News & Articles on Burma-Friday, 29 April, 2011

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The NDAA meanwhile has already withdrawn from two of its strategic bases in Wan Kho and Pong Hiet in Shan State East’s Mongyawng township along the west bank of the Mekong.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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