News & Articles on Burma-Wednesday, 26 January, 2011

News & Articles on Burma
Wednesday, 26 January, 2011
-------------------------------------------------------------
US Says 'No' to Lifting Sanctions on Junta
Burma: UN Should Tackle Rights Crisis as New Parliament Convenes
Relocation deadline in Myitsone Tang Hpre village creates quandary
Cabinet Members to Resign Before Parliament Opens
Burma’s Path to Privatization Keeps Armed Forces in Economic Control
Japanese auto-makers eye local opportunities
Myanmar, Thailand touch on employment issue
US says ASEAN has role to play in Myanmar and Koreas
------------------------------------------





US Says 'No' to Lifting Sanctions on Junta
By THE IRRAWADDY Wednesday, January 26, 2011

The United States will not consider lifting economic sanctions against Burma unless the country's military rulers recognize opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party and release political prisoners, according to a senior US diplomat.

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Joseph Y. Yun told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday that the Burmese regime should hold a dialogue with Suu Kyi, and release the more than 2,000 political prisoners held around the country—preconditions for the US to consider lifting economic sanctions imposed against the Burmese regime for its human rights violations.

His comment came more than a week after the foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and an alliance of five ethnic political parties in Burma called for an end to Western economic sanctions against Burma.

During their recent meeting in Lombok, Indonesia, the Asean ministers referred to Burma's controversial parliamentary elections and the release of Suu Kyi as “developments,” which they said the international community should positively respond to.

In their call for the lifting of Western economic sanctions, Asean foreign ministers voiced all the same requests to the Burmese regime as the US demands, Yun was quoted as saying.

“These are excellent demands from the Asean ministers, and I think the Myanmar authorities should really take them to heart and make them a reality,” Yun said, adding that a positive US response would follow when the Burmese regime complies with the requests from the international community.

Last Friday in Washington, the State Department spokesman, P J Crowley, said that the Obama administration has no plan to lift sanctions as of now, and that its sanctions are specifically targeted against the leaders of the Burmese military junta, its cronies and business groups that support them—and not against the people of Burma.

“At this point, no,” Crowley told reporters when asked if there is any move to lift the sanctions.

“This is an issue that we regularly discuss with stakeholders—the effectiveness and the impact of our sanctions. Our sanctions are specifically targeted against those most responsible for denying democracy and disregarding human rights in Burma,” Crowley said.

“We have concerns about the people of Burma, but it is the Burmese regime that is fully responsible for the country’s dire economic situation. They are the ones who have institutionalized corruption and they are the ones who have plundered natural resources,” he said.

“We maintain sanctions in order to press authorities to take concrete actions on issues of core concern to the international community, including democratic reform, release of political prisoners, and initiating a genuine dialogue with the democratic opposition and ethnic minority leaders,” Crowley said.

Yun's call to the regime for the recognition of Suu Kyi's NLD came amid her lawyers proceeding with an appeal against last year's dissolution of the party following its decision not to run in parliamentary elections held on Nov. 7.

On Monday, the lawyers presented their arguments to the Supreme Court in Naypyidaw, but no decision was made by the court about whether it would hear Suu Kyi's latest appeal against the disbanding of the party.

In December, Suu Kyi met with Yun in Rangoon and discussed economic sanctions against Burma.

Since 2009, the Obama administration has initiated a senior-level diplomatic dialogue with the Burmese military leadership while continuing to keep sanctions as an important tool of US policy.

However, the Burmese regime has made no tangible positive response. As the country prepares to convene its first session of Parliament in 22 years at the end of this month, more than 2,000 political prisoners remain behind bars in Burma. The Parliament will be dominated by pro-military lawmakers who won in last year's controversial polls.

The Irrawaddy correspondent Lalit K. Jha contributed to this article from Washington.
http://irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=20610
--------------------------------------------------
Burma: UN Should Tackle Rights Crisis as New Parliament Convenes
Source: Human Rights Watch (HRW)
Date: 26 Jan 2011

Junta Window Dressing Ahead of First UN Rights ReviewJunta Window Dressing Ahead of First UN Rights Review

(New York, January 26, 2011) – The review of Burma's human rights record at the United Nations this week should reflect reality and not the false promises of the military, Human Rights Watch said today.

Burma will face its first-ever Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in the Human Rights Council in Geneva on January 27, a process all member states must undergo every four years to ascertain each country's progress on human rights. The ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) will face the UPR, just days before the new 2010 elected parliament convenes on January 31 in the nation's capital, Naypyidaw, to select a president and form a new government already dominated by serving and recently retired military officers.

"The UPR process is an opportunity to put one of the most brutal and intransigent authoritarian systems in the world under the spotlight," said Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "Burma's human rights record remains deplorable, and forming a new parliament after sham elections in 2010 shouldn't fool anyone."

Human Rights Watch urged member states to question the Burmese military government on the gravity, extent, and systematic nature of violations taking place in Burma and the need for more effective tools to address the situation.The Human Rights Council has adopted several resolutions strongly condemning the systematic nature of the violations committed against the people of Burma, as has the UN General Assembly. Yet the lack of implementation by Burmese authorities of almost all provisions contained in these resolutions is a matter of serious concern and should be raised during the UPR.

The Burmese government's national report to the UPR process contains numerous assertions that progress has been made on legal reform, that provisions in the 2008 constitution on fundamental rights and duties of citizens is in line with international conventions, that education on human rights has increased in the military, bureaucracy, and school system, and that the fledgling Human Rights Body will soon become a fully fledged Human Rights Commission in line with the Paris Principles on the Status of National Institutions.

The military government also cites its cooperation with the UN on demobilizing child soldiers, and working with the UN Country Team as evidence of progress, despite more comprehensive measures being all but suspended in 2010 as the military stage-managed the elections.The SPDC created the Committee to Prevent the Recruitment of Child Soldiers in 2004, yet this body has failed to take effective action to curtail child recruitment and has not adequately punished military officials involved in predatory recruitment practices. A UN Action Plan on ending child soldier recruitment that meets international standards has yet to be finalized with the Burmese government. The government has also severely limited efforts by the UN country team to monitor the recruitment and use of child soldiers by non-state armed groups.

"UN member states must not mistake rhetoric for improvement," said Pearson. "Burmese authorities only demonstrate perfunctory cooperation, doing the bare minimum to deter international criticism, not genuine efforts to provide for the rights of their citizens."

Human Rights Watch said despite new window dressing, the same grim reality for Burma's people continues to be reported. Serious human rights issues in Burma that have shown no improvement in the past several years and in many cases have continued to deteriorate are mentioned in Human Rights Watch's UPR submission, and include:

Freedom of Expression and Association

Systematic restrictions on basic freedoms in Burma remain, including on the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, and association. For example, despite Burma having ratified International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention No. 87 on freedom of association, the SPDC continues to refuse to register independent trade unions in the country. The 2010 elections were conducted in a climate of intimidation and tight control of freedom of expression, assembly, and association, for political candidates and citizens.

Arbitrary Detention and Ill-Treatment

Despite democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's release in mid-November 2010, the government of Burma currently incarcerates more than 2,200 political prisoners including political activists, journalists, trade unionists and labor rights advocates, artists, Buddhist monks and nuns, and vocal opponents of the SPDC. Many of these prisoners have received harsh sentences – including up to 65 years in prison – on trumped up criminal charges in unfair trials that seek to curtail peaceful political dissent and free expression. Conditions in Burmese prisons do not meet international standards: prisoners are not given adequate health care, face routine ill-treatment and at times torture, and may be transferred to remote facilities in the hinterlands that make visits by family members and UN officials difficult. The government has not granted the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) access to Burmese prisons in accordance with the ICRC's standard procedures since 2006.

Respect for the Rule of Law

The culture of impunity in Burma for government officials and military personnel for serious abuses is supported by a judicial system that is neither impartial nor independent. There has been little if any accountability for serious crimes committed by government security forces in conflict zones in eastern and western Burma, including attacks on civilians, routine use of forced labor, sexual violence against women and girls, recruitment and use of child soldiers, extrajudicial killings of civilians, and other violations of international humanitarian law. Some non-state armed groups have also been implicated in serious abuses, including forced labor and the use of child soldiers.

Protection of Civilians

Civilians in conflict areas face abuses by government and non-state armed groups. In some conflict areas, the Tatmadaw(Burmese army)maintains a "shoot on sight" practice that targets civilians. The Tatmadaw forcibly displaces and evicts communities, confiscates land for security purposes or commercial activities, and in some places forces communities to live in specially constructed relocation sites close to military camps as a counter-insurgency measure. Fighting in Eastern Burma has intensified in the past three months, driving more refugees into Thailand.

Forced Labor

Forced labor remains rampant in ethnic conflict areas, despite cooperation with the ILO for several years and the continuation of an ILO and Burmese government mechanism on investigating cases of forced labor. Civilians in conflict zones continue to report being forced to carry supplies for Burma army units, and civilians also said they feared being used to guide troops through terrain, often acting as human minesweepers, a practice the Burmese army has used in past military operations.

Minorities

Conditions for ethnic Rohingya Muslims in western Burma are extremely dire. The Rohingya are denied citizenship in Burma, and Rohingya communities face sharp restrictions on freedom of movement, access to basic health care, livelihoods, and education, and suffer routine abuses at the hands of Tatmadaw units and paramilitary border security forces called Na Sa Ka. Thousands of Rohingya have fled Burma into Bangladesh and by sea to Malaysia and Thailand.

"Burma's rights record is a source of deep concern for the UN, but principled pressure instead of wishful thinking is needed to improve it," Pearson said. "The UPR review must galvanize the UN to take further measures to end the culture of impunity and the distortion of the legal system to ensure military rule, in or out of the new parliament."

© Copyright, Human Rights Watch 350 Fifth Avenue, 34th Floor New York, NY 10118-3299 USA http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/MUMA-8DG24B?OpenDocument
-----------------------------------------------------
Relocation deadline in Myitsone Tang Hpre village creates quandary
Wednesday, 26 January 2011 00:00 KNG

Residents of Tang Hpre village located near the Irrawaddy Myitsone dam construction site in Northern Burma, Kachin State are reeling under the dual burden of drugs and pressure from the ruling Burmese junta to relocate the whole village by March, which is the deadline.

“It is akin to hell now. More and more people are addicted to drugs in the village, which is being destroyed due to digging for gold,” said Bawk Naw, a villager from Tang Hpre.

He told Thailand-based Kachin News Group whole paddy fields are being destroyed because of gold mining and no one is even attempting to plant paddy, due to the uncertain conditions. On top of which there is mounting pressure to relocate.

With the gold mining business, drug addiction has increased among the youth but the regime had not acted on it, said the villager.

The Burmese military government Ma-Ya-Ka, police and the Asia World Company had come to the village on January 23 and 24 to talk about compensation and told villagers to relocate to other places by March.

“They are giving compensation of 135 Kyats for one orange tree in Mazup village located between Mali and N’mai rivers,” said Bawk Naw.

Tang Hpre villagers are to be compensated but the authorities have told them that the amount of financial aid will depend on plant count and food stored in every house. There will be no payment for house and land.

“We villagers have decided not to shift from our village whatever comes our way,” said Bawk Naw.

Most young men from the village are still running away from the village because they are being arrested for investigations relating to the April 17, 2010 bomb blasts near the dam construction site.

There are more security check points now and more soldiers around the dam construction site after the explosions.

The National League for Party (NLD) led by Aung San Suu Kyi, pro-democracy icon of Burma, has criticized the construction of the 152 meter high Myitsone Dam, which is being built without taking into account the impact on thousands of people and the ecology.

According to Thailand-based Burma Rivers Network (BRN) the Myitsone dam located over 20 miles from Myitkyina the capital of Kachin State, will displace about 15,000 people living around the site and threatens thousands of people downstream because of flooding and water shortage.

The construction began last year led by China Power Investment Corporation (CPI) and power generated will be sold to China, said Thailand-based Burma Rivers Network (BRN).

The impact of limited water will affect farmers and fisher folk, who depend on the river for their livelihood, said BRN in a statement on January 17.

Myitsone dam is a part of seven dams on headwaters of Irrawaddy River, also Mali Hka in Kachin and is estimated to produce a major part of 17,160 MW of electricity, which is to be exported to China, according to BRN.

Till now, at least six villages have been relocated to new sites, where there is no hope of eking out a livelihood by the villagers with no farmland and agricultural plots.

Residents of Tang Hpre village located near the Irrawaddy Myitsone dam construction site in Northern Burma, Kachin State are reeling under the dual burden of drugs and pressure from the ruling Burmese junta to relocate the whole village by March, which is the deadline.

“It is akin to hell now. More and more people are addicted to drugs in the village, which is being destroyed due to digging for gold,” said Bawk Naw, a villager from Tang Hpre.

He told Thailand-based Kachin News Group whole paddy fields are being destroyed because of gold mining and no one is even attempting to plant paddy, due to the uncertain conditions. On top of which there is mounting pressure to relocate.

With the gold mining business, drug addiction has increased among the youth but the regime had not acted on it, said the villager.

The Burmese military government Ma-Ya-Ka, police and the Asia World Company had come to the village on January 23 and 24 to talk about compensation and told villagers to relocate to other places by March.

“They are giving compensation of 135 Kyats for one orange tree in Mazup village located between Mali and N’mai rivers,” said Bawk Naw.

Tang Hpre villagers are to be compensated but the authorities have told them that the amount of financial aid will depend on plant count and food stored in every house. There will be no payment for house and land.

“We villagers have decided not to shift from our village whatever comes our way,” said Bawk Naw.

Most young men from the village are still running away from the village because they are being arrested for investigations relating to the April 17, 2010 bomb blasts near the dam construction site.

There are more security check points now and more soldiers around the dam construction site after the explosions.

The National League for Party (NLD) led by Aung San Suu Kyi, pro-democracy icon of Burma, has criticized the construction of the 152 meter high Myitsone Dam, which is being built without taking into account the impact on thousands of people and the ecology.

According to Thailand-based Burma Rivers Network (BRN) the Myitsone dam located over 20 miles from Myitkyina the capital of Kachin State, will displace about 15,000 people living around the site and threatens thousands of people downstream because of flooding and water shortage.

The construction began last year led by China Power Investment Corporation (CPI) and power generated will be sold to China, said Thailand-based Burma Rivers Network (BRN).

The impact of limited water will affect farmers and fisher folk, who depend on the river for their livelihood, said BRN in a statement on January 17.

Myitsone dam is a part of seven dams on headwaters of Irrawaddy River, also Mali Hka in Kachin and is estimated to produce a major part of 17,160 MW of electricity, which is to be exported to China, according to BRN.

Till now, at least six villages have been relocated to new sites, where there is no hope of eking out a livelihood by the villagers with no farmland and agricultural plots.
http://www.kachinnews.com/news/1844-relocation-deadline-in-myitsone-tang-hpre-village-creates-quandary.html
---------------------------------------------------
Cabinet Members to Resign Before Parliament Opens
By WAI MOE Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Government ministers serving under Burma's ruling junta, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), will likely resign from their posts before the opening session of Parliament on Jan. 31, according to official sources in the administrative capital of Naypyidaw.

Sources said that up to 40 ministers and deputy ministers are expected to resign sometime in the coming days. Many are key members of the junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), which claimed victory in last year's Nov. 7 election.

After the ministers resign, an interim cabinet will be formed by the SPDC, which is chaired by Snr-Gen Than Shwe. The new cabinet will remain in place until a new government is formed by a new president—a position widely expected to go to Than Shwe.

Ahead of the first session of Parliament, the USDP plans to hold a three-day special meeting beginning on Jan. 27. The party will discuss final preparations for the convening of Parliament and the process of choosing the president and two vice presidents and forming a new government.

Unlike the post-election process in other countries, most significant shifts are likely to be decided by the junta supremo Than Shwe, whose orders will be administered through the War Office.

Sources said Than Shwe and other high-ranking officials in Naypyidaw have been busy for the past month discussing arrangements for the Parliament and new government.

The current situation in the capital is every complicated, as the junta is selecting ministers for key posts in the national Parliament, as well as chief ministers, or governors, for the country's 14 states and regions.

Although sources close to the regime said that several issues remain to be resolved, none are likely to threaten Than Shwe's absolute hold on power. “They are just teething problems,” said one source in Naypyidaw.

Among the issues that need to be addressed are changes in the ruling hierarchy. According to military sources, several leading figures in the current regime will be sidelined as part of the transition to quasi-civilian rule.

The sources said that ex-Gen Tin Aung Myint Oo, the junta's Secretary 1, and the regime's prime minister, ex-Gen Thein Sein, will not be given major positions because they are reportedly not fit for “heavy duty.” However, USDP sources said Thein Sein will be keep one key position.

Meanwhile, the Norway-based Democratic Voice of Burma reported on Tuesday that 1,700 low-ranking officials have been transferred to ministries since the November elections.

“Actually, the numbers are still uncertain,” said the editor of a Rangoon-based journal, commenting on the reports. “But we will soon know which numbers won in the lottery of Burma’s new order.”
http://www.irrawaddy.org./article.php?art_id=20604
----------------------------------------------
Burma’s Path to Privatization Keeps Armed Forces in Economic Control

Ron Corben | Bangkok 25 January 2011

Burma’s military is pressing on with the privatization of state assets as part of economic reforms. Many critics say the program simply transfers assets to the military government’s allies and maintains its economic control.

Burma’s is one of Asia’s poorest countries, and the military government dominates the economy.

But the government is moving forward with economic reforms, including the sale of up to 90 percent of state assets.

While details are sketchy, media reports in Rangoon say more than 400 state-owned assets, including airports, buildings, gasoline stations and land close to the main port have been sold.

Douglas Clayton, managing director of the investment fund Leopard Capital, based in Cambodia, says privatization is a step toward greater efficiency.

"Putting an economy into private assets is likely to lead to a better-managed economy,” Clayton said. “It’s a step toward modernizing Burma and no matter how it is done the outcome is likely to be no worse than it is now and possibly much better. There will be many beneficiaries of a liberalized economy, so there will be more impetus for further reform."

But some Burma experts say privatization is part of the military’s effort to maintain its hold on power. They say most of the assets have gone to business people tied to the military, in an effort to build support before last year’s elections.

Parties close to the military won about 80 percent of the elected seats in November’s elections, the first in 20 years. The constitution additionally sets aside 25 percent of the total seats for the military. The parliament opens next week.

"That whole fire sale of assets that they had prior to the election was to shore up support of some of the big entrepreneurs,” says Alison Vicary, an economist from Australia’s Macquarie University. “The airport, for example, was given to those entrepreneurs that have been aligned with the regime for years. So obviously the regime has some idea that these guys need to be kept onside. How to manage that into the future is another issue."

Some Burma experts note that the buyers of state assets include military-run corporations such as Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings, which controls the army’s pension fund, and the Myanmar Economic Corporation, which oversees funds from the sale of state-owned enterprises.

"The wave of privatization that has taken place – has been a move to transform public assets into personal property of the military regime and their cronies including the leaders of the Union Solidarity and Development Party which is the biggest party backing the regime," said Debbie Stothardt, the spokeswoman for rights group Alternative ASEAN Network.

Bertil Lintner, an author and commentator on Burma, agrees the sell-off leaves much of the economy under military control. But he says it may open the way for private investment.

"People will say look at all these new opportunities here,” said Lintner. “Privately owned companies and organizations – a restructured economy and so on; but also the economy is so bad that they have to do something."

Peter Gallo, who is with the anti-money laundering consulting firm Pacific Risk in Hong, warns that foreign investors must proceed carefully in Burma, despite the privatization. The United States, the European Union and other governments have imposed economic sanctions against the government to push for political reform.

"The big practical issues really are the rule of law and human rights situation,” Gallo said. “You can have any kind of government you like; doesn’t matter whether it’s allegedly democratically elected or not but if there is flagrant abuse of human rights in the country and that is well known – the international condemnation is going to continue."

Several large Burmese corporations, such as the Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings, are on the U.S. sanctions blacklist.

Rights activist Stothardt says the reforms do little to improve life for most Burmese.

"Most people in Burma lack access to clean water basic electricity, to basic health and education,” Stothardt said. “So this whole move to privatize all the assets of the country is mainly to turn public assets into the personal property of military leaders and their cronies, and it’s still not going to improve the situation for the ordinary Burmese person."

Burmese officials and some regional political analysts say that Western sanctions are responsible for the country’s poverty. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, of which Burma is a member, wants the sanctions lifted.

ASEAN leaders say the elections and the release of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from detention show Burma is making progress on political reforms. As a result, ASEAN says, the sanctions should go.

But rights groups say the changes fall far short for true reform, especially since Burma’s military holds more than 2,000 political prisoners and maintains a tight grip on the economy. http://www.voanews.com/english/news/Burmas-Path-to-Privatization-Keeps-Armed-Forces-in-Economic-Control-114568884.html
----------------------------------------------
Japanese auto-makers eye local opportunities
By JOSEPH ALLCHIN
Published: 26 January 2011

Seventeen Japanese vehicle companies, including Honda, are reportedly eyeing manufacturing opportunities in Burma for sales in local and international markets.

A delegation from the Japanese Suzuka Chamber of Commerce representing automobile manufacturers on 18 January met with Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI) officials to discuss the plan.

Burma’s domestic Weekly Eleven journal quoted Suzuka chief Tokushige Shimoda as saying that the company has “been preparing to produce and sell cars in cooperation with other countries, including Myanmar [Burma], Bangladesh and Indonesia.

“Cars manufactured in Myanmar will be sold in the local market as well as in foreign markets, including China,” he added. The delegation had met with 73 Burmese car manufacturers.

Burma is seen as fertile ground for growth in manufacturing, given its low wages and flimsy workers’ rights legislation which sees millions of Burmese travel to neighbouring countries such as Thailand and Malaysia to support their families.

This has prompted positive signs from the country’s garments sector as wages have risen in neighbouring countries like China and Bangladesh. In both cases labour rights and demands have made headlines, with workers in both nations demanding a minimum wage scheme; something that is not seen in Burma.

The Japanese economy has been sluggish of late and as a result the country’s industry giants have been looking at new markets. As Shimoda told local press, “it is getting more and more difficult to manufacture and sell cars in Japan as the population of the country has stopped growing.”

This will come as a welcome boost for Burma’s manufacturing sector, especially given that Japan’s largest car manufacturer, Toyota, recently divested from the country, supposedly over disquiet about the junta’s human rights record.

Concerns also abound however about the poor local infrastructure in Burma. Transport and electricity are considered unreliable or non-existent, pushing business people on the border to relocate to Thailand and utilise desperate, mobile Burmese labour.

The Japanese manufactures will join Indian industry giant Tata, which is due to set up operations in Magwe division to produce heavy trucks.

The majority of the automobiles in Burma had previously been imported from other nations, with the government only handing out a limited number of permits to import vehicles. This has kept the country’s vehicle stock aged and prices high.

This combines with cheap labour and an ASEAN free trade agreement, both within the regional bloc and with China, which would enable tariff-free exports. Overall it points to serious potential for growth in the sector, but more importantly, badly needed jobs in the urban centres.
http://www.dvb.no/news/japanese-auto-makers-eye-local-opportunities/13898
-----------------------------------------
Myanmar, Thailand touch on employment issue
17:17, January 26, 2011

Delegations of Myanmar and Thailand have met in Pyin Oo Lwin in northern Myanmar, touching on issue of Myanmar workers being employed in Thailand, the official newspaper New Light of Myanmar reported Wednesday.

At the 9th meeting between the two countries on employment of Myanmar workers in Thailand, Myanmar was represented by Deputy Foreign Minister U Maung Myint, while Thailand was headed by Minister of Labor Chalermchai Sri-On.

Fruitful discussions were claimed to have been made on matters related to nationality verification of Myanmar and Thailand, enjoying of equal rights with Thai workers in safe and happy working atmosphere without any mistreatment and unfairness, getting opportunity to have all Myanmar workers in Thailand registered and get temporary Myanmar passport and dispatching fresh Myanmar workers to Thailand.

Myanmar proposed dispatching fresh migrant workers to work legally in Thailand and a process of verification of Myanmar nationality has been underway to issue temporary passports to them.

There are three centers for issuing the passports on the Myanmar-Thai border, namely Kawthoung, Tachilek and Myawaddy.

According to earlier report, a total of over 90,000 temporary Myanmar passports had been issued to Myanmar migrant workers at the three centers up to May last year.

Myanmar and Thailand once met for the issue in the ancient city of Bagan in February 2010 during which Thailand said it will recruit about 15,000 Myanmar workers along its border with the country through negotiation of the two governments.

Under the agreement, Myanmar migrant workers are allowed to cross border and take up jobs in Thailand via three border towns with enjoyment of same rights that Thai workers have.

Moreover, a Myanmar Association for Employee Protection was formed in Thailand to help solve labor problems and give protection to Myanmar workers in that country, earlier report also said.

The association, headed by Myanmar ambassador to Thailand, is supported by diplomatic circle, traders and authority concerned.

According to earlier Thai statistics, there are 500,000 to 600, 000 Myanmar migrant workers staying in Thailand.

Source: Xinhua http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90851/7273414.html
------------------------------------------
Corruption charges hit police chiefs
Share
Comments (1)
Corruption charges hit police chiefs thumbnail
A police van is seen driving through the streets of Rangoon (Reuters)
By AYE NAI
Published: 26 January 2011

Five police commanders in states and divisions around Burma have been sacked after corruption charges were levelled by a police intelligence unit.

The five, all the most senior-ranking police officials in their respective regions, had multiple charges brought against them. One of them, Ba Kyi from Magwe division, “was accused of around 100 charges”, some by his subordinates, a source close to the Burmese police told DVB.

“[Ba Kyi] was investigated by the Special Branch [Burmese intelligence] in Minbu town and later given early retirement,” said the source. “However, [authorities] decided to give him an army pension as he was originally an army major.”

It is believed that their status as former army personnel, and not experienced police, angered lower-ranking officers who then brought them up on the allegations.

The remaining four headed police units in Mon state, Pegu division and Kachin and Shan states. It is rumoured that Kachin state’s police commander was laid off without being granted a pension.

Poor salaries among public service workers has led to rampant, almost institutionalised, corruption in Burma. The meagre wages given to lower-ranking government officials, military and police often means they cannot survive without backhanders or some sort of side business, which is technically illegal but widely tolerated.

Indictments such as these against high-ranking officials are thus rare.

The international watchdog Transparency International awarded Burma the penultimate spot on its recent Corruption Perceptions Index, shared with Afghanistan.
http://www.dvb.no/news/corruption-charges-hit-police-chiefs/13894
-------------------------------------------
US says ASEAN has role to play in Myanmar and Koreas
Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Wed, 01/26/2011 11:46 AM | World
A | A | A |

Myanmar should dialogue with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, release its political prisoners and recognize Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) before the US will consider lifting sanctions, a US diplomat says.

The US also welcomes ASEAN and Indonesia taking an active role in helping to resolve the problems on the Korean Peninsula, he said.

The US secretary of state’s deputy assistant Joseph Y. Yun told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday that ASEAN’s foreign ministers had voiced all the same requests during their meeting in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, last week.

“These are excellent demands from the ASEAN ministers, and I think the Myanmar authorities should really take them to heart and make them a reality,” Yun said.

Yun, who oversees affairs in East Asia and the Pacific, said if Myanmar’s government had complied with all the requests from the international community, then there would be a positive response.

“And clearly, as the reconciliation process makes progress, I think the international community can ensure a response,” he said.

During their meeting in Lombok last week, ASEAN’s foreign ministers spoke about the need for the US, the European Union and Canada — all ASEAN dialogue partners — to consider lifting their sanctions against Myanmar because the country had successfully conducted general elections and released Suu Kyi from house arrest late last year

Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said after the meeting that ASEAN believed in the early lifting or easing of sanctions against Myanmar by several countries, but said that the lifting of sanctions and reconciliation should go hand in hand.

ASEAN member states reinforced the importance of inclusive dialogue to ensure that all concerned parties could contribute to Myanmar’s future development, Marty said.

On North Korea, Yun welcomed ASEAN’s intention to help on the Korean Peninsula. He said stability on the peninsula would be connected to the denuclearization of North Korea.

“I think the international community, including ASEAN, should be quite clear in requesting that North Korea be denuclearized and come join the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] again. And if ASEAN wants to help in that process, that’s a very good thing.”

At the Lombok meeting, ASEAN ministers agreed to be more active in finding a solution to the conflict between South Korea and North Korea, affirming that ASEAN will play its part to support the efforts of the six-party talks, which include the US, China, Japan and the two Koreas.

“We have real concerns about the ramifications throughout the region. We consider it a fault line. If we neglect this fault line, it can easily be imposed throughout East Asia — like an us versus them scenario. For us, inaction is not an option,” Marty said.

He said that under Indonesian chairmanship, ASEAN will try to make a greater contribution to help solve the problem, adding that there was an ambitious plan to coordinate with the six-party talks countries.

“Through communication with the six-party talks countries, ASEAN will explore how it can contribute to creating conditions to help resume the six-party talks.”
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2011/01/26/us-says-asean-has-role-play-myanmar-and-koreas.html
-------------------------------------