News & Articles on Burma-Monday, 07 February, 2011

News & Articles on Burma
Monday, 07 February, 2011
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UN chief hails ‘important step’ in Burma
China, Vietnam congratulate new leader
Gunfire exchanged in Kachin state
Return of 'Insurgent' Label Signals Growing Tension
Keep sanctions - Suu Kyi party
Villagers under new command facing army’s abuses
Thai policies on Burma are just window dressing
Myanmar nabs 20 illegal employment agents for fake documents
Sanctions on Myanmar
Aung San Suu Kyi’s party urges maintaining sanctions in Burma
Cosmetic change
Cyclones Yasi and Nargis Tell a Tale of Two Different Nations
DVB video journalist gets 13 years
Myanmar Starts Building Advanced Stadium In Nay Pyi Taw
First Hotel in the "Golden Land" Myanmar
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UN chief hails ‘important step’ in Burma
By JOSEPH ALLCHIN
Published: 7 February 2011

UN chief Ban Ki-moon has said the appointment of incumbent Burmese prime minister Thein Sein as the country’s new president is an “important step”.

In a guarded statement, the Secretary General said he also hoped that the new parliament, which has been mired in controversy, “marks the beginning of a change in the status quo” of Burma.

It added that “The United Nations stands ready to work with the new Government and all other stakeholders in Myanmar [Burma] towards greater democratisation, development and stability”.

But the parliamentary process has received widespread criticism, in main due to the fact that the majority of top positions, including president and one vice president, have been won by retired military generals.

Moreover, speaker and chairman positions in the three parliaments were taken up by either former junta officials or by members of the junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), as have the majority of seats in parliament.

Many observers say the process leading up to elections late last year was undemocratic, with laws released that appeared designed to sideline opposition parties reinforcing a highly questionable constitution.

Whether the UN’s pledge for inclusive engagement includes opposition forces such as ethnic armies or authorities who do not recognise the government is unclear. It has long had difficulty influencing the Burmese junta, with Ban himself admitting in the past that the military had been “unresponsive” to his approaches.

The UN’s inability to affect change in Burma has come under repeated fire, most notably during the tenure of former special rapporteur Ibrahim Gambari, who started his political career in Nigeria’s military government. Gambiri was repeatedly snubbed by the generals, and his departure last year was welcomed by observers.

Ban Ki-moon has also been no stranger to criticism: during his posting as South Korean foreign minister he described the controversial Shwe gas pipeline as a “win win” project for the Burmese military and the South Korean government, consequently drawing the ire of Burmese and international rights campaigners who claim it has led to egregious human rights violations.

A leaked memo last year from the UN’s former anti-corruption chief Inga-Britt Ahlenius also described his secretariat is in a “process of decay” and questioned the UN’s “capacity to protect civilians in conflict and distress” in countries such as Burma.
http://www.dvb.no/news/un-chief-hails-%E2%80%98important-step%E2%80%99-in-burma/14114
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China, Vietnam congratulate new leader
By JOSEPH ALLCHIN
Published: 7 February 2011

Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet [centre] has hailed the appointed of Thein Sein as his Burmese counterpart (Reuters)

Regional autocracies Vietnam and China have been the first to congratulate Burma’s new president, Thein Sein, following his ascension last week to the country’s top post.

The incumbent prime minister was nominated by the Presidential Electoral College on 4 February and will reside over what the military junta has termed “discipline-flourishing democracy”.

Chinese President Hu Jintao lost no time in dispatching a letter to his Burmese counterpart on Friday last week. Many commentators noted shortly after Thein Sein’s appointment that the retired army general’s rise was inevitable, given his close relationship with junta chief Than Shwe.

Vietnam’s president, Nguyen Minh Triet, and Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung followed on Saturday with a congratulatory note. Thein Sein could “attain greater achievements in the national construction and development, actively contributing to peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and the world”, AFP quoted the letter as saying.

Supporting Thein Sein will be two vice presidents, Tin Aung Myint Oo and Sai Mouk Kham. Although highly feted, corruption accusations have dogged the former, while Sai Mouk Kham, from Shan state, is seen as the token ethnic representative in Burma’s upper echelons. Vietnamese Vice President, Nguyen Thi Doan sent felicitations to Tin Aung Myint Oo, as did Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping,also including Sai Mouk Kham in the message.

The Chinese are seen as the Burmese military’s key ally and trading partner and will want to see a stable Burma, particularly following unrest along their shared border.

Bilateral relations are also strong with Vietnam: the two last August concluded bilateral talks with the opening of a Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam office in Burma, as well as signing a raft of economic deals and a visa waiver scheme.

But it will be seen as telling that the two most forthcoming congratulations of the latest step in Burma’s so-called “roadmap to democracy” have come from two of Southeast Asia’s non-democratic states.
http://www.dvb.no/news/china-vietnam-congratulate-new-leader/14109
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Gunfire exchanged in Kachin state
By AYE NAI
Published: 7 February 2011

Fighting erupted today between Kachin troops and the Burmese army in what one military analyst described as a rare show of hostility in the country’s far-northern state.

A Burmese battalion entered territory belonging to the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) yesterday under the pretext of seeking and destroying illicit narcotics, said Aung Kyaw Zaw, an analyst based on the China-Burma border.

“The [KIA troops] told them to wait until they got clearance from [Kachin army] authorities,” he said.

“Despite that, the army forcibly entered the area this morning and the KIA troops first fired a warning shot. Then they had to shoot straight at the Burmese army troops when they came under fire. An RPG [rocket-propelled grenade] fired by KIA troops hit the army commander’s vehicle.”

The Kachin News Group reported last week that the Burmese army’s Northern Regional Command had warned the KIA’s political wing, the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO), to stop its drug eradication programme in areas belonging to another Kachin army, the New Democratic Army-Kachin (NDA-K).

The NDA-K last year transformed into a Border Guard Force, thus bringing it under the control of the Burmese army. The regime in the past has been accused of using proxies such as the NDA-K to maintain some control over Burma’s drugs market.

Opium production is widespread in northern and eastern Burma. A UN report in December last year said that the acreage used for poppy cultivation had increased in recent years, despite the government boasting of its success in curtailing the country’s output.

The report added that that production had increased across Southeast Asia, rising from $US119 million in 2009 to $US219 million last year.

Relations between the Burmese army and the KIA have been tense since the latter’s refusal to become a Border Guard Force. A new military command zone was last month designated for Tanaing, the home of the KIA, while sporadic outbursts of fighting have occured close to KIA territory in recent months.
http://www.dvb.no/news/gunfire-exchanged-in-kachin-state/14092
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Return of 'Insurgent' Label Signals Growing Tension
By LAWI WENG Monday, February 7, 2011

Burma's state-run media described the New Mon State Party (NMSP), an ethnic cease-fire group, as “insurgents” on Friday, signaling a harder stance toward the group over its refusal to join a Burmese army-controlled border guard force (BGF).

The reference to the NMSP as insurgents appeared in a report that blamed recent fighting in Mon State's Kyaikmayaw Township on the group's armed wing, the Mon National Liberation Army (MNLA).

A Mon National Liberation Army officer stands before troops during a Mon National Day ceremony at the Thai-Burmese border. (Photo: The Irrrawaddy)
The Jan. 31 clashes, which claimed the life of one civilian, were between the MNLA and the Mon Defense Army, a breakaway group with fewer than a dozen troops that was formed by former NMSP member Nai Than Lwin in 2009.

Responding of the use of the word “insurgents” to describe the NMSP, the group's secretary, Nai Hang Thar, said, “We are not surprised at all. We've been expecting this ever since we refused to join the BGF.”

He said that the Burmese regime has avoided expressing its displeasure this long in order to save face. “But now, they are are finally showing their anger,” he said.

The junta stopped calling the NMSP an insurgent group in 1995, when the two sides signed a cease-fire agreement. Until recently, the regime has only used the term to refer to non-cease-fire groups such as the Karen National Union (KNU).

Late last year, however, state media used the term to describe another cease-fire group, the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), after it also rejected calls to transform itself into a BGF.

Although the NMSP's cease-fire agreement with the regime has been in question since last September, sources close to the group say that so far, the situation in the area remains more or less normal, despite last week's fighting, which left two MNLA soldiers wounded.

The other casualty, 83-year-old U Ka Hlaing, was killed by a gunshot during the fighting, which lasted about half an hour.

NMSP sources said that members of the group are still able to enter junta-controlled areas of Mon State, provided they dress as civilians and don't carry weapons. They said that Burmese troops also inform them when they are approaching their territory. NMSP leaders said that they will maintain peace, but have ordered their troops to be prepared to shoot if junta troops enter areas under MNLA control.

Late last year, the NMSP formed an alliance with four other ethnic armed groups—the KNU, the KIO, the Karenni National Progressive Party and the Chin National Front. As a political wing, the four groups have also formed the Committee for the Emergence of a Federal Union.

Meanwhile, the NMSP has alerted its troops to closely watch Burmese army activities near their controlled areas following the regime's deployment of more troops in Three Pagodas Pass.

The regime has deployed Light Infantry Divisions 22 and 77 in the area, as well as Military Operations Commands 5, 8, and 12, which have more than 1,000 Burmese army troops based in the area of Three Pagodas Pass.

Many Mon observers say the buildup of government forces appears to be in preparation for an offensive in the area, although it is still not clear who its intended target is.

“Maybe they will launch an offensive against the KNU. If not, maybe they are planning to target the NMSP,” said Nai Kao Rot, the MNLA's former deputy army chief. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=20684
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Keep sanctions - Suu Kyi party

February 7 2011 at 11:47am
By Aung Hla Tun

Yangon - The party of Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi said on Monday that Western sanctions on the country should remain in place, arguing the embargo affected the military regime and not the broader population.

The announcement by the National League for Democracy (NLD), Myanmar's biggest opposition force, will be a blow to both the ruling junta and Western investors keen to tap the isolated country's vast natural resources.

“We came to find that the sanctions affect only the leaders of the ruling regime and their close business associates, not the majority of the people,” Tin Oo, NLD vice-chairman, told Reuters.

He declined to elaborate but said a report by the NLD, whose 1990 election victory was ignored by the junta, would be released later on Monday based on its own research and consultation with economists.

Suu Kyi, who was released from house arrest on November 13, has long backed sanctions as part of her fight against decades of authoritarian military rule in the former British colony also known as Burma. The sanctions were intended to force the regime to improve its poor human rights record and initiate democratic reforms.

But many experts say the policy damaged the economy and hurt the Burmese people, pushing the generals closer to neighbours China and Thailand, which are tapping the country's vast energy reserves.

Soon after her release, Suu Kyi indicated she might recommend the lifting of the embargoes, which prompted a flurry of diplomatic activity and attracted wide attention in the West.

Around the same time, Myanmar launched a drive to attract Asian investors, touting its tourism potential and abundant supplies of gemstones, timber, oil and gas, much of which remained intact because of “unfavourable Western sanctions”.

Such sanctions have not affected the wealth and lavish lifestyles of the junta top brass, but they have hampered efforts to acquire new weapons technology for the military and have increased dependence on China.

Many experts see the sanctions as Suu Kyi's best, and perhaps only, bargaining chip - one she might continue to hold to remain relevant in Myanmar's changing political landscape.

While hugely popular and a symbol of hope for the Burmese people, Suu Kyi and the NLD have no official political role in Myanmar having boycotted the November 7 election because of strict election laws. It has since been officially disbanded for refusing to take part, despite repeated court appeals.

A civilian parliament dominated by retired and serving soldiers convened last week for the first time in five decades and chose a new president to lead the country but the old regime is expected to pull the strings, with little scope for reconciliation or reforms.

Experts suggest Suu Kyi could act as a mediator between the West and the reclusive generals towards easing the sanctions in return for concrete reforms in the country of 50 million people, about a third of whom live beneath the poverty line.

“The NLD is popular, but it's facing real problems. They've been outmanoeuvred by the generals, who have formed a parliament and government without them,” said Milton Osbourne, a Southeast Asia expert at Australia's Lowy Institute think tank.

“The focus on sanction reflects the NLD and Suu Kyi's desire to be relevant again after being sidelined for so long.” - Reuters
http://www.iol.co.za/news/world/keep-sanctions-suu-kyi-party-1.1022429
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Villagers under new command facing army’s abuses
Monday, 07 February 2011 17:03 Hseng Khio Fah
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Villagers in Shan State South’s Kunhing township, where military junta expands its newly installed ‘Middle East’ regional command, have been severely suffering abuses from local Burma Army soldiers when the project is conducted again, according to report from local sources.

“They [the soldiers] would wait for the villagers on their way to work in the farms, and demand money.

Sometimes, the villagers were arrested and their family members ordered to bring poppy or money in exchange with the victims's freedom." said a local villager asking not to mention his location and name. “This happens every day since they came to construct their buildings.”

The incident took place in Pangwi, Kawnkha and Wan Mai villages located on the way between Kali and Namzang road construction, which is part of the military expansion project.

The Burma Army’s project is to oversee areas between Shan State South’s Taunggyi and Shan State East’s Kengtung, and has been conducted since January 10. Its HQ will be based at Kali, 8 miles east of Kunhing township.

According to local villagers, since the start of the Burma Army's projects villagers living in the areas have to take in turn to provide the soldiers who guard the project with livestock such as chicken, rice and pocket money. Otherwise, villagers or village headmen would be arrested and asked for payment for the release.

For instance, a village headman of Pangvi village in Hopan village tract was taken on 24 January by soldiers from Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) #524 based in Kunhing that provided security for those workers constructing the roads in Kali and Namzarng. The villagers were later informed to bring 3 chickens for the exchange of their village headman, said another villager.

Human rights situation in Shan State are reported monthly by the Shan Human Rights Foundation based in Chiangmai. http://www.shanland.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3453:villagers-under-new-command-facing-armys-abuses&catid=87:human-rights&Itemid=285
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Thai policies on Burma are just window dressing
Editorial Desk
The Nation (Thailand)
Publication Date : 07-02-2011

The recent footage of how Thai authorities responding to the latest Rohingya "boat people" was very different from what was seen a year ago when they were forced at gunpoint to give information just moments after they landed on a Thai shore. This time around the authorities made sure that the footage was that of medical personnel assisting the refugees.

Not very subtle, one might say. But then again, what can one expect from a nation with strong tradition of window dressing instead of dealing with the heart of problems, which, in this case, is the treatment of the people of Burma by its military regime.

Thailand, for one, is facing growing calls from the international community to permit the UN refugee agency access to the Rohingya boat people, who continue to land on the country's coastal provinces. The government preferred to handle this itself despite knowing that this particular ethnic group, the Rohingya, faces severe prosecution by the Burmese government. The sad thing is that the Burmese government doesn't even recognise them as their citizens - they claim they are a bunch of Muslims who occupied their country. And by not recognising them, the Burmese believe they have no obligation, legal or moral, to these people once they drift away from Burma territory.

This past week Burma faced its first-ever Universal Periodic Review (UPR) at the United Nations' Human Rights Council in Geneva. It is a process all member state must undergo every four years to ascertain the progress on human rights in each country.

It came just days before the new parliament, elected last year, convened on January 31 in the nation's capital, Naypyidaw, to select a president and form a new government already dominated by the country's military. The UPR process is an opportunity to put under the spotlight one of the most criticised regimes in the world.

As expected, numerous concerns were raised, including the issue of political prisoners, treatment of ethnic minorities, and impunity for government officials, plus systematic and gross human rights violations that many say are crimes against humanity, along with the use of rape as a mean of demoralising minority women living in conflict zones.

In its response, the Burmese delegation said, "Accusations of rape against ethnic women are baseless, and are aimed at discrediting the armed forces." They claimed the armed forces have a zero tolerance policy towards serious human rights violations, including sexual violence. Somebody needs to tell the government of Burma that the world has moved beyond the tit-for-tat discourse between Burma and the rest of the world over who did what and when.

The evidence speaks for itself. Nearly 2,200 people languishing in Burma's prisons for expressing their views. It has been documented that nearly 150 of these political prisoners have died in detention since 1988. And let's not forget the tens of thousands of refugees living in camps that dotted the Thai-Burma border.

Thailand and the Asean countries, on the other hand, have this policy of non-interference. They stubbornly cling on to this policy in spite knowing that the atrocities in Burma seriously affect neighbouring countries. In this respect, it was deeply disappointing to see Asean members commend Burma for the sham November 7 election and hail it as a positive development.

Asean members' support for Burma's '7-Step Road-map' is also of concern, as the blueprint fails to include all stakeholders in the country. And yet, they are scratching their heads as to why thousands of refugees and millions of Burmese citizens flee their country and put neighbouring countries in unwanted positions as their policy and treatment of refugees is exposed to the world.

In its National Report, the regime claimed it was "bringing about balanced development... to enable the national races to enjoy the benefit of development". But as numerous reports have pointed out, these so-called development initiatives, regardless of its size, rarely benefit affected communities and are likely to lead to further impoverishment.

Thailand and the Asean countries, on the other hand, have this policy of non-interference. They stubbornly cling on to this policy in spite knowing that the atrocities in Burma seriously affect neighbouring countries. In this respect, it was deeply disappointing to see Asean members commend Burma for the sham November 7 election and hail it as a positive development.

Asean members' support for Burma's '7-Step Road-map' is also of concern, as the blueprint fails to include all stakeholders in the country. And yet, they are scratching their heads as to why thousands of refugees and millions of Burmese citizens flee their country and put neighbouring countries in unwanted positions as their policy and treatment of refugees is exposed to the world.

In its National Report, the regime claimed it was "bringing about balanced development... to enable the national races to enjoy the benefit of development". But as numerous reports have pointed out, these so-called development initiatives, regardless of its size, rarely benefit affected communities and are likely to lead to further impoverishment. http://www.asianewsnet.net/home/news.php?id=17270&sec=3
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Myanmar nabs 20 illegal employment agents for fake documents

The Myanmar authorities have nabbed 20 illegal overseas employment agents for sending Myanmar workers to work abroad with fake documents, the local Flower News reported Monday.

The action was taken after some Myanmar workers leaving the Yangon International Airport were recently found with fake Malaysian visa and employment documents.

Meanwhile, the Myanmar labor department started in October last year undertaking the task of sending the country's workers to South Korea for employment through government-to-government system, disallowing local overseas employment agencies to do so, according to earlier local report.

The Employment Permit System (EPS) for South Korea, previously granted to overseas employment agencies, was stopped in Nov. 2009.
According to official figures, in 2010, the Myanmar Ministry of Labour granted licenses to 101 overseas employment agencies for them to send employees abroad except S. Korea.

Over the past few decades, Myanmar has been encouraging its people to work overseas as part of its bid to ease domestic employment problem, and thousands of Myanmar job seekers worked in Asian countries with the majority in Malaysia, followed by in South Korea, Singapore and Japan.
http://nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/International/07-Feb-2011/Myanmar-nabs-20-illegal-employment-agents-for-fake-documents
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Sanctions on Myanmar

(Reuters) - The party of Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has recommended sanctions on the country remain in place, a move that will be a blow to the military regime and Western companies keen to invest in the country.

Have your say: Burma

The National League for Democracy (NLD), Myanmar's biggest opposition force, said trade and travel embargoes had little impact on the broader population and recommended their continued use as a means to isolate the generals who are set to control a new civilian executive and legislature.

Here is an overview of existing sanctions on the former Burma and its rulers:

EU SANCTIONS:

-- The European Union adopted a Common Position on Myanmar in 1996, including a ban on the sale or transfer from the EU of arms or weapons expertise to Myanmar, or of any equipment that might be used for internal repression.

-- EU governments tightened sanctions after a crackdown on pro-democracy protests led by Buddhist monks in September 2007, targeting 1,207 firms with measures including visa bans and asset freezes.

In April 2009 the EU extended for another year a visa ban and asset freezes on members of the Myanmar military government and its backers. It has long called for the release of the estimated 2,100 political prisoners in Myanmar.

-- France said on August 11 there should be a global embargo on arms sales to Myanmar and economic sanctions focussed on its key exports, timber and rubies. Britain called for the U.N. Security Council to impose a global arms embargo.

-- The EU has added members of the judiciary responsible for Suu Kyi's extension of house arrest in 2009 to its list of military officials subject to asset freezes and bans on travel to the European Union.

U.S. SANCTIONS:

-- The United States first imposed broad sanctions in 1988 after the junta's crackdown on student-led protests. It banned new investment in Myanmar by U.S. persons or entities in 1997.

-- Washington has gradually tightened sanctions to try to force Myanmar's generals into political rapprochement with Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, which won a landslide election victory in 1990 but was kept out of power by the junta.

-- President Barack Obama renewed the U.S. sanctions in May last year. Washington has said sanctions will be reassessed if the new government being formed shows substantive efforts to improve the country's poor human rights record.

-- In July 2008, the Treasury moved to block the assets and transactions of Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd and the Myanmar Economic Corp and their subsidiaries.

-- The moves banned American individuals and businesses from transactions with the firms and froze any assets they had under U.S. jurisdiction.

-- The Burma Freedom and Democracy Act of 2003 banned all imports from Myanmar, restricted financial transactions, froze the assets of certain Myanmar financial institutions and extended visa restrictions on junta officials.

OTHER SANCTIONS:

AUSTRALIA -- Has maintained visa restrictions on senior junta figures and a ban on defence exports since 1988. It announced financial sanctions in October 2007 against Myanmar's ruling generals and their families -- over 400 individuals in all.

CANADA -- Imposed sanctions in November 2007 banning exports to Myanmar, except for humanitarian goods, and barring imports. It froze the Canadian assets of Myanmar citizens connected with the junta. Canada also prohibited the provision of financial services and the export of technical data to Myanmar, and banned new investment by Canadians.

NEW ZEALAND -- Has a long-standing ban on visas for military leaders and their families.

JAPAN -- Japan cut aid to Myanmar in October 2007.

ASIA -- Most Asian governments have favoured a policy of engagement towards Myanmar and southeast Asian countries have called for Western sanctions to be lifted. (Compiled by David Cutler; London Editorial Reference Unit) http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20110207/twl-uk-myanmar-sanctions-factbox-bd5ae06.html
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Aung San Suu Kyi’s party urges maintaining sanctions in Burma
By Zin Linn Feb 07, 2011

The National League for Democracy (NLD) led by Aung San Suu Kyi has urged upholding Western sanction on the country, suggesting the restrictions hurt the military junta and not the grassroots population.

The statement by the NLD, Burma’s prime opposition party, will be a wrath to both the junta’s generals and Western investors those eager to strike deals with the military elites exploiting massive natural resources of the country.

On the Radio Free Asia’s question and answer section, Aung San Suu Kyi replied a query from a fellow-citizen that some persons and groups apply the sanction issue as a political tactic while some others sincerely consider it hurt the ordinary people. So, the NLD has to survey the genuine situation with true facts in order to get an appropriate answer to the lifting of sanction, she said.

After her release from long-term house arrest, she calls attention to consider recommending the lifting of the embargoes, which encouraged a wave of diplomatic bustle and pulled wide attention in the West.

“We came to find that the sanctions affect only the leaders of the ruling regime and their close business associates, not the majority of the people,” Tin Oo, National League for Democracy (NLD) vice-chairman, told the Reuters news agency on Monday.

He declined to give a comprehensive explanation but said a description by the NLD would be released later on Monday based on its own research and consultation with economists.

Aung San Suu Kyi, who was under detention for more than a decade released from house arrest on 13 November, has been supporting the Western sanctions as part of her struggle against highhanded military rule in Burma. In other words, she is using the sanction as a tool helping the emergence of the reconciliation dialogue.

Many political analysts say the sanctions have failed to create any changes and simply pushed the generals and their business cronies closer to China and Thailand, which are investing heavily in the country’s huge oil and gas natural resources.

According to Jane’s intelligence, State-owned Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE) is responsible for oil and gas exploration in, and production from, the country’s 19 onshore and three major offshore fields. Myanmar (Burma) opened its hydrocarbon sector to foreign investment in late 1988. By end-2009 investment in the industry reached an estimated USD32.61 billion and attracted numerous foreign energy companies from Australia, Canada, China, Indonesia, India, Malaysia, Russia, South Korea, Thailand, the UK and Vietnam.

Anti-sanctions groups oppose the embargoes, which included bans on arms deals, new investments in Burma, travel-restrictions on military government officials and their families and the freezing of overseas bank accounts were causing troubles to the economy and the Burmese people.

Many foreign governments have applied economic sanctions on Burma to adjust the regime’s improper manners in the areas of human rights and democratization. These sanctions have only one clear target to set the military regime become aware of the political aspirations of the people. And also the regime must seek a peaceful solution through dialogue to resolve the political impasse in Burma.
The exile National Coalition Government said that the goal of the sanctions is not severe economic destabilization aimed at toppling the regime. They serve as a pressure mechanism to persuade the regime to recognize the crisis in the country and the need for a peaceful resolution of the crisis.

They serve as part of the general international strategy to make easy a tripartite dialogue in Burma, the exile government says. http://asiancorrespondent.com/author/uzinlinn/
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Arab News.com


Monday, 07 February 2011 |
Editorial
Cosmetic change

The latest political moves are designed to tighten the military’s grip on Myanmar

AFTER nearly 50 years of military rule, Myanmar has a civilian president. But the appointment of Thein Sein looks like ensuring that this first civilian government in the Southeast Asian country in decades will continue to be dominated by the army.

A cursory look at this new step taken by the Myanmar authorities illustrates why the naming of Thein Sein climaxes a cosmetic shift that does little to end the army's overwhelming influence on politics. Thein Sein was chosen by the military's delegates in Parliament and their civilian allies which hold an 80 percent majority in the new legislature created in November. He heads the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party which won a huge majority in the elections which were dismissed by much of the international community as rigged in favor of the junta.

In Myanmar, the military has ruled since toppling the civilian government of Prime Minister U Nu in 1962. The generals are still in power in a nation long regarded as having the world's worst human rights record and which severely curtails religious freedom, underlined by a military which had no qualms in mercilessly suppressing the 2007 protests led by Buddhist monks. As such, the country has long been treated as something of a pariah state by Western nations which vociferously condemn the ruling military junta. There is considerable hypocrisy, though, by the Western powers who while furiously castigating the Myanmar authorities are all too happy to do business with the oil— and mineral-rich country.

The proud legacy of the Myanmar people received a heavy blow with the prevention of the convening of the parliamentary government elected in 1990. Pro-democracy leader Aung Suu Kyi's party had won the elections but was blocked at the time from taking power by the military. Ever since, the Myanmar authorities have tightened their iron grip on the country. The Myanmar people, meanwhile, have paid a terrible price. Civil liberties and freedoms are curtailed and the country has been denied the exhilarating advantage of people's power that has transformed the political scene in neighboring countries such as the Philippines and Indonesia.

The appointment of a president in Myanmar was supposed to be the final step in the country's so-called "road map to democracy" — moving the country from military to civilian rule. In truth, one redeeming quality of Thein Sein is his image as a clean soldier, not tainted by corruption in a country listed by Transparency International, an international NGO, as one of the world's most corrupt.

The release of Aung Sang Suu Kyi who remained under house arrest in Myanmar for almost 15 years until she was freed last November, was also to have put the country on the road to free and fair elections which had been consistently and glaringly violated in Myanmar where charges of rigged elections have set back the development of democracy and endangered national stability. But the freedom given to Aung Sang Suu Kyi has apparently done little to retrieve the deplorable political situation in Myanmar. The latest political moves in Myanmar are window dressing. The elections in November left the military and its proxies firmly in control of the new Parliament which in turn appointed a key junta member. That can only be construed as cementing military rule.
http://arabnews.com/opinion/editorial/article252640.ece
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DVB video journalist gets 13 years
By KHIN HNIN HTET
Published: 7 February 2011

A senior reporter for the Democratic Voice of Burma has been sentenced to 13 years’ in prison on a raft of charges, including violation of Burma’s notorious Electronics Act.

Until his arrest in April last year, Maung Maung Zeya had led a team of video journalists (or VJs) that smuggled footage out of the country to the Oslo-based DVB. His sentencing follows less than two months after that of his son, Sithu Zeya, also a DVB reporter who had been with his father when they were arrested last year.

A Rangoon district court yesterday found Maung Maung Zeya guilty on four charges: the 55-year-old was sentenced to five years’ on two separate violations of the Unlawful Association Act, one year under the Immigration Act for illegal border crossing, and seven years under the Electronics Act.

“There was no solid evidence to convict him under those charges and all the witnesses in the trial were police [prosecutors],” said a relative, Dewa. “I think it was very unfair but this is how it is in our country. They can cite any article in the law to arrest, put on trial and jail someone, and it’s like a tradition.”

Sithu Zeya was given an eight-year sentence in December last year on similar charges. Both were arrested following the deadly April bombings in Rangoon, when they had been caught photographing the aftermath of the attacks.

Shortly after his detention, the 21-year-old was placed in an isolation cell and reportedly tortured. A group of 17 inmates inside Rangoon’s Insein prison went on hunger strike to protest his maltreatment, which has apparently triggered a heart problem.

Dewa said however that Sithu’s father, who becomes the sixteenth DVB reporter to be jailed, appeared healthy when he visited him during the trial, despite having already spent eight months in detention.

“He was calm as he already expected [the sentencing] after he was arrested and he had already prepared for his stay in the prison. He made a list of books, mostly about technology, that he wanted to take into the prison. He plans to run computer courses in prison.”

Family members of the father and son say they will appeal the sentences, although the prospects of success are unlikely given the rarity with which Burmese courts reverse decisions, particularly against what they deem to be the opposition.

A 22-year-old blogger last week had a decade tacked onto a two-year sentence handed down shortly after the Rangoon bomb attack. Although his alleged role in the incident was later dismissed, police discovered that Kaung Myat Hlaing, who blogged under the name of Nat Soe (‘dark angel’) after the September 2007 uprising, had also been involved in various anti-regime poster campaigns.

Burma was recently ranked as the world’s fourth biggest jail for journalists by the New York-based Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CPJ). It also came 171 out of 175 countries in Reporters Without Borders’ Press Freedom Index last year.

More than 20 of the nearly 2,200 political prisoners in Burma’s jails are journalists.
http://www.dvb.no/news/dvb-video-journalist-gets-13-years/14097
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Cyclones Yasi and Nargis Tell a Tale of Two Different Nations
Asia Sentinel | February 06, 2011

How could one person be killed in one storm when 138,000 died in one much like it? If the downtrodden people of Burma were to catch the contagion of events thousands of kilometers away, they probably needn’t be contaminated by what is taking place in Cairo or Tunis, where citizens, having had enough of odious governments, rose up to seek to throw them out.

Instead, they should look to Cairns, Australia, 6,500 kilometers to the southeast, where Tropical Cyclone Yasi, a superstorm with winds of almost 300 kilometers per hour, came ashore on Feb. 2.

The storm was still categorized as a cyclone 600 kilometers inland. Property damage was stunning. Town after town after town was shown on television as being completely flattened.

The village of Mission Beach, the epicenter of the storm, was hit by a wall of water four meters high.

At latest count, despite the damage, only one man is known dead and three people are missing. That is because authorities had issued warnings to the residents of the Queensland region to move inland as far as they could get to ride out the storm.

By the next day, hundreds of emergency service workers were clearing debris from the streets of the beleaguered Queensland area and restoring power.

Contrast that to what happened when Tropical Cyclone Nargis hit Burma on May 2, 2008. Nargis was listed as a category 3 storm. It hit without warning because the Burmese authorities never put the word out.

The only news on Burma’s national radio was propaganda concerning a bogus referendum to be held the Saturday after the cyclone hit.

As a result, the population was completely unprepared for a three-meter wall of water that washed 24 kilometers inland, destroying everything in its path.

Nargis would become the deadliest storm ever to hit Burma, killing at least 138,000 people. The death toll is believed to be far higher because the Burmese authorities allegedly stopped counting, fearing political fallout.

Six weeks after the cyclone, the military regime began to close down relief camps and force the storm victims back to their devastated villages, according to the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma, an opposition group.

Foreign doctors from Thailand, the Philippines, India and Japan who were allowed into the country were told that Burma had enough doctors to deal with the situation and were sent home.

The United Nations and other relief agencies, particularly from the United States, were initially banned from setting up operations.

Roadblocks were established in the Irrawaddy Division to keep international aid workers from undertaking effective relief in the devastated area.

Soldiers were told to look out for foreigners traveling into the area, according to opposition groups.

However, the National Coalition group reported, “Although Cyclone Nargis has been a disaster on a national scale for most people, it is a boon for the cronies of the junta.

Several days after the cyclone, the junta’s Prime Minister Thein Sein assigned several ministers to take charge of relief and rehabilitation in different regions and chose several companies and businessmen close to the junta to provide “relief and reconstruction” services.

The junta and their cronies allegedly made millions of dollars from the money that flowed in for reconstruction. Weeks after the cyclone, hundreds of thousands of people still were without aid.

Than Shwe, the 78-year-old senior general who rules the Burmese junta, eventually visited the devastated sites three weeks after the disaster.

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard was on her way to the scene in Australia before the cyclone had finished its destruction. Some 4,000 Australian army soldiers were on the scene help survivors.

As one critic pointed out, Australia is a real country. Burma isn’t.

There were homes and evacuation centers in cities, towns and villages on the Queensland coast that were strong enough to take the brunt of the storm, even though huge numbers were destroyed. Burma’s east coast wasn’t so lucky.

For one thing, the mangrove swamps that protected the coast had been pulled out and replaced with fish farms, thus allowing the storm surge to roll far further inland than necessary.

Poverty and depredation in the Irrawaddy River Delta were such that the majority of the dirt-poor denizens were living in accommodation that could be easily destroyed. It was.

But it has often been pointed out that Burma was one of the richest countries in Asia at independence. Now it is the poorest. It was made that way by idiotic government policies.

Despite the sham election that the country just went through, those government policies look like they will stay in place unless the citizens of Burma have a Cairo moment.

That in itself is unlikely, given the brutal way the junta has cracked down in the past – and given the aid the junta gets from China, Thailand, India and other countries keen to raid Burma’s assets.

Asia Sentinel http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/opinion/cyclones-yasi-and-nargis-tell-a-tale-of-two-different-nations/421092
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February 07, 2011 13:57 PM

Myanmar Starts Building Advanced Stadium In Nay Pyi Taw

YANGON, Feb 7 (Bernama) -- Myanmar laid the cornerstone for an advanced stadium Zeyathiri at the weekend in the new capital of Nay Pyi Taw, China's Xinhua news agency quoted a report in Monday's state-run daily New Light of Myanmar.

The Zeyathirir stadium project is implemented by the giant private Max Myanmar Group of Companies.

The 47,275 square-meters stadium will comprise one 5,000-seat basketball and volleyball court, one 3,000-seat table tennis gymnasium and one 3,000-seat badminton court, the report said.

The stadium is expected to hold matches of the 27th Southeast Asian Games in 2013.

Myanmar last hosted the SEA Games at Yangon's Aung San Stadium.

Meanwhile, Myanmar will also build an international-standard football stadium in National Sports Park Complex in Mandalay, the second largest city, aimed at improving Myanmar's sports standard and hosting Asian Games as well as SEA Games in the future.

Mandalay currently has Ba Htoo and Aungmyay Mandalar stadiums, but both do not have enough seating capacity for local tournaments as reported.

The National Sports Park Complex (Mandalay) will be built on 74.9 hectares' plot which comprises a football academy, the football stadium, a sports stadium, a swimming pool, a velodrome ground, a sepak takraw stadium, a weight lifting centre, a bowling alley, a shooting range and tennis courts.

-- BERNAMA http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsworld.php?id=561884
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First Hotel in the "Golden Land" Myanmar joins the Luxury Boutique Hotels Group "Epoque Hotels"
Monday, February 07, 2011
The Hotel@Tharabar Gate, Old Bagan is located in the most unique Archeological Site of South East Asia, the Ancient capital of the Burmese Empire, Old Bagan and has joined the luxury Boutique Hotel Group "Epoque Hotels".

Surrounded by more than 4,000 ancient temples and Pagodas, every guest will be enchanted by the breathtaking views. The Hotel offers 84 luxury rooms including 4 Suites. Every room is decorated with teak floors and typical Burmese furniture to reflect the ancient Burmese empire and its style.

The Hotel offers 2 dining choices, one in the French Garden and as an alternative the semi-open Ananada Restaurant. For Relaxation after a day of Sightseeing the Hotel @ Tharabar Gate invites the guests to experience the Spa with Signature Treatments of Myanmar and Thailand.

A 24 hours Butler service compliments the pure luxury treatment this unique Hotel has to offer.

On joining Epoque Hotels Group , the General Manager Christan-Markert Bourdon of The Hotel @ Tharabar Gate states: " When it came down to choose a strong partner as luxury Brand , we needed to have a partner at our side that would be in line with our philosophy. We pride ourselves with individual , personalized luxury treatment, representing the incredible charming Burmese hospitality.

I believe that Epoque Hotels shares with us the same vision for the future of luxury hospitality , and therefore our choice of which brand to join was clear.
Vicky Karantzavelou - Monday, February 07, 2011
http://www.traveldailynews.com/pages/show_page/41431-First-Hotel-in-the-%22Golden-Land%22-Myanmar-joins-the-Luxury-Boutique-Hotels-Group-%22Epoque-Hotels%22?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TraveldailynewsLatestNews+%28TravelDailyNews.com+Latest+News%29