethnic armed groups refuse to abide by the junta’s new constitution. Also, the ethnic groups think the incoming namesake civilian government will leave them even without basic rights that they currently have.

In state-run media, the junta also condemned the Second Panglong Initiative or National Reconciliation forum raised by democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi and some prominent ethnic leaders as an unnecessary approach.

The nation risks a return of armed conflict as a result of denial of a true federal system in the 2008 Constitution drawn by the incumbent military junta.
http://asiancorrespondent.com/46003/armed-conflict-will-return-after-new-government-shaped-in-burma/
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Industrial projects boon to real estate in Burma

PRSEA | Jan 13, 2011 |

Foreign-invested cooperation projects in Rakhine state Sittway, Tanintharyi region’ s Dawei and Sagaing region’s Monywa have raised Burmese real estate prices as the market anticipates localised socio-economic booms, the Xinhua News Agency has reported.

In Sittway, a project on construction and operation of a 120- million-USD multi-modal transit and transport facility, covering the port, waterways and road infrastructure, connecting the Sittway Port in Myanmar with the Indian state of Mizoram is under construction following a framework agreement signed between India and Myanmar in 2009.

In Dawei, a deep seaport, industrial zone and road and rail link to Thailand in southern Tanintharyi region is in the initial stages of implementation under a framework agreement signed between Thailand and Myanmar in November 2010.

The project represents the first ever special economic zone in Myanmar and completion is targeted for 10 years in three phases.

The project, which costs 13 billion U.S dollars, specifically includes construction of Dawei Deep Seaport, buildings for shipyard and maintenance work, establishment of zone, petrochemical industries, oil refinery, steel plant, power stations and Dawei-Bangkok motor road and railroad and laying of oil pipeline along the motorway and railroad.

A total of 25 vessels ranging from 20,000 to 50,000 tons will be able to berth at 22 wharves simultaneously and 100 million tons of goods will be handled a year with the deep seaport made up of the south port and the north port.

An area of 250 square kilometers has been designated to build a zone comprising two heavy industrial zones, one medium heavy industrial zone and one light industrial zone.
A power station that can generate 4,000 megawatts will also be built for the whole project.
Moreover, the 170 kilometers each long motor road and railroad that will link Dawei deep seaport to Myanmar-Thai border will be built phase by phase.

The road will reach the Greater Mekong Sub-region Southern Corridor that leads to Vung Tau and Quy Nhon of Vietnam through Sisiphon of Cambodia via Bangkok, Thailand, according to the port authorities.

On completion the port and its road and rail links will facilitate the movement of trade along the South East Asia east-west corridor and south from China’s eastern provinces along a high-speed rail link through Lao PDR; the construction of which is currently being negotiated by the Thai and Chinese governments.

Foreign investors in Thailand have already expressed interest in the Burmese port as an alternative to Thailand given pressures on the existing eastern seaboard infrastructure, more stringent environmental regulations and uncertain political risks. http://www.property-report.com/site/industrial-projects-boon-to-real-estate-in-burma-11067
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January 13, 2011 12:52 PM
Myanmar To Privatise 90 Per Cent Of State-Owned Industries This Year

YANGON, Jan 13 (Bernama) -- Myanmar has planned to privatise 90 percent of state-owned industries during the year, leaving the remaining 10 percent to be held back by the government, China's Xinhua news agency cited the local Biweekly Eleven News' report Thursday.

The move is to be made in line with the coming change of government after the general election, Deputy Minister of Industry-2 U Khin Maung Kyaw was quoted as saying.

In addition to the state-owned industries, other state-owned properties such as motor vehicles, enterprises, fuel-filling stations, buildings, land plots, recreation places, roads, bridges and ports are being privatised, said private companies.

According to the report, during 2010, 110 state-owned economic enterprises, 32 buildings, 246 fuel-filling stations, eight wharves along the Yangon Port and port areas have been sold under competitive bidding system.

During this year, other state-owned industries, economic enterprises and properties in regions and states will also follow suit, the report added.

-- BERNAMA http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsworld.php?id=556319
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REGIONAL PERSPECTIVE
Can Indonesia turn Asean into a global player?
By Kavi Chongkittavorn
The Nation: Published on January 10, 2011

For the record, 2011 will be an exciting year for Asean - based on the must-do list the new Asean chair has vowed to accomplish at regional and international levels. In its second week, Indonesia has taken the chair with a confidence and relish rarely witnessed in Asean's over four-decade history, coupled with a blueprint to push the grouping into the global limelight. Jakarta's enthusiasm has already drawn praise from the secretary-general of Asean, Dr Surin Pitsuwan, who complimented the chair's preparedness to be "engaged, proactive, using the Asean platform to enhance Asean's profile in the global arena".

Last week, Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa outlined three major tasks the Asean chair will tackle - to make tangible progress towards the Asean Community, to establish "dynamic equilibrium" between Asean and the major powers and, finally, to ensure Asean can be a peacemaker in a complex world. Indeed, it will be a tall order as the chair has to overcome existing divergent views and entrenched positions held by Asean members. That is easier said than done. For instance, the previous chair, Vietnam, faced great difficulty in garnering the grouping' s common position on global issues. Indonesia's Permanent Representative to Asean, Ambassador I Gede Ngurah Swajaya, understood the dilemma well and was succinct in saying the efforts of promoting a united Asean in a community will require Asean's collective voice, assets, diplomatic networks and constructive solution-oriented mindset.

Inevitably, the most tangible progress in achieving the Asean Community remains the promotion and protection of human rights in Asean. Under its chair, Indonesia hopes the Asean Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) will be more effective in fulfilling its mandate, reflecting the members' commitment to respect human rights. One immediate task is to agree on the guidelines of modality, which is a euphemism for terms of procedure - the term turned down by AICHR's conservative members last year.

Dr Sriprapha Petcharamesree, Thai representative of AICHR, said it was time that AICHR deliver after more than a year of preparation and meetings. She reiterated that the new chair can provide the much-needed impetus and direction on human rights protection. This year, AICHR plans to deliberate on the draft Asean Human Rights Declaration. However, without the guidelines, AICHR activities and the utilisation of its US$200,000 fund, it cannot begin. The protection of migrant workers' rights, on which the Philippines and Indonesia are very keen, will also be high on the agenda. At this juncture, it is hard to say if Asean can agree on the legally binding documents on this sensitive issue as some members oppose the idea.

Truth be told, all Asean members have problems with human rights records, including the chair. But the way each nation chooses to handle them will mark the grouping's departure from the past. So far, Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia remain open and tolerant to international enquiries, which continue unabated to pressure for more transparency and access. On its own, AICHR does not have the mandate to investigate alleged human rights abuses or write-up annual reports on individual member countries.

But the best practice from these three countries and others could in the long-run serve as role models and subsequently impact on the culture of non-interference and result in better human rights cooperation and protection. The continued appeal from academics and civil-society organisations to end the non-interference principle and opt for collective responsibility is unattainable at the moment.

In addition, what Jakarta can do to make Asean more people-centred is to promote the stakeholders' participation. Indonesia is well-positioned to do so due to its active civil-society sector with more than 25,000 organisations of myriad interests and purposes. As a moderate and secular Muslim country, Indonesia continues to be the fulcrum of inter-faith dialogue forums, essential not only to Asean but the broader global community as well. For instance, the interface between the Asean leaders and civil society groups could be brought back to fit into the slogan of people-centred community-building in Asean. In 2008, Thailand did its fair share by encouraging the Asean-based civil groups to contribute their input. However, lack of mutual trust and uncompromised views and less-than friendly encounters from both sides derailed long-term engagements.

Beyond the region, a more consolidated and unified Asean is a prerequisite to engage major powers of the world. This year will witness how Asean tackles its multiple relations with the US, Russia, China, Japan and India. The first expanded East Asia Summit scheduled at the end this year and will set forth the tone and level of their engagements. Indonesia has already come forward pushing the EAS as the forum for discussion of strategic issues at both global and regional levels, similar to the US position. Other Asean members prefer a more encompassing forum, involving pertinent global issues including economics and science and technology. Key security and political issues such as nuclear non-proliferation, maritime cooperation and safety navigation, human trafficking, climate change and the Korean Peninsula will definitely top the EAS agenda.

The future of Asean's role in the global community as envisaged by Natalegawa is intricately linked to the outcome of the association's effective engagement with these dialogue partners and the broader community. He believes the role would serve as the vanguard for the promotion of democratic values, human rights and tolerance at the global level. Interestingly, both Indonesia and the US share similar concerns and agenda. They are the core to trans-Asia Pacific cooperation for the time being, due to their respective chairing of economic groupings. Washington will host the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders meeting in Hawaii later this year.

The two nations must work in tandem to ensure that healthy cooperation will continue at all levels. The Indonesia-US relations, further boosted by President Barack Obama's brief visit last November, will play a pivotal role in defining the parameter of future cooperation in the region and the overall US policy. Among the Asean membership, Indonesia has the most extensive diplomatic relations with the global community. This year, Jakarta will establish new diplomatic relations with 21 countries, reaching all UN members, except for Israel.

Despite all the above-mentioned strengths, Indonesia inherits a weakness: its reservations about economic integration with Asean. It has asked for a one-year delay in the Asean-China free-trade agreement through emergency exit clauses related to general commitment. Obviously, domestic adjustments and improved competitiveness of local industries are essential to improve Indonesia's economic profile and respect within Asean. To ensure its sustainability, the newly found intellectual leadership within the grouping must be rooted in all areas. Otherwise, its ambitious plan to shape Asean's future well beyond the Asean Community in 1,451 days would be hampered. http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2011/01/10/opinion/Can-Indonesia-turn-Asean-into-a-global-player-30146030.html
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NLD to donate rice, water pipes to famine victims
Source: Mizzima News
Date: 12 Jan 2011

Chiang Mai (Mizzima)––The National League for Democracy (NLD) will donate rice and water pipes to famine victims in villages in four townships in Chin State.

Rat infestations in August 2010 lead to widespread crop destruction and a severe food shortage in about 120 villages in Mindat, Matupi, Paletwa and Kanpetlet townships in southern Chin State.

NLD General-Secretary Aung San Suu Kyi met with Pu Van Lian, the chairman of the NLD (in Chin State), on January 10, and she promised to donate rice to famine victims in Paletwa and Kanpetlet townships.

In the meeting, Pu Van Lian told Suu Kyi that some people in Mindat and Thantlang townships also did not have enough food. NLD leaders are now discussing how much they can help those townships, said Ohn Kyaing, an NLD information committee member.

'They said there was a water shortage in Falam Township. There is a stream on the mountain about five miles from Falam. So, to get water, they need to lay water pipelines. That's why they asked us to donate water pipelines', said Ohn Kyaing.

Pu Van Lian said that water pipes with a diameter of two inches (about 5.08 centimeters) cost about 6 million kyat (about US$ 6,000), according to Ohn Kyaing.

Chin National Party's chairman Pu Zozam said, 'I'm very glad to hear that Aung San Suu Kyi will donate rice to the victims. I would like to urge her to donate to us in the future, too. All villages have suffered water shortages'.

The Chin National Party contested in the 2010 election and won a total of nine parliamentary seats .

Last month, Suu Kyi, members of the Committee Representing the People's Parliament and independent candidates who contested in the recent national elections donated food and shelter valued at 20 million kyat (about US$20,000) to Cyclone Giri victims in Arakan State.

The NLD, with the help of independent donors, businessmen and international organisations, has donated food and money to cyclone Nargis and Giri victims, people living with HIV and political prisoners. In early January, the NLD also organised a trade fair in and the profits will be donated to aid political prisoners and people living with HIV.

"We support many patients who live with HIV, and we will receive more patients in our HIV centre. We have to struggle in order to be able to help people', Ohn Kyaing told Mizzima. ?

There are about 130 HIV patients in the NLD's Thukha Yeikmyone Centre, managed by NLD central committee member Phyu Phyu Thin, in South Dagon Township in Rangoon. http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/VVOS-8D2NG6?OpenDocument
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Associated Press Featured Article
January 12, 2011
Myanmar enacts military draft law for men, women
By Associated Press ,

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Military–ruled Myanmar has enacted a law that could draft men and women into the armed forces and mete out prison sentences of up to five years for draft dodgers, according to an official document seen Monday. The country currently has a volunteer army.

The law, dated Nov. 4, 2010, but yet to be made public, will come into force when proclaimed by the ruling military council, said an official gazette with limited circulation.

Myanmar's 400,000–strong military ranks among the largest in the world. Its troops are engaged in continuing conflicts with several ethnic minority groups seeking autonomy from the central government.

Some analysts say conflicts could escalate as more ethnic groups refuse to adhere to a Constitution and government they say will deprive them of even more rights than they currently enjoy. The government is set to replace the junta, possibly toward the end of this month.

The law states every male between the age of 18 and 45 and females between 18 and 35 may be drafted to serve for two years, which could be increased to five years in times of national emergencies. Both sexes are required to register at 18.

Those who fail to report for military service could get three years in prison, a fine or both, and those who deliberately inflict injury upon oneself to avoid conscription could be imprisoned for up to five years, fined or both.

In times of national crisis the government can recruit all or some of those eligible for military service.

Civil servants, students, persons serving prison terms or those taking care of elderly parents will enjoy temporary postponement of military service but could be later called to serve. Totally exempt are members of religious orders, married women or divorcees with children and disabled persons. http://topnews360.tmcnet.com/topics/associated-press/articles/2011/01/12/134225-myanmar-enacts-military-draft-law-men-women.htm
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January 12, 2011 16:21 PM
Thais Barred From Entering Into Myanmar For Safety

BANGKOK, Jan 12 (Bernama) -- Thai nationals have been prohibited from any cross-border travel at a checkpoint in Thailand's northwestern Tak Province after a former Thai political candidate was detained by the armed Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) while crossing the border into the Myanmar side for his business, Thai News Agency (TNA) reported.

Tak Governor Samart Loyfah said on Wednesday that Thai people have been temporarily barred from travelling out of or into the Thai-Myanmar border in Tak Province for their safety--following the arrest of the former Thai political candidate of the Ruamjai Pattana Party, Kriangsak Bhumrungroj, who is also a Thai Public Health Ministry retiree, by the DKBA militants before the Thai authorities successfully negotiated for his release Tuesday evening.

Samart noted that Thai border police and military forces have intensified security measures in Tak's five districts bordering Myanmar--amid escalating warfare between Myanmar government troops and the breakaway karen forces.

-- BERNAMA http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsworld.php?id=556085

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