News & Articles on Burma
Friday, 29 April, 2011
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Wa, Mongla given another ultimatum to pull out from outlying bases
Myanmar-China border trade fair launched in Muse
Burma, Bangladesh agree to improve military cooperation
Myanmar president picks Suu Kyi friend as adviser
Expert urges new environmental laws
First US Ambassador to Asean Expected to Press Burma
Signs of Change in Burma's Media Landscape?
Green by Gunpoint: The Environmental Dictatorship?
Thai PTTEP to end exploration in Myanmar's Block M4
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Wa, Mongla given another ultimatum to pull out from outlying bases
Friday, 29 April 2011 15:36 Hseng Khio Fah
The United Wa State Army and its ally National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA) aka Mongla, were informed by the Burma Army yesterday, 28 April, to withdraw from their bases outside designated territories by tomorrow, 30 April, according to informed sources from the Sino-Burma border.
The messages were informed by phone calls by separate regional commands: The order to Panghsang came from G1 Tun Tun Nyi, Lashio, Northeastern Region Command, while Mongla was informed by G1, Kengtung, Triangle Region Command.
“If we don’t withdraw those bases by the given deadline, they said they would attack us at anytime they wanted,” said a source close to the Mongla leadership.
The Burma Army reportedly charged them of violating their 1989 agreement that they would not make recruitments or expand their territories.
At the time of reporting, the Wa are still holding an emergency meeting to discuss the ultimatum.
A Wa officer said, “We are against war. We want to live in peace. But if the Burmese Army wants to fight, we are also prepared for the worst.”
The NDAA meanwhile has already withdrawn from two of its strategic bases in Wan Kho and Pong Hiet in Shan State East’s Mongyawng township along the west bank of the Mekong. Wan Kho base was taken by the Burma Army on 27 April. And NDAA troops in Pong Hiet were reported to have pulled out yesterday.
“The Burma Army soldiers came with a hundred men and encircled the group in the morning. No shot was fired. The group left the area in the evening,” said a Burma Army backed militia source. “Burma Army soldiers from Mongphyak based Infantry Battalion (LIB) 573 has taken over.”
Yet the group is expected to be forced to move out from its bases in Mongfan, north of Wan Kho and Pong Hiet bases. Pong Hiet base is north of the Hsop Yawng and south of the Hsop Lwe (Mouth of the Lwe) where UWSA’s troops are also active.
Some observers commented if the Burma Army could take all the bases south of Hsop Lwe, it would be easy to force the Wa and NDAA to withdraw from Hsop Lwe too.
“Then the Wa and NDAA’s Mekong outlet would be closed off and they would be left to the mercy of the Burma Army,” said a border watcher. http://www.shanland.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3644:wa-mongla-given-another-ultimatum-to-pull-out-from-outlying-bases&catid=86:war&Itemid=284
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Myanmar-China border trade fair launched in Muse
14:21, April 29, 2011
A Myanmar-China border trade fair was launched in Myanmar's Muse 105th Mile Border Trade Zone Friday, aimed at enchanting the bilateral trade between the two countries.
With a total of 230 booths from the two sides, the three-day fair was inaugurated by Vice Governor of Yunnan province of China Gu Chaoxi and Union Myanmar Deputy Minister of Commerce Dr. Pwint Hsan.
Other surrounding countries such as India, Thailand, Laos and Bangladesh also joined the fair.
The two countries' joint committee for border trade will meet at the fair with a briefing on investment in Myanmar.
Myanmar-China border trade fair is held annually on alternate base as the last was held in Ruili, southwest China's Yunnan province linking Myanmar's Muse.
According to China site's official figures, Myanmar-China bilateral trade hit 4.44 billion U.S. dollars in 2010, a 53.2- percent increase over the previous year, with China standing as the second largest trading partner of Myanmar.
The two countries' border trade amounted to 1.054 million dollars in the first seven months (April-November) of 2010-11, accounting for 83 percent of Myanmar's border trade, according to the Myanmar's official statistics.
Myanmar's export to China through border trade stood at 567 million dollars, while its import from the neighbor was registered at 486 million dollars, according to the commerce ministry.
In 2010, China's investment in Myanmar also rose rapidly, garnering the top place for the first time in Myanmar's foreign investment line-up with 12.3 billion dollars.
There are 170 Chinese companies investing in Myanmar according to the figures.
Source: Xinhua http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90776/90883/7365992.html
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Burma, Bangladesh agree to improve military cooperation
Lieutenant General Myat Hein says he would like Burmese forces to undergo training in Bangladesh in the future. [AFP]
Last Updated: 16 hours 35 minutes ago
Burma and Bangladesh have agreed to improve bilateral relations and mutual cooperation, including military collaboration.
Burma's Air Chief Lieutenant General, Myat Hein, has met with the Bangladeshi President, Zillur Rahman, on Thursday while in the country for a six-day visit.
The Narinjara newsagency says it is the first time a high-ranking Burmese official has visited Bangladesh since a maritime dispute broke out in 2008.
President Rahman says Bangladesh is interested in promoting relations between the two countries' armed forces.
Lieutenant General Myat Hein says he would like Burmese forces to undergo training in Bangladesh in the future.
http://www.radioaustralianews.net.au/stories/201104/3203438.htm?desktop
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Apr 29, 2011
Myanmar president picks Suu Kyi friend as adviser
YANGON - A FRIEND of Aung San Suu Kyi has been appointed as an adviser to Myanmar's president, he told AFP on Friday, vowing to aid 'co-operation' between the democracy icon and the government.
U Myint, one of nine experts in economics, politics and law appointed earlier this month, opposes sanctions on the military-dominated country in line with the views of its rulers.
The 73-year-old believes that Nobel Peace Prize winner Suu Kyi still has a 'beneficial' role to play in the country's economy, but said she should perform that role outside the political sphere.
He said he would not become a 'mediator' in talks between Suu Kyi and the government, but added: 'There could be a way for them to work together on the economy. I will try for their co-operation in this area.' U Myint appeared at a ceremony held by Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy in December.
Supporters of trade and financial sanctions say they are the only way to pressure the military rulers of Myanmar, where there are about 2,200 political prisoners.
But a controversial November election - which led a new nominally-civilian government to take power last month - and Suu Kyi's subsequent release from house arrest have reignited a debate about the measures. -- AFP http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/SEAsia/Story/STIStory_662800.html
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Expert urges new environmental laws
By AHUNT PHONE MYAT
Published: 29 April 2011
Expert urges new environmental laws thumbnail
Women carry water from a lake outside of Rangoon during a severe drought in 2010 (Reuters)
Burma’s government must enact laws to protect the country’s environment as increased foreign investment threatens to overshadow other pressing priorities, a government advisor has warned.
U Ohn, who was recently included in the new Environment and Economic Research Department (EERD), highlighted the recent promulgation of a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) law as potentially destructive, given that no environmental regulations have been created to regulate development in these zones.
“I’m afraid I have to do some criticising,” said U Ohn, who is also deputy-chairperson of the Forest Resource Environment Development and Conservation Association (FREDA).
Drafts for an environmental law, bio-safety law, copyright law and intellectual property rights law had been written ahead of the law governing the creation of an SEZ but were yet to be approved.
He said that references made in President Thein Sein’s first speech last month to amending weak laws regarding environmental protection were “very good”, but that words needed to be translated into action.
“The intention is good – [the new government] wishes to make things better, but the methods used to carry this out may vary depending on the person. We will have to wait and see to what extent they manage to carry out the work,” said U Ohn.
The creation of SEZs in Burma comes as the country looks to encourage a business-friendly environment after decades of economic stagnation.
SEZ’s have been used in regional economic giants like India and China, as well as Thailand, as a way to stimulate business in specific areas without having to alter overall legislation, and have met with varying degrees of success and controversy.
U Ohn said that despite the group’s criticism of the new government, “we can’t not cooperate with them”. He added however they he would not be pandering to the demands of Thein Sein.
The EERD is made up of 12 members, including Thein Htun (of the Htun Foundation), MCC (Myanmar Computer Company) chairman Tin Win Aung, professor Dr Aung Htun Thet, Dr Sein Myint, Yin Yin Lay and U Ohn.
http://www.dvb.no/news/expert-urges-new-environmental-laws/15458
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First US Ambassador to Asean Expected to Press Burma
By KO HTWE Friday, April 29, 2011
David Lee Carden, a former attorney who has been named the first US ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), will attend the Asean Summit in Indonesia next week, where he will have the opportunity to push Burma to change and discuss with Asean members whether Burma chair the organization in 2014, claim Burma activists.
“The role of Ambassador David Lee Carden is very important. For the time being, America stands firmly on democracy and human rights for Burma. There will be discussion and debate between the ambassador and the representatives from Asean who support Burma,” said Khin Ohmar, the coordinator of Burma Partnership, speaking from Jakarta.
Observers said that some member nations of Asean have seemingly welcomed Burma's new government to promote their own economic interests, using the body's inclusive nature to circumvent official anti-junta policy.
In addition, a top US official recently criticized Burma's neighboring countries—India, China and Thailand—for acting in their “strategic” or “economic” national interests with respect to Burma, making it difficult for the international community to move things in the right direction at an accelerated pace.
Debbie Stothard, the coordinator of the Alternative Asean Network on Burma, said the Burmese regime is gambling that it can get a “honeymoon” period for the next few months by using the excuse that they are trying to set up the new government.
“It will not benefit the people of Burma or the people of Asean for Burma to chair Asean in 2014 unless there is very clear progress in Burma, including the immediate and unconditional release of all politician prisoners, a national ceasefire, tripartite dialogue and much needed economic reform,” she said.
“I think Asean should be putting more pressure on Burma. If the country had an election and has a parliament now, why is the parliament not changing the situation? If the regime has made a commitment to have a parliament, then the parliament should be allowed to implement urgently needed reform instead of having to face all of these constraints,” said Stothard.
Meanwhile, new Burmese Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwina—a former senior military officer and Burmese ambassador to the UN—greeted representatives from neighboring Southeast Asian nations at the informal Asean Ministerial Meeting in Bangkok early this month.
Eighteen representatives from Burma’s civil society, including members of the Task Force on Asean and Burma, will participate in the 6th Asean Civil Society Conference/Asean People’s Forum 2011 (ACSC/APF) that will be held in Jakarta, Indonesia.
The conference is organized as a parallel process to the Asean Summit, as a platform to exchange ideas and provide input to Asean leaders and policy makers.
The Burma delegation will be participating in the plenary session of the ACSC/APF on May 3. On May 4, representatives will be holding a workshop entitled “Asean People’s Responsibility to Promote Human Rights and Democratization in Burma.”
“Definitely, there are more expectations that there is a chance for open dialogue and frank discussion on Burma in Indonesia, unlike the situation in Vietnam last year, and we hope that Indonesia will push more effectively for genuine changes in Burma,” said Stothard. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21213
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Signs of Change in Burma's Media Landscape?
By WAI MOE Friday, April 29, 2011
A day after the Union Solidarity and Development Party was sworn in as Burma's governing party, the new president, ex-Gen Thein Sein, made a passing reference to the role of the media in an address to his cabinet on March 31.
“We also have to respect the role of the media, the fourth estate. We are required to inform the people about what they should know and appreciate positive suggestions of the media,” Thein Sein was quoted as saying in the state-run newspaper, The New Light of Myanmar.
These two sentences have encouraged many to hope for an opening of Burma's notoriously restrictive media environment. This week, these expectations became a subject of debate among Burmese journalists.
Readers of The Weekly Eleven, a leading Burmese journal, were pleasantly surprised on Monday to see a picture of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi in a supplement published that day. The photo was affixed to an article about a ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of the Free Funeral Service Society on Saturday that Suu Kyi attended; the article did not, however, mention her by name.
It was the first time that Suu Kyi’s picture has appeared in a local journal in the five months since nine journals were suspended for their “excessive coverage” of her release from house arrest last November.
When Suu Kyi was released on Nov. 13, privately run weekly journals put the news in inserts that would normally appear deep inside their pages. However, some decided to wrap the inserts around their publications, in effect putting Suu Kyi on their front covers to attract readers.
At the time, the extensive coverage of Suu Kyi's release in local and foreign media outraged the ruling generals in Naypyidaw, resulting in the two-week suspension of several Rangoon-based weeklies, including the popular sports journal First Eleven, a sister publication of Weekly Eleven.
Since Weekly Eleven’s picture of Suu Kyi appeared on Monday, other local journals have followed suit with more news about the country's leading dissident. One leading journal, 7 Day News, reported Suu Kyi's attendance at the ceremony on Saturday in its latest edition, published on Wednesday—this time using Suu Kyi’s name.
And then another leading weekly, The Myanmar Times, published photos of Suu Kyi and Kyaw Thu, a famous actor turned social activist who now heads the Free Funeral Service Society.
Kyaw Thu’s name and photos were banned in Burmese publications after he made donations to protesting monks during the September 2007 mass demonstrations known as the Saffron Revolution. He and his wife were also briefly detained at the time.
Journalists in Rangoon said that when they saw Kyaw Thu’s photo for first time since 2007, they began to feel that the censorship board, the Press Scrutiny and Registration Division (PSRD), which operates under the Ministry of Information, might actually be loosening its restrictions on the press.
One senior reporter with a leading journal said that the sudden appearance of Kyaw Thu's photograph in the media was not the only recent development. She said that some publications have even been allowed to publish photos of models in modern outfits—something usually rejected on cultural grounds.
However, she cautioned against reading too much into this. “For now, that's as far as they'll let us go. We still can't publish critical opinion pieces and reports,” she said.
Others were more encouraged by what they have seen in recent months. A journalist who focuses on environmental issues said that in past years, issues such as deforestation, illegal logging, wildlife trading and the negative impact of hydropower projects were cut by the PSRD as too “sensitive” to publish. Now, however, there is some small space to discuss these issues. “We could say this is a positive step,” he said.
Meanwhile, as Burma's privately run press enjoys a slight thaw, the state-run media is also changing. Especially since September 2007, when the Saffron Revolution attracted worldwide attention with images of a brutal crackdown on monks, Minister of Information Kyaw Hsan has sought to improve the regime's image with more sophisticated media programming. At the time, he said the junta “will fight the media by using the media.”
One major change has been the introduction of more entertainment and international programs on MRTV-4, sister of the state-run broadcaster, Myanmar Radio and Television (MRTV).
The main agenda of MRTV-4, which is the regime's international service, is to counter the Democratic Voice of Burma, a satellite TV channel based in Norway and run by exiled Burmese journalists.
One notable difference between MRTV-4 and all other state media in Burma is that the ticker that appears on the screen during its international news program has included news about unrest in the Arab world, whereas all other state media have been completely silent on this development.
Despite such signs of change, however, many journalists are still skeptical about the prospects for greater press freedom in the country. They note that political news remains as strictly off-limits as in the past.
“We applied to the PSRD this week for approval of reports about government ministries and some political parties, but they were rejected because they were deemed to be too 'sensitive for the state,'” said an editor with a news journal in Rangoon.
“Some journals in Rangoon wanted to write about people’s expectations of an amnesty for political prisoners after the new government was sworn in, but the PSRD said no,” he added.
In late March, sources close to the Ministry of Information said that six subjectssports, astrology, children, health, literature and technologywould be free from censorship after the new government was sworn in.
So far, however, it appears that the censors continue to cast a wide net over Burma's media, with just a few potentially controversial issues slipping throughfor now.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21212
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Matthew Smith
Green by Gunpoint: The Environmental Dictatorship?
Posted: 04/29/11 10:22 AM ET
Apparently even dictators celebrate Earth Day. On Tuesday, the authorities in military-ruled Burma passed a law banning the production, storage, and sale of polythene bags in the country's main city Rangoon, effective April 22. The decree was announced by the state-run newspaper and heralded as a move to combat non-degradable waste in the impoverished former capital.
That the authorities brought the law into force on Earth Day demonstrates what most activists have long understood about Burma: the ruling generals and their cronies aren't impervious or ignorant to the opinions and trends of the international community, despite their deplorable human rights record. They care what the world thinks of them.
But the ban also demonstrates how change can and will come to the military-ruled country, i.e. from within. The ban isn't so much a reflection of the regime's environmental-mindedness or the international community's influence as it is a testament to Burma's youth, who have long campaigned for environmental protection inside and outside the country.
I spoke to Ko Shwe today, an ethnic Karen man working with the Karen Environmental Social Action Network, a group working with ethnic communities in Burma on the responsible management of natural resources, environmental protection, and cultural preservation, something particularly important for Burma's besieged ethnic nationalities. Ko Shwe explained, "Many young people have organized themselves and founded small unofficial environmental organizations in the country. They produce books and leaflets on everything from global warming to water conservation, to the problems with plastic bags. They've encouraged people to use their own bags," he said.
For what it's worth, their efforts seem to have had some legislative effect.
The new law comes into effect two years after a similar ban was enacted in Mandalay, Burma's second-largest city, no doubt also in response to the quiet work of dedicated youth.
Last month, Mandalay's ban was enforced for the first time, but not without a certain authoritarian musk. A Chinese market vendor was jailed for 15 days for possessing plastic bags at her shop in Yadanarpon market.
While this was the first time the authorities enforced the environmental law, it's not the first time they've enacted and implemented environmental policies. Others have been more uniquely authoritarian.
For years, the military rulers have forced communities to plant jatropha, also referred to as kyet su in Burmese, as part of a nationwide biofuel program designed to provide a low-grade fuel alternative and a new export. That's forced labor of the green variety, or "green by gunpoint," as my colleagues at EarthRights International have mockingly called it.
In 2008, the Ethnic Community Development Forum (ECDF) published the definitive report on forced jatropha farming in Burma, called "Biofuel by Decree: Unmasking Burma's Bio-Energy Fiasco." The excellent but underreported 44-page publication explains that since 2005, the ruling elite has demanded that each state and division in Burma plant 500,000 acres of jatropha, or eight million acres total. That's roughly the size of Belgium.
The Army implemented the plan. Craven regional commanders and their vulnerable minions forced marginalized villagers -- many living on less than a dollar a day -- to abandon their means of subsistence and plant jatropha, a move that amounted to a direct threat to food security in an already deeply impoverished countryside.
The ECDF documented how the Army fined, arrested, and threatened villagers with death for failing to meet unreasonable planting quotas or for expressing dissent. At the time the report was published, nearly 800 "jatropha refugees" had already fled Southern Shan State into Thailand.
The International Labour Organization has routinely condemned and combatted the pervasive use of forced labor in the country. For years, my colleagues and I have documented every manner of it, from villagers being forced to maintain roads, to building military barracks, to planting jatropha. In 2009, EarthRights International published the 106-page report "Total Impact," which found that since 2006 every village along the infamous Yadana natural gas pipeline to Thailand was subject to forced jatropha farming.
Progressive environmentalism or not, it'll take a lot more than banning plastic bags on Earth Day for Burma's military rulers to become responsible members of the international community.
They could start by ending government policies that lead to widespread and systematic human rights violations, some of which no doubt rise to the level of crimes against humanity. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/matthew-smith/burma-earth-day-_b_854755.html
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Thai PTTEP to end exploration in Myanmar's Block M4
BANGKOK, April 29 | Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:04pm EDT
(Reuters) - Thailand's PTT Exploration and Production :
* Says its PTTEP International Ltd subsidiary is pulling out of Exploration Block M4 in Myanmar after completing exploration work.
* The termination will be effective from May 1, 2011.
* PTTEP currently has investments in three other exploration projects, Myanmar M3, M7 and M11, in Myanmar, one development project, Myanmar Zawtika, which is expected to begin production in 2013, and two joint venture projects in production phase, Yadana Project and Yetagun Project. (Reporting by Ploy Ten Kate; Editing by Alan Raybould)
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Saturday, April 30, 2011
News & Articles on Burma-Friday, 29 April, 2011
Friday, April 29, 2011
News & Articles on Burma-Thursday, 28 April, 2011
News & Articles on Burma
Thursday, 28 April, 2011
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Five ethnic parties call for release of political prisoners
Will Burma’s Presidential Advisory Council run efficiently?
Mae Sot Police to Raid Burmese Opposition?
Suu Kyi Listens to Needs of Farmers
Can US Envoy Succeed Where UN Has Failed?
China, Myanmar sign MoU on rail transport project
Myanmar president enlists confidante of opposition leader Suu Kyi as adviser
Import of Illegal Cars into Burma Up Sharply
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Five ethnic parties call for release of political prisoners
Thursday, 28 April 2011 16:49 Ko Wild
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – The festering issue of a general amnesty for political prisoners was addressed again this week, this time by five ethnic political parties who issued a joint statement urging the government to release all political prisoners for the sake of national reconciliation.
The statement was issued in Rangoon on Wednesday by a group calling itself the Brotherhood Forum, made up of the Shan Nationalities Democratic Party, the All Mon Region Democratic Party, the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party (RNDP), the Phalon-Sawaw Democratic Party and the Chin National Party.
thei-sein-speak
Burmese President Thein Sein, the figurehead of the new government. Photo: Mizzima
“The government should announce a general amnesty’, said RNDP secretary Hla Saw, adding that he is a former political prisoner who was released from prison in 1980 under a general amnesty.
The release of political prisoners has so far not even been mentioned by the leaders of the new government. Consecutive Burmese governments have repeatedly said that there are no political prisoners in the country, contending that all those in prison are there because they violated laws. However, international organizations and the Burmese democratic opposition say that there are more than 2,000 political prisoners.
According to the new Constitution, the president has the power to grant amnesty in accordance with the recommendation of the National Defence and National Security Council.
Other issues raised in the joint statement included the need to find a way to permanent peace in ethnic regions, to narrow the developmental gap between the states and regions and to seek help from the international community for underdeveloped ethnic regions which have suffered from long periods of war.
In early April, the Group of Democratic Party Friends, an alliance of six political parties, urged the new government to hold an all-inclusive Union Conference to seek a solution to end the civil conflicts in Burma and to declare a general political amnesty.
In his inaugural address, President Thein Sein said the government would carry out it duties in accordance with the Constitution. Thein Sein, who is also chairman of the Special Project Implementation Committee, said on April 22 the government needs to implement special development projects in the states and regions.
However, he has said nothing about the issue of amnesty for political prisoners. http://www.mizzima.com/news/inside-burma/5195-five-ethnic-parties-call-for-release-of-political-prisoners.html
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Will Burma’s Presidential Advisory Council run efficiently?
By Zin Linn Apr 28, 2011 11:34PM UTC
Burma’s President Thein Sein has shaped a 9-member President’s Advisory Council recently. The council was formed on 11th April 2011 and publicly order was issued on 19th April 2011. The 9-member council has been shaped in three sections.
First section was formed as ‘Advisory Council on Politics’ and headed by Ko Ko Haling, 56 years old retired-colonel, an existing advisor to the News and Periodicals Department of Ministry of Information. His team was made up with Dr Nay Zin Latt and Ye Tint.
Second section was formed as ‘Advisory Council on Economics’. It will be headed by U Myint, a former Chief of Least Developed Countries Section, Development Research and Policy Analysis Division with the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific (UNESCAP). Other two members are Set Aung and Dr. Tin Hla Bo.
Third section was formed as ‘Advisory Council on Law’ headed by Retired Senior Police Officer Sit Aye followed by Daw Khin Myo Myint and Than Kyaw. Sit Aye has a law degree and he is a graduate of the Police Officer Intake-1. Sit Aye has had a remarkable career working as joint-secretary for the Ministry of Home Affairs’ Working Committee on Trafficking in Persons and heading the Financial Intelligence Unit. He also supervised the Transnational Organized Crime unit while acting as a member of the Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control.
Since there was no such a council in the past decades, it could catch public attention to some extent. Actually, U Myint is the center of attention because he is a famous political moderate and also a good friend of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The appointment of an associate of Suu Kyi to a high-level position in the new government is an extraordinary case as the outwardly civilian government is controlled by her military-backed opponents. Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy refused to take part in last year’s unfair polls and Suu Kyi remains key opposition against the ruling faction.
Next interesting point is that U Myint is an astonishing frank critic of the military regime’s disappointed economic track record. He used to discuss and point out the causes and consequences of corruption, especially in the context of a least developed country with considerable guideline and central bearing.
In one of his papers published in 2000 – Corruption: Causes, Consequences and Cures – he underscored, “Corruption places severe constraints on a country’s capacity to undertake economic reforms. This is because reforms require greater transparency, accountability, free and fair competition, deregulation, and reliance on market forces and private initiative, as well as limiting discretionary powers, special privileges, and price distortions – all of which will reduce opportunities for economic rent on which corruption thrives. The rich and the powerful, the main gainers of a corrupt system, will therefore oppose reforms.”
So, people are wondering whether U Myint’s advices are accepted by the President Thein Sein’s cabinet which has been formed with former corrupted ministers.
Burma had been under military rule since 1962 and a namesake change of civilian government happened after last November election. The country turned into one of the poorest in Asia under mismanagement and corruption of military regime. As there is no hope for future under military, many intellectuals left the country that caused lack of experienced economic executives.
President’s Advisory Council will be expected to be expended later for assorted sectors such as the environment, education and health.
However, observers are suspicious of the President’s motives and they dare not believe that good advices of the council will be taken into account properly.
http://asiancorrespondent.com/53408/will-burma%E2%80%99s-presidential-advisory-council-run-efficiently/
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Mae Sot Police to Raid Burmese Opposition?
By THE IRRAWADDY Thursday, April 28, 2011
MAE SOT — Thai police is likely to begin raiding buildings and apartments in the border town of Mae Sot that Burmese opposition groups rent for offices and residences, according to sources close to Burmese police.
The plan was agreed in a meeting on Wednesday in Myawaddy—the Burmese town across the border from Mae Sot—attended by Thai police from Mae Sot and Burmese police from Myawaddy.
“Burmese and Thai police held a special meeting yesterday. The Burmese police asked the Thai police to take action regarding anti-human trafficking, anti-drug trafficking, border affairs and Burmese dissidents in Mae Sot,” said a government servant close to the Myawaddy police.
“The Burmese police gave detailed information, addresses and photos of offices and houses which have been rented by Burmese dissidents,” he added.
Burmese police accused the Mae Sot-based Burmese dissidents of conducting terror-style attacks such as armed attacks and bomb blasts in Myawaddy, the source said. Therefore they asked the Thai police to take immediate action against Burmese dissidents.
Based on the bilateral agreement in the meeting yesterday, some observers in Mae Sot said that the Burmese and Thai police will likely soon speed up criminal cases on the Thai-Burmese border.
Bilateral anti-human trafficking measures and criminal cases on the border were also discussed during the meeting, which Tak Province’s Pol Maj-Gen Chamlong Nomsian attended. Thai immigration officials and border committee members also attended the meeting, said border sources.
In the past, Thai police have occasionally launched raids and cracked down on Burmese dissidents.
In October 2009, Thai security forces raided the homes of 10 leaders of the Karen National Union (KNU) in Mae Sot. Also, in February 2010, Thai police in Mae Sot raided the office of Karen journalists, the Karen Information Center and the home of David Takapaw, the vice chairman of the KNU. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21204
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Suu Kyi Listens to Needs of Farmers
By WAI MOE Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Burma’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi met with farmers for the first time since her November release, and said that the development of their lives is vital for the country since they make up the majority of the population.
“The lives and living standards of farmers in this country are very poor. Some might be disappointed that they can not improve their lives in this country. But don’t despair! Look forward!” Suu Kyi told attendees at the meeting on Tuesday.
Her meeting with farmers was part of her National League for Democracy (NLD) party’s agriculture workshop at their Rangoon headquarters from April 27-29.
The NLD invited 38 farmers from Irrawaddy Division, Pegu Division, Rangoon Division and Arakan State as part of the workshop, according to party spokesman Ohn Kyaing.
“The workshop was designed to discuss the daily dilemmas of farmers and technical topics including environmental issues,” Ohn Kyaing told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday.
Farmers told Suu Kyi that the main challenges they face include land confiscations, increasing commodity prices and the lack of state support for farms. The NLD is planning more agriculture workshops in May for farmers from other states/divisions, Ohn Kyaing added.
“I was very glad to meet [Suu Kyi] and tell her about our difficulties. And from the workshop, I learned related knowledge which I can share with other people from my village when I go back home,” said Aye San Maung, a farmer from Irrawaddy Division.
He added that farmers from Irrawaddy Division—the biggest rice producer in Burma—are not getting enough subsidized support from the state and so often require loans from moneylenders or businessmen.
Mann Nyunt Thein, another farmer from Irrawaddy Division, explained that due to unusual weather, rice and other agriculture products have been decreased in the division.
The NLD’s agriculture workshop was organized after President Thein Sein brought up development in the sector during a Special Projects Implementation Committee meeting on April 22.
“To secure people's nourishmentt, measures must be taken to improve the agricultural sector first and then to establish a modern industrialized nation and develop other economic sectors,” Thein Sein said at the meeting.
Despite an outcry from the international community for a genuine dialogue between the ruling regime and pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, there is no prospect of a potential meeting with the new government.
“We have not got any sign from the regime that they want to engage in dialogue. But we do not see any sign of more suppression of us either at the moment,” Ohn Kyiang said. http://irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21194
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COMMENTARY
Can US Envoy Succeed Where UN Has Failed?
By AUNG ZAW Wednesday, April 27, 2011
After nearly 50 years of military rule and countless efforts to restore democracy by every means imaginable, Burma has become a land where hope springs eternal, but caution rules the day. And so the appointment of Derek Mitchell as the first ever US special envoy to Burma has been greeted by veterans of the country's democratic struggle as an occasion for guarded optimism.
In his current position as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs at the US Department of Defense, Mitchell is no stranger to Burma. He has followed the country's affairs closely and in the past met with leading dissidents, including Aung San Suu Kyi.
Aung Zaw is founder and editor of the Irrawaddy magazine. He can be reached at aungzaw@irrawaddy.org.
Suu Kyi, who has seen many foreign emissaries come and go in her more than two decades as leader of Burma's pro-democracy movement, welcomed the news of Mitchell's appointment in characteristic fashion. “I'm a cautious optimist,� she said, fully aware that this new development isn't likely to produce a breakthrough anytime soon.
Perhaps adding to Suu Kyi's muted sense of expectation is the fact that Burma is already undergoing a “democratic transition� initiated by the ruling junta. But these changes, which are entirely cosmetic, are aimed not at moving the country forward, but at keeping the current rulers firmly in control.
As long as the regime can keep up its pretense of engaging in political reforms, it is unlikely to listen to those calling for more fundamental change. One of Mitchell's first tasks, then, must be to let the generals know that they aren't fooling anybody with their parliamentary masquerade party in Naypyidaw.
Meanwhile, Suu Kyi knows that it is her role to encourage the efforts of anyone genuinely interested in helping Burma to emerge from half a century of regressive rule. Not really knowing what approach Mitchell intends to take, she nonetheless expressed confidence in his good will. “As a special envoy, he probably sees that his duty is to try to bring about democratization of Burma as smoothly and quickly as possible. So we look upon him as a friend,� she said.
But as a friend of Burma, Mitchell will have his work cut out for him. Past special envoys from the United Nations have all failed abysmally to win any compromises from the regime, and the Obama administration's attempts to engage the junta that remains in the shadows of the new government have so far met with indifference.
Joseph Yun, a senior State Department official, recently said that the rulers of Burma were wrong to think that they have nothing to gain from engaging the United States.
“I really urge the Burmese government that there will be something in it. In the end, they have to join the international community,� he said. The thought in Washington, however, is that the US has offered a generous amount of time and space to repair the relationship, but the Burmese side has failed to take advantage of the opportunity.
Since President Obama rolled out his engagement policy, which represents a break from the sanctions-only approach of past administrations, Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell has visited Burma twice, only to conclude that the new approach has made little impression on the Burmese generals. Indeed, engagement can only work if both sides have the political will to work together to achieve a specific outcome. If not, it is just one hand clapping.
The US isn't about to give up on engagement with the regime, but in the meantime, it is also increasing its investment in the democratic opposition. A few weeks ago, Vital Voices, a Washington-based non-governmental organization that empowers emerging leaders and social entrepreneurs around the globe, honored Suu Kyi with the “Global Trailblazer Award,� recognizing her as the “Voice of the Decade.�
“On this night, we honor Aung San Suu Kyi, a woman who endured years of isolation from her family and the world with unfaltering grace and the strength of steel,� said US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who founded Vital Voices in 1997.
Speaking at the awards ceremony, Clinton added: “I call again for the Burmese authorities to allow [Suu Kyi] and her party to participate in Burma’s political process and that they be granted freedom of movement, expression, and assembly.�
By stating unequivocally what it wants from the Burmese generals, Washington may be making Mitchell's job that much harder. But at the same time, it is providing a clear basis upon which meaningful contact between the two countries can be established, avoiding the pitfalls of UN envoys who only managed to go through the motions of engagement while being given the runaround by the generals.
At this stage, we can be reasonably certain that Mitchell will be nothing like Ibrahim Gambari, the Nigerian diplomat who served as the UN's special envoy to Burma until he quit in 2009. Gambari did such a poor job that in 2008, Suu Kyi refused to meet him, and former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice ordered the US mission at the UN to seek his dismissal as special envoy, citing his poor performance in the role.
So what are Mitchell's strengths? For many Burmese, the mere fact that he isn't working for the UN—which has earned a reputation for being completely ineffectual in its dealings with the regime—is a real plus. But beyond this, he is considered very knowledgeable about Burma, meaning that the generals will have a harder time trying to exploit his efforts to their own advantage.
Another real advantage he possesses is his understanding of China, the country that many see as holding the key to Burma's future. A fluent speaker of Mandarin Chinese, Mitchell will undoubtedly spend a good deal of time talking to Chinese officials. Although the US and China currently take very different positions on Burma, both share an interest in seeing the country remain stable. Eventually, this could translate into a common approach that would make a real difference in Burma.
Besides China, Mitchell will also have to engage Burma's other neighbors and regional players such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and Japan. But the most daunting task he will face is simply getting the generals in Naypyidaw to stop speaking into their echo chamber and start listening to the voices of those seeking to bring Burma back into the global community. http://www.irrawaddy.org/opinion_story.php?art_id=21195
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China, Myanmar sign MoU on rail transport project
(Xinhua) Updated: 2011-04-28 11:08
NAY PYI TAW - China and Myanmar reached a memorandum of understanding in Nay Pyi Taw Wednesday on a joint rail transport construction project extending between Myanmar's border town of Muse and western Rakhine state's Kyaukphyu, a port city.
The MoU on building the railroad, signed between the China Railways Engineering Corporation and the Myanmar Union Ministry of Rail Transportation, was witnessed by Myanmar Vice President U Tin Aung Myint Oo, Chinese ambassador to Myanmar Li Junhua, Myanmar Union Minister of Rail Transportation U Aung Min and President of the China Railways Engineering Corporation Li Changjin.
The MoU covers the environment conservation and development project along the rail road between the two destinations.
According to the MoU, the first phase of the overall project of Muse-Lashio-Kyaukphyu is from Muse to Lashio in Shan state which stretches as 126 kilometers with 41 big and small bridges, 36 tunnels and seven railway stations to be added along the route.
The project, targeted to complete within three years, is to be implemented in line with another ongoing China-Myanmar gas pipeline project from Kyaukphyu to Kunming in southwest China's Yunnan province via Muse.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2011-04/28/content_12412367.htm
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Myanmar president enlists confidante of opposition leader Suu Kyi as adviser
By Associated Press, Published: April 27
YANGON, Myanmar — An economist who is close to pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi said Wednesday that he has been appointed to an advisory board by Myanmar’s new president.
The appointment of an associate of Suu Kyi to a high-level position in the new government is a surprise because the nominally civilian regime is dominated by her longtime foes in the military. Her party refused to take part in last year’s army-arranged polls — charging they were unfair — and Suu Kyi remains the face of the country’s opposition.
The new president, Thein Sein, is a former general and was once prime minister under the junta. He is now the leader of the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party, which won a huge majority in last November’s general election that critics dismissed as rigged in favor of the army.
The body, with advisers in economic, political and legal affairs, was announced on April 19 in the limited circulation Government Gazette, said U Myint, who will head the economic section. The state press has not yet reported the appointments.
The retired senior economist for the U.N. Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific has advised Suu Kyi, a close friend, on economic affairs.
Asked if he might help bridge the gap between Suu Kyi and the new government, U Myint said it was not his mandate to bring about a dialogue and he had no intention of doing so, but he would try “to improve understanding and trust between the two parties.”
Describing the board as “something different” and innovative, he said his appointment showed that the government was willing to give a role to the academic community, but it was too early to say how successful it would be.
Myanmar was under military rule from 1962 until the nominal change to a civilian regime last month. The country became one of the poorest in Asia under military rule, and brain drain caused in part by the military’s undemocratic rule left the country with a shortage of skilled economic managers.
All three members of economic advisory section are civilian academics while the three members of the political body are former military officers and the legal group is headed by a retired police colonel.
U Myint said his first task is to work on the alleviation of rural poverty. He expressed confidence that he would be allowed to work freely but was less sure his advice would be taken.
“It’s easy to give advice, but we have to wait and see how it will be implemented and if there is the capacity,” he said.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/myanmar-president-enlists-confidante-of-opposition-leader-suu-kyi-as-adviser/2011/04/27/AFBRjUyE_story.html
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Business
Import of Illegal Cars into Burma Up Sharply
By THE IRRAWADDY Thursday, April 28, 2011
MAE SOT — The illegal import of second-hand Japanese cars from Thailand into Burma has recently increased threefold, according to Burmese car brokers doing business at the border.
“Now at least 100 Japanese cars are carried by boats into Burma every day,” said a Burmese car broker working in the Thai border town of Mae Sot, which sits opposite Burma's Myawaddy Township.
After arrival at Thailand's ports from Japan, second-hand cars are transported to Mae Sot by Thai companies. Hundreds of Japanese cars are sent to Mae Sot every day, and this week an estimated 4,000 cars were waiting to be carried across the Moei River to Myawaddy, according to an employee of a Thai company.
Observers say that traders are exploiting a legal loophole in the Thai Board of Investment (BOI) law known as the Alien Business Law of 1972 (ABL), which grants an exemption from import duties, export duties and business taxes on certain designated machinery, spare parts and raw materials that are imported into Thailand but not sold in the country.
The price of an illegally imported Japanese car ranges from 200,000 to 300,000 baht (US $5,979 to $8,968), and the average cost of transporting a car is 10,000 baht ($334.50), said a car broker.
The Mae Sot—Myawaddy border crossing is a major trading point between the two countries, but it has been closed by Burmese government since July 2010. The broker said that despite the border closure, the illegal import of cars into Burma has not been affected.
Local car brokers allege that because the illegal import of cars is such a lucrative business, high-ranking Burmese military officials and their family members are either directly involved or have to be bribed to allow transport of the cars to destinations inside Burma.
Illegal vehicles are regularly smuggled into Burma across the Thai-Burmese border. Smugglers usually bribe border security forces and local authorities to transport the illegal vehicles into the country.
Normally, Burma allows only a few thousand cars to be imported officially each year through the Union of Myanmar Economic Holding Ltd (UMEHL), a military-run conglomerate, and businessmen close to the ruling generals.
Since early last year, the Ministry of Commerce has deregulated the import of cars and allowed some private-owned companies to import buses and heavy machinery.
Burma's import restrictions have skewed the prices of cars—both new and used—to prices that would be considered absurd in neighboring countries.http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21201
Thursday, April 28, 2011
News & Articles on Burma-Wednesday, 27 April, 2011
News & Articles on Burma
Wednesday, 27 April, 2011
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7 villages in Shan East burnt down by Burma Army soldiers
Suu Kyi Listens to Needs of Farmers
Peace Must Precede Development: Ethnic Party Reps
Burma’s Health Minister’s dream seems to be unproductive
Thein Sein Appoints Presidential Advisors
Confusion Over Role of New Govt Ministries
Burma Policy 'No or Limited Success': US Official
Trade Council to be Shut Down
Shale gas in Karen State?
Myanmar, India to speed up renovation of Arnanda Pagoda
Beijing’s Burma Embrace
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7 villages in Shan East burnt down by Burma Army soldiers
Wednesday, 27 April 2011 16:39 Hseng Khio Fah
Despite a popularly ‘elected’ government, human rights violations in ethnic states carried out by Burma Army soldiers are still coming out. 7 villages in Shan State East’s Mongpiang township, having an estimated 70 households were razed down to the ground by locally based Burma Army soldiers, alleging people there as agents of Shan State Army (SSA) ‘South’, according to local sources.
Apart from the burning, some male villagers were also arrested and beaten. The actions were taken by Burma Army’s Infantry Battalion (IB) 43, said a local villager from Mongpu, south of the township seat, who just fled to the border.
The said 7 villages, 4 Lahu and 3 Palaung, were located in Mongpu Long village tract of Mongpiang, some parts of which are operated by the SSA ‘South’ and some controlled by the Burma Army. The township is located west of Kengtung, capital of Shan East.
“We got no time to collect our things. They set fire to the houses as soon as they arrived in the village. All houses in the village went down in fire. Men were arrested and beaten up. One of the men, Ai Kha, 41, was taken by the soldiers. There are no reports about him to help us guess whether he is still alive or not,” said a source in a shaking voice.
“The soldiers said we fed and gave supplies to the Shan army and not informing them of its whereabouts. Ai Kha was accused as the person who served as a guide for the Shan army,” she said.
One of them, Ai Jawa, Lahu man, was released later after investigation. But he was seriously wounded on his head, she added.
The incident took place on 19 April. According to sources, villagers are fleeing everyday to other places since then. Violations and abuses were reported to have worsened after the elections. Human rights situation in Shan State are reported monthly by the Shan Human Rights Foundation based in Chiangmai.
From 27-July-1 August 2009, more than 500 houses and 200 granaries in villages in Shan State South’s Mongkeung, Laikha and Kehsi townships, had been razed to the ground and over 10,000 people became homeless after being relocated by the Burma Army’s 5-day scorched earth campaign, also known as Four Cuts - cutting off food, funds, intelligence and recruits by local villagers to the resistance due to similar allegations by the Burma Army. http://www.shanland.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3643:7-villages-in-shan-east-burnt-down-by-burma-army-soldiers&catid=87:human-rights&Itemid=285
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Suu Kyi Listens to Needs of Farmers
By WAI MOE Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Her meeting with farmers was part of her National League for Democracy (NLD) party’s agriculture workshop at their Rangoon headquarters from April 27-29.
The NLD invited 38 farmers from Irrawaddy Division, Pegu Division, Rangoon Division and Arakan State as part of the workshop, according to party spokesman Ohn Kyaing.
“The workshop was designed to discuss the daily dilemmas of farmers and technical topics including environmental issues,” Ohn Kyaing told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday.
Farmers told Suu Kyi that the main challenges they face include land confiscations, increasing commodity prices and the lack of state support for farms. The NLD is planning more agriculture workshops in May for farmers from other states/divisions, Ohn Kyaing added.
“I was very glad to meet [Suu Kyi] and tell her about our difficulties. And from the workshop, I learned related knowledge which I can share with other people from my village when I go back home,” said Aye San Maung, a farmer from Irrawaddy Division.
He added that farmers from Irrawaddy Division—the biggest rice producer in Burma—are not getting enough subsidized support from the state and so often require loans from moneylenders or businessmen.
Mann Nyunt Thein, another farmer from Irrawaddy Division, explained that due to unusual weather, rice and other agriculture products have been decreased in the division.
The NLD’s agriculture workshop was organized after President Thein Sein brought up development in the sector during a Special Projects Implementation Committee meeting on April 22.
“To secure people's nourishmentt, measures must be taken to improve the agricultural sector first and then to establish a modern industrialized nation and develop other economic sectors,” Thein Sein said at the meeting.
Despite an outcry from the international community for a genuine dialogue between the ruling regime and pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, there is no prospect of a potential meeting with the new government.
“We have not got any sign from the regime that they want to engage in dialogue. But we do not see any sign of more suppression of us either at the moment,” Ohn Kyiang said.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21194
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Peace Must Precede Development: Ethnic Party Reps
By SAI ZOM HSENG Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Following a meeting between five ethnic political parties, the participants called for peaceful discussions between Burma's new government and the country's ethnic armed groups, according to a representative from the Rakhine Nationals Development Party (RNDP).
Hla Soe, the secretary and spokesperson of the RNDP, said that peaceful discussions with the ethnic armed groups is a very important and necessary step for the new government.
“If the government really wants development in the ethnic areas where the civil war is still happening, they must seek peace in those areas first,” Hla Soe told The Irrawaddy.
The president, ex-Gen Thein Sein, said during his first speech that the new government will engage in development in every ethnic area and will start building the transportation links necessary to reach those areas.
Aye Maung, an MP and the chairman of the RNDP, said, “We appreciate that the new government will pursue development in the ethnic areas, but they must hold peaceful discussions with the different ethnic armed groups if they intend to do so.”
Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Wednesday, Aye Maung said that “The government should discuss issues with the ethnic armed groups without caring about the weakness or advantages of the groups. The government will also have to guarantee the security of the leaders of the ethnic armed groups if there is to be a real discussion between the government and the armed groups.”
“There will be a peaceful discussion if the armed group leaders are not arrested by the government,” Aye Maung added. “There will be no development in the ethnic areas without peaceful discussions.”
A representative from the Shan Nationalities and Democratic Party (SNDP), also known as the White Tiger Party, said that participants in the meeting also reviewed their experiences in the recently held parliamentary session.
Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Tuesday, a source close to the ethnic party meeting said, “The MPs submitted very important issues to parliament, such as a recommendation to start teaching ethnic literature and languages in schools, but they were rejected. Actually, this is a big issue for the ethnic people. In this meeting, we discussed how we can we submit and gain acceptance for our proposals in parliament.”
The meeting participants also discussed amnesty for political prisoners.
“We will keep urging the government to grant a general amnesty for the political prisoners. By doing this continuously, the international community will express its desire for the prisoners to be released. If the political prisoners are released, they can restart their political movement again in their own way,” said Aye Maung.
However, some Rangoon-based political observers said that the new government is not going to release the political prisoners.
“The major figures such as Minn Ko Naing and Ko Ko Gyi, who can influence the political and democracy movements of Burma, are not likely to be released because the new government still wants to maintain power. We can clearly see that even for basic governance in townships, the government is still using the old people,” said a political observer in Rangoon..
In addition, the parties present at the meeting expressed their confidence that the international community will support efforts to bring increased humanitarian aid to the ethnic regions.
Representatives from the RNDP, the All Mon Region Democracy Party (AMRDP), the Chin National Party (CNP), the Phalon Sawaw Party (PSP) and the Shan Nationalities and Democratic Party (SNDP), met for two days at the Rangoon headquarters of the White Tiger Party since yesterday.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21196
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Burma’s Health Minister’s dream seems to be unproductive
By Zin Linn Apr 27, 2011 9:30PM UTC
Burma’s Union Minister for Health Dr Pe Thet Khin called on medical superintendents of central level hospitals to give special attention to the public health care services at the meeting hall of New Yangon General Hospital on 24 April, as said by today The New Light of Myanmar. Health Minister also said that weak public healthcare may put people’s lives at risk. He advised superintendents to take effective measures in order to prevent stealing of funds and reduce wastage and to cooperate with anyone or any organizations devoting themselves to health care services.
He continued that it is still needed to give effective treatment to patients and use effective medicines. He also stressed the importance for hospitals to try to become the ones that win public trust and reliance. In the afternoon, the Union Minister visited Specialist Hospital (Thakayta) in Yangon Region.
While he was there, well-wisher U Myo Win and family donated sets of TV, DVD player and speakers for the hospital and Myanmar Writers and Journalists Association, K 200,000 for sinking of a tube well.
Although the minister highlighted the important of giving special attention to the public health care services, healthcare quota of the national budget possibly will not fulfill his desire. Why?
The Government Gazette released by the previous military junta says that 1.8 trillion kyat (about $2 billion at free market rates of exchange), or 23.6 per cent of the budget this year will go to the defense. The health sector, meanwhile, will get 99.5 billion kyat ($110 million), or 1.3 per cent.
The gazette says the budget was enacted on Jan. 27, just a few days before the country’s parliament met for the first time in more than two decades. The timing apparently means the budget will not need parliamentary approval before coming into effect on April 1. The budget totals 7.6 trillion kyat ($8.45 billion).
The document was enacted before the legislature sat on Jan. 31, according to the Government Gazette. The budget was not been publicized in the mass media, a pattern that has held for at least a decade.
That was one of the significant signals that the transfer of power from the ruling junta — many of the former junta’s generals resigned in order to run as “civilians” — may happen in outward show only.
Burma (Myanmar) is one of Asia’s poorest countries, reflected in its health indicators. It had the 44th highest infant mortality rate of the 193 countries listed by the UNICEF in its 2011 State of the World’s Children report.
According to the UN estimation, one child in three under the age of five is already suffering from malnutrition. Burma’s authoritarian military regime is getting in the way of health community’s efforts to control infectious disease threats in Burma, according to an investigation published in Public Library of Science Medicine.
Dr Chris Beyrer (Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health) and colleagues carried out field investigations in Burma in 2005 and 2006, and also searched the medical and policy literature on HIV, TB, malaria, and avian flu in Burma. The researchers found that the SPDC’s investment in healthcare is one of the lowest worldwide and that the health sector has been weakened by widespread corruption.
The recent Government’s financial statement allowed the health sector 99.5 billion kyat ($110 million), or 1.3 percent of this budget year 2011-12. That means President Thein Sein’s Union Government will spend less than $2 per head on public healthcare.
So, political opposition and independent observers denounce the Burmese junta for the amounts waste on the defense budget, while key areas such as education and health are ignored.
So, Union Minister for Health Dr Pe Thet Khin’s plan to give special attention to the public healthcare services seems to be with little hope while corruption is common throughout the country.
http://asiancorrespondent.com/53327/burma%e2%80%99s-health-minister%e2%80%99s-dream-seems-to-be-unproductive/
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Thein Sein Appoints Presidential Advisors
By BA KAUNG Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Burmese President Thein Sein has appointed a presidential advisory board, which includes a chief economic advisor who is a close friend of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
According to some of the appointed advisors, the advisory board consists of three committees—political, economic and legal—which will, in turn, be made up of three members each. The economic advisory board will be led by U Myint, a well-known Burmese economist with a close personal relationship with Suu Kyi.
Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Wednesday, U Myint said his appointment came after he was called in by Thein Sein for a personal meeting. He described the appointment as a positive step by the new civilian government.
“I think the president is confident that I wish to do good for our own country,” he said. “I think that we are on the same page. That's why I accepted this responsibility.”
He said his first advice to the president would be related to the country's agricultural sector and tackling poverty, adding that he believes the president shares his desire to carry out economic reforms.
U Myint, 73, was previously a professor of economics at Rangoon University. He also served as the director of the economics department in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Later, he headed the Research Department at the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. He is currently the director of the Tun Foundation Bank in Rangoon.
In a seminar last year, U Myint said that as long as the Burmese government and its cronies were controlling the country's economy, the country would face the same dismal economic situation even in the year 3010.
Asked about his position as an advisor to Thein Sein and as a friend of Suu Kyi, U Myint said, “I very much wish to see reconciliation in Burma. I will try to help bring about that. I will meet with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi with whom I am very friendly. She is a woman who can do a lot for the country, as she continues to do now.”
“Although it is still not clear how much I can do, and how much they [the government] will do at this point, I think this is an unusual but a positive step,” he said. “We have to sit down and discuss what to do. It will take time to change things under the current circumstances.”
During last week's cabinet meetings, President Thein Sein stressed the importance of building the country's infrastructure and boosting agricultural development—echoing policies frequently espoused by the former military junta in which he served as the prime minister.
In the president's new political advisory board, Ko Ko Hlaing, a retired military officer who used to work in the Research Department at the War Office of the Ministry of Defense, was appointed chief advisor. He is currently working on an international news program for the state-run MRTV-4 television channel.
The other two members in the political advisory board are Ye Tint and Dr. Nay Zin Latt, both former military officers—with Ye Tint, the managing director of a government-backed printing and publishing enterprise, and Nay Zin Latt, an executive member of the Burma Hoteliers’ Association.
Ko Ko Hlaing said his role is to advise the president about international political events, but not domestic issues. Commenting on the US' twin policy of economic sanctions and engagement with Burma, he said mutual understanding would be crucial to establishing good relations between the two countries.
“It's difficult to expect solid changes,” he said. “Things have to proceed gradually.”
He said that Burma will continue to build peaceful relations with all countries, including North Korea.
The legal advisory board will be led by Police Col. Sit Aye, the former director of the Home Ministry’s International Relations Department.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21193
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Confusion Over Role of New Govt Ministries
By NA YEE LIN LATT Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Burma's new Union Government has encountered difficulties in sharing administrative and financial powers with state and regional governments, according to ministry sources.
An official from the Ministry of National Planning and Economic Development (MNPED) told The Irrawaddy that these issues mean it will take a long time for the new government to run itself efficiently.
“For example, there was only one minister at the Ministry of Education before. He alone decided and took care of education matters for the whole country. Now there are education ministers at regional and state levels, too, so there is a need to share authority with them,” said the MNPED official.
He added that the MNPED is still in the process of working out the roles and responsibilities of the various ministries at different levels of government under the new administrative framework.
Under the new government, there are 34 ministries with 30 ministers at union level and 14 ministries with nine ministers at each of the state and region levels. Each state/region government will be headed by a prime minister.
“We are still working out the details of how authority and financial power will be shared between the governments. Then there will be a period to approve the proposed arrangements, so it is very likely to take a long time to run the new administrative system smoothly,” explained the MNPED official.
“In fact, administrative matters should have been discussed and approved even before the new government was sworn in. Since this was not the case, ministers at the state and region levels still don't have any authority, just titles,” added the MNPED official.
Kyaw Soe, the minister for Rangoon Region's Ministry of Electric Power, Energy, Industry and Construction, told The Irrawaddy that he cannot reveal any details of his role or the particular workings of his ministry.
“We continue doing what we have to do. All [we do] is beneficial to our people,” said Kyaw Soe.
The situation is similar in other parts of the country, where ministers at the state and regional level appear to have no clearly defined roles. In Arakan State, for example, an official from the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party said his party has taken over three state ministries, but the ministers have yet to be given offices from which they can work.
Meanwhile, according to the National Democratic Force (NDF), the breakaway faction of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, parliamentary committees will likely begin their work from the start of next month.
“Various parliamentary committees have just been formed, but I think the actual functions of those committees will commence at the beginning of May,” said NDF Chairman Dr Than Nyein.
The NDF currently has representatives in different committees at the Amyotha Hluttaw (the Upper House of the National Assembly) and the Rangoon Region Parliament.
On Oct. 21, 2010, junta chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe signed and issued the Union Government Law and the Region or State Government Law. Although Chapter 4 of the latter refers to the “duty, authority and administrative power of region or state government,” no specific administrative power has reportedly yet been shared.
“We now have ministers at state and region levels but they still don't have any authority. They can just go around and inspect ongoing projects in their areas but can't give any directives,” said an official from the Ministry of Sports.
“If we want to build a football field in our region, the problem now is we don't know who we should get permission from. We don't know if we should submit our request to the region level or the union level,” continued the official.
In his speech on April 6—a week after the inauguration of the new government—President Thein Sein told prime ministers from different states and regions that there would be difficulties to distinguish tasks between the union level and region/state level.http://204.93.223.218/article.php?art_id=21191
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Burma Policy 'No or Limited Success': US Official
By LALIT K JHA Wednesday, April 27, 2011
WASHINGTON — While acknowledging that the its 18-month-long Burma policy of simultaneous engagement and sanctions has had “no or limited success,” a US government official now says it is open to the idea of Burma chairing the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in 2014 if progress is made by Naypyidaw toward the restoration of democracy and protection of human rights in the country.
“We have had either no or very limited success,” said Joseph Y. Yun, the deputy assistant secretary of state at the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs. “We do face the dilemma of when do we engage and when do we not engage, and how far we go in engaging the government, what is the limit, what is the trade off.
"But we do believe ultimately that the system there in Burma is not sustainable and that we will try to improve it, we will try to change it, and we will try to bring democracy there, justice, and respect for human rights,” he said.
Yun’s comment came at a panel discussion on Burma in Washington. Yun told the audience that the Obama administration is trying its best to engage with the Burmese junta, but without any success. However, he said that the United States is grateful for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and leader of the opposition National League of Democracy.
The US official explained that the "carrots" in the administration’s Burma policy include the prospect of international recognition, a lifting of sanctions, and increased foreign investment for Burma. The new policy of “carrot and sticks,” he said, is a difficult process in putting that engagement track in place. “I would really urge the Burmese government that there will be something in it. In the end, they will have to join the international community,” Yun said.
However, he didn't detail what "sticks" were being threatened. The US, he said, is very mindful of the fact that it cannot do this alone, rather it is the task of the international community. It is in this regard that the United States is soliciting help from both Asian and European nations, he said.
“I think we are making progress,” he said.
Responding to questions that Burma wants to take on the chairmanship of Asean in 2014, Yun said that two years is a long time and no one knows what the ground realities in the region will be at that time.
“Maybe I am an optimist,” he said. “Certainly, if there is tremendous improvement in the situation, I do not see why they (Burma) could not take the chairmanship of Asean.
“But this is an issue that we have not really thought about,” he said, adding that if there is a marked improvement in Burma with regard to democracy and human rights, the Asean chairmanship would not be an issue.
Yun, however, ruled out any change in the Burma policy of the Obama administration with regards to its nomination of a special US representative, a process that currently waits to be confirmed by the US Senate. http://irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21192
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Trade Council to be Shut Down
By YAN PAI Wednesday, April 27, 2011
A Burmese exhibitor waits for visitors during the 2010 India International Trade Fair in New Delhi last year. (Photo: Getty Images)
Burmese Minister of Commerce Win Myint reportedly said at a ministerial meeting held on April 19 that the Trade Policy Council (TPC), the body that has long been responsible for issuing import and export licenses, has been abolished.
According to a Rangoon-based business source, Win Myint said at the meeting that the TPC has ceased to act as the body overseeing external trade. The Commerce Ministry will take over this role, the source said, adding that further details are expected to be made public soon.
It was not clear who would assume the TPC's role of overseeing the foreign investment sector, although according to the 2008 Constitution, the country's president is directly responsible for dealing with foreign direct investment.
A recent report by the Weekly Eleven Journal said, however, that foreign investors would still be required to obtain permission from the ministries under which their businesses operate, as in the past.
In a 2008 report on Burma's investment climate, the US State Department noted that in 1999, Vice Snr-Gen Maung Aye, the Burmese regime's second-most powerful figure, took direct responsibility for the TPC amid widespread allegations of corruption among ministers.
Since 2007, this position has been held by former Lt-Gen Thiha Thura Tin Aung Myint Oo, who retired from the military last year so he could sit in Burma's new quasi-civilian Parliament, where he is now vice-president.
During his tenure as head of the TPC, Tin Aung Myint Oo was notorious for favoring companies run by businessmen with whom he had strong personal ties, including Stephen Law (aka Tun Myint Naing) of Asia World Company and Zaw Zaw of Max Myanmar Company.
The TPC was a major source of revenue for its chairperson. According to sources close to the TPC, Tin Aung Myint Oo had the right to claim a five percent commission from any foreign investment he approved.
Therefore, according to unconfirmed reports, there has been some friction between Tin Aung Myint Oo and President Thein Sein over who will be in charge of regulating foreign investment under Burma's new government. http://irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21190
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Shale gas in Karen State?
By Joseph Allchin
Published: 27 April 2011
A slew of new energy contracts will be signed with foreign energy companies it was announced after a “special projects implementation meeting” attended by President Thein Sein on Friday, most strikingly however it was announced that shale would be sought by two Singaporean companies in co-operation with the Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE) in Karen state.
The exact location given by the New Light of Myanmar is Mapale, which is a few kilometres north of the main border crossing next to Thailand’s Mae Sot, Myawaddy. Mapale is also on the Moei river that separates the two countries at the ‘friendship bridge’-Thailand’s most westerly point.
The two companies were listed as SNOG pte ltd. and UPR Pte., Ltd both of Singapore. The New Light does not report whether shale oil (oil sands) or shale gas, will be explored for, but Mapale is within 20 miles of the Thai border, and near the Mae Sot shale oil basin, which Apiradee Suwannathong from Thailand’s Shinawatra University notes is the “largest oil shale resource in Thailand”.
Both processes however are seen by opponents as extremely damaging to the environment. The process for shale oil or oil sands differs from the extraction of crude liquid oil because the shale rock is mined as a solid rock, often in open cast pits and then is exposed to extremely high heat, without the presence of oxygen, to extract an exploitable oil from it. Both essential processes are, needless to say energy hungry and considered environmentally damaging, because of emissions, run offs and the topographic effect of open cast mining.
The Mapale area is thought to be under the control of the Democratic Karen Budhhist Army’s 999 brigade and its commander, Chit Htoo. A signatory of the government’s Border Guard Force (BGF) agreement, his soldiers would most likely provide at least some level of security for the process.
The area is, despite the presence of Chit Htoo, extremely volatile after portions of the DKBA rejected the government’s BGF plan and resumed active conflict against the government. Indeed the nearest transport hub, Myawaddy was taken briefly by the forces of rebel commander Saw La Bwe just after last year’s controversial election.
A project of any significant scale would therefore not only require a heightening of security but also considerable transport infrastructure, which could prove a logistical hurdle given the on going conflict. Whilst similar projects in the region, such as the Yetagun pipeline to Thailand were noted for forced relocations, forced labour and other human rights abuses often associated with heightened militarisation in Burma.
The shale rock could potentially however be exported to a site nearer to reliable energy sources and refining facilities, away from the border areas.
Shale gas is also viewed as environmentally damaging, with a report on the BBC alleging a 20% greater carbon footprint from the process, known as ‘fracking’, than coal.
The global rise in energy prices, following turmoil in the middle east, has heightened investment in the industry, with Asian companies alone investing some $20 billion in their North American operations in both shale gas and oil sands in the last two years.
A recent report by the US government’s Energy Information Agency (EIA) however suggests that global deposits of natural gas were increased by 40% if shale gas was taken into account. The majority of these reserves are considered to be in China and the US, but India’s north east that borders Burma is also considered a possibility or an “assessed basin without resource estimate”. Thailand and Burma were not looked into by this recent study, but a 2007 report by Apiradee Suwannathong suggests that the Mae Sot Basin has 952.38 million tons of recoverable shale rock which could produce 182.86 million barrels of oil.
The environmental impact can be assessed from this figure; approximately five tons of rock in the Mae Sot basin is needed to produce a single barrel of oil. A report on the impacts on the industry in Estonia, by Leevi Molder, notes large quantities of “spent shale piles continue to leach toxic substances” into the water. Mitigating the worst of these effects, it is noted is expensive and with little enforcement in Burma, it is unlikely to occur.
http://www.dvb.no/news/shale-gas-in-karen-state/15411
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Myanmar, India to speed up renovation of Arnanda Pagoda
Yangon, Apr. 27 : Myanmar and India have both agreed to speed up the renovation of the Arnanda Pagoda in Myanmar''s ancient city of Bagan.
A memorandum of understanding on cultural cooperation was signed between the two countries, Xinhua News quoted a Burmese daily, as saying on Wednesday.
The pagoda restoration project was discussed between Myanmar Union Deputy Minister of Culture Daw Sandar Khin and Indian ambassador Dr. Villur Sundararajan Seshadri at the office of the Ministry of Culture in Nay Pyi Taw Tuesday, said the New Light of Myanmar.
The MoU was among the five documents signed during a goodwill visit to India by former Myanmar top leader Senior- General Than Shwe in July 2010.
--ANI http://www.newkerala.com/news/world/fullnews-197630.html
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Beijing’s Burma Embrace
By James Burke
Epoch Times Staff Created: Apr 25, 2011 Last Updated: Apr 26, 2011
BANGKOK—Off the coast of western Burma, local fishermen are being excluded from their traditional fishing grounds by a large fleet of Chinese trawlers that are supported by the Burmese military authorities.
Arakanese fishermen from the coastal town of Thandwe told exiled-Burmese media Narinjara that thousands of Chinese boats first arrived in October and that Burmese authorities have since restricted local fishing rights. Priority and open access to the sea, they said, has been given to the Chinese fleet and a local firm linked to the Burmese military.
“Now it is like our sea has become part of China, everywhere we look we can see Chinese trawlers fishing freely in the sea while we are being restricted to fishing in our own territory," an unnamed fisherman told Narinjara.
Burmese in exile media sites are peppered with similar stories reporting China’s expanding economic footprint and political influence upon the country.
Anti-Chinese attitudes are high in Burma (renamed Myanmar by the military junta), especially in the country’s north, which in recent years has seen a large influx of cashed-up entrepreneurs crossing its northern border with China’s southern Yunnan Province.
“These are people moving into traditionally Burmese or ethnic areas and towns,” said Maung Zarni, a Burmese academic with the London School of Economics. “They are people with money; they are people who can buy local officials.”
The activities of unaccountable Chinese state-run resource companies—including damaging the environmental and forcing the displacement of communities—have advanced anti-Chinese sentiment in the local population.
“This has created not just resentment, it has created a massive and deepening popular hatred within Burmese society,” Maung says.
Large-scale energy projects involving Chinese state-run companies have also drawn international condemnation from human rights groups.
David Scott Mathieson, a senior researcher on Burma with Human Rights Watch, said that China's energy policies in Burma undoubtedly contribute to human rights abuses, whether they are related to hydropower projects on the Irrawaddy River or the massive gas and crude oil pipelines being built through Burma to southern China.
“Infrastructure projects like this often entail widespread abuses, often because the Burmese military is tasked with securing them, and that translates to forced relocations, which we're already seeing in Kachin State of Burma near the dam sites, and forced labor and other abuses by the army,” says Mathieson.
Beijing’s Support
Earlier this month, senior Chinese Communist Party figure, Jia Qinglin, visited the Burmese capital of Naypyidaw, to formalize a raft of deals with the military-dominated regime, including a soft loan and Chinese involvement in three copper mines.
Talks also reportedly covered security issues along the 2,200 km (about 1,370 miles) Sino-Burmese border.
Jia’s visit also highlighted Beijing’s support for Burma’s new so-called civilian government, which critics have described as a front for the junta following farcical elections held in November last year.
According to the Democratic Voice of Burma, Jia is the highest-ranking Party official to visit Burma following a stopover by Premier Wen Jiabao last June.
For Beijing, a freehand in neighboring Burma is especially important for geo-strategic reasons, said John Lee, a foreign policy expert with the Centre for Independent Studies in Sydney and the Hudson Institute in Washington D.C.
“A trading passage through Burma allows future exports to bypass the Malacca Straits, which is a point of potential vulnerability for China,” said Lee.
Along with the gas and oil pipeline, a Burma-China rail link is in the cards and Chinese companies have won contracts to dredge important rivers through the country to allow better vessel navigation.
Burma is one of two genuine allies that China has, Lee said, adding that the other is North Korea.
“China is much more comfortable dealing with authoritarian regimes than democracies since democracies have to at least pay lip service to political freedom, human rights, rule of law, and transparency,” says Lee.
“It is much easier to use economic largesse to win over autocratic governments since it is simply a matter of using dollar diplomacy to seduce political and military elites in those countries,” he added.
Like other pariah states such as Sudan, North Korea, and Zimbabwe, Chinese Communist Party leaders in Beijing have long supported Burma’s ruling generals internationally, especially at the United Nations.
During the junta’s violent crackdown on Buddhist monks and pro-democracy protesters in September 2007, both China and Russia used their veto power to diminish U.N. efforts to curb the junta’s excesses. Earlier the same year, both countries vetoed a U.S. resolution that urged Burma’s generals to stop persecuting ethnic minorities and opposition groups.
Thai-based Soe Aung, from the Forum for Democracy in Burma, said Beijing’s international support gives Chinese interests the upper hand in doing business with Burma’s generals.
“There’s evidence that Burma’s military regime favors China over India for some important economic concessions,” Soe said while adding that following Beijing’s support in the U.N. during 2007, Burma granted China a huge gas deal over India, despite India being willing to offer more money.
Mathieson said that Beijing's diplomatic cover has been crucial for the military in Burma to maintain power, not just for the support in multilateral forums, but also through extensive trade-investment and arms sales since 1988.
“I don't think Burma can avoid the criticism of its human rights recordthe situation is too bad for that. But what China does is block, time and again, any stronger measures such as U.N. Security Council resolutions, and so far, the formation of a U.N.-led Commission of Inquiry,” said Mathieson.
Mathieson says China, along with Russia, North Korea and others, are why Western sanctions against Burma have been rendered ineffectual. While U.S., the EU, and Australia impose arms embargoes on the regime, those countries ignore them.
“In effect, Burma benefits from an unprincipled benefactor who wants only to preserve its own interests in Burma, not actually see positive change occur,” says Mathieson.
Massive Cash Flows
Maung from the London School of Economics said the massive cash flows coming from China, as well as other Asian nations such as India and Thailand, emboldens the military regime to carry on with a ‘business as usual’ attitude in Burma.
“They [Burmese military] will not see the need to do economic reform, they will see themselves as bringing in money to the countrybut that is not development,” Maung said.
“China is not supporting Burma as a country. The Chinese leadership in Beijing is supporting the Burmese military junta and that needs to be clear. Without the Chinese support this junta would not be able to stay intransigent.”
According to the Financial Times, during the 2010–2011 financial year China invested US$10 billion into Burma, a sum which accounts for two-thirds of all foreign investment in the isolated country.
As well as being an important source of natural resources for China, Burma is an important market for its cheap Chinese products. With virtually no domestic manufacturing industry to speak of, consumer goods inside Burma are predominantly Chinese.
Burma last year was ranked the second most corrupt nation in the world by Berlin-based Transparency International. This year’s national budget again shows that the military remains the regime’s priority.
According to Burmese exile media Mizzima, the military received the largest cut of 2011 budget at around 30 percent, compared to education that got around 4 percent, and health care 1 percent.
The U.S. State Department says that China is the Burmese military’s major supplier of arms and munitions. http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/world/beijings-burma-embrace-55344.html
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
News & Articles on Burma-Tuesday, 26 April, 2011
News & Articles on Burma
Tuesday, 26 April, 2011
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Ex-soldier shines light on hidden Burma war
Mon Chief Minister Speaks, Receives Mixed Reviews
Authorities Crack Down on Use of Cash Substitutes
Bangladesh to be Thein Sein's First International Stop
Myanmar urged to engage with US
Border force defects, attacks Burma unit
Thailand begins migrant ‘slave’ probe
Asian Allies Back Burma Uneasily
No sleep lost over a few frozen euros
Asian Allies Back Burma Uneasily
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Bangkok Post
Ex-soldier shines light on hidden Burma war
Published: 26/04/2011 at 09:31 AM
Online news: Asia
As protests engulfed Burma in 1988, Myo Myint faced a stark decision. A soldier missing an arm and a leg, he believed he could persuade the army to show mercy if he spoke out. Or he could be shot.
Former Burmese soldier turned pro-democracy activist Myo Myint speaks at the US State Department in Washington, on April 25, during the screening of the award-winning HBO film "Burma Soldier."
Lifting himself by his crutches, Myo Myint took to the podium outside the military base. He wasn't shot and he won over soldiers who demonstrated in uniform. But soon he was tracked down and sentenced to 15 dire years in prison.
Now, however, Myo Myint has an audience as never before. A documentary on his life -- including on his fateful choice to dissent -- will air next month on US cable channel HBO and is being distributed clandestinely in Burma.
"Burma Soldier," using the earlier name for Burma, features smuggled footage as it traces Myo Myint from the front lines of the ethnic war to the confines of prison to his new life as a refugee in the United States.
In an unusual step, the State Department held a public screening of "Burma Soldier." Kurt Campbell, the assistant secretary of state for East Asia who has spearheaded an engagement drive with Burma, called the film "torturous."
"It's one of the most powerful things I have ever seen," Campbell said Monday. "But at the same time it's incredibly inspirational."
Myo Myint was born in 1963, a year after the military seized power in the ethnically diverse former British colony. In the film, he said that he grew up wanting to be treated as a soldier but observed in hindsight, "I didn't know the difference between people acting out of respect and acting out of fear."
At age 17, he was already serving as an army "engineer," which meant laying and clearing land mines. He recalled that the army would burn down homes at will, forcing villagers from ethnic minority groups to haul heavy equipment and to build roads.
In one graphic account, Myo Myint remembered how soldiers seized a young minority woman and raped her throughout the night. Later, he heard several shots and there was no further sign of her among the slave laborers.
After he was hit by a mortar that nearly cost him his life, Myo Myint was transferred to a hospital in the largest city Rangoon and discovered the texts of Buddhism and other religions. With his pension money, he bought banned books on history and politics.
Vowing "I will fight for peace," the soldier sought out Aung San Suu Kyi, the pro-democracy campaigner icon who later won the Nobel Peace Prize.
After his arrest in 1989, Myo Myint said he was forced into a hood stained by someone else's blood and was tortured with water. He said he was not allowed to read or write for 10 of his 15 years in prison, although guards occasionally smuggled him pens or books.
After his release, Myo Myint fled across the border to Mae Sot, Thailand, and in 2008 flew to Fort Wayne in the Midwestern state of Indiana, a US hub for refugees from Burma.
Attending the State Department screening of his film, Myo Myint pleaded for international pressure to free more than 2,000 political prisoners still in Burma and to stop Thailand from closing refugee camps.
"As a former refugee and a former political prisoner, I would like to request you to do whatever you can for the refugees along the Thai-Burma border," he said.
Thailand recently said it would send more than 100,000 refugees back to Burma, saying that they had become a burden and pointing to the military's recent handover to a new post-election government. Critics say that Burma's changes have been purely cosmetic.
Journalist Nic Dunlop started work on "Burma Soldier" after meeting Myo Myint in Thailand. The film was produced by Julie LeBrocquy, a former bond trader who now focuses on making movies on otherwise overlooked subjects.
LeBrocquy said the film was also released in Burma through its network of unofficial distributors and bootleggers and that it "seems to be a blockbuster there in a Burmese way."
"I hope that this film has given a way for his voice not just to be heard in the West but to be heard in Burma, which is where it really matters," she said. http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/asia/233776/ex-soldier-shines-light-on-hidden-burma-war
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Mon Chief Minister Speaks, Receives Mixed Reviews
By LAWI WENG Tuesday, April 26, 2011
MUDON, Burma—Speaking on April 17 to hundreds of Mon people at a festival in Mudon Township, Mon State Chief Minister Ohn Myint declared that his new government will work towards bringing peace and development to the state.
“We just formed our new government, which will bring development and build peace and stability in Mon State,” said Ohn Myint, speaking at an event commemorating the placing of the symbolic umbrella on top of the Kyaik Zel Pagoda in Kamarwat village.
The Mon people in attendance wore traditional Mon dress of red and white, and Ohn Myint, a former general in the Burmese army who is an ethnic Mon, said hello in the Mon language and mentioned that he was born in Mudon Township.
But his presence at the ceremony required the monks to chant in both the Mon and Burmese language, eliciting complaints from Mon observers who wished only to hear the chants in Mon.
Two Mon ministers in the new Mon State government who accompanied Ohn Myint were Min Nwe Soe, the social and cultural minister, and Nai Lawi Oung, the energy and electric minister. Both wore traditional Mon wear. Both are members of the All Mon Regions Democracy Party (AMRDP).
Ohn Myint carried the umbrella to the pagoda, while the two Mon ministers carried other equipment for the ceremonial crowning.
Many participants in the celebration expressed happiness at seeing two Mon men appointed as members of the new state government, believing the two representatives will fight for issues important to the Mon people.
They were encouraged by the fact that, after Naypyidaw announced the members of the new Mon State government, Min Nwe Soe met with Mon farmers in different villages and asked about their needs.
The farmers in Kamarwat and Kalawthut villages discussed ways to remedy the fact that a dam in Abisht village in Mudon Township had destroyed over 5,000 acres of farmland and the owners have not been given a chance to request compensation.
“I believe he [Min Nwe Soe] will work to get us new farmland,” said Nai Sein, a community leader in Kamarwat village whose 10 acres of land were destroyed by the dam.
However, Nai Aung Kyi, a farmer from Kalathut village, and other ethnic Mon said that they are worried the new government will be the same as under the military regime.
Some question how the two Mon ministers will be able to help when they still receive orders from old members of the military regime who are now national ministers and members of parliament.
They pointed out that the new government has offered incentives to newly appointed ministers such as cars, homes and good salaries.
Both of the new Mon ministers have received cars since being appointed. In addition, the government is currently building new housing in Moulmein, Mon State where new government ministers will reside.
“They [the two Mon ministers] will only get this opportunity one time if they do not work for the Mon,” said Tun Naing, a member of the All Mon Regions Democracy Party. http://irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21183
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Authorities Crack Down on Use of Cash Substitutes
By THE IRRAWADDY Tuesday, April 26, 2011
RANGOON — The Burmese authorities have threatened to take action against businesses that use tokens and other items, such as cheroots and packets of instant coffee, as substitutes for small-denomination banknotes when giving change to customers.
The practice, which is widespread at shopping centers and on public transport buses, is a result of a shortage of 100- and 200-kyat notes, which are worth around 12 and 24 US cents, respectively. Although the government has recently introduced larger denominations, many of the smaller banknotes have been in circulation for years and have become all but unusable.
Businesses that continue using cash substitutes face severe penalties under existing monetary laws, according to the officials.
An official of the Rangoon regional government told The Irrawaddy that shopping centers, retailers and owners of public transportation companies have been warned that legal action will be taken against them if they fail to comply with the orders.
“The tokens are stamped with the logo of the shop that issued them, so they are not usable anywhere else. This is a clear abuse of consumers' rights,” said the official.
Local shop owners expressed concern about the move, which they said would likely add to difficulties facing small businesses that routinely use small notes in transactions.
“Offering tokens is way to deal with the shortage of 100- and 200-kyat notes. Many customers don't want to receive instant coffee mix or shampoo packs as change when they buy something, so they prefer tokens. Now we really don’t know what we're going to do,” said the manager of a shopping center, who estimated that the number of small notes was only about a fifth of what was required.
A housewife in Rangoon's Mayangone Township said that the tokens are “better than nothing,” but the best thing would be for the government to issue more small kyat notes. “The ones in circulation now are so old and dirty you don’t' even want to touch them,” she said.
As is generally the case in Burma, where the shortcomings of the official system often create unique business opportunities for enterprising black marketeers, the lack of 100- and 200-kyat notes has been a boon for some.
The owner of a grocery store at Rangoon's Bayintnaung Market complained that he has to pay 1,000 kyat for 900 kyat worth of small notes. Sometimes, he said, he is lucky to get just 800 kyat for a 1,000 kyat note, and often he can't get all the small bills he needs at any price.
The banknote shortage has also recently given rise to some impromptu gambling, whereby customers are invited to bet the amount of change they are owed for a chance to win a larger, more readily available banknote.
“When I was on the No. 204 bus the other day, the ticket collector asked me to bet my change on the serial number of the banknote I gave him, because he didn't have any small notes to return 100 kyat to me. If I won, I would get 200 kyat. If I lost, I got nothing,” said a resident of Kamaryut Township in Rangoon.
An economist in Rangoon pointed out that the cash substitute system implemented by some businesses brought no benefits to customers, as there was no assurance that the cash substitutes could be reclaimed at the assigned shops. The government, therefore, should produce more new small-denomination notes and coins.
“This problem is directly related to the government's insufficient distribution of 100- and 200-kyat notes. Some businessmen have exploited this situation, which makes matters even worse for ordinary consumers. For the sake of the people's interests, the government should distribute more new small-value notes or replace the old banknotes with new ones,” he said.
The shortage of small banknotes doesn't just affect Rangoon, Burma's major commercial center. In January, authorities in Maungtaw, Arakan State, seized 900,000 kyat (US $1,016) worth of 50-, 100- and 200 kyat notes. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21180
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Bangladesh to be Thein Sein's First International Stop
By SAI ZOM HSENG Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Bangladesh will be the first international destination for ex-Gen Thein Sein since becoming Burma's new president, according to the country's ambassador to Bangladesh.
“The newly elected Burmese president decided to visit the Asian countries and start in Bangladesh,” Min Lwin, Burma's newly appointed ambassador to Bangladesh, was quoted by Dhaka's The Daily Star News as telling Bangladesh President Zillur Rahman when they met on Thursday.
The Daily Star News article said that the Burmese government is keen to solve all major problems between the two countries, including the Rohingya issue.
After his trip to Bangladesh, President Thein Sein will most likely attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit to be held in Jakarta, Indonesia at early May, according to observers.
Meanwhile, the commander-in-chief of Burma's Air Force, Lt-Gen Myat Hein, and six other high-ranking Air Force officers arrived in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, on Saturday for a six-day visit.
The trip constitutes the first visit of high-ranking Burmese officials to Bangladesh since 2008, when a maritime dispute that included the deployment of naval vessels broke out between the two countries after Burma began gas exploration in the Bay of Bengal.
Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Monday, Dhaka-based Narinjara news group editor Khine Myat Kyaw said, “He [Myat Hein] came as a military representative. So they are going to talk about bilateral military issues.”
According to reports from Dhaka, Myat Hein met and discussed matters of mutual interest with Bangladesh's Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal, SM Ziaur Rahman and Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral ZU Ahmed.
The Burmese delegation came to Dhaka to discuss bilateral military issues between the two countries, and the Burmese Air Force chief planned to visit some military institutes and bases in Dhaka and other towns during his trip, according to reports from Bangladesh.
In 2008, Vice Snr-Gen Maung Aye led a delegation of more than 50 members to Dhaka and signed deals related to the prevention of double taxation, the establishment of a joint commission and the exchange of cultural cooperation.
Small scale border and maritime disputes are common between Burma and Bangladesh. On April 3, Bangladesh established a new Air Force base on the opposite side of the border from Maungdaw, Arakan State, raising tensions between the two nations.
The maritime disputes are likely to end this year as the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea will reportedly deliver its verdict on the case before year end.http://204.93.223.218/article.php?art_id=21177
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Myanmar urged to engage with US
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON --
The United States on Monday urged military-dominated Myanmar to embrace its offer of talks and improve human rights as a path toward international acceptance.
The top U.S. diplomat for East Asia, Kurt Campbell, said Washington's efforts in the past 18 months to engage Myanmar's government had failed.
He said despite the release of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the United States still is troubled by abuses of ethnic minorities, detention of political prisoners and a lack of democratic reform.
The most recent senior U.S. official to visit Yangon, Joseph Yun, said the rulers of Myanmar, also known as Burma, were wrong in thinking they would not gain from engaging the U.S.
"I really urge the Burmese government that there will be something in it. In the end, they have to join the international community," he said.
Both officials were speaking at the screening at the State Department of "Burma Soldier," a documentary of the life of Myo Myint, who served in Myanmar's military but later became an advocate for peace and democracy, for which he was jailed for 15 years.
President Barack Obama this month nominated a special envoy to Myanmar to push forward a two-track policy of offering dialogue with the regime while maintaining pressure through sanctions, including on trade and investment.
Despite its desire to build an international consensus on Myanmar, Washington's stance remains at odds with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, of which Myanmar is a member. ASEAN has called for sanctions to be lifted after Yangon staged elections in November that ushered in a new government said to be civilian but still dominated by the military.
The U.S. says it is looking for Myanmar to first release its more than 2,000 political prisoners and allow a political role of Suu Kyi, whose party won polls in 1990 but was barred from taking power.
Yun claimed there was growing support among ASEAN in pushing for reform. "There's a wide degree of recognition that what happens among them is not just a matter for a single country alone," he said.
He said India and China were less understanding of the U.S.'s firm stance on the need for human rights. Both are powerful neighbors of Myanmar that have expanded investment and retain strong ties with the military.
"In my assessment their strategic considerations come first, and thereafter other issues, and that would include human rights," Yun said.
Read more: http://www.heraldonline.com/2011/04/25/3014300/myanmar-urged-to-engage-with-us.html#ixzz1KcQqk0km
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Border force defects, attacks Burma unit
By NAW NOREEN
Published: 26 April 2011
Troops from the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army who last year agreed to become a border force have now reneged and last week destroyed a weapons cache belonging to their former unit.
Twenty-nine troops from Border Guard Force (BGF) 1012, based in Karen state’s Myainggyingu, said they are also preparing to join sides with the Karen National Union, which has been fighting the Burmese regime for more than six decades.
Three soldiers from BGF 1012 died in the Myainggyingu assault on 22 April, in which the 29 set fire to an armoury and destroyed heavy weapons ammunition.
Yesterday, additional troops launched a second attack on a Burmese army battalion in Kamamaung, setting fire to a ration storage and razing an armoury.
Contact has already been made between the BGF 1012 defectors and the Karen National Union (KNU), according to a commander in its armed wing, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA).
Colonel Hpaw Do said however that it was unclear why the unit, led by company leader Hpa Mee, defected.
It becomes one of the most prominent defections since the DKBA acceded to demands by the Burmese army last year and became a Border Guard Force.
Following the transformation, a faction led by renegade commander Na Kham Mwe in November last year launched an attack on the Burmese border town of Myawaddy. His unit is also now fighting alongside the KNLA.
Yesterday afternoon a clash broke out between Karen troops, among them Na Kham Mwe’s faction, and the Burmese army in Kyarinnseikgyi township.
“Around 2.30pm, DKBA and KNLA forces launched a joint attack at the police station in Azin [village in Kyarinnseikgyi township] near where [the Burmese army’s] LIB-371 is based. We still don’t know the causalities yet,” said Major San Aung of the DKBA.
He said a civilian was killed and three injured in another fight that took place on Sunday in Kyarinnseikgyi’s Kyeikdon sub-township. San Aung said three Burmese army personnel were also injured.
http://www.dvb.no/news/border-force-defects-attacks-burma-unit/15396
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Thailand begins migrant ‘slave’ probe
By MAHN SAIMON
Published: 26 April 2011
Police in Thailand have begun an investigation into the nearly 60 Burmese migrants who were freed last week after being locked up and forced to work for months in a garment factory in Bangkok.
A lawyer from the Lawyer Council of Thailand said the police are looking at a lawsuit filed by the Burmese Association of Thailand (BAT) and are being closely being watched by Thai NGOs.
The factory employers are to face at least three separate charges and if found guilty, could pay compensation to the migrants and serve prison terms of at least 10 years.
“Denying standard wages for the workers is a violation of both the labour and the criminal law, and they are also to be charged under the human trafficking law,” said the lawyer. “There is 10 year jail term for the human trafficking charge alone if found guilty.”
He said it is likely the defendants will do their best to defend themselves given the seriousness of the penalties, and so it is important the migrants are assisted by their home country’s government.
On 19 April Thai authorities raided a factory in Bangkok’s Ding Daeng area and freed nearly 60 undocumented Burmese migrants who had been enslaved in the building for as long as eight months.
Kyaw Thaung of the BAT said the Burmese embassy in Bangkok made a contact with the organisation three days after the migrants were freed to enquire about the situation.
“They phoned us on 22 April around 9pm and asked to help them out getting some details about the case,” said Kyaw Thaung.
The Burmese embassy, which is notoriously ignorant about the plight of migrant workers in Thailand, has been unusually attentive since the new government was sworn in in March. In the past month the embassy donated 10,000THB ($US335) for victims of a car crash in Mahachai area in which five Burmese migrants were killed.
The freed migrants, having no legal work permits in Thailand, are being kept at a temporary [government] guesthouse in Pathum Thani while 15 females are in a security guesthouse in Nonthaburi.
http://www.dvb.no/news/thailand-begins-migrant-%E2%80%98slave%E2%80%99-probe/15401
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Asian Allies Back Burma Uneasily
Analysis by Larry Jagan
BANGKOK, Apr 26, 2011 (IPS) - Already Burma’s new civilian government poses problems for its Asian allies as it tries to woo the international community. The month-old quasi-civilian administration, led by President Thein Sein has launched a new diplomatic charm offensive in an effort to get international approval for the cosmetic changes that have been introduced under the guise of a new civilian government.
The President’s first priority is to ensure that the region endorses the changes – and in a move to consolidate that, the Thein Sein has already written to the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) secretary-general Surin Pitsuwan, renewing their bid to become chairman of the organisation.
It is the first salvo in a new diplomatic offensive to secure regional and international credibility for the new government and reduce its international isolation.
"The Thein Sein regime is desperate for international recognition," said Win Min, a Burmese academic currently based in the United States. "It’s crucial for them to gain credibility and a measure of respectability for their new so-called civilian government."
But this diplomatic offensive on the part of the Burmese leaders will inevitably increase tension between the West, which still supports sanctions against the regime, and Asia, which is keen to integrate Burma into the region’s economy and strategic structures. Burma’s diplomatic initiatives are only likely to intensify the divisions between Asia and the West – especially the U.S. – on how to cope with the problems posed by Burma’s strategic aims.
While the U.S. appointed a special envoy, Derek Mitchell, and the European Union’s revised visa restrictions on government ministers may signal a new preparedness to deal with the new Burmese government, what Burma wants more than tacit recognition, is approval and support, especially from the region.
Immediately after being sworn in as President, Thein Sein wrote to the ASEAN secretariat asking the organisation to accept Burma’s bid to become chairman in 2014.
In 2004, Burma skipped the chance to become chairman in 2006, amid international pressure on the group to reject Burma’s turn to chair the regional bloc. Now the government is anxious to take its turn again – and wants ASEAN’s approval at the forthcoming ASEAN summit in Indonesia next month.
But some of Burma’s neighbours remain wary of being used as a pawn in Burma’s global mission to prove the new government represents a significant change - from a naked military dictatorship to pluralist power structure.
The bottom line for many countries in the region is that Burma has always been a thorn in ASEAN’s side, ever since it joined in 1997, and has been a major obstacle to smoother and deeper relations with its strategic partners, especially Europe and the United States.
The emergence of a new civilian government under President Thein Sein has only complicated the situation, especially as the new Burmese administration seeks to get the region’s approval and bolster its international credibility as a legitimately elected government.
China has already been very supportive – and a senior Chinese political leader was the first international visitor to Naypyidaw, only days after the new regime was sworn in. But it is ASEAN approval that Burma craves.
At the ASEAN summit in Hanoi last year Thein Sein – then under Than Shwe’s instructions – pushed for Burma to be given the chairmanship in 2011. The top general’s aim was to have ASEAN endorse the new civilian government by giving it the ASEAN chairmanship. But the request was rejected – and Indonesia, Cambodia and Brunei were conferred as the next three chairs – leaving 2014 as the earliest Burma could expect to become the head of the organisation.
This was a clear message to Burma that concrete change was expected before the new government could become the chairman of ASEAN. It was the only way we could communicate our irritation at being kept in the dark over the planned elections and political change, the ASEAN secretary general Surin Pitsuwan told Inter Press Service in an interview in Hanoi immediately after the meeting.
"ASEAN is very much interested in the peaceful national reconciliation in Myanmar and whatever happens there will have implications in ASEAN, positive or negative," he said.
Now the countries of ASEAN have been left in a deepening quandary. They want to pressure the Burmese government to become more democratic and transparent while maintaining whatever influence they have on the regime.
"We have to continue to engage with the Myanmar government," Thailand’s Prime Minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva told correspondents in Bangkok recently. "If we hadn’t that stance, the situation inside the country would be much worse."
Now it seems the issue of Burma’s chairmanship of ASEAN has returned to haunt the organisation – as it did more than ten years ago. But it is the only leverage the countries of the region have over the regime in Naypyidaw.
"Bullying, coaxing and admonishing them has had no effect," an Asia diplomat with long contact with the top Burmese leadership said. "If we push too hard they will simply close the door on us, or worse, leave the organisation unilaterally."
The chairmanship of the organisation may be the only clout ASEAN has with the Burmese regime. But more importantly ASEAN also knows that relations with their main strategic partners – especially Australia, the EU and the U.S. – will almost inevitably be put at risk.
Washington has already chipped into the controversy indicating it would be reluctant to work closely with Burma as its chair. "Obviously, we would have concerns about Burma in any kind of leadership role because of their poor human rights record and domestically," the State Department spokesman, Mark Toner, recently told reporters in Washington.
So Burma’s diplomatic charm offensive may have already further fuelled the furore between the West and Asia over how to handle Burma; and instead of reducing tension between the two spheres, Burma’s so-called civilian government may have only become another bone of contention between them. (END) http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=55389
----------------------------------
No sleep lost over a few frozen euros
Published: April 26 2011 01:28 | Last updated: April 26 2011 01:28
From Mr Mark Farmaner.
Sir, Derek Tonkin (Letters, April 20) is right to state that we cannot pretend that European Union sanctions on Burma are tough. He provides an example of this by mistakenly referring to regime assets being frozen, but there being none to freeze. In fact, the asset freeze is applied only to regime members who are on a visa ban list, not the regime’s assets. Several hundred thousand euros have been frozen, but nothing significant enough to give the generals sleepless nights. This is just one example of how toothless many EU sanctions are.
Today there are no EU sanctions that would, for example, prevent European oil companies investing in Burma’s gas sector. It has been argued that sanctions have been tried and have failed, but in fact tough-targeted sanctions have not yet been imposed.
For more than 15 years Burma Campaign UK has been one of the organisations leading the call for targeted economic sanctions. We would welcome a genuine independent review of how sanctions could be used more effectively. There can be no doubt that they are a tool that can have an impact on the dictatorship. Why else would they ensure that one of the first motions they pushed through their new parliament was one that condemns sanctions? As the Burmese Army continues to gun down ethnic minority civilians on a daily basis, no one can seriously believe it is out of concern that sanctions have an impact on ordinary people.
Mark Farmaner,
Director,
Burma Campaign UK,
London N1, UK
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2011. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c23468fe-6f8c-11e0-952c-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1KcNdHMVg
----------------------------------------------
Asian Allies Back Burma Uneasily
By LARRY JAGAN / IPS WRITER Tuesday, April 26, 2011
BANGKOK — Already Burma’s new civilian government poses problems for its Asian allies as it tries to woo the international community. The month-old quasi-civilian administration, led by President Thein Sein has launched a new diplomatic charm offensive in an effort to get international approval for the cosmetic changes that have been introduced under the guise of a new civilian government.
The President’s first priority is to ensure that the region endorses the changes – and in a move to consolidate that, the Thein Sein has already written to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) secretary-general Surin Pitsuwan, renewing their bid to become chairman of the organisation.
It is the first salvo in a new diplomatic offensive to secure regional and international credibility for the new government and reduce its international isolation.
"The Thein Sein regime is desperate for international recognition," said Win Min, a Burmese academic currently based in the United States. "It’s crucial for them to gain credibility and a measure of respectability for their new so-called civilian government."
But this diplomatic offensive on the part of the Burmese leaders will inevitably increase tension between the West, which still supports sanctions against the regime, and Asia, which is keen to integrate Burma into the region’s economy and strategic structures. Burma’s diplomatic initiatives are only likely to intensify the divisions between Asia and the West–especially the US– on how to cope with the problems posed by Burma’s strategic aims.
While the US appointed a special envoy, Derek Mitchell, and the European Union’s revised visa restrictions on government ministers may signal a new preparedness to deal with the new Burmese government, what Burma wants more than tacit recognition, is approval and support, especially from the region.
Immediately after being sworn in as President, Thein Sein wrote to the Asean secretariat asking the organisation to accept Burma’s bid to become chairman in 2014.
In 2004, Burma skipped the chance to become chairman in 2006, amid international pressure on the group to reject Burma’s turn to chair the regional bloc. Now the government is anxious to take its turn again—and wants ASEAN’s approval at the forthcoming Asean summit in Indonesia next month.
But some of Burma’s neighbours remain wary of being used as a pawn in Burma’s global mission to prove the new government represents a significant change - from a naked military dictatorship to pluralist power structure.
The bottom line for many countries in the region is that Burma has always been a thorn in Asean’s side, ever since it joined in 1997, and has been a major obstacle to smoother and deeper relations with its strategic partners, especially Europe and the United States.
The emergence of a new civilian government under President Thein Sein has only complicated the situation, especially as the new Burmese administration seeks to get the region’s approval and bolster its international credibility as a legitimately elected government.
China has already been very supportive—and a senior Chinese political leader was the first international visitor to Naypyidaw, only days after the new regime was sworn in. But it is Asean approval that Burma craves.
At the Asean summit in Hanoi last year Thein Sein—then under Than Shwe’s instructions—pushed for Burma to be given the chairmanship in 2011. The top general’s aim was to have Asean endorse the new civilian government by giving it the Asean chairmanship. But the request was rejected—and Indonesia, Cambodia and Brunei were conferred as the next three chairs—leaving 2014 as the earliest Burma could expect to become the head of the organisation.
This was a clear message to Burma that concrete change was expected before the new government could become the chairman of Asean. It was the only way we could communicate our irritation at being kept in the dark over the planned elections and political change, the Asean secretary general Surin Pitsuwan told Inter Press Service in an interview in Hanoi immediately after the meeting.
"Asean is very much interested in the peaceful national reconciliation in Myanmar and whatever happens there will have implications in Asean, positive or negative," he said.
Now the countries of Asean have been left in a deepening quandary. They want to pressure the Burmese government to become more democratic and transparent while maintaining whatever influence they have on the regime.
"We have to continue to engage with the Myanmar government," Thailand’s Prime Minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva told correspondents in Bangkok recently."If we hadn’t that stance, the situation inside the country would be much worse."
Now it seems the issue of Burma’s chairmanship of Asean has returned to haunt the organisationas it did more than ten years ago. But it is the only leverage the countries of the region have over the regime in Naypyidaw.
"Bullying, coaxing and admonishing them has had no effect," an Asia diplomat with long contact with the top Burmese leadership said. "If we push too hard they will simply close the door on us, or worse, leave the organisation unilaterally."
The chairmanship of the organisation may be the only clout Asean has with the Burmese regime. But more importantly Asean also knows that relations with their main strategic partnersespecially Australia, the EU and the USwill almost inevitably be put at risk.
Washington has already chipped into the controversy indicating it would be reluctant to work closely with Burma as its chair. "Obviously, we would have concerns about Burma in any kind of leadership role because of their poor human rights record and domestically," the State Department spokesman, Mark Toner, recently told reporters in Washington.
So Burma’s diplomatic charm offensive may have already further fuelled the furore between the West and Asia over how to handle Burma; and instead of reducing tension between the two spheres, Burma’s so-called civilian government may have only become another bone of contention between them.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21179
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